Play that Funky Music, Ms. Scratch

Chapters

Prologue: Victory at the Raffle
Chapter I: The Snow-White Mare
Chapter II: First Impressions
Chapter III: Hacking my Heart
Chapter IV: Showing Off Our Cutie Marks
Chapter V: Heated Passion
Chapter VI: Showing Off Our Scars to Heal

Prologue: Victory at the Raffle

Somehow, I managed to win the grand prize in a raffle that took place in my dormitory on the campus of the University of Manehatten. I looked at the white envelope as everypony closed in, blocking my escape as they stare with curiosity at the mysterious grand prize in my hands. I knew that it would be impossible to celebrate my victory in private and that everypony would constantly bug me to tell them what I had won, so I ripped open the envelope there and pulled a piece of paper out.

I had been a student at the university for my first semester. Winter Break would be arriving in a week and, at that point, every student would be preparing themselves to study or write their papers, myself included. I was a simple earth pony who had done very well in my classes in high school in my hometown of Ponyville, but I couldn’t get the scholarships that I needed to get into college. My father didn’t want me to go, as he wanted me to be the inheritor of his grocery store, something that I had no desire for. I did not want to burden my parents with my college expenses, so my only option was to join the Royal Guards as the princesses were offering to give financial assistance in exchange for four years of duty. While my mother was supportive, my father only half-heartedly accepted it, saying that maybe it would make a stallion out of me by the time I got out.

After my four years were finish, I returned home and worked at my father’s store for about a year. While I was serious with my work around the place, which led him to believe that I had changed my mind, I was secretly applying for many colleges across Equestria. The University of Manehatten accepted me and I had to break the news to my parents. Once again, my mother was supportive, but my father was so furious that he did not even say good-bye to me when I left. I haven’t talked to him since.

My dad, he always had an odd way of showing how much he loved me. Whenever I see other fathers showing their love for their sons by hugging, kissing, and playing with them, I would get envious because my father’s way of showing his love was to have me work in his store whenever I was not in school. He would always treat me as if I was another one of his employees, even when we were not working in the store. But, even then, he would still treat different from the others in the store. Whenever they did a good job with the tasks they were given, he would thank them. I never got that from him, no matter how good of a job I did.

It was really frustrating for me because I know that he was capable of showing love just as much as anypony could. He does it with my mom, with his friends; he even showed his kind side to complete strangers, but never to me. For example, about six months after I joined the Palace Guards, a story about a young pregnant mare that was attacked at knife point in Los Pegasus was all over the news in Equestria. The mare managed to survive because a mysterious young stallion chased the would-be murderer away and carried the pregnant mare to the nearest hospital. The mysterious stallion was hailed by the newspaper as a hero, and my father sang praises along with them. It really made me angry that he would do that for some pony that he never met but ignore me, his own son, completely.

My mother did her best to assure me that he does, indeed, love and care for me, but that was not enough for me. I wanted him to show me that he care, but I doubt he would. He always told me that I was too much of a filly to be asking for any love from him.

My life in the dormitory had been quite an eye opening experience. During the school days, things would be relatively quiet. The ponies that I lived with on the floor were very considerate and nice and I could get some sleep with no problems. However, as soon as the last class on Friday was dismissed, like a switch in their brains, they went from “Student Mode” to “Crazy Ass Mode.”

I couldn’t help but believe that some higher form than Princess Celestia thought it would be hilarious if I live on the floor of the dormitory that had the notorious reputation for being the craziest dorm floor on campus. I only chose the place because it promised a great view of the ocean, which I didn’t get.

Like clockwork, every Friday at exactly 6:30 in the evening, I would hear girls outside of my door discussing what they were going to wear and guys talking about how hammered they were going to get. Some of the guys would talk about how hot some of the girls are and some girls would talk about how hot some of the guys are. And, on some occasions, I would even hear that one guy or girl who would tell his or her friends about how they are going to fuck some guy’s or girl’s brains out. Sometimes, it would cause me to wake up the middle of the night, hearing the sounds of moaning and groining either next door or the floor above me, their beds banging against from all sides. Not wanted to gain the reputation of an old man, I ignored them the best I can as I fail to fall asleep.

Thankfully, those were rare occurrences. These ponies were pretty considerate about other ponies’ sense of privacy. While they didn’t give me the room with the great ocean view, at least they respected my wish of having my own room. I believe my time in that dorm would have been almost unbearable if I bunked with one of those party animals.

At the end of every semester, each dormitory held a raffle in their building. Every name were placed into a hat, giving everypony the chance to win some prizes whether you wanted to or not. Every year, each dorm had their own separate grand prize which was kept secret until some pony won it at the very end. From what I’d heard, these prizes could be pretty expensive, depending on what they could afford at the time. Game systems and big screen television had been given out in the past. Once, they even sent some pony on a cruise. This semester, however, my dormitory had been pretty low on their budget, but they seemed certain that the grand prize, presented as a little white envelope, would please anypony.

Before they could get to the grand prize, they had to give away all of the other prizes, which they had spread out on the front tables. They had pens, sweaters, gift cards, DVDs, games, journals, mini refrigerators, vacuums, a couple of free spa passes, and other nice things. They were all good gifts and it was enough to get me out of the room to join in on the excitement. I figured that I might win one of the lesser prizes, which I wouldn’t mind at all. I may not talk all that much, but I will feel comfortable with the right crowd.

As the night went on and the prizes dwindled, my name continued to not be call. I must admit that my heart was racing as each prize was won by somepony else, moving closer to the grand prize. My name was still in that hat somewhere, hidden along with the hundreds of other potential winners. I wished that they would call out my name so that I would be relieved of this anxiety and get the hell out of there. The atmosphere was rather quiet as I was sure that every pony was thinking the same thing. Soon, we were just a few prizes away from the grand prize; the whole room went dead silent. As they drew out a name, I could hear somepony seizing air through their teeth and letting a flood of it out once the name was called. I wasn’t sure if it was because they were glad that they are still in the game, or if they were angry that they have to live with the torture for just a little bit longer.

Finally, mercy was upon us as they announced the grand prize. As they juggled the strands of paper in the hat, no pony dared to even whisper. As they placed their hand into the nest of names, my heart raced tenfold and I was sure every pony around me could hear it. As they looked at the winner’s name on that thin slip of paper, then they gave their announcement.

“Red Badge!”

All of the ponies let out groins of disappointment but they quickly felt relieved as they were freed from their anxiety. They turned to me to applaud and congratulate. I, on the other hoof, was still in a state of apprehension. It took my mind a few seconds to realize that the name they had called out was my own. I thought that I was imagining it until I saw the envelope floating in front of my face by a unicorn’s magic. I could feel many pairs of eyes on my body as I had become the center of attention. I grabbed the envelope and examined it, but there was nothing written on it. I saw that I wouldn’t be able to escape and enjoy my prize in secret, and considering these ponies were just as curious as I was, I ripped open the envelope and turned it on its side.

A dark blue piece of paper fell into my hand and I heard many ponies around me whispering, and giving me looks that told me that they recognized what the prize was. The mood of the other ponies in the room ranged from excitement to a sense of envy. I turned the paper over and read out loud the elaborate font.

“One Free Pass to the most happening place in Manehatten, the Moonlight Wilderness!”

Immediately, the whole place erupted as the ponies exchanged amazement, envy, and excitement. A couple of them started to bargain with money or whatever for my free pass to this place that I never heard of. However, they were quickly hushed by the rest, all telling me that I should definitely go there myself. They praised the music that was played there, as well as the food and the drinks. They also said that there was a lot of dancing, and some of the hottest mares that anypony could ever meet. Some of them even spoke of a DJ, who happened to be a mare, who dished out some the “sickest” music ever. They said that she was able to set whatever mood she wanted, for any kind of night. They had no adjectives to describe this mystery mare, except for that “she’s hot,” something that was repeated a lot. However, when I asked for her name, they couldn’t tell me which made me feel a little suspicious about their knowledge of the place.

At first, I was apprehensive about going to a place that I hadn’t even know existed until a few minutes ago. What does one do in a night club? Dancing? I rather not. I was beginning to consider trading the ticket for some other prize that would fit better with my personality, but as I was about to make my offer to the crowd, I stared down at the ticket a little bit more. This ticket proclaimed that it would let me into the “happening” place in the city, and I got a little curious as to how they defined “happening.” I did win this and it would be a shame not to use it. Fate had just forced its hand and placed this ticket into my hands. An opportunity like this should not be rejected. Fear normally ruled over me, but my excitement was breaking through its defenses.

I planned tomorrow night for me to visit this Moonlight Wilderness.

Chapter I: The Snow-White Mare

I was surprised to learn that the club was not that far away from the campus. In fact, one of the bus routes went by there. That fact did steel my resolve to, at least, check the place out. I thought it would be simple. If I did not find it to my fancy, I would just leave and wait for the bus or just simply walk back. I did a little research and found that the place opened about a year before and it had received much acclamation for owning its own unique and personal style, something that I would appreciate. Apparently, the owner of the club liked their privacy as much as I do because I could not find a name or personal information about them, but that did not matter to me. Overall, Moonlight Wilderness intrigued me enough to making me wanting to go. Who knows, I thought, I may end up liking it.

Satisfied with it, I looked through my wardrobe to see what I could wear. I pulled out a black plaid long-sleeved buttoned down shirt and wore it over my white undershirt. I settled on some light khaki pants over my usual blue jeans because I felt that I should be a bit classier for this kind of place. I looked over myself one more time in the mirror to see if I look presentable. I ran my hand over my short, red mane and straightened my small rectangular glasses resting on my nose in the middle of my beige face. I turned to my side and see my red, ankle-length tail and figured that I looked good enough. Happy with the results, I grabbed for my gray jacket and left.

The weather outside was unusually warm for winter, but there was a cold nip as a strong wind blew across campus from the ocean. Walking out of the building, I came across the large group of ponies still waiting for the bus to take them away again for one last time before Winter Break. When they saw me they made many catcalls, saying how they wished that they were in my hooves. My victory at the raffle yesterday made me somewhat of a celebrity at the dorm. The ponies all kept telling me that they, through a friend’s friend or any number of them, that everything about the club was like some kind of magical place, where everypony was cool with each other as they let the music soothe and excite them at the same time. The name, Moonlight Wilderness, convey some sort of mixture of peaceful existence and wild imagination that I found somewhat poetic. But, I was not going to let any amount of hype to convince me of what kind of place I should be expecting. I was just hoping that tonight would be a good night; nothing more, nothing less.

I sat at the front of the bus, looking out of the windshield so I would not miss it. As the bus turned off the route that I normally took to go into the city, my heart was getting louder as I could hear it drumming inside of my ears. It was then that I realized what I was doing, that I was going to an unfamiliar and uncharted territory for me to explore. I slouched back into my seat and try to calm my mind, but it was fruitless. Thoughts kept swimming around as images of me trying to act cool, when, in fact, I was acting like a fucking idiot appeared to me like movies. Several times I almost pulled down the cord to tell the bus driver that I wanted off. But, I sat over my hands to keep myself from reaching up. I told myself that I was going to do this, forcing myself to do this. I could hear my father’s voice shouting from the back of my head, telling me that I couldn’t do this, that I was a big fucking filly. I pushed him back into the recess of my brain to silence him. He was the last thing I needed to hear that night.

I took big breaths to calm my nerves, which did help a little. I kept repeating myself under my breath that I was going to do this, that it’ll be painless. I was going to get in and stay for a couple of hours. Maybe even dance, but I doubted it. And, when I get my fill, I would just get out and head back to campus where, I was sure, many ponies were impatiently waiting for me to tell them what the place really was like.
As the bus made its next turn, huge lights shined from the large building up ahead. As we got closer, I could read Moonlight Wilderness flashing in neon blue and white. A large crowd of ponies gathered underneath it, extending out into the street. I knew that I had arrived at my destination. I hesitantly pulled the cord down and the bus stopped just a few yards away from the huge crowd. I exited the bus and watched it leave me to fend for myself in this strange and new environment.

I looked over at the crowd, all of them looking much different than what I had anticipated. It was almost as if I had just stepped onto another planet. Many of the ponies had turned their manes into giant spikes that lined up in the middle of their heads in various different colors. Some had piercings in their eyebrows, nose, cheeks, and lips, or a whole line of them. One mare, who caught me looking at her, stuck out her tongue to show me the bolt that went through it. I just smiled and continued with my examination. I couldn’t tell what clothing they had as their coats or jackets hid them from me, but another mare was more than happy to show me what she was hiding underneath her big coat as she opened both folds to reveal that she wore a pink bikini suit that matched her natural coat so well that it appeared almost invisible. The crowd cheered at the exhibition she gave, but I turned to walk away, my face flushing really badly.

It was getting a bit too much for me to handle. My heart was attacking my rib cage like a lion trying to get. I wanted to get out of there myself, but I forced my legs to stop. I couldn’t understand why I was so afraid, why I wanted to get out of there. But, I had no reason for wanting to come here, other than that I had won a ticket at the stupid raffle. I told myself that I did not belong here, that I never should have come here. I did not understand why I even wanted to attempt something like this when it was clear as the flashing sign behind me that I do belong in this world, just as my father kept telling me that I did not belong anywhere but in Ponyville and that damn store of his. Might as well, since I did not have the balls to go do anything else, or that I was such a pussy and that I was more of a mare than a stallion, or that I was an embarrassment to him whenever I make the slightest mistake in front of him, or that I was not the son that he wanted me to be. What sort of achievement could I obtained by just staying for an hour or so at this night club? What was it that would convince me that my father was completely, not just 100% but an infinity percent, wrong about me? Could I actually find that in a place like this? So, I just waited there, waiting for a reason, any reason, for me to get inside the Moonlight Wilderness.

“Somepony stop that motherfucker!”

I picked my head up, almost thinking that this pony was referring to me. I looked and heard the crowd cursing as they were pushed to the side until a young stallion broke through them. He stumbled, but regained his footing and he sprinted down toward me. I saw his hand pulling out of something that was in his other hand. Almost immediately afterward, another pony broke through from the crowd, a white mare with a blue mane.

“Hey, stop him!” she shouted at me, pointing at the sprinting stallion. “He just stole my fucking wallet!”

I looked at the stallion and he looked at me. The white mare started to give chase, but there was no way she could catch up to him in time. His eyes was concentrating on getting the hell out of there, not even noticing I was there in front of him. Just before he past me, I extended my hoof out and caught one of his legs. I may be very shy, but that does not mean that I would just let some crime be committed if I could help it. I had to learn that lesson the hard way.

He fell down with a slam and slid a bit before stopping. The wallet flew out of his hand, landing just a couple of yards away. I left him there groaning to retrieve the wallet, which the white mare arrived at his side. She started kicking him in the stomach and groin and, from the sound of the impacts, convinced me that she was ready to break a bone or two.

“You fucking piece of shit!” she yelled at him, keeping him down on the sidewalk as she laid out her punishment. “I otta rip off your nuts and feed them to the squirrels so you don’t spread your shitty DNA all over Equestria!”

I quickly grabbed the wallet and ran up to her, wrapping my arms up underneath her armpits from behind and pulled her away. She was very light and about a half a foot shorter than me. She kicked the air, demanding that I should let her go so she can kill him.

“Easy, easy,” I said to her. “I’ve got your wallet.” I showed it to her as I released her. She calm down as she abandoned her will to kill and snatched her wallet out of my hand. I took a step back, thinking that she may explode again.

The wannabe thief slowly got up, but took his time as he continued to moan. The mare opened up her wallet and started counting her bits to make sure that all were there. I quickly grabbed the thief by the arm, which he tried to pull away but I gripped him tighter.

“Get your fucking hands off me!” he yelled, but I responded by twisting his arm behind his back, which made him squeal like a little filly.

“Look, buddy,” I said to him in my guard's voice, something that I had not used since I left Canterlot. “If you have any bits that don’t belong to you, I suggest that you give them back to the lady over there before she finish her counting.”

“Dude, I don’t have any on me!”

“Alright. I hope that you’re telling the truth,” I told him, giving him my best intimidation that I could without letting him see my uneasiness.
Soon, I turned my focus on the white mare, seeing that she is a unicorn with her horn protruding up through her frazzle and wild aqua mane extended down to her neck. Her tail swished back and forth, sweeping the snow next to her black pants that complimented her slender legs as they hug her thighs and calves. She wore a black jacket with the front open, showing a black top that wrapped around her bust, leaving her stomach exposed, showing off some small jewelry shining from her belly button. Her hands were covered in, guess what, black glovelettes, with her fingers free from the cloth and extended up along her arm and disappeared into the sleeves of her jacket. A pair of pretty expensive looking headphones rested around her neck. They were white.

With a snap, her wallet closed and she pointed her accusing glare at the thief with her arms crossed. “There are four bits missing,” she said with a tone chillier than the air around us.

“Oh, come on!” the thief exasperated.

I didn’t want to question her, but I didn’t want her to continue with her punishment. “Are you sure that you have bits missing?” I asked her.

She gave me an angry look that I thought she was going to kick me instead. “I counted each and every one before I left my apartment! So, I think I should know how much I have in my damn wallet!” I tried to calm her down, but she kept going, screaming at the both of us. “I’ll be damn if I’m going to let this asshole get away with my money!”

“Get the fuck off my ass, bitch!” the thief screamed at her. “It’s just four fucking bits!”

“Which I fucking earned every last one of them, you fucker!”

“SHUT UP, THE BOTH OF YOU!” I yelled. The two of them shut their mouths and turned their attention towards me. I turned to the mare, enforcing some authority over the situation. “Just calm down, Miss,” I told her. “But, if you try to kick him again, I’ll make sure that you are arrested along with him for assault. Is that understood?”

She could have just asked me for some identification, but my demeanor was convincing enough that she took a couple of steps back. She re-crossed her arms again and waited for me. I turned my attention to the thief.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” I told him. “I know you’re lying. I saw you pulled your hand out of her wallet as you were running towards me. Not a very smart idea. Now, if you would give the four bits back to her, I promise to let you go and you can be on your way.” I had to stop to silence the mare’s protest. “But, if you don’t, I’ll call the police and you get to spend the night in jail. What’s it going to be?”

He took a look at the mare, who continued to give him the death glare. After a few seconds, he relented. “They’re in the right pocket.”

I nodded and reached into it and pulled out the four bits. I handed them to the mare, which she half-heartedly accepted. As promised, I released him and he was on his way, empty-handed.

“You know he’s gonna try again,” she said to me as she returned her bits back into her wallet.

“I know,” I admitted. “Maybe he’ll learn his lesson after this.”

“Don’t count on it,” she shook her head as she pushed her wallet into her pocket inside of her jacket. “Thanks, anyway.” Her face finally softened, giving a kind tone to her look. She gave me a small smile, which made my heart fluttered a bit. As I took a closer look at her, she was the prettiest mare that I had ever seen. The outfit she wore had made her appear rather exotic in my eyes as I had never seen a mare look like her, or even come close.

I didn’t realize that I was dropping my Royal Guard demeanor. “I…uh…yeah, sure.” I scratched the back of my head, starting to feel so stupid that that was all I could say to her, even after what I had just done. It was high school all over again for me.

“Were you trying to get inside the club?” she asked.

I was a bit taken aback by the question, but I immediately answered her. “Oh, uh…yes. Yes, I was.” I could feel my face burning up.

She eyed my clothes, looking up and down my body like a bemused judge staring at a defendant on trial. Her smile went coy as she placed a finger on her lips as if to keep them shut from laughing.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked her, feeling her eyes crawling on me.

“No,” she answered. She looked at my face, with that smile still there. “I just never saw anypony who was as dressed up as you are coming to this place.”

I looked down at my outfit and compared it to her and saw the distinction. Next to her, I looked as if I was going to some business meeting across the city. “Oh,” was all I could say as I could feel my embarrassment rising. I tried to find something more interesting than her dark red eyes, but it was hard as I found them rather intoxicating. “It’s not good enough, huh?” I finally said, feeling a bit defeated.

“No, no, it’s fine,” she shook her head, trying to reassure me. “Course, you may not be able to convince the guards to let you in.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s a pretty exclusive place. In order to get in, you need to have some kind of invitation, or convince somepony to let you in as a guest.”

“Huh.” I couldn’t believe that I missed that information. Then, an uneasy thought occurred to me. “Wait. Then, how does one get invited into this club?”

“Well, usually, the owner of the club, whose identity shall remain secret,” she told me in her cupped hand, “would just randomly pick names in a phone book and send out invitations all over Equestria. If that pony does not want it, they could just give it to somepony else. It’s usually used as a free pass, just to see if that pony may like it or not. Then, they could get a membership card if they wish to continue visiting.”

“I see.” I start to figure out that the ticket I had with me was one of those invitations. “Then, what are those ponies doing?”

“Them?” she turned to the large crowd, which looked like it grew a bit with more ponies arriving. “They usually come here and wait, hoping to grab somepony who is a member here to let them in. Sad, really.”

After I nodded, I quickly pulled out my ticket and showed it to her. “Is this the ticket that you were talking about?”

She took a closer look at it, making sure that it was not some counterfeit. “Yeah, that does look like the real deal.” Then, her face changed to show that something was wrong. “Uh-oh.”

“What?” I asked.

She looked up at me, her face almost apologetic. “I forgot to mention that these tickets do have expiration dates.”

My heart nearly dropped as I pulled the ticket away, looking at it accusingly. She pointed at the bottom right hand corner, where it said that the ticket become expired after last night.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me?” I was dumbstruck by this. “I don’t…” I was at a loss for words as I crumbled up the useless piece of paper and threw it into the trash, letting out a frustrating growl. “I actually won this at a stupid raffle last night,” I told her, not sure why but she seemed to be attentive. I shook my head in sheer disbelief. I had come out here, in the freezing cold, at night, away from the last of my studies, for nothing. I was ready to walk away, to get the hell out before I embarrassed myself further in front of this beautiful mare.

“Do you still want to go in?”

I turned to look at her, who had a smirk on her face as she looked at me.

I just threw my arms into the air. “I can’t if I don’t have a way to get in.”

“I didn’t ask you if you can,” she said, moving closer to me. “I asked if you want to.”

I looked back at her as she pushed her body towards mine. I would have ended up in the street if it weren’t for the trash can blocking my path. Her face was so close to mine that I could only see her deep, fiery red eyes. My breath was leaving me and I couldn’t seem to bring it all back.

I was about to say “No,” but my tongue was numbed to that word. Just the way she was staring at me was almost like a tigress getting ready to pounce on her prey before she could let it get away. I could feel my heart pounding and my legs wanting to take me away as far away as it can, but a sense of desire within me overruled it. As I stared into those eyes, which I don’t know if I was imagining it or it was just wishful thinking on my part, I couldn’t help but to notice a bit of longing showcasing to me. And, all of a sudden, I didn’t want to be alone tonight. For the first time in my life, I felt more afraid of being alone.

“Y-Y-Yes,” I whispered my answer, my voice cracking from the cool air.

Satisfied, she grabbed my hand and pulled me along. “Come on, let’s go,” she said, giggling at my sudden reluctance.

“Hey, what are you doing?” I called out, confused by her action.

“Repaying the favor,” she answered as she looked back at me. “You helped me, I help you.” We both arrived at the edge of the crowd as I stopped next to her.

“What are you talking about?”

She turned her head and cocked an eyebrow as if I had just asked the stupidest question. “I’m gonna let you in, duh.”

“But-” she halted my protest with her one finger pressed upon my lips. They felt hot to the touch as she looked at me straight into my eyes as if she was figuring me out as I was with her.

“Just let me do all the talking, okay?” she gave me a playful wink before she took my hand again and started to pull. But, I stopped her.

“Wait-” I tried to say, but she interrupted me, her voice getting a little harsher.

“Fine, if you don’t want to go in, you could have just-”

I stopped her with my two fingers on her lips, which they felt soft and moist, which I was surprised by my action as she was as her eyes looked down at them. I pulled them away quickly, thinking that I had just violated her space, but she did not show it as she waited for me to speak.

“It’s not that,” I began, my heart pounding a million miles a second. I felt as if I was going to pass out into the cold ground. “I just…I would like to know your name, if you don’t mind.”

She apparently didn’t as she gave me a sweet smile. “Sure,” she extended out her hand for me to take. “I’m Vinyl Scratch.”

I took it and we shook. “Nice to meet you. I’m Red Badge.”

“A pleasure,” she curtly nodded, and then she turned around, pulling me as she swam through the crowd, with me faithfully behind her.
“Hey, Vinyl,” a stallion called out. “Don’t tell me that you’re taking that guy in with ya?”

“Yeah,” another stallion called out, who we had just passed by. “Why picked this shrimp when you could have a stallion like me?”

“Yeah, some stallion who couldn’t stop a simple thief from getting away,” she called him out, which the whole crowd gave their satisfaction with jeers. “Besides,” she continued, “I think he’s rather cute.” She turned her head back at me and gave me a truthful wink, which I turned away to hide my blush and my smile. This was the first time that a girl actually gave me a compliment like that and it made my body feel like it wanted to fly.

We made it to the front, where a large, black stallion stood blocking the entrance with several other guards. I don’t think the two of us, with her standing on my shoulders, would have been enough to even match his height.

“Hey, Big Shot,” Vinyl greeted him with a cheerful wave. I thought about greeting him with a simple wave, but I decided against it. The look he gave to me felt as if they could squash me like an ant if I did something to offend him.

As he turned to Vinyl, however, his features relaxed. “Hey there, girl,” his voice sounded gruff. “What are you doing here? I thought that you won’t be working till next week.”

She works here, I thought. I looked at her as if she had been lying to me. She must have caught it as she gave me a quick glance. She gave me a quick squeeze of her hand before turning back to the large guard. I dropped the issue there, figuring that it did not matter.

“Yeah, well, I got a little bored and I figured I could pass the time here,” she said.

He gave her a single nod before he turned his attention to me. I felt myself shrinking under his deadly gaze. “And, you are?”

I was about to answer, or tried to at least, when Vinyl jumped in. “This guy here,” she gave me a light pat on my chest with her other hand, “saved me from starving and possibly me losing my new apartment.”

He didn’t give his nod to me, almost as if he was not easily impressed by anything unless it was warranted. “Do you have an invitation?”

I actually thought that was the end of it until Vinyl jumped in again. “I’m vouching for him. He’s my guest.”

He went silent, as if contemplating, but he soon stepped aside to make a pathway to the green doors behind him. “Alright. But, you know the rules,” he threatened. “If he wants to come in again, he needs to buy a pass inside before he takes one step out. After that, you can’t vouch for him again.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know,” she waved at his threats as if they were flies. “Now, will you let us in? We’re freezing our tails off out here.”
He gave another curt nod and we went pass him. I looked behind in time to see him falling back into his place, causing the crowd to erupt in a whole series of “boo’s”

“Oh, don’t worry about them,” Vinyl said. “They’ll be gone before you know it.”

When she opened the door, I thought I was about to be blasted out into the street because that was the heaviest music I had ever heard in my life.

Chapter II: First Impressions

The music pounded against my entire body like it was trying to push me out of its domain. I vainly covered my ears to protect them from the huge sound, but it hardly muffled it as it continued with its attack. I looked over at the mare and see her lips moving, but I couldn’t make out her words.

“What?” I screamed at her.

She moved her mouth closer to my shielded ear. “I said ‘Too loud?’”

“Can’t you tell?”

She grabbed my arm and tried to pull it away from my head. “Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it.”

I slowly let my ears get accustomed to the loudness of the music (I was doubting if it was music at the time), but I could feel its weight banging straight into my brain. “Sure, when I become deaf.”

She continued to drag me down the long concourse that laid out in front of us. The neon green ceiling domed over the blue flooring, radiating its color over the ponies that walked, conversed, and kissed along the length. She took me over to a spot on the right where a young mare danced along with the music behind the counter. She instantly recognized Vinyl as the two mares waved and hugged each other across the bar.

“How you been?” the mare asked Vinyl.

“I’m doing good!” Vinyl answered as she started to remove her jacket. As she did, I could see that it was a tube top she was wearing underneath. Her shoulders were bare and her white fur extended down her arms to where the long black gloves began at her elbows. Her back was completely nude save for a single strap that held her top in place. It was not wide, only a good finger’s width and it pushed up a small gathering of her fur where it hugged tight against her illuminating body.

“Your jacket?” I brought my eyes up and found her looking at me with a suspicious, yet sly look. I quickly shook from my daze and hurriedly removed my jacket and handed it to her. As she gave it to the girl, the two giggled. I turned my head away to hide the blush forming on my cheeks as I thought that they were talking about me and the possibility that I was checking her out.

I might as well be naked in the place as I felt stupid for wearing the outfit I had as I studied what the other ponies were wearing and I quickly came to the conclusion that I was not appropriately dressed, so to speak, for this sort of venue. There were some ponies that wore clothing that were more revealing than what Vinyl had on. I wanted to get out of there and take my losses, but I felt myself trapped and I did not know what had ensnared me. I doubted that it was the music, though I soon found myself bobbing my head along to the beat. I had never heard anything like that before and wondered what kind of instruments was used to create those elaborate and alien notes.

Vinyl grabbed my hand and continued to drag me down the long concourse. She refused to let go as if I would run out of the place if she did. I doubt myself that I could as my hand was warm from her touch. It definitely felt much nicer than the cold night air outside. I quickly caught up with her and we walked down the corridor side by side. Even then, she never let go of my hand.

“So, you work here?” I asked her curiously.

“Yeah,” she answered. “Three guesses as to what I do here.” She smiled slyly as if I wouldn’t be able to figure it out.

“Alright.” I quickly gave the first thing that popped into my head as my first guess. “Waitress?”

She laughed as if it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. “Yeah, as if I could be a waitress with my temper, right?”

Remembering earlier with the thief, I silently acknowledged her assessment as I thought again. As we moved closer, I could see beams of light shooting everywhere at the end of the tunnel. It gave me another idea. “Are you some kind of technician here?”

She pressed her finger under her chin as she considered my qusai-second guess. “I guess you could say that. And, I won’t count that against you,” she graciously said.

“Well, do you work on the lights or something like that?”

She shook her head. “They help me with what I do, but no.” She smiled at me, knowing that I only had one chance of getting the right answer. She looked as if there was prize if I guessed it right.

I was ready to give up as the loud music was starting to give me a headache when I suddenly remembered how there was supposed to be a beautiful DJ that work here. I looked at her and one look over her headphones still over her shoulders gave me the clue that I needed. “You’re a DJ, aren’t you?”

“Ding, ding, ding, ding!” she giggled. “How’d you figured it out?”

I pointed to her black headphones. “Finally noticed them, huh?” she continued to tease me.

“They looked really expensive.”

“Two thousand bits, and worth every last one of them. Now, it’s my turn to guess.” She studied me real quick before she gave her answer. “Are you a cop?”

“No,” I answered bluntly.

“Really? Could have fooled me after the way you stallion-handled that guy.” She took a couple of seconds to think, which I started to believe that she was just guessing the first thing that came to her mind. “Are you one of those special forces guys I keep hearing about in Canterlot.”

“No,” I said, “but I was in Canterlot.”

“Good. Then I’m on the right track.”

“But, you only have one guess left,” I teased her.

She didn’t seem fazed by it. “That’s more than enough.” She focused her eyes on me more as if she was trying to read my mind, which I wondered if she could. As a unicorn, she can do magic and I had seen unicorns used mind reading spells that I found rather freaky.

“Oh, I know,” she released her hold of my hand and stood in front of me to stop our walk. “You’re one of those crazy martial arts masters who lived up the mountains to study the ancient arts of Equestrian Kung Fu to defeat Equestria’s foes! Hai-ya!” She posed in her best martial arts stance as if she was ready to fight me in the middle of the corridor.

I only looked at her as if she had just gone crazy all of the sudden, which she quickly dropped her stance. “I guess that wasn’t it, huh?”

“You’re on a one-way ticket to the Crystal Empire you’re so cold,” I answered her.

“Well, shit,” she snapped her fingers as she consented to her defeat. “There goes my three guesses. Course, you don’t have anything on you that could tell me what you are.”

“Well, that’s because the answer is that I used to being a Palace Guard.”

Her eyes went big and her lips parted to form a small hole in her mouth as she stared at me with surprise. “You were a Palace Guard?”

“Yeah. Four years.”

“Wow,” she said, clearly impressed by it. “I’ve heard that it was pretty hard to become a guard for the two princesses.”

“It was admittedly hard, but once you learned the secrets, it wasn’t really that bad.”

We continued walking down the concourse side-by-side. She wasn’t holding my hand anymore, but she didn’t need to. I was willfully following her where we both exchanged brief looks that held hints of intimacy as I found myself really liking the mare and her carefree attitude. I hadn’t realized then that she had an invisible hold on me as we finally made it to the main part of the building, the dance hall.

I didn’t know what I was expecting, but I never believed that the place would be as huge as I saw it in front of me. The first thing that caught my attention was the hundreds of lights that flew all over the dark blue atmosphere. Some of them pointed into my eyes, blinding me momentarily. Some parts were using strobe lights, lighting up as if taking pictures. Where we were standing was on the second level of the club, where a walkway swerved on both sides of us down to the first level, where the huge dance floor , which was lighted up with several colors underneath the hundreds of feet of the dancer joined together to lose themselves in this music that I was still getting used to. Along the walkway, many tables were occupied by different groups of ponies, some large group of friends, some just couples. Over to our right there was a bar that situated itself from the walkway on its own flooring. Over to our left, there was a section, much like the bar, that served as a dining area. On the opposite of us where we entered, there was a large part of the wall that was completely bare, which I found to me rather odd as there were no decorations on it. And, because of my ignorance of dance clubs, I did not notice the absence of a DJ stand where Vinyl would play her music. It was hidden and will only appear when it needed to. There was nowhere for me to escape from the sights and sounds that hammered into my brain. I felt like my brain was about to get overloaded from all of these epileptic nonsense.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Vinyl asked.

I was hesitant with my response. “I…guess.” I could not begin to think of what to make out of a place like this. She grabbed my hand again and took me to the left walkway. I actually squeezed her hand tight, afraid that I would lose my life saver and get lost in this sea of chaos.

“I’m feeling a little hungry,” she said. “You want something to eat? My treat.”

“Yeah, sure.”

We walked over to one of the tables near the railing so that I could get a clear view of the dance floor below us. I could see that it was not filled to its capacity, but Vinyl assured me that the night was still young and that more ponies will be joining in soon. I couldn’t help but think that she was implying that we’ll be joining in sometime soon as well. I was secretly dreading it.

A waitress came by and gave Vinyl a hug in hello. When the waitress looked at me, she smilingly whispered into Vinyl’s ear, causing her to laugh. I blushed as I wondered what she was saying about me and I tried to look down at the ponies dancing below us, trying to find them more interesting. They looked so carefree, like the world did not matter to them right then. How anypony could think like that even if it was only for a few minutes, I wondered.

“Hey, Red Badge!”

I turned my eyes to Vinyl and found the waitress was patiently waiting for me, an amused smile on her face. I only ordered water which she wrote down and left the two of us alone.

“I only ordered some preztals. I hope you don’t mind,” Vinyl said.

“No, that's fine.”

“So, how do you like the place so far?”

I gave a quick look around and try to find a word that would sum up everything that the Moonlight Wilderness was showing me. I realized that no word that I know of could do justice of what I felt about it, positive or negative. I gave up, saying that I don’t have an opinion at the moment. She accepted it and we went quiet, letting the music keep our silence from becoming too uncomfortable.

As we waited for our drinks, I would risk a glance at her swayed her upper body rhythmically to the music, which, most likely, she had produced and the ponies down at the dance floor are dancing to. Even though she appeared herself somewhat playful, if not childish, I could definitely sense a form of strong maturity within her. She seemed already content with her life right now, being the DJ of a very popular night club. While I, on the other hoof, just started his first year of college, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I felt as if I was at a fork in the road, indecisive in what path I wanted to take while not knowing their destinations.

As I stared at her lustrous snow-white face, I wondered why she would treat me like this, a complete stranger that she had only met out on the street not ten minutes ago. I wondered what she could be thinking about me after knowing the information she had just learned. She seemed kind enough, but I didn’t believe that it was anything much stronger than that out of her thanking the stallion who had helped her. As she said, she was paying me back. Nothing more, nothing less. But, there was that foolish hope that kept my brain active that tonight would be somewhat different, maybe a little bit more. I hadn’t realized just how different it would get.

She turned her head at me and gave me a conscientious smile. I couldn’t help but to smile back at her as my face burn with the simple pleasure that she was giving her attention to me.

“So,” Vinyl started, “you said that you were a palace guard?”

“Yes,” I answered quickly.

“And, you’re out?”

“For about a year and a half now.”

“So, what do you do now?”

“College. Just finishing up my first semester here.”

“At the University of Manehatten?”

I nodded, feeling rather optimistic about myself.

“Well, that makes us enemies.”

I looked up, surprised by her choice of words. Before I could ask, the waitress had arrived with the basket of pretzels and our drinks, a glass of water for me and a shot glass for her, which it was accompanied by a bottle of whiskey which the waitress slammed on the table as if to relieve the weight.

“Enemies?” I asked her, still confused.

“Yeah. I graduated from the University of Los Pegasus a couple of years back.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling a bit silly. Our two universities are rivals in terms of sports teams that I never paid much attention to. “Well, what was your degree?”

She poured herself a glass of the liquor. “Business.”

I gave her a cocked eyebrow at her peculiar answer. She caught it as she smiled, knowing what I was thinking. “Yeah, yeah, I don’t blame you. I get that look all the time. If it makes it a little more believable, I also minored in Music.” She took a sip, her smile still on her face. I just accepted it, still somewhat surprised by her answer. “What about you? What are majoring in?”

I was a bit hesitant with my answer. “Film studies.”

“Really?” she immediately took interest with my answer. “You know, I actually took one of those classes to complete my graduation requirements. Man, that was tough. I barely made it through.”

“Yeah,” I said. I was rather uncomfortable about talking about it because I wasn’t entirely sure about my choice of studies, even though I fully enjoyed it.

“You don’t sound too happy about it.”

“It’s just…” I paused a bit, wondering if she wanted to hear more of it, but she seemed interested so I continued. “My dad…he wasn’t too fond of the idea of me being a film major. In fact, he doesn’t want me to go to college anyway. He said to me that I might as well be a major in uselessness.”

“Geez,” she said, eating some pretzels. “That’s pretty harsh.”

“We sorta have a love-hate relationship. More so on the hate side.”

We went silent, me regretting about mentioning my father, and I was sure she was, too, about asking. We ate our pretzels in silence while the music could only fill up what the uncomfortable air hadn’t filled.

“So,” she began again, “did you ever met with the princesses?”

I accepted the new subject. “Yeah, on a regular basis.”

“What were they like?”

I smiled as the many images that I got to see behind the scenes as they flashed in my mind. “That’s confidential. Believe it or not, I had been sworn to secrecy to never tell anypony of what I had seen during my four years in Canterlot.”

“Aww, no fair,” she said in a playful remark. “Now I’m dying to know what goes on behind those palace doors.”

“Well, whatever rumors you’ve heard, about 99.999% of them are completely false.”

“Well, what about the other 0.001% of the rumors?” she smiled devilishly.

“Highly exaggerated.”

We laughed, glad to have kept the ice from forming between us as I relax and started to enjoy her company. I had never been given the chance to spend time with a girl like her or to actually act calm around one. It felt really nice to be free of this anxiety that had plagued me for nearly all of my life, to feel as if I was being myself in front of her, and she seemed to enjoy it as well.

“I only met Princess Celestia during the Summer Sun Celebration a few years back, when I was finishing my first year of college. I found her to be very regal but I could sense a bit of playfulness about her. But, I was very surprised that she knew my name, even though that was the first time I’ve ever met her.”

“Yeah, I was there myself, in Los Pegasus,” I said. A burning memory came flashing, a darker image that I didn’t want to see again. To see that stallion holding his bloodied knife as he hovered over that poor mare as she was bleeding. I quickly pushed that image from my mind, but I know that could never be able to delete it.

“Are you okay?” she asked, noticing my uneasy look.

“Uh, yeah, I’m fine. Just…” That memory had been bothering me ever since it had happened, almost six months after I became a Palace Guard. It was something that a stallion from a small town of Ponyville would never see in his lifetime unless he was very unfortunate to witness such a thing. And the guilt that came with it because I was a stupid kid. I looked at her and she had an inquisitive look on her face. I quickly wave the conversation away, figuring that it doesn’t matter to bring up a subject like that. I didn’t want it to ruin the evening if I could help it. “Forget it.”

Thankfully, she shrugged her shoulders in acceptance and continued to pour whiskey into her shot glass. “You want a little taste of it?” she asked.

“I’m not a drinking pony,” I answered.

“Well, how about one drink?” she offered. “It’s good.”

I gave in, nodding my head. I did feel like I was stiff as a board and still felt anxious around her. She slid the glass across the table, turning the glass 180 degrees so that the part where she drank from was facing me. I looked at her somewhat accusingly, that I had figured out what she had done. She smiled innocently as she tried not to laugh at my accusing glare, which was turning playful as I smiled.

I picked up the glass, a little hesitant to bring the rim to my mouth. I started to sip a bit, but Vinyl stopped me. “Don’t sip it,” she warned. “You need to swing it down. Let it drop down into your throat like a waterfall. Otherwise, you’ll have that alcohol aftertaste that’ll stay with you for the rest of the night.”

I took her advice, figuring that it sounded almost like when I had to swing some bad tasting medicine when I was a kid. Without thinking, I tipped the glass and I could feel that burning liquid flowing down my throat like a wildfire. Once it was empty, I slammed the glass down on the table, coughing from the burning sensation that lingered on my tongue as I made a grab for my water, downing half a glass to get the taste out.

Vinyl covered her mouth but she failed to suppress her laughter at my stupidity. But, I could tell that she was not laughing at me, but with me as I joined in with her. She reached out for my hand, placing hers on top of mine and giving it a little squeeze as she continued to giggle. I gently squeezed her little fingers back in return as a thank you for this already nice night that was only the precursor to what was about to happen as the night continued.

Chapter III: Hacking my Heart

We talked for a while about anything that popped into our heads or that was led from previous conversations. We laughed and joked about some of our funny stories, like her stories about her days in college and mine about the time I was in the Palace Guards. Sometimes, she would reach out and placed her hand on top of mine, which I graciously accepted it as a sign of acceptance, and I was starting to feel very comfortable around her as I had never felt before with another mare.

“Yo, Vinyl!” a female voice shouted next to our table. We looked up and, standing next to us, three mares stood over, all looking at Vinyl with recognizing looks. The one in front, a pink earth pony with a curly mane, wore a short black skirt with a purple blouse with the top three buttons unconnected so that much of her bust was revealed. Behind her was a blue unicorn with a blue and white mane and she was wearing a flowery dress as if she was going on a picnic that stopped just a few inches above her knees and carried a flower in her mane up against her right ear. The third pony was a pegasus with a light purple coat, with a white mane with a pink bow in it. She wore a tie-dye tank top with blue jeans with huge rips and holes in them along down her legs.

“Berry Punch! Minuette! Flitter!” Vinyl greeted each one individually with hugs as they kissed each others’ cheeks. “How are you girls doing? I’m so glad that you could make it!”

The four of them started talking, which, from what I could get out of it, was that the three were friends that she had made when she first moved here from Los Pegasus. I ignored them as they catch up while I just listen to the music.

“Hey, Red Badge,” Vinyl shook my shoulder to get my attention. “I want you to meet my friends.” She introduced them to me one at a time, which all of the mares greeted me warmly. “This guy here is my hero,” she said as she patted my shoulder. “He stopped some dumbass thief from taking my money.”

Her friends gave their approval with praises and coos, which made me blush as I tried to turn away to hide my embarrassment.

“Aww, he’s shy,” Flitter said as the mare giggled.

“You sure know to pick them, Vin,” Berry said. “This is, what, the second time that you were rescued by a stallion? Only this time, you got a face to go with the hero.”

“Berry,” Minuette lightly chided the mare. “Ix-nay on the ero-hay.”

“What?” Berry said. “That was so long ago that I’m sure most ponies have forgotten about it.”

I was a bit struck by that statement and wondered what she meant by that. Vinyl, however, shushed the mare up, clearly not impressed by Berry’s outburst.

“Sorry,” Minuette apologized for the mare. “She had a few before we even arrived here.”

Vinyl relaxed, a smile forming on her face as if she knew exactly what the blue unicorn meant. “Typical.”

“Hey, the hell’s does that mean?” Berry challenged.

“Hey, Vinyl,” Flitter chimed in, “would you mind playing some of that new music you were working on?”

Vinyl, to my surprise, looked at her friends with some nervousness. “Oh, I don’t know,” Vinyl said, scratching her mane. “I think it’s a bit too early. Besides, I not too sure about it.”

“Oh, come on. You were always like this, and each one has been a huge hit in the club, right?”

“Yeah, but…” she gave a small giggle. “I guess I’m still not used to ponies calling me a ‘musical genius’ all the time.”

“So, are you going to play it?” Minuette jumped in.

“Sure,” Vinyl nodded. “But, on one condition.” She pointed at me, which I looked at her with confusion. “I want you girls to show him a good time as his reward for helping me.”

“What?” I cried.

“Is that all?” Berry said, looking at me like a predator that had cornered her prey. “Too easy.”

“Alright, then. He’s all yours.”

Vinyl was about to walk away, leaving me alone with her three friends, who all looked at me as though they were going to rip me apart. I quickly got up from my seat and grabbed her hand, stopping her from abandoning me. She turned to me, a bit surprised by my action.

I tried to talk, but my mouth only spoke in gibberish as I tried to control my mouth and tongue to communicate my feelings about what she was doing to me, that I did not want to separate from her. Not because I was frightened out of my mind, but because I just want to be with her, even though I couldn’t explain why. I wasn’t even sure what the hell I was thinking.

But, before I could form the first word, she pressed her lips up against mine to silence me. My whole, entire body went solid like stone as she electrified my brain from that warm and luscious touch that she was giving me. My lungs froze, refusing to breathe and my eyes were focused on her red eyes as they stared right back at me, and I could see that longing return and it drew me in closer to her as I slowly started to return her kiss. The moment ended with a small smack as she released from me. I breathed heavily through my mouth as I stared at the white unicorn, who slowly formed that coy smile.

“Don’t be afraid,” she spoke in a soft and encouraging voice. “Just enjoy yourself.” She then moved her head next to mine, resting her chin on my left shoulder as she moved her mouth to my ear. “I’ll join you down there soon,” she whispered. She walked away down the ramp, giving me one last wink as she disappeared into the crowd.

“Hey there, lover boy,” Berry tapped me on the shoulder to grab my attention. I turned around to find Vinyl’s three marefriends all looking at me. Their expression had softened, making me feel a little comforting to be around them, but I was already missing Vinyl. “So, what you think of her?”

I turned back to search for Vinyl, but she was nowhere to be found. I looked back to her friends and started to come up with an answer as her kiss and words lingered in my mind. “She’s…unique.”

“Yeah, she definitely is,” Berry said, slapping me on the shoulder.

“She can be pretty headstrong, especially with the colts and stallions,” Minuette joined in, standing next to me. “The fact that you are on her good side showed that you are doing something right.”

“I wouldn’t know that.” I rubbed my lips as I could still taste her. I turned towards Berry, remembering something that she had just said. “Excuse, Miss Berry?”

She looked at me with a stern look. “What the fuck do you mean ‘Miss’? What, you think I’m old or something?”

“No, no!” I waved my hands to keep her from pressing any furthered but she pushed her face right up to mine, pressing her nose hard onto my nose as her eyes stabbed me like daggers.

“I’ll have you know that I’m 26 years old, bucko! Sure, I may be older than half of the ponies here, maybe even three quarters of them, but I still got it.”

“I do not doubt that-”

“Here, have a feel!” She grabbed my hands and placed them on her breast. I tried to pull them away, but she held them there with her hands as she pressed her body into me. My fingers formed around the shape of her breasts, wrinkling her blouse as she looked at me as if she was expecting me to instantly fall in love with her. I had to turn my nose away because of the stench of alcohol that radiated from her mouth. “So, what do you think? They're nice, aren’t they? 100% natural!” She proclaimed proudly.

Before I could think of an answer, both Minuette and Flitter pulled her away, which she resisted a bit as I sat back down in my chair and turned away. I could feel a reaction in my groin and I tried to keep it down.

“Sorry about that,” I looked up and found Flitter smiling apologetically as she sat in the other chair. I looked at the two mares and Minuette was kissing Berry on the lips. “Believe it or not, that was the worse she would get.”

“How much did she drink?”

“She had two whole bottles of chardonnay two hours ago at a restaurant not far from here. She could hold her liquor pretty well, but she sometimes let it get the best of her once you put her in a party like this,” she giggled.

I turned away from the kissing mares and looked at Flitter. She seemed rather nervous about something but I ignored it as I still want to know what Berry had meant earlier. “Um…”

“You can just call me ‘Flitter,’” she said.

“Flitter…what did Berry meant…when she said that I was the second pony to help Vinyl?”

Her expression showed me that they had made some kind of mistake as she started to bite on her fingernail. “Uh…I’m sorry…I’m not allowed to say.”

“Why not?” I said, intrigued by this new information. Flitter seemed like she’s digging a hole that she couldn’t escape.

“It’s…” she paused for a few seconds as she tried to wait out for something to happen to make me forget out my curiosity, but when nothing did, she relented and figured that she might as well say something because I was not doing to let it drop. “Yes, she was saved by another stallion. It was years ago. And, it was a lot more serious.”

“Serious, as in what?”

She looked as if she was betraying a friend, but I could see that she believed that this would help Vinyl if I knew something. “She was attacked by…her coltfriend and…some mysterious stallion came out of nowhere and saved her.”

While she was incredibly vague, I was rather struck by how familiar it sounded to me. It was as if was Déjà vu all of a sudden.

I was about to press her harder for more when Berry interrupted me. “Flitter, you naughty mare!” Berry stood next to the pegasus as she looked down at her with Minuette standing by her side. “Look at you, picking up stallions while your fiancée is faithfully waiting for your answer.”

“Will you shut up, Berry?” Flitter yelled at the drunken earth pony. “I just haven’t decided on it yet, okay?” The pegasus turned away from her friend. She was upset as she clearly was offended by what Berry had just said.

Berry, however, calmed down, her eyes going sober as she looked at her distressed friend. She placed a hand on her shoulder and gave an assuring rub. “It’s okay. I’m sorry about that.”

Flitter seemed to accept it as she placed her head on her marefriend’s hand with acceptance.

“Hey, everypony!” a voice boomed through the club like thunder, waking everybody from what they were doing. I immediately recognized it as belonging to Vinyl. “You guys having a great time tonight?” The crowd answered with a combined voice of cheers and screams of approval. Her three friends joined in to give their answer along with the entire club. “Well, how about we make it even better? I got myself some groovy new songs that I wanted to test out on you guys and gals, and I want to know what you guys think. How’s that sound?” The crowd erupted into another answer. “I’ll take that as a ‘Yes,’ then.”

Then, the large wall on the other side started to separate down the middle and the two halves crawled away from each other. As they did, there was Vinyl, standing behind her DJ stand, with speakers surrounding her. Lights along the front lit up, flooding the dance floor with many more soft and multi-colored beams as they swim through the excited crowd. I looked and I could see that she placed her headphones over her ears and that she was prepared to please her partiers.

“Well, looks like it's time,” Berry said. Flitter got up from her seat and Minuette grabbed my hand and tried to pull me out of my seat, which I was very reluctant to go.

“I-I-I’m good,” I told her, hoping that she would get the message that I did not want to dance.

“Oh, come on,” the blue unicorn said. “She’s waiting for you.”

She pointed to the DJ stage and I saw Vinyl looking at me. She smiled, waving at me as a sign that she wanted me to join in on the fun so that she can too. I don’t know what really went through my mind at that moment, but I could definitely say that seeing her smile at me with that encouraging look, her smile and her eyes combined to give off a sultry look as if she can’t wait to rock my world, but she couldn’t do if I was not part of hers. Whatever she had in her mind right now, she wanted to give me my award. I quickly grabbed the bottle of whiskey and poured into the glass half-full and drowned it down my throat.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about,” Berry approved as she took a swing from the bottle. Her friends had to tear it out of her hand.

“You ready, cutie?” Flitter asked, extending her hand out for mine.

I gave up as I felt a little relaxed when I accepted her hand. “Let’s do this.”

With Minuette and Flitter pulling me by the hands, Berry was pushing me from behind as they dragged me down the walkway toward the first level. My face was warm and my brain felt like it was swimming. I saw some of the stallions looking at me with surprise envy as they saw three beautiful mares taking me down to the dance floor, too, as Vinyl put it, “to show me a good time.” As we did, I looked up and Vinyl was setting her records up. She gave me one last wink before she began starting up her music.

“Whatever you do,” Berry whispered into my ear, “don’t fall in love in with her.”

I was taken by surprise by the polar switch of her tone as I looked at her, wondering what the hell she was talking about.

“I mean it,” she threatened, like she would kill me if go against her. “She’s mine.”

“What?”

“Minuette.” She poked my chest hard with her finger. “She’s my marefriend, and I’ll be damn if I’m going to let you take her away from me.”

I only stared at her with a lot of confusion, wondering if it was the alcohol talking to me.

“And, also, don’t think about falling for Flitter, as well. She’s got a coltfriend, and she loves him very, very much. So, don’t think just because we act like we are coming on to you because you are cute, which you are. We’re only doing this because Vinyl asked us.”

“O-Okay. I’m sorry. I thought you were…”

Her demeanor immediately changed to a very friendly one. “Oh, Vinyl? Oh, that’s fine. You can fall in love with her if you want.”

I was dumbstruck that I didn’t have time to say anything as the mares pulled me onto the dance floor where a sea of ponies were packed together. Colors were raining down upon us as well as pushing up from the floor beneath our hooves, swirling from above and lighting up instantly in different spots of the floor where I could, only for a second, see the ponies faces, their clothing, and their bodies as they move along with the beat of the sound. I looked up to find Vinyl and I could see her moving her body along with everypony else with the strobe light working in full effect. Like the snapping of pictures, her body was moving along to the beat of the music, swaying back and forth, her mane flying over her head, looking even more lost than the dancers with me down here as she listened to her music through her headphones.

I stood in the middle and looked around at the large mass of moving ponies as they jumped and sway around me. It was claustrophobic as I felt that I could not get any air as if they were all taking it away from me as I felt as if I was the center of attention, even though these ponies did not seem to acknowledge me.

A tapped on my shoulder brought my attention to Minuette as she smiled innocently at me.

“I know how it feels,” she said. “It took a while for me to get used to it myself.” She took my hand and started to dance as her way to encourage me as she grabbed a hold of the hem of her dress. “Just sway your body to it. Let the music slowly take a hold on you.”

I started to bob my head in the rhythm of the beat, which she smiled in approval. “See? You’re getting it.”

I laughed nervously as I stopped. “I feel so stupid.”

“Don’t be,” Berry grabbed me from behind, wrapping her arms around her stomach, squeezing her body so that I could feel her warm breath on neck. “Relax.” She swayed her body, which I followed along. Minuette wrapped her arms around my neck and started to sway along with the two of us. “Bet you never had a hot filly fooler sandwich before, huh?”

I laughed nervously, but I was starting to feel calmer as I let myself to drop the restraints from myself as I start to feel the music grab a hold of my body like its prisoner. It grabbed my legs as it made slight pivots on the shoals of my hoofs. My head started to bob once again, showing more confidence in my presentation. My fingers on my right hand were dancing as well, tapping along with the beat.

“Um, excuse me,” Minuette brought me back to reality. She wore a teasing smile as her face blushed. “You’re, um…you’re tapping my flank,” she whispered.

I pulled my hand away, my face flushing as I tried to apologize, but the two mares only laughed as they continued with their dancing, taking me along for the ride.

Soon, I was able to get back in the groove, my body becoming more in tune with the music. Without realizing, both Berry and Minuette slowly back away from me as I become looser with my body as I let the music take control over it. Soon, I had my hands up in the air, and I could hear the mares shout their encouragement as they all dance next to me.

I felt that I had danced for days as I had lost track of any sort of time as the lights blinded me and the music pounded into my head, and with all of the ponies surrounding me, but I didn’t care. I felt as if I was a part of this huge mass, that I was just one piece of the puzzle that had found its place in the whole picture. Berry, Flitter, and Minuette took their turn to dance with me as they closed their bodies to mine. While both Minuette and Flitter were mild and gentle with me, Berry, on the other hand, was a bit more seductive with hers as she pressed her back up against my front, with her bushy tail wrapped around my body and pressing her flank up against my groin so that she could get a reaction from there. I had to step away from her in order to calm myself down. I started to feel that I had my fill of the dance floor and I was ready to get off and call it a night.

As I was beginning to walk off, Vinyl stood in front of me, blocking my exit as she stood in front of me, her body just centimeters from mine. Her deep red eyes were on me, smiling, and they never left me, not even as she stepped back a bit so that I could see her snow-white body lit up by the colors as she start to dance provocatively for me.

Her hips swerve around in tight little circles as she raised her left arm up into the air as she grab it with her right from behind her head. My eyes were glued to her hypnotic body as she pivoted her hips, spinning her body around as she rolled her lower body, with her backside enchanting me. I was getting drawn into her spell as I closed the gap between us. The look she was giving to me was captivating, her smile innocent yet her eyes were seductive. I wanted to touch her, to hold her close to my body, to never leave me, but I was too scared to even ask her if I could, that she might reject my offer. But, those fears evaporated as she danced closer to me and I brought my hands around her waist. She showed her willing subjection to my desires as she planted her lips on mine.

I pressed in deeper, wanting to taste her more, and she obliged as she opened her lips and her tongue entered my mouth. A sweet scent entered my nose, making her kiss all that much nicer. Her movement in my hands was like the ocean, gently rocking as her body caressed mine. Her arms wrapped around my neck to pull me deeper into her passion. Our tongues danced around each other, her taste transferring over to me as my taste was to her. It was more intoxicating than any liquor I believe ever existed as it affect my brain in such a potent way that it went to a whole new kind of level that nothing could rival it. She released her hold of her lips from me, but her spell had already been cast and I was to willfully obey her orders.

Her body gently spun in my embrace until she pressed her back up against mine. Her tail wrapped around my left leg as if to keep me captive to her as her slave, which I did not mind. My hand found their way to her bare stomach and they slid through her slick fur like water. Her breath was slow but potent to my senses as I could feel her warmth running across my face. She placed her hands over mine, squeezing to keep them where they were. I turned my head so that my lips are lined up with hers and stole a kiss from her.

Her hips rocked up against my lower body, from which her flank moved against my groin, exciting more passion across my body. Heat was growing in that area, and I knew that she was doing it on purpose as I felt her lips smiled teasingly when I let out a breath to release my thrill. She pressed harder against me, and I pushed back, my hips moving on their own as we dance in rhythm like we were a single organism. She let out a pleasurable moan as I moved up against her, which she responded with a subtle move of her hips, which made me moan in turn. We were in conflict, raging war as we made our attacks with our lips, tongues, and hands as our entire bodies battled each other for dominance, with the music as our war song.

I retreated from her lips and she smiled in victory, but I had another strategy. I moved my lips to her shoulder and planted kisses along the top. She rocked her body hard against mine, trying to throw me off, but I kept on with my attack as I drew closer to her neck. Her sense was deadly as it kept attacking my brain with its sweet nectar, which made her taste sweeter than any cake I ever had. Her body shivered against me as I reached the base of her neck. She let out a small moan as I pressed into her, gently sucking her, which she conceded by letting me have full access to her as she bend her head away to expose her weak spots to me. Her hands reached for my head, placing them on top and grabbing through my mane and she pushed my head down, with my lips burying into her neck.

She let out moans of pleasure as I grabbed control of our dance, dictating the moves as she melted into me. I rubbed my hands across her stomach, feeling her hot skin underneath. I could feel lines on her stomach, tracing them along with subtle touches, but I didn’t think much of them as I was completely lost in the sights and the sounds of the Moonlight Wilderness and in our passion.

I released her from my grasp of my lips and she turned back around, returning her lips to mine as we embrace as if to keep the embers of our passion going. Our lips let go and connected our forehead together, with mine resting at the base of her horn. Our bodies were a bit fatigue, but, at least, my fondness was growing hungrily for her as we continued to sway to the beat, losing in each other’s eyes. I started to chuckle, could not believe of what I had experienced. She smiled brightly and kissed my forehead. She, then, rested her head in my chest, and I hugged her close to my beating heart, which I was sure she could hear it.

I dropped all of my sense of time because I did not want to count the seconds I may have for me to stay in this beautiful creature’s affectionate and seductive hold on me.

Chapter IV: Showing Off Our Cutie Marks

The moon was slowly falling from the night sky by the time Vinyl and I left the club. Her friends left to go on their separate ways, saying that they have to get to bed for work tomorrow. The two of us were walking heedlessly down the sidewalk, laughing and singing songs that sang from her mouth, as if challenging me to keep up with her, which I did for the most part. I was feeling very intoxicated at that point, but I was drunk from the infatuation that I was having for this snow-white unicorn.

”And, they were dancing, and singing/And movin’ to the groovin’/ And, just when it hit me/Somepony turned around and shouted/Play that Funky Music, Earth Boy/Play that Funky Music right/Play that Funky Music, Earth Boy/Lay down the boogie, and play that funky music till you die!”

We laughed hard and loud as we hugged each other to keep ourselves from falling over our hooves to the ground.

“I never would have thought that you would know all those songs!” Vinyl said, clearly impressed by my knowledge.

“I listened to those songs all the time on my records when I was a kid. I would play them over and over and over again until they got burned into my brain, and I would play them even more, and it drove my dad insane!” We laugh as we held on to each other. “One time, as a little foul, I was playing that song so loud that he burst into my room, and I was in my underwear dancing my flank off. He yelled, ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ And, I looked at him and said, ‘Playing that Funky Music, Earth Boy!’” Vinyl gave a hearty laugh as her head rested on my shoulder while hugging my arm, keeping the both of us warm. “He threw all of my records out into the trash, telling me that I should not be listening to those ‘dick-heads!’”

“Damn!” Vinyl looked at me her, her laughter getting sober with her mane all disarranged over her face. “Forgive me for saying this, but your dad is an asshole!”

“None taken. I’ve known him to be one for the last fifteen years of my life.”

She looked up at me with some surprise by my nonchalant description of my father, as if it was an undisputed fact. “You’ve hated him for that long because of that?”

“Oh, no, no. I wouldn’t be a good son if I let that wedge our relationship apart like that. I followed my dad’s orders and I never listened to them again. I only listened to, as he called it, ‘real’ music. And, I did fell in love them, very much. But, I would still listen to them ‘funky’ music.”

She giggled as she smiled up at me, and I could tell that she had a challenge for me. “What’s your favorite song? And, you have to sing it.”

“Okay,” I remembered that one song that I had memorized for all of my life. “Long, long time ago/I can still remember/How that music used to make me smile/And I knew if I had my chance/That I could make those people dance/And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while,” Vinyl joined in as she remembered the song as well. “But, February made me shiver/With every paper I’d deliver/Bad news on the doorstep/I couldn’t take one more step/I can’t remember if I cried/When I read about his widowed bride/But something touched me deep inside/The day the music died/So, bye-bye, Miss Equestrian Pie/Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry/And, them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye/Singin’, ‘This’ll be the day that I die/This’ll be the day that I die.’”

It was my turn to be surprised by Vinyl’s knowledge of the song. She smiled as if she knew what I was thinking about.

“Believe it or not,” she said, “that was the first song that made me realized what I wanted to do with my life.” We started walking soberly as she continued to hold on to my arm. “Like you, I listened to all of that ‘funky’ music all the time. It did drive my parents a bit crazy, but they were tolerant of it. I was about ten years old when I first heard that song and I didn’t understand it what it was talking about. ‘Music died?’ I thought, ‘what did he mean by that?’ So, I would listen to that song over and over and over, trying to decipher what it all mean. It got stuck in my head that I would start singing parts of it without warning; during class, eating dinner, even my parents told me that I would sing it in my sleep.”

“Do you know what the song is about?”

“Yeah, but I sometimes wished I hadn’t. I haven’t heard that song in such a long time. You singing it really brought back a lot of memories.” She smiled as she looked up at me. I smiled back.

“So, music really means a lot to you?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I really love how it just free yourself from your fears if you let it take ahold of you.” She looked up at me with her sly smile. “It seemed it really helped you a lot.”

I blushed as I smiled as I remembered what had happened to me. “I don’t think that I have ever felt like that before in my life.”

“I’m sure that you would make any mare happy with those moves you put on the floor,” she teased. Then, a cold wind blustered without warning against us. Vinyl pressed herself up against me as she shivered for warmth. “Brrr! When the hell did it get so cold all of the sudden?”

“Maybe you should wear something that that is a bit more appropriate for the climate,” I teased her.

“How can you ponies stand this?”

“If you think this is bad, then you don’t want to visit Ponyville. I’ve seen temperatures dripped into minus 30.”

“Minus 30?” she looked up at me with a shocked expression. “The lowest I’ve seen in Los Pegasus was about 52, and that was too cold for me.”

“You sissy.”

She playfully punched my stomach which I laughed and chased after her as she ran down the street. I caught her by her hand and pulled her into my body. We laughed as we kept our faces near, feeling our warm breathes against out skin. I leaned down and planted my lips onto hers, which she accepted as she pulled herself closer. She really tasted sweet because she had been so good to me that night. With her generosity and kindness, the night, which had already by that point become the best night of my life, was getting even better. I had never thought that anything would have gone so perfectly and I had never expecting something like this to happen. It was almost like a dream come true, and I only wished that it would last longer than the night we were sharing. I may not realized it than, but I was falling head over heels for Vinyl Scratch.

She let go and we smiled as we laughed.

“The park isn’t far from here,” she said. “You want to go there?”

“Yeah, sure,” I answered.

We made our way down the wet sidewalk, our hands clasped to each other. It almost felt like we were a couple that I always see, walking together side by side, connected together with only their hands as if they were one being. Along the way, she would look at me and smile, telling me that she was enjoying herself as much as I was. I smiled back, feeling like the luckiest stallion in all of Equestria to be sharing this night with this beautiful mare. Then, a melancholic sensation ran through my body as I realized that it would only last for that night. By the time the sun would come up, she would disappear from me like a sweet dream. It was then that I realized that I really liked her very much, but I was not sure what her thoughts were about me. I had a good feeling that she liked me, but, possibly, not in the same range or intensity as I. I wondered the whole way if she mined if I asked her to see her again.

We found a picnic bench in the snow and she dragged me over to sit on the top with our hooves on the sits. We sat close to each other to keep each us warm from the cold air. We both look up at the dark sky where the stars were dimmed by the lights of the city.

“The stars shine brighter back in Ponyville,” I commented, a little disappointed that, even with much absence of light around us that the city still interfere with the night’s natural lights.

“I bet they do,” Vinyl said. “Back in Los Pegasus, the stars didn’t shine as bright as this. The only place I could see the night sky all lit up is when my parents and I would go out into the beach and we would just look up and I would try to count the stars. I couldn’t make it past thirty.”

I only nodded as I continued to look up at the sky. I could sense that she turned her head to look at me as if she expected for my response, which I did not have.

“Did you ever do something like that?” she asked.

“No,” I answered bluntly. “My dad always had me in bed by nine, even during the weekends and holidays. So, I would do it myself, to get out of bed and look out the window. Sometimes I would fall asleep there. And, when he comes in to check up on me, he would grab me by the mane to pull me up and berate me for disobeying him and shove me into bed.”

Vinyl looked at me as if she had never heard anything like that.

“Red Badge,” she said. “Why is it every time when we talk, you always go back to your father, and it would be something terrible about him?”

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking away. I was feeling ashamed of myself for inadvertently ruining the night. It was as if he was there, dictating my actions to keep me from enjoying myself with her. I wanted to forget about him and leave him in Ponyville, and in the back of my mind.

“Do you want to talk about him?” she asked.

“Well,” I said, wondering if I should. I did not want him to ruin the good time I was having with her, but my gut was hot and it want to explode all of my emotion and she seemed willing to listen as she stared at me with curiosity. She gave my hand a gentle squeeze as an encouragement.

“I’m sure whatever problems you have with your father, you two still love each other.”

I didn’t know if I wanted to deny it or lie to her about how we really feel about each other. For a long time, I did wanted to believe that we did love each other, but with each year I found it harder and harder to believe something like that, and it had gotten to the point where I’m starting to think I was just fooling myself. Vinyl seemed to catch my doubtful look as her small hopeful smile changed into realization about my true feelings.

“It’s fine,” I tried to blow the topic away, but she was stubborn to not let it dissipate into the cold night.

“You don’t look fine about it,” she said.

“The fuck do you know?” I snapped at her. “We’ve just met not three hours ago and you think you figured out everything about me? Hell, I’m fucking twenty-five years old right now and I don’t know what the fuck I want to do with my life, but my dad thinks that I ought to return back to Ponyville and take over the store, but I don’t want to. But, every time he asked me what I was going to do with myself, I would not answer him because I don’t have an answer, or that I had some idea but I was afraid to tell him because he would ridicule me, saying that it is not a real stallion job or some bullshit like that.” I turned away, a little ashamed of myself for exploding at her like that. I wanted to stop this from going overboard into the wrong side.

“How much do you hate him?” she asked. She had a hint of interest in her tone, nothing judgmental about my thoughts.

“I don’t know,” I said, feeling a little exhausted. “Sometimes I would think that he never wanted me in the first place.” She was about to say something, but I silenced her. “I know that sounded extreme, but if you had a father like him, you probably say the same thing. He never held me, kissed me, compliment me. Whenever we walked by, whether at home or anywhere, I would say ‘Hi, Daddy,’ or ‘How are you, Dad?’ and he would ignored me like I was never standing there. After a while, I stopped doing it and I would just nod at him, but he would never acknowledge it. My mom said that he was very busy with his store, which I understand. He was working to help his family, but was he so tired that he couldn’t even say ‘Hey, son’? And, that the only time we ever had any connection was when he would disciplined me for stupid shit? That, I can’t understand.

“And, now, after refusing to act like a father, he thinks that I should take over his precious grocery store, without acknowledging that I already have a Cutie Mark, and it is my choice on what I want to do, not his. And, because of that, I refused to talk to him, which he seems fine with.” I stopped, feeling a little winded by my little outburst. I looked at Vinyl, trying to figure out what she was thinking about me after I just berated my own father, which I was starting to feel bad, even though I was still angry at him.

“So, how much do you really hate him?” she asked.

“A lot,” I answered causally. “And, yet, there is that sliver of a hope left in me that we could have that loving father-son relationship that I always wanted.”

“So, in some ways you still love him.”

“I guess. But, it is not much, if there is anything meaningful about it.”

“So, what does your Cutie Mark look like?” she asked.

“I…I don’t want to say,” I said. I wanted to get out of there, to end the night on a good note instead of a bad one.

“Alright,” she jumped off from the table and turn to look at me. Then, she started to unbutton her pants.

“HEY!” I yelled, my eyes possibly bugged out of their sockets as she undid her zipper. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m showing you my Cutie Mark,” she said. She pushed down the lip of her pants until it was resting above her knees as her pant legs crumbled.

I quickly covered my eyes as my face became hot, making it sting in the cold air. I could also feel warmth in many areas of my body, especially in my groin area.

“Aren’t you going to look?” she asked.

I promptly shook my head. “Th-That’s okay. I’m sure that you have a nice Cutie Mark.”

“Well how about you look at it and comment on it?” I could hear her smile with the tone of her voice. “It’s okay. I mean, what’s the point of hiding our Cutie Marks if it reveals who we are? I’m not ashamed of it.”

I knew, with those words, that she was one hundred percent right that the Cutie Mark we wore on our flank supposed to tell us what our talent or skill that we inhibit that ponies had to figure out on our own. But, all of the places to put it, why there?

I gathered up the courage to remove my hand from my eyes to look at the white mare. Her smile was aiming at me, but her face was blushing a bit, as if she was wondering why she was doing this to a complete stranger that she had only met tonight. I gazed my eyes downward and noticed that she had a very thin piece of lingerie. A thin black string wrapped around her hips with the cover folding underneath her and between her legs. I could feel my breath freezing in my throat as it got stuck that I had to swallow it. The way that the full might of the beam from the moon shone on her snow-white fur made her even more otherworldly, and I quickly found her even more so a gorgeous creature with every second I looked at her, and I wished with all my might that we would stay like where we were forever, just me admiring her natural beauty like a work of art.

She slowly turned her body to her side until she was standing profile to me, and I could see, just underneath her blank string, a music note tattooed on her white fur. It is a simple design, just two notes, but it spoke so much volume as to what she is. She is a mare who loves music, to make them, to play them for other ponies for them to enjoy. That was her destiny and I saw that tonight at the club.

“Now that I showed you mine,” she winked at me, “you show me yours.”

I was hesitant to pull my pants down in front of a mare. However, I had a little courage that was being fueled by her. I looked around me to make sure that we were alone. I didn’t like the idea of somepony walking in on us and getting the wrong idea. I got off the table and, with quaking hands, undid my button and zipper. Then, I realized that I was still aroused. I quickly zip up my pants, my face burning hotly that I wanted to just run away and die so I didn’t had to feel it any longer. It was too embarrassing and I didn’t want her to think any less of me if she found out. I wanted to get out of there quick and to just let it be just a nice little episode of my life.

“It’s getting a little late,” I quickly said as I fastened my button. “I think I better get back home. I have lots of work I need to get done for my classes.”

I was about to turn away, but Vinyl grabbed my hand to keep me from leaving. I stopped and looked at her, wondering why she stopped me. She had her head leveled, her eyes not looking at me, but I could see that her face had a small smile and there were some redness leftover on her cheeks.

“You…”she started, her voice low, “you haven’t showed me your Cutie Mark.”

“It’s…It’s nothing remarkable,” I said. I wanted to escape from her grasp, but that spell of hers froze my hooves to the ground as they refuse to budge. I didn’t mind all that much in showing her my Cutie Mark, I just wish that my basic impulse haven’t took control of me. It had been a very long time since I felt this way about another mare, and it was scaring me a bit about how she would translate it. I fought it off, but I could not hold control over it and I felt that she would find it disgusting. “Just forget about it,” I vainly said.

“It’s okay,” she said sweetly. She looked up at me and smiled understandably. “I mean…” she was flustered as she played with her mane, twirling a string with her finger. “It’s not like I haven’t seen one before, and it is natural for you, and…” she stopped, her face getting redder as it spread over her face. She looked as if she thought that she was ruining the night instead.

“Well…” I started to scratch my mane, confuse by what was going on. “It’s….I mean…you are such a…beautiful mare and…” I gulped, wondering if I had said the wrong thing. “I’m sorry, I’m not use to this sort of thing. I mean, I’ve never even kissed a mare before you.”

“So, you never had a girlfriend?” she asked.

I shook my head. “I mean, I never…honestly, I never thought that tonight would end up like this, me hanging around with…such an amazing mare as yourself. And, I’m a little shock that you would spend time with a stallion like me.”

“Well, it has been a while since I dated anypony, and, to be honest, I wasn’t…I didn’t think I would be interested in any stallions right now. Not that I think they’re all bad. I know plenty of good stallions. I just didn’t think that romance is my kind of thing.” She look straight into my face, and I knew what she was saying that the honest truth. “But, right now, here with you, I feel like a high school filly hanging out with her biggest crush.”

We stood that way for a while, ignorant to the world around us as we could only acknowledge the pony that stood in front of each other. What she just said was the closest thing that a mare would come to saying that she liked me. A huge surge of emotion flowed through my body and it was hard for me to keep it down as I let it show on my face with a smile on my face as my lips arched upward. I felt like I had won the gold medal at the Equestrian Games that I had achieved something that I never imagined that I would get.

Vinyl let go of my hand and quickly pulled up her pants locked them in place. She looked flabbergasted, like she had forgotten why she had them down in the first place. “I-If you don’t want to show it to me, it’s fine. I’m sorry for pushing you like that.” She turned around and started to leave me, but I was not about to lose her if it meant never seeing her again.

It was my turn to reach out for her as I grabbed her hand. She stopped and looked at me with surprise. I hoped that she was not annoyed by my action, but her eyes told me that she was glad that I stopped her. I could feel my mouth getting flooded with saliva and I gulped it down so that I could speak up.

“I…”I paused, trying to figure out how to say it to her. “I…I like to show you my…my Cutie Mark…” I said as my face burn hot. I start to laugh nervously as I finished my sentence. “I just…I don’t want to show it to you out here.”

Her lips curved into a smile as she walked up to me, standing just few inches from my body. I didn’t know what was going on with her. It seemed that I was looking at two sides of the mare, each taking over her with each inflection to match the situation that she was luring me in. It made her even more mysterious and I wanted to know more about her to satisfy my appetite born from my curiosity. “Why not?” she said in a teasing tone. “No pony’s out here but us.”

I didn’t have an answer prepared, but she continued on, her smile becoming seductive.

“Alright,” she said understandably. “My place isn’t far from here. You can show it to me there, if that’s alright with you.”

My breath blocked my lungs, but I managed to swallow it down. I could feel my heart punching through my head and the sound of it echoed inside of my ears. I wondered what the right answer was. I knew what I wanted, but I wondered what was making that decision. Was it lust, or something that was much more sweeter? Even though I’ve only known her for only that night, I felt more comfortable being with her than being with any ponies who I have known longer, including my family. In fact, the only pony that I’ve always felt this much comfort being around was my mother, but that was something completely different than what was happening with Vinyl Scratch. I felt like this was my only opportunity to explore what this feeling could be, and I should not waste it.

I only answered with a swift nod of my head, and she pulled me along like I was the most prized object of her life. We didn’t talk as we journeyed through the city in the cold night to her home, but it was the most comfortable silence I’ve ever experienced, even though my mind was racing with hopes that I would not ruin the magic of the night.

Chapter V: Heated Passion

It was a long ride up the elevator of her apartment building as we stood up with our backs to the wall as it carried us to the top. That comfortable silence that was with us dissipated and was replaced with an aura of second thoughts as we avoided eye contact out of sheer embarrassment. To say that I was scared would have been the understatement of the century, and I was not dumb. There was no secret what this invitation meant.

That bravado she showed, which had been the fuel for my courage, was drained out of her as she hung her head, her aqua mane hiding her expression from me. I had no idea what she could be thinking, but I could tell that she was nervous, but I was ignorant as to why. The more I looked at her in her pathetic state, the more I realized that there was so much about her that I had not known yet. That was when I began to not want to extend this night any further, but as soon as the elevator rang that we had arrived at the top, we both stepped off at the same time like we were puppets being controlled by an outside force.

I followed her down the carpeted hallway where the walls were painted gold and the lights hung from the wall as they illuminate the entire length. She pulled out her keys from her pocket and fumbled them in her hands. She almost dropped them once as we made it to her door. She took her time to push her room key into the knob and she hadn’t looked or said anything to me. She looked as if she was being forced at gunpoint to open her door and it was making me feel guilty about the whole thing and that she may not want to do this as well. I wanted to say something, but my mouth was sealed shut, wondering if I was reading her body right.

She managed to get the keys in and unlocked the door and walked inside, and I faithfully followed her in.

She turned on the lights and I saw that we were standing in the kitchen area. The linoleum floor shone white from the ultraviolet light that flashed down from the ceiling. The cabinets warped around the room, with a refrigerator standing up against the wall away from us. A black, square table with a vase holding fake flowers occupying in the middle stood in the center of the kitchen, with four black chairs, all looked like they were made out of wood. Opposite from me, a dark green counter bar spread out, giving an open view of her living room which continued to be shrouded in darkness.

“You can put your jacket over there,” Vinyl pointed to the chair as she walked down the small steps into her living room.

I followed her suggestion and draped my jacket over one of the chairs as I admired her home. It looked very nice but also expensive that I found it unbelievable that she could afford a place like this just by being a DJ at a club, no matter how popular it was.

She turned on a lamp in the living room and I could see that it was rather spacious. A large, scarlet curtain hung on the far side of the room, covering up the window which I was sure was just as large. Some green plants occupied the corners of the room, and the carpet was blue as the ocean. A black, leather sofa pressed up against the wall adjacent to the window and on the other side, and a huge stereo system took over the entire wall, with two large speakers towering the equipment in between.

“This is pretty incredible,” I awed at her apartment.

“Yeah,” Vinyl said as she looked through her records with her magic as they three or four records floated around her head, quizzing at each one. “My parents helped me out when I first moved her last year. It was very hard for me, having to leave Los Pegasus after living there all my life and away from my parents, but I needed to get away.”

“‘Needed’?” I said, interested by her choice of word.

She looked at me and gave me a sad smile, like she contemplating on whether she should tell me about it. “It’s just…forget it. It’s nothing.” She picked the one that she liked, replacing the others back into her collection and set her choice onto her record player.

“You don’t use CDs?” I asked curiously.

“I do, just not for the old classics,” she bashfully smiled as she set the needle down. “I’m bit of old school, I guess. You don’t mind, right? Me playing some music? I like have it on when I’m home. Helps me think.”

When she said “Helps me think,” I felt what she really meant was that it helps her be calm because I could tell that her voice was a bit shaky, and that her fingers were pulling at each other. But, I never thought more of it. I, too, wanted something to fill in the void of this dangerous silence that seemed to be crushing that little flame on the candle that was between us, and I wanted to keep it lit up.

“You don’t have to ask me,” I said. “It’s your home.” As I said that, the music was beginning and I immediately recognized it from something back when I was in high school.

“Ahhhh, Love to Love You, Baby/Ahhhh, Love to Love Ya, Baby.”

“Interesting…choice,” I said.

“You know the singer?” Vinyl asked, a little impressed by me recognizing the song.

“I’ve heard the song before.”

She smile again, but was unable to speak. “Umm, if you excuse me, I need to use the…uh…I need to go.”

“O-Okay.”

“G-Go ahead, make yourself at home,” she offered. “I’ve some drinks in the fridge if you want some.” She pointed at the couch and the refrigerator before she quickly disappeared into the room, shutting the door. I slowly stepped down from the kitchen and entered the living room. The room was filled with the sound the singer’s orgasmic moans as her lover loves her and, instead of feeling me of vigor and excitement, I felt pitiful and tired.

Standing there in the middle of the room, with the music filling up the apartment as if to take all of the breathable air from me, with my host hiding herself in her room, the full situation was starting to dawn on me slowly, and it was making me feel very uncomfortable. My mind raced with images and thoughts as I wondered where this night was taking me and if I was going for the ride or I had lost control of it.

I even wondered if I was just imagining the whole thing, that this was just a dream. There was no way I was this lucky, I thought to myself. Surely, I had to have met this mare since I’d read that you only dreamed of ponies that you had met. Maybe I drank too much and passed out at the club, sleeping away through the night there and just imagining the best case scenario. If that was the case, would I be acting as nervous as I was with my heart and lungs aching as they worked harder to keep me conscious? As unlikely of a scenario that I was having, I would have dreamed up something that was more fantastical. As that was not the case, the realism around me was turning my legs into water. I immediately dropped down into the couch and I sank a little as I fell back to let the cool leather enveloped me to cool my hot body, but that only lasted for a fleeting moment.

I let my body rest but my legs tingled from its weakness. I was not sure about the whole thing. The longer I waited, the more I wondered if it was about to happened. I wasn’t sure if I even wanted it to. Not that I did not mind. I guess what I meant was that I was not so sure about myself if I could perform perfectly, if that was going to happened. Would she be disappointed? All I said that I wanted to show her my Cutie Mark in a private setting. I never thought that she would take me to her apartment, with a scenario that I had always imagined since my high school days was unfolding in front of me.

“Hey!”

I looked up and I found Vinyl peeking out from behind her door, looking at me as if she feared me. I think that have felt more scared of her than she was of me.

She opened the door wider and stood within the frame, that thin, black tube top hiding her most private areas, her torso curving inward into her stomach and her black pants outlining her legs perfectly, looking at me almost like she wasn’t sure what sort of role she wanted to play. She finally stepped into the living room, walking over toward the couch, eyes avoided me. She sat down just a couple of inches from me, her hand sitting next to mine. We both avoided looking at each other and I felt my face burning hot as my heart pumped my blood faster.

“So?” she said, looking at me inquisitively.

“Yeah?” I said, looking at her with confusion.

“Are you going to show it to me?”

I looked at her, my mind wondering as to her meaning. “Show you what?”

While she was smiling, I could tell by the little snare that almost showed itself on her lips that she was getting irritated with me. “Your Cutie Mark?”

“Oh, right,” I said sheepishly.

I was about to get up, but my body was frozen to the couch. I was unable to move, wondering what I was supposed to do next as she looked me, her eyes telling that she was starting to lose her patience.

Then, all of the sudden, I did not want to be there anymore.

But I felt like I’m trapped because I didn’t want to disappoint her. For the first time, here was a mare who was paying attention to me, and I’m falling apart in front of her. And, the music was not helping me. It was as if Vinyl was broadcasting her expectations of me, and I do not feel that I was anywhere close to reaching it.

“Would you mind…turning off the music?”

“Oh, okay?” With her magic, she shut the music off, silencing the room, which seemed to be filling up with renewed uneasiness.

“Thank you.” I said, but the moans of the singer were still reverberating in my head, reminding me on what I needed to do to impress her. For a second, I thought about jumping out of the window if it meant getting away from this growing misery.

I was scared, and I was not hiding it. I had full acknowledgement of my fear, like the whole night was bearing down on me and it would crush me if I did not give my best, which I felt that I did not process.

“Look,” she finally said, looking away from me as if disgusted, “if you don’t want to do it, just go. I’m not going to force you, okay?” I could tell that she was trying to be understanding of me, but, at the same time, I could tell that she was very disappointed.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” I pathetically said, but not getting up from the couch.

“Whatever,” she said, still not looking at me, her tone get colder than the air outside. Which made my nervousness turn into anger and it was getting hotter.

“What the hell do you want from me?” I spoke harshly, losing my control of my temper. “You want me to fuck your brains out? Is that what you want?”

“Gee, I don’t know, but that sure would be nice.” She looked at me, her expression changed that of annoyance. “I mean, you seemed eager enough not ten minutes, and now you’re getting cold hooves? I don’t know who I brought home with me, a stallion or a little colt with daddy issues.”

“Well, I’m sorry that I don’t have the perfect life that you have!” I yelled at her, getting just as annoyed by her changing attitude. “A cool job, nice fancy apartment, a family who’s willing to help out.”

“Oh, you think I didn’t work hard enough to get to where the fuck I am right now?” she screamed, her eyes glaring daggers at me. “I put my whole being into what I do, heart, body, and soul! And, you think you’re better than me because of that ‘Earth Ponies work the hardest’ bullshit? Well, you seemed to be the perfect example, a college student who has no idea what he wanted to do with his life, and he’s pissed off because his daddy doesn’t love him enough! My God, why don’t you just grow a pair?”

“Oh, just because I gave you my life history in one night makes you a scholar on how my mind fucking works?” my voice reverberated off the wall as I stared at her as if casting death. “Have you ever been told that you can’t do something that you wanted to do? Have you ever had somepony said that you do something besides something that you love? Have you ever had them say you can’t do it because it would blow up in your face?”

“Of course I have, and you know what, I actually have those ponies to thank because I wanted to show them that I have what it takes, and I fucking succeed!”

“Well, have you actually had the living shit beat out of you by somebody that should love you?”

“No, but I was almost killed by one who should have loved me!”

We both looked at each other, breathing hard through our mouths as our frustration left us and our anger cooled down as we took in the words that we had just said to each other. We stayed silent as the fire in our eyes flickered out and our tempers cooled. It was there that I finally acknowledge that she was just as nervous about this whole thing as I was.

“Sorry,” we both said quietly, slumping back into our seats, still looking at each other.

“I didn’t mean to demean you like that,” she said, her voice soft.

“No, you’re right about it. I guess I am just a little colt,” I said. I felt like I wanted to cry to get rid of this shame that had of myself, but I did not want to do it in front of her if it meant degrading my character further. “I shouldn’t have made any assumptions about you like that.”

She accepted my apology with a little nod of her head and she got up from her seat, walking up the steps to her kitchen. Her words were ringing in my head and I wondered what she had meant by it. I could have just asked her about it, but I didn’t want the night to proceed downward as much as it already had.

“You can stay here for the night, if you want,” she graciously offered as she filled a cup with water. “I don’t want to kick you out this late at night, and on such a cold one, at that.” She forced a laugh, but it did not change anything.

“Thanks,” I said, figuring that it was getting rather late as fatigue start to rule over my body. That outburst we had took much out of me.

We did not say anything to each other as she grabbed pillows and a blanket from her room, telling me that I could sleep on the couch. I was fine with the arrangement and our last words before she retreated to her bedroom were “Good Night.”

It was only for about five minutes or so when the entire apartment was blanketed in darkness, but I could not get myself to sleep because of two things. One, there was a light that was shining from underneath her closed bedroom door, and two, I could hear sounds of crying coming from the other side. It sounded serious as I could hear her sobs muffled as if she was trying not to disturbed me as she let herself let go of whatever pain she was holding in from me. My heart ached for her, and I could not help but feel that I had something to do with it.

What the hell’s wrong with me, I berated myself as I could hear the sniffles from the other side. Was I the coward that my father always said I was? I looked at her closed door and her cries continued and it made me wanted to go in there and hold her, to make her sorrows go away.

Then, I wondered, not only what sort of night I want it to be, but what sort of night she was looking for. I mean, there had to be a reason why she brought me here. I can’t be because of me helping her out, was it? There has to be something more about it than what I’m seeing.

I got up from my makeshift bed and started walking quietly over to her door. I pressed my ear up to it and I could still hear her crying, but it was softening. She was gaining control over her emotions and seemed to about to ready herself for bed. I felt this this would be my last chance to salvage this night and end it on a better conclusion. However, I never thought that it would begin a new chapter.

For the both of us.

I tapped the door lightly, but it was loud enough where she gave an audible gasp and then silence.

“Y-Yes?” she called out.

“Vinyl?” I answered back. “M-May I come in?”

She was silent and I wondered if she would even want me to intrude on her, or that whatever that was between us, as little there was, had already sunk into the abyss. I could not tell which one I even wanted, but when she gave her answer, I gladly accepted it.

“Sure.”

Chapter VI: Showing Off Our Scars to Heal

She was sitting down on the edge of her white bed was I opened the door, with the lamp next to the corner away from her as the only light source in the room. She looked up at me as I entered, her tears sliding down her face from those beautiful crimson eyes of hers. Closing the door behind me, I went and sat down next to her, looking at her intently as she tried to wipe away the excess tears.

“What happened?” I asked softly to show that she still held the choice of denying me of any explanation.

She was silent for a few seconds, but I could see that she knew what I was talking about and struggling as if she wondered what she needed to do. Without thinking, I reached for her hand, giving her a gentle squeeze that she had always gave me through the night, and I figured that I should return the gesture, if only to help her.

It seemed to have an effect as she smiled, which I returned, glad to see that there was something salvageable between us.

“I had…” she started, sniffing her nose and getting rid of her tears with her free hand. “I had a coltfriend. We dated in high school and it lasted till our first year of college. We were…so much in love with each other. At least, I’m sure we were.”

I only nodded my head as I waited for her to continue.

“We were both in the school band we both played the saxophone. He was also the lead singer of his band. The Rapscallions they called themselves. We were…quite happy, actually. My parents liked him and were pretty popular couple in school.” She paused as she rubbed her mouth as if what she had said was almost like poison because of how different it was.

“Anyway, um, as we got closer to our high school graduation, he tried to talk me into having sex with him. He had been doing it for a while, but he was getting more persistent the longer we dated. I just told him ‘No.’ I wanted to wait. Then, he says, ‘What, you don’t love me?’”

She shook her head in disgust, her lips pushed together as if to keep herself from screaming out in anger. “I wished that I was a bit smarter about it back than instead of having to know what he meant by it years after the fact. But, whatever, it happened. We did have sex. And, I liked it. I didn’t see any problem with it. We loved each other. Ponies who loved each other, in a romantic sense, have sex, right?” she asked as she looked at me, expecting an answer from me.

“Sure,” I shrugged, figured that it was a fact.

She continued on, knowing that she had my full attention. “We did it, through graduation, summer, and through the first semester. And, that’s where…things changed.”

Again, she paused. “I got pregnant.”

I must had a surprised look on my face because she nodded at me as if she expected my expression.

“He didn’t take the news all that kindly. He accused me of sleeping with other guys, which I constantly denied. Even after we did the fertility test, he believed that it was rigged by me and the school, like there was this conspiracy against him. I figured that he was in shock and that, soon, he would cool down and accept just it like I had.

“But, that doesn’t mean that I was fond of the idea of becoming a mother. We weren’t even engaged, much less talking about marriage. We were like…taking in stride of what life threw at us. I guess we weren’t expecting anything like this. We were just a couple of stupid kids who didn’t know any better.”

“‘It can’t happen me.’ That sort of philosophy,” I said.

“Exactly. But, I quickly adapted to it. He, on the other hoof…”

Her voice turned into a darker tone as she stood quiet, her face in a scowl that told me that it did not get any better.

“I guess the best way of describing his actions was that he panicked. He didn’t like the idea of becoming a father and demanded that I get an abortion. I remember him saying to me that I need to ‘get rid of that thing,’ like it some kind tumor or something. And, it…really pissed me because…I could tell, by the way he looked at me and talked to me, that he believed that it was all my fault for it, that I had set him up. And, I would say to him, ‘Well, how the hell I could get pregnant in the first place?’ And, he would just say ‘Just get rid of it.’”

She went silent, contemplating on whether she should go on, as if that I had the gist of the story and could figure out how it ended, but too many questions lingered in my brain to have me satisfied and she knew it. To help push her forward I asked, “Did you abort your pregnancy?”

She shook her head weakly. “I tried, but I got really cold hooves that I couldn’t get through with it. I don’t know why. I had no problems with it. But, I guess it’s because he always blamed me for it, that he refused to accept any responsibility about it, and that I felt that he was forcing me to do something that only he wanted me to do. Like, he owned my body. And, it really made me so fucking angry that I just put it off longer and longer in defiance against him. And, when I started to signs of it, he got even more pissed off at me. I told him, ‘I am not going to go through with this until you take just as much blame for the whole thing as I do.’ But, he continued to not accept any blame for it, saying that he was in the right the whole time. So, I said, ‘Fine. I’m not getting the abortion. I’m going to have this foal.’”

“Course, I was planning of putting the foal up for adoption after I gave birth, but I didn’t tell him that. I wanted to scare him into accepting that responsibility and I felt that was the best way of doing it.

“But, that just blew up right back into my face.”

With her right hand, she rubbed her stomach as if a shrine had been violated, and I remembered the lines that I had felt while I danced with her. Those lines were scars..

“I never imagined that he would do something like that, to try and kill me and the unborn foal with a fucking knife,” her voice weak as she hung her head as if in shamed. “For a while, I actually blamed myself for it. If I had not antagonized him, if I had gotten that abortion, we may be together right now, maybe starting a family of our own. What’s worst, I blamed the little foal the most, for appearing just like that. Thankfully, I got past that and released that the foul was made because of our carelessness. And, when I finally recognized that it was…my own little pony…it really tore me up. And, the fact that I couldn’t protect her…”

As she brought her hand over eyes to hide her teary eyes, my arm instinctively pulled her close to me and I allowed her to rest her head on my shoulder to comfort her.

She continued to sniff as she let go the last of her tears. “So, what happened after?” I asked to know how the story ended.

“Well, he was sorry about the whole thing, but he always managed to add in the fact that I made him do it because I was going to have the foal without his consent. But, whatever, he said. He thought that since the foal was out of the picture, we could go back being happy together like we always were. Thankfully, I wised up from that whole experience and told him that it was over; that I cannot pretend living in a fairy tale after what he did to me. The only way for him to stop was that I wouldn’t press charges against him. And, I haven’t seen him since.”

She got up from my shoulder, wiping away the last of her tears before looking at me with a sad smile. “Whenever I think too much about it, it really hurts. I mean, I’m very happy with what I have right now. The club, great friends, awesome fans. It’s like I’m having a party every day and night. But, sometimes I wondered…what my life would had been like if one thing had been different during that moment that, pretty much, changed my life.”

I didn’t know what I should say about that whole story. It sounded so unreal to me, yet very familiar, like déjà vu. I didn’t ponder on it any longer or I may have figured it out if Vinyl didn’t turn the conversation onto me.

“You said something about somepony who should have loved you had hurt you?”

I only nodded my head. “Yeah,” I said.

“Was it…your father?”

I looked at her, quiet for a few seconds before I answered. “Once, he did physically hurt me. But, I still blamed myself for it. I still feel like…that I kind of deserved it.”

She waited patiently for my story to help her understand because they did sound contradictory.

“When I was eight years old, there was a project in school where we had to ask a pony about their Cutie Mark Story. We could present it in any way we want. Most of the kids just did a report or presentation. I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to make a video of it.”

She continued to look with attention, encouraging me to continue on. I started off with a very enthusiastic tone, with a hint of sarcasm. “I remembered that my father had a video recorder and I thought I’ll just use it because it was just laying there down in the basement. After a few test runs, I decided to talk about my dad and to show off his store that he was so proud of, that he and my mother built together. My mom had a family emergency, so she was out of town for a couple of weeks.

“So, first shot, I tried to hold the camera steady to get the name of his store in focus. ‘Ponyville Market.’ Generic, yes, but I didn’t care. I wanted to present this store like it was the greatest thing in Equestria and that my father was proud of it. I was giving my introduction, telling the story about how my dad built the store, and I went inside to shot some more. The employees and customers were waving and smiling at me, and I would ask them a couple of questions of why they like my daddy’s store and they would give enthusiastic answers, saying that his produce were always fresh and that he had good selections, whatever. It was more of a publicity stunt than a school report about Cutie Marks, but I didn’t care. I wanted to show how great the store was and how proud my daddy was of it.

“After I went down each isle, trying to get as much as I can of it, and providing commentary, I went to look for him in his office. There he was, sitting there at his desk, working diligently. I called out ‘Hey, Daddy! Look what I’m doing! It’s for a school project! Can you tell me how you got your Cutie Mark?’”

I paused for a few seconds as I changed my stance from an animated tone to a more repressed stance. “After one look at me, he yelled, ‘What the fuck are doing with that camera? Did I give you permission to use it! Put it down before you break it!’ It scared me so much, just by his tone and look on his face as if I had violated a sacred law that I just dropped the camera onto the floor. I mean, he has been pretty conserved with his expressions towards me, but I had never seen him look at me with so much anger before.

“He got up from his desk and grabbed me by the scruff of my mane and held me up on the tips of my hooves and…he just…screamed at me, yelling and hollering. And, I started to cry because he was pulling my hair as he shook me and, then, he threw me down to the floor and told me to take the camera back where I found it and he returned back to his work like it had never happened. Crying, I carried the recorder back, ignoring the other ponies who were asking me about what had happened.

“When I got home, I realized that the camera was still recording, that it had captured everything that had happened between my father and me. Feeling ashamed, I recorded over it with anything I could record, just so I could erase it as if to wipe away a memory.”

I stopped, almost as if that was the story, but she saw through it as she scooted closer to my body, putting her hand over mine.

“At our presentation, I showed it to my class and it was received well in my class. My teacher loved it, especially the ending where I just recorded my house and backyard. I was so happy when I got an ‘A’ on it. I was even happier…when I got my Cutie Mark.”

Her expression lit up as she looked at me with some eagerness. “You got your Cutie Mark…from making a little movie?”

I nodded my head, smiling at the little happy memory I have of me jumping for joy when I discovered it. “You still want to see it?” I asked her.

She just smiled at me. “Yes, please.”

I got up from the bed and loosen my pants. I held the top at knee high and pulled up the excess of my shirt to reveal my white boxer shorts. She had to suppress her laughter as bit as I tried to gather the courage to pull down the lip of my shorts enough to show her.

“You don’t have to take it off,” she assured me. “Just…”she was in a loss for words as if to keep herself from possibly blurting out the wrong thing.

“I can’t help but feel that this is some sort of practical joke on all us ponies,” I said, which she smiled in agreement. While holding on to the left side of my shorts, I pulled down the revealing side, but enough to show her the picture without anything else that could grab her attention away from my Cutie Mark.

A movie camera sitting on a tripod took much of my hip and side flank, supposedly filming something to the left. I did not look down at her she studied it with some curiosity. It actually made me feel a little better that I was sharing this with her as there were not many ponies who knew about it. Soon, I felt that I show her long enough of what it looked like and dressed myself back and sat down on the bed, where she smiled at me in thanks for sharing it with her.

“Anyway, after I found it, I showed it to my dad when he got home that night, thinking that should impress him and forgive me about using his camera. He only looked at it and said, ‘Okay. So?’ And, I just stood there and he only looked at me as if he needed me to explain to him why that was important. When I couldn’t, he just pushed me aside and went to his room, slamming the door. And, that was when I actually started to hate my father, for not being that father I’ve always wanted that I’ve seen all over Ponyville. And, I began to wonder if he actually loved his store more than me.

“That night, I snuck out of my room and went to find the biggest rock I could find and carried it to the store. And, without hesitation, it hurled it at one of the windows. It didn’t break entirely, it was plexiglass, but it cracked into a million pieces where it looked like a spider’s web. Soon, my anger wore off and I realized what I had done and ran back home as fast as I could and went back to my room, hiding in my bed.”

I paused again to regain my composure because I knew what came up next, and she waited intently as I hung my head down as the sounds of that day echo in my head, sounding almost like it was happening right there in front of me. “What I didn’t know was that there were video cameras set up at store, inside and outside. So, it didn’t take too long for anypony to find out who did it. That morning, he burst through that door and, I swore, he threw me off the bed and onto the floor. When I looked at him, his teeth were clinched, he was forcing air though his nose. But, it was his eyes that terrified me. They were looking at me as if I was shit and that I needed to be dealt with permanently. Not wanting to find out how, I ran out of my room and down the stairs, but he was right behind, trying to stop me.

“But, when I was about halfway down, I tripped and twisted my knee pretty bad and I fell down the rest of the way. When he got to me, I was trying to crawl away, but he was already standing over me, unraveling his belt from his pants and held it in his hands in a loop over his head.

“And, he whipped me. A lot. In the arms, legs, chest. Even got me across the face a few times. I kept yelling at him ‘Daddy, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please, stop!’ But, he didn’t. It seemed that it only make him want to hit me more, even though I crying. I even dare say that he must have enjoyed it on some level because it felt like he was administrating vengeance than discipline.”

As if it was her turn to comport me, Vinyl pulled me into her arms, where I rested my head on in her aqua mane. I cannot tell what she must be thinking about a father hurting his own child like that, but I’m sure she found some sort of parallel with her ex-boyfriend.

“Did your mother found out about it?” she asked.

“Eventually, yes, when she came home and found the marks and bruises on my body. But, I didn’t tell her anything about it. My father was the one who told her what happened, and told her the exact truth. From me breaking the window to him beating me. She got so angry that she was ready to take me away from Ponyville and live with her relatives. But, he talked her out of it and she made him promise that he will never lay a hand or hoof on my like that again. And, he kept his promise to this day, but it was only for my mother’s sake.”

“How can your mother stay with a stallion who just beat her own foul like that?”

“Because she loves him. It’s simple as that. And, he never beats her, at all. My father worships her. I can testify to that.” I went quiet for a while, knowing that I was confusing Vinyl more and more. “You know, after he finished beating me, he didn’t just left me there on the floor. He…he actually carried me back to my room and bandaged my cuts and my treated my swollen knee. That’s probably the only time that he ever…showed any level of caring for me. At least, that’s what I want to believe.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just…”

“Confusing? Welcome to my world,” I tried add humor to help lighten the atmosphere.

“Has he always been trying to keep you from what you want to do?”

“Yeah. Like I said, he wanted me to take over his store, which I’ve…been confused as why he even wanted me to in the first place. I’ve told him ‘No’ several times, but he always says ‘What, you want to make movies? What kind of work is that?’ It’s what my Cutie Mark says! I mean, now you are curious as to what I do with my life, when you’ve ignored me for so damn long? There were times I want to just forget about him and do what I want to because I know he doesn’t give a shit about me so why should I. But, there were other times where I just want to give up everything and do what he wants me to do because it seems that is the only way I could earn that love that I’ve always wanted from him.”

My body was wreaked with confusing emotions as I could feel those awful tears filling up my eyes. I looked away from her in fear of letting them show that I was a weak stallion. Instead, I felt her hands on my face, pushing it gently so that I was looking at her empathic eyes.

“I can’t imagine how hard that must be for you, for you to choose what matters to you the most. You wanted to love your father so much, but you want to do what he doesn’t approve of,” she paused, trying to choose her words carefully. “Do you want to know what I think?” I only nodded my head weakly. “I think you should do what you want to do, not what he wants you to do. You’re right, your father should love and support you, like a good father should. But, he made that decision not to, and you suffered for it. But, despite that, you managed to have some unconditional love for him, and that, to me, makes you a better stallion than he is.

“But, you should not be forced to earn his love. He should love you for what you do best, and it’s what your Cutie Mark says, not for what he wants from you. If he can’t do that, that’s his loss.”

I thought about what she had said and I came to the conclusion that it was the undisputed truth. Even though I still wanted my father to accept me, he does not control my life. It was not me running away from him, but him pushing me away. If he can’t learn to accept it, that’s his choice. It was time that I start making my own decision without any fear of his reprisals.

“Right,” I said to her with vigor. “Fuck him. I’m…I’m going to do what I want to do.”

She nodded her head with approval. “That’s right. Fuck him! Fuck the haters!”

“Fuck them all to Tartarus!” I yelled as we laughed and damned everything with “Fuck this!” and “Fuck that!” It was actually making me feel much better about myself and I was feeling much closer to Vinyl.

“Well, that’s one issue resolved,” I said, chuckling a little. “Now, I just need to figure out what I really want to do with my life.”

“Why not make movies?”

I thought about it and shook my head. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Why not?”

“I haven’t made one since that one time. And, I don’t have a camera.”

“Well, what the hell do you do in that Cinema Studies Class? Don’t you learn how to, you know, make movies?”

“Yeah, but that’s just the half of it. Right now, I’m learning things like film theory and stuff like that. And, I’m kinda like it.”

“Oh, please! You have a fucking camera for a Cutie Mark! That means that you are born to make movies, my friend!”

I only looked at her and I found that she really meant what she was saying, that I could do what she believes what I could do. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Not guess so, know so! Who knows, I could be talking to the next Haycock!”

“Well, I’m more of a Scorsese fan.”

“That’s cool. And, you would win an Oscar or two. Or, three. Hell, let’s make it twenty!”

“Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I warned her, but she would not have any of it.

“Come on, what’s wrong with having a little fantasy?” She pushed her smiling face into mine, trying to get me to join in with her. But, I only smiled at her to let her know that I was getting a little tired. She got the idea and backed off a bit, but there still was that good humor between us and that would have been good enough for me at that point.

“You know,” she said, looking at me with a sultry look, “the offer still stands.”

I knew what she was talking about, but that enthusiasm that I had was being smothered by that nervousness again.

“Thanks, um…but…you sure about this? I mean, I don’t want to do it if you don’t want to.”

“I haven’t had any ever since it happened. That was almost five years ago. And, I want to get back into the game, to know what it was like. And, maybe…” She stopped herself, as if she doesn’t know what she was talking about, but she had a big smile and her longing red eyes were pointing at me. “Maybe start all over again.”

I was feeling flattered that she had picked me for this and it made me feel really excited about it. “I know that just sounded shallow,” she admitted, “but, in all honestly, I really do like you.”

“I really like you, too. But, we’ve only knew each other for the last three…four hours at most,” I reasoned, but I knew that it was futile because that want for her was growing stronger by the second.

Her hand slipped underneath my chin and she guided my head up so that I was looking at her sweet smile. It had an immediate effect on my confidence as I realized that she cared about my feelings and fears, and that she wanted the night to be a good one for both of us.

She leaned in and placed her lips over mine. Our lips caressed, but it was such a jolt that it shocked all those worries and fears dead and I was finding myself becoming enslaved to her once again. I pressed a little harder on her lips to taste her more, but she withdrew a bit and I followed, not wanting her taste to escape me. She lured me like a fish on a hook to the head of the bed, lying down as I climbed on top of her, trapping her underneath as she had planned as our kiss became fiercer.

Our mouths opened and our tongues extended into each other’s mouth and they struggled against each other as they wrestled. My body filled with excitement as we attack each other with our mouth, she was becoming like a tigress as she ran her fingers through my mane, pushing my head down so that she can explore more of me as I wanted to know her mouth as well. My boldness was growing as well as I was becoming a little rough as I trailed from her lips, across her cheek, and to her neck. She let out tiny breathes as I planted my love onto her fur and skin, her smell exciting me further.

Her body shifted under me and we rolled our bodies so that she was straddling me over my stomach. She pushed away from my hungry lips and I looked up at her, wondering if I had done something wrong. She only smiled slyly at me as she balanced herself over me with her hands over my shirt.

“Looks like you’re already getting the hang of it,” she teased me as start to unbutton my shirt. My chest was heaving as I breathed, my senses getting muddled by my increasing excitement as other parts of me started to heat up.

She opened the front of my shirt only to find my white undershirt underneath it. “Getting me to work hard for it, huh?” she joked as she pulled my purple shirt out from my pants. I got my torso up from the bed, furiously working to get it off, but my arms got trapped as I tried to pull the sleeves away. I was ready to rip it to shreds as Vinyl calmed me down with a kiss on the lips.

“Easy, tiger,” she said. My heart was pounding hard as I breathe like a rabid animal. I was becoming wild with ecstasy, but she had the skill to tame it as she gently pushed me down to her bed with her hand over my jumping heart. I wanted her so badly, but I was willing to wait as I found the anticipation painful yet exhilarating.

She grabbed the collar of my shirt and guided my arms out so that they were free and tossed it to the floor. With her sultry smile on her face, her hands snaked their way underneath my white shirt. Her fingers and palms traveled across the landscape of my stomach and chest, gliding over my coat and touching my hot skin underneath. With her arms, she pulled the shirt up so that it scrunched up to expose my body to her. My face was burning hot as I see her judging me, but her smile and eyes told me that she liked what she was seeing. I thank Celestia that I kept exercising after I left the Royal Guards.

Wanting her more access to me, I pulled the shirt over my head and discard it to the floor. She, again, traced her fingers along the outlines of my muscles, her touch teasing me like feathers. My breath became heavier as my chest heaved up upward as I watched her follow along the lines.

“How long are you going to map out my chest?” I asked, sounding more impatient than I wanted to let out.

“What? I was just admiring you nice physique.”

“Well, how about letting me admire yours?”

She smiled coyly at me as she stopped with her tracing and sat right up. “Alright,” she said unhesitantly. She reached behind her and unclasped her tube top. Instead of letting it drop, she continued teasing as she slowly let it fall from her body while still holding on to it. The anticipation was more than enough to make me even harder.

Finally, her breasts were freed and I soaked in the beauty that presented before me. They were petite in their size, but I found them cute as they hung perkily from her chest with her small, pink nipples poking out from them.

“I know they aren’t impressive-” she started, but I stopped her with a finger on her lips.

“No,” I said truthfully. “They’re beautiful.” She smiled at me, happy that I approved of her. “Can I touch them?”

“Do you need to ask?” With her hands, she guided my mine for me to cup them. They felt so full as I messaged them while she encouraged me with her smile as she resumed with her exploration of my chest. “How are you liking it, so far?”

“I…” my mouth was so full of air that I was not sure if I could answer. “I…this must be some kind of dream.”

“Well, don’t wake up. We’re only just getting started.” She leaned down and kissed me on the lips, hungrily tasting me before she trailed her lips down my neck and over my chest. Each kiss she left felt like a lightning bolt, and my body got shocked several times as she moved downward across my chest, and over my stomach, scorching my body with her hot lips.

She reached to the lid of my pants and lay in between my legs, her chin just above the bulge. It pushed up almost by itself, ready to be let out of its cage. With a teasing smile, she rubbed her hand over it, feeling my hardening sex. I felt a little embarrassed, but I was getting exhilarating by her touch and I wanted nothing more than for her to take me in any way she pleased. Finally, she began to unlock the gate, taking her time as she undid the button and pulled down the zipper.

Once they were loosen, she pulled them down until the lip of my pants was aligned with my knees. If my pants were its cage, than my boxers were its leash as it still hid me from her. With her fingers pinching the top, she carefully pulled them down as if not to scare it away. Finally, there were no more restraints. I was in full glory in front of her as my long, thick, and black sex stood tall from me, giving little twitches as she looked at it hungrily.

“My, my, Red Badge,” she continued with her teasing. “You sure look big and juicy.” Her hands, with expertise, gripped me by the shaft, making me let out a weak gasp. She kissed me and trailed her tongue up and down, coating me with her saliva. It felt so warm as she wet me, and her movement as she licked all over paralyzed me with pleasure as I stared at her.

She took her time, but I didn’t mind it all. In fact, I would not have mind if we stayed like that forever. The way she handled and cared for it, it was as if she found had found her most precious treasure.

My mind was in a twister and I felt as if all of the air in the room was leaving as I was pulling in shorter breaths as she worked her mouth over me, kissing its surface, licking down its length while, one with hand, squeezing the base and, the other, cradles my sack, making me dumb with bliss.

Satisfied that she had covered every part of me, she opened her mouth and took me in, sliding down my length. She continued to use her tongue to massage me as she bobbed her head up and down along my sex. The sound of her sucking as she pulled in more of me into her mouth coursed feelings of rapture throughout my body as I lay happily as her prison as she tortured me with euphoria.

I gripped the white sheets as I balled my hands into fists and I lifted my hips up so that she can have as much of me as possible. She took as much as she could into her mouth as her tongue scraped along the sides, her hot breath tingling the muscles as the pleasure flowed across my groin like a ripples in a pond. I breathed as if I could not find any air in the room as she increased her rhythm of her head that brought a deeper feeling as pressure began to mount on top of each other.

Suddenly, she stopped, but I was still inside of her as she wrapped her tongue around. She pulled her mouth out slowly, ending with a pop as she released her hold of me. I was still erect and hard, pointing up at the ceiling as she sat in between my open legs, looking at me with satisfaction, and pulling down my pants and boxer off so that they won’t hinder our play. As she does, her dainty breasts excite me as I want to please her as she had pleased me. As soon as she freed me of my restraints, I got off from the bed and pounced at her.

She gave a loud squeal as we fell back onto the bed with me on top, attacking her face with ravishing kisses as she encouraged me with her contented laughter.

“Looks like I’ve just created a monster,” she teased into my ear.

I moved my lips over hers, and spoke as between our kisses. “You don’t…mind?”

“No…not at all…just don’t be afraid…remember back at the club…just let yourself go…”

I moved down from her face and her neck, trying to copy the way she had done to me. With her hands, she guided my head towards her right breast, and I kissed them with remarkable passion. She let out labored breaths as my mouth took in her standing nipple, sucking it gently which forced louder moans out of her as she ran and patted my mane, which I found it to be her way of telling me that I was doing it right.

I played her with my tongue, swirling the pink knob around inside like a toy and she replied with moan after moan which only grew in volume and frequency as my hand made its way down to her groin area. As I moved my mouth over to her other breast to do the same thing, my hand was exploring her inner thighs, calves, hips, and over the area where she hid her secret from me with her tight leather pants. I wanted to rip them off as they were blocking me access, but I kept concentrating with what I was doing with her breasts as her moans enveloped me with confidence. I was lost in my catharsis being there with her, exploring her, loving her. My fear was dull, nearly nonexistent to me as I only know this wild passion that I was never acquainted with before.

Done with her breasts, my mouth moved down her body, eliciting more moans from her as she arched her torso up from the bed, giving more of herself to me. She pulled my mane as she grabbed them in her fists, pulling it that it hurt enough to distract but I still made it to the lip of her pants were I stopped with my attack. She let go me and lay on the bed, pulling breath after breath between her teeth as I worked on the button on her pants.

“Red Badge,” she pleaded. “Hurry up.”

“J-Just a second,” I said, finally separating the button from its hold and pulled down the zipper. As I pulled them off, she lifted her hips, than her legs off the bed to give me easy access. Once I finally got them off, I tossed them to the side onto the floor and stared with awe at the remarkable beauty that lay before. She looked at me, her eyes pleaded me to not make her wait as her cute breast rise and drop from her heavy breathing. I realized that I had put my own spell on her, and that we were equally enchanted by our lust.

My hands traveled up along her legs through her snow-white coat, feeling the warmth and firmness of her muscles until I traveled up to her hips to where that black strand of her thong wrapped around her above her Cutie Mark. My fingers hooked around the strap and I looked at her for permission. With a smile and a nod, I pulled the last of her defense down her lovely legs and threw them away. Now, she had nothing to hide from me.

My body went rigid as it quivered with anxiety and I could feel myself growing harder as she lay bare. She smiled bashfully, reminding me that this was her first time in a long time, but she looked at me with longing eyes that she had giving me in the night before we came to this moment. Her legs were pressed together, her body shy of me. Smiling down at her, it was my turn to take control.

I held her ankles, which my fingers easily wrapped around, and I carefully pried them away. She was willing as her legs separated easily and they bended at the knee so that she can reveal herself fully to me as they finally spread enough to reveal her secret to me.

Like a moth to a flame, I brought my fingers to her and I caressed the opening. From her, a whole new and veracious sound came out. It sounded based, like I had just unlocked a whole new emotion from her as I stroke her opening. I moved closer, wanting to see this new beauty that I had discovered. I could detect a sweet smell emitting from her and it drew me even closer. All of my cognition was blocked, my brain only set on one mode. I replaced my fingers with my lips and I kissed her graciously.

Her body rocked from my touch, her mouth emitting animalistic sound as I kissed her sex. They switched from low and erotic to soft and shy, switching them back and forth as I loved her with my mouth. I massaged her thighs with my hands, squeezing them firmly as I delved into her with my tongue. Her gates opened and I slipped in like a thief, stealing her sweet taste from within as she continued with her coarse moaning with a mixture of girlish cries as I only scratched the surface of her passion.

I pressed in more into her, wanting to grab everything she held, and continued to fill the room with her exotic sounds. An aching feeling controlled my groin, a longing that only intensified with each new sound she produced. I wanted her, I wanted her so badly that I thought that it would kill me if I didn’t quenched it soon. But, I kept myself in check and I would continue to please her like this until she was ready.

From everywhere she was attacking my senses. My ears with her moans, my nose with her flowery fragrance, my tongue with her exhilarating taste, my hands with her firm and soft body, and my eyes with her brilliant physic. It was more than I can handle and I was losing my control of my urges as they racked my brain, forcing me to do its bidding and I could not hold it any longer. I not only wanted it, but I felt like I needed it.

I left my lips from her sex and moved them up her body, sprinting them up across her stomach and passed between her breasts until they found their way to her lips, hungrily attacking them as I begged her to let me release myself of this torture.

With equal, if not more, need, she grabbed my steel hard and burning sex and guided it over her impatient opening. I started to grind more as I pushed, inch by inch, inside of her and she froze as I forced my way in. She gripped my upper arms like talons of an eagle as she let out a silent scream from her mouth as if she was in pain. I started to get scared that I was hurting her, but she yelled at me to keep going and I obliged until I let everything of myself inside of her warm and moist tunnel.

We froze where we were. I let out jagged breath into her wide opened mouth as her hands turned into vice-grips, her nails digging into my skin. I began to move my hips minutely, feeling the pressure of her inner walls gripping me as hard as her fingers were, as if to keep me from leaving her.

I pulled out a bit of her, and pushed right back in, creating a sensation that I had never experienced that flowed over my body like waves, and I wanted to feel that more. I pulled out again, and pushed back in. With each push, she let out heartfelt moan. The way she looked on her face, her eyes clinched tight, her mouth opened in an “o,” she looked as if she had found the bliss that had eluded her. Our minds were blank of our memories and thoughts, shoved out of the way to make room for this passion that only increased with each shove I made into her.

“…Faster…Faster…” she pleaded and I obliged as I increased my trusting, which only build more pleasure and pressure. The sound of our contact is now audible to us, but it was drowned out by her increasing moans of pleasure.

“…Fuck me…Fuck me harder…harder…”

To meet with her demands, I bounce my hips up and slammed down into her, creating an audible slap as I dived deeper. I maintain the speed that she wanted as best I can and it was tiring me out quicker than I thought, but the need to fill my hunger fueled me.

Sweat poured from my body and spilled onto her, mixing in with the perspiration that was wetting her coat. She was screaming with ecstasy as I was breathing and moaning with exhilaration, trying to push in deeper. As such, pressure was quickly building on top of each other just as fast and it was pushing its way towards my hard sex as I furiously pounded into her.

Hearing her scream for me like that gave me a sense of purpose and I was going to give her the best that I can give to her, to let her know that I care about her, that I want this night to be just as good for her as I wanted it to be as good for me. If we were never to see each other after that, I just wanted to let her know that was one stallion who wanted nothing more than to love her.

I was nearing the end of the line, and it would be any second that I would not be able hold it back. I kissed the middle of her face where her nose is and she pushed her hot breath into my neck, her sounds turning into happy cries as my eyes started to be flooded with my own tears. It was coming to an end, but I did not want the night to end. I wanted to see her again. I want to know everything about her, about her mind, her body, and her soul.

“…Vinyl…I…” I tried to talk to her, but I was running out of air.

“Give it to me! All of it!” she breathlessly screamed.

I went full throttle, rapidly slamming down into her like a jackhammer, adding the sounds of our contact to her loud roars as I breathed tirelessly. The pressure inside of my groin was building and it was growing stronger. It was pushing its way up to my sex, ready to shoot itself off. I held it back as much as I could to increase the sensation that it was causing in me, but it was pushing my attempts out of the way.

I pounded furiously into her and she held on to me, her arms and legs encircling my body like she does not want me to leave her side, that she wants me to stay inside of her forever. Our bodies’ wet with sweat, our scent attacking our noses, we were lost in this forest of ecstasy together and we wanted nothing more than to stay that way. But, sooner or later, we would find our way out of it.

I immediately froze as my whole organ deep inside of her let everything out of me and into her. Her body shook, her cries soft, her breathing hard as she locked me in her arms and legs, keeping me inside so that I would never leave her. For me, it was as if a bomb had exploded and the blast reverberated against every part of my body inside, wrecking everything.

We laid down, our bodies entwined with each other. The tears that were flooding my eyes flowed down my face as I looked at her as she stared at me with breathless wonderment.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Why are you crying?”

Trying to catch my breath, I just shrugged my shoulders without an answer ready. “I…I don’t know. I guess…I’m happy. I don’t know why, but…”

With a content smile, she cupped my face into her hands, using her thumbs to dry my tears. She brought my head down and lovingly kissed my forehead.

I looked at her with pleading eyes and asked, “Did I do good?”

Her smile was sweet when she gave her answer. “You did fine.”

Elated, I kissed her lips, which she returned it with equal vigor. With fatigue conquering my weak body, I laid my head below her chin, where she held me as she patted my head. As my eyes closed, I could hear her angelic voice sing, and I believed that I was in heaven.

“Ahhhhh, Love to Love you, Baby/Ahhhhh, Love to Love you, Baby.”

My mind went dark and I did not dream of anything that night my brain was so wreaked with love.