Octavia stood rocking back and forth on her hooves like a nervous filly, which wasn’t really all that far from how she was feeling at the moment. She opened her mouth, then closed it, looking skittishly between the door and the sleeping figure before her. The thought of going back to her room was daunting, but so was the idea rattling around in her brain. She shivered a little and rubbed one foreleg with the hoof of the other, seeking to reassure and warm herself a little.
Her roommate and best friend, Vinyl Scratch, was sprawled across her bed, snoozing peacefully. She had one hoof thrown above her head, and the other was hanging off her mattress into the open air beside it. The DJ’s trusty glasses were on the table at the head of the bed, and the earth pony could hear soft snores issuing from her friend.
She seemed so comfortable, Octavia hated to disturb her. With a little resigned sigh, she decided to weather the night by herself after all. However as she turned to leave, the house gave an unexpected creak that sent chills down her spine and made her eyes go wide in terror. She stepped a little closer and gently prodded the sleeping unicorn. “Uhm…V-vinyl,” the cellist said tentatively.
Her friend gave a hearty snore and rolled her head to gaze at her through bleary eyes. Sleepily, she croaked, “Octavia? Wha s’matter?” as she did her best to focus.
“Oh, well, uh-“ the grey mare began, then sighed with exasperation at herself. “Never mind. Go back to sleep, my friend,” she told her, trying her hardest to steel herself as she once more turned to leave.
“Octavia,” came an almost sharp command behind her, and she swiveled her head to look back in the direction of the previously snoozing musician. She was attempting to glare at her, but there was still too much sleep hanging about her to be effective. When she realized she had her attention, which took her tired brain a bit longer than usual, she continued irritably, “I know you didn’t just wake me up to tell me to go to sleep. What’s up?”
Stepping back over to the bed, she said sheepishly, “I, um, sort of had a nightmare.” She blushed furiously as the words left her feeling sillier than she had in some time.
To her immense relief, Vinyl didn’t laugh at her or get angry. The white pony patted her head gently a few times and said, “Feel that?”
Confused, she hesitantly answered, “Yes…”
“Good. You’re awake now. It can’t hurt you any more,” she reasoned, rubbing her eyes with her other hoof to try to get them to remain open for a bit longer.
Despite herself, Octavia smiled a little at her friend’s simple logic and stab at reassuring her. Then, she frowned again and replied, “Yes. I know that, but, well- Now, I’m too frightened to go back to sleep again.” She felt the blush return, though not as hard this time.
Vinyl Scratch sighed, mentally bid her pillow goodbye, then shoved herself off her bed and on to the floor beside her friend. She took a moment to yawn and rouse herself a bit more so she wouldn’t trip on the stairs. When she felt up to it, she said, “Kitchen. Drinks. Story time,” and headed that way with a grateful Octavia in tow behind her.
Using her horn to flip the light switch, the DJ trod to the fridge and pulled out two soda cans. She placed one in front of her seat, and the other in front of Octavia’s. She had one hoof on her chair, ready to sit, when she noticed that her companion looked like she wanted to say something but didn’t at the same time. So, as she was use to doing when this happened, Vinyl asked, “What is it?”
“It’s nothing,” the cellist started, but changed her mind when she saw the look on her friend’s face. Pained at feeling like such a bother, she continued, “I was planning to have some tea, is all. But, I assure you, soda is fine-”
Vinyl held up one hoof to stop her and gave a long-suffering sigh. She used her magic to return the sodas to their place, for now, and set about microwaving two mugs of water. She really didn’t care all that much for tea, but then she wasn’t the one with raw nerves, so she would make do. Behind her, she heard a little voice mutter, “Thank you,” causing her to smile a little, before grunting an acknowledgement.
Finally, the timer beeped and the unicorn levitated the two steaming containers over to the table to take the place the sodas once occupied. She pointed with one hoof and said, “Careful. It’s hot,” as she summoned each of them a tea bag and lowered them into each respective mug.
Octavia gingerly took a small sip of hers though it wasn’t quite steeped, yet. She just needed to feel the warm, reassuring liquid running down her throat. Shyly, she said, “I’m sorry, Vinyl. I really regretted waking you as soon as I had done it. But, I must say, now that you are down her with me, I do feel much better.”
The other mare gave a single breathy laugh and smiled a little. “No problem, Octy. Glad I can help. Now, you wanna tell me what got you so rattled?” she asked with genuine, friendly concern.
She gave an involuntary shudder and her eyes widened. Fear creeping back into her voice as she remembered her dream again, she said, “Oh, Vinyl! It was absolutely horrible. I was in the Everfree Forest, for Celestia only knows what reason. In any case, I could feel something following me, something huge. I never managed to see it, but I could hear it breathing and stomping about behind me. Well, of course I did what any sensible pony would do: I ran! I ran so hard and so fast, I was sure I would lose whatever was following me. However, it stayed right on my tail every step of the way, looming ever out of view and never breathing harder than it had been. It wasn’t even trying hard to keep up! I finally managed to break through the trees and in to town, and I heard it stop while it was still in the forest. I was feeling rather hopeful at that, but I kept my pace until I got home and was able to slam the door behind me. T-then, I heard this deep, dark voice laugh the most horrid laugh I’ve ever heard and it s-said, ‘Behind you, Octavia’. I turned and the only thing I could see was these great, yellow eyes as it lunged for me.” The cellist realized she had started to grip her still rather warm mug too hard. She let it go quickly and rubbed her hooves on her hind legs, which also began to calm her again. She took a deep breath and finished, “And then, I woke up. I tried so hard to dismiss it, but it would not leave me alone, so I sought a reassuring hoof.” With a slightly forced smile, she added, “You know the rest, I think.”
Fully awake now, Vinyl was almost gaping at her friend. “Daaaang, homefilly! No wonder you bounced me out of bed. That was a heck of a nightmare! Know what? Write that down. We’ll sell the movie rights,” Vinyl finished with a joke intended to make her friend laugh. It did its job as it managed to make her giggle a little, and the unicorn smiled at her success. “Wanna hear one of my bad ones?” she asked.
The grey earth pony nodded as she took another sip of her tea, then added, “Yes, please tell me. You listened to mine, after all.”
Nudging her barely touched tea a little further away and slouching back in her chair, the DJ began her tale. “Alright, so this happened when I was still a filly, right? I dreamed I was in my room playing and I noticed the shadows kinda, what’s a good word…” she trailed off as she wondered.
“Flicker? Dance? Shift?” her friend supplied, helpfully.
“Shift!” the unicorn seized the word, “Yeah, so they started to, like, shift and move and stuff. I remember thinking it was just a trick of the lights or something, but then I swore I could see a hoof start to form out of one. I started watching that one, and the thing sorta rolled and I suddenly saw these two red eyes, with no black part in the middle.” She thought she heard Octavia supply the proper word, but she didn’t change it or stop her story. “I dropped whatever it was I had been playing with and started to scoot back, trying to get away from it, but I heard this weird growl-hiss noise behind me. I turned my head to see what it was, and there were even more of them there! Next thing I knew, the weird red-eyed, shadowy things were all around me and the lights in my room were dimming, like, real fast. Just before the last of the light went out, I felt like they were crouching and I heard them all do that growl-hiss thing, like they were excited. I busted awake, scared as heck cause my room was all dark.”
Wrapped up in her best friend’s story, a wide eyed Octavia asked, “Then what did you do?”
Vinyl shrugged, “I ran to my parents’ room, but my dad just said it was over now, and that I was a big filly and I would be fine. When I got back to my own room, I turned on all my lights and kept an eye on all the shadows that I didn’t have the lights to get rid of for the rest of the night. Man, I was tired that next day,” she laughed a little.
For her part, the earth pony seemed horrified, “You mean, neither of your parents offered to sit with you or anything? Not even a glass of warm milk?”
Touched by the other pony’s concern, she had a bit of a smile playing at her lips as she replied, “Nah, man. They were more of the tough love type. They were fair, though. When Dad started to complain about the bill for the lights, Mom was all like, ‘well, you told her she’d be fine, and she made herself fine. What did you expect?’’ She laughed as she remembered her father’s blank face and the way he had just turned around and walked off, never saying another word.
Octavia chuckled a little bit, too, and said, “And, it serves him right for leaving a scared filly on her own.” Vinyl had one of her hooves laid out across the table, and she put her own on top of it adding, “I’m glad your apple rolled far enough away from the tree to give you a much more understanding approach.” She then withdrew her hoof to grab her cup for another sip.
The blue maned unicorn just shrugged. “What’re friends for?” she asked simply. She stifled a sigh at her own tea, reluctant to add sugar since she would need a lot to make it appealing and there might still be some chance for going back to bed.
Maybe if I get it over with quick?
As soon as she had the thought, she snatched her drink up and chugged it like she was at a bar, even slamming the empty container down a little harder than was called for. It didn’t improve the taste any, but at least got it out of the way.
The cellist rolled her eyes and said, “Really, Vinyl…Was that necessary?” She just grinned back as if that was all the answer needed, causing Octavia to shake her head at her friend’s antics. Trying to get the conversation back on track, she asked, “Have you ever had the dream where you are supposed to defend yourself against somepony-“
“And you buck ‘em with everything you got, and it does exactly Nothing?” Vinyl Scratch finished with a scowl born of irritation, “Ugh! They just stand there like you tried to poke them or something!”
She gave a snort of laughter. “I see you have,” she pointed out, then dawned her own frustrated look and put down her mug. “Blasted annoying though, isn’t it? It’s worse when they smile about it, as well,” she agreed.
The DJ growled and said, “Ya know, I’d almost rather have the full blown nightmare. At least when you wake up from that you’re just a little scared, not mad and feeling, I don’t know…powerless?” She frowned at the word she had chosen, but couldn’t say it was inaccurate. Suddenly recalling that she was supposed to be cheering up a certain somepony, she smiled triumphantly, saying, “And then, there are the ones where you buck and they fly through a wall or something! That’s always super satisfying, dude.” She looked proud of herself, as if she had actually done it rather than just dreamed it.
Octavia looked thoughtful for a moment. “Hmm,” she replied, “I don’t know that I’ve ever managed that one. I shall have to keep trying, I suppose. I would bet it is quite gratifying.”
Nodding with enthusiasm, her friend said, “Definitely.” Thinking for a moment, she continued, “Huh…I wouldn’t have pegged you for the violent type, Octy,” a teasing smile on her face.
“Well, they make one so angry!” she grumbled back defensively. “Just because I don’t look for trouble doesn’t mean I wouldn’t relish the chance to knock one of those smug ruffians into the middle of next week.”
Vinyl laughed and held her hooves before her in mock surrender, “Ok, ok! Settle down, killer. No ‘ruffians’ here.” She shook her head, still smiling, then tipped her head towards Octavia’s mug. “Where you sitting with that?” she asked.
The other mare looked inside and replied, “It looks like I have about half left.” She swirled it around a bit, then added cheerfully, “If you want another, you are welcome to it.”
She barely stifled her frown at the idea of even more plain, black tea. “No, thanks,” she answered, “The one was more than enough for me tonight. I’d love to get my hooves on one of those lattes Java Bean makes though. Mmm-mmm!” She felt her mouth water at the thought, and licked her lips for added effect.
“Now? How in Equestria would you get back to sleep?” the cellist asked, flabbergasted. She wasn’t sure that she would be able to do that anyway, but she expected Vinyl would leap at the chance. With all that caffeine coursing through her, Octavia thought it would be nearly impossible.
“Not a clue,” she responded happily, “But, I could always go for one of those things. I thought about grabbing one to spike one time, but I don’t wanna mess up the taste. That’d be a tragedy, for sure.” She had a suddenly grave look that made her friend snort a little.
With one eyebrow raised, Octavia wondered, “The taste of your coffee or your booze?”
Vinyl propped her head up on one hoof as she thought for a moment. She gave a half-shrug with the other and said, “Both, I guess. If you don’t add the right one, things can get really gross, really fast.”
Giving a sigh, the earth pony shook her head. “Must you consider adding liquor to every drink you try?” she asked.
The white mare frowned. “Hey, don’t knock it ‘til you give it a shot some time. And, you know I’m not an alcoholic or anything, I just like the taste is all.” She was a little irritated with her companion for a moment. To hear her talk, somepony would think she got hammered nightly. In reality, it had been about a week since her last drink, and that one was only because her nerves had been shot after working with a picky client.
Now, Octavia frowned, though hers was worried more than angry. “I’m sorry to have upset you. I truly didn’t mean to,” she said. She had to acknowledge that her friend was right, and she felt really bad after considering that she had been wonderful to her throughout this whole ordeal.
Letting out a huff, she grumbled, “Yeah, yeah. I know you didn’t.” She caught sight of the other pony looking troubled still. She didn’t really want to make her feel bad either, and gave her a half-smile, adding playfully, “Just looking out for me, right, Mom?”
“Oh, that we could all have your butter-knife sharp wit, Vinyl,” she returned the volley merrily, pleased that the DJ was willing to let it go. She took a large drink of her tea as the unicorn snickered.
Suddenly, red eyes closed as her mouth came open wide, and Vinyl Scratch gave a mighty yawn. She rubbed her eyes and said, “Sweet Celestia, that hit fast. You about ready to try that whole ‘sleeping’ thing again?”
Octavia looked down and rolled her hooves against her mug. When she spoke again, her voice was uncertain and tentative. “I…am not sure I am, actually. I am sort of tired, but I don’t really want to go back to my room tonight, either. I may just stay awake for the remainder of the night.”
“Don’t wanna return to the scene of the crime, huh? I gotcha,” her friend said. She scratched her cheek thoughtfully, then nodded a little and finished, “Ok. Finish your tea, and I’ll be right back.” Then, she got up and headed for the door that lead towards the stairs.
The cellist twisted in her seat and asked, “Where are you going?” but the other gave no reply. She shrugged off her confusion and consumed the remaining contents of her mug as she had been asked. Gripping one mug in her mouth and the other in a hoof, she managed to get them on to the counter beside the sink. She had just finished rinsing the mugs after throwing away the used tea bags when she heard the other pony return. Turning around, she saw that Vinyl had both of their blankets draped over her back, and was levitating their pillows in front of her. Curious, Octavia followed her into the next room in time to see her toss her blanket on to the chair and Octavia’s to the couch, to be followed by their pillows.
The unicorn smiled sleepily and proclaimed, “We’re gonna have a sleep out in the living room,” gesturing to the two makeshift beds. Without further ado, she clambered up on to hers and pulled her blanket around her, sighing in contentment as she reclined the chair.
The grey musician trotted over to get on the couch, saying, “But, Vinyl, won’t you sleep better in your bed?”
She laughed once, then yawned again. “Girl, I can sleep anywhere. I’m practically a pro at it. I’d feel guilty if you don’t get back to sleep and I do, though. So, I thought since your room was out, the couch was the next best thing. And, if you get scared again, I’ll be closer here than I would be in my room, so that puts me on the chair,” she explained, a note of pride in her voice that she could think of all the angles on a fuzzy brain.
Pulling up her own cover, Octavia could only smile as she lowered her head to her pillow. She chuckled a little and whispered jokingly, “My hero,” as she felt her body finally relax and allow feelings of fatigue to remind her just how sleepy she really was. She ended up giving a small, polite yawn of her own.
“Duh-du-da,” her friend whispered back, and the two tittered quietly in the dark for a moment. Scratching her belly lightly, Vinyl muttered, “Night, Octy.”
On the couch, the other mare pulled her mane out from under her to make herself more comfortable and replied softly, “Good night, Vinyl.”
The two friends soon passed into deep, dreamless slumber, and the night that had once seemed so terrible was suddenly made tranquil amid the mutual presence of a good friend.
Author's Note
I really enjoy writing for these two. I have a lot of fun with it. This one was inspired by a stray thought that said, "hey, what if one of them was to have a nightmare? Then what?"
Hope everypony enjoys! Thanks for reading.
