...Octavia...
My eyes slowly opened, taking in the darkness that my eyes were already adjusted to, but my vision was still bleary so my surroundings were still unknown to me. My mind was hazy for some reason unknown to me, it was unfocused and unclear; so much that I could barley think as it was. I gave my eyes a few blinks, attempting to clear my vision, but that was to to no avail.
I rolled over, feeling something soft beneath me form to fit my new position. It wasn't a foreign feeling, I could tell it was a mattress almost right away. Despite the cloud of fatigue that rested on my mind right now, a slight head ache building on the edge of my conscious, I decided to try and get up.
As I lifted myself off of the mattress, that felt awfully familiar to me for some reason, my vision began to clear a little. I could make out vague shapes of things that looked like furniture, their layout looked familiar to me, but I ignored that for right now. Instead, I focused on the throbbing in my head that had previously been just a small headache.
"Uhg..." I groaned, rubbing my temples in an attempt to alleviate the pain that was swelling in my head, and for the most part, it worked.
The next task I set to doing was clearing up my vision, rubbing my eyes and blinking them occasionally. This effort was much more rewarding, my eyesight clearing up drastically and revealing the, what I could now tell, room around me. Though, something about this room caught my eyes, something that made those odd familiar feelings much less odd. This room was definitely familiar, and for a good reason.
It was my room.
I blinked my eyes once more, double taking on all the parts of my room to see if it was my room, checking the tiny details that made my room unique to me. The organized mess of music sheets cluttering a desk that sat in the corner of the room, making the prized instrument of mine in the opposite corner make more sense to anyone else who my see it. That was enough to show me that it was my room, that instrument that seemed to be rather distanced from me as of late, something that I should probably work on when I get the chance.
I dragged myself to the side of the bed, hind hooves hanging off idly as my front pair were used as support for my body as I leaned back on my bed. The headache was still there, and much more noticeable, which got me thinking.
'Maybe I should get something to help with that.' Was the thought that popped into my mind.
I knew I had a couple of things for headaches in my bathroom, I kept them around for days when practice was a bit louder that I would have liked, or when I spent a bit too much time practicing.
I pushed myself off the bed, barley landing on my own hooves as I hit the floor. I didn't have the slightest idea why, but I was feeling really tired, barely feeling up to reaching up and flicking a switch that lit the room with a barley noticeable source of light. Despite it being an ineffective light source, it was easy on the eyes for the amount of light it gave.
I wobbled my way over to the door, the first few steps being the worst of the wobbling, but the ones that followed began to become more and more stable as I went. By the time I got to the door and out to the halls, I was walking regularly, though I still had a cautious pace. Even if it looked like my room, and was my room for that matter, waking up somewhere you don't remember going to sleep at is something that will put you on edge a little.
I walked down the hall, looking from side to side and observing the small marks and painting that covered them until I made it to the bathroom door. I was beginning to feel more comfortable, since as far I could tell, this was my home and I was alone, my home sounding silent except for the sounds I made.
I noticed as I walked into the bathroom, as I cast a glance at the end of the hall, that the rest of my home was near pitch black, the only source of light being the one that came from my rooms light that was barley different from the darkness. I decided to set my priorities, thanks to a well times pulse in my head, and go ahead and get something for my headache.
I shut the door behind me out of habit and the still lingering doubt that it was safe, turned on another light, and bent over to the cabinet below the sink, rummaging through a couple of other things medically related, before finally finding what I wanted.
Off-brand headache medications.
I smiled at just the sight of them, grabbing them as well as a small cup I kept down there with the medications that needed a glass of water to swallow. I filled the cup with water and downed the pill in a near instant, smiling to myself as I finished sipping on my water. Even if the effects weren't immediate, I knew that the relief would come pretty soon.
As I emptied the cup and placed the medications back under the sink door, I felt my stomach rumble, causing me to put my hoof up to the noisy organ reflexively.
'I guess that means it's time for breakfast.' I thought to myself, closing the cabinet.
I opened the bathroom door, turning the light off and taking a right towards the near pitch blackness that was my living room. I was a bit more confident about my house now, walking across the floor that I had memorized well thanks to my years of living here. I walked around the couch, holding onto the top of it as both a support and a guide to get to the kitchen. Though, there was one other thing that would probably make all of this easier if I got to it.
Soon enough, after a bit of stumbling and feeling around in the darkness, my hoof had landed on a light switch and with a flip of the hoof light filled my living room as I took a gaze around the room.
Everything was in its rightful place except for one thing.
Lying on the head of one side of the couch was a bundle of blue strands that jutted out, accompanying them was a long white looking thing, resembling that of a horn. At first I was curious, walking over cautiously towards the unknown object, though as I got closer to it, the shape became more clear and my eyes widened.
It was a head of blue hair, teal streaks accenting them strikingly.
I had a guess who it was, but I had my doubts about that until I finally came around the front side of the couch and I saw the face that belonged to the body.
"V-Vinyl?" I whispered in disbelief as I stared at the collapsed white figure that lay spread eagle on my couch, a peaceful face graced her sleeping figure.
I began to walk closer, still in disbelief, as I got right in front of her, a tear beginning to well in my eye.
The memories came flooding back to me as I stared at her. The fight we put up in the bar, her shooting her magic at Shakes and Sweeps and hitting both of them. I could remember her ditzy state thanks to the strong drink Shakes gave her, and riding on the back of Shakes. Even her riding on Shakes's back came floating back to me as I simply stared at her collapsed figure.
Though, the one thing that stuck out to me the most was the thing that I did, pinning her to the ground and battering her horn with a broken stool leg. I remembered those screams she let out, they were horrible and I never wanted to hear them again, but if it came down to it, I would do it again if it meant getting old Vinyl back.
It suddenly hit me.
'Was this old Vinyl?' I thought, looking over her carefully to see if anything would give the answer.
My search came up short, she was practically clean as a whistle except for a couple spots of dirt on her back and a twig I found next to her on the couch. I still had one method of finding out if it was the real her, though it was risky; life on the line risky. I could try waking her up and just asking her, and as dumb as it sounded, it seemed to be the only option available to me.
I gulped and raised a hoof, that was slightly shaking, and brought it in for a poke lined up for the side of her neck. Probably not the best place to try and poke her, but I guess I wasn't thinking about that. My hoof met with her tender neck, though she didn't move at first. I decided to try again, poking a bit harder.
This time she moved, scrunching her nose up, twitching one of her hind legs and grunting a bit. I didn't know if this is what bad Vinyl or good Vinyl would do, since she went from serious to carefree in one drink and a few seconds back at the bar.
'Maybe if I call her name?' I thought, forgetting about the fact she could very will end me right here.
"Vinyl?" I whispered, poking her in the side this time as she grunted a bit louder this time. I pulled back with a small huff and gave her another look over, trying to find a more effective way to wake her, but when my search turned up short again, I decided to try calling and poking again.
"Vinyl?" I poked again. This time she rolled over, turning her back to me with one more annoyed grunt.
"Vin-" I started, practically stabbing her back with my hoof.
She rolled back over at a shocking speed, a hoof flying through the air and landing shockingly gently on top of my lips and stopping me from speaking any more from both surprise, and the effective muffle her hoof gave.
I sat there, eyes wide again at the speed she had moved, as her hoof slowly slid down my face and fell down limply.
Slowly, one of her eyes cracked open barely and looked at me with annoyance, she pulled her limp hoof back up to her face, making a 'shushing' gesture before letting it fall back down and closing her eye again, a small smile gracing her lips.
I didn't know what to think of it at this point, she could still go either way for both versions of Vinyl. It would seem like the original Vinyl to shush me when sleepy, but the unpredictable nature of both of them were to similar that I couldn't tell if it was the good or bad one.
"Is...Is that you Vinyl?" I finally asked, the hopefulness rising in my voice.
She cracked one eye open, a bit wider than last time, giving me a good look at her one eye. I noticed it wasn't dilated and I felt some form of relief, but not total relief.
She stared at me for a second or two before cracking a small and toothy smile.
"Ask the concussion you gave my horn." She said weakly as her smile widened, horn flickering a bright neon blue.
My mouth went agape as I saw it, whether it was from happiness or something else I didn't know, but I redirected my attention back down to her face, noticing the smile still there, I felt my lips forming there own happy smile as her contagious happiness caught on.
She groggily pushed herself up from her sprawled and sat upright before patting the spot next to her, signaling me to sit down beside her.
That wasn't enough though, I didn't risk my life multiple times just to sit next to her.
I jumped forwards, aimed directly at her place on the couch, with a now mischievous smile on my face.
Her eyes widened as she saw me jump, an expression of groggy surprise gracing her face as I came down on her, wrapping my hooves around her neck and bringing her in for an embracing hug. She was tense at first, though I could understand it, but I didn't let her out of my grip; I was making up for lost time.
After a few seconds, she relaxed, moving her hooves up around me and embracing the hug herself. She was still as comfortable as ever, maybe even more now but that might just be the time she was gone speaking.
"I missed you..." I whispered, reveling in the warmth of her body as another stray tear began to well up.
"Y-yeah..." She stuttered as I felt the place where her head was heat up slightly. I wondered if she was blushing for a moment, because I certainly was.
Now that I was there I didn't know what came over me, the idea sounded good in my head to hug her, but maybe there was a better way of going about this.
The hug went on for about a minute, not exactly awkward but I was still a bit nervous about this situation, until I decided that it was long enough, the nervousness of how Vinyl thought of this getting to me. She was a bit more reluctant to end the hug, hanging on weakly, but didn't force me to stay. After seeing that, I regretted letting go, but I decided to not go back in.
I got off of her and took a spot next to her on the couch, landing a bit closer than I would have liked to land, but scooting away would just be rude and mean to her, so I decided to just stay there. The room was silent for awhile, neither of us seeming to know how to strike up the proper conversation, until Vinyl gave it a go.
"Hey, Octi." She said, looking at the closed curtains that sat in front of the couch.
"Hm?" I responded, also looking at the closed curtains.
"So, uh...Sorry about that whole trying to kill you and stuff. Wasn't thinking that clearly." She said sheepishly, making an awkward gesture with her hoof.
Though that seemed like quite a stretch for an apology for trying to kill me, I was more than willing to accept if it meant getting her back, but that didn't mean I couldn't get a little taste of revenge. I reached up and gave her head a little flick, getting a flinch out of her.
"That's for trying to kill me." I said, giving a little giggle on the end to show her I was playing around.
"That's it?" She said sounding shocked as she turned to face me.
"Vinyl, right now I'm just happy to be sitting on this couch with you beside me and you're not trying to kill me." I said, being a bit brutally honest, but she took it knowing that there was good intent behind it, showing so with a light laugh before turning back and facing the curtains.
"Boy, I didn't know that we were this far along in our relationship." She said casually afterwards.
My head literally snapped to look her, a look consisting mainly of shock and confusion probably on my face, though she apparently didn't notice and kept looking at the closed curtain, smile and all.
"What?!" I almost shouted, this was apparently the reaction she was both wanting and expecting from me, as she simply smiled.
"You know, that stage where we put our head on the line for each other?" She said, clearly joking, but I took a bit too seriously.
"Well...I guess we are..." I said, shrinking slightly.
I mean, it was true I guess, though I think I've put my head on the line a bit more than her, but that wasn't what made me flip a bit. It was the way she said it: "Our relationship", She made it sound like we were a...
My cheeks began to blush at the though.
"Hey Octi." She said again, getting my attention once more.
"Hm." I responded.
"Mind telling me when we reach second or third base?" I could feel the blush scorch across my face before turning and knocking her hard in the head as she began to break out in rowdy laughter, completely unfazed by the hit.
"It's good to have you back Vinyl." I said to her with honest and genuine happiness as I began to chuckle along, her contagious laughter being the only reason.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
It had been about an hour, me and Vinyl just spending time in each others company and getting comfortable with each other again, she seemed a bit sheepish and was constantly saying sorry, so much that it was actually starting to get annoying. The most interesting topic that we talked about, to me at least, was what happened her in the forest.
"I don't know really, I remember going through the forest and all that stuff, eventually me and Bigs got to a castle; Real big black one with guards and everything." She said, sounding akin to a story teller.
"We went inside, met this real creepy old dude, but he did get all on Bigs's ass and piss him off, so that was plus one for him in my book." She said sounding a bit happy about that part.
"After Bigs stormed off downstairs, the old guy asked me to join him for some tea or something like that. Tea's not really my thing, I can still drink it though, but when a creepy old guy who had something to do with the guy that just tried killing your friends offers it to you, it starts looking a bit fishy." She said, leaning back on the couch, crossing her hooves behind her head.
"So I went down some stairs and into this real big room with sofa's and coffee tables and stuff." She continued.
"A lounge?" I asked, knowing since my parents had one.
"Yeah, that." She said, getting back to her story.
"We're down there and he's getting the tea, some real big guards standing at the exit looking at me like I just killed their dog or something, but anyway, he comes back with a little silver platter and tea and all that stuff and offers me some."
"I say no, logically, but then he got one of his guards to step up at press something sharp up against my back. I'm a bit more willing to do it after that, so I drank it, figuring nothing that bad could happen." She said, shrugging.
"Well, lo and behold, after I finished the tea I got all dizzy, even fell into one of the big guards and passed out in their arms. When I woke up, I was in a different room with a big bed and all that."
"I could tell I wasn't thinking right then, well, not at the time of course, but things seemed to have a different perspective on them, seeming more dull and lifeless to me. It was like nothing was worth putting any effort into." She said, sounding the most serious I had ever heard her.
"I walked out of the room, out into a hallway and I saw the old guy talking to Bigs. Like I said before, things seemed different to me then; he seemed like someone worth following and respecting, someone you should give your life for, someone who you should work hard for." I shuddered at that.
"Next, I got sent out back into the forest with Bigs, something about clearing out some 'Hunters' or something like that. Things got a bit hazy right about there, but I do remember seeing you and some other mare."
I was in silence by now, the story was rather interesting.
"When I saw her though, she just felt like she was bad, you did too; You both looked like you should be gone, but I hesitated on you, something about you was different from all the others I had seen, it felt like I knew you from somewhere, but I pushed it aside for some reason or another."
"After I knocked the other mare unconscious, I planned to do the same to you." I felt a bit of my stomach churn when she said that.
"But instincts kicked in; I hadn't drank from anyone but you in the past few months, and that only left me thirsty for more." Again, another churn in my stomach.
"After you left, I had a stand off with the hunters and won, they left with no casualties but the one mare who was only unconscious and Bigs who got shot in the leg. I don't know why, but I protected him, saved him."
"After the urge to save Bigs had past, my mouth was left practically watering from the urge for blood, so I waited for the rest of the day, playing with Bigs a bit; teleporting away from him whenever he tried to grab me and take me back to that horrible castle, telling me that "We need to tell the master." or something."
"The second the night arrived, I set off towards Canterlot; towards you, and you pretty much know the rest of the story." I nodded and gave her a comforting hoof on the shoulder.
The story was informing, not in all the places where I would have liked it to be, like what this old stallion actually did to her, or if she had any plans for revenge against him, but I decided not to press it now, I was just glad she was back and not homicidal, but even after all this explaining, something still bugged me.
"So how did we get from the bar back here?" I asked.
I passed out at the bar, that was for sure, and I was pretty sure Vinyl had done the same after I wailed at her horn, so I was still confused how we ended up in my house after that night.
She shrugged. "I dunno, maybe it was Shakes or someone, heck, it might've even been me after that drink that you guys gave me." She said chuckling.
"What was in that drink by the way? I have never been that drunk before! It was great!" I chuckled a bit at her enthusiasm at being absolutely wasted, I was surprised she wasn't going through a hangover right now; maybe Vampires have strong livers?
Her stomach rumbled loudly, so much that she clenched it as she looked at it and then back up to me sheepishly.
"Uh...want to get some breakfast?" She said with an awkward smile.
I remembered my own stomach rumbling before coming in and finding her, so I graciously nodded before taking a quick peak out of my window to see the blinding sunlight.
"It's daylight though." I said as I turned back to her, though she only pointed to her horn.
"Wanna eat inside then?" She offered cockily, to which I nodded, though an idea popped into my head at the same time while my mind was still on the events of last night.
"Hey Vinyl?" I asked, a hopeful smile growing on my face.
"What?" She responded, treading lightly upon taking note of my smile.
"Mind if I have a friend tag along." I said, thinking of Harpo.
I figured it was time for Harpo to finally formally meet Vinyl, they seemed like they might get along just fine.
She instantly looked hesitant.
"Is it one of those one from before? They seemed like assholes." She mumbled.
"No, he's a lot different than those two." I said. "I think you'll like him."
It was true, I think Vinyl's happy and carefree nature would mix well with Harpo's, and if I can get Harpo to like her, then maybe I can get Beauty next. Fredric would probably be a bit harder though.
She still looked both hesitant and reluctant, but she eventually decided.
"The food better be good..." She mumble, which I gleefully took as a yes.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*