Vinyl woke naturally, wrapped up in Octavia’s legs. Even if she had still been able to use magic, getting out of this position without waking her lover would have proven difficult. Without, it would be impossible. However, either of these scenarios would imply that Vinyl Scratch wanted to get out of this position. Resigning herself to as many more minutes wrapped in Octavia’s hooves as she could, Vinyl tried her best to relax. Of course, Vinyl Scratch had never been good at staying still, and the harder she tried to, the more she found her body quivering lightly.
Celestia, please, can this last forever…
Unfortunately, perfect moments do not last forever, and soon enough this one ended, Octavia’s eyes slowly opening in the dim light of the cave. Vinyl Scratch found another perfect moment as their eyes met, both smiling, after their first night together. Octavia planted a light kiss on Vinyl’s lips, before moving to let her lover up.
“Vinyl my dear… I’m sorry I fell asleep right after, last night… never done that before; it took more out of me than I thought it would.”
“Took more out of you? I put more into you than I thought I would. Seriously, that thing you did with my horn? We should do that again.”
Octavia blushed heavily at the memory and giggled, standing up and shaking the sleep out. Her mane fell loosely down in some places, was ruffled up in others, and was matted down by what was likely a combination of saliva and… other fluids in other places.
“Come on, Vinyl. While that was positively euphoric… I feel that perhaps falling asleep in a small puddle of our own… well, sex, was not the wisest decision in terms of personal hygiene. Shall we wash off?”
Vinyl simply smiled and nodded as she stood up. Her mane and coat were equally matted and ruffed up as Octavia’s. She tried to fluff it up a little but merely ended up blushing furiously as her hooves ran near the base of her horn, discovering a still slightly damp spot on top of her head.
“Yeah… that’d probably be a good idea,” Vinyl said, following Octavia out of the cave. She found her eyes drawn to Octavia’s rear, convinced that there was no way the typically reserved and conservative mare walked with that much swing in her hips normally. As her eyes slowly swayed back and forth, they were drawn to the scars over Octavia’s cutie mark. She stopped in her tracks as a lump formed in her throat.
“I’m… I’m so sorry, Tavi…” tears began to fall.
Octavia turned around and walked up to Vinyl, lifting her face with a hoof under the chin. She planted a quick kiss on Vinyl’s lips and pulled her into a hug.
“Hey. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be alive. You’ve saved my life twice now. A little scarring is hardly worth getting upset over when I could… when I should be dead. Besides, it looks like the lines on a musical staff, see?” Octavia released Vinyl, turned and showed her flank, “It’s just like a staff.”
“Tavi… that has got to be the worst justification I’ve heard for anything,” Vinyl said, giggling through her tears, “And I love it. I love you, Tavi.”
“I know, Vinyl, I know. Now, I believe we were on our way to wash off? You smell like… me,” Octavia said, wrinkling her nose in mock disgust.
“I dunno, I kinda like this smell,” Vinyl replied with a wink. Octavia rolled her eyes but couldn’t suppress a smile, before resuming walking towards the lake. Reaching the cool, clear water, Octavia happily dove in, shaking her mane around under the water in an attempt to get the sex out of it. Failing that, she began rubbing her hooves through her mane. Still unable to get some of the worst clumps out, she brought her head above the water to inhale and was about to try again when she noticed Vinyl holding a coconut and a rock.
“Vinyl, dear, what are you doing?”
“Coconut milk makes for a good conditioner. I figure with the state both of our manes are in, we could use it.”
Octavia simply stared at the white unicorn, giving her best how the hell do you know that face.
“I already told you that most of the time I was in med school I wasn’t actually studying medicine. One of my friends gave me a book of ‘useless trivia.’ Guess it wasn’t so useless after all. Now come here.” Vinyl smashed the rock into the coconut, not enough to split it but cracking the fruit to its core. Wading over to Octavia, she turned it and let the white liquid dribble out of the crack and into the earth mare’s mane. She was about to reach her hooves up to begin rubbing it in when Vinyl took over doing that as well. Octavia simply leaned back onto the stomach and chest of the white mare behind her and let the euphoria of having another pony work on her hair take her. While she wasn’t poor, Octavia rarely allowed herself the pleasure of going to a professional mane stylist, and most often cut her own hair (a feat that impressed many unicorns even more than her cello playing, given how elegant her mane always was). But this feeling… Octavia couldn’t get enough. She let out a low moan, reveling in the wonderful feelings originating from her lover’s hooves. My lover… yes. She loves me… that makes her my lover. But that sounds so… scandalous. Marefriend? Yes. Marefriend. That sounds just right. Oh, Celestia this feels good… Octavia let out another pleasured moan, causing Vinyl to giggle.
“Liking this a bit much, are we?” Vinyl asked.
Octavia blushed and nodded. “Seriously, Vinyl you must let me do this to you afterwards. It feels simply…” she shuddered as Vinyl’s hooves rolled behind her ears, sending a tingly jolt down her neck, “simply divine.”
“If you insist. Careful around my horn though, it’s still a bit… sensitive.” Octavia shifted her weight to let Vinyl out from beneath her, and dunked her head under the water to remove the last of the coconut milk, quickly running her hooves through her mane, surprised at how effectively the milk had cleaned out her hair. Returning to the surface, she turned to see Vinyl lying on her stomach, eyes cast seductively over her shoulder at Octavia.
“Well if you lay down like that, how am I supposed to get to your head?”
“Sit on my back.”
Octavia colored slightly. “Isn’t that a bit… sensual?”
“Octavia, love, you were having no problems with ‘sensual’ last night.”
“If you keep bringing it up like that, I’m breaking up with you,” Octavia retorted, putting on a faux pouty-face.
Vinyl whipped her head around so fast she threw her glasses off, a look of terror in her eyes.
“I’ll never mention it again I promise please don’t leave me I love you so much,” she said, rolling over and launching herself at Octavia, knocking the earth mare into the water.
“Vinyl, dear, I’m so sorry… I was just joking… I didn’t think you’d take it so seriously. Honestly, it would be very hard to get me to break up with you, silly. What would I do then? Be cave-mates with my ex? That sounds fun,” Octavia tried to comfort her marefriend, who was practically on the verge of tears. In her current state of mind, Vinyl missed the sarcasm in Octavia’s voice, and completely lost it, bawling and sobbing out apologies, swearing to never even think about doing things with Octavia ever again, as long as she promised not to leave her.
Note to self: detecting sarcasm is not this mare’s strong suit.
“Vinyl.”
Still sobbing.
“Vinyl.”
No change.
“Vinyl.”
Unable to elicit a proper response, Octavia decided there was one way to get through to the mare. She leaned down and kissed her.
Vinyl, finally removed from her spell of terror, quickly melted into the kiss, allowing Octavia’s tongue into her mouth. After a few moments, Octavia broke the kiss, both mares’ breaths coming slightly heavier than normal.
“Vinyl Scratch. I’m terribly sorry for what I said. I was trying to be sarcastic. I like you, a lot. I’d have to, to do what we did last night. I don’t want to lose you, not to anything, not to anyone. I’m sorry. Want me to clean your mane now?”
Vinyl blushed a bit at the realization of how much a fool she’d been, and nodded, removing herself from the cellist. She turned and sat upright, in as perfect a posture as she could maintain. Octavia giggled before shoving her over, the unicorn landing on her stomach. Before she could let out an upset question, she felt a wet pony straddle her lower back. She blushed at the sensation, but didn’t question it. As a wet pony stomach met with more of her back, Vinyl Scratch had to wonder what was going on. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, a low, sultry voice entered her ear.
“You tell me the story of how you fell in love with me, and I will give you the best mane washing you’ve ever had. Tell me how you got your cutie mark, too,” she added, with a light tug on Vinyl’s tail to emphasize her point.
Vinyl let out a light gasp, and conjured the memories.
“Well, it started when…”
***
Vinyl Scratch had just finished another set at her nightclub, and was on her way home. She wasn’t exactly struggling to get by with the income from DJing, but at the same time, she wasn’t exactly rolling in it. She reached her apartment building, walked in, and began the ascent to her third floor home. Reaching the door, she levitated her key from around her neck and entered. In the darkness, and from behind her sunglasses, she couldn’t see what it was she’d stepped on. Magically flicking on the lights, she levitated the offending object to her face, removed her sunglasses, and read the note taped to it.
My Dearest Vinyl Scratch,
I would like for you to consider the following as a token of my appreciation for being such a wonderful tenant. I received it in a contest I won, but, unfortunately, I do not have a record player to make proper use of a record. While I am not certain if it will suit your tastes, I know you enjoy music and figured you, of all the ponies I know in this building, are most deserving and most likely to enjoy the auditory pleasures I’m sure this piece of vinyl holds.
Your landlord and friend,
Mr. Keys
Vinyl smiled. Mr. Keys was a truly nice fellow; it was a shame that simply due to the location of his building that it tended to attract less reputable tenants. Vinyl had a good relationship with her landlord, one that had started one night when he’d invited her to his home to have dinner with his family, the first of many small “thank you’s” for being his “best tenant.” Without looking at it, she magically removed the record from its sheath and floated it to her phonograph, letting the needle down and powering on the device.
She tensed a little – thinking of the music she usually listened to, taking this long for there to be any sound typically implied there was one hell of a drop to come.
Much to her surprise, it never came.
Instead of the intense base drop she was expecting, a deep, tremulous tone filled the air. It sounded almost like… a cello?
Vinyl’s lip curled in disgust.
Classical shit… nopony listens to that music anymore. It’s ancient, creaky, and elegant. No, wait, that’s not right!
Vinyl smacked herself in the face with a hoof and cursed the thought that classical was “elegant.” She hastily depowered her phonograph and retrieved the record, eager to end the soothing… er, grating noise coming from the machine.
Did I just… did I just like a piece of classical? She levitated the record over to her, inspecting it to find the source of this music. Nothing but a lavender treble clef and a date far closer to the current one than she expected adorned the record. That’s odd… this only came out a couple months ago. Ponies still make this crap? Vinyl shelved the vinyl, wordlessly reminding herself that it was the thought behind Mr. Keys’ gift that was what counted, not how well it had actually been executed. Content to leave it on the shelf and forget about it, the white unicorn collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep.
***
The next evening saw her at home much sooner than usual.
Hell, it’s not even midnight. Stupid fucking druggies… they know they’re not supposed to light up in the club, but noooo~ he just HAD to get high RIGHT THEN… Vinyl thought back to the incident. One of the partygoers had produced a poison joke cigarette and attempted to ignite it, but failed and caused a small blaze on the dance floor. While, thankfully, the club itself remained unharmed, the first responders insisted the place be closed down for the evening, and that the damaged floor be repaired as soon as possible. And with that, Vinyl found herself at home.
I guess I’ll just party by myself, then. Retrieving a beer from her icebox and telekinetically levitating a record from her favorites collection to the phonograph, she collapsed on her couch. She was met with another unusually long silence before the music began.
Oh, must be Monstercat’s newest… oh this drop is gonna be so good! Once again, Vinyl tensed, awaiting a sudden, loud burst of synthetic music.
As with the night before, it never came.
The low, sustained opening cello note filled the room. Vinyl would have removed it immediately, but she’d already downed most of her beer, and magic became dangerously unstable with even a little alcohol in a unicorn’s system. Stupid genetics giving us a bad name as lightweights… it’s just that alcohol and magic don’t mix and the more alcohol the less conscious of that fact you are… gah, might as well listen to this now.
Three hours later, Vinyl Scratch sat in her shower, cold water flowing over her, having an identity crisis.
It’s good. No, it’s bad. How can it be good? How can I like this music? I’m Vinyl Scratch! I’m the Baroness of Beats, the Duchess of Dubstep, the Empress of Electronica! How can I like this? It’s so… so soft, so soothing… it’s horrible! Why do I like it so much… how can… Vinyl’s thoughts were interrupted by a sob lodging itself in her throat.
How can I be crying over this? Who cries because of music? Music is a source of joy! I need to find out who is responsible for this… after… after a bit more cold shower. And some sleep.
***
The next morning, Vinyl Scratch found herself walking through downtown Canterlot, searching for any information that could lead to revealing the secret that tormented her. She’d been wandering the city for hours, but eventually she found something, something in a shockingly big way. Adorning the billboard outside the Canterlot Garden Arena was a highly stylized image of a gray earth mare with a lavender treble clef cutie mark, apparently holding a cello. The advertisement simply displayed a name and some dates, presumably the name of the mare in question and concert dates, one of which happened to be tonight. Vinyl Scratch ran towards the building, hoping that there was a ticket left.
So… Octavia Philharmonica. This is the name of my undoing.
***
As it happened, there had in fact been a few tickets left, and Vinyl Scratch had secured herself one of them. Now arriving for the actual concert, she had positioned herself in a seat by the aisle, fully expecting to get up and walk out part way through. She idly tapped a hoof, waiting for the concert to start, and glanced around the massive concert hall. She noticed a few ponies giving her dirty looks, a few almost seemed like they were trying to avoid her eyes. She could see why, though – there wasn’t another pony wearing anything less than a dress or suit, all with beautifully styled manes, and there she sat, with nothing but her sunglasses and unkempt mane. She yawned, turning her attention back to the stage. Suddenly, the lights flicked off, with a single spotlight illuminating a circle in the center of the red curtains. A magically amplified voice that sounded shockingly similar to the Princess of the Night’s own (affectionately known as “Ye Olde Canterlock”) floated through the room.
“Fillies and Gentlecolts… I present to you the one and only Octavia Philharmonica!” Instead of the wild cheering an introduction like this would have met at one of Vinyl’s events, a rather reserved applause came from the crowd. Vinyl rolled her eyes, but just the same, focused on the stage. The curtains drew apart and Vinyl’s jaw dropped, her breath drawn unbidden from her lungs. The most ravishingly beautiful mare she had ever seen stood in the center of the stage, alone, wearing an elegant, stark white dress that accentuated every curve on her body and made her flowing, dark grey mane stand out perfectly, without distracting from any of the rest of her. Her face curved gently, but retained an apparent jawline with flowing cheekbones that seemed to come from nowhere. What shocked Vinyl the most, though, was a connection she hadn’t made earlier – this mare, this drop-dead gorgeous mare, was an earth pony. She had no magic to assist her.
And then she began to play.
It started slow, simple, and solemn. Gradually, it began to speed up, just like it had on the record Vinyl had listened to the night prior. Eventually, it reached a cheerful, quick melody, if still much slower than Vinyl was used to. Then everything changed.
The pace of the music doubled, multiple notes filling the air at the same time, the gray mare on stage sawing and heaving with her bow, rolling her hooves to depress the various strings to various lengths, drawing a rapturous chorus of noises from the wooden device that sounded almost as though there were three or four of her on stage. Drawing the bow across two non-adjacent strings, pulling one final, exultant note from the cello, the gray mare struck a pose, chest heaving, before bowing to the audience, the curtains closing as she brought herself upright once again.
The audience erupted in a roar of applause. Every pony in the room stood, clapping their forehooves together. Every pony, except one. One miss Vinyl Scratch, who sat, weeping, unable to wrap her mind around the beauty she had just experienced. A white unicorn stallion with a blue mane and a monocle noticed, and spoke up.
“First time?”
Vinyl nodded.
“I cried too, my first time. Miss Philharmonica is truly the most skilled cellist alive, and some claim she’s the greatest cellist who’s ever lived. Personally, I agree with them,” he finished, with a smile. Vinyl returned his smile, having stopped crying now. She stood to join the standing ovation, shocked at how long the audience had been applauding this mare.
I… I think I’m in love.
***
Octavia sat on Vinyl’s back, having long since finished washing her mane, idly massaging her marefriend’s back and the unicorn between her legs recounted the tale.
“And… that’s when I knew,” Vinyl finished. She heard a soft sniffling above her, and managed to roll onto her back underneath Octavia. To her shock, Octavia was crying.
“Did… did you know… the reason I played like that that night… I’d forgotten my music. Completely. That night… I remember that concert. That was complete improvisation. I thought the crowd hated it. I messed up so badly. I was actually fired from my orchestra at that point because of that night.”
“That’s ridiculous, Octavia. That was, and still is, the most amazing music I’ve ever heard, and played by the most beautiful mare I’ve ever seen. I loved you then, Tavi, and I love you now. I love your music. If ponies call your music bad, know they’re lying,” she said sternly, pulling Octavia down into a kiss.
“Thank you, Vinyl… knowing at least one pony loved it…”
“Well, this white unicorn next to me liked it as well. Blue mane, monocle. Fancy jacket. There was a ridiculously thin light pink unicorn mare with him. He said it was the best performance you’d ever put on.”
“Fa- Fancy Pants liked it?! That must be why I was hired by another orchestra almost immediately!” Octavia’s visage changed to joy, and Vinyl failed to stifle a giggle.
“Fancy Pants? His name is literally Fancy Pants? Oh that’s rich… oh Celestia that’s priceless…” Vinyl laughed from beneath her marefriend.
“Hey! He’s a very important pony! He’s considered one of the most influential ponies in Canterlot, aside from the royalty, of course. Why, he’s even a personal friend of the Princess!” Octavia huffed, with a slightly dreamy look in her eyes.
“Hey! You’re taken, remember? And I think he is, too.”
“Oh, I’m not so sure if I’m taken…” Octavia muttered. Once again, Vinyl’s eyes went wide with horror. Octavia quickly remedied her mistake, though, leaning herself down over Vinyl Scratch in as sensual a manner she could manage, her face only a hoofsbreadth away from Vinyl’s. Eyes half lidded, Octavia called forth all her bewitching feminine charms, and whispered in a husky voice, heavy with lust.
“I think you should convince me.”
It took Vinyl a moment to catch on, but not a second longer to act on it.
***
Two hours of convincing – and another wash – later, Vinyl and Octavia were both trotting happily through the forest, searching for something to eat (besides each other) for lunch. Wandering farther from the cave, the pair found a decent amount of food. Gradually the dirt beneath them began to shift to rock, and the trees began to thin out. Octavia was absorbed in her thoughts, and, were it not for Vinyl’s sudden touch on her neck, she would have walked off the cliff the pair now found themselves standing atop. Octavia found her breath conspicuously absent from her lungs as she took in the sight – a massive, sheer cliff face, descending at least a hundred and fifty meters almost straight down, to a jagged, rocky shoreline. There would be no surviving a fall from here. At the same time, Octavia found it impossible to deny the beauty of the location.
“Gorgeous…” she breathed.
“What, you or the locale?” Vinyl replied, a goofy smile on her face.
“Well, I was talking about the scenery, but you seem to be incapable of going five minutes without informing me I’m beautiful as well, so both, I guess. I still don’t believe you about the noodles, by the way,” Octavia said, with a smile.
“You’re welcome. And I told you, if it weren’t for those noodles, I never would have gotten my Cutie Mark. You’re right, though – this really is a beautiful setting. I’m certain this island would be massively popular if anypony knew where it was.”
“Yeah…” Octavia turned around. Surveying the island in it’s fullness for the first time, she realized that it really wasn’t terribly large, no more than a couple hours walk from one end to the other at most. The beach extended along the south side of the island, with the cliff on the west side, and the forest covering the center, north, and east. Aside from the cliff they were on, the island was quite flat as well. No wonder nopony seems to know this is here… it’s tiny, flat, and entirely unremarkable. It would be hard to spot, even for a flying Pegasus. As Octavia thought about that for a second, she realized something. It was very possible she and Vinyl would be on the island until their dying day, and every day spent without rescue only made that more likely. While she couldn’t think of a better pony to be spending her days with, the thought of being on this island until she died horrified her. She felt her knees grow weak, her mind blank. Her body collapsed, rolling dangerously over the edge of the cliff.
Vinyl Scratch moved faster than she ever had before, forehooves wrapping around Octavia’s rear leg as her body tumbled over the edge, praying to Celestia her own rear legs would find purchase. When they did, Vinyl hung there for a moment, making sure her position was stable, before beginning to pull Octavia back over the edge. Succeeding in dragging the now passed-out mare away from the edge, and shook her awake.
“Holy Celestia, Octavia! I told you I’d never let you go, don’t make me hold to that literally!”
“You… I thought that was a dream! You… you really said that?”
Vinyl turned bright red. Oh damn it. Once again, I’ve gotten myself into a situation there’s no good way out of except the embarrassing truth.
“Yes. That night you had the dream… before I fell asleep, I whispered that to you. And I mean it. I will always be there for you, Octavia. No matter what happens between us, I will always be your friend, and I will always care for you. I’ve said it several times, but I’m just gonna keep saying it until you get it in your head: I love you. Now and forever.”
Tears welled in Octavia’s eyes. It had only been a day. But her heart told her it was right.
“I love you too, Vinyl Scratch.”