//------------------------------// // Cold // Story: My Roommate Is Onto Me // by AGhost //------------------------------// The train rumbled slightly as we made our way home. Octy stared out the window with a tired expression. Didn’t surprise me. She had every reason to sulk. Just wish there was somethin’ I could do to help. What would’ve "helped" is if you hadn’t gotten her bit by a monster. Shut up. I wondered how this would affect our relationship. When you’re first ‘changed’, (whether a lycan, a vampire, whatever,) you get pretty frequent mood swings. Most deal with depression and then gotta deal with the side effects of whatever they use to get rid of the depression. Whether it be alcohol, drugs, or whatever… it was usually bad stuff. Personally, I think alcohol should just be used to have a good time, not to feed a disease. Well, for the most part. I’m no saint. Pretty sure I went through enough shots to feed a small army after Streak and I split. Would I be able to be there for Octavia while she went through these changes? Would she even still wanna be with me? I mean… maybe I wasn’t the best thing for her right now. As painful as it was to think, maybe… maybe we should split for awhile until Octy got herself together. She had her job, which she’d already skipped out on about a week of practices cause of me. My fault, of course. Her parents totally despised me and would probably pressure her not to see me anymore. Again, my fault. And on top of that, she was gonna be chasing mailmares and chewing squeaky toys the rest of her life. Again agaaain, cause of me. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I was just causing her trouble. She’d realize it, too, sooner or later… and then she’d leave me. She’d be crazy not to. I was gonna need a drink when I got home. _________________________________________________________________________ I didn’t like the idea of Octy going off on her own in the condition she was in, but she's missed too many practices already. She had to go to this one. We walked through the front door and I levitated her cello case over to her. “Call me if anything goes wrong,” I said. “Anything at all. If you get any cravings or anything you think-“ “I’ll be fine, Vinyl,” she assured me with a bit of attitude, accepting the case and heading towards the door. I looked at the floor. “Hey, I-“ The door shut behind her. “… love… you…” I mumbled as I headed for the fridge. Opening the freezer, I saw the bottle of vodka nestled alongside a tub of Rocky Road ice cream. It began to glow as I picked it up with my magic. No. Stop it. You don’t need that to make yourself feel better. I sighed and reluctantly put it back in, bumping my rear against the freezer to shut it. Writing music was usually what I did to distract myself when I was depressed, so I thought I’d grab a snack and work on a few tracks I was putting together. Opening the fridge, I spied an apple and levitated it onto the counter, cutting it into slices with a kitchen knife. I took the snack to my room and sat down at my equipment. Had a sweet turntable in my room with all the fixins that I’d saved up to get a few years ago. I was just about to get to work when I realized somethin’. No idea what I was thinking about that made it come to mind, but I remembered that there was a digital copy of “What To Expect When You’re Expecting A Lycan” on my computer that I’d totally forgotten about. I’d gotten it for free, (along with a copy of “So Now You’re A Vampire,”) when I’d gone to one of my first TIC meetings. Didn’t really intend on reading it cause that would require… ya know. Reading. Trotting over to my laptop, I booted it up and searched for the digital book, finally finding it in a super old folder I didn’t even use anymore. It had bright colors and cutesy, foal-like pictures on every page. The first page featured a picture of a small, white Pegasus with bite marks on his arm. Reminded me of one of those read-along books from Health Class, so I read everything in one of those dumb, narrator-y voices you’d hear in old educational films. All ponies go through changes as they get older. These changes are completely natural and are just a part of growing up. Take ThunderFoot here as an example. His body will get bigger, his voice will get deeper, and many other changes will occur as he gets older. However, ThunderFoot has just been bitten by a mystical creature known as a Lycan. He’s about to go through a few more changes that most ponies- “Ugh, I don’t wanna hear about Lycan puberty,” I muttered, clicking through the pages. “Just tell me what to ‘expect’ like the stupid title says.” I got to page five and all the awkward had died down. When you’re a newly changed Lycan, you might exhibit some behaviors that you’ve never experienced before. ThunderFoot, for example, now prefers to drink his water from a bowl instead of a glass. Some common behaviors include: • Rolling in dirt/mud • Licking another pony’s face • Developing a strong hatred of felines • Chasing carriages/scooters/other vehicles • Barking and/or howling, especially during full moons • Retrieval of sticks/balls/thrown objects • Shortening of attention span • Urination on trees/fire hydrants • Digging These symptoms usually subside within a few years, though some traits will stay with you for the rest of your life. Hopefully Octy wouldn’t experience the “urination” one. My eyes skimmed past “Tick Prevention and Removal” and I flipped a few more pages. During the early stages, it’s very important that you are kept an eye on to ensure your animalistic side does not become dominant. Make sure your mom, dad, or somepony that they choose watches you closely as your Lycan side might tell you to do things that you don’t want to do. Also, remind them to keep all harmful objects out of reach so that you don’t hurt yourself. Knives, glass, silver, and any other dangers should be kept in a safe, secure location. Blah, blah, blah. I skipped to the last page. With some stories you might hear about Lycans being “monsters” or that they are often associated with “evil,” you might feel like your uniqueness makes you a bad pony. This isn’t true at all; it makes you special. You have been gifted with the power to transform into a powerful being at will and you should appreciate it every day. It’s not what you are, but who you are. “Even has a little lesson at the end. How cute,” I said humorlessly and clicked out of the book. Stretching my arms behind my head, I wondered what to do next. “I should probably hide away all the stuff Octy could hurt herself with, like the book said.” I stood up and began to walk towards the door, but my turntable caught my eye. “… Ooooor I could make music. That’s somethin’ I could do.” I sat down at it and got to work. Time seemed to go by quickly and after a few hours, my plate of apples was empty and I’d made some pretty great progress on the remix I was making for Octy. Was stuck near the middle, though. Just couldn’t figure out where to go next with it. I'd tried just about everything. A low growl escaped my lips. “Damn,” I muttered under my breath. Had to stop work for today. I was just going in circles now. My brain was tired and couldn’t process notes anymore. I heard a noise outside my door and got up to check it out. Wasn’t sure how long Octy had been home, but there she was looking around the kitchen, her cello nowhere in sight. That book was full of crap. Octy was totally fine. "How was your day?" I asked cheerily as I opened a cupboard. She didn’t respond. "… Octy? How's dinner coming along?” Still no response. I shut the cupboard and turned to look at her. “Octy?" Her wide eyes were fixed on the knife I’d used to cut the apple. The silver knife. "Wait, Octy, don't touch tha—you still touched it." Her hoof started to sizzle, a small plume of smoke rising from it. "It seems my hoof has spontaneously combusted into flames," she informed me, holding it up in front of my face. "Quite. Shall I get the fire extinguisher?" I responded in the same manner. "Please do." We stared at each other for a few seconds… then started screaming. She wildly flailed her hoof around as I searched for the fire extinguisher. Finding it under the sink, I levitated it over to her, closed my eyes, and squeezed the trigger, releasing a stream of white gas/liquid stuff all over her. After about ten seconds of blindly spraying it, I released trigger and I opened my eyes to see Octy standing there completely covered in a white, chalky substance. The only part of her I hadn’t managed to hit was her burning hoof, which she still held in front of her as it continued to sizzle. I walked closer to her, lifted the fire extinguisher, and gave her hoof a spray. “Thank you,” she said through clenched teeth. I smiled back. “Anytime!” I grabbed a cloth and started patting her down, causing her to cough as the dust from the foam flew into the air, then opened the freezer and pulled out an ice pack. “Here, put this… on…” I reached for her hoof and saw that it was almost completely healed already. “… Oh yeah. Forgot. Man, these things are gonna be totally useless now,” I chuckled putting the ice pack back in the freezer. “Vinyl… before when we were talking about everything, in Fluttershy’s cottage…” Octy said slowly as I shut the freezer door. “Well, I was just wondering… what exactly do you do for the Inner Circle?” I smirked and turned to face her, planting a soft kiss on her nose. “It’s best if you don’t know,” I said walking away. “Don’t wanna endanger you.” “You mean more than you already have?” she muttered under her breath. I stopped. “… Yeah. More than I already have.” I continued walking and made my way to my room, not looking back at her. I didn’t like moody Octy. _________________________________________________________________________ I made sure to put all the knives and silver we had in a safe place where Octy wouldn’t find em’. I’d be at work until early in the morning, so I asked a vampire friend of mine, Star Catcher, if she could come over and check on her while I was at work. Usually didn’t have my phone on me, but I’d keep it in my saddlebag tonight so I could contact both of them if I needed to. There were more similarities between that and getting a pet sitter than I wanted to think about. "Having any cravings?” I asked. “Any homicidal thoughts lately?" "I assure you, I'm fine," she responded with more than a bit of annoyance. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." "Look, I'm not too comfortable with this. I'll have somepony come check on you when they can, alright?" She harrumphed and looked away from me. I sighed. “It’ll just make me feel better. I wanna make sure you’re safe.” I went to kiss her, but she tilted away slightly. “Right. I’ll, uh… I’ll see ya later.” Leaving the apartment, I went down the stairs and started making my way to Club Canterlot. I felt bad. Didn’t mean to make her feel like a little filly, but I really didn’t wanna worry about her all night. The gig went by smoothly. Wasn’t able to check my phone during it, but as soon as my shift was over, I went into my saddlebag and checked for messages. Star Catcher had texted me an hour ago: Hey tried to check on ur marefriend, but nopony answered door. Rang doorbell over and over like a dozen times. Thought about bucking it down, but wasn’t sure if right house. So sorry, V. I’m sure Octy’s fine. Probably just too full of pride to open the door for her “foalsitter.” At least she kept the door locked. I put the phone back in my bag and started to make my way home. I loved her more than anything in the world, but… I wasn’t sure how long I could put up with the extremely irritable creature that used to be my marefriend. Guess this was what male ponies went through when their wives got pregnant. I walked home and fumbled for my keys at the door since I figured Octy wouldn’t answer anyway if I knocked. The door swung open to reveal her sitting in the far corner of the living room, hidden by shadows. Her eyes were wide and had deep rings underneath them. Looked like she hadn’t slept a wink since I left. "Jeez, Octy, you look like hell," I smirked walking towards her and levitating my saddlebag off of my body. I stepped into the light and got a full view of her. Not liking what I saw, I stopped dead in my tracks. "Is that... blood?" Her mouth and coat were smeared with dark red and she was shaking slightly. She stared off past me, like I wasn’t even there. Wasn’t sure if she could hear me, but after a few seconds she gave a slow nod. I rushed over to her, my saddlebag dropping to the floor. As I lifted her chin to get a better look at her face, I felt a draft coming from somewhere. My eyes scanned the room and stopped on the balcony window, which had been totally destroyed. Glass from what used to be the window littered the ground beneath it. Crap. Crap, crap, crap! I should’ve stayed to watch her! "What happened?" I asked as I tilted her head slightly. "I don't know," she huffed at me, pushing my hoof off of her. My nose crinkled. Her breath reeked of scotch, reminding me of the night we’d first met. Suddenly, she put a hoof to her muzzle and rushed to the bathroom, hurling into the toilet. Why didn’t I hide the alcohol? Of course she’d get into it in her state. Stupid, Vinyl, stupid! "Did you get drunk?" I asked disappointedly as I walked into the bathroom. "You bet your ass I did," she spat at me, then dunked her face back into the bowl and hurled again. I sighed and held back her mane as she got all the bad stuff out of her system. Once she was done, I helped her into the living room and onto the couch. She slumped into the cushions and let out a sigh of exhaustion. "My contact said she rang the doorbell at least a dozen times! She tried knocking and almost considered bucking the door down,” I said leaning into her face. I licked a little of the blood from her muzzle and smacked my lips together, trying to recall the taste. Hmmm… not a deer… or a squirrel… ah, yeah. Definitely a- "Rabbit," I said aloud as I went to the bathroom, wet a washcloth, and came back to wipe Octy’s face down. The cloth began to change from white to red as it absorbed the blood. "What did you do?" "I already told you I don't know!” she said scrunching up her face as I washed it. “One second I'm in the loft, passed out on the floor, and when I woke up I was still here! Except this time, I'm covered in... ugh!" We were in trouble. I dropped the washcloth and started closing up the apartment, locking the doors and windows. "Did anypony see you?" I asked peering outside to see if we were being watched before closing the curtains. "How am I supposed to know?" I muttered to myself as I ran over the options. She killed a rabbit. Gotta go find it. Can’t leave Octy alone. I have to. No, I need to call somepony. No time. Dammit. Dammit dammit dammit. I’d have to leave her alone for a bit while I went and saw how much damage she’d caused. "Octavia, I gotta run," I said rushing towards the door. "What?" I sighed and walked back towards her, in no mood to explain. "You wanna know what I do for the Inner Circle? This is what I do. I run damage control. Now I gotta go—" "And clean up my mess. It's practically the dead of night, Vinyl. How are you even going to find out... what I did?" she asked in a small voice. I grinned at her and put a hoof to my chest. "I got this!" I turned to face the door again. "Vinyl—" she said hesitantly. I stopped. Oh no. "Were you gonna say something?" I asked, facing her slowly. "No no, never mind." I know that tone. That’s “break up” tone. "Go ahead,” I insisted taking a few steps towards her. She paused for a moment, then spoke. "Okay, fine." She sat there trying to figure out what she was gonna say. Finally, she sighed and continued, making what I’d feared a reality. "Vinyl, I don't how to tell you this..." I felt numb inside. "You wanna break up?" I finished for her. Couldn’t bear for her to be the one to say it. "N-No!” she stammered back, putting her hooves in front of her. “I simply want to... take a break." "Is that what they call it these days?" I smirked quietly, looking at the floor. She got off the couch and walked towards me. "Vinyl, a break doesn't mean anything. Just some distance,” she said softly as she took my hoof in hers. I sighed. It’s not like I wasn’t expecting this. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think so too." "What?" she asked, dropping my hoof. "Frankly I'm a little insulted." Oh, so it’s totally cool if you wanna break up with me, but if I want it, suddenly you can get pissed?! "Octy, the last thing you need right now is a relationship,” I explained looking into her eyes seriously. “You've got... too much on your plate. You've got a job, performances. You still gotta deal with this new body of yours. You don't need me to make things worse." "You don't do that!" she exclaimed, looking back at me with sad eyes. "Maybe I don't. But your parents are gonna give you enough grief already. Let's not give them another reason to make your life miserable, alright?" She paused, her eyes getting a little misty. I could tell she was trying to come up with a response, but wasn’t having any luck. "This is so stupid,” she pouted as she looked away from me. I put a hoof on her shoulder in the most platonic way I could and gave her a small smile. "Let's just back off for a while, huh?" Felt weird to be the responsible one, for once. She nodded eagerly, looking a little relieved. "My thoughts exactly. Thank you, Vinyl." This was good. This was what we both needed. "But don't get any ideas, I'm not moving out, you know!" I joked, walking to the door. I shut it behind me, then opened it a few seconds later and poked my head back in. "I'll still be here. Don't worry. You're not alone in this." I gave her a little wink. She smiled and I closed the door again, trotting down the hallway. This was good. This was a good thing. I started to go down the stairs, my pace slowing more and more until I was barely moving. This was good, a blessing in disguise. We’d laugh about this one day. I'd stopped walking down the stairs. My body slumped against the wall of the stairwell as I started to cry. This was good. We both needed this. I shouldn’t be sad. Such a silly pony, I was. Stop crying, Vinyl. You’ve got work to do. _________________________________________________________________________ I followed her trail to a park a few miles from our place. She’d been messy. As I expected, Octy hadn’t even attempted to cover her tracks. The trail of broken twigs, claw markings, a tuft of fur or two, and paw prints led me down a dirt path illuminated by a few street lights. I covered up the signs that she’d been there as I walked, a chill running down my spine as the trail led me to a playground. I didn’t even wanna consider the possibility that she’d hurt some kid, too. I didn’t have to worry about that long. The trail led past the playground to a little clearing surrounded by trees. Before me was a bunny. Well, part of a bunny. And to the right of me was another part of a bunny. To my left, another. There were parts of the poor thing scattered all over the place. Totally gross. Blood everywhere. It was far from the worst I’d ever dealt with, but it was still pretty gruesome. I perked up my ears and looked around; nopony was there. Well… time to get to work. A few hours went by and it was morning. I’d taken care of everything. There were no prints, no trail, no trace that anypony had been to the park that night. I’d cleaned up the glass and replaced our balcony window. Got a vampire buddy in the hardware business, so I got a pretty sweet deal. Octy must’ve been in her room cause I hadn't seen her when I was cleaning up the apartment. Putting my head against her bedroom door, I perked up my ears. She was in there, alright. I could hear her slowly breathing. Her breath wasn’t slow enough for her to be sleeping, though. Must’ve just been laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Couldn't count the number of times I'd done the same. I was very familiar with what she must've been feeling. Poor pony. All I wanted to do was go in there and hold her close and tell her everything was gonna be alright... but I needed to give her some space. We'd just broken up and I doubted I'd be a comfort to her at the moment. I made my way to the kitchen instead. The coffee machine bubbled as it brewed me some wake-up juice. I needed it. Was pulling an all nighter to make sure everything was taken care of. Once it was done, I levitated the pot up and poured some into my “I <3 Wubs” mug, adding four sugars and some cream. Sitting down at the kitchen table, I stirred it with a spoon using magic and leaned back in my chair, my neck craning upwards as I stared at the ceiling. I didn’t want her out of my sight for even a second. It was careless of me to think she could handle being by herself right now. Guess it was just my way of convincing myself that everything was fine and nothing was gonna change. Levitating the cup up, I took a sip of coffee and shut my eyes, already beginning to feel it waking me up. Just then, I heard her walk into the kitchen, but I didn’t look at her. “Morning, Sunshine,” I greeted her, smiling. Just cause we weren’t together anymore didn’t mean I couldn’t flirt. I’d been talking to her like that long before we were a couple. "Did you... find it?" she asked softly. "Mmhmm," I hummed with my mouth on the cup as I took another gulp. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. "You want the details?" "Not in particular, no." "Good, then I won't tell you,” I said setting down the cup. “But I'll say that it was very, very messy." "Vinyl..." "I mean seriously, what the heck did you do that poor bunny?” I continued, still blown away by the amount of carnage I’d found. “I won't go into any specifics, but there was a lot of blood. It was like, everywhere!" Octy galloped out of the kitchen. I heard a toilet seat go up and the sound of her getting sick. Nice, Vinyl. She probably feels disgusted enough without you makin’ it worse. Was there anything I could do? With all this stress, maybe what Octy needed was to just… relax. To have some fun in her life. To feel like she didn’t have the entire world on her shoulders, for once. I walked into the bathroom to see her miserably hovering her head over the toilet. "Octy, I think you need to take the day off," I said leaning against the door frame. "Vinyl, I have been taking days off,” she moaned, sounding exhausted. “I've been using up nearly half of my sick days." "No, no. I mean having fun!" She turned and glared at me. "Fun?" I smiled and took a deep breath in, preparing to belt out one of my favorite songs. "F is for friends who do stuff together!" "Please don't sing,” Octy half groaned, half begged to me. "U is for you and me!" "I swear to Celestia, Vinyl, not the singing. It's too early." "N is for anywhere and anytime at all—" I slid on my knees playing an invisible guitar, but was silenced by a hoof in my mouth. "I will rip your throat out," Octy whispered harshly, a murderous glare in her eyes. Aww, she was so cute when she threatened to kill me. _________________________________________________________________________ I realized that Octy never really had fun. I mean, “fun” fun. Not playing her cello. Not reading. Actual fun. So I thought I’d be a good friend and treat her to a little night out. A “fun” date isn’t a real date, right? Just two friends. A “friend” date. Just a “friend” date. Okay, maybe there was a little selfishness involved in me suggestin' it, but for the most part I just wanted to get her to relax. Good friend! I’m a good friend! Octavia sat in front of me with a dollop of whipped cream on the end of her muzzle. Good friend. Yup. That’s me. The goodiest. As she licked her lips, I realized I’d never not appreciate what Earth ponies go through to eat. Just to eat. Such a simple thing. Us unicorns don’t know how good we got it. Not being able to hold a spoon would totally drive me crazy! I wondered how she ate soup. I suppressed a giggle, but not well enough. “What?” she asked tilting her head at me. “You’ve, uh… got a little somethin’,” I said leaning towards her, levitating a napkin. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Lick. Whipped cream. Off. Merciful Celestia, can you not be selfish for five frickin’ seconds? Apparently, I couldn’t. I dropped the napkin and licked the whipped cream off her face. It was a friend lick. Friendly! Friends do that all the time! Ugh, this was gonna be tougher than I thought… “Vinyl! Please!” she whispered harshly at me, turning bright red. I couldn’t help but smile. “So, you likin’ it?” “I… it’s just that we’re in public!” she sputtered. “And besides that, we-“ “I meant the ice cream, dingus,” I chuckled pointing a hoof at her bowl. “Oh… of course, yes, the ice cream. It’s quite delicious,” she agreed looking down at her bowl, a faint blush still visible on her cheeks. I levitated a giant bite of my own ice cream up and shoveled it into my mouth. “Though, I’ll never eat this entire thing on my own. I still don’t understand why we couldn’t have just split one.” “Pfft. You can’t split a banana split! That’s, like, basic math or somethin’!” I said giving her a confused look and poking my spoon at her. “Plus, I’m gonna eat all of mine.” “Honestly, Vinyl, this is why you’re up all night,” she laughed, shaking her head. “With this much sugar, it’s a wonder you get to sleep at all! I mean…” Octy kept talking, but I couldn’t hear her. I’d gone to take another spoonful of my dessert when something caught my attention. Out of the corner of my eye, I could’ve sworn I’d seen a silver unicorn. A very familiar silver unicorn. With a short, silver mane. Sitting at the counter. Sipping a milkshake and… and smiling at me. I felt my heart almost jump out of my chest. I jerked my head back at the counter, but she was gone. Vanished. The milkshake still sat on the counter where I thought I’d seen her sitting. What the hell? Was I seeing things? I was suddenly aware that Octy had been calling my name. “Wah?” I asked weakly, turning back to her. “Vinyl, are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Octy said, looking at me worriedly. “Huh? … Oh, naw, it was nuthin’,” I said, forcing a smile and rubbing my face with a hoof. Guess I’m just tired. Maybe pulling an all nighter and then taking Octy out wasn’t one of my better ideas. I mean, not “taking her out!” Well, yeah, I guess I “took her out,” but it’s just a date! Wait, I mean a friend date! Friend! We’re friends! Gah! “Are you sure? You look positively pale,” she said leaning over the table towards me and placing a hoof on my cheek. “How can you even tell? My fur is white,” I smirked, though now it was probably turning red from Octy touching my face like she was. We looked in each other’s eyes. I wanted to kiss her. Stop it. I coughed and gently pushed her hoof off of me. “I’m fine, Octy, really. Just got a little brain freeze. Caught me off guard.” “You shouldn’t eat so fast then,” she sighed before taking another bite. Even when her face was covered in chocolate syrup, she was the most beautiful mare in existence. “But it’ll melt if I eat it too slowly,” I pouted as I took a large, but slow bite. “I promise you, it will be at least 15 minutes until all of it is completely melted. Just take it slow. It’s not like you’re diffusing a bomb or something. In situations such as these, slower is better.” “Oh yeah, I can totally agree with that,” I said resting my chin on my hooves and giving her a sly look. “Oh, shut up and eat your ice cream.” _________________________________________________________________________ After a brief encounter on the street with a cat, (which I’d like to call “Down, Octy! Heel!”) we arrived at Octavia’s first Inner Circle meeting. Went pretty smoothly. Luna called her up, she talked about her feelings or whatever, and then it ended. Nothing super important happened. Just like every meeting. Well, I was interested in those family-friendly blood bags Luna talked about that were gonna come in juice box form. Those sounded sweet! As Octy walked alongside me, I wondered what she’d thought about it. I sure thought TIC meetings were boring, but maybe at least she found it interesting. "So, what did you think?" I asked as we sauntered down the sidewalk. "It's like a dysfunctional family, with a tyrant at the reigns running the show," she answered without pause. "So that's it, huh?" I smiled at her. "Just 'bout sums it up, yeah." "You meet once a week to talk about your feelings." Well, whaddya know. She used the same description of the meetings that I’d thought of. "That's… that's very funny, Octy,” I laughed at her. Loved when she cracked jokes. She could actually be pretty damn funny, when she wanted to be. “You know you've got a great sense of humor." I grinned at her. She smiled back at me, then looked ahead of us. "Well, I suppose it's time we head home." Woah, what?! "Are you freaking kidding me?" I asked, tilting my shades down at her. "This is the best time of the day! C'mon!" “B-but… Vinyl, where are we even going to- hey!” I took her hoof and pulled her across the street. “Stick with me, filly. I know exactly where we’re goin’!” I led us down a few side streets, avoiding garbage cans and some stray soda bottles that littered the street. After a few minutes of walking, we finally arrived at the club where I got most of my gigs lately, Club Canterlot. We walked past the long line of ponies waiting to get in and stepped up to the bouncer, a buff Pegasus wearing a black suit and shades. "You know my name,” I said grinning at him. He stepped to the side and let me through, stopping Octy with his wing as she tried to follow me. "She's a friend.” He unfurled his wing and let her in. I pushed the double doors of the club open and trotted in, making my way through the crowd. It was so loud, I couldn’t hear the clopping of my hooves on the checkerboard-pattern floor as we pushed past sweaty ponies wearing too much hair gel. The floor pattern glowed different colors that synched up with the electronic music that was playing at the moment. Across the floor, there were booths near the walls where ponies could be seen drinking, laughing, and/or indulging in some not-so-legal “party favors.” I knew ponies that could get you any sorta drug from zebra territory you could want. Tried one of em’ at a party a few years ago, but wasn’t really my thing. Plus, that stuff is expensive. Couldn’t afford that kind of addiction. Once we got to the front of the crowd, I started to climb up to where the current DJ was. "Vinyl! You can't just jump on stage!" Octy yelled up to me, horrified. "And why not?" I yelled back, grabbing the microphone away from the brown DJ colt. The feedback from the mic poured into everypony’s ears and made them yelp out in pain. "HEYOH! DJ-Pon3, in the house!" The crowd suddenly burst out in cheers and stomping once they realized what was up. Some pumped their hooves in the air. Others whistled. I beamed at all of them. "You don't even have your set!" the DJ next to me said. "Don't need it," I scoffed, looking through the stack of records in a box under the turntable. “What tunes you got?” I stopped when I came across an album with a certain blue maned pony on it. “Sapphire Shores? Really?" He then used his hoof to show me a gesture expressing exactly how he felt about my comment. “Geez, fine, man! I’ll just have to make due.” Continuing to flip through the records, I came across one that was very familiar to me by now. Levitating it up, I stared at the cover. That record had the song on it that I’d been remixing for Octy. I’d sat at my turntable for countless hours pondering how the hell I could get the middle of the song to work with my remix, but had to give up every time. Nothing I’d done had worked. Didn’t think it was possible. At that moment, however, I had a moment of realization. It all played before me. I suddenly knew how to remix it. I knew what I had to do. A wide grin slowly spread across my face. Using my magic, I levitated Octy up on stage with me, eliciting a cute, little “Eek!” from her. I picked the microphone back up. "For a very special somepony in the room, you know who you are,” I announced setting the record on the turntable. “This little remix is for you, baby!" The song started to play. I looked to Octy, seeing a slight blush appear on her face as she started to smile, obviously recognizing the song. Everypony in the audience cheered for her. She gave a little curtsy as I worked the turntable. Using my magic I twisted knobs and moved dials, performing the remix right there on the spot. Took Goddess knows how long, but I’d finally figured out what to do with the piece. I knew what I was doing, at long last. The club faded into nothingness around me. It was just me and the turntable. Nopony else was there. For four minutes straight, I was in my own little world and it felt good. If there was one thing in all of Equestria I could do, it was this. I panted slightly as my hurricane of dials, knobs, and switches slowly began to slow down and finally faded out as the song came to an end. I glanced over to see Octy smiling dreamily at me. “So… waddya think?” “Brilliant, Vinyl. That was… just so wonderful.” Didn’t think I could grin any wider, but I managed to. Nothing could take me down from the high I was on at that moment. Nothin’.