//------------------------------// // Chapter VIII // Story: Shipwrecked // by VashTheStampede //------------------------------// Thirty seconds passed. Vinyl looked at Octavia expectantly, eyes and ears eagerly awaiting her lover’s response. When Octavia hadn’t moved a muscle in those thirty seconds, Vinyl Scratch knew something was off. She thought back to what she said, and realized the full weight of her words. The DJ paled. “Oh Tavi I’m so sorry I was just talking and that just came out I don’t mean it well yes I do but… oh Celestia Tavi please I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” Her apology fell on deaf ears. For Octavia, time had stopped at “marry me.” Of course I will! Octavia’s initial thoughts rang loud and clear in her mind. I… but… I’ve known her for a week. I’ve known of her for longer, but I’ve only known her for a week. She has loved me for years… she must be ready for this. I… I’m not, though. Oh, but I can’t say no, saying no would break her heart. I’m not ready to say yes, though. Maybe? No, a ‘maybe’ is just as bad as a ‘no.’ Hmm… I could say ‘not yet’… since that would imply that I do love her enough, but I’m not ready, right? That would be a good option… oh who am I kidding. ‘Not yet’ is just as bad as ‘maybe.’ “Octavia, I’m sorry! That… that just slipped out! You don’t have to say yes! You can say no! I’m sorry, that was way too soon, oh Celestia I fucked this up didn’t I…” My father always told me there was no shame in moving away from an issue you don’t know how to solve and coming back to it later. Granted, he phrased it a bit differently… but I don’t think ‘He who turns and runs away lives to fight another day’ is precisely applicable… that’s it! I can just go away for a little while! No problems with that at all. Then and there, of all the responses to an unexpected marriage proposal, Octavia Philharmonica chose the worst. She stood up and ran away. Vinyl Scratch was too horrified to react for a moment, and by the time she had processed the images before her, Octavia had already disappeared around the corner of the beach. “Octavia? Octavia! Tavi come back! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry… just come back to me…” Vinyl’s pained wails faded to a squeak as a lump rose in her throat. Without warning, her stomach dropped and her head felt light; she leaned against the side of the dingy and threw up, remnants of last night’s dinner splattering into the sand and water. The memory of what had happened last night made her gag again, her already empty stomach straining to force something, anything back out. Vinyl fell to her knees, narrowly avoiding the puddle of her own vomit, and rolled onto her side. She pulled her back legs up to her chest, wrapping her forelegs around them. The tears that came weren’t unbidden in the slightest, and she let them flow freely into the sand as she convulsed lightly, sobs jarring her body as she wailed her lover’s name. If… if she even still loves me… The thought only made her cry even harder. --- Octavia the cellist was lost. How can I be lost? This island is tiny! I mean, seriously, it can’t be more than two miles across. How have I managed to walk around for hours and not get anywhere? I must be walking in circles. Small circles. Then why don’t I recognize any of these trees? Ugh! This is so… if Vinyl were he- “Oh, hell.” It was extremely unusual for Octavia to curse aloud – she was a Canterlot pony after all, and public profanity was extremely frowned upon in that fine city. As such, almost every citizen had extremely good self-control when it came to vulgarity, Octavia being no exception. In this situation, however, she felt the self-imposed rule could be broken. “I… I really… I really fucked that up, didn’t I. Of all the possible options… she proposes to me, and I… I ran away. What… what kind of awful pony am I… Oh, Vinyl… I’m so sorry love…” A lump grew in the gray mare’s throat as she realized what she had done to Vinyl. A sob forced its way out of her, followed by another. Before she could try to stop it, she had lain down and was weeping into the ground, softly cursing her own stupidity and wishing Vinyl were with her. Damn it, damn it, damn it… I’m such a stupid, awful marefriend… she’s probably alone, crying, thinking I don’t love her anymore… I need to get back to her. I must. Octavia stood, her legs shaky and hoofsteps uneven, and took a few steps forward. Oh Celestia I’m going to need an answer. Well… this islands isn’t so big, but I am thoroughly lost. I’ll have some time yet to decide… still, I feel like every decision is a bad one. I can’t say no and risk losing her, but I just don’t feel comfortable saying yes… ah. This… does she have any idea the situation she’s put me in? That was so selfish, so unfair of her! Selfish? Unfair? She was upset that she wasn’t the one who saved you on the boat. She has saved your life, at great risk to her own, what? One, two, three times now? Four if you count that stunt you tried to pull in the sand. You’ve saved her how many times now? Once? And that resulted in one of the times she had to save your sorry flank. Vinyl Scratch has been anything but selfish. She outright told you that given the option, she would gladly die to save you. And you… you call her selfish. Unfair? She bared her very soul to you, asked you to spend your life with her – and you don’t even give her a proper answer. What did you do again? Oh yeah. You ran away. Now she’s alone and doesn’t know how you feel. You think she’s being unfair? I… I… that’s right. I’m… it’s my fault. Oh, Vinyl doesn’t deserve such a terrible pony as a marefriend, much less a wife… Hey now, that’s the wrong line of thinking and you know it. She loves you so very much. Just go back and talk to her. Who knows? Maybe she herself has reconsidered the offer. The only way you can find out is if you go back and talk to her. “Right! I’ll just head back to the cave! We can talk this out! Everything will work out… it will!” Octavia said triumphantly, unconsciously striking a pose, before breaking into a full gallop. She stopped a moment later. Oh Celestia. I just had an argument with myself, in my head. What… that’s normal, isn’t it? Of course it is. She resumed her gallop, praying she would make it back to the cave before the rapidly approaching sundown. --- Vinyl Scratch had been back at the cave for quite some time. Though she had run out of tears over an hour ago, she still sat, head in hooves, sobbing. I can’t believe I said that… Oh I’ve really screwed the pooch on this one. She’s probably not coming back. Just off, finding her own cave to stay in until… if… we get rescued. At least… at least I still have this, and memories of her… Vinyl moaned softly and stood up, walking over to Octavia’s cello, which sat, untouched from when they’d discovered it on the beach days earlier. She took the case in her forehooves and brought it close to her body as she lay down. The sun was about to set, there was no point in staying awake and prolonging the anguish Vinyl was experiencing at that moment. The cold, hard, enchanted plastic made a poor substitute for her marefriend, but it still smelled a little bit like her, and that would have to do for now. She gave the case one final, tight squeeze, before allowing sleep to take her. --- Octavia made another exception to her rule against public profanity. “How the fuck am I still lost?” She hissed, before letting out a frustrated yell. It was long after sunset, but it wasn’t completely dark yet. “Ok, Octavia. Two options: Keep going and try to find Vinyl, or find somewhere to spend the night. I really want to get back to Vinyl, but I’m clearly getting nowhere,” she calmly stated, addressing herself, “So… I shall pursue this endeavor for another hour or so, and then seek shelter.” Satisfied with this plan, she once again set out to locate the cave she shared with that wonderful white DJ unicorn. Octavia sighed as she trotted through the forest, a single tear trailing down her cheek. She looked to the ground, and noticed a set of hoofprints traveling roughly perpendicular to her own. A joy in her heart, she took off like a rocket, following the trail through the forest. Soon enough, however, she noticed there were in fact two sets of hoofprints. “Oh for the love of – no, nope. Just… calm. Stay calm. Everything will be alright if I stay calm. Just need to blow off a little frustration,” she thought aloud. Octavia planted her forehooves in the dirt and kicked back with all her might at an unfortunate tree, leaving a pair of hoof prints of a not insignificant depth in the tough wood. “Alright. Find somewhere to sleep. Tomorrow, I find Vinyl,” she resolved, trotting forward. Soon enough, she came upon a small cave, rather similar to the one she had been spending nights in, and stepped inside. Much to her surprise, the cave seemed to extend farther down into the ground, and a soft glow emanating from the depths. Intrigued, Octavia decided it couldn’t hurt to investigate the cave further. The beauty of the cavern astounded her – the walls sparkled and glittered with blues, oranges, and silvers, with occasional streaks of a glassy black substance showing through. Octavia pressed her hoof up to a vein of grainy blue rock, and was surprised that even a light brush scraped off a substantial amount of blue dust. She tipped her hoof and let the powder fall to the ground, watching it form into a small puff before falling to the ground. What… what is this place? She continued her descent, trying to find the source of light. An increasing warmth began to permeate the air, pleasant, but slightly disconcerting for the gray mare. She turned a corner and gasped. There, embedded in the wall, was a glowing section of rock. She pressed her hoof to it, and confirmed her suspicion – this was the source of the warmth. It felt hot under her hoof, but not painfully so. She scraped at it, and, just like with the blue material, the warm, glowing stone turned into a glowing dust under her hooves. She picked it up, and gave it a tentative sniff. Unsurprised at the lack of scent, she let the dust fall from her hooves, the tiny fragments of rock scattering as they hit the floor. “These… would be a wonderful element to add to our cave! I should bring some back! Oh, but I don’t have anything to hold it in. I suppose I can come back later.” Octavia kept walking, moving farther into the cave. Soon, the gold sparkles on the ceiling and walls became more common, eventually giving way to a cyan material that glittered and glinted in the light. She was about to inspect it more closely, when she thought she heard some movement behind her. She looked over her shoulder, and, to her horror, a spider sat on the ground. Octavia had never been particularly fond of spiders, and the fact that this one was more than a meter across aided little. Had she been on the surface, surely Vinyl Scratch would have heard the piercing shriek that erupted from the cellist, who ran as fast as she could towards the exit of the cave. To hell with sprucing up the cave. To hell with it. TO HELL WITH IT! Forgetting the glowing dust, forgetting the blue stuff, forgetting everything but getting as far away from that spider as possible, preferably while getting closer to Vinyl Scratch. Octavia reached the entrance of the cave, and took off in a direction that seemed to offer the least resistance. As she ran, she eventually thought she noticed the ground inclining beneath her. Sure enough, she had managed to locate the cliff. Standing atop it, she once again regarded the island. It was nearly too dark to see at this point – nearly. She oriented herself and charged down the hill towards the beach. If I can get to the beach, I can get to Vinyl. I need to get to Vinyl. I’m coming, love. --- Octavia panted, completely out of breath. She had arrived at the cave. It had taken her long enough, but she was here now. And so is Vin… she’s sleeping with my cello. Octavia giggled at the sight of her marefriend draped unceremoniously over the cello case. That can’t be very comfortable… I have an idea. Octavia stepped over and carefully wiggled the instrument out of her lover’s grasp. To Octavia’s delight, Vinyl remained snoring. She gingerly lifted the white legs and snuggled herself up against the mare. Content in her lover’s embrace, she placed a light kiss on her lover’s alabaster lips. Pleased she hadn’t woken Vinyl, Octavia closed her own eyes and drifted off to sleep. --- Octavia awoke to a slight trembling sensation, and sniffling. She opened her eyes and found Vinyl Scratch meeting her gaze, tears falling down. “Tavi… Tavi you came back…” Vinyl whispered, barely contained joy in her voice. “Of course I came back, silly. I. Love. You,” Octavia said, punctuating the sentiment with kisses. “I love you so much. You didn’t think I was going to leave you, did you?” Octavia asked. “I thought… after yesterday… I thought you were mad, or scared, or that you didn’t want to be with me anymore… I mean, you just ran away. You didn’t even say ‘no’ or anything,” Vinyl said, looking away, just a hint of bitterness in her voice. Octavia grimaced. “Honestly, hon, I handled that horribly. My mind sort of shut off after you said that… that you wanted to marry me.” Vinyl winced. She was mad, she was angrier with Octavia than she ever thought she would be. However, she knew she had brought this on herself. “I’ve been thinking about it. Pretty much constantly, actually,” Octavia continued,” and… and I have come to a decision. Vinyl Scratch, I-” A hoof covered her mouth. “It’s ok, Tavi. You can say no. I… I love you enough to marry you, but I know it’s way too fast and if you’re not comfortable with it, that’s fine. I was just… I was so mad, that I hadn’t been there for you. All I want is to be there for you when you need me. You don’t need me as your wife. I understand.” “Vinyl, what I was going to say was ‘not yet.’” “Whaddya mean, Tavi?” “I mean not yet. I would be perfectly happy to marry you, Vinyl, but… later. When we get off this Celestia-forsaken island. We can get a place together, make sure it’s not stress driving us together, and then… then, I will gladly be your wife.” For Vinyl Scratch, that was as good as a ‘yes.’ Her hooves, still enveloping the cellist, squeezed tightly, trapping Octavia in a rib-crushing hug. “Oh, thank you, thank you so much Octavia. You’re perfect, beautiful, you’re everything… I just…” “Can’t breath.” Vinyl quickly released Octavia, who wasted not a second gasping for air, and inhaled deeply, before clamping her lips over her lovers. The kiss was not chaste, tongues and bodies entwined as the pair lost themselves to a lust born of the truest of loves. This time it was Vinyl who pulled away, mouth open, a thin, immodest trail of saliva leading to the hot, panting mare lying atop her. Vinyl blushed, and Octavia smiled. “Oh, I’ve missed this. It’s been, what, two whole days now that we’ve gone without having sex? I think we should make up for that,” Octavia’s voice was husky and practically radiated desire for the mare between her rear legs. She didn’t give Vinyl a chance to object. --- Three and a half hours later, Vinyl lay atop Octavia, in a puddle of sweat, saliva, and other fluids, panting heavily and completely spent. “Oh… oh Celestia Tavi… that… was the best…” Vinyl managed to spit out between breaths. “We… need to do that… a lot more often…” Octavia gasped, pulling her mouth off of Vinyl’s horn. “Y… yeah… wash?” “Vinyl… if we went to the lake now… you know exactly what would happen.” “Heh, yeah, I do. That’s why we should go.” Struggling to her hooves, Vinyl pulled her marefriend to hers, and the two began unsteadily making their way to the lake. --- Half an hour later, not counting the multiple hours spent on other activities, both mares found themselves clean and content, but very tired. Not that either of them minded, though. Vinyl had officially given up on maintaining her mane, and simply let it hang down over her neck and shoulders, Octavia once again marveling at the length hidden in the frizzy locks. “Oh, Vinyl… I love you so… but what are we going to do on this island?” Octavia asked. “Aside from the obvious, of course,” she added, with a playful nibble on the DJ’s ear. “Besides each other? I… really don’t know. As long as we’re together, though? We’ll figure something out. I just know we will.” “What if no one ever comes for us, though? It’s been a whole week. Certainly Celestia has had to call of the Pegasus search teams for now. I mean, what are the odds of finding survivors from a shipwreck in the middle of the ocean after an entire week. What if we have to stay here until we die?” “Then we will, Tavi. Is it optimal? Hell no, I want off this island as much as you do. I, however, would rather be on this island, with you, without magic, than off this island, with magic, without you. I’m not sure if you’d trade the world for me, but I know I’d trade the world for you, Octavia. Literally, at least.” Vinyl said with a grin and a chuckle. Octavia smiled, momentarily losing herself in her marefriend’s eyes. Those big, ruby-red irises mirroring the love in the white mare’s heart. She really is so beautiful, Octavia thought. “Hey Tavi?” “Yes, love?” “I love you.” Something about how she said it stuck out to Octavia. It wasn’t the overjoyed, enthusiastic, reply-begging ‘I love you’ kind that Vinyl usually said. It was… calm, earnest. It sounded… it sounded like how her mother had said it to her father. It was the ‘I love you’ of a pony so completely given over to her lover that she didn’t need to express it with every word and action. Octavia was struck speechless by those three simple words, those three words she’d heard so many times from this white mare in the past week. Somehow, this time, right now, meant more than all the times she’d said it, or heard it said before – because this time, it was directed at her. Vinyl Scratch smiled, knowingly. “It’s ok, Tavi. You don’t have to say it back. I know you love me too.” With Celestia as my witness, I will bear this mare’s foals. Some day. Some how. I will find a way and I will gladly let it happen. I love her so much. “Oh, Tavi? Would you mind… umm… playing your cello?” Vinyl asked, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head and blushing. “You… we just had sex for six hours and you… you’re embarrassed to ask me to play my cello,” Octavia deadpanned. “Umm… yeah?” Vinyl offered, still blushing. “You confuse me sometimes, Vinyl. But I would gladly play a song or two for you,” Octavia said, trying to stifle a giggle. “Come on, let’s get back to the cave. I’m not expecting the acoustics to be that great, but my cello should sound nice nonetheless.” As it turned out, the cave had decent acoustics. Not compared to say, a concert hall, but for a cave? It sounded rather nice. The sound echoed in an interesting manner, giving the music a rich, live noise. Octavia played from memory and improvised, with Vinyl sitting in front of her, eyes closed as she let the sounds take her. The expert cellist played happy tunes, quick, light-hearted ditties, and sad songs, solemn melodies filled with passion and sorrow. One of the things that Vinyl most admired about Octavia’s skill was her ability to play flawlessly even with her eyes closed. As the final note Octavia played finished its reverberations, she sighed, and a single tear fell from her eye. Before she could wipe it away herself, a hoof met her cheek, smearing the wetness. Her eyes opened, and she saw Vinyl smiling back at her. “That was beautiful, Tavi. Thank you. I loved it. I love you.” There it is again. That… that way she says she loves me. It… it changed. It’s… her saying that… is wonderful. It’s a feeling I never want to lose. “Y-you’re welcome, Vinyl,” Octavia stammered. “What’s the matter, Tavi?” “I… I don’t know, Vinyl. Something changed, in the way you say ‘I love you.’ It doesn’t have that same unbridled joy at being able to tell me that. Now, when you say it… it has more of an honest contentedness to it. Whenever you say it… you say it like we’ve known each other all our lives.” “Nothing’s changed in how I say it. Maybe something’s changed in how you hear it?” “I… I don’t know. I like it, though. No, I love it. I love hearing it, and I love you Vinyl. Thank you, thank you for everything.” “Hey, I can’t wipe tears away this fast. You’re welcome, Tavi, always. Just stop crying, ok?” Octavia sniffled and nodded. “Ok.”