-Long Train Runnin'-
(The Doobie Brothers)
The dining car of the HRH Princess Celestia was almost full that evening; a comforting buzz of idle chatter floated around the room, just like the waiter ponies who moved so quietly that it was like being served by ghosts. Whereas the rest of the train had been designed with a certain respectful sumptuousness in mind, the dining car was quite obviously patterned after the style of rustic kitchens. Everywhere Octavia looked there was stained oak, and she got the very distinct impression that if the designers had been able to make the floor our of flagstones without worrying about weight, they'd have done it in a heartbeat. Across the table, Vinyl was occupied with looking down at her plate and scowling at her salad, a colourful arrangement of lilies and snapdragons.
"What's wrong, Vinyl? Not a fan of the menu?" Octavia asked.
"Tch. It's party food for rich ponies. I can never get full on this stuff," the DJ complained. She reached for her wine glass, took a sip, and paused. "It's not bad for train food, I guess."
Octavia smiled. She'd gone for a slightly more down-market meal, since she wasn't paying, but it was still very good. 'Not bad' really was as much of a compliment as Vinyl ever gave, it seemed.
"So, what can you tell me about Manehattan? I've never been, but I've heard rumours. Is it as rough as everypony says it is?" she asked.
Vinyl leaned back in her chair and seemed to consider for a moment. "Manehattan's...cool. I basically grew up there. It's like my hometown."
"Go on," Octavia prompted, and took a sip of wine. It really was good stuff. When the DJ had said she knew about wine, she wasn't kidding.
"...I got an apartment there when I was just starting out as a DJ. On the south side. That's the rough bit. But Manehattan's a town where even the roughnecks appreciate good music. You'd play at a club and every so often some thugs'd come in. They'd usually decide to wreck the place, but they'd wait for you to finish your set and leave the building first. It's that kind've town," Vinyl explained, with not a little fondness in her voice. She caught Octavia's look and added, "Don't worry. We're staying north side. That's the bit with all the chintzy hotels."
"How...comforting, I think. But won't you want to visit all your old friends? I mean, not that I'd stop you or anything, but we can--"
Vinyl shook her head. "Nah. I mean, I sort've miss the old Manehattan crew, but...Things change, Tavi. They knew me when I was young, and that's cool, but I don't want the stuff I did back then."
Octavia put down her fork. Eating was quickly becoming less and less of a priority. "What did you want 'back then'?"
"Parties," Vinyl said smokily. "I just wanted to stay out and either make music or listen to it, the whole night through. I wanted to dance, and drink. But eventually I realised that it was all just...boring."
Octavia giggled. "You find all-night parties boring? I can only imagine how dull you must find a pony like me."
"No. It's not the same thing," Vinyl said, frowning. Then, she went quiet, her attention suddenly consumed by her dinner.
"Is something wrong?" Octavia asked. Her attention went to her hair, waiting for the familiar twiddling of magic to tip her off that Vinyl was feeling troubled. When it didn't come, she scanned the restaurant for spoons stirring by themselves, and found nothing. Despite that, she began to feel worried. She didn't often get so much information about her partner.
"...I suck at explaining stuff," Vinyl shrugged eventually.
"Try?"
"No. I'd get it wrong."
"If you make me beg, I shall be cross later," Octavia joked. Then, more seriously, she continued. "Vinyl. It doesn't matter if it's not a good explanation. I enjoy talking with you. I want to hear what you have to say."
The unicorn took another sip of her wine, swilled it around her mouth, swallowed it. She sighed, then began to talk, so low and quick that Octavia could barely hear it.
"Parties aren't boring. It's the ponies that go to 'em. You make small talk, you dance a bit, and then maybe you kiss 'em and maybe you don't. But it doesn't matter, because that's just what you do at parties, and it doesn't mean anything to them. If you ask 'em out, all they wanna do is go to another party and do it again. Nothing ever changes. I got sick of it. But you? Maybe we don't go out dancing all night, and maybe we don't go on dates all the time, but every time we talk I feel like we get closer. Like we're building something."
She took another swig of her wine, shrugged, drained the whole glass and poured another. "Don't make me do that again."
"I shan't. You explained it well enough the first time. You've come a long way from three word sentences," Octavia replied, smiling. "And, for what it's worth, I feel the same way. Not including the parties, of course, but you know what I mean."
The unicorn didn't look at her, but a subtle warmth behind Octavia's shoulder stood in for a blush.
"Are you done with your magazine, yet?" the earth pony asked, after a few moments.
Vinyl snorted. Apparently, the life cycle of the hydrangea had failed to entertain her.
"In that case, when we're done with dinner, I'll teach you how to braid my hair as opposed to just fiddling with it. Not that I mind the fiddling, of course, but braiding is relaxing."
"Hmph," the unicorn replied. But Octavia couldn't help noticing that she ate her dinner much faster after that.
"Tavi?" Vinyl asked.
Octavia allowed her mind to drift from the comforting rhythm of separate, interweave and unweave that Vinyl had kept up for the last hour or so, and clicked on the light in the berth.
"I need to warn you about Canterlot. Since we were already talking about Manehattan."
Octavia's ears pricked up. She'd always been told that Canterlot was a very safe town-- the safest in all Equestria, in fact. But then, Vinyl didn't seem worried about security in the first place. Maybe she was talking about the orchestra? She'd heard they had incredibly high standards, since they attended to royal events, but nothing worse than that.
"Don't get me wrong. I'll still go to your audition with you," Vinyl murmured, and the pace of her braiding sped up the tiniest bit. "But if you want to look around town, you're on your own. I'll be staying in the hotel room."
Octavia leaned backwards, and rested her head against Vinyl's chest. She felt the unicorn pull her hair out the side of she could continue braiding. "Why not?"
For a moment, it seemed like the DJ would go quiet again.
"My mom lives in Canterlot," she said finally, with no small amount of venom in her voice.
"I...ahem, take that to mean you won't be introducing us?"
"Yeah. I told you a while ago. My mom isn't respectable enough to meet you," the unicorn spat.
"Why ever not? I mean, forgive me for saying this, Vinyl, but you only ever get one mother," Octavia remarked gently. "Is it something she does?"
"What my mom does," Vinyl said with forced evenness, "is sleep with stallions who are richer than her until they aren't anymore, then dump 'em and move on to the next idiot with more cash than brains. She only cares about money. When I was first starting out, she pawned my first ever set of decks, and I had to go begging and borrowing to buy 'em back. I couldn't afford the interest on what I borrowed, so I got ran out of town. Best thing that ever happened to me, since it got me away from her."
Octavia didn't say anything, but reached behind her, found Vinyl's forelegs, and wrapped them around her shoulders. Off to the side, the braiding still continued with the same unbroken rhythm.
"I'm not kidding, Tavi. My mom's bad news. If you ever meet a mare called Nickel Scratch, you turn around and walk away. You'll be happier for it," Vinyl said. The evenness of her tone was gone; there was just the slightest hint of a wobble there. "I know what you meant, though. Heard it a thousand times. You only get one mother. Mine was just a dud."
"...Sorry for dragging all this out of you, Vinyl. I know it's hard for you to talk about it," the earth pony murmured.
Vinyl sighed. "No. It's better like this. I was just planning to play sick when we got to Canterlot. You were right about the braiding, by the way."
"You can share my mother if you like. She won't mind."
"Yeah. I know."
Octavia closed her eyes, and let the sound of the rolling train finally engulf her. When she woke up in the morning, Vinyl's legs were still around her shoulders.