Vinyl and Octavia: Ponyville Duet

by generalsnaz

Chapter 9: The Significance of Nothing

"I am beginning to think you only invited me here to do your menial labor. Do you intend to make me your maid?" Octavia shouted from the kitchen as she scraped a cold, spit-covered pancake into the trash.

"Yeah, dude! It'll be awesome! You can like, do all the shopping and cleaning for me!" Vinyl hollered excitedly from the living room. "And, OH! We could get you one of those frilly French outfits! And when I come home, you could be like, 'Welcome home, master. Would you like a hoof massage?' and I'd be all, 'Buck yes, I want a hoof massage!' You know how to give a hoof massage, right Octavia?"

"...Surely you jest," Octavia countered sharply, just loud enough for the unicorn to hear.

"No way! Why do you think I was so happy you came crawling back?"

"VINYL!!!"

"Hahahahahahahaha!" Vinyl rolled around on the floor howling at her own joke. That is, until Octavia rounded the corner with a frying pan in hoof, ready for a smacking. Vinyl frantically crawled in reverse away from the advancing mare, one hoof up in futile defense. "No, wait! I'm joking! Haha- It was a joke, Octavia!" she pleaded.

"Oh... Is that so...? Then why am I not amused, Vinyl?" Octavia cornered Vinyl and raised up the pan menacingly.

"Um... 'cause you have bad taste?" Vinyl shrugged sheepishly. Octavia's eyes shimmered with violence as she reared the frying pan back, preparing to strike. "NO WAIT! 'Cause I have bad taste!" Vinyl shouted as the pan came down. She tried to shield herself, but Octavia's attack slowed to a near stop anyway.

"Precisely." Octavia lightly bonked the tip of Vinyl's horn.

"Ow! Unicorn horns are sensitive you know..." Vinyl whimpered, reaching up to rub it.

"Oh, I am sorry! I assumed you could not feel it," Octavia apologized, setting down the offending pan.

"*Sniff* Octy gave me a boo-boo..." Vinyl teased.

"You child. Here." Octavia leaned over and tapped a kiss on the sore spot. "There. All better, yes?"

...

Well, Vinyl didn't have a response to that. How could she give one? Her mouth was agape and simply wouldn't budge. The constant shaking didn't help either. Her normally white complexion turned red as the stockings on Hearth's Warming Eve and those mysterious eyes of hers shrunk down to the size of a pea.

"Wh- wh- wh- what are you doing!?!?" Vinyl finally managed to stutter out, despite her chattering teeth.

"...Oh? ... Oh, goodness! I do apologize!" Octavia blushed, and covered her mouth. "It is just... you remind me of my brother, sometimes. So I- I tend to respond to you as I would with him. He would come to me with his scrapes and bruises, you see? I am so embarrassed... I did not mean to treat you like a child..."

'That's not why you're blushing,' that small voice in Octavia's head jabbed.

'Silence, you,' she commanded it.

"Oh... Okay. *AHEM* That's- that's fine then," Vinyl replied, clearing her throat to shake off the awkwardness. It was a relief to hear that Octavia didn't realize what she had actually just done when she planted that kiss. However, the thought of Octavia doing more to her horn than just lightly smooching it made Vinyl shiver with delight. (Kinky.) But the abashed DJ took a page from a certain purple librarian's book, and steadied herself with a deep calming breath.

"Is everything alright, Vinyl?" the equally embarrassed Octavia asked her friend when she noticed Vinyl's efforts to calm down.

"Yeah- yeah. I'm fine, just..." Vinyl started. She finished by muttering to herself, "...not ready for that again..."

"I beg your pardon? Ready for what?"

"Nothing! Just- Celestia, it's nothing!" Vinyl blurted, trying to cover the innuendo up. (Real smooth, Vinyl.) The unicorn scrambled to her feet and quickly changed the subject. "So um, *AHEM* you got a brother?"

"Y-Yes, indeed I do," Octavia answered, off put slightly by her friend's erratic behavior. "However, Currency is much younger than me. He actually only received his cutie mark this past year. As I told you just now, he acts- ...well... he used to act quite a lot like you. In fact, I... I have never really shouted at anypony besides him before I met you," Octavia looked away, still embarrassed. "I suppose that means I feel calm around you..."

"How the hay is yelling at me calming?" Vinyl pointed out, thoroughly unconvinced of this revelation.

"It is- Well..." Octavia couldn't say it. She didn't know how to. She simply hadn't put much active thought into it. It was there, however, like an unexplainable truth that couldn't be denied. All those school years, those sophisticated gatherings, those droll tea parties, those refined operas... All that time, Octavia would simply nod in agreement and only speak a few select words, but never the truth. She felt like she wasn't even there, but was simply watching a play unfold right before her eyes.

And all those times she stood up on that stage and smiled blankly while the audience applauded. She never could state her opinion... How she really felt... What she really thought of herself...

Holding it all in was stressful.

But there was a time when she was charged with caring for her brother and she had to voice herself out of necessity. The childish colt simply would not cooperate under normal circumstances, so Octavia learned to be a bit more forceful with her words- and her tone. It was aggravating at times, for sure, but Octavia also felt real, like this was how ponies were supposed to interact: at a personal level. It was the one time in her life Octavia could finally say what she thought, and it... It was a relief.

With Vinyl, it was similar but had a different effect. The arrogant DJ would constantly rebut the cellist, causing a tension that Octavia had only ever experienced with her brother. She responded in kind, the only way she knew how. The arguments that ensued made Octavia feel real. Alive even. She felt like... herself, or how she is supposed to be. To disagree, something that never happened in the "yes, of course" world of high class Canterlot, was to experience real life and Vinyl delivered on that. It relieved Octavia's stress to be able to get on such a personal level with somepony. Especially a pony who ended every little conflict with that big beautiful smile.

If only there was some way she could feel alive around Vinyl without fighting...

...

Sighing, Octavia answered Vinyl the best she could, "I suppose it is just amusing to argue with you."

"Well, your amusement is gonna cost me a lot of bits," Vinyl flatly presented the destroyed equipment to Octavia. The DJ had been working on cleaning up the mess caused by their little... tiff. She had formed a neat pile (well, neat by Vinyl's standards) for the formally strewn about wreckage. The main body of the machine still laid where it fell, a tragic remnant of its former glory.

Octavia shrunk and her ears drew back ashamed as she apologized, "I am so terribly sorry, Vinyl... I never intended to aggravate you so..."

"I'm joking, filly!" Vinyl bounded over to Octavia's side and wrapped a hoof around her. She squeezed tight, causing a squeak and a blush. "It was mostly my fault anyway. ...Though it is gonna cost me a lot," she finished with a mutter.

"Oh, dear. Is any of it salvageable? Can it be repaired?" Octavia asked, afraid of the answer.

Vinyl sighed, surveyed the pile of parts and responded, "Well... not really... It's all kinds of bucked up."

"Language, Vinyl."

"Sorry, sis." Vinyl rolled her eyes and missed Octavia's discontented stare. "Keyboard's probably okay, though," Vinyl motioned, continuing the conversation. The keyboard had been set back up and halfheartedly wiped off. It had a large crack in the side where the explosion had hit it, and several keys were missing. "Didn't seem to do any real damage. I think it can be fixed up and the keys replaced," Vinyl said hopefully. "To be honest, its files are more important than the record player or the speakers."

"Files?" Octavia asked perplexed. "It holds papers?"

"No, it's different. They're like- important music things," Vinyl unsuccessfully explained, unsure how to finish properly. (Technology is confusing!)

"Oh... well that is good news then!" Octavia replied, relieved.

"Yep."

Vinyl still had her hoof wrapped around Octavia and the both of them stood awkwardly for a moment. The conversation had obviously concluded, but neither made a move to separate. Their half-embrace was so comfortable and warm, it only fueled Octavia's red cheeks. She always blushed whenever Vinyl touched her, but she couldn't figure out why.

'I think you know why,' Octavia's inner voice squeaked.

'Enough,' she told it. "Um..." Octavia finally mumbled, looking at Vinyl.

"Hm?" Vinyl turned to face her. They were very close: nearly muzzle to muzzle. It was the closest they had ever been face-to-face. It was actually the closest Octavia had ever been to the face of anypony outside her family. Vinyl's deep red eyes began to tug Octavia again, but not like they did before. It wasn't a magical force that tugged at her, it was just... Vinyl that she felt like falling into... that she started inching towards.

*GRRROOWWWWLLL* Octavia turned even further red at the sound of her stomach's hungry protest.

"Pffft!! Hahahaha!" Vinyl burst and released her flustered friend in order to roll around on the floor again.

"Yes, well... *ahem* I suppose I have not had a proper meal in two days..." Octavia realized to her discomfort. "You did ruin my breakfast after all."

"Hahahee hee. R-Right... Sorry. But didn't you eat at Pinks'?"

"No... I... tossed it all..." Octavia admitted shamefully.

"Hahaha! What!? You were covered in all that food and- and you didn't get any!?" Vinyl found this highly amusing. "You could've- Haha! You could've held your mouth open, and somepony would've just thrown some in! Hahahaha!" Vinyl's laughter was rewarded with an annoyed glare. "Aw! Somepony's grumpy they didn't get any cake!" Vinyl reached over and with much amusement, started squishing both of Octavia's cheeks and properly accompanied this action by making baby faces of her own. "Awwww! Look at widdle Octy, she wanted some cakey-wakey! Poor baby!"

Octavia's eye twitched a few times before she casually grabbed the frying pan and once again held it up.

"Your final words, Vinyl?" Octavia asked coldly as Vinyl continuously played with her cheeks.

"Totally worth it!" Vinyl giggled as the frying pan came down.

"We do not have to dine out, Vinyl. I am willing to prepare us a meal," Octavia protested as the two ponies strolled down a nondescript Ponyville alley together.

"No way! You bought all that stuff for my house, I gotta repay you somehow," Vinyl replied, rubbing the bump on her freshly bandaged head. "Plus you've been putting up with me, so I figure you earned it."

"But... I struck you..." Octavia asserted sheepishly, lowering her head to the dirt street.

"Filly, I deserved it!" Vinyl reached over and once again side-hugged her friend. "You gotta put me in my place when I start teasin' you too much." The unicorn abruptly rubbed her cheek against Octavia's, causing the cellist to blush bright red (for the millionth time in recent history.)

"Y-yes... *ahem* very well then..." Octavia paused for a moment, enjoying the close contact, but decided to speak up on something she'd been thinking on. "Um, Vinyl... you've been... um... quite physical with me recently..." Octavia pointed out before the pleasant cheek rubbing came to a halt. Both ponies stopped trotting and stood side by side in the alleyway, isolated from the rest of the world.

"Yeah..." Vinyl glanced away, the distant look in her eyes was conveniently shielded by her re-equipped sunglasses. "I'm just... showing my affection."

"Affection?" Octavia heart's jumped at the word as she was released from the embrace.

"Yeah. Heh heh," the DJ laughed half-heartedly and rubbed the back of her neck. "You, uh- have no idea what it meant to me... what you did when you saw my uh... my eyes... and when you came back after our fight..." Vinyl's speech was slow and sincere, a tone Octavia had never heard from her before. She honestly didn't know how to respond.

"Oh, that was- nothing significant..." the unsure Octavia blurted out.

"Well, it was pretty significant to me, Octavia," Vinyl replied warmly with a smile. "Actually, I- uh..." Vinyl paused for a moment and pushed aside a painful memory. "I consider you my best friend because of that."

...

Best friend. Those two words had never been uttered like that in her direction before, and she certainly never had the opportunity to use them herself. Her Canterlot friends had been so polite... so distant. The thought of using such a combination of words to describe their friendship was laughable. But here in Ponyville, this unicorn she met two days ago just used them so easily, so confidently.

'...I am her... best friend?' Octavia's heart raced as she tried to put this situation together. 'It was really that meaningful a gesture to her? I have become... that important to her?' With rational thought failing Octavia, her instincts kicked in and responded, "Thank you, Vinyl."

"Sure, no problem!" Vinyl beamed back, returning to her upbeat personality. "Come on, we're almost there." The two continued on their trek, but Octavia's mind was elsewhere. She recapped every event she encountered since the wedding night, trying to put it all in perspective and to understand Vinyl's feelings. To understand her own feelings. She didn't even notice when they arrived at the restaurant until she was sitting down.

Looking around Octavia established that they were seated at tables outside. There were several pony couples dining there, and relatively sophisticated waiters slowly walking about. She panned around the scene until she finally stopped on the white unicorn sitting across from her, magically flipping through a menu.

Octavia deeply wanted to continue the conversation about their friendship, but certain... criticisms took the forefront of her thoughts and she was compelled to speak on them.

"This table is shaped like a mushroom, Vinyl," Octavia pointed out suddenly as she poked the oddly shaped table (made of Celestia-knows-what) before her. "And we are sitting on hay. It is neither stable nor comfortable. Is there someplace... normal we could go?"

"This ain't Canterlot, filly," Vinyl retorted. "We got one fancy restaurant, and this is it. Ponyville's an old school earth pony town so you'd better get used to all the 'down and dirty' stuff around here," the DJ teased, enjoying the fact that Octavia was out of her comfort zone.

Octavia desperately wanted to comment on the irony of a unicorn telling an earth pony to get used to dirt, but passed. Giving a lecture on racial history to Vinyl probably wouldn't end well. Either with a shouting match or Vinyl falling asleep. The thought of Vinyl face down, snoring on a giant mushroom, with drool running out made Octavia giggle.

Vinyl grinned at Octavia's sudden laughter and pointed to the menu before her friend.

"It's fine, I promise! Pick whatever you want. It's on me."

"Oh, so you are paying for my meal? I assumed you would simply pretend you forgot to bring enough bits and force me to handle the bill," Octavia snidely teased.

"I'm hurt Octavia! What makes you think I'm some sort of cheapskate?"

"You let me do your shopping."

"Hey! I make sure I repay my maids," Vinyl shot with much amusement.

"Vinyl!"

"Hahahaha!" The DJ reared back in laughter and Octavia chuckled despite herself. After her friend finished laughing, the cellist picked up her menu. She stared through the pictures of various lowbrow meals dressed up fancily. Her mind was elsewhere again, making life changing choices. She had come to a decision, and glanced up at Vinyl who went back to food browsing. Lacking appropriate courage, she raised the menu as a defense to avoid further eye contact. Octavia spoke up from her hiding place.

"Vinyl..."

"Yeah-huh?" the preoccupied unicorn responded, looking up to find Octavia's shield blocking her from view.

"...Is it alright... if... I say you're my best friend, too?"

They both were silent for a moment. The chatter of the restaurant patrons around them didn't even resonate in Octavia's blushed red ears. From behind her paper shield, she only heard Vinyl's response.

"Of course!"

The brown stallion closed his front door at the correct speed. Not too fast and not too slow. The soft clicking it made assured him he had succeeded. With a mouth full of letters and mailings, he trotted over to a hallway countertop. He placed them down neatly and began the careful process of opening them. Each one must be thoroughly examined and either discarded or appropriately responded to. The contents were to be expected: bills, invitations, advertisements, etc. However, the very last letter was out of place amongst the usual mail, much to his surprise.

The gray envelope with the purple treble clef in the corner was addressed as such: