The smug smile on my face vanished once I finally arrived home. At first I suspected the usual; a loud crowd complaining about Vinyl or at least her doing something completely inappropriate but no…everything was silent, far too silent.
Reluctantly I opened the door to my home, already suspecting the worst. Well…what I found was far from the worst. Honestly, I’d rather say it was an act of courtesy I never expected from Vinyl. She had left a note on the desk, addressed to me.
Dear Tavi,
I wasn’t sure when you’d be back so I thought I’d take my time to organise something for tonight.
You already agreed to have some fun with me so I won’t let you get off the hook this time.
I’ll probably be home at 09:30 PM to come for you…
Enjoy your time till then...
PS: I made you some fresh coffee, just before I left.
Kisses,
Vinyl
Well, I didn’t see that coming but I should have, I guessed. Obviously I was rather sceptic when my eyes first wandered to the note because Vinyl didn’t seem like a pony who would explain what she did to others. However her reasons were probably to stop me from freaking out. If she was gone just like that what would I have thought? Maybe something like abduction by vampires or even more likely that she left because I had destroyed her life as well…
I took a deep breath before I let go of those unneeded dark thoughts and filled my favourite cup with coffee. When I wanted to enjoy the hot bitter liquid I was in for a surprise…it was cold. How I hated it when Vinyl didn’t dispose of cold coffee. Wait didn’t she write she made me some fresh coffee?
Suddenly a strange thought crossed my mind. No…it couldn’t be what I was thinking. I took a deep breath before I poured the cold coffee away and filled the cup anew. This time I was focused on the flowing liquid. It was still steaming when it entered my cup. However when the cup reached my mouth the coffee was cold once again.
I tried it again and again but the outcome stayed the same. I decided that I wouldn’t give up easily. I prepared a new can of coffee for my little experiment. How strange this day turned out to be. First the medic turned out to be a vampire and now this...
Wait…when did the coffee actually turn cold? In the can it remained hot. Mid-air it was still steaming. So while I was holding the cup in the one hoof I used the other to touch my lips. They were warm. I even touched the inside of my mouth but…it was also warm. So…the strange thing was the cup? What exactly was wrong with it? At first I thought that it was my ability that finally showed itself but now…it turned out to be truly disappointing. Yet I still wanted to solve the mystery and stared at the cup in wonder.
Still holding it with one hoof I decided to put it back on the table to inspect it closely. Something I wouldn’t have to do anymore now that I let go of that cup. Where I touched it with my hoof it seemed to be covered in a layer of rime. I looked at that hoof in disbelief. It didn’t look any different but instead of that one blister Coldsteel found, I now had a few more.
Only now I realised that those things weren’t blisters…those were chilblains. Oh it started to make far more sense now. The cold sensation while I was out, the bathing water that got cooler and now even the ice cold cup. Well…seemed like my classmates back then had been right all along, I really turned out to be an ice princess.
The thought made me chuckle, yet I didn’t feel all too well about it. I didn’t have any control over that strange power. It wasn’t very strong right now but it was still enough to cover my hoof in chilblains. What if I really hurt somepony else?
Normally I would have visited Victor immediately after my discovery but that was out of the question now that I wasted all my time playing with my coffee mug.
The best course of action would probably be to take a powernap until Vinyl returned. I’d probably need all my energy to survive Vinyl’s idea of fun anyways. I moved my flank to the couch and fell asleep immediately, my eyes still locked on my chilblain covered hoof…
I found myself again in the middle of the night. It was dead silent but I wasn’t alone. Cold winds gently blew through my mane while my hoof was covered in a warm and sticky liquid. Trying to find out what it was exactly I moved my hoof to my mouth. It tasted like blood. Oh that wasn’t good…
I tried to run and run but my home had turned into a seemingly endless corridor only lit by a few rays of the crimson moon. Shadowy figures created by that twisted moon and bald trees were projected on the wall. They seemed to laugh at me while I was chasing down the endless room to escape the darkness.
Finally I seemed to reach the end of the road where a gentle white source of light waited to comfort me. Coming closer I realised it was Vinyl who waited there for me. In a moment of sheer happiness I hugged her only to see her turn into ice and shatter into tiny pieces. As if that wasn’t enough I felt something touch my back…
I shrieked when I found myself all sweaty on the couch while a concerned Vinyl Scratch apparently was trying to wake me up. She was still leaning over me and had her hoof on my shoulder. When I finally managed to get up she looked at me in pity and faintly whispered…”Nightmares again?”
I gave her a simple nod as an answer before I got up. When she asked me if I wanted to tell her what my dream was about I simply let out a sigh and said that I’d rather not talk about it. After that I walked into the shower to wash away all the sweat and…to take a look at my hoof. I wasn’t really keen to tell Vinyl about the fact that I turned into a living refrigerator but if we would really try to have fun tonight she deserved to know, for her own safety at least.
I tried to use my hoof on one of the walls while showering and to my delight I didn’t cover it in ice. Even though I wanted to enjoy my shower a little longer I heard an impatient voice call out to me. Vinyl wanted me to hurry for we shouldn’t be late. Oh…did she reserve something for us? That could truly end up very embarrassing. I sighed and stopped the flow of the hot water.
It took me only a few more minutes to comb myself until I was ready to go. Vinyl took a look at me and mildly shook her head. Did she expect me to wear something flashy? I doubt that because she wasn’t anything flashy either. When I asked her where we would go she just beamed at me and said just one word…”surprise”.
Vinyl told me our destination was about twenty minutes and we shouldn’t waste any more precious time.
On our way I told her about my strange newfound ability.
“Do you think it is fun? Using your power I mean…” she went on…completely staggering me.
“Why would you think it is fun? I don’t have any control over it. Didn’t you listen? Things just freeze if I like it or not. It rather scares me to be honest. What if I hurt other ponies…” I replied.
“Maybe you just have to learn it…like you have learned playing cello?” she asked.
“My cello is not a tool to hurt people Vinyl…”
“No but your mother is…” Vinyl said manically giggling.
Well…she did it. She made me burst out in laughter.
The corners of Vinyl’s mouth rose as she realised that she managed to lighten up the mood a little.
“So…you want to tell me you are afraid to freeze ponies to death? Are you kiddin me?” Vinyl said holding on to her grin.
“That isn’t funny Vinyl…what if I seriously hurt somepony?” I asked in disbelief.
How could she be so easy going. I was a walking weapon by Discord’s beard.
“Yeah right because the vamps would let you roam around free if you could kill ponies.
Good way to keep their secret world save, Tavi.” Vinyl told me as sarcastic as she could.
“Well…I guess you have a point there.” I said after thinking about it.
“Sure have.” she replied smiling.
“So what do you think about my power?” I asked curiously. I guess that could turn out rather entertaining.
“I don’t think it is very special. Isn’t that just like Victor’s power in reverse?” she said scratching her head.
“I’m still not sure how my power works exactly.”
“Duh, you freeze things. What else is there to know?” Vinyl answered, rolling her eyes.
“Do I really freeze things? Maybe I just absorb heat? Or maybe I’m able to make things turn from hot to cold and vice versa. I don’t know if making things freeze covers it Vinyl…” I said.
“Hmm…you may be right there.” she said thinking about it. “However, does it really matter if the result stays the same? Your freezing stuff, no matter how you do it.” she added.
We talked for a while longer about my powers until we finally reached our destination. My eyes widened in horror when I saw where we just had stopped. It was a club named Velvet Moon. Letting my gaze wander down at the announcement chart I realised that “DJPON3” was one of today’s DJ.
The two of us couldn’t even look more different when we went through the entrance. Vinyl was all hyped up because of her gig and I...well I had scepticism written all over my face. Somehow I already came to regret that I let myself being talked into this…