I walked down the sides of the streets, passing things ranging from tipped trashcans to tipsy mares, on my way to the bar to meet a friend that I had only met in the last few days. I use the term 'friend' very strictly, but I had a feeling I could count on Shakes to be there if I needed her, but all of that really depended on how this meeting with her went. She would probably be mad, she seemed to have this strange attachment to Vinyl, almost like a guardian or something, and I assume if she were from that standpoint, she would be mad. I can't really talk about others emotions though, I can only read a select few like books, but I could read their books better than some of themselves could.
I kicked a can by accident in my train of thought and it scared me slightly, ceasing my movement. I tend to be more jumpy at night for some reason. I guess it's something with the whole 'not-knowing-what's-there' thing. I started walking again, a bit quicker this time, since I was getting close to the bar; The theater was in my sights, which meant that the bar was only about a block away.
I turned at an intersection, taking a left onto the road the bar was on. The first sight I saw in front of me was a group of rather intoxicated looking mares and stallions. I considered what to do, maybe I should just keep going and hope that they didn't bother me, but I had a feeling that it wouldn't be so simple. I could cross the street to the opposite side to avoid them, but that might get their attention as well. It seemed like I would get their attention either way, but the more space the better, so I decided to cross the street to the other side. About half way across one of them must have seen me and had began shouting in a slurred voice.
I thought I heard a 'Hey' somewhere in his outburst, but I didn't respond and even went as far as to increase my pace. They seemed to notice and started shouting louder, one even began to try and walk over to me, only to fall over and passed out, leaving three drunks trudging over to me.
"Hey!" He shouted out more clearly as he stumbled over his fallen comrade, only about twenty feet away.
"Where are yah goin' this late all by yourself?" Spoke of the two others that were about half way across the street, but it didn't matter, I had reached the door. I grinned in triumph and turned to face them and gave them a smug smile before pulling to open the door.
Locked.
My eyes went wide.
The door was locked, and I had probably managed to anger the three drunks who were not but maybe ten feet behind me. I started tugging again, and even knocked hard on the door, but it wouldn't even budge.
"Shakes!" I said both feverishly and loudly, hoping she was inside and was just waiting for me.
I could feel the sound of their hooves just now meeting with the sidewalk behind me, causing me to tense. I knocked once again and called out as well, only to be met with the same, frightening, silence. I felt their thick breath running down my neck and turned around to see all three of them surrounding me. There were two stallions and one mare, the stallions each seemed relatively small in size, but there were two of them so they made up for the loss.
"Yah know it ain't safe to be out this late lady." Said the center stallion in between hiccups in a massive slur. The tone he used was creepy, it was as if he wanted me to know his intents, but I couldn't figure them out.
I backed further into the door until it made contact with my backside. They continued to close in on me, getting closer and closer until they were only about hoofs distance away.
"Don't yah worry tho', lady, we can help yah get home." He said with a freaky half smile.
Suddenly, I felt the door behind me open, causing me to fall backwards and hit my head square on the wooden floor of the bar. The impact caused me to clench my eyes closed for a moment and release a mixture of both a groan and a yelp. The next things I heard were the sounds of surprise, soon followed by the sounds of hooves hitting the sidewalk, quickly fleeing, as I reopened my eyes. I looked up to see who had saved me, only to see a stern looking Shakes staring me in the eyes.
"Good, you're here." She said in tone similar to that of rocks, not showing any true emotion.
I picked myself back up off the floor to thank her, but she turned back around and returned back inside of the bar before I could do so. I gave a quick look of confusion, and maybe even some anger, before deciding to just follow her into the club.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
The first thing I noticed about the 'club' was how, well, not-club-like it looked. Glass's were tipped over, stools were on the floor, even the cushions of some of the booth's were ripped, leaving fluff scattered across the floor. I took a survey of the bar itself and it wasn't much better, bottles of everything ranging from wine to booze were either scattered, tipped, or broken and there was something with a disturbing greenish hue on the floor directly in front of the bar. Shakes, however, walked by them as if they weren't even there, not even giving them a glance over the shoulder. I followed as she kept walking past the bar and back into the hallway she had told me about the first time I had come here, however, instead of walking out the exit door, she took a left, and went into a door that I hadn't seen before.
The door led to an office, not a very professional looking one, but a very plain and generic office, the desk held a few photos on it, one of which was a picture of Shakes and her sister, another was of her at graduation, and a couple others full of other events that might be in a picture on a desk. She walked behind it and took her seat, then gestured to a seat for me to sit in without saying a word. I took my seat quickly and for a moment, she just looked at me, as if thinking about something, until she spoke up.
"So what happened?" Her tone neutral in emotion.
"What?" I said, taken off guard by the sudden question. She only gave me a look.
"You know, what happened with you and Vinyl." Her tone sounded serious and un-amused.
"She didn-" I started.
"And before you tell me a lie, I know what she is." I wasn't that shocked by this revelation, I had thought that she might have known about Vinyl's 'secret' ever since she had helped me with her at my apartment. I decided to do the best thing, and tell her the truth about what happened, lying probably wouldn't get that far with her, nor develop trust with her.
"She fed off me." I said curtly, expecting some kind of a response from Shakes, but I never got one. An awkward silence fell over the room until she spoke up and broke it.
"Really? Is that all?" Now this, I was a bit surprised at.
I realize that she probably wouldn't be too surprised if I told her this, but lack of emotion to this caliber was...well, it was kind of scary. I was at least expecting some kind of emotion in her voice, or an 'Oh? How did that happen?', maybe even just a 'Are you okay' would have satisfied me. But no, she asked 'Is that all?' as if she was expecting something more extreme, now that scared me.
"Well...yes." I said dumb founded. Shakes gave a faint smirk with a low chuckle, the kind that was made to be used when something big is actually something much smaller.
"Octavia, do you know how Vinyl has been acting about this whole thing?" She asked with a faint smile still on her face, I raised a brow.
I expected Vinyl to be taking this like it was nothing, I mean, from the way she just walked out without a protest, or even an apology for that matter. Now that I think of it, it seems like she had even said that it "Wasn't her first feeding." the night this all happened.
"Well...No, I hadn't given it much thought." Shakes's smile only widened.
She didn't say anything for awhile, but then she spoke up, and what she had to say struck me pretty hard.
"She really does loves you, you know." My eyes went wide and my mouth began to gape slightly.
"Sh-she does w-what?" I stuttered, I needed to make sure I hadn't misheard her, because if what I heard was true, the things might be bad.
"Well, you might not see it, but I can as clear as day. She loves you Octavia, I knew that the second she closed the door on us at your apartment." She said in a matter-of-fact tone.
My mouth was still wide open and my eyes matched my mouth, she must have saw that and decided to explain about it.
"Octavia, as you might have figured out, Vinyl isn't exactly your...'average'...pony. She doesn't exactly express love the way that most others would." She explained.
I took a moment to process what had just happened, mainly because it happened so quickly. Shakes said that Vinyl 'loved' me. I never would have had the slightest clue that she did, I mean, when she was around me she never really flirted with me, she only treated me like a good friend she had known for her whole life. I would have just taken her for being very friendly, and I blamed that on me offering her a home.
"Oh, but she sure does show it around you!" Shakes shouted, interrupting my train of though.
I blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what I was just told.
"Wait, s-so...how do y-you know that?" I stuttered, utterly confused.
"Let me tell you a few things about Vinyl, Octavia." Shakes said with a smug smile.
"I've known her for a few years, ever since she accepted my job request into the bar, and if I have learned anything from those years, it's that Vinyl treats everyone the same, no matter what." She went on.
"The few that she treats differently are the ones she either hates or loves, and she can rarely even bring herself to hate someone, I think she would hate herself if she did." Shakes was staring off into the distance by the end of her explanation, as if looking at something pleasant, with a warm smile on her face.
I had no clue what she was talking about, but what I was thinking about was what might happen if I turned into one of those rare few who Vinyl 'hates', but if what Shakes told me was true, then I might have an even bigger problem on my hooves. If Vinyl loved me and...things happened, there is no telling what would happen to both me and her. My parents might not react that much, but I know a certain few who would be rather peeved if such information was revealed.
"Octavia." Shakes spoke out suddenly.
"Um, yes?"
"I have rarely seen Vinyl lately, and those few times I have seen her around, she will only say a few words, another thing I noticed is that she isn't wearing her glasses either, you know anything about that?"
"Well, her glasses are at my apartment. I really haven't been looking out for her lately." I spoke softly.
"Well, those glasses mean a lot to her, she can't go into public without them, so be sure you return them to her at some time." Although her voice was slightly playful, she backed it with a serious glare, one that I understood in full clarity. I nodded and got up from the seat across from Shakes's desk chair. She nodded and I understood that she meant that I could leave. She then spun in her chair slowly and picked up a particular picture from her desk. Just as I got halfway through the doorway she called out to me once more.
"And Octavia," She said in a soft spoken tone.
I turned to look at her, only to see the back of her office chair, but I could vaguely see the outline of the picture and its contents. It looked to be a picture of her, looking like she was fresh out of school, and a pony beside her who looked like a white mare with purple shades and a bright smile; a smile I was starting to miss getting to see.
"Play your cards right; for all you know, you might never get them again." She said, her voice sounding slightly shaky, as if nearing tears, but the wisdom implied in the statement was clear. I, however, was confused by her statement, but I had a brief understanding of what she was implying.
"I will try my best, Shakes." I told in my most comforting voice I could manage. I thought I saw her smirk, and took that as a sign that she was reassured, but then again, I was never good at reading people.
I turned away and made my way out of her office and out of the bar as well, I felt pretty tired after such an eventful day. I remembered that Vinyl and Fredric had a duel tomorrow, I guess that would be a good time to give Vinyl her glasses back. I was also wondering how exactly the whole duel would go down anyways, Fredric was a genius at the piano, but he also said 'anything goes' which most likely meant he had some sort of a plan or last resort to win. There really wasn't any question over who would win, especially since the judges were probably from the upper crust, that and Vinyl didn't exactly strike me as one of those genius composers.
I walked out of the club and onto the cold streets of late night Canterlot, after taking a quick glance to see if those pesky drunks were still around, and began heading for home once I saw it was clear. Tomorrow would be a very interesting day, and I would need my energy.
*~~~*~~~* ...Shakes... *~~~*~~~*
"I will try my best, Shakes." Octavia said in a pretty bad 'comforting voice', but I'll give her props for trying, she doesn't exactly seem like the social type to me.
I honestly didn't know what Vinyl saw in her, but I knew she saw something ever since day one when they first met. Vinyl rarely held back when she was feeding, mainly because she couldn't control it, but this was the first time I had ever heard of somepony coming out of those untouched, twice. I knew that she had been in at least two of these encounters, Vinyl had even stopped by one night after Octavia had drank herself asleep to tell me about it, but that was all the proof I needed to know Vinyl had feelings for her, she only held back and fought for control over the ones she cared the most about and that was what confused me; she had only known, and I use 'known' loosely, this mare for about three days and it seemed she couldn't be happier when she was around her. So when she got kicked out, it didn't exactly go well with me.
I had originally asked her to come here so I could yell at her, but that would be like yelling at a wall. She was so oblivious to the whole situation that she wouldn't understand half of what I said, so I decided to just let her choose the ending result of this whole conflict.
I heard the door shut and placed the picture of me and Vinyl back down. It was a picture of my first night of working when I had been accepted into her club. It meant a lot to me since it was the beginning of one of my most interesting, and best, friendships that I still have, so seeing Vinyl hurt didn't bode well with me.
I never truly understood her, and I probably never will, but I do know at least one thing about her. Vinyl was the one who could bring life to a dead room, and as long as she was welcomed, she would keep it there, but once she leaves, everyone will feel the difference. I knew Octavia was too, I had even felt it myself once, and it was definitely not a good feeling; having your thoughts constantly drawn back to somepony who is gone, it was almost like a nightmare. Vinyl was a strange mare, but she was a good strange.
I got up from my office and started packing up to head home to Sweeps, that mare was probably still drunk from last night's customers, who were only there for beer. Ever since Vinyl stopped showing up the club became more of a bar, and let's just say bars don't earn nearly as much as clubs.
As I walked out of the road I remembered something I saw in the paper about Vinyl and some other pony who were going to be having some kind of 'piano duel' or something. It seemed interesting, and a good excuse for a day off, but I had never figured Vinyl to even touch something of classic origin, always had to be something with 'wubs'. I'm sure Sweeps will want to go, she will do anything for a day off.
One thing was for sure though, tomorrow would be a very interesting day.