Mixing Relationships
by Aryn240
Chapter 1
“…So… Where we goin’ tonight, Tavi?”
A brash, bold, marshmallow-like pony with an electric-blue mane and mirrored eighth notes-cutie mark gazed intently at the pony next to her as they trotted along the snowy streets of Manehattan. Her large purple shades hide any trace of emotion that might be dwelling in her eyes. Her smile, however, gave her away as she waited for a response.
“Well, we’re going to-”
“Oh, wait, let me guess. Let’s see…”
Vinyl Scratch put her forehooves to her head, miming deep thought.
“OMMMM…..The great and all knowing DJ-P0n3 predicts plenty of boring music on the horizon, followed by a 60% chance of drinking and a possibility of intimate, fun-for-all-”
The pony with the treble-clef cutie mark began to turn red, and cut off the unicorn before she could get to the end of her sentence.
“Shhh, Vinyl! We’re in public here!”
The white unicorn turned to her fillyfriend and grinned from behind her mirrored shades as she began to enjoy mocking Octavia in her usual fashion. Before she could craft one of her witty responses, however, the cellist remembered the other insult she had received from the white unicorn beside her and cut her off yet again.
“-and, for your information, my music is not “boring”. If you seriously intend to convince me that those thumps and screeches that you listen to is somehow ‘music’, then you are more deluded than I originally thought.”
“Riiiight, because-“
But at this point Octavia knew the pony next to her well enough to know when to block her for maximum effect. The DJ was like a good band; once she got started, she wouldn’t stop making noise until she ran out of material. The main difference was that the band usually had ponies that wanted to hear the noise it made.
“Because nothing. We are going to see one of my favorite musicians, and I’d like to enjoy it for once.”
Vinyl kept it up. “So, assuming we can survive the tedious, tiresome, totally-tepid-“
Octavia swung around from her brisk trot to gaze at the white pony with just a hint of ferocity, cutting off her surprisingly eloquent alliteration. The two were by now in an abandoned alley, taking a shortcut through the back streets to make it to the concert on time.
“Vinyl. I really want to see this concert. I really want to enjoy it. Is that so much to ask?”
The unicorn, taken aback by the change in the earth pony’s mood, was surprisingly silent for once (for a record-breaking time of a couple seconds). Then, in a gesture quite out of character for her, she lowered her head.
“I’m sorry, Tavi. I’m just good at pushing buttons.”
Octavia gazed at the mare before her, and her anger melted. She knew Vinyl, and cared for her, and hated to see her like this. Looking around and finding the two alone, she smiled and put her forelegs around the white DJ, nuzzling her neck.
“I’m sorry too, Vinyl. I tend to forget how… exasperating you can be.”
The DJ, always one to bounce back from a blue mood with almost the speed of a certain pink pony fond of parties, smiled impishly back at Octavia.
“Aww, it’s okay, Tavi! But could ya possibly stop using such big words? I’m so left behind by all your classy intelligence!”
“Oh, Vinyl, you are so… it means-”
But the sneaky unicorn had other plans. With Octavia distracted (rolling her eyes at Vinyl was always a favorite of hers) she snuck a hoof into her side and began to tickle her.
“Nevermind, Tavi! I found something more interesting.”
“Vinyl! Not- please- stop it!”
“I’m afraid I just can’t, Tavi. You’re too funny when you start laughing. It’s such a change from your usual personality!”
Octavia fell over laughing, landing on her back in the soft flurries piling around the two. Vinyl immediately took advantage of the opportunity and landed on top of her, grabbing a hoof full of snow and rubbing it in the other pony’s face. The grey mare, still giggling, tossed her mane back and forth as she attempted to evade the fluffy whiteness.
All of a sudden, the two mares found themselves with their muzzles surprisingly close together. Vinyl, the constant prankster, leaned down and kissed her lightly, which distracted the earth pony just long enough for her to grab another hoof of snow. Tavi, expecting this, stopped Vinyl’s foreleg with her own hoof and, laughing, pushed it back into the DJ pony’s face. The white pony sputtered, wildly shaking her head to get it all off and accidentally knocking loose her trademark shades in the process, revealing the vibrant, ruby red eyes behind them. Octavia suddenly became passive, staring upwards The unicorn, sensing the change, also stopped her onslaught to gaze at the earth pony below her. The two had just recently discovered their mutual feelings for each other, and neither was quite sure where to go from… wherever it was they were.
They let the moment linger for a second longer, then, smiling happily, got to their hooves. Vinyl attempted one more snowball, which Octavia blocked easily. The white unicorn returned her shades to her eyes, prompting an exasperated yet contented sigh from the grey earth pony.
“Vinyl… you really do have such lovely eyes. Why must you hide them behind those garish things?”
The DJ pony grinned over at her paramour, the shades once again hiding the spark in her eyes that Octavia knew was there.
“Maybe it’s because I just like to hear you complain about it!”
Octavia, feeling that everything was right with Equestria, linked her forehoof with Vinyl’s.
“Come on, you. We have a concert to get to, whether you like it or not. Afterwards.... well, we’ll see what happens.”
Vinyl turned with mock surprise to her companion.
“Why Tavi, did you just suggest that we-“
The cellist grinned, a surprisingly good imitation of Vinyl’s own. “I didn’t suggest anything, my dear. You drew your own conclusions.”
The DJ pony knew when she was being teased, and responded to it with equanimity.
“Well, fine then, Tavi. This can wait till later tonight.” She winked, adding, “You’re always more fun with a little alcohol in you.”
The two continued on their way through the windswept winter streets, each contented with the other's happiness as they hoped the night would go on and on.
*** *** ***
With the concert over, the duo stepped out of the recital hall into the bitter winter weather. The wind had picked up while they’d been inside enjoying the music (even Vinyl had begrudgingly admitted it to be “tolerable, I guess”). Octavia, of course, had loved every minute of it, and the white unicorn liked to see her happy. But now, emerging from the cozy warmth into the harsher elements outside, the cold began to set in, and both mares wished for nothing more than to be somewhere out of the snow. Without realizing it, they moved closer together to cut the wind between them. Vinyl spoke first, feeling a sense of déjà vu as she did.
“Sooo… Where to now, Tavi? The night’s still fairly young…”
Octavia pretended to think for a moment. “Well, across town there’s an accordion recital-“
“WHAT?” Vinyl started, shocked. “And you call my taste in music disturbing? An accordion? That’s just-just so- just-“
The earth pony smiled as the unicorn sputtered and fumed. “Relax, Vinyl. I’m just pulling your hoof.”
The DJ lowered her shades enough to glare over the top of them. “An accordion, my dear Octavia, is no joking matter.”
“Why, whatever happened to ‘Tavi’?” The grey-maned mare snickered, looking back at the glare innocently.
“You know, one of these days I’m going to tie you down and just-”
“If this is headed where I think it’s headed, I’m going to repeat my comment about being IN PUBLIC.”
“…I was going to say make you listen to an entire rock opera.” Vinyl winked, laughing at Octavia’s embarrassment.
The earth pony blushed, then covered by assuming a businesslike demeanor. “Ah. Well, in that case, where are we off to?”
Vinyl suddenly canted her head, and an air of mystery crept into her voice. “Say, where’s your cello tonight?”
“In my apartment. Why?”
“How much trouble would it be to grab it? I’ve got something I’ve been meaning to show you, and seeing as we have time now…”
Octavia, intrigued, pushed further. “What is it?”
Vinyl raised her shades to their usual position. “Ah ah ah, that would be telling! And after that accordion crack, who says I have to tell you anything?”
The cellist, now on the receiving end of the ribbing, was put off. “Well, if you’re planning on taking me to one of those… ‘establishments’ you work at – the ones with the headbanging and the fights- then you can forget it!”
The white pony, getting into her rhythm of bothering her favorite mare, grinned even wider, then assumed an expression of agony.
I play. You get to stand in one place and rub two pieces of string together!”
The cellist bristled. “Why, you dare-! If you think for even a single second that your music is even remotely comparable to mine, then-”
Vinyl laughed and held up her hooves in surrender. “Okay, okay! Just pokin’ fun at you, Tavi.”
Octavia “hmphed” and began to walk. The DJ pony chuckled and began to follow her, on their way to her apartment. As they passed through the mostly deserted streets, Vinyl began to hum a couple bars. Octavia recognized the tune. It was a popular piece that had come out recently, and was (for once) something they both enjoyed. Though she tried to resist, she soon found herself humming along.
“Let me tell ya youngin', man the old days were grand
You could walk down to the beach and plant your hooves in the sand…”
Before the two had reached Octavia’s apartment, they were both singing out loud. As the cellist opened the door to her flat, laughing, the unicorn finished the last line with a bow to the empty street.
“Feelings I've never felt before!”
As Octavia turned to watch Vinyl take her bows to the vacant pavement, she could imagine what the white mare was seeing in her mind: the song finished, the crowd would go wild for the hip new performer with the wild electric-blue mane. Public attention was one thing the DJ did not fear.
Vinyl finished her showing off and turned to see the other mare contemplating her, her eyes soft. Never one for too much emotion, she tried to play off the grey mare’s evident loss for words as nothing as she trotted inside nonchalantly.
“Yeah, I’m great, I know. No need to stare, and autographs are encouraged. Now, are you going to get your cello or, do I have to find it for you?”
Octavia shook her head, smiling. “I know where it is, thank you very much. Just a minute.”
“Hurry up, before I die of boredom in this abhorrently clean flat!”
The cellist smiled again as she trotted further back into the apartment. She smiled a lot these days, and she had been noticing a seemingly permanent lift in her mood since Vinyl Scratch had come into her life a few weeks ago. No longer was her life nothing but practice, recital, and repeat. Now she looked forward to each new day as it came, as each one brought another opportunity to see (and tease) the one pony who had quickly come to dominate her life. She hurried to find her cello and make sure it was in good shape so she could find out what it was Vinyl wanted to show her.
The white unicorn stood in the hall of the flat, alone with her thoughts (contrary to what Octavia liked to insinuate, she DID have them). As she gazed about her at the neatness of the apartment she had come to know so well in such little time, she began to think about Octavia and how quickly things had come together between them. Just a few short weeks… but tonight would be a surprise, no doubt! She’d finally be able to show Tavi the reason they hadn’t been to her own apartment (besides the slight lack of organization) for a week. She’d been working every chance she could on this, and she’d finally get to see the grey mare’s reaction.
Vinyl was snapped out of her reverie by the sound of the other pony returning with her cello. She grinned as she looked up, ready as always with a witty comment.
“Oh, there you are! I was just about to eat my hooves out of boredom, but then-“
“Careful, Vinyl. We are still in my apartment, and I still have the option of bludgeoning you with my cello case, then claiming you were trying to break in.”
“Oh, Tavi! What a sweet thing to say! I’m just all warm and fuzzy inside!”
Octavia let her inevitable smile show through. “Silence, you cur. Now, what was it that you wanted to show me?”
“What was that? I’m still trying to figure out why you called me a curb. I mean, I know I’m a step up from the average, but-”
“No! I said- nevermind. What did you want to show me?”
“You’ll just have to come with me! Won’t that be ever so fun? Like an adventure into the unknown!”
“………”
Vinyl grinned inwardly, remembering the last time she had used the phrase ‘adventure into the unknown’. “…Okay, okay. No, we’re not going back to that one place where they asked you how far up your cello bow could go if-”
“That’s enough, Vinyl!”
“Well, it was kinda funny… I mean, come on, how could you even get that many monkeys in one room?”
Octavia was blushing now, but trying to hide it through an outward bravado of impatience with the infuriatingly smug mare. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Hmm, well, I think if we grabbed a couple of drinks, unplugged the telephone and-”
“VINYL!”
“Alright, alright, sheesh! You’re waaaay more fun drunk. Remind me to ask you about the Supermare saddle later.”
Octavia blanched. “…The what?”
“Oh, last time we got drunk at your place, you got a Supermare saddle from somewhere and starting running around the apartment jumping off furniture. You may have been trying to fly, but-“
The cellist was horrified at what she was hearing. “Oh, Celestia, please tell me-”
“-but all that kept happening was you kept falling over on your back and waving your forehooves in the air. You were yelling something… let’s see, what was it…”
“NO! That’s okay! Don’t worry, I don’t want to know what it wa-”
“Ohhhh, right. ‘Lex Hoofur! Lex Hoofur!’”
“Oh, dear Celestia…”
“And then-“
“Vinyl… come here. I need a clear swing with my cello case.”
The white unicorn smirked. “Alright, alright. I’ll stop, promise.”
“I’ve heard that before.”
“Darn, you know me too well. No hooves crossed!”
Octavia sighed, smiling a little from the side of her mouth. “Come on, let’s go.”