If there was one thing that was more then crippling about this change other then losing hands, it had to be height. Being the height of a german shepherd ensured I was about eye-level with the refrigerator door, but most of the stuff that I’d intended to prepare for some kind of meal had suffered a terrible lack of foresight on my part.
“Let me get this straight, Vinyl… we turned into small horse creatures, and you thought to stock most of the food we bought yesterday somewhere that it’d be rather difficult to reach?” Tavi asked.
“Well, if you wanna grab a stool you’re welcome to help out. In the meantime, let me see if I can get this magic thing down!” I insisted, trying to focus on the pantry shelves and the food that sat just out of reach. Ten minutes had gone by and my girlfriend was now laying down on her side, tapping her forehoof on the linoleum floor as she stared at me and my unimpressive efforts at mastering telekinesis. In that tiny little segment of the show I’d flipped through three days ago, I’d seen this unicorn float a record. If she could move a record I’m sure a bag of flavored rice wasn’t going to be outside her limits!
My tail flicked from side to side and my ears fell back as I struggled more, a faint blue light glowing above my eyes where my horn was and slowly, the bag began to do the same, shaking in its place a little. “Come on, come on,” I muttered, licking the side of my muzzle as I glared at the rice bag. “Come to daddy. That’s right, and…” the bag finally tipped and fell right on my face.
“Well done, Vinyl,” Tavi remarked with a smile, getting up. “That just leaves…” her expression immediately fell. “…getting a pot and some water for it.”
Any sense of accomplishment had been swiftly deflated by that realization. The pot wouldn’t be difficult at all, we kept it on the bottom cabinets with the other pans and cookware. The water, however… simply put the sink was too high up without balancing on my hind legs, and on slippery linoleum I didn’t want to take any chances while still this inexperienced with telekinesis. Maybe I should have practiced on some of my action figures or something… it still didn’t help my situation. Where was I going to get water that I could reach with less trouble?
A grin spread on my face and I swear a lightbulb appeared over my head. “Wait! I have an idea!”
“Oh?”
“Get the cooking pot and follow me!” I said, trotting down the hallway.
~
“I can NOT believe we’re doing this,” Tavi deadpanned as she held the bathtub spigot.
“Gah angy ugger igeas?” I asked, the pot handle in my mouth as I held it carefully under the faucet and waited for her to turn it on. With a push of her forehoof, the spigot turned, no doubt further then she’d intended and water came bursting from it, adding more weight then I was ready for and causing me to lose my balance and topple over, spilling the water all over my face and leaving me in the position to have the water pouring out straight onto my head.
“Livvy…” I muttered, managing to remember my girlfriend’s real name for once as I raised a hoof to try and brush my soaked mane out of my eyes. “One word about this to anyone and I swear…”
“You swear plenty already. I’m rather impressed you kept it in this time,” she replied, prompting an eyeroll from me. God I must have looked so stupid right now, a small white pony sprawled out in the bathtub, my head under the faucet and my face in a side-turned pot. After a few failed attempts to stand back up, I managed to finally regain my balance and slowly get up while Tavi shut off the water. Instinctively I shook my body like a wet dog, sending water everywhere and grimacing when my girlfriend looked like she could barely hold her laughter in.
“What?”
“Your mane… you look…” she held her hooves over her mouth but looked ready to lose it. Frowning I reached out of the tub and wrapped my forehooves around her, pulling her in with me as she let out a shriek of alarm and landed on top of me.
“Now you share my misery, babe!” I gloated.
A moment of silence passed between us, I stared at her, she looked off to the side, as if unsure how to respond or what to do. I noticed her ears twitch a little, her tail flicked to the side once and she climbed back out without a word. It was hard to tell with the fur coat but I swear she was blushing.
“W-we should probably think of something else to make for lunch. This turned out a great deal more… complicated then I’d imagined,” she said, heading for the door back out to the hall. Shaking off one more time, I looked at the pot, focusing as best I could to float it with my magic as I really didn’t want to resort to using my teeth for picking up anything. After a few tries, it finally, if a little slowly, did as I wanted, prompting a grin of satisfaction from me. I knew I could figure this out!
…One of a lot of things, though. Things I’d have to ask Tavi about… and ask myself about as well.
Floating the pot in front of me so I could keep an eye on it, I carefully climbed out of the tub and walked out into the hall, keeping my full attention on the hovering piece of cookware as I made my way into the kitchen once more. Maybe cooking was a little past what I could handle right now, but we had plenty of fruit and stuff we could eat instead.
Tavi was sitting in the kitchen, staring at the refrigerator. As I entered she looked back at me, still with that nervous look on her face. “Hey, check it out, babe. Mind over matter!” I said with a smile.
“Well done,” she replied, smiling back as I floated the pot over to the counter.
“So… uh… about earlier… and back there… something you wanna tell me about?” I asked, approaching, and she looked down at the floor.
“Vinyl… I-I mean… Vic… I mean…” she shook her head in frustration. “It’s… it’s how I see you. I do love you, I really do, but I’m suddenly wondering if it’s because I see you for you, or if I’m sexually attracted to a mare named Vinyl Scratch because this version of me was involved with her in a past life!”
“’Scuse me?” I asked, cocking my head.
“There’s clearly a part of us that’s changing in here, there’s no mistake about that,” she explained, gesturing to her head. “I’d said the human part of us is still there, but how much by the end of this?”
“Sooooo… are you bothered because you might be a lesbian now?” I asked, more confused.
Five seconds of an exasperated stare later, she spoke up again. “No, nothing like that. I’m not that old-fashioned. It’s that it’s like another part of me just changed with it. Before this I was a heterosexual woman, now I’m… well…” she exhaled deeply. “Maybe I just need time to come to terms with that. It’s not as big a deal to you because you’re used to… well… getting with other women, I’m not. This is still new to me no matter how you look at it.”
I lowered my head, feeling like I was two inches tall. Going through a sex change when I became a mare was pretty weird, to say the least, but still being attracted to the same gender I was into before probably felt like she’d gone through a bigger change mentally. I may have experienced the bigger physical change, but she was left wondering how different she was in the head, now. “Hey, want some time alone? I could use some, myself,” I said softly, using my magic to open the refrigerator and tugged open the produce drawer with my hoof, floating an apple out for her. Holding it in her hoof, she gave me a sad smile, then nodded.
“I suppose we both do, we have a lot to think about, don’t we?” she asked as I floated a second apple out for myself. Nodding, I headed off to the bedroom, thinking about the day we’d met as I passed a photo of us on the wall, my arms around her as we grinned at the camera.
~
“Dammit, I can feel the hairs standing on the back of my neck!” I protested, rubbing my neck with my hand and confirming it to be true.
“Dude, you’ll be fine. Just be yourself, be honest, and I’m telling you, this girl will give you a chance,” Cale explained with an assuring smile before frowning slightly. “Now, let’s review, what do you not do?” he asked.
“Don’t try to impress her. Just act like me,” I answered with an eyeroll.
“Exactly. The biggest mistake a guy can do is try to show all his cards soon as it starts or he’ll be boring minutes later. Do it piece by piece, and make sure you let her do plenty of talking. Listen to everything she says, and answer her honestly. She wants to know who you are, and let her find out at her own pace.” he looked me up and down. “And I’m not gonna lie, you’re probably not the type she’s used to seeing. Or at least taking seriously.”
“Thanks for the confidence boost,” I replied, feeling more then a little embarrassed. I was always cooler then this, more in control and able to adapt. How in the hell could this one girl make me into a clumsy dork? I don’t know, there was something about her, that grace in her walk, that elegance in her voice and mystery to her. Not to mention while classical music normally bored me to tears, the time I went to the college orchestra concert and it got to her solo I was entranced and needed to know more about her. Luckily my friend was willing to make it happen, the guy just had a way with helping people hook up.
To ensure we’d meet in a neutral place where food and drinks were easily available for me to buy for her, he’d gotten her friends to ‘invite’ her to come to the place I worked at. It was my night off so I could be away from the deejay table the whole night and focus on her.
“Alright, she’s here. Now just remember the stuff I got you ready for, keep your game on, and make it happen!” Cale said, shoving me forward in the direction of the table Olivia was seated at. With her perfectly straightened, honey-blonde hair and her orchestra clothes still on, she stood out a good deal in a place like this, and her friends seemed to be on the lookout to, as my friend had apparently earlier arranged, ward off potential competition. Okay, Vic. It’s now or never… I told myself, and I approached.
“Okay, I know this sounds way cliché but what’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?” I asked. Wow, could you have made a suckier icebreaker, pal? I asked myself mentally, wanting to slap myself already. Seriously, with other girls I’d been with I was never that pathetic. Olivia didn’t get up or start laughing, instead she simply turned and regarded me in confusion, probably wondering what the hell I was thinking using such a line. “Sorry, just… you don't exactly look like someone I'd see drop in on this place, let alone a fan of its music!” I said quickly, trying to save face.
“Yes, yes it is odd to find one such as myself here, perhaps,” she responded, wincing a little from the sudden change of track to intense metal dubstep. At least it wasn’t me she was bothered by, which prompted a smile from me. “My friends were… most insistent I be here,” she explained. Even with the music, I could hear her speak. She was British, or at least came from a family that was, her accent was as classy as she looked and I felt for a moment like I may have been a little out of my league.
“Wow… pretty and cultured. I love the accent, by the way,” I said, being as genuine as I could make clear to her so she'd know I wasn't making fun of her. Honestly, it was as beautiful as she was.
"My British dialect goes back several generations, I'll have you know;” she replied matter-of-factly, though at least she seemed amused by me, so I guess so far so good even though I felt like this could have gone better. “…so it never seemed that big of a matter to me. And you are…?” she asked.
“Oh, right! Name’s Vincent Spencer. Call me Vic though,” I said. “So, I gave my name, can you tell me yours?"
"Olivia," she answered. "Olivia Ravensdale."
Olivia Ravensdale. Beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Yup, definitely came from a rich family, the last name at least suggested it, though I’d not heard of any family by that name. "So..." I began, deciding to try and continue the conversation. "What do you think? This music’s pretty happening, huh?”
“It’s absolutely, positively ghastly,” she said in disgust. "It just sounds like random noises done to random beats I don't see how anyone can dance to it." Wow, definitely not a fan of the stuff playing, hopefully I could still save this attempt, though.
“I guess I can’t always get upvotes, can I?” I asked with a laugh, rubbing my chin thoughtfully and smirking. “I actually mixed the track they’re playing here! Normally I’m deejaying, but it’s my night off,” I explained.
“Mixed? Deejaying?” she asked.
“I’ll get you a drink, your choice, and I’ll tell you about it, but you gotta tell me about yourself, too,” I answered, getting a shocked look from her face before she looked past me over where I assumed Cale had seated himself. A moment later, she picked a sweet margarita as though everything here were beneath her tastes but she was willing to settle regardless. I meanwhile ordered one of my personal favorites, hoping she wasn’t a lightweight.
“So, ladies first,” I said.
Olivia sighed a little. “Very well, I suppose with a name like mine you fancy I’m some rich upper-class girl, am I right?” she asked.
I shrugged in response. “If you are, I can’t say I’ve heard the name before.”
“Honestly? My family is one of old money, if you’re at all familiar with the term,” she answered.
“Oh, like those rich jackasses that spam instagram with all this crap they buy to piss off the middle-class types?” I asked, before wishing I hadn’t and worrying I may have insulted her. Amazingly, she laughed.
“Yes, that is about right. That’s exactly the kind of people my parents are,” she answered. “Unfortunately, there are some things money can’t give… like their willingness to accept me as a person and not some… some bargaining chip to hand off when I was old enough.”
“Fuck, and I thought I had problems,” I muttered as our drinks arrived.
“Well, you’re certainly not one to hold back on language are you?” she asked.
“New Jersey, babe,” I answered, spreading my arms and grinning. “Not like Jersey Shore level, though. Just kinda grew up in the semi-urban area is all. Seriously, every one of those freaks is on my hit list,” I added quickly, causing her to smirk and roll her eyes, tasting her drink.
“Smashing. I’ll look forward to when you go through with it,” she said. “So, what brought a girl like me to the attention of someone like you? If you’re expecting money I regret to inform you that my parents and I haven’t been on speaking terms ever since I decided I wanted to have my own life.”
“No, no, nothing like that!” I insisted. And really, her parents didn’t sound like the kind of people I would want to spend even a microsecond around, no matter how wealthy they might have been; if anything that part would have made me even more uncomfortable around them with my meager list of achievements. “I had to work since I was old enough and I’m pretty proud that I actually earned what I got for having a talent for music mixing. One day, I’m gonna be freelance and make the real cash all on my own!” I explained, though I suppose our different views on the music I made could have had a different interpretation to her. “I… sorta lost a bet with my friend so I had to… well…” I looked down, and I could feel the heat on my face as I blushed. “…see one of the orchestra concerts.”
“Oh, and was it as terrible as you imagined?” she asked, frowning a bit.
“No! Well, okay mostly, but when it got to your solo just… damn I never thought I’d go for the classical stuff but you were just… perfect at it! As cliché as it sounds it felt like the rest of the world just disappeared and there was just me sitting there and you on the stage. I couldn’t get you out of my head and then my friend asked if I’d like to meet you, said he could make it happen,” I explained.
“I see… and believe it or not, I know how that all feels, working for what you have,” Olivia replied, nearly causing a spit-take from me.
“Whoa, you? But you said…” I began.
“My parents are rich. Not me. Not since, like I said, I wanted a life of my own. I only had their money if they had my life to make as they saw fit,” she explained. “I decided I wanted to learn and make classical music. They thought it beneath me, said if I wanted anything that’d get me down that path, I’d have to earn it myself. Of course, it was to dissuade me. They thought the idea of not being provided for by them would make me change my mind. It didn’t. They didn’t fancy the idea of a daughter who could prove them wrong and go the way she wanted in life with or without their help so you can imagine that only drove us apart all the more. After I could afford it, I took to the cello, and… I don’t know, it just seemed the perfect fit for me and I wasn’t wrong.”
I stared a moment, unsure what to make of it. We may have come from seriously different walks in life, but we had a common ground, there. We worked for what we had, and even if our music was just as different as those lives we came out of, music was music either way… even if I still felt classical music mostly put me to sleep.
Taking a sip of my drink, I smiled at her, and she made my heart race when she smiled back.
~
Opening my eyes, I stared at my reflection in the mirror, the white unicorn mare staring back at me with sad, magenta eyes. When I got upset, Livvy always tried to be rational and calm. When she got upset, I’d find ways to make her smile and try to go with the flow. But now, this… I turned and flicked my tail, getting a better look at my new goods then I’d meant to and prompting me to look away quickly in embarrassment and hastily sit my back end down. God, that's really gonna take some more getting used to. That day we’d met, a spark had started between us. Real dates followed, eventually we moved in together after graduation. Then came… this.
Even if this did happen to others why’d it have to happen to us?! Maybe it really was because we were lovers in another life that it all worked, but I liked to think there was more to it then that. I really hoped there was. For now, maybe the best way to know the answer to that was to see what happened, give her the time she needed to come to terms with herself now, as I was about what I’d learned about me. About this pony staring back at me in the mirror.
“Hm…” I cocked my head, then turned my body sideways, posing with one hoof raised and my head titled down a little so my mane fell around the sides of my face, some fringe going over one eye. I couldn’t help but smile a little; at least I was a pretty good-looking mare. Heck, maybe I was a bombshell by whatever-the-hell standards these pony-things went by. Octavia, though… I blushed just thinking about her.
Whoa… here I was thinking of her as another mare, too. A mare I was attracted to…
Just be yourself, be honest, and I’m telling you, this girl will give you a chance.
“Well, babe, what’re you gonna do to make your girl hot for you?” I asked my reflection, rubbing my chin with my forehoof.
“Having fun, Vinyl?” Octavia’s voice asked from the door frame, scaring the living hell out of me and causing me to fall over. Stifling a laugh, she walked in.
“Whoa, sorry! Totally thinking aloud there,” I said frantically. “I was just… thinking about stuff and all. Y’know, guy stuff.”
“Of course you were,” she said, putting her hoof on my shoulder and noticing the apple sitting on the floor. “Oh, you haven’t eaten yet?”
“Like I said. Thinking about stuff and all,” I said sheepishly, giving a shrug.
“Ever the odd one,” she said. “Look… I did some thinking as well…”
“And?”
“I’m… still not ready, yet. To be how we were, but…” she said, looking away a moment. “I think in time, if you don’t rush me, I think I will be. We saw it was more then coincidence we met in the first place,” she explained. “We saw that there was a past between us that’s older then we thought. It’s not something anypony, not you, not me, not even that vile chaos god... can just take away.”
“…did you just say “anypony”?” I asked, baffled. Immediately she bopped me on the head with her hoof.
“I make a speech about us and some bloody Freudian slip is the first thing you notice?” she demanded indignantly. “Honestly, Vinyl, you’re always—” she paused, a look of surprise on her face.
“Always what, babe?” I asked, rubbing my head.
She sighed, and looked away for a second. “L-let’s just go get lunch ready, and as silly as it sounds I have a sudden urge to watch that show this all came from, hopefully Netflix still has it...”
“Sure thing!” I replied, feeling better and trotting alongside her as we went back into the hall. “So… uh…” I began, prompting her to look over at me. “…think I’d still look good in shades?” I asked with a grin.
And just like that, I got another bop on the head.