//------------------------------// // When We Fall // Story: The Tunes Are A-Changin' // by ShadeJak //------------------------------// This day had just gone from weird to weirder to slight moments of okay to beyond fucked up. Tavi had been right, we’d managed out of sheer luck back there. Had my buddy Jay passed out or something, things would have gotten way worse, but who knew if the next person who saw us decided to call animal control or claim the people we had been were harboring livestock in an apartment? And that had just been one of the problems that had popped up in this freakish experience. A finale that looked horribly out of place for the show’s original demographic… fuck, I could only imagine how they took an ending like that… and then it was like being forced to think only about what had happened when Discord had dropped in and showed us the rest of that crazy dream we had when this all started! I had thought it was insane at first, Tavi wanted to go online to find out about the ending we watched and that’s when things got, how can I say it when comparing it to everything else that had already happened to us… WEIRD! All the proof… all the fucking proof in the world that I could no longer deny; me and this pony I now looked like… no, this pony I apparently was all along! I left Octavia back in the living room as I made my way to the bathroom, needing to be alone again. Only this time it wasn’t to think… what I’d seen had done away with any ability to at the moment. All I felt now was how much I wanted to be away from everything, including me. Walking into the bathroom, I sighed as my hooves clip-clopped on the tile upon entering, nudging the door closed almost instinctively with my hind leg before approaching the shower stall. Frowning, I felt something missing. Looking around, I realized I didn’t have any music. The player we kept in the bathroom for any time one of us was using the bath or shower sat on the small towel cabinet. Walking over I touched the on button clumsily with my hoof, nearly knocking the player over. “Argh! Stupid hooves!” I snapped, trying to hold it in place with one hoof as I balanced myself on my hind legs to use the other. “C’mon, c’mon…” I muttered, trying to work the dial to get to my own track album and off of Tavi’s. I wasn’t trying to fall asleep, after all. Gritting my teeth, I tried to turn the dial as gently as I could, but still got met with no success. Groaning, I turned away and went back on all fours, heading into the shower stall and once more had to balance against the wall with my forehooves so I could turn the handles. After being sprayed with a jet blast of hot water that caused me to tumble over and land on my back, my hooves providing no traction what so ever to get away from the water spraying down on me. Looking up desperately at the handles I tried to focus, and I could hear a soft hum that meant my horn’s magic was active, and the offending handle began to glow and turn a little, making the water more manageable. Sighing, I looked down at myself, laying on my side in the shower soaking wet as the water continued to rain down on me. “What’s wrong, can’t handle being a pretty little pony?” I asked myself bitterly, looking at the tile as the water pushed my electric-blue mane over my face. “It’s who you are, you know…” I muttered. “Vincent Spencer? Call me Vic, everyone does… your mom and dad, everypo—” I paused. What the FUCK?! Did I almost start talking like one of those ponies? I tried again. “Everyone you knew and loved… all of it fake, right?” I asked, moving my forehooves as I tried to stand. With so little traction thanks to hooves, I was clumsy at first, but eventually I gained enough footing to stand straight. “The parents you knew, the dreams you had…” I mumbled, holding back my tears as best I could with the water mercilessly raining on me. Taking a breath, I reared back and quickly balanced myself against the tile wall. “Your whole life, your relationship with the sweetest, most wonderful woman you’ve ever known… all just made from THIS?! Why do I still feel like me if I’m someone else?!” I demanded to no one in particular. “All of it… ONE BIG FUCKING LIE?!" I cried out, slamming my forehoof into the wall. “You’re not real, you just existed so THIS could come back,” I told myself, my tone more bitter then before. Grunting angrily I slammed my hoof on the wall again, ignoring the water from the shower as I then began hitting the wall with both hooves, grunting and groaning lividly with every blow. My wrists… or were they ankles now? Who cared… I could feel a soreness forming in them as I continued to beat the wall. Even with the water raining on me I could feel tears in my eyes, I grit my teeth so hard I thought they were going to snap apart. “I’m Vi-i…” I stopped myself, the pronunciation of the name’s vowel more close to Vinyl then Vic, I didn’t want to call myself that name. I never asked to be this, now the more I learned, the more that was made evident to me; the less I wanted to be. One would have to be beyond stupid to want something like this! I didn’t care how sore I was getting, at the time I didn’t care if I sprained or broke anything. With an angry yell I slammed both hooves once more on the tile, the pain shooting up my forelegs and weakening my balance. My hind legs weren’t meant to support me in an upright position like this without another surface to lean my weight against and slowly I could feel myself sliding down the wall of the shower to the floor again. Collapsing onto my haunches, I raised my forehoof, staring at its slender, feminine shape under my soaking wet coat. I felt my tail swish along the wet floor, curling against my right flank. “My name is…” I stammered, feeling tears start to flow regardless of how badly I didn’t want them to. Anything but Vinyl Scratch felt kind of… wrong, somehow. The name felt almost instinctive, lending all the more credit of which of us was real. Everything I’d said to myself felt completely true. Everything I knew… I remembered all my birthday parties, or at least the ones I didn’t have to watch home movies of due to being too young. My fifth birthday, I had pizza for the first time, at my favorite place; New York style, pepperoni conquering every corner of it and securing its place as my favorite topping in the twenty years that followed. Pictures were taken and I remembered every one of those, too… grease trailing out my lips in one, me slapping my forehead after getting my ass kicked in an arcade in another, my parents and older sister laughing. I remembered my fourteenth, where I tried to mix a track together. Man, it sucked, almost ruined my own party with that one… one of my friends from high school took credit for its existence saying he accidentally got an old shame of his mixed with mine and put a better one in pretending it had been the one I made to save me from being a laughingstock at my own birthday… I remembered the ones I’d shared with Olivia, what with us having the same birthday… Olivia… Octavia… Olivia… I remembered our first date, the one I panicked over when I was worried as all hell something would be off and our chances of a lasting relationship would crumble before it even happened. When I saw her, she said her friends had gone nuts thinking she overdressed, or looked too upper-class. I told her no… I told her she looked perfect because if she was going by her instincts; that was who she was. She didn’t need to be anyone else for me, and I didn’t want to be anyone else for her. True, I was probably slightly more casually-dressed then her but I liked to believe it just further showed who we were. Who we were… my forehoof traced along the shower floor. Were we meant to fall in love just because two ponies we apparently once were had? Was any of it us or just history repeating? How much of a part did what Discord pulled play into it? Were we just puppets in a goddamn show he was running? Dancing to a script we’d already knew even if we didn’t know it? Were my plans of popping the big question on her just a part of that, too? I couldn’t hold back anymore, I could feel my body trembling as I just broke down crying, alone in the shower stall I had boxed myself away from the world in. I was ready to spend my life with her, and it had all come crashing down just a few days ago on what was supposed to be one of our best days. Now realizing I was essentially an alien, stranded on a world that I didn’t belong in had made it all the worse. I balled myself up as tightly as I could, trying to stop crying but unable to. “Everything…” I whimpered, far more pitifully then I’d have ever liked to be. “Everything… all a lie…” “It's not a lie Vinyl,” a voice said gently. My eyes snapped open and I saw Octavia Melody’s silhouette standing in the open shower door. I immediately sat up, scooting away from her towards the tile wall I’d vented on. “N-no… babe… I-I didn’t… I—” “Vic…” she said, using the name I wanted to still have but couldn’t connect myself to. “I could hear you out there, I couldn’t leave you by yourself like that.” “You shouldn’t have seen me… I must look… and sound so fucking pathetic right now!” I protested bitterly. “I was able to stand up to your dad when he shoved a check with more money then I’d ever see in my life in my face to abandon you, now I’m just a weak, stupid crying pony who realized that part of me I was so proud of for years never really existed!” “The only lie was on the outside!” Octavia… I could see the hurt in her eyes, but also that attempt to reach me. Slowly she approached, ignoring the water beginning to drench her. “How?” I asked, I could still feel tears rolling down my cheeks mixed with the warm water. "Vic Spencer only existed because of Vinyl Scratch! Maybe I need to just accept the me I feel like was just a costume or a straight-jacket I was forced to wear for twenty-five years…” I said, my tone still bitter. “Does that make Olivia Ravensdale, the girl you stood up for, the girl you…” she paused, as if she were going to say something but decided to change it. “…the girl you’ve been with for years the same thing for me? Have you considered maybe who you love and what you believed in had no falseness to it? That maybe it just… hasn’t changed? Don’t think you fell in love with me because of who I am, think of what it was about me that you fell in love with.” “That’s a no-brainer! You’re smart, beautiful, hard-working… elegant…” I replied. “And maybe that’s why Vinyl Scratch fell in love with Octavia Melody,” my girlfriend answered. “I don’t consider myself smart… I was just driven… to get away from my parents by any means necessary. I worked hard so I could stay away from them and have my own life, as for elegance and looks, I fancy that’s in the eye of the beholder, and perhaps the one thing I can credit my parents for, they did have plans to make me more marketable to their friends’ heirs after all…” she concluded with an eyeroll. She continued to approach, soaking wet now like I was. “Babe, I-I…” I stammered, flinching as she brought her forehoof to my shoulder. Slowly, I put my forelegs around it, nuzzling up to her. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have broken down like this…” “Vic…” she said, using the name I once had again. I looked up at her, once more able to see Olivia behind those beautiful purple eyes as she smiled gently at me. “You’ve always been more open with your emotions then I am. I can’t expect to be surprised or disappointed in you for this,” she said. “Don't pretend your past is all just some memory from a dream, or think the present is made from one, either. Every part of it has value,” she leaned forward. “Because it does for me.” Slowly, I closed my eyes, leaning up for her. I felt my muzzle brush against hers, and then, our lips met. The world seemed to fade around me for a moment; a surge went off through my body as I kissed her, not wanting to stop. Slowly, we broke off, I realized my forelegs had moved to around her barrel, and hers around the base of my neck. Immediately remembering what she’d said to me earlier, I turned my head away. “S-sorry… I… I didn’t…” “Vinyl…” she responded, smirking. “About that, thinking about all that, and… knowing I still feel the same as I did before with you…” I swear if she could under that fur she’d be blushing. “The man who stood up to my parents and turned down all the money they offered, and the pony sitting here sulking in the bloody shower are one and the same. No one’s perfect, I didn’t fall in love with you because I thought you were a perfect person, I fell in love with you because for all your little idiosyncrasies, you’re perfect for me. Octavia Melody fell in love with Vinyl Scratch for what I’m certain are the same reasons Olivia Ravensdale fell in love with Vic Spencer. Because despite that colorful vocabulary and horrid noise you call music, you’re funny, charming, very dedicated to your dreams, willing to defend me, and I fancy being rather cute did play a part as well,” she explained, nudging my muzzle with her hoof and I couldn’t help but let a rather girlish giggle escape me. “Aw geez, babe, you made me have a girly moment!” I protested, covering my face with my hooves. “And when did you get all Socrates on this?” I asked. “First of all, this isn’t a matter Socrates would pursue. Second, as I said, I heard you in here… and if there’s one thing that’s made our relationship work more then anything is that we’ve been there to help eachother when one is unable to face a problem. You don’t have to keep proving to me you’re the man who knows all the answers,” she said. “Well, I guess that can’t be argued with…” I muttered, my tail flicking as I looked spitefully at where my new lady-parts were located. “That’s not what I meant,” Octavia replied with an eyeroll. “But you do make a rather lovely mare.” “Likewise,” I replied, managing a small smile. “But anyway, I thought about everything we’ve been through together, and everything we’ve been through before we met… it’s far too important to just throw away. It defined who we are a lot more then this ever did. We still feel like us inside, don’t we?” she asked. “That kiss we just had surely proves that?” “I… I guess,” I replied. I looked down for a second then back up at her. “Livvy?” I asked, using the name I’d called her for years. “Yes, Vic?” she asked. “We should probably get outta this shower the water’s been runnin’ a while hasn’t it?” I asked, my horn glowing as I focused on the handle and shutting it off. “That may be a good idea,” she replied. “I just hope you know how to work a blowdryer with that stunning display of magic you’ve been picking up,” she ran her hoof through her mane, which began to look more and more like someone had dumped black lo mein noodles on her head. “…and possibly a hairbrush.” ~ An hour of trial and error later we’d managed to dry ourselves off, for the most part clean and our manes brushed out, though I couldn’t help but think mine could use a little manespray. Looking in the mirror it just seemed too girlish for my taste just hanging straight like it was. Still, there probably wasn’t much of a point to it as it was getting late and both of us were getting tired. Returning to our bedroom, I climbed up on the bed and tugged the covers open with my teeth, looking down at my girlfriend who shook her head and climbed up with me. Rolling on her back, the gray mare slid herself under the covers, though with some struggle as her hind legs bent differently then she was used to. “Don’t. You. Dare,” she warned, eyeing me as I stifled a laugh. “Hey, did I laugh? Don’t think I did,” I replied, climbing under the covers and flopping down on the soft bed. Looking over at the light, I tried to focus on the small chain and my aura just surrounded the light itself, prompting a sigh from me. “Come on, damnit!” I protested, trying again with the same results then looking back at my girlfriend. “Don’t. You. Dare,” I said, echoing what she’d said to me earlier. “I don’t recall laughing, as tempting as it is,” she answered, stifling a few giggles of her own. Snorting, I made a few more tries before nearly yanking the whole lamp off the nightstand to turn it off. The bedroom now illuminated only by the moonlight of the night sky, I rolled over and faced Octavia, who was already resting her head against the pillow as she watched me. “It really has been a crazy couple days, hasn’t it?” I asked, shifting onto my back. “Yes… it most… certainly has…” she muttered sleepily. I heard her grunt a little as I felt her snuggle up against me. Smiling, I turned back towards her, sliding my forehoof under her neck, my other draped overtop of her in an embrace as I looked out the window. “Hey, babe?” I asked gently. “Mmm…?” Tavi mumbled, I had no idea how awake she was but I decided to bring my question anyway. “How’re… how’re you holding up? I mean… being like this?” I asked. “I’ll… manage… I always have… found a way to… manage…” she muttered, her voice getting softer after every pause. I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but it made me hug her a little more tightly as I felt my eyelids grow heavy and the need for sleep finally won out.