Canterlot, Equestria’s mountainside capital famed for its wealth and royalty always managed to look dazzling no matter the time of day. Night had fallen, and the city section boomed with activity. Magic-infused balls of light illuminated the bustling streets, making the whole alabaster city twinkle: its fancy restaurants and cafes serving the highest quality dishes, art galleries displaying works of art from highly-rated artists all over Equestria, and the Canterlot Royal Symphony Hall, well-reputed for its highly praised orchestral and opera performances. That night, however, the crowds weren’t Canterlot’s usual refined gentlecolts and ladies as ponies from all over Equestria gathered for a more mainstream musical performance. Street teams of fans had hastily plastered posters all across Canterlot advertising the event in big, bold letters:
DJ PON-3, LIVE FROM CANTERLOT ROYAL SYMPHONY HALL
At the front of the concert hall, slightly muffled bass notes leaked out of the entrance, making the sidewalk hum with their energy. Crowds of ponies began to gather in front, excited to see one of the biggest shows of the summer: DJ PON-3 herself, live.
Behind the curtains, the stage crew was putting the finishing touches on the equipment layout and stage decor. A white unicorn mare with an electric blue mane and large purple shades stood at the center of the stage, smoking one last cigarette. Vinyl Scratch looked over the setup she was provided for the performance. Glancing over the technician’s inspection and making last-minute adjustments, she thought back to when she first told her fiancée about this day.
Vinyl walked into the bedroom, where her fiancée was already in bed for the evening. Octavia looked up from her book. “Long day?”
“Yeah. I think I spend more time in meetings with Derpy and ponies in suits than producing and playing music nowadays.” Vinyl slipped into bed. “Fortunately, we got my summer tour planned.”
Octavia set her book on the nightstand. “Where will you be playing? Anywhere special?”
“Guess.” Vinyl cuddled up to Octavia.
“Another nightclub lit by flashing lights and lasers and saturated with the smell of alcohol, sweat, and cigarette smoke?” Octavia said, ruffling Vinyl’s hair with a hoof.
“How about the Royal Canterlot Symphony Hall?” Vinyl bragged. Octavia stared at her incredulously.
“You mean to tell me DJ PON-3, the artist known for her loud and obnoxious music, is going to play at the Royal Canterlot Symphony Hall before me?”
“Yup!” Vinyl said, grinning.
“The music industry these days...” Octavia groaned.
With a majority of the setup crew off the stage, Vinyl crushed out her cigarette on one of the speakers and trudged into the DJ booth. The lights dimmed, and she started spinning a single record on her turntable. During her previous shows, Vinyl would spin multiple records at once and use her musical talent to create mixes; unfortunately, her music label for this tour had ordered her to do little more than press play for her songs. She had been instructed to make only minimal adjustments in an effort to avoid “unfortunate incidents,” as the label had called them, and sell more records.
As the curtains rose, Vinyl saw the concert hall packed full of screaming fans, all of them cheering for her. She wanted to do so much more with this live performance, but had to follow the executives’ orders. With a drop of bass, the entire concert hall exploded. Vinyl tried to make it look like she was doing something, bobbing her head and adjusting songs with the equalizer.
“Another night, another dollar.”
Despite the entire concert hall yelling for an encore, Vinyl was done with her performance not only for the night, but for summer as well. Stepping down from the central booth, Vinyl left for the dressing room. She’d left the door unlocked, so she bumped the door open with her shoulder and found found a light grey pegasus mare sitting in the salon chair for pre-show makeup and hair treatment, though her blonde mane was pulled tightly in a braided bun: her manager, Derpy Hooves.
“Excellent show, Vinyl!” Derpy cheered.
“Thanks.” Vinyl sat in the chair next to Derpy’s as she lit up a cigarette, and the pegasus leaned away to avoid the building cloud of smoke.
“Feeling all right? That was probably one of your biggest performances.” Not responding right away, Vinyl stared off into the distance as she savored her first bit of nicotine in two hours.
“Definitely. I've never heard a crowd so loud.” Vinyl sucked in a mouthful of smoke. “I suppose it was pretty good for a night spent admiring the venue’s architecture instead of playing. Shame the execs don't allow me to do anything special.”
Derpy shrugged and flipped open a compact mirror, dabbing at her cheekbones with a powder brush. “We have to do what the higher ups tell us to do, Vinyl. I’d rather let you do your thing and not have to micromanage everything, but for this tour, I’ve been instructed to do nothing more than reserve what we need for a show, set up meetings, and speak on your behalf to the media and the public.”
“Yeah, still a shame,” Vinyl sighed.
Derpy had hoped for more of a conversation, but Vinyl’s terse replies gave her nothing to work with. After what felt like minutes of silence, she tried another topic. “So, how are things with Octavia? Have you... told her about that thing yet?”
Vinyl sighed, slightly annoyed. “I'll get to it; finishing up this tour took a bit of stress off, so maybe soon.”
“Hope it goes well.” Derpy nodded. “I am always here if needed.”
“Thanks.” Vinyl smiled. “How is Dinky?”
Derpy perked up at the change of topic. “She is doing well in school. She wants to see you and Octavia sometime.”
“Maybe soon, then. I just need to handle Octavia first.” Vinyl got up and grabbed her jacket from the nearby coat rack. “Is my ride here?”
“Yes. I made sure a sky carriage got here early. Have a good night, Vinyl. Please let me know how it goes,” Derpy said, trying to sound reassuring.
Vinyl put on her jacket and walked over to the exit. Before leaving, she looked over at Derpy.
“Thank you, for everything.”
“Same.” Derpy smiled.
Vinyl left the dressing room, eager to return home.
Walking down the hall, Vinyl made her way to the rear door exits where security was stationed to protect her from the barrage of fans that lay on the other side. As the doors opened, the crowd began screaming from behind the guardrails. Vinyl dashed through the small opening in the crowd, quickly making her way to the sky carriage Derpy had called in earlier.
As soon as she got close enough, Vinyl leapt into the carriage and slammed the door shut. Even with the doors and windows closed, the screaming leaked into the carriage. Digging into one of her jacket’s pockets, Vinyl pulled out a cassette player and placed the connected headphones in her ears. She pressed play, and the soothing sound of ambient electronic music poured into her ears, drowning out the screaming fans. The mixtape was soothingly familiar, one she often used to clear her mind after a night of loud music and louder crowds.
With the crowd cleared from around the carriage by security, the carriage and its flyers had enough room to take off.
Vinyl woke, after having slept through a few hours of the flight, to see the city of Manehattan glowing outside her window. The city was more reliant on its modern technologies than on magic, lit by the high rising skyscrapers and street lights below. Carriages, both flying and non, flitted back and forth between the buildings at speeds that only seemed reasonable from Vinyl’s high vantage point.
The carriage turned and started flying parallel to one of the streets, slowly descending toward the pavement and eventually landing in front of a high rise apartment building. Once the carriage came to a full stop, one of the pegasi pulling it stepped out of his harness and opened the passenger door.
“We are here, madam.”
“Thanks,” Vinyl said, stepping out with a sigh.
Closing the door behind Vinyl, the pegasus bowed his head. “Have a good evening, Miss Scratch,” he said, before taking off.
Slogging into the apartment building, Vinyl trudged through the lobby to the elevators in the back hall. She pressed a button, stepping inside as the doors opened. With a tap to another button, she was carried up to the twentieth floor.
The elevator doors opened, revealing a hallway with only two doors for high scale apartments. She approached the first door to the right and entered the spacious apartment that had been provided for her by Manehattan Records. Walking through a dark living room lit only by the outside lights of Manehattan, she proceeded to the master bedroom in the back of the apartment. Seeing the door to the bedroom open, Vinyl walked in quietly and found Octavia resting.
Vinyl took off her jacket and threw it to the side as she slipped into bed. After being away for a month, she wanted nothing more than to simply be with her Octavia.
“Mmmph…” Octavia mumbled, tangling the sheets as she rolled over to face Vinyl.
“Sorry to wake you.” Vinyl rose up on one elbow, leaning over Octavia and giving her a little kiss on the side of her neck.
“It’s fine, what time is it?” Octavia leaned in and nuzzled Vinyl with a sleepy purr. Vinyl looked at the clock.
“It’s past 4AM,” Vinyl said, a bit surprised.
“I need to go back to sleep since I am doing something later this morning, but…” Octavia turned her head over to face Vinyl as she pulled her in. “It’s nice to have you here with me.”
“It’s good to finally be in bed with you again, Tavi.” Vinyl held onto her as well.
“You too, hun.” Octavia closed her eyes. “Goodnight.”
“Night,” Vinyl murmured back, closing her eyes as well.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
The aggravating, high-pitched noise of Vinyl’s alarm clock blared through the bedroom. Still groggy from the last night’s performance and her lack of sleep, Vinyl slammed her hoof on the snooze button. She opened her eyes and looked at the clock. 10a.m. Octavia was already out of bed, and Vinyl smelled coffee brewing in the kitchen at the other end of the apartment. Octavia must have already left for her errands.
“Where did you go so early, Tavi?”
She knew Octavia was going to be back sometime later. Vinyl rolled out of bed and headed straight to the kitchen. Grabbing a mug, she filled it up with the flat and bitter brew, and took a sip. It was nice of Octavia to leave the coffee pot on, but the taste of burnt, bitter coffee made Vinyl cringe. She placed the mug in the sink and walked back through the bedroom to the master bath.
As she stepped onto the cold tiled floor, Vinyl looked at the twin sinks to the left, noting that remnants of Octavia’s morning preparations were scattered by her side of the sink while Vinyl’s side remained clean. Vinyl ignored the mess, stepped into the large shower stall, and turned a knob with her magic, relaxing as warm water sprayed over her coat. She grabbed a bar of soap with her magic and began cleaning herself off, the stench of sweat and cigarette smoke running down her sides and gurgling as it disappeared into the drain. Vinyl covered her electric blue mane and tail with shampoo to clean out the remaining grime. After only a few minutes, she turned the knob back to the off position. Vinyl grabbed the last remaining towel from the towel rack and began to dry herself off.
Vinyl returned to her side of the twin sink, and wrapped up the remainder of her morning routine. She examined her soaked, messy mane in the mirror. Deciding to leave it that way, she walked out of the bathroom.
Vinyl picked up the jacket she had thrown to the side the previous night, dug her cassette player out of the jacket’s pockets, and placed it to the side. She walked over to the master bedroom closet, opening the closet door to find rows of band shirts and jackets. After rummaging through her clothes, Vinyl picked out a large black hoodie with neon blue accents. She put it on, picked up the cassette player she set to the side, and clipped it onto the one of the hoodie’s pockets.
Vinyl walked over to her bedside table, picked up her glasses’ case, and put on her thin-framed prescription glasses; her signature shades were only for show, and she needed an actual pair of glasses to wear out. Grabbing a pair of keys from the same table, Vinyl left the apartment for her coffee run, with headphones in her ears playing the same mixtape from the previous night.
Vinyl hummed as she walked out into the streets of Manehattan. It was bustling with activity as always during the day, though the sounds of the city were cancelled out by Vinyl’s headphones. She dug through her pockets, pulling out an extra pack of cigarettes, and lit up as she passed by an expensive clothing emporium—something Octavia might like.
Even with her cutie mark on display, a majority of ponies would not recognize Vinyl without her iconic purple shades or swept-forward mane. To her, DJ PON-3 was nothing more than a stage name. No one knew of her personal life, nor of her current relationship with Octavia. A stallion even asked Vinyl if she saw one of DJ PON-3’s shows once. It had felt surprisingly good to be able to be someone other than her carefully crafted stage self.
A few blocks down, Vinyl finally made it to her favorite local coffee shop, Simply Coffee. It lacked a large menu like proper cafes, but instead offered quality over quantity. Vinyl saw no line as she entered, so she walked over to the earth mare working at the register.
“Good morning! What can I get for you?” the mare said with a smile.
“Just a large dark roast coffee and a bagel with cream cheese, please,” Vinyl said in a low tone, still tired from the lack of sleep and the absence of coffee in her system.
“Sure, and your name is?” The mare held a marker in her mouth, and a large cup in her hoof.
“Vinyl.”
The earth mare wrote Vinyl’s name on her cup. “That will be three bits and two minutes, tops.”
She began to put the order together as Vinyl pulled out her wallet and retrieved three bits, placing them on the counter. The mare behind the counter quickly finished the order and set a large cup of coffee on the counter, next to a bag with the rest of Vinyl’s order.
“Anything else?” The mare asked, still smiling.
“I think that’s all, thanks.” Vinyl turned, levitating her coffee and bag with her.
“You’re welcome. Have a nice day, sir.”
Stepping outside, Vinyl sipped his coffee with a smile. “At least somepony got it right,” he chuckled. It had surely just been a slip of the tongue on the barista’s part, but he was still happy to count it. If only everything could be so simple.
Vinyl didn't need a cigarette on his way back to the apartment, thanks to the coffee in his system. Along the way, he unwrapped and took a bite of his bagel. Between sips of coffee and bites of bagel, he thought back on his conversation with Derpy the previous night.
“Have you told her yet?”
He wanted nothing more than to tell Octavia, but was still not sure how she would react. Would she see him differently? Would she still like him? Would there still be a wedding?
Accepting Octavia’s proposal may have been a mistake.
Octavia and Vinyl were relaxing at an outdoor cafe in Manehattan Park on a lovely spring day. Couples and other ponies were sitting at the cafe while a small crowd formed around the jazz band playing on the open-air stage, watching their performance. The two mares sat in the center of it all. Octavia sipped her tea as Vinyl savored the scent of her coffee.
“I can't recall the last time I listened to a jazz group.” Vinyl focused on the quartet, the lead guitarist playing the primary melody, another guitarist mirroring him in a lower octave, the drummer keeping a steady rhythm, and the bassist standing off to the side, grooving along with the performance.
“After class at the academy, I would always catch shows like these. As much as I like classical, it was nice to hear something different once in a while.” While still listening to the band, Octavia was more focused on Vinyl.
“So, we don't normally come here. I mean, it’s nice and all, but is there any other reas—” Octavia interrupted Vinyl with a tap on the shoulder.
Vinyl turned to look, and was caught completely off-guard. Octavia was kneeling on the ground before her, holding up an open box with one hoof. Resting in the box was a shining golden hoofband.
"Tavi...?"
“We have known each other for the past two years now. I know we have our differences, but at the same time I have never met a mare quite as unique as yourself, or one who has cared so much for me.” Ponies nearby took notice of the two mares, and Octavia smiled. Even the nearby band halted their performance to watch the couple.
“Vinyl Scratch, will you marry me?” Octavia asked, tearing up.
Vinyl stood frozen in front of her, scrambling to think of just the right thing to say. She could only think of one answer. “Yes.” And with that, the crowd around the two mares clapped and cheered as Octavia placed the engagement band on Vinyl’s left hoof.
What else could he have said?
Back from his errands, Vinyl quickly went to the bedroom and hung his hoodie back up in the closet. He thought back on the coffee shop mare, and on his joy at being called ‘sir.’ It was one of the few secrets he still kept from Tavi. As soon as he left the closet, he heard the front door open.
“Vinyl! I’m home! Come out to the living room, I have something to show you!” Octavia called as Vinyl walked in and saw her sitting at the coffee table in the center of the room, holding a book in her lap. “Sit down. I am ordering our dresses.”
“Dresses?” The word made Vinyl cringe.
“Yes! I just had my measurements taken this morning, and even picked out a dress. Now we need to pick out yours.” Vinyl sat next to Octavia as she opened the book.
Vinyl looked into the book. This was the last thing he wanted. Each page Octavia turned made him want to scream for her to stop. “Now, I am not sure what style you prefer, but I decided to pick up a catalogue of more modern styles.” Octavia pointed at a few dresses in the book, Vinyl thinking in the back of his mind, “Octavia, please stop.”
Still unsure of how to say it, Vinyl put his hoof over Octavia’s.
“Tavi… I don't want a dress,” Vinyl said. Octavia stopped focusing on the book and looked at Vinyl.
“Why not?”
“I… I think I would look nicer in a tuxedo.” Vinyl looked away from the book, trying to avoid Octavia’s gaze.
Octavia closed the book. “Um, I suppose if that’s what you want—” She cut herself off when, glancing over, she saw the look on Vinyl’s face. Tears were beginning to form in his eyes as he visibly strained to hold back his emotions.
“Vinyl? Are you—crying?” Octavia had never seen Vinyl cry before, and she was certain her fiancé wouldn't start now just because she couldn't find the right dress. Something more serious was wrong. She wrapped her forelegs around him.
“Is there something you need to tell me?”
Not able to hold in his feelings any longer, Vinyl took a deep breath.
This is it.
“Octavia…” Vinyl paused, conflicting thoughts rushing through his head as he tried to form the correct words. He wrapped himself around Octavia, bawling.
“I’m… I’m not a mare.”