//------------------------------// // So You Had A Bad Day // Story: Fuzzy Snuggles Make Everything Better // by Long Long Way From Home //------------------------------// Imaginary beats filled the mind of Vinyl Scratch, as she bobbed her head excitedly to the newest jam she was in the middle of creating. A quill enshrouded in a pale blue aura danced above a notebook on the desk in front of her, filling empty musical paper with a hastily scratched out series of notes, scribing the melody at Vinyl’s command. As she reached the end of the song, Vinyl opened her ruby red eyes, and picked up the lavender notebook in her hooves, looking over what she had written with a highly critical eye. *Slam* Vinyl looked up from her notepad as the slamming of the front door interrupted her train of thought. Blinking, she set her notebook down on her desk, and stood up to follow the cacophony of stomping hooves coming from down the hallway. The white unicorn quickly, but quietly, trotted down the hallway to the living room of the apartment she shared with her marefriend, her electric blue mane bobbing with each step. Peeking her head around the corner to gauge the situation, Vinyl caught sight of a grey furred earth pony mare with a black mane and tail, who let out an indignant huff as she laid her double bass in its resting place in the corner of the room. A soft smile made its way across Vinyl’s lips as she watched the mare that had made her so happy. Raven mane and tail were ruffled from a hasty trip home, and sweat from carrying the heavy instrument had left patches of fur sticking up at awkward angles. The normally stoic look of confidence which graced the earth pony mare’s visage was currently replaced by a sour look, accessorised by bloodshot and baggy eyes brought on from recently long nights of composing. Vinyl sighed softly, entranced by Octavia’s sheer beauty. Vinyl was broken from her reverie as Octavia let out another exasperated sigh. “It’s just not fair!” She shouted at no one in particular, falling onto the large red couch in the middle of the room. Vinyl took that as her cue, and walked over to her marefriend, who was slowly sinking into the plush of the overstuffed piece of furniture. Vinyl sat down to Octavia’s right, putting her left forehoof around her neck to pull the grey mare into a side hug. Octavia, for her part, simply leaned into the hug and enjoyed the soft warmth of Vinyl’s fur. “It’s so stupid!” And continued her angry tirade. Vinyl was well known to be a party animal, and got into more than her fair share of trouble. Usually, she was the one coming home fuming about something or other. Octavia, on the other hand, was much more calm and level headed. Truly, she was an example of the even tempered mare her parents had raised her to be. “Those directors are just a bunch of stupid foals!” Most of the time. In times like this however, Vinyl knew it was simply best to just be there for her marefriend, and hear her out. Maybe cuddle afterwards. Maybe a little more… “I spent weeks writing that sonata! Weeks!” Probably just cuddle. It was true that Octavia had spent no small amount of time working on her newest piece. She was supposed to have a gig pretty soon. Vinyl remembered hearing Octavia ramble on endlessly about it. Not that she minded. She may not have understood what her marefriend was talking about, but she was just so cute when she got excited about something! The way her face would light up with happiness was something Vinyl found to be positively infectious. “ARRRRRGH!” It wasn’t hard for Vinyl to guess what had happened, but she knew Octavia would tell her soon enough anyways. “That stupid director. He didn’t want the stupid orchestra to take a stupid chance on a new piece just because the stupid princesses were going to make a stupid appearance at the stupid show this stupid weekend!” Octavia’s frown deepened, and she crossed her forehooves tightly against her chest. The way she looked almost like a pouting foal forced Vinyl to suppress a giggle. Giggling would definitely not be helpful to Octavia’s mood. Vinyl brought her right arm around Octavia to meet her left, gently squeezing to show her support. Octavia made no new reaction, so Vinyl leaned her head sideways to gently nuzzle the stressed mares neck and waited for her to continue. At the light pressure from her loved one’s muzzle, the scowl dropped from Octavia’s face, and was replaced with a look of sadness. She continued to let Vinyl hug her, relaxing her tense frame into the supportive hold of the pony next to her. “I was just so excited to have the opportunity to debut my new piece…” Vinyl said nothing as Octavia trailed off, but subconsciously squeezed harder to bring them closer together and waited for her to continue. “Stupid royalty.” Octavia mumbled. Deciding that Octavia’s pent up energy was mostly spent (not a difficult thing, considering how little she had slept in the past week), Vinyl leaned back towards the armrest of the couch, pulling Octavia gently down on top of her. Octavia did not protest, but instead allowed herself to be held gently in snowy white arms. Leaning back with her head resting on the armrest, Vinyl lay on her back, and brought up her left forehoof to brush black bangs from where they rested on Octavia’s face. She felt a rush of warmth spread through her as Octavia snuggled deeper into Vinyl’s hold. For all that Octavia went through to ensure she came across as a strong and independent mare, Vinyl couldn't help but love the side of her marefriend that only she got to see. It made her feel special knowing that Octavia felt safe enough with her to drop her act. Octavia did feel safe at the moment. She breathed deeply and slowly, focusing on the warm body of Vinyl surrounding her, and relaxing into her embrace. She found the warmth intoxicating, as the long hours she pulled slowly caught up with her. Her problems were still there, but then again so was Vinyl, and as long as Octavia had that she knew everything would be alright. Octavia let out a soft murr of contentment, nuzzling the white fur of her marefriend’s chest as her eyelids grew heavy. Vinyl smiled wide as she watched her marefriend gently begin to doze on top of her. Breaking her gaze for a moment, she turned to the nearby closet, and activated her magic. A sky blue aura surrounded a large quilt in the closet, and brought it out to the couch at Vinyl’s command. Spreading open quietly over the couch, Vinyl used her magic to lay the quilt over Octavia’s sleeping form. Vinyl spared a moment to consider the consequences of her sleeping position, pondering how sore her neck would be in the morning, but quickly decided that as long as Octavia was feeling better it didn’t really matter. Looking down the slumbering Octavia one last time, Vinyl smiled before flicking off the lights. She leaned down and closed her eyes, gently laying a kiss on her loved one’s forehead before leaning back into the couch’s armrest. “Love you, Tavi.”