//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: This Guy's Alright // Story: Clusterbuck to City Hall // by Caddy Finz //------------------------------// "Golden Oaks Library, this is Spike speaking." A young male voice said on the other end of the phone line. "Yeah hey Spike, my name's Vinyl. Is Twilight around?" "Nah sorry, she's got me runnin' the joint tonight. I think she's out with her friends Pinkie and Rainbow Dash or something." "Alright, no biggie. Mind telling her I called when she gets back?" "Can do!" "Thanks, kiddo. Just have her call this num-" "And just who in the hell do you think you're calling 'kiddo'?" "Jeez, take a chill pill dude, you just sound like you're eleven or something." "Bitch, I'm twelve! Get your sweet cheeks over here and I'll show you what a real stud's like!" "Whoa, you've got some lip on you, little guy!" "Come on over and these lips will be all over your-" Click! "Did you get ahold of her, Vinyl?" Octavia called out from the shower as she prepared to go hang out with Mayor Mare and her coltfriend. "Nope! Left a message though! Hurry up in there! I gotta freshen up too!" After a few more minutes of showering, Octavia exited the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body and another around her wet mane. Vinyl started taking a shower soon after, leaving Octavia to adjust her coiffure and select an outfit for their night out. Having just informed her opponent of a place where he could firmly jam his attitude, she was feeling more laid back than usual. She could almost describe it as a somewhat rebellious feeling. Finally choosing her attire, she put on her shortest skirt along with a green low-cut shirt and checker patterned leggings. This type of outfit was not normally Octavia's choice of attire but since they were in style at the time, she decided to give them a try just to fit in with the rest of the crowd. As Vinyl was nearly finished with her own preparations, Octavia couldn't help but think that she was forgetting something, or rather somepony she recently began building a connection with. The sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks as she remembered a certain somepony she promised to call upon making her decision to run for Ponyville's office. Octavia wasted no time dialing the number that was taped to her car the other day as she had very little time left before Vinyl was ready to hit the clubs herself. After placing her shades atop her horn and giving her mane the final adjustments according to the current style, Vinyl trotted down the stairs as Octavia trotted past her upwards to use the bathroom mirror to adjust her own mane one last time. As Vinyl waited for her roommate to finish up, she flipped through the myriad of seven television channels they paid a whopping three bits a month for. A few minutes passed before the doorbell rang, peaking Vinyl's curiosity as she was not expecting another pony tagging along with them on their latest night on the town. Vinyl opened the front door of the apartment to see standing before her the yellow colt who Octavia had went on a date with the previous day. He was sporting a black polo shirt with the collar unfolded with sunglasses and enough styling gel in his mane to lubricate a firetruck axle. With a bemused look on her face, Vinyl greeted Caramel the only way she could think of as she still mistrusted him for being a police officer. "As glad as I am that you convinced Octavia to run for mayor," Vinyl began. "You've outlived your usefulness. Now beat it!" Slam! "Vinyl!" Octavia yelled as she pushed her rude roommate aside to reopen the door. "Caramel wait, she didn't mean that!" "You're not thinking of taking him with us, are you?" Vinyl asked. Being in no mood to allow a good night of fun to be ruined by anypony, Octavia pushed Vinyl up against the wall and held her there with a forehoof before commencing to explain how things were going to go. "I took the liberty of calling Caramel to invite him to hang out with us tonight." Octavia growled through her teeth. "He's going to come to the club with us and we are all going to have a great time and you are going to...be...fucking...nice!" "Okay, okay Tavi cool it." Vinyl nervously chuckled as Octavia released her. "I don't know what's gotten into you but either way I like your new attitude." "Thanks for the invite, Octavia." Caramel happily chimed in. "I can't wait to hear all about what went down at the town hall today." "Of course." Octavia replied. "Well, we better get going now. We're going to the Grinding Flanks Club and Vinyl is their DJ tonight so we can't wait around." As the three ponies trotted towards Vinyl and Octavia's full sized sedan with Caramel's smaller J car parked next to it, the latter could not help but pause for a moment to admire it. Caramel knew a lot about cars being in his line of work and was captivated by the monstrous size yet elegant lines of the rear wheel drive behemoth that they were about to take on their night on the town. Wanting to make friends with Vinyl and further impress Octavia, he suddenly got an idea. "Gnarly ride. Mind if I drive?" Caramel asked. "Sure, if you want to. We're not in a huge hurry." Octavia answered before Vinyl could object. "Yeah we are, Tavi." Vinyl deadpanned. "We've only got ten minutes before I gotta be there! I'll bet this goody four horse shoes drives like a granny!" "Aw don't fret, Vinyl." Caramel said as they all climbed in and took their seats. "I'll show you how we drive on the force." "Yeah yeah, let's just go now, okay?" "Here's a little move I like to call the switchblade. Now sit back, hold on and don't yell!" Screeeeeeeeeeeech! While in reverse, Caramel floored the pedal backing the car out of the driveway and down the road in the direction of the club before spinning the wheel and shifting into drive at the right moment. After spinning the coach around one hundred eighty degrees without slowing down, he proceeded to cut a ten minute drive in half by drifting around corners and taking shortcuts down alleyways. In what seemed to be no time at all, they had arrived in style as they screeched into a parking spot with swift precision. This type of driving usually was not Octavia's forte but since the events of earlier that day, she was feeling nearly bullet proof. "Caramel, that was gnarly!" Octavia said as the trio exited the vehicle. "Okay, I take it back, guys." Vinyl said as she stumbled out of the back seat in a daze as she had forgotten to use her seat belt. "Caramel, you're alright...I guess. I'll catch up with you two 'cause I gotta hit the turn tables now." I made it throoouuugh the Everfreeeee! Somehow I made it throoouuughwoohooo! I didn't know how bad I sucked until I challenged youuu! It was now eight o'clock at night and the club was just beginning to fill up as Vinyl put on one of the hottest new acts by Maredonna. Octavia and Caramel had taken a seat at a booth to wait for the Mayor and her coltfriend to arrive. You made me feel...yeah you made me feeheeeel like such a toooool! Iike a newbie! Owned for the sixty-ninth time! It did not take much longer before The mayor had arrived with a clean and respectable looking blueish-gray stallion in tow. The pony in question wore a flared out white collar, white cuffs on his fore-hooves and a pair of purple aviators. Eager to finally meet the Mayor's coltfriend, Octavia waved a hoof in the air to catch their attention. "Hey, Octavia!" Mare greeted. "Glad you could make it!" "Same here!" Octavia replied. "For the first time in my life, I told a bigshot where he could stick his attitude so I'm not apposed to having a fun night out to celebrate. And this must be your coltfriend you've told us so much about!" "Hoity Toity, Miss." The stallion said as he introduced himself. "I must say dear, it took guts to stand up to Filthy and sign the candidate form right in front of his nose! You certainly have potential to keep this town moving in the right direction!" "Thank you, Hoity. See, a few years ago, me and my roommate Vinyl moved from Canterlot because we wanted a little more of a quaint setting but not so remote where there's nothing to do and the locals actually have teeth in their heads. Like in between Manehattan and Appleoossa sort of level. Not so many sirens and horns honking but a big enough gene pool." "Reminds me of most of my family, hehehe." Caramel Chuckled. "I love 'em to bits but I need to catch a break from them after spending so much time around Sweet Apple Acres." "Oh, Officer Caramel!" Mare exclaimed. "I didn't see you there! How's the PD's newest addition?" "Heheh. C'mon Miss Mayor, I've been with the department for a year now. I'm not that new. Doing fine though. I get to work with my cousin Big Mac most of the time." "Tubular! Since when have you been seeing Octavia?" Mare's sudden inquiry of Caramel and Octavia's relationship status was more than enough to cause the two would be love birds to blush. After a few seconds of looking each other in the eye as if to ask the other what they thought of the whole thing, Octavia spoke for both of them. "It's...more of a casual thing, Miss Mayor...I think. Uh right, caramel? "Yeah!" Caramel nervously answered. "What she said! Right?" Shake 'em down is all that we know, using blunt objects to get us our dough! I'm heading out to cause tragedy, shades of red on the sidewalk we like to see! "Of cour-Wait! Caramel, this is my jam!" Octavia exclaimed as Vinyl put on her favorite track by Haulin' Oats. "I love this song! C'mon let's get down on the dance floor! It'll be fun!" After even more blushing and a few seconds of hesitation, Octavia quickly agreed and joined Caramel to dance to the song they shared as their favorite. Broken legs still recover from us, forget what you saw, there isn't a mafia! We extort the soul 'cause soul matters much to me! "We're out of touch! You're out of time, to get your protection paid so we don't bury you in the mine!" As Octavia and her coltfriend continued to dance their hearts out, Vinyl could see how much fun they were having from the stage she was on where she worked with the sound equipment. For the first time in several years, her best friend was truly happy and having some of the best fun she ever had. As the song neared its end, Vinyl, with watery eyes almost got too distracted to put on the next song at the right time. It was now getting close to two o'clock in the morning and the club staff had issued a last call. After hours of dancing and even having a few drinks, Octavia and Caramel waited out in the vehicle for Vinyl as she finished putting the sound system away for the night. The two ponies were only slightly buzzed as Caramel took it upon himself to keep Octavia from drinking too much and ruining her week once again. "Hey, Octavia?" Caramel said from the back seat. "Yeah, bohunk?" "I've been wondering som-wait, what?" "That's a compliment, Caramel. It's just another way of saying you're a hunk." "Oh...well...heheheh, ok thanks sweetheart. But um...well, what are we?" "Heeheehee, we're Equus Ferus Caballus, silly...or just ponies, I guess." "Ha! You smart allec! No, what I meant was like what are we as ponies in a relationship? I was thinking about what Mare asked us. Like, are we coltfriend and marefriend or just...friends?" "Um, well I-I think we could b-er...well what do you think?" "We've been hanging out quite a bit lately. You even kissed me on the cheek last time we saw each other. We have a lot in common and stuff. But that kiss...that was...it just felt...it felt...right." "Caramel, you don't need to be nervous about anything. I was nervous too at first but I've gotten very comfortable being around you. I...I really like you, Caramel." "I really like you too, Octavia. Everything about you. You're smart, classy but funny, beautiful...just an all around sweethea-mmf!" As the couple stared into each other's eyes, Octavia could not help but show Caramel how much she appreciated compliments as she suddenly jumped into the back seat and locked her lips with his. He was very surprised at first but quickly got into it as the simple kiss turned into both ponies' first make out. For several minutes that seemed like an eternity the two lovers continued to kiss and gradually get more tongue involved. For the first time in both the young ponies' lives, they had found somepony they had developed a real connection with. Just when it seemed like their "session" could not get more sloppy, a familiar voice suddenly broke the silence startling the two lovers. "Yo Caramel, this your place?" Vinyl asked as she stopped the car. "What the f-Vinyl?!" Octavia yelled. "How long have you been there?!" "Since I picked up my check from the club owner, got back into the car with you two swapping spit in the back, started the engine, put it in drive and drove about ten minutes to get here. You really didn't notice me here?" "No! Why didn't you tell us?!" "I didn't wanna interrupt. I mean, you two were really going at it!" "Well as awkward as the end was," Caramel began. "I enjoyed every second of it. I don't know about you but I'm pretty tired. I'll trot over and get my J car tomorrow. Vinyl, it was pretty rad hanging out with you, and Octavia, I can't wait to see you again." With that, Caramel and Octavia shared one last quick kiss before bidding each other good night and left the love struck stallion to stumble up to his apartment while the two mares drove back to theirs. The first few minutes of the drive were silent until Vinyl decided to break the ice. "So Tavi." Vinyl began. "You really like this guy, huh?" "I do, Vinyl." Octavia replied. "He's really sweet and charming and he really, truly respects me." "Yeah, he's pretty rad, alright. Which is why I'm going to apologize to him next time he's around." "What for?" "He treats you good, makes you happy and is a really awesome guy but...I misjudged him. Just 'cause he's a cop, I though he'd be an asshole or even take advantage of you just because he could. I guess I just let my past experience with cops get in the way of what was really going on between you two." "Aww, thanks Vinyl. I'm sure he's already forgiven you. He said you were cool to hang out with so I'm sure he understands." "Yeah, I guess. Well, here we are. I'm used to staying up this late but tonight, I'm just wiped the fuck out." "I think I speak for the both of us when I say a bed sounds really gnarly right about now." The two roommates entered their apartment and Vinyl wasted no time and headed straight to her bed While Octavia paused for a glass of water to help get the alcohol out of her system faster. As she finished her water, a red number one blinking on the answering machine caught her eye. Before going to bed, Octavia decided to play the message to see if it was anything important. "Hey Vinyl and Octavia, this is Twilight! I just got back from bar-trotting and spike here told me you called. Soooooo yeah, like I'll be around all day tomorrow if you wanna call back or stop over! See you two on the flip side okay?"