For Whom the Bass Drops

by Vanishingink

Two

"You would think that a mare like me would get lucky all the time but, I have never been one that could just hook up with somepony willy nilly . Not that others haven't tried but, I have to say this is the fastest any mare has ever got me in bed." said Vinyl, pretending to act meek. The two shared a join giggle at that.

During their shared cry, Lrya had patted the spot beside her and Vinyl had without really thinking wiggled into the bed beside her. The coy grin that spread across Vinyl's face was evidence enough that at least part of her statement was true. Lyra wanted to know more about her savior, neigh she needed to know more so she held up a card for Vinyl to read.

"Tell me about yourself."

Vinyl shruged and then said,

"There ain't much to tell."

Giving her a flat look she held up another card,

"You can do better than that."

Vinyl let out a loud chuckle after reading the note and she reached up to playfully poke Lyra in the ribs. She almost did it to but just before the blow landed she remembered. Can't poke her in the ribs. Raising her hoof up she started to poke her on the end of the nose. Not there either. It might hurt her jaw. While she fought with herself about where to poke Lyra she felt a gentle tap on the end of Vinyl's nose. After blinking a few times in confusion she looked back at Lyra's face, to see a playful glint in the filly's eyes.

Giggling at Lyra's turnabout she decided to give her the spiel.

"I grew up in an orphanage in Canterlot." she said before Lyra held a hoof over her mouth to stop her there.

After shuffling through her note cards Lyra found she didn't have a card prepared for that particular statement. So in lieu of a card she raised the pad up and wrote down her thoughts.

"That is so sad. I didn't know you were an orphan."

Nodding Vinyl continued.

"It wasn't too bad. For a while I didn't think I would ever get adopted. And thinking back if it hadn't been for my friend Pinkie Pie I don't think I ever would have left the place."

A hoof covered Vinyl's lips again.

"You know Pinkie Pie?"

Smiling Vinyl said,

"Yep, we both got stuck in the same orphanage."

Lyra's eyes went wide as she wrote down her next statement.

"Pinkie told me she grew up on a rock farm."

Laughing Vinyl replied.

"We are both right."

Lyra's brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to process how both could be possible.

"The old stallion who ran the orphanage also owned a rock quarry that he let some of the older fillies and colts work at for a few extra bits. Pinkie didn't like the sound of quarry because it sounded like something that was being chased so she called it the rock farm," answered Vinyl.

Holding up a card Lyra answered,

"Okay," after which she held up another card, "Go on."

"So I was real bitter when I was little about being an orphan and stuff. Mostly because all the other orphans were really orphans. I wasn't. The only reason I was in the place was because my mom was a basket case and had to be committed to a mental hospital." said Vinyl with a hurt look on her face, "And I don't want to talk about my mom, so don't ask."

Shuffling through her cards she pulled another card and turned it towards Vinyl. The card turned out to be two different cards that read,

"I won't," and "I'm here."

"Okay, before I go any further I have to know. When did you have the time to write all these cards and how do you have a card for almost anything?" asked Vinyl beaming wih curiosity.

The inkling of a smile crossed Lyra's face as she held up another card.

"It is a game that my best friend Bon Bon and I play. Some mornings we get together and spend twenty minutes writing down every possible thing we will say to each other throughout the day. The pony that can last the longest without talking wins."

"Hey that does sound fun!" exclaimed Vinyl, "Maybe when you can talk again you and I can play."
Holding up a card Lyra beamed,

"THAT WOULD BE AWSOME!"

The two shared a giggle and then Vinyl went on.

"So I was real depressed and because of that I was never picked. Then Pinkie got her cutie mark and she did her best to make everypony happy. I was her hardest case. When she realized how much I enjoyed music she went out a bought me a used record player. After that I started to be a little more cheerful and in the process I made my first true friend. I owe her big time, because if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have been adopted."

Pressing her hoofs together Lyra placed them against her uninjured cheek as if to say,

"D'awww!"

Blushing Vinyl waved a hoof at her,

"Don't be so mushy."

A card floated up that read,

"I can't help it."

Rolling her eyes Vinyl added,

"So I got adopted by the Light family. After that I got accepted to Celestia's school for Gifted Unicorns. I dropped out a year before I would have graduated because I got accepted to Luna Memorial School of fine arts. I met a pony there named O... Octavia."

Lyra watched as Vinyl froze up. It hurt her to see her new friend look so broken so she leaned over and nuzzled her. After a moment Vinyl came to. Lyra held out a card,

"You don't have to talk about it."

Gulping, Vinyl stared blankly at the wall across from them.

"So, I met a pony named Octavia there who helped me through the tougher musical theory stuff and before I knew it I was graduating. I've worked as a DJ ever since."

Holding out a card Lyra gave Vinyl a comforting smile,

"My turn."

Placing a hoof on Lyra's leg Vinyl returned the smile. Looking down at Lyra's cards she pulled one out and showed it to Lyra.

"Tell me."

Letting out a please squeal, all of her cards flew up in the air captured in the gold aura of her magic. They all turned over to reveal their solid white back sides as the plastered their self against the opposing wall. With a flick of the switch the room was enveloped in darkness. A few moments passed when an ethereal glow enveloped Lyra's horn and then launched at the makeshift movie screen. As figures started to form on the screen Vinyl had a sudden craving for popcorn.

The first scene showed a roughly drawn filly wrapped in the arms of two other unicorns that looked vaguely like their daughter. As the story unfurled Vinyl inferred that the stallion that she figured was Lyra's dad worked at the School for gifted unicorns. Lyra like Vinyl had went to the school as well. There was also several scenes revolving around Lyra being in the fillyscouts and meeting a curly haired filly who she acted like was her best friend.

The magical slide show continued to show Lyra graduating from the school and going on to a university in Manhattan. The next scene wasn't happy. Lyra and the curly topped filly now a mare were sitting on a park bench. A caption above the mare's head said her name was Bon Bon. Slowly Lyra inched forward and planted a kiss on the mare's lips. Bon Bon roughly pushed her away and then stormed off. The sketched Lyra started to cry graphite streams.
Peeling her eyes from the screen Vinyl noticed that Lyra was crying. Reaching out she wiped a tear from her face. And just like that the slide show was over. Lyra leaned over and wrapped her hooves around Vinyl and sobbed.

***

What Vinyl had intended on being a short visit became an all day affair as she sat in the bed beside Lyra. The more that Vinyl got to know about her, the worse she felt about blowing her off. Neon was right about Lyra being a singer or at the very least a lyricist because she had a habit of writing short little snippets of poetry and lyrics along the borders of just about everything she wrote. The lone exception was the magical thank you note.

"So sleepy!" read Vinyl as Lyra held up a note card in her magic. Raising a hoof up to her mouth Lyra mimed a yawn. Her eyes had been droopy over the past hour and Vinyl had been thinking that the only reason she was still up was because she didn't want to leave her.

"Why don't you go to sleep, babe?" ask Vinyl, sounding more motherly than she would like to admit.

Picking up the pencil she scribbled down a response and then pushed the pad to Vinyl.

"Can't. Doctor said that I can't go to sleep until five pm."

After reading the note Vinyl looked back up at Lyra with a questioning look,

"Why?"

The scratching sound filled the air again. Lrya didn't get very far along in her note before she dropped her pencil and reached up place a hoof on her head. Little beads of sweat started to form on her forehead and she started to reach around for the little box that had the little red help button on it. After a few minutes of frantic searching she turned to Vinyl and gave her a worried look. Vinyl started to feel around for the box only to find that she was sitting on it. Pulling it out from under her she handed it to Lyra as she blushed in embarrassment.

Lyra pushed the button and then waited. After a few moments she pressed it again. Please hurry. My head hurts. Gah! What is taking the nurse so long? Lyra pressed the button again. Still no nurse came so took the box in her hoof and threw it against the opposite wall. The sudden outburst caused Vinyl to flinch as the box smashed against the wall. Lyra started to thrash in her bed almost pushing Vinyl off in the process.

Catching herself, Vinyl cast a worried look over at Lyra. The mint unicorn's face was twisted up into an emotion somewhere between frustration and pain. She hated to see Lyra this way so she inched closer and wrapped a foreleg over her shoulders and pulled her close, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead. Lyra froze. Pulling her hooves up to her face Lyra then proceeded to cry.

Great! You're a dumb ass, Vinyl. You broke her. At a loss for words and things to do Vinyl placed her hooves in her lap, lowering her head Vinyl waited. Lyra didn't make her wait long as she slowly calmed down and levitated a note card under Vinyl's nose.

"I'm sorry; I didn't expect you to do that. I over reacted to your attempt to calm me down. Please don't kiss me right now. You can hold me if you want but, not hard because my ribs hurt. But, don't kiss me."

Looking up she saw Lyra's puffy eyes and instantly felt guilty yet again.

"I wasn't thinking." muttered Vinyl lowly.

"How can I help you?" asked a gravely toned nurse as she walked in.

***

A little less than an hour passed without a word passed between the two mares. It was the longest stretch of silence that passed without somepony saying something or crying or playing a paper game like hangpony. It was a long and uncomfortable silence. Several times Vinyl started to speak but each time the desire to say something died as she gazed upon Lyra's pensive face.

Sipping on her green blended supper, Lyra would break from eating to jot a couple things down on her note pad. This cycle continued as her new friend Vinyl looked on. After the hard night before Lyra really hadn't thought very rationally and now her mind was starting to give way to the madness of sleeplessness. Struggling to get her thoughts set in stone so to speak she finished and passed the pad over to Vinyl. Like before she tapped the first item on the agenda.

"Would you do me a favor?" It read almost pleadingly.

Looking over at Lyra Vinyl nodded yes.

"Please go to the telegraph office and send these two messages." read the next item. Lyra floated two folded sheets of paper over to Vinyl. After taking the notes Vinyl proceeded to open one of them but was stopped a telekinetic whip popped the back side of her hoof.

"OW!" muttered Vinyl as she turned to reprimand her attacker. Lyra shook her head, no.

"Well if you won't let me read them at least tell me what they say." Vinyl demanded.

Taking the pad back from Vinyl, Lyra wrote down her answer furiously and then returned the pad.

"The two notes are addressed to my parents and my roommate accordingly. The note I'm sending to my parents is just to let them know what happened and to let them know that I am all right. My roommates note is pretty much the same but, I also included a clause or two asking if she wouldn't mind coming to pick me up tomorrow when I'm released from the hospital."

After reading the answers Vinyl said without thinking,

"I can take you home."

Lyra tore the pad from Vinyl's grip and quickly jotted down and exclamation,

"REALLY?"

Scratching her head Vinyl felt kind of stupid. Where the buck did that come from. Did I just offer to take her home? Vinyl sat there motionless for a moment and then replied.

"I would be glad to take you home, Lyra." she said, trying not to sound too excited about the idea. Why do I feel like I need to do this and why do I feel like I need to protect her.

A thin smile crossed Lyra's lips as she wrote down her next statement.

"You don't have to."

Reaching over Vinyl took hold of Lyra's hoof and gave her a warm smile,

"I want to."

After giving Vinyl the biggest smile she could muster she looked up to the wall clock and saw that it was after five. Her eyes turned up in a large smile as she thanked Celestia for the time. She jotted down one last note before she shimmied under the sheets.

"It's after five now. The doctor said that I could go to sleep after five. I know you have some stuff to do if you're going to take me home tomorrow so I won't keep you. Thanks again, for everything," read Vinyl as she got up.

Looking down at the lounging mare Vinyl couldn't help but notice the similarities between Lrya and Octavia. Lrya wasn't a formal as the gray earth pony but she was just as sassy. Every smile so far seemed to be filled with hidden meaning. It was bitter sweet.

Rolling over Lyra faced Vinyl and took one last look at her before she closed her eyes. Vinyl really was a beautiful mare. Everything about her seemed to be a double entendre. Her edgy look was just hard enough to cover her satin soul, just barely. Her almost carefree outgoing nature blanked what she thought was a decisive mind. Vinyl was everything she seemed to be and yet nothing like who she was.

"Goodnight," mumbled Lyra though her wired jaw. The suddenness of the comment caught Vinyl off guard. The shocked look on her face quickly softened.

"Goodnight, babe." Was all she offered the mare as she tucked her in. Vinyl watched her a few moments only leaving the mare's side after she started to show the tail tail signs of sleep.

***

"Are you serious?" asked Neon as he watched his sister pack her saddle and travel bags. She didn't say anything to him. She didn't even acknowledge that he was in the room as she packed a couple of articles of clothing. Holding up her two tone blue socks she cocked her head to the side trying to decide is she should pack them or not.

"I'm dead serious, Neon." she commented as she tucked her socks back into her delicates drawer.

Neon tried not to look at his sister's delicates drawer. Even thinking about his sister owning underwear, socks, and... lingerie. He shuttered at the thought of it. That wasn't even the worst part of it. In the bottom of said drawer were her toys.

"You have the hots for the mint mare don't you?" he said in a playfully accusing tone.

Freezing in her tracks, Vinyl's head swiveled around giving Neon a cocky smile.

"You would like that wouldn't you." she said as she approached him batting her eye lashes as seductively, "The thought of your sexy as buck sister bumping uglies with that saucy mare that you fancy so much."

Just the thought of singer's fit form brought a blush to Neon's cheeks but as soon as his sister was added to the mix he felt like a dog that had water thrown on him. Shaking away lustful thoughts he felt a silky smoothness pass across the underside of jaw. His blush returned in full force and he had to look down and when he did he was met with a stinging slap across the nose as Vinyl popped his snout with her tail.

"You try. I can't blame you because I've thought about it before myself." she said as she suppressed a giggle with a hoof, "Being siblings only by law and not my blood does make it awfully tempting." Taking a couple of steps toward her book shelf she pulled a magazine out from her collection and opened it revealing an overly sexualize fold out of Fleur De Lee. Levitating it over to her brother she dropped it into his hooves.

"However we have the same problem, we both crave the v." Neon ogled the picture for a moment before he folded it back up and set it to the side.

"I know." He said as he watched Vinyl continue to pack, "If you don't like this mare why are taking her to Ponyville?"

Zipping her bags travel bags shut she casted her eyes back at Neon with a clueless look on her face.

"I've been in a funk lately." she said lowly, "I figured a change of scene might get my muses juices flowing again. I want her dripping wet."

"Do you have to be so crude," he said, lacklusterly.

Laughing she said jovially, "You sound just like, Tavi."

Silence fell like a cold mist in the room as both ponies ceased to do anything but breathe. Dropping her ears Vinyl's shoulders sagged, she had said it. Damn it, I miss you Octavia.

"Scratchy, do you want to talk about..."

"NO!"

Placing her saddle bags on her back she lifted her travel bag with her magic and headed for the door. Neon watched his sister pass through the doorway with faux confidence all the while crying as if the wound was still fresh.
"You will have to come to terms, one of these days. You will have to accept it. Or it will kill you." he said, mostly to himself as he followed his sister down stairs.

Placing her saddle bags on her back she lifted her travel bag with her magic and headed for the door. Neon watched his sister pass through the doorway with faux confidence all the while crying as if the wound was still fresh.

"You will have to come to terms, one of these days. You will have to accept it. Or it will kill you." he said, mostly to himself as he followed his sister down stairs.

After drying her eyes Vinyl walked into the living room to say her goodbyes to her parents. Her eyes fell on them before she ever left the stair well. The shorter stallion's face held a warm glow and a happy grin. His forest green coat and blue eyes made her feel tingly inside. The taller one's coat was a charcoal gray and his azure eyes were a hard as steel, but that was just his mask. Behind those eyes was a stallion full of unbridled love and strength.

"Are you sure about me staying away for a couple weeks," she asked, with an air of confidence.

"Doll Face, me and Velvet Steel held down that little dance club long before you ever got a chance at the turn tables and we will still be doing it until we die or you take over or both," said the shorter one as he cast a loving look on his better half.

Velvet leaned over and gave the other stallion a gentle kiss on the cheek and then turned to his eye to their daughter.

"I just want you to enjoy yourself, Vinyl." He said in his deep bass voice, "I don't know what set a fire under your tail but I'm glad that you are finally getting away for a while."

Vinyl set her bags down and ran forward and pulled them into a hug. The warmth of the two fortified her heart and with that she picked up her bags and walked out the door. Turning to wave goodbye one last time she yelled,

"I'll be seeing ya!"

Comments

[Fox-Sama]

God I love this story already! I only wish the chapters were longer!~

[Vanishingink]

3458983 How do you like the brother sister relationship between Vinyl and Neon?

[Fox-Sama]

3459172

I did not want to say anything out of fear of spoiling it for others.

But I did like it. I had thought for a while they could be related. but I do need to ask. why is Vinyl so angry at the world? she just seems a little to OOC.

[Vanishingink]

3459193 Neon and Vinyl being siblings is a minor plot point compared to Vinyl's reason for being angry. I will give you a hint. In this fic she is fighting a deep sense of personal loss that is conflicting with her usual party pony attitude.

[Fox-Sama]

Its a damned shame this is not getting more hits. its really good!

[Vanishingink]

3462683Thank you!

[Shrek the Ogre]

3457712 Have you read Kindness's Reward?

[Vanishingink]

3469544 Nope but I will now.

[Shrek the Ogre]

3469670 One of the top romance fics in my book.

[Vanishingink]

3469682 You were so right about that fic!

[Shrek the Ogre]

3475160 Happy to help! :3