Chapter 21
The four friends had decided to meet at Octavia and Vinyl’s place Friday evening.
As soon as Lyra entered the apartment she found herself being the target of Octavia’s interest.
“So?” she asked excitedly. “How did the audition go on Wednesday?”
“I don’t know.” Lyra answered and shrugged. “I played what he requested from me. Four pieces in total and then he said he would be in touch. Haven’t heard from him since then.”
“Want me to put in a good word for you?” Octavia had been hoping to have even more to celebrate this evening. With Lyra there she wouldn’t feel so lonely anymore.
“Nah, best let him reach a decision by himself.” Lyra gave Bon Bon a look that Octavia couldn’t identify. “Besides, there wasn’t much competition from what I saw and heard.”
“So, ponies.” Vinyl said as she joined her friends in the living room. “Ready to see the show of your lifetime?”
“I’ve seen Bon Bon sing and dance in the shower. You can’t beat that.”
Bon Bon lightly poked the mint green unicorn in the side, but grinned while doing so. All of them were in high spirits and had been looking forward to this evening for some time.
“I’ll try my best.” Vinyl donned her sunglasses. “But I doubt I will be able to find a shower on stage.”
Together they left the building, laughing and telling jokes all the way to the club. Unlike during the juice shift that Vinyl had worked before, the line in front of the club was huge. Eager ponies to see the latest rising star in Manehatten had flocked here from all over town and possibly even from out of town. Vinyl recognized a couple of ponies waiting in line, most notably the pegasi twins. She doubted they would manage to get in, as this time was only for adult ponies. The DJ put on her best smile as she trotted past the line towards the bouncer.
“Hey!” She exchanged a hoofbump with the stallion.
“Hello, Vinyl.” He looked past her at the three ponies behind her. “Party of three?”
“You bet! Is the table ready?”
“Of course.” He stepped aside and held the door open for the mares. “Back row, middle table with direct view of the stage and dance floor, just like you asked.”
Vinyl led the way into the club, while the thumping bass of the current DJ assaulted her ears. Her grin grew larger the higher the decibels got. She found the table ready for them with complimentary drinks waiting to be served. They sat down and Vinyl pawed the crystal in the middle of the table.
“So… like the view?” She asked as the soundproofing spell took effect and allowed them to have a normal conversation.
“Awesome!” Lyra felt the vibration in her seat caused by the jumping and dancing ponies on the dance floor below.
“Drinks go on my tab, so feel free to get whatever you want.” Vinyl eyed the selection of drinks already there. Vinyl had made clear that she didn’t drink anything alcoholic so whoever had prepared the drinks on the table had kept that in mind. “If you want something else, you’ll have to get it from the bar.”
“We’ll wait a bit I think.” Bon Bon settled down on her seat and opened a bottle of water.
“I’ll keep an eye out for you.” Vinyl grinned and felt the anticipation building inside her further. “You’ll have to excuse me, but I have to get my deck ready backstage.”
“You will hear us cheering.” Octavia gave Vinyl a hoofbump and watched the DJ saunter off through the crowd towards the backstage area.
Getting through wasn’t as easy had she had planned. Vinyl squeezed her way past groups of ponies and every once in a while stopped to hoofbump with a fan. The DJ obliged her gluttonous side for attention and greeted every fan that was near her.
This is totally awesome!
With only twenty minutes to spare she had finally arrived backstage. Luckily Vinyl had prepared everything the day before already. Together with the stage technician they had set up everything in advance, so all she had to do now was mentally prepare herself. Just as she sat down behind her deck for the evening backstage, the technician came trotting up to her.
“Hey, Vinyl.” The orange pegasus stallion wearing a black beanie greeted her. “I need to tell you something about your deck.”
“Hey, Tech.” Vinyl gave him a hoofbump. “What’s wrong with it?”
“We had a little bit of a problem with the light board.” He tapped a row of switches with a hoof.
Vinyl had worked together with him yesterday, explaining to him what she wanted done for the lighting during her performance. At the time she had felt sad that she had not been discussing it with her father instead. She wished that he would have been there for her very first prime time show, but she knew that putting him anywhere near the vicinity of Octavia would no doubt once again lead to arguments and tears. Once she would go on tour one day, she most certainly wanted to do a show with him.
The light board had been Vinyl’s idea. While she had learned a few spells for lighting from her father, it would have been to taxing for her to keep the spells going and at the same time working her magic on the music. So they had rigged up a board that enabled her to switch the lighting without using magic and rather magically charged crystals on the ceiling.
“We fried some of the wiring while installing it.” Tech tapped the microphone of the deck. “Everything works, except the mike. I tried finding a new one, but couldn’t find anything. Sorry.”
“No problem. I’ll just use my music to talk to them.” Vinyl shrugged.
“Cool.” He checked his watch. “You’ll be wheeled out during the last track in about
fifteen minutes, just like we discussed yesterday. Have fun, Vinyl.”
“You betcha!” Vinyl exchanged another hoofbump and took a deep breath.
With her eyes closed she let the breath slowly escape. She could still feel her heart hammering in her chest and her hooves were slightly shaking. While she had played plenty of shows before, this still was something special. Even more so with her closest friends being here.
Vinyl counted to ten and opened her eyes. Soon the curtains in front of her would open and she would be wheeled on stage. Here in the backstage area the soundproofing spell was even stronger and she barely heard the music. But she most certainly felt the bass and the mass of ponies jumping about. The vibrations felt in her hooves sent pleasant shivers up her spine.
Tech suddenly appeared in her field of vision and held up a hoof making small circles, the signal that she would go on stage in a few seconds. The minutes had passed in a blur and Vinyl took one last deep breath. She plugged in her headphones and put them over her ears. Music being played by the other DJ still on stage thumped into her brain. She dialed it down a tiny bit and rested her still shaking hooves on her deck.
Here we go!
As the curtain opened, Vinyl was briefly blinded by the lights although she was wearing her sunglasses. She heard the ponies cheer louder as she wheeled on stage. The other DJ, a navy blue pegasus mare with black mane and blue streaks, introduced her.
“Prepare to shake your flanks, fillies and colts! Here….IS….DJ…PON-3!”
Vinyl waited a split second for the right moment, with a mighty bass drop she transitioned from the former DJ’s track to her own. The crowd roared loud enough that she couldn’t even hear the music in her headphones. With a quick dial of the volume the music was back in her ears. It was electric, the energy of the dancing ponies seemed to pour into her and with a mad grin she began the show of her lifetime.
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“Damn, she is good!” Lyra yelled over the thumping music at her friends about twenty minutes into Vinyl’s show.
For the proper experience they had deactivated the soundproofing spell. The first few minutes it had been both DJ’s on stage at the same time. After a small mock battle the pegasus DJ surrendered the stage to Vinyl and was wheeled with her deck off stage.
Octavia nodded in agreement and kept her eyes glued to Vinyl on stage. At first she had been overwhelmed by the response that the DJ received and the loud thumping music. Slowly she had felt an emotion surface that she didn’t want anypony to know about.
She was jealous.
Seeing the ponies in front of the stage cheer Vinyl on and showering her with praise stung the cellist in a way she had not even thought of before. It should be her on stage, basking in the admiration of music loving ponies. Instead she was watching the pony who had upstaged her once before, reach her goals before the cellist had.
Jealousy was replaced by disgust.
Not for Vinyl, but rather for herself. Vinyl was her best friend and to even think bad thoughts about the mare seemed wrong to the cellist. The DJ had gone out of her way to fix an accident she had made all that time ago and had proven herself to only have the best of intentions towards Octavia. Vinyl had earned both first place way back then and most certainly had earned her place here tonight. Octavia scrunched up her face at her negative thoughts and hid it behind her glass of orange juice.
Bon Bon tapped the crystal in the table and the sound instantly died down.
“You ok, Octavia?” Bon Bon could see that the cellist was making a funny face.
“Orange juice not quite your taste?” Lyra slid a laminated sheet of paper over to the cellist. “Perhaps something else? A cocktail maybe?”
Octavia put down her glass and studied the menu in front of her. The names told her nothing, but the pictures of some of the drink looked nice. Seeing that they were here to celebrate after all, she decided to indeed have a cocktail.
“How about this one?” Octavia tapped a hoof on the picture of a drink that had many vibrant colors. “It even has three of those little umbrellas in it.”
“Oooooh, no, no, no.” Lyra feverishly shook her head. “You don’t ever want one of those. Never trust a drink that has more than one umbrella in it. They will knock you out faster than an anvil to the head.”
Lyra inspected the menu for a moment.
“You want something not quite so strong I guess?” Octavia nodded her head. “Here…this one is rather sweet thanks to all the fruit.”
Octavia didn’t have the slightest clue about cocktails or anything alcoholic for that matter. She had only once consumed half a glass of champagne at her graduation ceremony. The taste had not been very much to her liking.
“I’ll try whatever you suggest.” She finally said and turned her attention back to the stage.
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Vinyl bobbed her head along with the beat and planned out her next track. It had been something she had been working on for some time now and hoped the audience would like it. Maybe one member of her audience especially. She also had taken a considerable amount of time to prepare the lighting for the next piece.
It was a trick she had thankfully remembered from her father, a black light emitting crystal had been affixed to the light rigging on the ceiling. If all went well it should create an awesome effect.
Vinyl silenced everything except a thumping baseline that almost sounded like a heartbeat. With a flick of a switch the lights went out and the black light crystals flared up.
Aaaaaaawwww, yeeeaaaaah!
Almost everything had become dark, the only things visible were the smiles and eyes of the ponies below. Some lighter coats also gleamed in a fluorescent effect. The smiles and eyes seemed to float in the darkness and Vinyl decided that her desired effect had been met.
She glanced over to the table with her friends and laughed. Octavia had practically disappeared into the darkness, save for her eyes and bowtie. Judging by Bon Bon’s laughter she also found the cellist’s appearance amusing.
Let’s see if we can get a grin out of Octavia.
Vinyl slowly added more music to the thumping beat. Fitting to the lighting it was a slightly eerie sound as a cello started playing. The DJ kept her eyes on Octavia as she let the cello grow louder. Vinyl grinned as she saw Octavia’s eyes grow wider and a large grin form on her face. For that moment the loud cheering of the other ponies didn’t really matter.
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Octavia almost immediately recognized the cello playing. It was her own cello, even with some distortion and the other noises going on, she would always know that sound. She grinned as it dawned on her that Vinyl had been not only paying close attention to her music, but also had sneaked some of it away for her own use.
She suddenly felt a bit of pride that Vinyl had chosen to use her music during her first prime time show. Octavia marveled at the sight of Vinyl on stage. Thanks to the black light she was glowing all over. The darker blue of her mane had turned almost black, but the light blue part shone even brighter thanks to that. It was almost otherworldly and most certainly fit the music perfectly.
With a drop of bass and a transition to a faster beat the lights flicked back on. Now she could easily see the wide grin on the DJ’s face. She waved to her on stage and Vinyl returned it immediately.
“That was really cool!” Lyra returned to the table after venturing out to the bar to get their drinks.
She levitated Octavia’s cocktail on the table. It was a rather large glass filled with fruit submerged in a reddish almost pink liquid. A purple paper umbrella covered most of the opening, leaving just enough room for a straw. It looked nice and most certainly better than the blood red drink Lyra had or the amber liquid with ice cubes that was Bon Bon’s choice of drink.
Bon Bon took a large gulp of the liquid and licked her lips. Lyra gave her a sour look.
“Go easy on the stuff.” She said while taking a small sip of her drink.
“We are celebrating!” Bon Bon grinned wide. “Might as well do it properly!”
“You snore when you had too much of that stuff.” Lyra huffed. “I didn’t plan on having to sleep on the couch tonight.”
“Aww.” Bon Bon gave the unicorn a pat on her head. “Don’t worry. I’ll just have one and maybe a cocktail or so later.”
Octavia took a sip of her drink. It was sweet enough to almost completely mask the alcohol inside, but it burned in her throat and mouth as she swallowed.
“Urrgh.” Octavia scrunched up her face as tears formed in her eyes. She fanned her face that suddenly felt as if it was burning with a hoof.
“That bad?” Lyra grinned and pulled the drink over to her when Octavia signaled her to try it. She took a sip and swished it around in her mouth for a moment. “They did make it a bit strong.”
“You could pour some more orange juice in.” Bon Bon suggested.
“No, it’s fine. I just didn’t expect it to be so strong.” Octavia coughed once. Lyra shoved the glass back to her after she had snuck a piece of fruit, a piece of melon to be precise, out from it and plopped it into her mouth.
“Phew.” She chewed the fruit for a moment. “Might want to leave the fruit alone. That’s got some real kick to it.”
Octavia took note of the advice and only took very small sips from her drink while they watched Vinyl continue with her show. After a few minutes a faster track was played by Vinyl and the ponies started dancing more than before.
“How about we hit the dance floor?” Lyra turned to the other two. “Show these ponies how it’s really done.”
“Sure thing!” Bon Bon had finished her drink in three gulps and was feeling adventurous.
“I think I’ll sit this one out.” Octavia didn’t want to tell them that she couldn’t dance one bit. It might not have been noticed by any of the ponies there, but she was exceptionally awkward and clumsy when it came to anything dance related.
“If you change your mind just join in on the fun, we’ll find you.” Lyra smiled and led the way down to the dance floor with Bon Bon following her closely.
Octavia watched the two mares barge their way through the crowd to get closer to the stage. For a moment she lost sight of them, but then spotted Lyra jumping high above the surrounding ponies with forelegs held up high. The cellist smiled at the rather unorthodox moves that the unicorn performed. Bon Bon was only identifiable thanks to her mane and the fact that she wasn’t fazed one bit by her mate’s antics.
Octavia suddenly was roughly shoved to the side as an orange pegasus mare fell against her.
“Hey!” Octavia protested and tried shoving the obviously drunk mare away, which was a lot easier said than done. The mare seemed to be not in control of her wings as they flopped all about her, eventually landing in Octavia’s face and obscuring her vision.
Another pony pulled the drunk mare away from Octavia, just as she had decided to use a bit more force to get rid of the unwelcome guest.
“Sorry, she is a lightweight.” The stallion with a reddish brown coat said while shrugging and nodded towards Octavia’s drink. “Sorry about that.”
The cellist turned back to her drink and saw that it had been knocked over by the pegasus mare. The little paper umbrella was nowhere to be seen.
“I’ll get you a new one.” The stallion said as he led the other mare away from Octavia’s table.
Moments later he returned with a drink that had three paper umbrellas in it. He apologized once more and left the cellist alone with her new drink. Octavia eyed it cautiously, very well remembering Lyra’s warning. She decided to take the tiniest of sips possible to test if it really had that much of a kick to it.
The color of the liquid changed gradually from a nice yellow to a shade of light green. Octavia watched with fascination as the drink continued to change colors before her very eyes. As it changed to a pink color she took a sip via the straw. She braced herself as the liquid hit her tongue.
The drink was surprisingly sweet with a fruity aftertaste. Octavia licked her lips and briefly wondered if Lyra was just joking before. It tasted good, really good. She took another longer sip just as the color turned light blue.
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Vinyl had missed Octavia’s encounter, she was having too much fun with her possibly oldest fans that had managed to sneak in somehow.
Just to her right in front of a large bass loudspeaker she had spotted the pegasi twins. For the last track or two she had on occasion let some deep bass blow out of only that loudspeaker, much to the enjoyment of the twins.
Like a bass cannon!
Vinyl laughed as their mane’s got blown back by the pressure and their feathers got ruffled. The twins then whooped loud enough for Vinyl to hear. Having fans was awesome.
About ten minutes later she thought about giving the twins another dose of bass. As she glanced over to them she noticed security closing in on them from a bit further back. While it sucked that they would kick them out for being underage, it was a very clear rule of the club. Vinyl was in no position to object to them, but she could perhaps give them a little warning.
She gave them a short burst of bass and as predicted the twins looked over to Vinyl and cheered. The DJ quickly nodded her head towards the approaching security. While the mare just looked confused at Vinyl, her brother understood immediately what was meant. He brief stood on his hindlegs while using his sister for balance.
After spotting the ponies closing in on them he yelled something at his sister in warning. She looked around and also finally saw what was about to happen. Both of them turned to Vinyl and gave her a quick salute that she returned with a grin. Then they pushed their way towards the exit through the sea of dancing ponies.
So close to the stage they could hardly get through. The security had at lot less problems as other ponies made way for them. With no other option the twins risked flying over the sea of equines to escape their possible captors.
There was hardly any room for them to fly properly so they more or less hopped from one place to the next. As the club had a strict no fly policy their actions drew even more attention from the rest of the security. The twins dodged their pursuers for the time being. Vinyl wished she would have had some kind of peppy sax tune to play as musical backdrop for the chase. It would have fit perfectly.
But the DJ had one trick up her sleeve that might help her fans get away. She flipped the switch on the light-board and the regular lights once again switched off and the club was bathed in black light. Now she barely saw anything anymore of the twins, she hoped the security had the same problem.
After a moment she flicked on the regular lights again and saw that her help had done the trick. Confused the security looked about and spotted the twins near the exit. The stallion paused briefly and then tore the large poster advertising Vinyl for this evening from the wall. With it in his mouth he joined his sibling by the exit. With one last salute towards Vinyl they dashed through the door, closely followed by all of the clubs security, who had found their targets once more.
Vinyl laughed at the scene and hoped they got away. That they had removed the poster gave her an idea to discuss possible merchandise with Big Time after the show. Maybe someday a lot of ponies would be walking around with trademark DJ Pon-3 sunglasses.
She grinned and hoped Octavia had noticed the action going on moments before. As she looked to where their table was, she found it to be empty. Vinyl scanned the crowd dancing for any sign of her friends. She spotted Lyra jumping up and down a bit further back, a huge grin plastered on her face. Beside the jumping mare Vinyl spotted Bon Bon bouncing along with the beat, but on a more subdued level. Octavia was nowhere to be seen.
Did she leave?
Vinyl frowned and couldn’t imagine her friend just leave without telling anypony. Luckily Vinyl had a means of finding her friend. Using the black light once more she scanned the crowd for a glowing collar and bowtie. Sure enough she spotted Octavia a few seconds later, just as the cellist pounced on an orange Pegasus mare.
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Security was nowhere to be seen, no doubt still outside giving chase to the twins. Vinyl’s jaw dropped as she saw Octavia start a fight with an unknown pony a few tables away from their table. Both Octavia and the other mare started what could possibly have been the sorriest excuse of a fight ever seen.
They tried slapping the other pony’s face, which wasn’t that easy as both of them had bent their heads back as far as possible with their eyes squeezed shut. A group of ponies at the table were laughing at the sight. Vinyl did not feel like laughing.
What the buck is she doing?
Vinyl cursed under her breath that the microphone didn’t work. She glanced over to where Lyra and Bon Bon were, but they didn’t look at Vinyl for the moment nor did they see what the cellist was doing.
She was just about to switch off the lights once more to try and break up the fight, when the pegasus lost her balance and stumbled past Octavia inadvertently hitting her hard with one of her wings. The cellist seemed stunned, but quickly shook her head clear and turned very slowly towards her attacker.
Vinyl couldn’t see the look in her friend’s face, but judging by her body language she was not too happy. With more speed than expected and with a lot more force the cellist lunged at the other mare. Octavia missed with her wildly swung hoof, but slammed into the mare with enough force to launch her surprisingly far into the sea of dancing ponies.
The group of seven or eight ponies at the table stopped laughing and stood up. Octavia turned towards them and while slightly swaying about shook her hoof at them. Vinyl couldn’t hear what she was saying, but the effect was obvious as the group advanced towards the cellist.
Vinyl was now truly concerned. She had been stunned by the spectacle on display, somehow not believing what she had been seeing. Now it was about to turn possibly ugly and Vinyl had to do something. She pushed a button on her deck to enable autoplay. It was something used if a DJ had to take a quick break without disrupting the flow of music.
Where is the security?
Vinyl looked around, but couldn’t see any of the staff at the moment. She was just about to leave the stage through the backstage area to see what was going on, when a stallion gave Octavia a shove. The DJ let out a growl. Nopony shoved Octavia around while she was around.
Octavia shoved back hard. Momentarily fazed the stallion stumbled backwards into his friends. Then he strode forward and shoved again, a lot harder than before. Octavia stumbled backwards and fell over out of Vinyl’s sight.
Vinyl saw red and wanted to rush to Octavia’s aid as fast as possible. Going through the backstage area would take too long, so that left her with the option of pushing her way through the crowd. Or maybe there was even a third option. She took a few steps back and then charged towards the edge of the stage. At the last second she jumped and sailed high into the air.
Mid-flight it occurred to Vinyl that crowd surfing was maybe not the best of ideas. Landing on dozens of outstretched hooves would be anything but soft. As predicted it was rather painful and knocked the wind out of her. Thankfully the crowd ferried her towards the bar, thinking she would want a drink.
Vinyl tried to keep her eyes on where Octavia had gone down, but the crowd found it highly amusing to keep spinning her around. One moment she was lying on her stomach facing the bar, the next she was on her back looking at the stage. Another time she might have found it fun, but all she could think of at the moment was the wellbeing of her friend. What was decisively not fun either were some of the hooves that remained just a little too long on her flanks. Thankfully none of them drifted towards any forbidden areas.
After what seemed like a small eternity she finally made it to the bar and was let down from the crowd’s hooves. She ignored the ponies around her and darted to the table area where she had last seen Octavia.
The security had also returned from their little outing and stormed towards the commotion going on.
Vinyl arrived just in time to see Octavia get back up and charge towards the group of ponies.
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“Where’s Vinyl?” Bon Bon yelled at her marefriend over the music.
“I can’t see her anymore.” Lyra used Bon Bon for balance and stood on her hindlegs. “There is something going on near the tables.”
“Something?” Lyra’s report had not been very enlightening.
“Can’t really say what. Just a bunch of ponies bunched up.” Lyra shrugged. “Perhaps they are asking Vinyl for an autograph?”
“Let’s go check it out.” Bon Bon led the way through the still dancing ponies.
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Vinyl watched in bewilderment as Octavia barreled into the group. As the group’s alcohol level was also rather high their coordination was lacking. The cellist slammed into a stallion, knocking not only themselves off their hooves, but also the rest of the group. A mass of bodies with flailing limbs was the result. Octavia’s head popped up suddenly and surveyed the surroundings, very much like a meerkat would. Something about Octavia’s look told Vinyl that there was more going on with her friend that met the eye.
Vinyl was about to trot over and quickly remove her friend from the mass of ponies on the floor, when security finally stepped in and took over that part. One of them roughly pushed Octavia on to her hooves as they began to untangle the ponies on the floor.
Octavia just stood there looking very confused. As soon as the stallion she had previously tackled was back on his hooves she spotted him. With a frown on her face Octavia once again charged him. Vinyl rushed towards her to try and prevent her from doing so. A security pony was faster and blocked Octavia’s way. She slammed into him, but the well trained and very sober stallion did not budge. He spun the cellist around and hit her over her head with a hoof.
“HEY!” Vinyl yelled at the security pony and out of reflex to protect her friend hit him over the head with her hoof. Vinyl in turn was hit by another security pony behind her.
The crowd around the tables had thus far only been watching with curiosity. Seeing that the star of the show was seemingly bent on conveying a message of anarchy by assaulting security, the mob of ponies decided to side with the DJ and bring a little anarchy of their own.
What started as a little scuffle now turned into a full out brawl. Vinyl rubbed her head with a hoof and watched as the drunk group of ponies that Octavia had attacked, the security and the other guests started fighting all around her. She quickly looked over to see if Octavia was hurt. The cellist seemed entirely oblivious of what was going on around her and just stared at the lights above her for a moment, her face scrunched up in deep concentration.
As Vinyl tried to reach her somepony was roughly shoved into her side. The DJ stumbled into the fighting ponies, some of which were inebriated enough to not care anymore who they were fighting. Vinyl yelped in pain as a set of hooves slammed into her side pushing her against another pony further away. That pony retaliated by a kick of her own that sent Vinyl flying a good few ponies length’s away.
“Ok….” Vinyl murmured as she got back on her hooves. “Time to bring the pain!”
Vinyl would have to fight her way to Octavia. She had a vague idea where her friend hopefully still was and would reach her no matter what.
The white unicorn musician was not a violent pony. The last fight she had been in was in a sandbox when she was five. It had ended in tears as her stuffed toy had been effectively ruined during the scuffle. But Vinyl was no little foal anymore, now she was a grown mare with a purpose. Unfortunately for her the crowd shared the opinion that Vinyl’s purpose for the time being should be that of the ball in a pinball machine.
Vinyl tried her best to get back to Octavia, but soon lost her bearings as she was shoved and kicked all around the dance floor. By now the entire club had joined in and fought anypony that was not their friend. If it would continue then it was only a matter of time before guards would show up as it was clear that the staff had very little chance of calming the crowd down.
One hefty shove by a large mare later and Vinyl found herself slamming into another pony. She braced herself for some kind of retaliation that she had become accustomed to in the meantime.
“Vinyl?” The pony in question opened her eyes and was relieved to have slammed into Bon Bon and not some hostile individual. “What is going on here?”
“I have no idea.” Vinyl took a moment to try and see where Octavia was. “All I know is that Tavi started it.”
“Whu…what?” Lyra appeared from behind Vinyl. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, she started fighting with a few ponies back there.” Vinyl pointed in the direction she had last seen the cellist.
“Hard to imagine that Octavia of all ponies started this moshpit from hell.” Lyra tried to spot the troublemaker, but couldn’t find her amongst the brawling mob.
“We have to find her!” Vinyl took a deep breath and prepared to face what lied ahead. Lyra held her back for a moment to let Bon Bon take the lead.
Earthpony strength was very helpful for clearing a path through the fighting ponies. Any that came too close were given a flying lesson by the sweetmaker. Lyra occasionally paused and swung her hoof at some ponies that got too close for comfort from the sides or from behind. She managed to get quite a few punches in, maybe even a few more than necessary.
After a moment they were back where it had all began. A grey coated cellist was nowhere to be seen. Vinyl began to panic and tried looking all over the place at once. Lyra was about to check under the nearby tables when Bon Bon spoke up.
“I found her.”
“Where?” Vinyl and Lyra asked at the same time. Bon Bon just pointed towards the ceiling.
Octavia had somehow managed to reach the lights on the ceiling and clung to them using all legs but one. The free hoof pawed at the lights slowly.
“How did she end up there? And what is she doing?” Lyra asked, but didn’t really expect any answer.
“How do we get her down?” Vinyl tried remembering if she had seen a ladder anywhere in the club during her previous visits.
Any further thoughts were halted by an orange pegasus mare that took the decision off their hooves. She tackled the ceiling bound cellist and crashed to the ground. Luckily they had landed on a small group of ponies and not the hard floor instead.
The trio of friends wanted to rush to Octavia’s aid, but found themselves unable to move. Not because of a spell, but rather because the clubs very special enforcer had appeared on the scene. The sight of Squeak made all of the fighting ponies near his vicinity pause. Lyra and Bon Bon had paused in mid movement at the sight of sheer mass the pony had. Vinyl had paused because she feared that things might turn really bad now.
Squeak walked slowly to the tumbled mess of ponies lying on the ground. He did so deliberately and gave any pony that looked like trouble a very mean look. One pony seemed entirely oblivious however. Octavia jumped to her hooves and tried swatting the pegasus that had tackled her. A second later Squeak was behind her and clamped his teeth on Octavia’s collar. With seemingly no effort he lifted her up and turned slowly towards the exit.
From Vinyl’s perspective it looked like a mother cat carrying her kitten by the scruff of its neck. Octavia looked absolutely perplexed at what was happening to her. She held all four legs close to her body and stared wide-eyed at the ground. Then she started thrashing about, not unlike a member of the feline species being confronted by the horror that was known as a bath.
Her wild movements caused the collar and bowtie to give up its life and rip apart. The cellist landed on her hooves and stumbled backwards past Squeak, who just looked annoyed. Octavia landed behind the stallion and looked around slightly dazed. Vinyl wondered what was going through her friends mind.
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Octavia had to admit that the evening had taken a very strange turn. First there were umbrellas, maybe one, maybe two or even three. She wasn’t sure as everything was pretty much blurry at the moment. Her vision, her memories, her thoughts and even her hooves seemed blurry or maybe fuzzy.
Then she had remembered the orange turkey that had taken one of her umbrellas earlier. She sure showed her a thing or two later. Somehow she had then turned into a bowling ball after one of the pins had shoved her. She was pretty sure she had then proceeded to knock them down. It must have been a strike, possibly a split, but most certainly bananas.
Thinking about bananas made her think about Princess Celestia for some reason. Which in turn made her wonder why there were so many suns in the sky tonight. Then she had jumped higher than she had even jumped, so high in fact that she managed to reach one of the suns. She had marveled at the sun and how it had changed color. To be honest it wasn’t that much of a big deal, as almost everything had begun changing color over the course of the evening.
Then that infernal turkey had returned and had used Octavia as a bowling ball again. She would most certainly have to pluck that bird before it ruined her score. She was sure she was leading at the moment, but wasn’t entirely sure that the others weren’t playing snooker instead.
From amidst the pins she had suddenly started floating. She was already so far up that she couldn’t make out any of the houses on the ground anymore. That wasn’t on her agenda for the day, she rather wanted something nice to eat. The craving for something nice to eat, preferably fruit or cardboard, overrode her impulse to just float about some more. After some fierce struggling she managed to descend back to the ground a lot fast than she had planned.
The world seemed to tilt to the side, something that Octavia was not prepared to take the blame for. As she flopped on her side she caught glimpse of a rather bulky brown tree in front of her, though in all fairness it could also have been a bright blue bush. Her face lit up as she spotted what seemed to be a slightly misshaped coconut under the tree’s single short white leaf.
Octavia liked coconuts. She had become something of an expert on opening them, then again in her current state of mind she was an expert in everything. Her desire for something sweet made her pop back up on her hooves in an instant. The white flesh of the nut and the sweet milk would do nicely until she found some artichokes with mustard and chocolate sprinkles. Octavia didn’t waste any time and gave the coconut a powerful and very well aimed kick with a backleg.
______________________________________________________________________
Squeak squeaked.
A sound that could be heard all throughout the club, despite the music still blearing away in the background.
A collective groan of all ponies that had watched the painful display rose up above the music. Squeak remained still, his eyes bulging out of the sockets and pupils shrunk down to pinpricks.
After what seemed like ages the massively huge stallion collapsed on the ground, clutching his nether regions with both front hooves.
A heartbeat later and the ponies started brawling again. Vinyl just stared slack-jawed at what had just happened. She couldn’t understand why Octavia now just stared at the fallen Squeak with a mix of confusion and disappointment. She was too stunned by the events and remained frozen as the pegasus from before drunkenly staggered towards the cellist from behind.
Luckily Lyra wasn’t quite as stunned and leapt to the grey pony’s aid. Lyra shoved the pegasus away into the brawling crowd on the dance floor and slung a foreleg around Octavia’s neck. Not wasting a second she pulled Octavia along with her as she bolted towards an empty table not too far away.
Bon Bon and Vinyl followed a second later. Lyra flipped the table over to form a barricade of sorts. The half-circle bench gave them some cover and the table would hopefully keep any ponies away. The unicorn pawed the crystal to enable the soundproofing spell.
Vinyl checked if the coast was reasonably clear and that nopony had followed them. As they seemed to be safe for the moment she spun around and faced Octavia. The first thing she noted was that the cellist’s eyes were dilated. The smallest amount of her light purple iris could be seen.
What the hay?
________________________________________________________________
Octavia was sorely disappointed.
The coconut had not split open. Her kick had been so mighty that she had felled the entire tree. Perhaps she should have felt proud, but she still felt a craving for something to eat that diminished any other emotions.
A blob was suddenly beside her. Minty green it was and seemed vaguely familiar. It seemed as if the blob was in a hurry, perhaps it had found something nice to eat. Octavia let herself be guided to their destination.
Once there, the blob decided to flip a table over. Perhaps it was out of anger that the buffet table had been empty. Octavia hoped the protest would be noticed by the staff of the kitchen.
Then she noticed two other beings. A beige blob and a white blob. The white blob came closer and Octavia’s eye twitched.
________________________________________________________________
“Her eye is twitching!” Vinyl was deeply concerned for her friend. “What the hay did you give her to drink?”
“It was just a fruit cocktail!” Lyra explained and was unsure what had befallen the cellist. “It was maybe a bit stronger than usual, but even if she is such a lightweight it shouldn’t cause this kind of reaction.”
“That’s all she had?” Vinyl was about to say something else, but Octavia suddenly scrunched up her face in disgust.
“A BUG!” Octavia suddenly yelled.
__________________________________________________________________
Octavia didn’t mind bugs. As long as they fit nicely under her hoof if the situation called for it, she was perfectly content sharing her plant with them. But now there was this gigantic bug right up close to her. She objected to its size and especially those large unblinking purple eyes that reflected some of the pretty colorful sunlight.
She yelled out her disgust and watched the bug turn around in panic a few times. There was some small amount of satisfaction to be found in the fact that the bug knew what would happen next.
______________________________________________________________________
Vinyl didn’t mind bugs. As long as they didn’t take up residence anywhere on her. Judging by Octavia’s yell and look of disgust, she assumed that she had some kind of terrifying hideous beast lodged in her mane. A quick look once over revealed nothing of the sort.
What happened next she never saw coming.
As Vinyl turned back to face Octavia, she very briefly caught glimpse of a grey hoof speeding towards her. Next there was a flash of bright light accompanied by a sharp pain. Vinyl fell against the table and shook her head. All she could see for the moment were stars.
She felt a hoof stomping her in the ribs and was sure to feel something crack.
What is going on?!
“The glasses! Take of the glasses!” Lyra yelled at Vinyl and forcibly tried pulling the cellist turned impromptu exterminator off the DJ. Only after Bon Bon joined in of her efforts did they manage to pull her away.
Vinyl flicked her sunglasses off with a hoof and flinched with pain as she touched her head.
“What the buck was that Octavia?” Lyra gave the cellist a very angry look. Octavia simply smiled proudly, but didn’t say anything.
“Oh dear. Hold on.” Bon Bon picked up a couple of clean napkins that had fallen to the floor when Lyra had tipped the table. She folded them into a square with quick hooves and pressed it against Vinyl’s left eyebrow.
“What are you doing?” Vinyl gritted her teeth at the suddenly more intense pain.
“You’re bleeding. Hold it here.” Bon Bon replied and made sure that the unicorn pressed on the napkin with enough pressure while she made a few more napkin squares.
Vinyl cast a glance over to Octavia. Had her friend really just hit her with enough force to cause a cut? Deep down she knew that Octavia wouldn’t have done that on purpose. Something was really wrong with her. With a grunt Vinyl got on her hooves and decided to keep a good safe distance away from the others.
“Octavia? Octavia!” Lyra tried to get the cellist’s attention. Very slowly she turned her head and just stared at the unicorn.
One look into the other mare’s eyes told her that she must have ingested something strange. Lyra had shied away from any exotic plants from faraway lands that some of the students had enjoyed chewing during her time in university. But she had seen the results of some of the more rare plants and they all had the same dilated look about them.
“Remember the drink, Octavia?” She asked very slowly.
The cellist watched her with fascination and moving her lips to mimic Lyra question.
“The umbrella? Remember the umbrella?”
Octavia face lit up at the memory of umbrellas. She rapidly nodded and grinned.
“Yes! Umbrellas are good.” Octavia nodded once more.
“How many umbrellas did you have?” Lyra asked as Bon Bon and Vinyl stepped a bit closer.
“Dunno! Maybe three….or six…..could have been a rainbow.” Octavia swayed slightly as if she was standing on the deck of a ship that was in rough sea.
“Lyra, Vinyl is hurt. You need to do something.” Bon Bon said while pointing a hoof at the wounded DJ.
“Just a moment.”
Lyra looked around and realized that the area they were hiding in was directly next to their former table. Luck would have it that the glass with three umbrellas was still there. She quickly levitated it over.
Three umbrellas, one of which had been chewed on, was a bad sign, but what sent off alarms in Lyra’s mind was the small amount of liquid at the bottom. She watched it slowly change color. Bravely she took a sip of the liquid as she had a suspicion of what it was. The taste was rather pleasant and a few seconds later she felt a small rush of energy flow through her. Her horn sparked once as she felt a shiver run down her spine.
“Who was the total moron that gave her an alicorn flip?” Lyra said angrily.
“What’s that?” Vinyl removed the napkin from her eyebrow and jerked back in shock when she saw that it was soaked with her blood. Quickly she placed a new napkin on the spot.
Lyra took note of the DJ’s state and led her towards a bit of space with more light in it. Bon Bon remained next to Octavia who watched the sweetmaker with fascination.
___________________________________________________________________
Octavia felt a sense of accomplishment. She had singlehoofedly vanquished the monstrous bug, but had yet to receive any kind of reward. The blurry minty thing had asked her about umbrellas.
That was something Octavia wouldn’t mind having as a reward. Not only did they taste good when milked, but she could also use them when flying again, as a sort of parachute or hat maybe.
Then the minty blob went away and left her alone with the beige blob. It also seemed strangely familiar, but her thoughts ground to a halt when she spotted something floating in the blob. If she concentrated she could see that there was candy floating in the blob. Three pieces to be precise, each wrapped nicely up.
Octavia decided to have one of them and reached out to grab one with a hoof.
_______________________________________________________________________
“Turn your head into the light a bit.” Lyra instructed the other unicorn after she had removed the napkin from Vinyl’s wound.
“What’s an alicorn flip?” Vinyl asked as she did as she was told.
“It’s a drink made exclusively for unicorns.” Lyra concentrated and poured magic into her horn in preparation for a spell. “It’s made with a special liquid that’s infused with magic.”
Vinyl grimaced as Lyra cast a spell on her cut. It stung a fair bit and she had to fight down her natural unicorn instinct to counter any spell being cast on her.
Behind them Bon Bon jumped in shock as Octavia pawed at her cutie mark. Irritated she lightly pushed the prodding hoof away.
“It gives unicorns a slight buzz and peps them up for a while.” Lyra continued her explanation. “The effects are very different if drunk by non-unicorns.”
“I noticed.” Vinyl replied dryly. “Are there any side-effects? It isn’t dangerous is it?”
“Nah, she’ll be fine tomorrow.” Lyra shrugged and let her magic slowly drain away from Vinyl. “Most likely won’t remember a thing.”
Octavia was seemingly fascinated by Bon Bon candy cutie mark and also very determined to reach it. Bon Bon turned her flank away from the cellist. Much like a cat following a piece of string, Octavia jumped after the retreating candy.
Lyra inspected her work for a moment and then nodded once. “You won’t need the napkin.” She said as Vinyl was about to press it back on her cut.
“Where did you learn that?” Vinyl asked and just dropped the napkin on the floor.
“I took a few classes in first aid.” Lyra shrugged. “I wanted to be a nurse or a doctor, but things turned out a bit differently once I got my cutie mark.”
“Can you do something about my ribs?” Vinyl gingerly rubbed the hurting area. “Octavia hit me good and I think their broken.”
“Can you breathe alright?” Lyra cast a glance at Vinyl’s side.
“Yeah, hurts when I laugh.”
“Then don’t. I doubt they are broken, most likely just bruised. Don’t worry, you’ll live.” Lyra gave Vinyl a pat on her head. “But it’s still a good idea to have a doctor look at them.”
________________________________________________________________
Octavia snorted with frustration. The candy was right there, but every time she got her hoof on it the delicious treats moved away. Perhaps it didn’t like being touched by hooves, candy was strange in that regard sometimes.
There of course always was an alternative to using hooves.
_________________________________________________________________
Bon Bon let out a surprised yelp which drew the attention of the two unicorns. Lyra and Vinyl just stared at the cellist’s newest strange behavior.
“What’s she doing?” Vinyl asked wanting some kind of confirmation of what her eyes were showing her.
“She’s trying to lick my cutie mark.” Bon Bon explained and had to use both hooves to keep the grey earthpony at bay. The tenacious Octavia tried dodging the hooves with varying degrees of success, eventually using her surprisingly long tongue to try and reach Bon Bon’s flank. The candymaker half shrieked and half giggled and the tickling sensation as the tongue very briefly brushed over her cutie mark.
“Hm….I had a dream like that once.” Lyra said and watched the show in concentration. She turned to Vinyl with an expectant look in her eyes.
“What?” Vinyl asked as the other unicorn seemingly wanted her to do something.
“Go on….get out your can of whipped cream and join them.” Lyra nodded towards the two earthponies currently engaged in a bizarre dance.
“What?” Vinyl had the feeling the mint green mare was serious.
“Ah, nuts.” Lyra sighed. “I hoped that this was all just a dream.”
“So do I.”
“Would one of you please take her awayAH!” Bon Bon jumped towards Lyra. “She bit me!”
Lyra laughed and earned an angry look from her marefriend. She stepped between her and the cellist in hot pursuit. Octavia paused for a moment in confusion. Then she stepped closer until their muzzles were almost touching. With squinting eyes she studied Lyra carefully. The closeness was slightly awkward for the lyrist and she tried backing away. Octavia followed immediately.
______________________________________________________________________
The candy had flown away.
Octavia felt slightly betrayed by her snack just leaving her and not staying to be devoured. Perhaps the candy was shy and didn’t like being out of its wrapper. She had followed the candy floating away and watched as it suddenly disappeared.
Now there was that mint green blob again. Perhaps there was candy to be found here too. This time Octavia would carefully inspect the blob first to see if there were any kind of instructions.
_________________________________________________________________________
Lyra did not back away, but felt rather uncomfortable by the very close inspection she was receiving.
Octavia had moved on from inspecting her face to inspect the neck. Lyra hoped that the cellist would lose interest before reaching any interesting parts.
“How long will she stay like that?” Bon Bon asked now hiding behind Vinyl.
“I…uh…maybe an hour?” Lyra didn’t move, but really wanted to shrug. “I don’t know how much she drank.”
Vinyl watched the strange behavior with a small amount of jealousy. Bon Bon and Lyra had been thus far only assaulted by the cellist with harmless actions, Vinyl had been hit in the head and had her ribs stomped. It seemed rather unfair to her.
Her thoughts were interrupted when a barstool went flying over their current hiding spot.
“Maybe we should get out of here.” She dared to peek over the table to see what was going on.
Thanks to the soundproofing spell she couldn’t hear much of the commotion going on. Seeing it on the other hoof told her that things had taken a turn for the more destructive. A glance over to her deck revealed that it had been wheeled of stage by the staff at some point. She hadn’t even noticed them turning off the music.
Some of the lights had been knocked to the floor or smashed somehow. Barstools and tables had been smashed on the dance floor and all over the place ponies were partaking in a drunken brawl. She spotted Squeak still lying on the floor and some of the security ponies trying to break the fights apart.
“We should do that before the guards turn up. If they climb over…” Lyra was interrupted by a crash loud enough to be heard clearly through the spell. “Yeah, just that. Once they involve the bar in the fight, the guards will turn up quickly. Let’s get out of here!”
“How do we get Octavia out?” Bon Bon asked and briefly ventured out to their previous seating area to retrieve the group’s saddlebags.
Luckily that particular problem solved itself.
____________________________________________________________________
Octavia was convinced there was candy to be found on the mint blob. There just had to be.
It was a universal truth for her at the present time and moment that everything was made of candy if one looked long enough.
She grinned wide as she did indeed finally find candy.
On top of the blob there was this large pointy thing and around it was some strands of soft stuff. It took a moment for her to realize what it was. Cotton candy!
The large pointy thing must be the stick to hold it. Octavia liked cotton candy and licked her lips in anticipation.
________________________________________________________________________
“What the….” Lyra tried jerking her head away as she felt Octavia take a large chunk of her mane in her mouth. Octavia didn’t let go and started licking and chewing the lyrist’s mane.
“This is ridiculous!” Vinyl shook her head. This entire evening had begun so well, but had turned into stuff that would no doubt follow her as nightmares for the rest of her life.
Bon Bon agreed and fixed Lyra’s, Octavia’s and her own saddlebag onto her back. Vinyl’s saddlebag was somewhere backstage and there was no way to get there without some kind of fuss. Bon Bon packed away Vinyl’s sunglasses in her own bag for safekeeping.
“This might actually work!” Lyra grinned as a plan formed in her mind.
She used a brief moment when Octavia was just licking her mane and not biting down on it to duck away. Before the cellist could react Lyra spun around and waved her tail in front of the other mare’s face. As planned Octavia immediately chomped down on it and held tight.
“Perfect!” Lyra grinned with a soggy mane.
“What’s perfect about that?” Despite everything Vinyl had to chuckle. “It looks ridiculous.”
“But she will follow me now.” Lyra explained and tested her theory. She took a few steps and Octavia indeed followed her. “We’ll make a run for it. You two stay on her sides and make sure she doesn’t get distracted by anything.”
The plan was possibly the most sensible thing Vinyl had heard for some time. She sighed and stretched her legs a bit. The adrenalin rush that had coursed through her system had died down and she felt the effects of being a ponyshaped pinball from earlier.
“On three Bon Bon will shove the table away and we make a run for the exit.” Lyra waited for confirmation of her plan and then counted down.
On three Bon Bon flipped the table to the side, almost hitting a pair of stallions fighting nearby. Lyra met a bit of resistance as she started moving, but then the cellist floowed and Lyra could move a bit faster. She dodged the ponies around as best she could, on occasion having to make way with a well placed kick. Vinyl and Bon Bon stayed directly beside the cellist and tried their best to shield her from any potential attackers.
_______________________________________________________________
One mad dash later they burst through the exit and kept running. Lyra took course towards Vinyl’s home as it was closest. Obediently the cellist held on to Lyra’s tail as they ran past a few very surprised looking ponies on the street.
A block away Vinyl couldn’t run anymore. Everything had begun to hurt and she struggled with every breath. Bon Bon noticed the unicorn struggling to keep up.
“Lyra stop!” Bon Bon slowed down and signaled Vinyl to do the same.
Lyra decreased her speed and circled around with Octavia still happily munching away. They slowly trotted off the sidewalk into a reasonably clean and well lit alley. Vinyl sat on her haunches and greedily sucked in air despite the pain it caused to her ribs.
Bon Bon put a comforting hoof of the wheezing unicorn and cast an inquisitive glance over to the cellist.
“Your tail is going to be a mess.”
“Meh, I’ll give it a wash later and it will be as good as new.” Lyra shrugged. Luckily pony teeth were not suited for biting through hair without effort. All that Octavia had been doing was chewing around on it and licking it. “A bit of saliva isn’t that big of a deal.”
“You…can….shower….at….our….place…” Vinyl wheezed out between breaths.
“I could leave Octavia attached and perhaps she would snap out of it faster.” Lyra grinned and ignored the unamused look the others were giving her.
“Are there any effects left we should be aware of?” Bon Bon hoped that it wouldn’t get even weirder.
“I think she has passed the really crazy stage.” Lyra nodded to the oblivious grey mare. “Now she has the munchies. She should get sleepy soon and if she does we’ll have a hard time waking her up again. So maybe we should get moving again.”
Vinyl felt like her hooves weighed a ton, but in order to get Octavia home to safety she would power through it.
Things went differently when Octavia let go of Lyra’s tail and yawned widely.
_______________________________________________________________________
The cotton candy was strange.
Not only was it really difficult to eat, but it also tasted like her hairbrush. And it also tried getting away from her, but this time she held on.
She followed the blob for a while. For some reason they had decided to leave the world of colorful suns, turkeys and bowling pins to run into a refrigerator. Which was ok in Octavia’s book as it meant there was a slight possibility of umbrella drinks and penguins.
She noticed that they had stopped and the beige candy blob was back. It was besides a white marshmallow-y blob.
Marshmallows….. she could really do with a marshmallow now as she was getting sleepy. And the best sleep she ever had was on a marshmallow, so much she remembered.
She spat out the piece of tough cotton candy and yawned. Perhaps one of the blobs was soft enough for a quick nap. With a bit of luck she could also float a bit. She decided to test the qualities of the blobs.
________________________________________________________________________
“Uhm….Octavia? What are you doing?” Lyra was slightly disturbed about the cellist’s new form of entertainment.
Octavia rubbed her head from all angles against Lyra’s neck, briefly nuzzling it on select spots. The feeling was actually rather pleasant and coincidentally also something that Lyra had on occasion dreamed about.
Here in the middle of an alley it was rather awkward. The look Bon Bon gave her told her that she shouldn’t even dare think that she was enjoying it. Octavia suddenly stopped her actions and gave Lyra a look of serious contemplation.
“You are not soft enough.” Octavia stepped up to Bon Bon with determination.
Startled the sweetmaker did not dare move as Octavia once again began her strange behavior of rubbing her head against the mare.
“Soft enough?” Vinyl was confused, which wasn’t new as she had been confused for most of the evening. “What is she doing now?”
“No idea…” Lyra watched Octavia nuzzle the very perplexed Bon Bon in the crook of her neck. She gave Bon Bon a look that told her she should most certainly enjoy it and if possible invite Lyra and Vinyl to join in. Bon Bon ignored the look.
“You are too soft.” Octavia said with a nod of her head and moved on to Vinyl.
“Did she just call me fat?” Bon Bon frowned.
“Nah, of course not.” Lyra waved her concern away with the wave of her hoof. “She just meant that your coat is a lot nicer than mine.”
Vinyl felt a very strange mix of pain and euphoria as Octavia began nuzzling her neck and rubbed her head against it. She made a point to not react to Lyra’s snickering at the blush that was forming on Vinyl’s cheeks.
Suddenly Octavia drew back with a huge grin on her face.
“You are my fuzzy firm marshmallow!” Octavia nodded vigorously and hopped a few times on the spot.
“Uh…congratulations?” Lyra cocked her head to the side. “I guess you won….something…”
“I am not a marshmaHURKGHL.” Vinyl found herself on the receiving end of Octavia’s hug around her neck. The cellist buried her head in Vinyl’s neck and sighed in content. It seemed strangely familiar to Vinyl.
“Uhm..Tavi? Mind letting me go?” Vinyl carefully prodded one grey leg wrapped around her neck. It instantly tightened around her neck. “RRrrghchch….”
After a few seconds the leg relaxed a bit and the DJ could breathe again. She now knew why the current situation seemed familiar.
“Oh no, not again.” Vinyl wanted to facehoof, but dared not move out of fear of being strangled again.
“Again?” Lyra looked over to Bon Bon for an answer. The sweetmaker just shrugged in response.
“When I told you about the time I woke up in her bed?” Vinyl hoped to jog Lyra’s memory without too much explanation. She could almost see the lightbulb light up in Lyra’s mind.
“Ah, right. Hmmm….” Lyra rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Maybe there is a puddle somewhere? A splash of water might wake her up again.”
Vinyl didn’t much like the idea of splashing dirty water in her friends face. The best thing would be to just get home as fast as possible.
“It isn’t that far.” Vinyl turned around slowly so that Octavia was once again resting against her back. “If we just take it slowly I can manage.”
“You sure?” Bon Bon wasn’t convinced. The DJ was running on empty now already and looked like it as well.
“Just help me get up and make sure that Tavi doesn’t fall off.”
With the help of her friends Vinyl got on shaky hooves. It wasn’t that bad as the cellist did not weigh very much and thankfully they would soon be back home. The only slight problem would be the stairs leading up to the fifth floor.
_____________________________________________________________________
It had taken far longer than planned to finally reach the apartment.
Vinyl would have struggled with the stairs even without the added weight of an earthpony on her back. Lyra and Bon Bon did their best to try and help Vinyl, but in the end she was close to collapsing from exhaustion.
With very wobbly steps she trudged into Octavia’s bedroom and sighed as she stood before the bed.
“Now what do we do?” Vinyl wasn’t prepared to being woken up by strangulation again.
“Hmmm….I have an idea.” Bon Bon snatched a pillow away with a hoof and gave it to Lyra. “Lay down, Vinyl.”
Vinyl did as instructed and flopped with the cellist on her back onto the bed. The grip tightened once more and Vinyl gasped for breath once Octavia relaxed again.
“When she let’s go, you have to get up quickly and Lyra has to put the pillow in your place.” Bon Bon seemed to have a plan and Vinyl had no choice but to follow it.
The sweetmaker plucked a feather from the pillow and gently ran it over Octavia’s left ear. As was to be expected the cellist flicked her ear rapidly in response. Bon Bon tried it twice more, on the final stroke the cellist groaned and intensified her grip around Vinyl’s neck.
“Different plan….different plan….” Vinyl coughed out. “Why not wake her up?”
“Nah, I don’t think that is a good idea.” Lyra shook her head. “Unless you want a crazy pony loose in your home. She might eat the wallpaper or think that she can fly and jump out the window. Best to let her sleep.”
“I’ll try using the feather someplace else.” Bon Bon suggested and gave Lyra a not amused stare when the unicorn started snickering.
Carefully Bon Bon tickled the tender part of Octavia’s left hoof. It took a while for her to find the right spot, but suddenly the cellist rapidly shook her hoof like a cat would when it would get its paw wet. Vinyl saw her chance as she wasn’t in a vice grip any longer. Lyra was ready and shoved the pillow in Vinyl’s place, before Octavia could clamp both forelegs around her again. The three mares held their breath hoping that the cellist hadn’t noticed anything.
A loud snore was their answer and they let out a breath of relief.
“Thanks.” Vinyl clumsily got out of bed again with a helping hoof of Lyra.
“No problem.” Lyra grinned.
“If you want to, you can crash here tonight.” Vinyl said and just wanted to drop dead into her own bed.
“Do you mind if I have a shower first?” Lyra asked and thrust a hoof towards her tail. “It looks kinda ridiculous.”
Vinyl had to agree. Half of Lyra’s tail was in its usual bushy self, the other half that Octavia had tried eating was no more than a thin and thoroughly soaked string of hair about an inch or so thick.
“You know where the towels are and everything. Knock yourself out.” Vinyl said while staggering towards her bed.
She briefly groaned in pain as she lied down, but very quickly felt sleep coming to claim her. The last thing she heard was the water in the shower running and Bon Bon telling Lyra that she will not join her marefriend in the shower.
Then Vinyl fell into a dreamless sleep.
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What a night, poor Vinyl. This will be a night that Tavi will never live down!
Yaaaay update
Oh Tavi, completely blitzed out of your mind. Also I bet she would be adorable!
well um...that happened,didn't see that coming, but at least it was entertaining. And yes Vinyl that does seem a little unfair.
Normally I would make a "I'll have what she's on" joke, but right now? No, that is the LAST thing I want! XD
4866396 I don't think so, Tavi. You know you can't hold your drinks THAT well
Wow, poor Tavi! This is why you don't let strangers buy you drinks!
I love how you wrote that whole sequence. Awesome job on the "high Tavi" perspectives!
Then she had jumped higher than she had ever jumped
Yeah...figured everything was going to go wrong the moment she let a stranger buy her a drink. You just don't do that.
"Thinking about bananas made her think about Princess Celestia for some reason."
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!
For the proper experience they had deactivated the soundproofing spell. The first few minutes it had been both DJ’s on stage at the same time. After a small mock battle the pegasus DJ surrendered the stage to Vinyl and was wheeled with her deck off stage.
A pegasus DJ who battles with Vinyl....? Hmm....I'm getting a distinct "Beat It" vibe here.
The crowd around the tables had thus far only been watching with curiosity. Seeing that the star of the show was seemingly bent on conveying a message of anarchy by assaulting security, the mob of ponies decided to side with the DJ and bring a little anarchy of their own.
And that, kids, is how Fallout: Equestria REALLY began.