Not At My Show

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

In the Papers

Vinyl groaned as she rolled over, pulling the sheets tighter and burying her face in the pillow. Silently, she cursed whatever being it was that decided ponies had to wake up after having slept so wonderfully. It was days like this that she wondered if she had somehow offended Princess Celestia without being aware of it, so as revenge the sun shone especially bright so that its normally life giving light would stab through her lids and impale her brain.

By the time she had finished performing at Neon Flanks, packed away her equipment into the storage area for the next night, made her way home, and showered (so as to wash away the smells of sweat, smoke, and in this case blood), it was well after sunrise. It was a danger of the careers for both of them, staying up late into the night and sleeping through the morning. Although Octavia had a tendency to get to bed sooner and wake up earlier than Vinyl regardless.

After several minutes passed, there was no choice but to admit defeat. Vinyl was wide awake, and not even the warm soft darkness of having her head buried deep in the pillows and catching traces of Octavia's scent would not change the matter. No matter how much she wished, she was not going to get back to sleep.

Vinyl reached out to grab her glasses off the nightstand. Then she swatted one of the pillows beside her, mentally smacking herself for the effort. Her sunglasses got smashed during her fight the night before (that was the way she was going to remember it anyway), which meant they could offer her no protection. She would have no choice but to face the cruel, vicious light of day attacking her without any sort of defense to aid her.

For a moment she considered how much easier things would be if she actually were a vampire. If she were a vampire, she would be able to sleep all day without a problem... so long as she actually avoided getting caught in the sunlight that was. Then again, if she were undead, why would she even need sleep? Did vampires really need to sleep all day? It probably got really boring being cooped up in a coffin with nothing to do. Maybe if she were a vampire and did not need sleep, she could just stay in the garage and work on her stuff. Although if that were the case, she would probably be driven insane with boredom if she was stuck in garage all day, even with all her music and equipment.

Finally, Vinyl came to two conclusions. First, it was probably better that she was not a vampire after all. Second, she could not put it off any longer. Groaning, the mare rolled out of bed and dragged herself from the room, eyes closed and nose nearly touching the floor.

"Good afternoon, Vinyl," Octavia said, receiving an incoherent growl in return. The gray earth mare sat with a cup of tea at the table, with a small plate of cheese and crackers on one side, and two newspapers on the other.

"You are awake earlier than usual," she continued. "It is only a quarter past two." She picked up one of the crackers and took a bite.

Vinyl let out another grunt as she walked into the kitchen, but said nothing else. Her horn began to glow a pale blue with magic as she prepared the coffeemaker. Once the water and grounds were put in, she just stood there and waited. Once it was finished, she picked up the pot, and dumped it back into the machine's reservoir. She had never actually checked to see if doing so actually made the coffee stronger, but it did no harm either.

As the coffee started its second run through the machine, Vinyl grabbed one of her large mugs. She filled it halfway with cream and added however many sugar cubes (she never bothered to count them). This time when the coffeemaker finished, she added the coffee to her mug. Vinyl brought the mug to her mouth and chugged down the entire thing. Licking her lips to catch the last drops, she began to make her second cup.

From her spot, Octavia gave a shake of her head.

"I still don't understand why you drink that... concoction...when you add so much cream and sugar that there is no possible way to taste it."

"I told you," Vinyl said as she finished making her second cup, "Nopony drinks coffee for the taste, it's terrible. We drink it because it helps us wake up." After taking a sip, she moved to the table to sit beside Octavia.

"Vinyl? Where are your sunglasses? Normally you keep them on until your third cup."

Vinyl's eyes went wide and her body tensed. She was suddenly glad she had set the mug on the table, otherwise she may have dropped it from being startled.

"My sunglasses?" Vinyl repeated, shifting in her seat. "Oh...uh... They broke."

Octavia tilted her head and quirked and eyebrow.

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Vinyl continued with a rapid nod. "See, what happened was... they fell off during one of the song and wound up on the dance floor. Before I realized what happened, they had been stepped on and broken." It was sort of the truth, just with the parts about her fighting or being the one to step on them being omitted.

"So, anything interesting in the paper?" she asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Oh quite interesting," Octavia replied as she passed the newspaper over to Vinyl. "Especially in the Entertainment section. In fact, it was so interesting, I picked up another to see it had additional details." she picked up the one still beside her.

Vinyl looked at the gray coated mare curiously for a moment before taking a hold of the paper. Curious by her fillyfriend's comments. Quickly, she made her way to the Entertainment section, and stopped. Vinyl's eyes went wide.

There, on the page was a photo of her with her head held high as a stallion reeled backwards. The title read "DJ's KO."

Vinyl turned to look at the newspaper that Octavia was holding up. On that one, it showed Vinyl getting punched in the nose. That one was titled "Vinyl's Scrape."

"Uh...." Vinyl's mouth hung open as she looked back and forth at the two pictures of her and her fight. Her mind worked quickly, trying to come up with some sort of explanation.

"Hey, Tavi," she said with a grin, "I'm in the paper. Isn't that awesome? It's like I'm a real major celebrity now." She grinned as wide as she could, tapping her hooves together.

"Awesome?" Octavia repeated. "Awesome? Vinyl, they have pictures of you getting into a fight at a club and you're asking if I think that is 'awesome?'"

"Octavia, calm down. I-"

"I will not calm down!" Octavia shouted, slamming a hoof into the surface of the table and causing it to crack. "You were in a fight, Vinyl! With some arrogant stallion that was drunk and quite possibly on who knows what else." Tears began running down her cheeks. "You could have been severely hurt. You could have been killed! You... you.."

"Woah, woah, woah," Vinyl said. Getting up she walked over to Octavia, and wrapped an foreleg around her neck. Octavia looked at the white unicorn, then buried her head against the other mare's neck and held her tightly.

"What's gotten into you?" Vinyl asked, looking down at the mare buried in her neck. "We've both gotten in our share of fights before. Yeah, you've scolded me over it, but you've never reacted like this." She ran a hoof through the dark grey mane.

"I know," Octavia said from Vinyl's neck, nuzzling into the soft coat. "I don't know what's gotten into me. I just...."

She pulled away and wiped at her cheeks, slowly taking a deep breath to collect herself.

"I've been..." she thought for a moment, "on edge more, I suppose is the best way to put it. I can't say why, but lately I've been worried about losing you."

Vinyl looked at Octavia, letting it sink in. Moving closer, she pressed herself against her fillyfriend.

"I guess you're just maturing," Vinyl said. "That and all the weird things that have happened in the last year or so, I guess it makes sense to be a little more worried than usual." She gave Octavia a kiss on the cheek, causing her to smile.

"Thank you," Octavia said. "Don't think for one moment this gets you out of trouble though, Miss Vinyl Scratch. I am still upset with you for getting into a fight in the first place."

"He hit me first," Vinyl pouted. "Gave me a bloody nose. All I was trying to do was get him to leave some mare alone."

"Be that as it may," Octavia continued, "you still did not need to confront him on your own. You could have just as easily let the club's security deal with the matter."

"I know."

"What if he returns to get revenge?" Octavia asked. "Or what if he has friends who desire to avenge his humiliation?"

"I doubt that's going to happen," Vinyl replied, "but if it makes you feel any better, I'll get an escort the next few times I leave the club."

"What?"

"It's a policy the club has. If anypony feels threatened, they can have one of the bouncers escort them. So if there really is a danger of him or his friends coming to get me, I can get somepony to walk with me until we're somewhere safe."

"I would appreciate it that," Octavia said with a smile. She gave Vinyl a kiss on the cheek.

"...You know," Vinyl said with a smirk, "if you're still upset-"

"No, Vinyl."

"You could-"

"No, Vinyl."

"Aw, come on."

"No, Vinyl."

"We already have the riding crop."

"No, Vinyl."

"What about the corset?"

"No, Vinyl."

"At least the boots?"

"....maybe..."

"YES!"

Comments

[happychicken1027]

i really find this entertaining. the end kind of reminds me of arguments with my wife. after getting scolded me trying to convince her to go do something stupid with me. ahh to be in love... keep up the good work and hopefully it wont end there.

[Kenton]

That is the best possible ending you could have had for that. Thank you.