• Published 1st Jul 2014
  • 3,193 Views, 359 Comments

Foal Fever - Distaff Pope



With a filly on the way, Vinyl's started dreaming about her glory days as Equestria's premier DJ. A mysterious potion offers her a chance to feel young again, and with Vinyl's youth restored, Octavia's pregnancy is suddenly a lot

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6. The Fight (Vinyl)

What. The. Hell? So, I was trying to have some fun with my wife, and I thought things were going pretty well, but then she suddenly pulls away and starts talking about how she needs to be alone for a while, and then she goes out for a walk. I thought about following her, but screw it, if she wants to be all alone and broody, she can. It’s just dumb, I support her, but when something awesome happens to me, she refuses to join in my happiness. Instead it’s all ‘This isn’t proper, I need time to think, you’re not yourself.’ Please, I am totally me. In fact, I’d say I’m more me than I’ve ever been in my life. This is the pony I want to be, not some boring dumb teacher. I want to live, I want to play my music, I want to go to clubs. I want to enjoy being young again. I don’t get why Tavi wouldn’t want that, or at least be happy for me.

I glared at the door as I waited for my wife to get back. I sat there for hours, and do you know how boring that is? I mean, I really wanted to go do some DJing, but I also really wanted to pounce on her the second she walked through the door, and not in the same way I wanted to pounce on her earlier. This was so stupid, she wasn’t treating me like I was me, instead she was acting like she was my mom, which… whatever, she’s my wife, not my mom. I’m a fully-grown mare, and quite capable of taking care of myself, I don’t need her to tell me how damned irresponsible everything is. She’s like, “having fun isn’t irresponsible.” Bull, I can totally be responsible when I want to. I mean, I have a filly on the way. That practically screams responsibility.

So, I guess I can kind of understand some of her concern, she’s always been pretty uptight about stuff, and then I suddenly become young again and… yeah, that’s unexpected. Maybe a little freaking out is even warranted, but could she at least try to act happy for me. I’m still the same awesome mare she married. In fact, I’m even more awesome now that I’ve gone back to before I peaked. My whole life is ahead of me, and all I want is to spend it with her. It would be even more awesome if she would drink some potion too so I could teach her to live a little, but I can kind of see her concern about our daughter. Like, I’d hate to just poof her out of existence with the potion. Still, I bet Lyra can set up a magic ward to keep our daughter safe while Tavi drinks the potion.

While I waited for her, I wandered into the kitchen to grab a box of Trot-Tarts and brought it back out to the sofa, I had that awesome teenager metabolism again and it would be a shame to waste it. I stuffed the box’s entire contents into my face in a few minutes, leaving a scattering of crumbs and wrappers in my wake. Woodhoof could probably get it, I mean, he practically got off on all that butlery stuff, which makes my life way easier.

The door opened and Tavi walked in, looking as sad as I’ve ever seen her. Her shoulders and back drooped, and she just seemed like something had beaten her down. For a second, I thought that maybe yelling at her for being a terrible wife was a bad idea, but then I felt that burning anger in my gut again. How dare she not support me! How dare she try to make me go back to ‘normal’! How dare she walk in here looking so sad when she should be celebrating with me! “How dare you!”

She blinked at me and took a step back. “How dare I what, Vinyl? If you’re chastising me for leaving you to take a walk, I understand your anger, but I needed to clear my head. I needed to figure out just how I feel about this.”

“And?! What did you find? Still want to fix me and get me back to normal? Still want to ruin all my fun?” I pushed myself off up the couch and stomped a hoof on the ground. She should love me. Why wasn’t she acting like it? I screamed in frustration.

Somehow, Tavi managed to keep her cool as I screamed. “Yes to the first question, no to the second. I am all for having fun Vinyl, but you’ve been acting so erratic all day. I suppose… is this normal for most teenagers?”

“You were a teenager once,” I snarked. “Or wait, you wouldn’t know because you spent your teenage years doing nothing but playing the cello.”

Tavi’s frown deepened. “Yes, I did. And you are right again when you say I didn’t have a normal adolescence. You also know why, but in case you’ve forgotten, let me remind you. I had almost nothing as a teenager. My parents cut me off and my grandmother had died, prompting my exodus to Canterlot. My teenage years were spent in a small apartment paid for by the small inheritance my grandmother had given me, and I spent every day practicing because I so desperately wanted to make something of myself.”

“So that’s why you are all against me being young again,” I said, remembering our talks about her childhood. “Your teenage years were crap, so you just assume they are terrible for everypony. You, of all ponies, deserve a redo, and you can have it if you drink some of the potion.”

“That’s not why I’m against you being young!” she snapped. “It’s…” She ran a hoof through her mane and moved to sit on one of our floor cushions. “I still love you, you know that. That’s the one thing I’ve never doubted, but I just don’t know what to do. A part of me desperately wants to be with you, to ignore your little indiscretion and pretend nothing ever happened. Another part of me is convinced that doing anything romantic with you would be taking advantage of you and that you’d never forgive me after you go back to normal. Then another part wonders if I will have to raise you, and I’m worried about that because I have no idea on how to raise a teenager, especially when that teenager happens to be my wife. No books were written about that, there’s absolutely nopony in Equestria I can turn to for advice, and I don’t know what to do!” She started sobbing at that, and I moved to kiss her cheek. The voice in my gut howling How dare she! quieted for a moment when I saw my wife break down sobbing.

“Look, I get that this is a bit confusing, and I know you’re struggling with your own emotional thingies, but I just want you to be happy for me. That’s not too much is it?”

“Of course not,” she choked out between sobs. “No, I want to support you, I never stopped wanting to support you, I just don’t know how. Would fixing things be so terrible? We were happy before. You were you before, and now it’s like you’ve become a completely different mare. You’re so volatile and moody and I don’t know how to deal with it.”

How dare she not support me! “I’m not asking you to deal with this. I’m just asking you to support me, to love me. I’m asking you to do for me what I did for you all those times you needed help. I’m asking you to be there for me,” I said, feeling the anger claw its way back up my throat. Why didn’t she see how wonderful this was? Why did she insist on thinking this was a bad thing? Couldn’t she see that it changed absolutely nothing about our relationship? Why did everything with her have to be so difficult?

“But I can’t stop worrying that you aren’t you. I know you say you aren’t under the effect of mind-altering magic, but when I had changeling venom in my veins, I could have sworn my mind was clear and unfettered. My judgment was compromised, and I can’t help but worry that yours is too. What if by supporting you, I am actually hurting you? What if you hate me when you get back to normal? I don’t know. I can’t stop doubting myself.”

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair. I did everything and anything for her. Supported her non-stop, and now she doubted I was me. After Nightmare Night, after Anthro-Con, after everything we’d been through together, she’d doubt me now. It was… I needed to get out of here, but first I wanted her to know how much she’d hurt me. I wanted to hurt her back. “I was always there for you!” I yelled, pointing a hoof at her. “Every time something shattered you, I was there to pick up the pieces. Every time you just need a pony to listen to you complain about this calamity or that, you have my ear. Every time you want something from me, I deliver it in a heartbeat, but I guess for you that’s a one way street with you.” She sank low in her chair and looked like I had actually hit her. I almost felt a little tinge of guilt, but this was her own fault.

“Well guess what, I’m out. Next time you have a big problem, you can fix it on your own, because I guess that’s how you want this relationship to work.” Before she could say anything else, I grabbed my saddlebags and marched out the door and slammed it shut, listening to the bang it made as I continued to storm off. I wish I could’ve seen the look on her face, I thought as I stomped away. For a second, I stopped, feeling something churn in my gut. Maybe I was a bit harsh on her, but it was her fault for not supporting me. If only she could’ve just been happy for me, I wouldn’t have had to have lost my temper. I just wanted her to be happy for me I thought as I wandered through town aimlessly. Why did she have to make things difficult and not support me? After a few hours, I found myself drifting towards the train station, my eyes darting to Canterlot in the distance.

Back in college, that city had been amazing, the clubs were some of the best I had ever seen, and for a few years, everypony who was anypony knew that if you wanted to have a big event, you needed to have DJ-P0N3 playing for your party. I even got to play for a royal wedding! How cool is that?! Now though, I just spent my days sitting in a classroom teaching fillies and colts about musical theory while Tavi took care of music history. Of course, I thought, a smile forming on my lips as I turned to look between the train station and the city in the distance, who’s to say things have to stay like that?

I headed over to the ticket booth, pulling my coin purse out of my bags. “Hey,” I said, passing my bits to the ticketer, “I’d like one ticket for the last train to Canterlot.”

Author's Note:

Edited by the wonderful EquesTRON.