• Published 7th Sep 2014
  • 5,997 Views, 297 Comments

Bite Me. . .Please? - Drax



Octavia Philharmonica, the apple of her parents eye, star of the Ponyville Youth Orchestra, has only ever wanted one thing, to be a vampire. And with the help of the vampire Vinyl Scratch she just might. Now if only Vinyl would agree to bite her.

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Friends with benefits

“Fuck my life.” Octavia muttered as she ran down the sidewalk at seven o’clock in the morning. It was the morning after her meeting with Applejack, and if she didn’t hurry she’d be late to school. She already didn’t have enough time to deliver Vinyl’s note like she’d planned, the last thing she needed was for her perfect attendance to be ruined because a stupid bus decided to break down.

After snapping out of her stupor last night, Vinyl had handed her a small envelope sealed with some sort of crest. She’d explained that it was very important that it was delivered properly, and that she’d snap Octavia in half if it wasn’t.

Octavia had just nodded curtly. She was still having a tough time dealing with everything she’d just learned, from Applejack and her secret society to more missing information about how Vinyl became leader of the Venture. Now Vinyl was handing her this note that she was supposed to deliver to another student at her school.

“Locker 1364,” Octavia whispered as she turned a corner nearing the school. “Another person at school who knows more about this other world than I do.” Yes, Vinyl hadn’t bothered to tell her who it was she was actually supposed to deliver the letter to, only their locker number. Apparently, Vinyl wanted her mystery friend to remain just that.

The joke was on her though. Octavia was going to wait by that person’s locker until they showed up. Then she’d deliver the letter personally. “Or, at least she was until the freaking bus broke down!” Octavia was still fuming over the destruction of her carefully formulated plan when she saw the school coming up on her right.

When Canterlot high had been rebuilt 3 years ago after a fire, the designers and the school board had set out to build a model high school. A high-tech learning environment for the students to spend seven hours a day in. It was going to be a glowing beacon of education that would make the whole nation collectively drop their jaws, and say, “Are you sure that’s a public school?”

Plans for an actual training gym to be installed in the school had been drawn up, along with a full size Olympic swimming pool. An auditorium capable of seating five hundred at the least, and a proper prop room for the Theater kids was being put into the works. For food, negotiations for local businesses to set up shops in the lunchroom had been set. Those brand new high-tech projectors all the private schools were getting had been ordered, along with a sauna in the teachers’ lounge. You know, for educational purposes.

But, after realizing they had money for pretty much none of that, they said to hell with it, built a normal, slightly half-assed school with a very shitty air-conditioning system. Which is exactly what Octavia saw as she turned a corner onto Boise Avenue and made a bee-line for the front door. An average, one-story school building, with a flagpole outside.

Octavia threw open the double doors to the school, and was shocked to see . . . people still milling around in the halls. It’s not uncommon for kids at a high school to say, “Fuck it” and just disappear for a period or two if they feel like it. But this was pretty much the entire student body.

Octavia pulled her phone out of her pocket, unlocking it and taking a quick glance down at the time display on her screen. “7:45.” Octavia’s mind was sent reeling over the fact she’d just run what basically amounted to a marathon in under an hour. Before her jaw even had the chance to drop though, she found herself thrown dangerously off-balance, when a petite figure smashed into her. A pair of arms wrapped around her neck, bringing her into a hug.

“Octy,!” It was her friend Bon-Bon. Octavia didn’t know anyone else in her life that had such a ridiculous nickname for her. “Actually, scratch that. We can add Vinyl to the list of people with ridiculous nicknames for me.” She chuckled, “Ha, ‘Scratch that’ I’m most definitely getting punnier. Maybe I should—Ack.”

Octavia’s thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of her friend’s arms tightening around her neck, and the warm embrace slowly slipped into a choke-hold. “We haven’t talked properly in weeks, and now that we finally get to see each other you’re laughing.” Said Bon-Bon. Clearly mad at being pushed to the side while Octavia went to work for Vinyl. True, she’d been under her new work hours for almost a week now, but she had a concert to prepare for next Saturday and very little time to prepare. she really didn't have an excuse for avoiding the girl during school hours, but to her defense she'd had a lot on her plate lately.

Bon-Bon released Octavia from her death-grip, only for the black-hared girl to start coughing up a lung. “Note to self, never go this long without hanging out with Bon-Bon again.” Slowly recovering from hacking her guts out, Octavia got a good look at her best friend.

She had known Bon-Bon aka Sweetie Drops since Middle school. They'd met during lunch while expressing their mutual disdain for their Geology teacher. They'd managed to hit it off and the rest was history. Although, sometimes Octavia really had to wonder why she was friends with the slightly shorter girl to begin with.

It wasn’t that Bon-Bon wasn’t a good friend, far from it. The pair loved spending time together, talking about whatever came to mind, sharing their interests; Bon-Bon loved going to Octavia’s concerts and Octavia loved trying out Bon-Bon’s experimental candies. But the girl was so different from Octavia in so many ways that it was just strange that they were friends in the first place.

Take what they wore for instance. Octavia liked to wear the actual school uniform most days; a nice formal suit with a white button up, bow-tie and all. “Albeit, the suit is grey instead of the actual school colors. It also happens to be the boy’s version of the uniform instead of the girl’s.” She consented. “There’s also the fact I’m wearing sneakers down below instead of dress shoes. Also, I got the pocket of my jacket emblazoned with a treble cleft. And technically no one actually follows the dress code anymore, even though it’s written in the rule book, and . . . uh. Dammit, I had a point, but it go lost somewhere. Compared to Bon-Bon, though, I’m pretty tame.

Bon-Bon always had her hair died; Pink on one side, blue on the other. Done just right so that it split her head right down the middle. She’d just started doing it when she met Octavia, Octavia commented that it looked nice on her, and she’d kept it that way ever since. Over time it just became a part of Bon-Bon’s unique style. “Even though most of the school dyes their hair, so I’m not really sure how it can be considered unique. Then again on Bon-Bon it does look better, something about conditioner she uses just—“

“Uh, Octy, can you stop staring at me? It’s getting kind of creepy.”

Octavia blinked. Had she been staring? No, she had merely been . . . observing the way her friend’s hair had a natural buoyancy to it. That didn’t stop the slight blush from spreading across her cheeks from being caught though.

Octavia cleared her throat, trying to return things to normal. “Well,” she said, straightening up her clothes from Bon-Bon’s surprise attack. “We should probably get to class.”

“Right,” Bon-Bon chirped, as she turned and started walking toward the east end of the school. Octavia’s first class, was Music theory with Mr. Balog. It wasn’t her favorite class, but it was interesting nonetheless. It was on the Far east wing of the school, the quickest route to which also happened to pass by Bon-Bon’s locker. So the pair had made a habit of walking together to Octavia to class each day—even though Bon-Bon's class was in a completely different direction.

Normally, their walks would be filled with small talk, randomness, and the occasional one-liner. But today things were oddly silent. Octavia grimaced, “I guess this is what happens when we don’t hang enough.”

Without the usual sound of Bon-Bon’s voice to distract her on their three minute journey. Octavia’s eyes began to drift back over to her friend. Not in a sexual way! But Octavia always found it interesting to see what Bon-Bon was wearing. Her friend always drifted toward lighter clothes, which gave her a more feminine look. Which Octavia always found weird considering how rugged and tomboyish the girl could be sometimes. Talking about headlocks and wrestling one minute and candies and proper baking techniques the next; Bon-Bon was ripe with contradictions.

Today the blonde (Or at least she thought she was) girl was wearing a loose, white, sundress with a light-blue trim. Combined with the fairly nice pair of sandals she was wearing and she looked fairly average. She rolled her eyes, “At least by this school’s standards." Her nose crinkled, "But seriously, what is up with this school and hair dye. It’s like someone took a neon rainbow and dumped it into everyone’s soap while they weren’t looking. But I guess that’s just normal here.”

Octavia frowned deepened as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "If that’s normal, though, what does that make me?”

Lately Octavia had been feeling very out of place. If she was truthful with herself she’d always felt like somewhat of an oddball living in Ponyville; everyone else in town seemed to pop out the moment people saw them, while she was in the background. And while it was true there was no one who could possibly mistake Octavia for anyone else in town. Everyone else seemed to be brimming with life, while Octavia seemed almost completely devoid of it half the time.

It wasn't because she was an unmotivated person. Far from it! She was just a realist and preferred to keep her obsessions and desires under wraps in case they didn't work out. She'd rather keep secrets then look like a complete and total fool in the end (Heck, the only reason she played the cello was because her parents forced her to when she was young). She hid them so well that even Bon-Bon didn’t know about her dreams about vampires.

So it wasn't too big a stretch to say Octavia felt like an outsider in Ponyville. But as stated before lately she'd been feeling considerably worse. Perhaps it came from spending time with Lyra and Vinyl where she didn’t quite fit in either, but lately Octavia was completely lost on where she belonged. She turned to her friend, “Bon-Bon?”

“Hmm,” Bonbon smiled at her. “Is there something wrong, Octy?”

He mouth formed into a thin line, “Tell me, do you think I’m weird?”

“Yep,” she chirped, without a single note of hesitation.

Octavia slumped as she felt her self-image shatter into a million pieces. “Thank you, Bon-Bon. You really know how to cheer someone up.”

Bon-Bon’s eyes widened, immediately realizing her mistake “Oh, Octy, I didn’t mean it in a bad way.” She shrugged, “I just meant that you’re unique. I can’t think of anyone quite like you, and that’s part of what makes you so great to hang out with.” She paused as if thinking for a moment, “Honestly, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather spend my time with?”

Bon-Bon’s slight confession, only managed to deepen the blush that was already managed to seep into Octavia’s cheeks. Shaking herself out of it, Octavia continued walking. “Maybe so, but you’re pretty much the only one.” She looked at her friend pleadingly. “Give me a straight answer, Bon? When was the last time you actually saw me hanging out with another person?”

The shorter girl stopped for a moment. Racking her brain for an answer that wouldn’t hurt her best friend. “Oh,” she said after a minute, “There was the old man you were hanging out with the other day apparently.”

Octavia could feel the twitch returning o her eye as she face palmed, “Damn you, Sunset Shimmer! God, I’m just lucky Bon-Bon is naively innocent . . . that or she knows exactly what people are talking about, doesn't care, and this is just her way of messing with me.”

Recovering slightly from her shock, Octavia spoke up, “That was for my job, Bon." She explained. "Though Mr . . .Nos, is a very nice man, I wouldn’t call him a friend.”

“Or would I?" She thought to herself. "And if he’s a friend can I count Lyra on that list, and maybe—to a significantly lesser extent—Vinyl."

Bon-Bon scratched her head, desperately trying to recall the last time she'd seen her best friend hang out with someone else. “Then I guess—“

“The correct answer is never, Bon,” she said cutting her off, her usually neutral face twisting into a hard frown, as she stared down at the tiled floor. “If it weren’t for you I’d be completely and totally alone. No one to really talk to, no one to listen to me. Hell," She said looking back up at Bon-Bon, "When the last time one of my parents were at one of my recitals? But somehow you’re there for everyone. I just—“

Octavia stopped as she felt herself enveloped in a tight hug. Bon-Bon’s head nestled comfortably into her neck, as Octavia's arms. She felt warm and soft. “Don’t worry about it, Octy," whispered Bon-Bon. "No matter what happens you’ll always have me.” She loosened the hold she had on Octavia, giving giving the taller girl some space to breathe.

Bon-Bon smiled at her, and Octavia did the same. Internally, though she was lamenting the sudden drop in temperature. “So you’re anti-social, it doesn’t matter. If you need someone to listen to you or be there for you, all you need to do is call, and I’ll be there.”

Octavia snorted, “You stole that from James Taylor.”

“What?” she shrugged. “It’s a good song. Also I was thinking of Carol King, but whatever.” Octavia rolled her eyes. This was why they were friends. Octavia helped Bonbon keep what little sanity she had left, and Bon-Bon gave her a place to go and a shoulder to cry on.

Bon-Bon took a look around. Somewhere in the middle of their talk they’d drifted over to the Orchestra room, and the bell was about to ring in about two minutes. “Well I’ll see you later,” she said, fully releasing Octavia from her hug, straightening up her book bag on her back as she turned to walk away. Or at least she was until she saw the time, and realized that if she didn’t run she was going to be chewed out in front of her entire English class.

“Shit,” she muttered, and started running full speed down the hall. Waving at her friend behind her all the way.

Octavia just waved back, even though the girl couldn’t actually see her. A dumb look, or at least what he though was a very dumb smile on her face. “Bon-Bon’s right, if worse comes to worse at least I have her. I’m lucky to have her and I-I . . .,”

Octavia let lose a sigh, “I totally have a crush on her don’t I?” She took one last look at her friend’s rapidly depleting form and thought “Yep, totally a crush. Again, Fuck my life.”


Gym had never been Octavia’s favorite sport. She was a cellist not a track star. As a result, her grades in gym, weren’t exactly top notch. Especially, when they spent it outside, and at least half of the class was spent doing laps around the track field. Today though things were looking up.

Not only was she running circles around most of the girls in class, which had granted her a few strange looks during the period. ”And by few, I mean that no one can believe that I’m not collapsed on the ground begging for the coach to end it, but leave me my dignity.” Yes, her sudden increase in athleticism had gotten her a few strange looks, but mostly it got people chanting her name to keep going, and people like Flash Sentry asking if she'd like to join the team. She had no idea which team, but it was a team and people wanted her to be on it!

The other good thing about class today; Applejack. The farm girl had been signaling her to come over and talk near the bleachers for the longest. Octavia would have done it immediately, but it was just too much fun making everyone’s jaw drop at the fact she had practically become an Olympic athlete overnight.

Eventually, she got tired of it though, and walked over to the bleachers where a slightly annoyed Applejack stood tapping her foot. “You done?” She asked, quirking her eyebrow at the smiling Octavia.

Octavia just waved her hand in the air dismissing her. “Oh please, I was just having a little bit of fun. You know how I usually am in gym. When am I ever going to get a chance to do something like that again?” Octavia was practically beaming with pride . . . or was that her ego? Either way it didn't matter, she was officially a sports super star on the high school level.

Applejack’s frown morphed into a knowing smile, “You sure about that, Sugarcube?”

Octavia frowned. It had been a strange day, sprinkled with bits of good and bad news. She’d made it to school on time, then been put into a headlock by Bon-Bon. Bon-Bon had forgiven her for ditching her so much and given her a nice pep talk, after which she’d realized she had a crush on her best friend. Now Applejack was calling into question her physical 180, after she’d finally gotten a bit of respect in the class.

Octavia looked the other girl straight in her face, trying to figure out what the blonde was getting at. Finally, after a moment or two of trying to decipher the human puzzle that is Applejack, she gave up. Flinging her arms up in the air in frustration she practically screamed, “Fine! Please explain, All-knowing Applejack.” She huffed crossing her arms over her chest.

Applejack smirked, “You're Vinyl’s personal servant. It’s not uncommon for vamps to give their personal servants an extra skill set so they can manage things bit easier.”

Octavia’s nose crinkled, “What do you mean by extra skill-set?”

She chuckled, “Magic, sugar, magic?”

Octavia blanched, It all made sense. Her gym class miracle, the run to school this morning, and Vinyl’s mansion. She’d never really thought about it before, but as much as she grumbled to Vinyl about her technically small list of chores, that she had to do sparingly. It was still a considerable amount of work for any one person to do. And it was only made harder by the fact it was spread out across the huge home. “A normal person would have been exhausted by the time they finished the work Vinyl had me do; mopping the ballroom even if it wasn't dirty, sweeping three flights of stairs, it's insane. But everyday I would just walk right up to her and ask 'what's next?'."

She slowly bit into her lower lip, trying to think about what Vinyl had said when they’d made the deal. “She'd mentioned certain ‘perks’ but I never imagined something like this. Or at least not this early in our deal." The end game might have been to become a vampire, but Octavia didn't think she'd have any actual power while she was Vinyl's servant.

Applejack clicked her tongue, looking at the other girl with an expression Octavia swore was pity. “Boy, I knew Vinyl was keeping you dumber than Winona on a good day, but she really hasn’t told you anything, has she?”

“No, she hasn’t.” she admitted reluctantly, looking away to avoid Applejack's piercing gaze. Part of her really didn’t want the farm girl to be right about trusting Vinyl. She wanted the vampire to be her saving grace, the thing that finally gave her, her heart’s desire. Meanwhile, another part of her was screaming that she couldn’t trust Vinyl, nothing about the vampire added up quite right, and that she was an idiot for trusting her. Octavia chose to go with the less insulting of the two voices. That didn’t stop the other voice from having a fair point though.

Deciding it was time to change the subject, Octavia pursed her lips together, “If I recall you haven’t told me everything either.” She said a little more snidely than she would have liked. Applejack looked dumbfounded, Octavia sighed, and started explaining in what she hoped was a politer tone. You were telling me something about Vinyl and how she got to where she is.”

Applejack’s eyes widened, “Oh,” she chuckled. “That.” It was Applejack's turn to scratch the back of her head now, obviously nervous about the turn in conversation. Octavia’s eyes narrowed, she had no idea what had happened to the blonde in the time since their talk, but whatever it was it had made her less than hesitant to talk.

“You, see . . . Nos, wasn’t exactly happy about me trying to tell you all that stuff last night.”

“Nos, are you sure?” Applejack nodded. Octavia hiked an eyebrow at that. If she’d expected anyone to try and shut up Applejack before she could get to her, she’d have thought it would be Vinyl. “Vinyl did mention it was private business.”

Applejack chuckled nervously, “Yeah, well, she’s not exactly wrong. I really had no right to go flapping my gums to you about some of that stuff at the end, and telling you more would probably just get both you and me into deep trouble.” She held up her hand, as soon as she saw Octavia start to protest. “Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t regret the official stuff, that’s my job. And if you have any more questions about how all this works, or just our world in general, just ask. But the things I was gonna share with you last night are top secret stuff I really shouldn’t be telling you.” Applejack sniffed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, “Besides it’s all just one big rumor anyway. There’s not anything to actually prove it so far.”

“Humor me,” Octavia pleaded. Trying to give her best impression of a kicked puppy.

It didn't work at first, but eventually she could see break and crumble under pressure. “Ugh, fine," she said holding up her hand to block the image of pure unadulterated sadness. "Just stop staring at me like that.” Octavia mentally fist pumped, she'd have to use that move more often.

Applejack looked left and right, which Octavia found weird seeing as their wasn’t anyone around to listen to them. Finally when she was sure the coast was clear she turned back to Octavia and leaned in whispering into her ear. “Let’s just say people expect unfair play in how Vinyl got to the position she’s in and leave it at that.”

Applejack backed away, and Octavia mentally screamed. “What do you mean by unfair play? Was there a vote and Vinyl stuffed the ballot?” Tell me already, I need to know!” Of course Octavia didn’t say any of this out loud. Applejack had been kind enough to explain a bit about how all of this works to her, returning the favor by practically biting her head off wouldn’t exactly help her in the friend making department.

So instead, Octavia just stared blankly while Applejack looked at her with a smile on her face. “Besides I didn’t call you over here to talk about gossip.” Applejack reached into the pocket of the gym shorts she was wearing and pulled out a small, slightly crumpled, pamphlet with the words “Welcome to Ponyville!!!” stamped on the front, exclamation marks and all. Underneath that was a picture of a small orange horse waving in the middle of what looked like a Sweet Apple Acres Orchard.”

Octavia gave Applejack a look. Applejack held up her hands, “Before you say anything, let it be known, I am contractually obligated to give you this.” She shook her head, “Contract or no, though, it’s still a pretty decent guide to Ponyville’s inner workings. Who’s in charge around here and the important figures you can find around town.”

Octavia opened up the first fold in the pamphlet. It described a brief history of the town, as well as it’s more mystical origins. She looked up from reading something about a covenant. “So is Ponyville an important town.”

Applejack burst out laughing, “Ponyville, important? Haha—No, wait, I take that back.” Her laughter quickly died, replaced with a thoughtful look on her face. She rubbed her chin, trying to collect her thoughts. “We didn’t use to be that big, but in recent years we’ve had some pretty big names show up in town, Vinyl included. Which I guess makes this," she tapped the pamphlet, "outdated" Octavia could see her body tense as a thought came to mind. "Everyone showing up, probably has something to do with—“

Octavia leaned in, one part of her hoping to hear whatever Applejack was saying. The other part hoping that mind reading was on the list of powers Vinyl had given her . . . It was not.

Applejack looked up. Suddenly remembering it was she was talking to, she decided to change the subject. “Oh,” she said as she reached for her other pocket. “There’s something else I was supposed to give you . . . Ah, here it is.” Applejack pulled out a small I.D card with her name on it. It was set up almost like a license, but not quite. It had the basic information (Blood type, age, but it also listed her species (human), who’s domain she was under (Vinyl Scratch), and the resident supervisor (Granny Smith). It also had a less than flattering picture of her that looked like it had been taken from last years yearbook

Octavia looked back up at Applejack. “As long as you have that, there’s no chance of you getting taken into custody. Just make sure you keep it on you at all times or things could get messy.” She winked. It was probably supposed to come off as charming, but the more Octavia learned about this mind-wiping process, the more disturbed she felt.

Despite herself, Octavia managed to smile back. “Well, that’s all I got for you today. If there’s ever anything you need, or if you have any questions about any of this, feel free to stop by the farm and ask.”

Octaiva blinked, “Are you sure?”

Applejack smiled, “Well of course, we’re friends aren’t we.”

Octavia felt herself tense up. Applejack considered them friends? And all this time she’d just considered the other girl a good source of information. Someone she could use to get closer to Vinyl, and all the secrets she was hiding. “And it’s official. I’m a terrible person.” She looked into the other girl’s eyes and smiled weakly.

A look that could easily be mistaken for earnestness, but in reality was laced with guilt. Applejack smiled, and walked off, headed towards the school building. Somewhere in the middle of their talk gym had ended and Coach was calling for as many people possible to help pick up equipment.

As soon as Applejack was out of earshot she let out a deep sigh, “I really don’t deserve a friend like her do I?” Applejack had been so honest and kind to her. And all she had thought about was how she could use her to get ahead.

Octavia started walking back onto the field. Berry Punch was struggling to carry six hurdles to the equipment shed, and was calling out for someone to help. Normally, Octavia would have just let someone else,help the girl and move on. But today she stopped, and watched for a moment, guilt still weighing down on her. “Maybe this is the reason I don’t have any friends,” she murmured.

Within seconds, Octavia had crossed the field and was taking a few of the hurdles from Berry's arms. Tossing back a sincere smile to the relieved girl, she started walking over to the equipment shed. Suddenly feeling a lot better, then she had most of the day.

Author's Note:

I am officially a failure as a writer. Why, you may ask? Because I failed at a key aspect of writing. True it's one that a lot of people mess up. But still, I should know better.

I'm of course talking about establishing Octavia. I've already established her as a character who she is, what she likes. That's fine. But I've gone seven chapters without giving you a single detail about what she looks like. True, there are cases where you can explicitly make that work, but this is not one of those cases. Shame on me as a writer.

On the bright side though, I've managed to get pass this part of the story. Originally, I was going to introduce the school in the second chapter, but after going through major writers block and a realization of kill your darlings I scrapped it altogether. I might just post it one of these days if I'm dragging behind on the story.
As always read review and I hope you enjoyed.