Chapter 19
“Let’s get this party started!” Pinkie Pie announced in her eternally bubbly, high-pitched voice. Obedient to their plan, Vinyl Scratch revealed herself by emerging from behind the mixing station she had been using to conceal herself from sight. With practiced ease she dropped a carefully-selected record onto the turntable and immediately launched into the first song. As the infectiously upbeat notes poured forth from the pounding speakers beside her she pumped her hoof into the air in jubilation; this was her scene. The music, the crowds, the atmosphere of celebration, it was all like home to her. After the previous day’s horror show she was glad to lose herself in something so innocent and wholesome.
The guests were obviously in agreement; everypony who was packed into the small garden clearing was already enjoying themselves. Even the Princesses were partaking of the party spirit. Vinyl towered over them all, trademark shades obscuring her red eyes as she controlled the flow of music and party alike. Inevitably, however, her gaze drifted to one conspicuous grey mare, lounging by the buffet nursing a drink of her own and looking expectantly towards the vibrant mare controlling the music that filled the space with optimism and celebration. “Hey, Pinkie, do you think you could handle things for a bit? I’ve got a special somepony who’d love a dance with yours truly,” she asked the other mare standing at the controls with her, pitching her voice to be heard over the music.
Pinkie replied with only a nod and a wide smile, making shooing motions with her forelegs. Vinyl quickly slipped out from behind the table and moved easily through the crowds, arrowing straight for where Octavia still stood, looking pensively in the other direction. "My lady, might I have this dance?” she whispered into her ear.
Startled, Octavia quickly turned her head to find the source of the invitation. “Vinyl? Sweet Celestia, don’t scare me like that. But, to answer your question, I’d like nothing better,” she said with a demure smile.
"Then shall we?" Vinyl asked with an inviting smile as she led the way out onto the dance floor.
Making their way through the throng of ponies dancing singly, in couples or small groups, Vinyl and Octavia found a place not yet occupied by other ponies. Turning to face each other, Octavia took the initiative and started a simple pattern of hoofsteps that Vinyl echoed automatically. They took their cue from the dancers around them, moving in time to the music and in harmony with one another. The crowds swirled around them in a barely-heeded blur of colors and motion, leaving the two mares as calm and unperturbed as the eye of a storm.
Amethyst and ruby met and melted together, lit by interior fire. The rhythm of their movement drowned out everything except the music and their own heartbeats; together they circled, turned and embraced at the whim of the melody. They hardly noticed or cared as first one hour elapsed, then two, sweat staining their coats and matting their manes. Finally, starting to feel the strain of their dancing, Octavia leaned in to whisper in Vinyl’s ear, “What do you say we go find somewhere a little quieter?”
“Sounds good to me,” Vinyl agreed with a nod.
Breaking away from the epicenter of the party where ponies still gathered to dance the night away, Vinyl and Octavia followed the example of a number of other couples who had sought privacy amongst the shadows that pooled between the trees and along the winding paths of the royal garden. Finding an unoccupied niche, they sat themselves down on the ground close enough together that they could feel each other’s warmth. Vinyl reached out her foreleg and draped it across Octavia’s shoulder, who in turn rested her head against Vinyl’s side.
The stars shone brilliantly above them in the clear night sky, a panorama of glinting diamonds accenting the glorious radiance of the moon. The illumination cast by the stellar bodies dispelled the darkness enough to reveal the partial outlines of each of the two mares, casting subtle reflections across eyes that gazed upwards and lending a sheen to Vinyl’s neon blue mane.
Silence fell around them for a while, distance and foliage reducing the vibrancy of the wedding celebrations and leaving only a thin whisper of festivity to intrude on their peace. “Vinyl?” Octavia finally asked, breaking the hushed atmosphere.
“Yeah, Octy?” Vinyl answered, her mind clearly somewhere else as she continued gazing skyward.
“Thank you. For trying to protect me from the changelings,” Octavia said quietly. “You were willing to die for me, weren’t you?” she asked again, her voice choked and thick.
That got Vinyl’s attention. She turned her head to peer searchingly into Octavia’s gaze, her red eyes glinting with emotion of her own. “Yes. Yes I was,” Vinyl replied with tender sincerity.
A sob escaped from Octavia and she buried herself deeper into Vinyl’s coat as if desperately trying to reassure herself that the pony beside her was flesh and blood rather than ethereal imagination.
“Shh,” Vinyl cooed softly in Octavia’s ear. “It doesn’t matter now, Octy. It’s all over.”
“B-but it does matter,” Octavia tearfully insisted. “Not every mare has a special somepony willing to die to protect them. I can’t decide whether to be terrified that you almost sacrificed yourself for me or happy that you cared enough for me to do so.”
“Octy, not every mare has a special somepony worth dying for. I’m just grateful that I do. Don’t worry any more about it.”
“I just—“ Octavia began uncertainly. Then, abandoning words she lifted her head from Vinyl’s side and pressed her mouth against her soft lips, closing her eyes and allowing Vinyl to prolong the experience as long as she cared to. Warmth built inside both mares, spreading through their veins like a gentle wildfire, playing across their lips like lightning. When they finally and reluctantly broke their embrace both mares were panting, out of breath and longing for more.
Vinyl continued staring at Octavia, an uncertain expression on her face as she seemed to be looking somewhere into the distance.
Should I or shouldn’t I?
“Vinyl, are you okay?” came the concerned inquiry from Octavia.
Vinyl gulped imperceptibly, trying to clear her dry throat, suddenly wishing for her shades to conceal her expression.
Oh Celestia, I didn’t prepare for this at all.
“Y-yeah, Tavi. I’m fine,” Vinyl managed to get out as her heart threatened to beat its way out of her chest. “It’s just—“
Still, if there was ever a time and place this is it . . .
“Yes, Vinyl?”
Don’t mess it up.
“Octaviawillyoumarryme?” Vinyl blurted in a single nervous breath. Seeing the look of confusion on Octavia’s face she mentally berated herself, resisting the urge to lay a hoof over her face in disbelief at her own incompetence.
“What? Vinyl, what on Equestria are you trying to say?”
Ugh, I am such a stupid foal. Smooth, Vinyl. You’re a bucking mastermind of seduction and romance.
“I said: Octavia, will you marry me?” Vinyl repeated, being careful to enunciate in comprehensible Equestrian.
Octavia froze, looking at her with such a lack of movement that Vinyl started to briefly entertain the notion that a cockatrice had snuck in and petrified her marefriend. Slowly, though, her frozen companion’s face began to curl into an enormous smile as the light of comprehension dawned in her eyes. Lurching forward with the unexpected speed of a striking beast, Octavia engulfed Vinyl in a painfully tight hug that ended with her pinning the surprised mare to the ground, her eyes reflecting the light of the stars and her tail swishing behind her in a rare display of uncontrolled emotion. “YesyesyesYES!” she gushed before burying herself and her now-fiancée in another passionate kiss that ended sooner than either of them would have liked. Gasping and out of breath, Octavia buried her face in the soft fur of Vinyl’s exposed chest, continuing her mantra of, “Yesyesyesyesohcelestiayesyesyes,” even as she continued to nuzzle. Vinyl’s coat tickled slightly at her face, but Octavia couldn’t imagine a more blissful feeling.
Vinyl herself wrapped her forelegs around Octavia, pulling her closer yet. The silken strands of Octavia’s mane parted as she gently stroked it with an idle hoof, occasionally allowing the tip of her hoof to graze Octavia’s neck, sending slight shivers up her spine. The night enveloped them as they luxuriated in each other, holding each other tight underneath the panorama of the night sky. “Vinyl?” a dreamy Octavia inquired minutes later.
“Yeah?” an equally content Vinyl replied.
“You didn’t plan for this in the slightest, did you?”
“Nope,” Vinyl answered without missing a beat. “Which is why I don’t have a ring or anything. But the moment was right and I couldn’t let it slip by. When am I ever gonna have a more romantic setting, huh?”
“Mmm, probably never. Celestia knows you couldn’t manage something so poignant on your own,” Octavia teased playfully.
“I’m just glad you didn’t propose to me in front of the whole crowd, Princesses and everything. I’d probably have died of embarrassment and shock.”
“Well, I may or may not have thought about doing exactly that,” Vinyl said with a mischievous smile. As Octavia shot her a horrified look, she chuckled and continued, “But I decided not to. All these ponies, this party, it’s all for the royals. It wouldn’t be fair for me to intrude on their special night. Besides, this is better; it’s just for us.”
“I have to admit, I think you’re right. This is much better; just the two of us, together.”
“On the other hoof,” Vinyl pondered with a faraway look in her eyes.
“Vinyl,” Octavia said in a warning tone.
“There are still plenty of ponies around and a big sound system I have access to. I bet I could cause a fair amount of fun to liven things up. In your honor, of course,” Vinyl continued obliviously.
Octavia rolled her eyes.
I swear, of all the ponies in Equestria I had to fall for this one . . .
With an unceremonious twist of her hoof, Octavia delivered a light blow to the side of Vinyl’s head, calculated to be just hard enough to get her attention. She yelped as if she had been electrocuted. “What the hay was that for?” she demanded. “All I said was that I could, theoretically, still manage to shake things up around here with a well-timed announcement and some uncouth displays of public affection. I didn’t say I actually would. Unless, you know, you want me to. Or we could skip right to the uncouth displays. I’d be ok with that too.” Another playful swat was administered and Vinyl cried out in hyperbolic pain once again. “Spousal abuse! Domestic violence! Mare-beater!”
“Vinyl, that last one doesn’t count if we’re both mares,” Octavia replied with another roll of her eyes and a smile tugging at her lips.
“What about the first two, then?” Vinyl asked in an exaggerated pout.
“Spousal abuse and domestic violence? I guess those were pretty accurate.”
“Octy! Is that any way to treat a delicate creature like me? I’m fragile and easily broken.” Vinyl protested with a huff.
Octavia opened her mouth to make another verbal sally, before something about Vinyl’s words clicked in her head.
Fragile and easily broken.
A memory rose unbidden, taking Octavia back to one difficult day last winter when she had seen just how fragile Vinyl could be.
“Vinyl, I couldn’t quite hear that,” Octavia said as gently as she could, leaning in closer to the DJ.
“I said I’m sorry,” Vinyl repeated, still quiet but audible this time.
“You’re sorry? Whatever for? Vinyl, you have no reason to apologize to me,” Octavia replied.
Vinyl’s head fell to gaze at the ground at her hooves, ears drooping. “I bucked everything up. I ruined everything,” she said morosely.
“What in Equestria are you talking about? You haven’t ruined anything!” Octavia said emphatically.
Vinyl laughed, a short and bitter sound that held no mirth. “Are you kidding me? I was so proud of myself, giving you a job and helping you keep your apartment. You ended up becoming my friend; you were impossibly generous and let me stay with you even though you hardly knew me. Somehow you even managed to find a way to love me and made me the happiest I’ve ever been. And then overnight I go and lose everything I’ve worked my whole life for, putting you right back in the same about-to-lose-your-apartment boat you were in originally. But, to make it worse, now you’re saddled with a good-for-nothing, deadbeat marefriend and roommate.”
“Vinyl, you’re not good-for-nothing at all, I lo –,” Octavia tried to interrupt, but Vinyl kept going regardless.
“If I were worth anything, I’d have been able to find a job by now to help support us both. Instead, all I did was make you give up your chance to turn your own career around to stay with me, Celestia alone knows why. The only idea I had was that stupid contest; you’ve been busting you flank for two months now trying to get paying jobs. At least you’ve made some money; all I’ve done is get reminded of how useless I am every time somepony tells me I’m not qualified to work at a bucking grocery store.”
Octavia listened in growing horror, Vinyl’s every bitter word a fresh sting that brought tears to her eyes in an echo of her closest friend’s pain.
“I’m nothing but a pony-shaped pile of uselessness,” Vinyl spat venomously, fresh tears coursing down her own face.
The remembered words and tears stung anew at Octavia’s eyes and she quickly squeezed her eyes shut, willing the painful recollection to subside.
“You know I would never do more than tease you,” Octavia reassured her.
“I know,” Vinyl agreed with a gentle nuzzle against the side of Octavia’s face. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me. Still, it’s way too much fun for me to skirt the edge of your patience sometimes.”
“Oh, you do skirt the edge quite a lot, but I wouldn’t have you any other way. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t secretly afraid that I might start beating you or anything ridiculous like that, you silly filly.”
“Nah,” Vinyl cheerfully demurred. “We both know I could take you, anyway.”
Octavia closed her eyes and sighed.
What did I ever do to deserve this?
But she was smiling as she opened her eyes again, pinning Vinyl with her smoldering gaze. “I think you’d better rethink that, dear Vinyl,” she whispered huskily before leaning in for another kiss. And this one didn’t end too soon. It didn’t end for a very long time.
The sun rose over Ponyville on a pristine day the same as any other. The sun shone through white, fluffy clouds tended carefully by the hooves of the local weather pegasi. A slight breeze ruffled the verdant leaves on the trees that cast their shadows on the ground and the faint scent of future rain hung in the air.
The newsstands bustled, selling copies of a half a dozen newspapers, each one bearing dramatic photographs and stories of the changeling invasion juxtaposed with the social highlight of the Royal Wedding. Ponies practically ate it up, simultaneously smiling at the photos of the happy couple and gasping at the catastrophic invasion that had threatened the heart of Equestrian power.
Questions were asked and theories, each more bizarre and insane than the last, made the rounds of gossip and whispers.
And all of it went unheeded by two mares that lay entwined together on their bed, lost in their own personal heaven. “Vinyl?” Octavia asked quietly, in case her newly-proposed partner was still asleep.
“Yeah, Octy?” Vinyl answered.
“I suppose we have to plan a wedding now, don’t we?” Octavia murmured.
“Yup,” Vinyl answered without opening her eyes.
“And talk to our families,” Octavia continued.
“Uh huh,” Vinyl confirmed.
“And get dresses. And rings,” Octavia added to her growing checklist.
“Probably a good idea,” Vinyl agreed.
“Do you feel like doing any of that right now?” Octavia asked.
“Not really,” Vinyl said.
“Works for me,” Octavia said, and buried her head deeper in Vinyl’s mane, relishing in its soft tickling sensation across her face.
“Octy?” Vinyl asked as she ran a hoof through Octavia’s own jet-black mane.
“Hm?” Octavia mumbled as an answer.
“Don’t you have music students today?”
“Yes, indeed I do later this afternoon,” Octavia replied with a trace of regret at the thought of getting out of bed. “Vinyl?”
“Huh?” Vinyl replied.
“Do you . . . do you regret anything?” Octavia asked.
“What’dya mean, Octy?”
“Do you regret moving here with me instead of staying in Canterlot and trying to get your club back together? I mean, it was your dream and everything, and you are definitely not living that dream here. I confess, I sometimes feel a little guilty that we didn’t try to restart Club P0n-3 after the fire, since it meant so much to you.” Octavia admitted with a concerned tone.
“No,” Vinyl answered simply.
“But—“
“You’re right,” Vinyl continued without stopping. “It was my dream and I worked hard for it. I was torn apart when I lost it. But what hurt me worse was that once the club burned down I wasn’t able to provide for you anymore like I had been. I was more upset that I was letting you down than anything else. And that’s when I realized that you had become more important to me than my own dream. I guess you could say I had a new dream; I wanted to be with you and make you happy. And that dream is coming as true as I could ever hope. So, no, Tavi; I don’t regret anything.”
“Vinyl,” Octavia began with a trembling voice and a heart bursting with happiness. “I promise you, I intend to make that dream come true every single day for the rest of our lives.”
“And that’s all I need to make me the happiest mare in Equestria,” Vinyl said with equal feeling. “I’ve got you; we’ve got a home and jobs we like. Things may not have worked out the way we thought, but they turned out okay in the end.”
Instead of answering Octavia simply leaned in to press her lips against Vinyl’s, eyes closed in bliss. “I don’t have to get ready for my students for a while yet,” she whispered seductively.
“Mmm,” Vinyl murmured without breaking the kiss. Finally she gently extricated herself and whispered in her partner’s ear, “Just stay with me, Octy.”
“You know I will, Vinyl. Always,” Octavia promised without hesitation before wrapping Vinyl back up in her embrace, melding her body against her lover’s as they simultaneously relished in the present and looked forward to a future filled with harmony.
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
939 users online
363,781 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Took too long to update.
NOW I HAVE TO RE-READ IT!
I think they don't do make O/V wedding pics because most of the fandom is focused on them becoming a couple still.
Yay. Marriage bells, call Pinkie. Wonderful chapter darling
feel a little guilty that we didn’t try to restart Clun P0n-3 after the fire, since it meant so much to you.”
i think it was club
1823169
Fixed, and thank you kindly
(Microsoft Word and/or Google Chrome, y u no mark that as wrong?
)
Club Pon3 perhaps?
Time to read the epilogue! Or whatever you would call the chapter that follows this...
Great chapter,
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Octavia_cake.png
I've been waiting for this! You did not disappoint!
An update!? Of the ending!? ABOUT FREAKING TIME! The suspense was annoying...
...But that showed how much I enjoyed the story from beggining to end.
Not too many stories that show scenarios in which the characters manage to stay toghether(barely) in spite of tension like the ones shown here. And there were quite a few, there were even remnants of that in the end. This certainly felt different.
Also... it seems that Pinkie was left in charge of Vinyl's console all night wasn't she.
Random question, how do you manage those breaks?
YUUUUUUUSSSS!!!!! It was awesome!!!
I don't think I have a picture of Vinyl/Tavi being married either. Hmmm, someone needs to get on this immediately...
My only complaint here is in regards to both Octavia and Vinyl not getting their lives back on track. Why can't they try their hand at their respective dreams again?
Just three words: Mother fucking D'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW
Ok, that was beautiful. And completely unexpected to be honest, which just adds to the beauty of it. Bravo, bravo I say!
This was such a great chap-*Clenches chest* Oh no
the feelz...they got me!...HHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!
DJ-Pon-3 approved
This is sweetapplejacker's doctor, We are sad to announce that he has passed due to a feels overload.
seriously it was perfect.
My gosh this was so beautifully written!
… “graze Octavia’s” – Double-spaced the area between the two words. Amazingly, I tried doing this on Microsoft Word and it auto-corrected it, but when I manually double-spaced it a second time, it didn’t, for once, say there was an error… Huh… Weird.
An adorable ending for an amazing story, even if there are several little plot points left for questioning:
- Who or what caused the fire at Club P0n-3?
- How did Octavia not know who Rarity was, after ‘Sweet and Elite’?
- What will occur when Lyra, who also lives in Ponyville, and Vinyl & Octavia, meet each other?
- As deep as I can imagine the story going, how much deeper can the characters be made, in terms of not only their priorities and jobs, but their very personalities and life goals? (Octavia swore to find a way for Vinyl to get her ‘dream’ back, and even after Vinyl’s words of affection, knowing Octavia, she would still have a plan brewing in her head. Likewise, Vinyl has three employees that she had been paying. I hope they at least make the Wedding Reception, if not as honored guests, then perhaps as wedding bouncers and a bartender.
All things considered, my final verdict for the story as a whole, will be awaiting its judgment on the final chapter, “Harmony Redux”. It will go well beyond the basic “constructive criticism”. THAT’S for the single chapters. This is a story-based comment! We go ALL OUT with a detailed analysis, not only reading and analyzing characters, but previous comments and the author's skills!
… The grin on my face cannot be any wider as I type that.
This was a fantastic story . It had great tension, real emotions, beautiful love, and a few good laughs. The writing and flow of the plot were excellent. I am only left wondering how did the fire start, I can only surmise it was some kind of electrical issue. Truly an excellent work though great job
You say there isn't any artwork.
Just have to look in the right places.
Wedding
I've read quite a few stories on this site in the past several months, some of them pretty long, in the hundred-thousand or more word-count, and while this wasn't one of them, it was still what I would call 'long'.
I point this out because this is the first 'long' story I've ever wanted to read all in one sitting, the past few hours some of the best I've spent reading a fic.
I don't properly have words to communicate just how much I liked this story or why, even my usual methods of conveying particular fondness for a work (I'm one of those that only favorite stories I would like to read more than once, perhaps many times more in the future, and I'm wishing I could favorite this at least twice) seem to lack appropriate meaning, so I hope it won't be a bother if I try blathering them here in no particular order.
Thank you.
First: This ties in perfectly with the show, I think. Headcannon(s) established!
If it didn't look like emote abuse, I'd probably tally the feels delivered by this story in those convenient facial expressions lying tantalyzingly on the side of my screen. One such emote I use when no others really seem to suffice; The Moustache!
I find myself going down a checklist for ways I can show I liked the story integrated into the site. Like Button? Check. Comment? Check. Moustache? Check. Favorite? Check. All of those things again? If only.
Well, after reading a story that put me in a really, really bad mood, this uplifted my spirits. And the other story put me in a bad mood right before I read this chapter. So technically it only took one chapter to cheer me up. I think that really says something about this story. So full of goodness.
NOTHING ON GOOGLE IMAGES?! Well then, such a thing has never happened and never will. Sorry to say.