The 63 files

by punisher143

OctaScratch pt. 3

>Resuming observation for case 55: Vinyl Scratch and Octavia<

---

‘I cannot believe I actually came here,’ Octavia thought to herself as she stood in front of the club. She double checked the note Vinyl left her to make sure it was the right place and once she was sure she entered.

The inside of the club was cleaner than Octavia expected, although the general atmosphere was still what she expected. Aside from a few lights scattered around, the interior was almost pitch black. Octavia looked around the inside for any signs of life, but found only the bartender for the moment. She walked over to him and sat down.

“How can I help you miss?” the bartender asked. Octavia looked around once more before answering.

“Would there happen to be somepony named Vinyl Scratch here, would there?” she asked.

“You mean DJ Pon-3? You’re a little early, he’s not supposed to be here for a while,” he said and then motioned at the bottles behind him, “You want something to drink while you wait?” Octavia sighed a little.

“Straight whiskey,” she answered. The bartender nodded and walked away to prepare the drink. The door opened and a pegasus walked in. He looked around for a moment before heading to Octavia.

“Um, this is the place where DJ Pon-3 will be playing right?” he asked nervously.

“Yes, that is what I heard,” Octavia answered. The bartender placed Octavia’s drink in front of her. “Thanks,” she offered, to which the bartender nodded and turned to the pegasus.

“Oh um…whatever she’s having?” he said nervously. The bartender nodded again and walked away to get it, leaving Octavia and the pegasus alone. Octavia could have sworn that the pegasus might die from nervousness soon. “Oh man, I suck at talking to mares. What do I say?” he whispered to himself. Octavia took a sip of her whiskey and cleared her throat before speaking.

“So, what’s your name?” she asked and the pegasus jumped a little at the question.

“W-what?”

“I asked what your name was, but I suppose it would be more polite to introduce myself first. My name is Octavia.” She held out a hoof and didn’t notice the pegasus’ attitude do a complete 180.

“No way, it’s a small world. I was talking with Vinyl about you yesterday,” he said and chuckled, “I guess if you’re a friend of Vinyl, you can call me Tobias.” He shook Octavia’s hoof and nodded his thanks at the bartender when he bought the drink over. Octavia was a little unpleased at this development.

‘Out of all the ponies in this city that could walk in, it had to be one of Mr. Scratch’s friends. It’s like the world’s playing one huge joke on me,’ she thought and turned back to her whiskey. There was no real conversation between the two for a few minutes, but the silence was broken when Tobias spoke up.

“So are you here to see Vinyl’s show too?” he asked. Octavia answered with a nod. “That’s cool. You know this is actually my first time seeing him work too. I’m really excited about it.” He bounced in the seat a little with a huge grin. Octavia shook her head and took a sip of whiskey. The door opened a second time and Vinyl walked in.

“Great, there’s somepony here. Can some of you help me with my stuff?” he said and motioned behind him.

“Sure thing,” Tobias said and happily walked to Vinyl. Octavia quietly sighed and followed. Outside the club there were at least half a dozen boxes full of…things.

“Ok, if you both can take at least one of these boxes I can probably get the rest,” Vinyl said and looked over at Octavia, “Hi Octy, glad you could come.” Octavia didn’t say anything and gestured for Vinyl to hurry. “Oh fine, here,” he said and levitated a crate onto her back nearly taking her off guard. He also put one of the boxes on Tobias’ back and Tobias grunted from the effort.

“Dang, this is heavy. Where do you want it?” Tobias asked and walked back into the club with Octavia and Vinyl following.

“Just put it anywhere on the dance floor will be fine, now come on I only have an hour to set all this up!” Vinyl said and looked back to make sure the boxes levitating behind him were alright. The three of them walked onto the empty dance floor and set the boxes haphazardly down. Vinyl immediately set about opening and unpacking the contents.

“Anything else you need?” Tobias asked. Vinyl lifted several cables out and inspected them.

“I’ll let you know if I do, now shoo I have work to do.” Vinyl nodded in satisfaction and moved to the back of the floor with the cables in tow.

“Man, I’ve never seen Vinyl so focused about something. Usually he’s joking around and happy y’know?” Tobias turned to where Octavia was only to find that she had moved back to the bar. Tobias felt a little foolish and was about to do the same when Vinyl called out to him.

“Hey Tobias, get your flank back here, I may need your help after all.” Tobias walked to Vinyl smiling widely. Octavia chose to focus only on her drink for the next couple of minutes. “Wait no, don’t put that there!” There was some kind of crashing from behind Octavia.

“Oops, sorry,” Tobias said. Octavia sat for a moment before the work continued behind her.

‘Don’t look Octavia, it’s not worth it,’ she thought to herself and took a sip of her drink. There was nothing interesting going on for the next few minutes, which Octavia was grateful for. But such things don’t last forever.

“Hey ‘Tavi, I need your help for a moment,” Vinyl called out. Octavia sighed and turned around, and found herself surprised at the setup that Vinyl managed to set up. Then again, she hadn’t been paying attention for 15 minutes or so. Either way Octavia walked onto the dance floor.

“What do you need?” she asked. Vinyl pointed over at Tobias, who was standing in the middle of the floor.

“I need you to stand next to Tobias so I can get an accurate sound check. Can you do that?” Octavia nodded and walked over to where Tobias was. There she noticed that he was shaking with excitement. “Ok, let me get something simple started for this, so hold on,” Vinyl said and started digging behind the turntable he set up. After a moment he levitated a record up and set it on the player. He focused some magic into the turntable and a song started playing. Octavia was nearly deafened by the volume.

“So how is it?” Vinyl asked over the music.

“It’s too loud!” Octavia yelled back.

“What?”

“Too loud!”

“I can’t hear you, there’s a song in the way.”

“I said it’s,” the music stopped mid-sentence, though Octavia didn’t realize, “too loud!”

“Really? It sounds fine to me. What do you think Tobias?” The two turned to the pegasus, who was staring into space and jerked out of it after a second.

“I’m sorry I blinked out for a minute. Did you start yet?” Vinyl and Octavia stared at him for a moment. “What?”

“…No we haven’t started yet, but try and pay attention when we do.” Vinyl said shaking his head a little and started playing the song again at a lower volume. Since she was no longer deafened, Octavia could actually focus on the song and recognized it from the first opening lyrics.

“Ugh, I hate this song,” Octavia whispered.

“What, how do you not like this song? This is probably one of Sapphire Shores’ biggest hits,” Tobias said.

“Precisely, every time I try to listen to something on the radio I hear this song. It gets annoying after a while.”

“Vinyl can you believe this? She doesn’t like this song!”

“You leave him out of this!”

“Please fillies, you’re both pretty, but how does it sound?” Vinyl shouted at them.

“It sounds alright I guess. I don’t know what you’re looking for,” was Tobias’ answer. Octavia took a few more seconds to answer.

“It seems off somehow.”

“What do you mean?” Vinyl asked and started walking over to her.

“It just sounds off.” Vinyl stopped next to her and listened carefully as the song played. After about ten seconds of listening Vinyl sighed and walked back to the station.

“This stupid speaker, it’s always messing up,” Vinyl said and started playing with some of the cables. A screech of static erupted from it before it settled back into the song. “Is that better?” Vinyl asked and walked back into the center.

“I guess.” Octavia said.

“I can hear it,” was Tobias’ answer. Vinyl stopped and listened a bit more before nodding.

“Alright, this is good. I’ll work out the minor kinks later.” Vinyl walked back to the turntable and stopped the music.

“So, is there anything else that you need us to do?” Octavia asked with a hint of sarcasm.

“Nah I’m good, I’ll be back at showtime,” Vinyl said and walked past Octavia and out of the club.

“What?”

“I heard he likes to appear out of nowhere when he starts his shows,” Tobias said, “It adds to the mystery or something.” Tobias walked back to the bar and Octavia sighed and followed.

‘Accursed DJ, I can’t believe he talked me into this! Ah what am I saying, this can’t possibly be as bad as I’m thinking.’

---

“I had to say something didn’t I?”

One thing Octavia had learned during her life, it was that she did not like club goers. As such, Octavia drank her third glass of whiskey and tried desperately to ignore the whoops and hollers of the crowd behind her.

It wasn’t working well.

Even worse than the crowd was the ‘music’ that was currently playing. Octavia had no idea why this constant thumping and ear rending noise was considered good to these ponies and she was sure the answer would forever elude her. She took another sip of whiskey when a stallion wearing a blue hoodie with the hood up and some saddlebags to cover his cutie mark.

It didn’t even take Octavia a second to recognize Vinyl.

“Why did you change into that?” she asked which caused Vinyl to jump a little.

“Uh, I do not know what you talking about,” Vinyl said in a bad Stalliongrad accent, “I just come here for show and drink.”

“And why are you talking like that Mr. Scra-“ and at that moment, Octavia discovered the very unpleasant experience of getting a hoof shoved into her mouth. She was also sure if she could see the glare Vinyl was giving her through the goggles.

“Shut up, are you trying to blow my cover?!” he whispered harshly at her and looked around to make sure no one had heard her, which they hadn’t. Once that was established, Vinyl removed his hoof from Octavia’s mouth and shook some saliva off. Octavia coughed a little and glared at Vinyl.

“And what was that for?” she asked.

“I can’t have you tell them I’m here,” Vinyl pointed at the crowd who were still jumping and dancing to the music, “It’d ruin my entrance.”

“I don’t think they’re paying attention to what’s going on around them, so I doubt they will hear me back here.”

“You’d be surprised what these kinds of people can pick up.” Vinyl seemed to shiver a little, probably from some memory of parties long past, when the bartender walked up to the two of them.

“Can I get you anything?” he asked.

“More whiskey please,” Octavia said and pushed her glass forward.

“Allow me to think for one moment,” Vinyl said switching back to the accent and put a hoof to his chin, “I will have a, how you say, painkiller.”

“You need to work on the accent,” the bartender said and took Octavia’s glass and walked down the bar.

“Was it that bad?” Vinyl asked turning to Octavia.

“Yes it was,” she said bluntly, “I’m sure if you tried that in Stalliongrad you would be pounded into paste.”

“Heh, good thing I can’t legally enter there for a few years.”

“…what?”

“Yeah, one time I went there, did a show, got drunk and blacked out. I woke up on a train to Manehattan with a note saying I’ll be arrested if I enter the city again in the next three years. I also apparently caused at least 1000 bits in property damage, which the city took from me when I was out.”

“…What exactly did you do?” Octavia was honestly curious about that.

“I have no idea, but it must have been awesome if it got me banned from a city.” Vinyl flashed a grin at Octavia who, after a few seconds of thinking, decided not to pursue that conversation any further.

“So how long will this take? I don’t think I can take any more of this noise.” Vinyl couldn’t help but chuckle a little.

“Heh, yeah dubstep is kind of an acquired taste, but I guarantee you that you’ll like what I play.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Oh really, wanna bet on it?” Octavia looked at Vinyl with the most neutral expression she could give.

“I’m not a betting pony.”

“Still, you’re going to like this. It’s just whether or not you like one of the songs I’ll play.” Octavia had to admit, he had her interest.

“What would the parameters be?” she asked.

‘Gotcha,’ Vinyl thought. “If you don’t like any of them, I’ll give you a hundred bits. I’m getting paid well for this show so I’ll be good for it.” Octavia looked at him with clear disbelief on her still neutral face.

“And if I do like one? What do you get then?” Vinyl lifted the goggles to look Octavia in the eye.

“If I win, your lovely company would be all I need.” Much against her will, Octavia blushed a deep shade of red and felt her skin tingle.

“This seems like a very one sided deal!” she said slightly louder than she wanted.

“Yeah, in your favor. Either I pay you directly or I pay for your drinks for the rest of the night. Either way, you win.” Octavia stared into his eyes, purple meeting red for half a minute, before she looked away trying desperately to hide her burning cheeks.

“Fine,” she said. The bartender returned with their drinks and Octavia immediately took the glass and drank it all in a few seconds and pushed the glass back. “More please.”

“You shouldn’t drink whiskey like that, it’s bad for you,” Vinyl said and lowered his goggles and grabbed the cocktail with his magic. “Spasibo, now if you’ll excuse me I have to go evacuate the dance floor.” Vinyl then walked off into the dancing crowd. The bartender returned with a full glass which Octavia gratefully took.

‘Why did I agree to that?! I wasn’t in control of my actions again! Damn him and his gorgeous eyes,’ Octavia thought and took a sip of whiskey and started to feel the effects from the drink. Not enough to be drunk but definitely enough to be tipsy. Not even a second later Octavia and the rest of the crowd were spooked when all the lights and music suddenly went out.

Some ponies in the crowd screamed, but most murmured amongst themselves. That all stopped instantly when a screen at the back lit up a blinding white, highlighting the turntable and a pony who hadn’t been there before the blackout. The crowd was quiet for a moment before they erupted into cheers of ‘Pon-3, Pon-3, Pon-3!’

Vinyl, now totally into party mode, took off his jacket and flung it out into the crowd, where one lucky mare managed to catch it. He took a sip from his drink before nonchalantly kicking open a case, levitating a record out, and setting it on the turntable. Vinyl’s horn grew brighter as he set a hoof on the record and spun it with a dramatic motion which caused magical sparks to fly out and dissipate over the crowd while the screen changed to a cavalcade of bright colors. The new beat and the visuals whipped the crowd into a frenzy again and they started dancing with a renewed fervor.

“Showoff,” was all Octavia had to say on the matter.

---

Vinyl was well in his element and, if it weren’t for the fact that Princess Celestia would have to raise the sun eventually, he could have kept this going forever. Vinyl’s mind was racing with all the minor alterations to the beat, volume, lights, visuals, and all the other minor details he had memorized but couldn’t remember, all while absentmindedly nodding his head to the songs. Every now and then, Vinyl would glance at the bar and saw that, at the very least, Octavia was paying attention to the show.

After who knows how long into the show (Vinyl had a hard time keeping track of the time while working, usually because he was too busy losing himself to the music) he glanced at the turntable’s built in clock to find it was nearing 2 A.M.

‘Almost time to wrap up,’ he thought as he lowered his goggles to rub his eyes, making sure to keep them closed until the goggles were back in place. He looked over the crowd and couldn’t help the large grin as they jumped and danced excitedly. He managed to pick out Tobias enjoying himself dancing with some mare near a corner, as well as that mare who had caught his jacket still holding onto it.

‘Well, I riled them up.’ Vinyl turned to the record box and pulled out his last record for the night, ‘Time to bring them down.’

---

Octavia glanced back at Vinyl as the current ‘song’ seemed to be coming to an end. At this point the world was slightly more blurry and the songs had sort of blended into each other until she had eventually stopped caring.

‘I hope this ends soon, I’m really tired,’ she thought and emptied what might have been her tenth glass of whiskey. She nearly groaned when Vinyl pulled out yet another record and set it on the turntable. She turned back to the bar and was about to call for the bartender when the song started and stopped her in her tracks.

There were no high pitched techno beats or booming bass, simply a soft melody that drifted over the room like velvet. Octavia dared to look back and found the crowd was starting to settle down. They were still dancing, but it was more subdued, like a switch had been flipped to change their entire being. Vinyl was nodding his head softly in time to the beats.

She couldn’t do anything more than stare at him as more soft instruments joined its blooping brother in harmony.After a few minutes the soft beeping that seemed to be lulling Octavia to sleep gave way to a slightly more upbeat and energetic stage of the song.

The lead up to this song, the same kind of song that was making this crowd dance like mad ponies not even a few minutes ago, was all it took to hook Octavia. It might have been the alcohol in her system talking to her, but something about the song seemed to be calling to her. She continued staring at Vinyl as she got up from her seat and walked into the
crowd.

The song’s melody, both gentle and exciting, guided Octavia through the crowd until she was near the front. Vinyl’s head was dancing up and down to the fast paced beat and yet Octavia could feel his eyes on her. Her skin tingled with that familiar electrifying feeling as she swayed back and forth to the music. The fast paced melody soon slowed down and soon faded out into silence, a few ghostly notes resounding in the room before silence finally took over. The crowd started stomping their hooves in applause as well as letting out a few cheers.

It took Octavia a few seconds to realize she was among those applauding.

Vinyl took the record off and set it carefully in the box. Some volunteer ponies came on stage to pack up his things. Vinyl walked over to the part of the stage where the mare with his jacket was and pointed at her. The mare looked down at the jacket, back up at Vinyl who nodded, and lifted the jacket up to him which was soon enveloped in magic and lifted up to him. Vinyl put the jacket on, nodded his thanks, and walked off stage.

Once Vinyl was out of her sight, Octavia realized where she was and walked off the dance floor with several other ponies. She was almost to the bar when somepony poked her side, which caused her to jump a little and turned to find Vinyl standing there. He motioned for her to follow him which she did. Outside the stage ponies were loading Vinyl’s stuff into a small cart. Vinyl stopped next to it and turned to Octavia.

“So, I take it you liked the last song?” It took Octavia a second to realize the question was directed at her.

“Oh, oh yeah. The bleeps and bloops were very pretty.” Vinyl raised an eyebrow at the answer.

“Are you ok? How many drinks have you had?” Octavia took a moment to think it over, slightly swaying back and forth.

“Uuuuuuuuuuuh, ten-ish.”

“Ten-ish?” Vinyl asked a little taken aback, “Do you even remember where you live?” Octavia giggled a little.

“Don’t be silly, of course I do.”

“Alright then, where is it?” Octavia silently stared at him and Vinyl tilted his head.

“I forgot.” Vinyl sighed heavily and shook his head.

“Good thing I only had a couple drinks tonight, because I’m gonna have such a headache tonight.” Vinyl took his goggles off and let them hang from his neck before looking back up at Octavia. “Look, you can crash at my place for tonight if it’s alright with you.” Octavia perked up a little and smiled at Vinyl.

“Ah, so that was your plan all this time eh? Bug me enough so I would get drunk enough so I would agree to go to your place.” She leaned closer to Vinyl who leaned back only slightly. “A very clever plan Mr. Scratch, and I have to tell you, it might work.”

“Pfft, in your dreams.” A hoof tapped Vinyl’s shoulder and he looked at one of the stage ponies.

“Your stuff is ready to go and your payment’s in your bag,” he said.

“Thanks.” The pony nodded and walked away and Vinyl hitched himself to the cart and looked at Octavia. “You can either walk or ride in the cart, your choice.” Octavia laughed and walked up to him.

“Such a gentlecolt, I’ll take the cart thank you.” Octavia walked past him and swished her tail across his muzzle as she did so. Vinyl didn’t even blink and waited until Octavia was in the cart before setting off at a light trot.

‘Ugh, I hate drunk mares. Way too clingy.’

---

“Pffft, you actually live here? It’s way too small.”

“We just reached my door, we’re not in my apartment yet.” Vinyl had already grown tired of drunk Octavia and just wanted to go to bed. As such he wasted no time in unlocking the door and opened it. Octavia stumbled into the apartment, nearly tripping on the door along the way, and Vinyl followed her with his show stuff.

“Wow, this is much better than I expected. I thought you lived in some roach infested…thingie,” Octavia said as she poked at his couch. Vinyl stacked the boxes near the door barely listening to her.

“Uh huh.”

“Wow, is it hot in here or is it me?” Octavia asked and tugged at her bowtie.

“It’s just you,” Vinyl said as he hung up his jacket. He glanced at Octavia who was taking off her bowtie in what he thought was supposed to be a sensual way, but it was really kind of fumbling. She put the bow on Vinyl’s table and walked towards him with half closed eyes and red face, most likely from the whiskey.

“So, where are we going to sleep?” she asked. Vinyl pointed at his room.

“You’re sleeping in there,” he said flatly. Octavia followed his hoof and walked to the door.

“Ooh, big bed. I hope it’s comfy,” she said and walked inside. When Vinyl got to the door Octavia was already lying on the bed snuggling up against a pillow. “Are you coming?” she asked with those half lidded eyes.

“In a minute, I need to do something. Just make yourself comfy.” Octavia nodded and Vinyl walked into his kitchen to make sure he had…well it didn’t matter, as long as it gave him enough time for Octavia to fall asleep. Once a few minutes had passed he checked on her and, sure enough, she was out cold and snoring softly. Vinyl smiled softly and moved the covers on top of her before quietly leaving the room, closing the door, and heading to the couch.

---

The next morning Octavia was woken up by the alarm clock and she quickly ceased it’s ringing to lessen the pain in her head. When the ringing stopped she decided to sleep a bit longer and settled back into the pillow. That is, until she realized she wasn’t in her apartment.

Octavia shot up and looked around the room, thankfully finding that she was alone in the bed. At this moment several questions ran through Octavia’s head.

What happened last night?

Did I do anything?

Where’s my bowtie?

With these questions in mind, Octavia got off the bed, slowly walked to the door, and opened it. The room outside was probably one of the most messy rooms she had ever seen, with papers scattered over the floor as well as what might be take out containers, although she couldn’t really tell. She also saw Vinyl lying on the couch, twitching and mumbling in his sleep.

“Y…you and my friends should hang out… on the weekends.” Octavia shook her head and walked over to him.

‘I don’t understand how anypony can live in such a sordid mess,’ Octavia thought and poked Vinyl in the side, which only caused Vinyl to roll over and mumble something about hearts. Octavia gave him a firmer poke to his back, which once again caused Vinyl to roll over. Octavia, eye twitching from annoyance, decided to forego subtlety in favor of waking him up. She rose to her hind legs, knowing no one would stay asleep through-

“Hi Octy!”

Octavia screamed and fell onto her back when Vinyl suddenly shot up into her face and yelled that. She managed to roll onto her stomach in time to see Vinyl laughing.

“Hahaha, that was fun,” he said and then fell back onto the couch asleep again. Octavia’s eye twitched again as she got up and prodded him not so gently.

“Don’t you dare fall asleep on me, you have some explaining to do!” she yelled. Vinyl rubbed his eyes and looked up at her.

“Do you have to yell at this time? I shouldn’t even be up right now.”

“Shouldn’t be up, it’s nine in the morning!”

“Exactly, wake me up when it’s one o’clock. Or don’t, I don’t care.” Vinyl looked at his bedroom door then back to Octavia. “So can I sleep in my bed now that you’re awake?”

“Not until you tell me what happened last night! And where’s my bowtie?!” Vinyl pointed at the table and Octavia took the bowtie and expertly put it on.

“And don’t get your hopes up, nothing happened,” Vinyl said and, with a lot of effort, sat up on the couch.

“I am not getting any hopes up, and I hope you’ll forgive me for not entirely trusting your account,” Octavia said making a minor adjustment to her bow.

“And I totally understand, but here’s the thing, I don’t like dealing with drunk mares.” Vinyl hopped off the couch and walked to the kitchen. “The only reason you’re here in the first place is because I didn’t know where you lived.” Octavia thought that over as Vinyl dug through his cupboards.

“So nothing happened?” she finally asked.

“Look ‘Tavi, I know you well enough to have a good idea what would happen if I tried that: You’d see me lying next to you, you’d kick my ass, yell at me, kick my ass some more, and then leave never to speak to me again. Am I wrong?”

Octavia had to admit he was probably right.

“Besides, I like hanging out with you too much to do something like that.” Vinyl closed the cupboard and walked to the fridge.

“So, I can go?” Octavia asked.

“Sure, it might take some searching for you to get home, but it shouldn’t be too much-“ Vinyl opened the fridge door and immediately recoiled from it, “Oh sweet Celestia, what is that?!”

“What’s what?” Octavia asked and walked over to the fridge, where she also flinched back from the contents, “Oh goodness, what is that?!”

The contents of the fridge were…strange to say the least. Most of the contents were covered in some kind of green-purple moss.

“You…eat this stuff?” Octavia asked.

“Hell no, this stuff wasn’t here yesterday!” Vinyl yelled pointing at the moss.

“I think it just moved!” Octavia yelled and backed away from the fridge, which was quickly shut by Vinyl. They stared at the fridge for a moment and Vinyl turned to Octavia.

“Tell you what, how about I walk you to your house. Away from my fridge.”

“Uh, that’s quite alright Mr. Scra-“

“I insist!” Vinyl said and started pushing Octavia toward the door, “I’ll buy you breakfast along the way, my treat.”

“That is not necessary,” Octavia said and tried her best to stop herself from being pushed, only to be thrown off when Vinyl turned her around and looked into her eyes.

“Please don’t leave me alone with that thing,” he pleaded. Octavia stared into his red eyes and felt that tingle cross her skin again, not really helped by the closeness between them. Octavia blushed a little and looked away.

“Fine, since you’re being so pushy,” she said and was relieved when Vinyl backed up.

“Thanks, just give me a second to get my stuff.” Vinyl walked over to his wall of goggles and, after careful consideration, he chose a pair with lenses almost as red as his eyes and put his backpack on. “Ok, let’s go,” he said and led the way out of the apartment, Octavia rather reluctantly following behind.

---

“So, do you mind if I ask you something?” Octavia asked. The walk was lacking in conversation up to this point and something had been bothering Octavia for a while.

“Sure,” Vinyl said and took a bite from the doughnut he had gotten. To call that ‘breakfast’ would be a bit of an overstatement, but he’d manage with just that for now.

“Why do you have so many pairs of goggles? Are you obsessed or something?”

“Nah, I just prefer variety in my style. I don’t like to assume, but I would guess that you have a bunch of bowties at your house.”

“Yes, it would be best to not assume such things.” There was no way she was going to tell him he was right. Vinyl finished his doughnut and looked around.

“So, how much farther to your house?” Octavia looked around a little.

“Not much farther,” she answered. They continued walking without conversation and after a while they stopped in front the building Octavia lived in. Octavia looked over at Vinyl, who looked at her grinning widely, and sighed. “You’re going to follow me, aren’t you?”

“Only if you want me too,” he replied.

“I don’t…but you’re going to do it anyway right?”

“Yeah, but look at it this way. The next time you get blind drunk, I’ll be able to know where to drop you off.”

“Don’t count on that,” Octavia said and walked toward the building and Vinyl followed.

“You never know.” The two entered the building and walked up the stairs. After a couple flights Vinyl started humming a tune.

“Please don’t hum.” Octavia said.

“Man, you’re stingy,” Vinyl said. Thankfully they soon got off the stairs and were in front of Octavia’s door. She had barely unlocked and opened it when Vinyl walked inside.

“I did not say you can come inside!” she said forcefully at him.

“Technically you didn’t say anything either way, so it was an open offer. This is a pretty swanky place you have here.” Octavia sighed, walked inside, and shut the door behind her. She walked past Vinyl, who was just taking in her apartment, and into the kitchen to get a proper breakfast ready.

“How much does this place cost? I might get a place like- WHA?!”

“It took a while to pay this off, I doubt you could afford it,” Octavia said and looked in her fridge.

“Frog,” Vinyl said which caused Octavia to immediately turn around to see that he was entranced by a frog doll sitting on a small table and slowly reached out to it.

“DON’T TOUCH HIM!” Octavia yelled and Vinyl immediately fell back onto his haunches in fright. Octavia walked over and picked the frog up. “I didn’t think you would be back so soon,” she said to the doll while she cradled it.

“I’m lost,” Vinyl said very much confused.

“This is none of your business Mr. Scratch, this is a private conversation.” It finally clicked into place for Vinyl and he smiled.

“That’s a toy from your foalhood isn’t it?” he asked. Octavia jumped a little and looked down at the frog.

“What if it is, it’s not like you would care.”

‘Oh gosh, this is so adorable!’ Vinyl thought and stood up. “So, does he have a name?” Octavia looked at him annoyed and with a light blush.

“Of course he doesn’t and even if he did I wouldn’t tell you!” Octavia set the frog back on the table and sighed, “Is this your way of trying to pressure me or something?” Vinyl raised an eyebrow and tilted his head.

“Pressure you? Did we agree to something where that would be necessary?” Octavia couldn’t believe that and it showed on her face.

“Really, you don’t remember the ‘let’s work together sometime’ talk a few days ago?” she asked. Vinyl thought for a second and his ears perked up.

“Oh right, I did say something like that didn’t I? So I take it you are interested?”

“Maybe, but I’m usually too busy.” If it was possible for Vinyl’s grin to grow bigger, it probably would have.

“Oh don’t worry about that, I can get everything together in a snap. Just let me know when you’re free and I’ll take care of everything.” Octavia sighed and tried to ignore the tingling under her skin.

“Fine, I’ll let you know.”

“Great, in that case I better go take care of some things, not to mention I better call a hazmat team for that moss. I’ll see ya later ‘Tavi.” Vinyl walked to the door and opened it before turning back to Octavia. “Hey, wanna know something I just realized?”

“What?”

“You’re a lot friendlier to me than you were a few days ago. We’re bonding.” Vinyl waved goodbye and left the apartment. Octavia stared at the closed door for several seconds after he left.

‘Oh dear, he’s right. I’m in a lot of trouble.’

---

>Observation suspended<

---

How many times has this specific series of events happened for these two? Ah well.
Next up is the fandom's OTP.

Comments

[Evowizard25]

AHHH! Bonding is scary! ...Oh, wait, no it isn't.
Anyways, great chapter. (Though, I really would like to see Harpy and Bon-Bon. Oh, and don't forget little adorable Tootsie.)

[Twisassin]

fandom's OTP? what one would that be?

I am guessing Lyra and BonBon

[Alphaetus_Prime]

Keep up the good work!

[MC BR0N3]

Awesome. And the next chapter focusing on who?

[Dragon Master Spike]

Eat more apples, eat more apples!!!

Or anything with more of mane 6.

I wonder how a female Spike would work?

[Combinatory]

Is tavi pinkies sister?

And may I reiterate a request: Silver Spoon and Golden Crown. As Silver spoon was a total groupie for Diamond, she has a mega huge crush on her Bff Golden Crown. In this world, Silver spoon is much more a lackey henchmare, Golden crown pushes her around a lot worse than diamond tiara did her, But in the end, loves her (Plot Idea: Silver spoon finally gets sick of his crap and chews him out at his birthday party, and Golden Crown gets ridiculed by Scooteroll, and he runs off. Silver spoon realizes she loves him anyway, and decides to forgive him, when Golden crown bursts in, apologizing)

[punisher143]

279865
Golden Crown is on the stack and I'll get to it when I can.

[sharkun0]

Heh, Scratch has the right idea-moving lichen is never a good sign. Never.