Electro Swing

by Rego

Chapter 59: Electro Swing

Vinyl laid still, staring at nothing in particular as the minutes slowly ticked by. A roiling anger consumed her thoughts, so much so that it was making her sick to her stomach. She just wanted this to be over, but there were another fifteen before the hour was up and her session along with it, if the clock was right.

Part of her had hoped the silent treatment would work, but Doctor Whisperwillow was a patient pony. The steadfast mare simply sat in her chair, waiting for Vinyl to say anything from underneath her curly canopy of mane. The earth pony kept a bespeckled eye on her notepad, sitting at the ready for her patient to say anything. Vinyl knew the psychiatrist was there to help. They got along so well until she had to do her job. Then, a session would start and become a gradual descent into darkness.

On the table between them was a newspaper, its front page article sitting, staring, and taunting Vinyl with the “good news” of Upper Crust’s decline. It should’ve been a euphoric, triumphant moment, but it just rang hollow in Vinyl’s heart, making her regret bringing it up at all.

“Why aren’t I happier about this?” Vinyl asked a fourth time.

Whisperwillow smiled hearing her patient again. “Why do you want to be happier about this?”

“Because I should be! Obviously!” the fuming mare fired back.

The psychiatrist nodded along, the beads of her glasses’ chain rattling as she considered the answer. The light clacking was grinding against Vinyl’s last nerve. She thought therapy was supposed to feel good, but every session dredged up the worst things to look at. She thought bringing something obviously good would be a nice break from looking at her own sludge constantly, but nothing was ever easy.

“Could you expand more on why it’s obvious?” Whisperwillow finally asked.

“I said it was obvious,” Vinyl said in a huff. “Why don’t you tell me?”

The psychiatrist shook her head. “I can make a guess and empathize, but I can never know the full depth and breadth of your thoughts.”

“Isn’t getting in my head your whole job?”

“I am here to help you process how you feel.” Whisperwillow looked at Vinyl with gentle understanding. “I told you before that this would be tough at times, but I promise that I’m listening.”

“But it’s not tough! Look!” Vinyl yelled as she picked up the stupid paper. “‘Loveless Crust Goes Bust’ on the front page! She finally got exactly what she deserves for everything she did to me! It’s icing on the cake that she did it herself in front of everypony! I should feel amazing about this!”

“The last time we talked about that evening, you told me you felt very differently. What made you change your mind?”

“This, obviously. It all worked out in the end.” Vinyl pointed at one of the large quotes from the article. “It says right here that they ‘unanimously voted her out to salvage our Imperial contracts.’ Everypony turned their backs on her to save their hides! Wealth and power was all she ever cared about and now it’s gone! This should be the best news I’ve heard all year!”

“Do you really believe that?” Whisperwillow confirmed.

“Yes!” Vinyl spat without a second thought.

The doctor flipped back through her pages of notes. “But so many other good things have happened this year. For instance, are you sure it was better than receiving your doctorate and title?”

Vinyl frowned. “Well, she was the one that made me go to school in the first place instead of pursuing music full-time. I couldn’t rub the public spellbook entry in her face, so this is the next best thing.”

“So, are you saying your entire educational journey—your hard work, your dedication, your accolades, your working relationships—this was all done to get back at Upper Crust?”

“Well, no. It kinda was originally. But just because I started it all out of spite doesn’t mean I can’t like it too,” the recent graduate argued weakly.

“And I’m glad that you are doing what you enjoy. You know, I would say plenty of other good things have happened this year too. Your new home, your new family, your new coltfriend; would you agree that all of those good things pale in comparison to what is written in this article?”

The answer didn’t come nearly as quickly, but she still muttered, “Yes.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because…” Vinyl began, only for any obvious reason to evaporate in front of her. She closed her eyes and tried to focus. “Because she’s bad. I should be happy when bad things happen to bad ponies like her. She deserves it.”

“And I don’t necessarily disagree with allowing yourself to feel a little schadenfreude, given what happened, but I guess my question would be whether you want more bad things to happen to Upper Crust or not. Do you want her to suffer defeat, constantly and consistently, until there’s nothing left for her to lose?”

“I…” Vinyl felt a sinking feeling in her heart. Even if it was her, even if she wanted to just scream yes, it still felt wrong to actively wish endless misery upon anypony. “But, I mean, I shouldn’t want good things to happen to her, right?”

“There’s an interesting thought,” Whisperwillow remarked like she usually did when she heard something Vinyl was going to regret digging into. “What if they do?”

Vinyl paused and blinked in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“What if good things happen to her?” Whisperwillow reached for the newspaper and held it up, running her hooves up and down the text. “What if all of this right here is just a minor setback before she recovers?”

“But she won’t. S-she can’t! The only thing ponies wanted from her was her connections to the Crystal Empire, and all of those are gone.” Vinyl leaned back on the couch and crossed her forelegs, turning as far away as she could from the paper. “Turns out a place running on love doesn’t want to let an evil, abusive, narcissistic pony messing with their business stuff. Who woulda thunk it?”

“Please, Vinyl. Let's tease this out just a little bit. I’m not asking about the likelihood, I am asking if it were to happen at all. Let’s say, hypothetically, that everything in this article is a lie, or that it gets reversed and then some. In this reality, Upper Crust is not only reinstated as CEO, but Horst Holdings goes on to become the biggest player in international business and finance. How would that make you feel?”

The suggestion evoked images of the victorious Upper Crust standing tall among the nobles. A joyous sneer wrapped around her face as she tossed bags of bits around for fun, the adoration of everypony around her showering her endless ego. The mare would flaunt her power far and wide, getting revenge on everypony that had ever gotten on her bad side.

Vinyl gritted her teeth at the mere notion. She had to remind herself that it wasn’t real just to stop her eyes from burning with rage. “I’d… I’d absolutely lose it. I wouldn’t even know what to do. I’d get so angry that I wouldn’t see straight.”

“I can understand that. But it’s true that you were already upset by the article as it is now.”

“Because you won’t tell me how I should feel about it!” Vinyl screamed.

“Do you want to give me that power over you?”

Vinyl’s flaring temper fizzled slightly at the question. “What power?”

“The power to tell you how you should feel about something,” Whisperwillow asked pointedly. “You just accused me of not telling you how you should feel about this news. Should I be able to tell you what to think or feel about something?”

“Well, it’s not like…” Vinyl wrestled with the question. “Wouldn't you know?”

Whisperwillow shook her head, making the beads rattle once more. “You are the only you in the world, Vinyl. I could spend the rest of my life studying exactly who you are, but no matter how much I try, I will always be limited by my perspective. Asking me to tell you how to feel about something is granting me the control over your perception of reality, potentially discounting what you think or have observed.”

Vinyl winced and shrank back on her couch. “But, it’s not—I’m not… I don’t want that.”

“I know you don’t, Vinyl. You want to be happy and live life on your own terms. You told me as much during our first session together.” Whisperwillow leaned a little closer to catch Vinyl’s evasive eyes. “I know I don’t want that level of control over you either, but do you know anypony that would?”

Vinyl nodded, finally catching on to what Whisperwillow was talking about. “Upper Crust would.”

“Do you want to give Upper Crust that kind of power over your feelings?”

“No,” Vinyl whispered as she curled up a little more, gripping herself tightly. “N-no. But I still want to be happy when she gets what she deserves! She should for what she put me through! I hate her!”

“You may be right, Vinyl. Maybe she deserves every bad thing in the world to happen to her and more. However, we both know that something good will eventually happen to her in the future.” Whisperwillow held up a hoof, rolling it as she counted possibilities. “Maybe she’ll recover by building a new company, maybe she’ll try another venture and find success, or maybe tomorrow she’ll eat the best daisy sandwich she’s ever eaten in her life. Who knows?”

Vinyl’s lips quivered as she tried to stay calm. “So what? I just give up? Let her win?”

The doctor raised an eyebrow at the question. “What does ‘giving up’ and ‘letting her win’ mean to you?”

“I don’t know.”

Whisperwillow tapped her chin with her pen as she thought to herself. “‘Letting her win’ means that you are permitting the outcome in some way. Since she is losing in this article, then winning must mean good things happening to her, right?”

Vinyl shrugged. “I guess.”

“Alright, so using that logic, you should be doing things to undermine her success. Using the silliest for our example, you could stand guard and slap every sandwich she tries to eat out of her hooves so she never has the chance to eat the best daisy sandwich in Equestria.”

Vinyl furrowed her brow as she thought more about the situation. “But that’s so stupid!”

“But if you didn’t, she’d be winning, which means you’d be losing. If there is the chance that it is the best daisy sandwich in the world, then eating it would be a good thing happening to her. You should prevent that possibility from occurring.”

“But you’re the one who said she’d be winning when it’s just a stupid sandwich!”

“Yes, but ‘it’s just a sandwich’ could also be ‘it's just a business deal’ or ‘it’s just a newspaper article.’ Why should anything good or bad happening in her life affect yours?”

Vinyl looked down at her hooves and then back at the article on the table. “Because I don’t want her coming back. I just want her to go away.”

“And she is gone, Vinyl. She is out of your life as long as you maintain that distance from her. Going ‘no contact’ is not a single decision, it’s a series of life-long decisions to not engage. Remember, the narcissist wants control over everything in your life, good and bad. They want to be able to project their insecurity onto you so they can say ‘at least I’m not as bad as he is, or she is.’ This here?” Whisperwillow said as she tapped the article. “You engaging emotionally with this article is giving her that power without her even knowing about it. If you fall when she rises or vice-versa, she is still in control. You don’t have to do that.

“You have your own life, Vinyl. It’s a good one, with family and friends who are there to support you. They understand you. They love you. It shouldn’t matter what happens in Upper Crust’s life, be it good or bad, because that’s her life. I can’t tell you how to feel about this article.” Whisperwillow took the newspaper and turned the page, hiding the pictures and articles from view. “But I will tell you this has no bearing on any of your success. This headline won't hold any power over you if you don't let it.”

Vinyl sucked in her lips as she sat up and leaned over the rest of the news. There was something about a new diet trend, an opinion piece about former Princess Celestia, and various other things that didn’t matter to Vinyl. She flipped the page back to the front, looking at the picture of the Horst Holding building cut next to a picture of the Imperial Palace.

“Dr. Whisperwillow?”

“Yes, Vinyl?”

“Is it bad that I want to feel good about this?”

The mare smiled softly, putting her hoof on the page over the “Crust” of the headline, “I would say it’s better for us when we don’t revel in the suffering of others, even if they have wronged us. I think rather than saying it’s bad that you want to, it’s good that you can’t. You’re a good pony, Vinyl Scratch.”

The simple affirmation struck Vinyl’s heart harder than she felt it should’ve. The familiar, prickling tightness caught in her throat again like it had nearly every week since she started going to therapy. The ugly scars hung off her like hoof calluses, ready to be picked at until they burst open, revealing the infected ichor rotting behind them. It was disgusting, always making her feel wretched in the moment. There were so many. Many more than Vinyl ever knew she had or thought possible.

The work left Vinyl exhausted every time, but after the suffering and turmoil, the burden on her withers felt just a bit lighter. Still, she hated it in the moment at every single moment. It was just an hour that dragged on for an eternity.

“Is it over yet?” Vinyl croaked as she sank into the couch.

“Almost. We still have five minutes.”

“I-I’m sorry I shut down again, Doctor—” Vinyl took a sharp breath as she swallowed. “Doctor Whisperwillow.”

“It’s always alright, Vinyl. The important thing is that you started back up. I’m glad I was here to help you.”

Vinyl turned to the psychiatrist, nodding as she wrestled with her breathing. Her eyes stung from the tears that wanted to come out, but she didn’t want to cry. Not again. Not when she was almost free from her weekly tour through her nightmares.

“Do you want me to hold your hoof again, Vinyl?” Whisperwillow asked.

Without hesitation, Vinyl thrust her hoof out, silently begging to be caught before she tumbled off the cliff again. The other mare wrapped her fetlock around it and drew closer to keep a close, understanding eye on her patient as she recovered from fighting the demons once again.

---

After downing one last cup of berry tea and saying goodbye, Vinyl shuffled out the door of Doctor Whisperwillow’s practice into the bright and busy streets of Canterlot’s middle district. A river of colors flowed in front of her filled with ponies milling about. Vinyl looked up at the sky, seeing the sun still shining its mid-morning light in defiance of her exhaustion. Maybe if she asked nicely, Luna would put the moon up nine hours early.

“Vinyl!”

A small surge of warming energy revitalized her weary spirit at hearing Fancy Pants call from across the street. The stallion dutifully cantered through the colorful current, dashing over to his lover to let her fall on his shoulder.

“That bad?” Fancy guessed.

“It was the normal amount of bad, which is good, but sucks.”

“You know, we can always try to find somepony else with her qualifications if you feel this isn’t working out.”

Vinyl shook her head. “Nah. I hate it, but that’s because we talk about the things I need somepony like her for in the first place.”

The supportive stallion nuzzled his marefriend to her quiet delight. “Do you think you’ll be up for going to the lab today?”

“I don’t want to miss another day again,” she complained.

“The school knows you might not be in on therapy days. They’ll understand, especially considering the work you do.”

She grunted half-heartedly. “Lemme just lay down for a bit first to think.”

Fancy kept both of their steps to the sidewalk, walking down the cobblestones towards their usual spot after her visits to Doctor Whisperwillow. They stepped off the major street and followed a smaller path through the alleys to reach a small green space bordering the middle and lower districts. It wasn’t the nicest park in Canterlot, but it was good enough to sit down and take a breather.

Their favorite spot was a little circle of trees on a grassy hilltop. It was far enough away from the greenbelt paths for the two to have a little privacy while offering a relaxing view of the lower district’s residential quarter sprawling below them. They took their usual places, Fancy settling against a tree while Vinyl laid on his barrel to rest her eyes.

“I wish these sessions didn’t always hit me like a train.”

“Well, I for one think it’s very brave of you.” Fancy stroked her mane with his hoof. “I’m just sorry you have to go through it in the first place.”

Vinyl opened her eyes and looked up at her coltfriend with a smile. “At least I got somepony like you to lean on.” She shimmied slightly, trying to find a more comfortable spot on the stallion’s firm barrel. “Though you could stand to be a little cozier.”

“Sorry, but the extra padding was a necessary casualty of my workout sessions. Haven’t had much to do but self-improvement since I stepped back from high society.”

“I guess. You know I don’t care about that stuff, right?”

Fancy chuckled. “I know you don’t. I’m just doing my best to keep up with you, my dear.”

“Says the stallion in better shape than me,” Vinyl complained as she poked at her own, squishier belly. “I haven’t had to pull my equipment anywhere since The Festival of Flakes. Forgot how much of a workout going from gig to gig was.” She blew some of her mane out of the way. “Also, ‘my dear?’ Let’s not just skip past that one.”

Fancy’s smile strained slightly. “No good either?”

The mare bobbed her head back and forth as she thought about it. “I dunno. It kinda sounds nice the way you say it, if a little posh.”

“I’m cut from the Canterlotian nobility. ‘Posh’ comes with the territory.”

“Totally passed up the opportunity to take after Sauna Summers.”

The wind picked up as a comfortable quiet fell upon the couple. The rustle of the trees above and the sway of grass filled the warming mountain air. Vinyl tilted her head to gaze out towards the horizon, the blue skies above and a thick layer of rain clouds blanketing the lower lying lands of Equestria around them. Vinyl’s ear pressed against Fancy, hearing the warm sounds of his gentle rising and falling breath. In other words, it was a perfect day.

Fancy had found the little park during Vinyl’s first visit to Doctor Whisperwillow five or so weeks ago. It’d been a lifesaver after that first session to be somewhere far away from everything, made better by her special somepony’s calming presence. Sometimes she’d pop her headphones on and listen to something while Fancy read a book; others, she’d cry into his shoulder as he simply held on. Either way, he always made it a point to come get her after every session and make sure she was okay.

Vinyl breathed in deeply, mingling the smells of nature with her stallion’s scent. “I love you, Fancy.”

“I love you too, Vinyl.” Heeding the potential call, Fancy leaned down to catch her eyes. “Did you want to talk about your session?”

“Not really,” she half-lied. “I’m just trying to work my way up to thinking.”

“About what, if I may?”

“My homework assignment for the week.” She turned her head back up to face the canopy above them. “Five things that make me feel good and five things that make me feel bad.”

“That sounds easy enough.”

“The kicker is that it needs to be specific. It can’t just be a thing like a concept or creature. Gotta go into detail and really think about it. Probably for the best too, since I wouldn't have gotten off the couch before filling up the bad side.”

“I see,” Fancy said ponderously. “Then I suppose that means the article wasn’t one of the good ones?”

“Not by a mile.”

“Alright then. So, I suppose we can get some of the easier stuff out of the way first.”

Vinyl picked herself up and looked back at Fancy. “We?”

“But of course. We’ve only been dating for a couple of months, but I think I can throw out a few ideas to get you started,” he suggested cordially. “Only if you want, that is.”

“Sure. Why not? Whisperwillow didn’t say I couldn’t ask anypony else.” Vinyl smirked as she sidled up next to Fancy. “Let’s see how well you think you know me.”

“The pressure’s on, eh?” The former kingmaker tapped his chin as he tried to muster up an idea. “Well, I suppose pet names would go in the bad feeling category.”

Vinyl playfully shoved the stupid stallion. “Fancy!”

“You’ve shot down every single one I’ve attempted.”

“That’s because they’re awful! Especially the list Fleur gave you! You should’ve known she was just messing with you. I mean seriously, who wants to be called peach fuzz?”

“Fair enough. Then perhaps my kisses instead?”

“Aww, but I love your kisses, even if they are terri-bad.”

“But you’re always getting the short end of the stick,” Fancy grumbled. “I find yours to be simply electrifying, while I believe I’m averaging a numerical rating of two out of ten on your end.”

“You know that it’s actually super adorable, right?” She couldn’t help but giggle at the disparity as she reeled him back in. “Who would’ve thought that ‘Canterlot’s Most Eligible Bachelor’ had a 50-50 chance of completely botching a kiss?”

Fancy shrugged, trying to play off his nerves. “Sorry I don’t live up to the media’s mythology about me. I was never a fan of that particular moniker anyway.”

“Don’t be so embarrassed about it,” she said as she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him closer. “You just need to practice a little to get better at it.”

On cue, Vinyl started to lean in towards the shy stallion, closing her eyes they drew closer. She felt a breath from his nose and stole a quick peek before her nose became another victim of a frontal crash. Before contact, she put her hoof to his lips and gently pushed him back.

“Not like that.” She slid her hoof under his nerve-riddled jaw. “Remember, it’s not a race. We’ll get there when we get there.”

Fancy nodded, dutifully readying himself for further instruction.

Vinyl giggled seeing her stallion suddenly go on guard duty. She shifted her hoof to the side of his face, unable to stop herself from smiling. “And relax! This is supposed to be fun.”

His rigidness melted away at her touch as he began to smile herself.

“Much better. Now remember, tilt your head slightly right, alright?”

Following her instruction Fancy leaned onto her hoof until he met resistance. “Now slow up a little.”

Fancy nodded as his eyes darted as if a strenuous series of calculations were running through his mind. Gently, Vinyl ushered him forward until their lips met for a few precious moments.

“See? That was a four. You’re getting better.” She bopped him playfully on the nose, pushing him back. “You get to go in the ‘feel good’ column at number five.”

“Ah, so I’m in last place,” he noted.

“It’s supposed to be in no particular order, but yes,” she said while sticking out her tongue. “Now come on, I need some serious answers here.”

“Alright. I think an obvious one is when you’re working on something you enjoy. You shine so brilliantly whenever I see you performing.”

“A lot of that is seeing you enjoying my performances, but I do feel great when I’m following my cutie mark.” Vinyl pictured herself in a recording room behind her turntable. At home or at school, it didn’t matter, it was one of the few constants she’d always had. “It just feels so amazing to make music. Vindicating. Validating. It’s something nopony could take away from me no matter how hard they tried.”

“Don’t I know it,” Fancy remarked with a knowing chuckle. “I made that mistake before.”

“When?”

“‘If you could have any special talent in the world, what would it be?’ Remember?”

“Ah. Right. That.” Vinyl shrank back a little, shuddering at how fiercely she’d reacted to it. “I still think I was a little too harsh.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t regret it. It was the first time I’d ever questioned how unfulfilled I was as the Kingmaker of Canterlot.”

She thought back to that day where she stupidly chugged the spiked cocoa in the kitchen. The memory was a bit hazier thanks to the head injury, but she could still see Fancy’s distraught face from that day. “Do you still sometimes want a different cutie mark?”

Fancy hummed to himself in thought. “In hindsight, I can see why I wanted to do something different, given what I was doing with it. Now, I just want to find what else I can do with it.” He perked up and turned to Vinyl with a spark in his eyes. “On that note, I think I’ve actually come up with an idea. Would you like to hear it?”

Vinyl smiled and wiggled in anticipation. “Lay it on me.”

“Well,” Fancy cleared his throat and straightened up. “What would you say to a Mister Fancy Pants, Academic Advisor at CSGU?”

Vinyl blinked in surprise. “You’re not just saying that because I work there, right?”

“To say you weren’t a factor would be a lie. Truly though, I haven’t been able to get the spectacular feats of magic I saw on display at that Practical Defense exhibition. Seeing the brightest minds of the school showing off their talents? Quite frankly, I was enthralled. I might not be able to do anything close to what you’re capable of, my dear, but if I can use my talents to help others do the same? Why, it’d give my time spent as the Royal Ambassador a run for its money.”

“I think that’s great!” Vinyl agreed with an excited swish of her tail. A brief flash of seeing Fancy in his own office at the school popped into her head before another thought occurred to her. “But, wait. How would that work? I’m pretty sure you give them more than they could ever pay you.”

“The money I give goes towards various scholarships and financial aid programs. Any earnings I’d receive wouldn’t come out of that pool.”

“I guess? But it still feels weird to work someplace you put more into than you’re paid out. I can’t believe I’m actually saying this—but aren’t you pretty much the definition of overqualified?”

“I hadn’t quite thought about it from that angle.” Fancy pensively paused as chewed on the idea for a moment. “Perhaps it is a few steps down for me, but I do at least want to try it out. I feel like I could do some good there.”

“As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”

Fancy smiled warmly. “Is that another for the ‘feel good’ column?”

“Maybe. But they can’t all be related to you.”

Fancy nodded in agreement. “That would be rather odd considering I don’t want to be on the bad side.”

“Trust me, you’re definitely not.”

“Are you sure? I’m not flawless. There should be something that I do that makes you feel bad,” Fancy urged more seriously. “And if there is, I’d like to know if it’s something I can deal with.”

Vinyl chuckled as her nerves rattled a little. “What? You’re just gonna put me on the spot like that?”

“Would you rather I say something that bothers me about our relationship?”

“Wait, seriously?”

“It’s nothing that you’re doing or that is in our control, but it is something that constantly weighs on my mind.”

Vinyl leaned in closer to her coltfriend, already knowing where it was going. “Fancy Pants, if it’s about our age difference, you know that doesn’t bother me.”

“I know it doesn’t. And I know it shouldn’t bother me. It’s just…” Fancy turned, filled with apprehension. “I feel it sometimes. I look in the mirror in the morning, seeing the last vestiges of my youth wrinkle away while you’re just starting to mature into a stunningly beautiful mare. When you turn thirty-six, I’ll be turning fifty-one. It’s a distance that will never be closed, and every time I think about it, I—”

Vinyl rushed in, sealing his trembling lips with another kiss. She poured her passion for Fancy, not letting anything silly like age or beauty stand between them. As their kiss ended, she tilted her head, meeting her horn with his as they leaned into each other.

“You’re not going anywhere anytime soon, and neither am I, okay?” Vinyl promised. “I just like being with you and that’s that.”

“And I cherish our moments together as well. I just want there to be as many as possible for as long as I can manage to keep going.”

“You’re galloping out the gate a little early there, aren’t you?” Vinyl teased as she snuck another kiss into the mix before backing off. “We’ve only been dating for a couple months.”

“You’re right. I apologize. I believe that’s what they call ‘getting ahead of one’s self.’”

“It’s okay, Fancy. But I think I’ll add all of that to my bad column under, ‘When my coltfriend stresses about his age.’”

“That’s more than fair. I’ll try to be better about that.”

Vinyl stretched her forelegs before falling back into the warm grass. “I think two is good for now. Let’s just enjoy ourselves for a bit so I can get out of therapy mode for a while before I go to the lab.”

“Whatever you want, dearest.”

Vinyl winced at the sound of that one. “You know, maybe let’s work on your kisses before diving into pet names.”

Fancy kissed the back of her head. “Whatever you want, Vinyl.”

---

“Initiating interfacing test number sixteen,” Vinyl announced for the recording.

She flipped her keyboard on and waited, staring at the digital display for any reading. Her hooves ran over the keys, trying to make a sound, but all she heard was the clacking of plastic. Undeterred, she began making minute adjustments to the echo focus suspended in the experimental crystalarium, just trying to make something happen.

“Come on… you’re not even going to get a reading this time?”

As the musician waged her careful battle with the crystals, Fleur gazed listlessly through the control room’s glass, watching with unbated breath to see what wouldn’t happen next. A few more seconds passed before the silence was too unbearably boring for her. “Did the piano remember to be a piano yet?”

“It’s trying. Might be getting too much interference from the shielding this time.”

The larger mare sighed into the mic in frustration to Vinyl’s annoyance. “Can we blow something up already? I miss it.”

“You know the recording can hear you too, right?”

“One hundred percent, and it could use a little pizzazz. I liked it better when all the nothing was punctuated by random blast. Is that too much to ask?”

“If you want explosions, you could always go to the Evocation and Destruction Department.”

“But they’re trying to blow stuff up. It’s so much better when it’s a total accident. It’s like they say, spontaneous explosions are the spice of life.”

Vinyl rolled her eyes and turned to her bored-out-of-her-mind sister. “Nopony says that. Also, are you trying to get me in trouble?”

“But of course!” Fleur purred as she ran a hoof through her flowing mane. She fluttered her eyelashes as she dove into Lady Faire’s role. “We are always with the messing of the teachers. But now you have joining them and, how you say, turning your back around? Swapping the sides? Betraitoring me?”

“I’m not a teacher. Adepts just sometimes have more teacher-like responsibilities.”

“C'est tellement terrible!” Faire lamented, falling back in her chair as she spun it around. She laid her head on the console upside down. “I weep for toi, Adept Vinyle.”

“Hey! At least I’m getting paid instead of paying out the flank, right?” Vinyl shrugged as she turned her attention back to her testing. “Besides, they aren’t gonna throw me in front of a class or anything. Just gotta help the others check assignments sometimes. Putting that doctorate to work.”

“Boring on top of boring? Such is the pain of successfulness.”

“It’s not all bad. You know I can totally pull rank on you as an Adept of the Institution and boss you around now, right?”

Fleur blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I’m a fellow conducting my own research, meaning I’m under no obligation to help Professor Arpeggio anymore if I’m busy with my own stuff. You, on the other hoof, are the only research student in a department that now has two researchers.” Vinyl fired a fiendish grin towards her sister.

The mare gasped, placing her hoof over her still upside-down mouth. “Ça alors! You would not dare!”

“Don’t worry. I am a merciful taskmaster as long as you obey my every command.” Vinyl cackled maniacally, letting the newfound power course through her veins.

“And that’s a textbook example of power abuse on the record,” Fleur noted as she rolled back over and drew herself up to her haunches. “Anything else you want to add for the disciplinary committee, DJ Tyrann-3?”

The mad doctorate’s laughter died on her lips as she slunk over her keyboard. “Curses. Foiled again!” She struck a deep minor chord on the keys, but no sound came out. “And double foiled.”

“What a shame. How’s the focus?”

Vinyl checked the paired orbs. “Unresponsive, but still completely stable along with the cacophony crystal.”

“Boo…”

“I think it’s back to the drawing board with this one.” Vinyl shut down the equipment and carefully fed a disabling spell into the focus and activated it to seal both crystals before extracting them. “Looks like I gotta schedule another brainstorming meeting with the artificers.”

Fleur leaned on her cheek against her foreleg, looking with an unexploded longing in her eyes. “I love-hate that you figured that little trick out. Don’t even get to set off the used crystals anymore.”

Vinyl looked back to her sister and smirked as she erased the runes on both crystals, causing the magic to simply evaporate. “Hey. If you want to spend hours sanding a pair of crystals down to as close to perfectly spherical as possible, be my guest.”

“Pass.”

Fleur hopped up from her seat and fired a bolt of pink magic at the brand new equipment. Responding to the surge of magic, various knobs, buttons, and dials of the consoles glowed brightly, resetting their original positions as they shut themselves down, leaving Fleur free to join Vinyl.

“We can try blowing up a few of yours tomorrow,” Vinyl offered as she packed the keyboard and crystal balls up.

“Might be fun. Gotta test the new dampening wards somehow,” Fleur said as she kicked the wall foam. “We’re not blowing anything up of yours anytime soon at this rate.”

“Hopefully not.”

Vinyl took another look around the renovated audio lab. The equipment that had been replaced was more or less the same, but the foam and carpet was a much darker shade of gray with a single strip of dark blue running around the center. It was a welcome and well-reasoned change considering how many blast marks they’d made before. Before she could start thinking too deeply about why everything had been replaced, Fleur grabbed Vinyl around her neck and pulled her close for a surprise hug.

“Just getting my hugs in for the day.” Fleur squeezed tighter and sighed as she let go. “I missed a few this morning.”

“I spent a little time unwinding at the park again.”

“I figured as much. You dove right into the work again when you got here, so guessing it stressed you out?”

Vinyl sighed. “Yeah. But it’s helpful, I think. My psychiatrist did warn me that it was going to be awful for a while. Didn’t even say it was likely, just that it would. And that was putting it mildly.”

“As long as you think it’s good for you, that’s all that matters to me.” Fleur let go of the smaller pony so they could see each other’s eyes. “And as long as that oafish brother of mine is taking good care of you.”

“He is!” Vinyl swore quickly, feeling the other mare’s eyes bore into her. “Don’t worry. He’s being the best coltfriend a mare could ask for.”

Fleur narrowed her gaze, searching Vinyl for any signs of lies. “Are you sure there’s no crusty thoughts running amok in there?”

“Oh, come on!” Vinyl cried with rising irritation. “You put me on the spot! No worries, anxieties, or whatever!”

“I know.” Fleur softened. “Every time he comes over, he’s been happier than I’ve ever seen in my life, and I know it’s because of you. And I’ve never seen you so… just you, you know? You’re both finally just how you should’ve been for ages.” Fleur’s head drooped as she looked away. “I guess I kinda feel left out being the one that’s not okay for once.”

“I forgave him, Fleur. I know he hurt me—”

“He’s hurt all of us, Vy,” Fleur fired back. “He kept Maman and me at leg’s length for years, but now he’s trying to make up for it, and I’m just not ready.” She laughed sardonically. “Just don’t tie your tails too quickly, okay? Take things as slow as you can so I’ll be ready to be happy at your wedding.”

Vinyl’s face flushed bright red. “Fleur!”

Fleur’s laughter turned more genuine seeing her sister suddenly acting embarrassed. “Hey! I still want to maximize our sisterhood status! You marrying my half-brother will make it official.”

“For crying out loud, Fleur, I haven’t even slept with him yet!” Vinyl cried without thinking. The admission made her face flare even brighter.

Fleur blinked and tilted her head. “Okay. Weird flex trending towards T.M.I., but okay.”

“I-I don’t mean it like that, I just…” Vinyl trailed off. Since she’d moved back in, the thought to sleep with Fancy had never occurred to her. “I don’t know why.”

Fleur sucked in a breath and put her hoof on Vinyl’s shoulder. “Hey, Vy? I know I said you could talk to me about anything, but that was before ‘dating my brother’ was in the cards.” The mare’s smile fractured as her mind wandered further. “Sweet Celestia, calling you ‘sister’ is really messing with my head right now.”

Vinyl chuckled nervously. “Don’t worry about it, Fleur. I think it’s probably better if I figure this out with Fancy anyway.”

Fleur nodded fervently in agreement. “Right. And you should get back to him and talk all about this privately. And maybe let’s put the familial terms aside so I don’t have to think about brother-sister no-no stuff. Is that alright?”

“It flows better with our motto anyway, right, best of the best?” Vinyl winked.

“Better than the rest!” Fleur hopped in.

Vinyl reached out for a hug. “Ain’t no contest!”

“Friends!” they shouted in unison.

The two shared a deep hug, Fleur laughing in relief as Vinyl held her best friend close for strength as the DJ’s mind wandered elsewhere.

---

Good or bad: that was the question weighing on Vinyl’s mind. Was the thought of sleeping with Fancy making her feel good or bad?

For the first time in her life, she was in love with a pony. Really, truly in love. It was a wonderful feeling that made the word sing to her soul rather than tear it to shreds. So, she felt as if she should be wanting to share “the ultimate expression of love” as she’d heard it called before. It was why she’d done it in the past. She’d experimented plenty of times, but they’d all ended in unmitigated disasters. Thinking back to them, Vinyl couldn’t even remember if she’d enjoyed it or not in the moment. The deep melancholy afterwards always overshadowed the memories, leaving her sick, empty, and heartbroken.

“Vinyl?”

The mare popped up at the sound of her name. “Wazza-huh?”

“I asked if you were alright,” Fancy said as he leaned over the kitchen island. “You’ve barely touched your cocoa.”

Vinyl blinked. Was she alright? Ever since she’d parted ways with Fleur, her mind had been fixated on a single question for hours now, scrambling for an answer. She’d even forgotten they were in the middle of their nightly ritual of sharing a drink before bed. Fancy would go to the master bedroom and she’d return to her room. Did she want that? Better yet, did he want that? Oh heavens, maybe he did and she wasn’t being a good partner by not realizing it.

“Do you want to sleep together?” Vinyl blurted out.

Fancy’s eyes bulged from the sudden proposition out of nowhere. “I-I beg your pardon?”

“Do you want to sleep together?” she repeated nervously. “Like right now?”

Fancy’s face fell in shock. He tried to reply, but all that came out was a flailing “Bwuh?”

“You’re a stallion, right? That’s gotta be on your mind, right? Right?”

Said stallion’s mind stumbled over his words, trying to formulate something somewhere near coherency. “I—yes. Of course, but, I’ve never even…” His words trailed as he shook his inexperience out of his head. “I-Is it on yours?”

“It is,” Vinyl shrank back, feeling a creeping anxiety clawing at her. “But not in a good way.”

Fancy’s ears pinned back. “Wait, there’s a bad way? What way is the bad way?”

“I dunno!” Vinyl cried. “I’m… I just figured you’d want to!”

Fancy took a moment to calm himself from the offer still ringing in his head. “Well, from what I know, it’d be nice, but the far more important question is do you want to?”

Vinyl looked into Fancy’s eyes filled with concern. “I-I love you, so…”

“I love you too, Vinyl,” he said softly. “But the last thing I want you to be is scared. If anything is wrong, I want to know if I can help. You can tell me anything.”

“I know.” The mare squirmed in her stool before reaching out to grab her coltfriend’s hoof. “I just don’t want you to be disappointed.”

“Why would I ever be disappointed in you? If anything, It would be me disappointing you. I’m already struggling to kiss you properly, after all.”

Vinyl nodded as she scratched the back of her head. “You know I’ve had sex with other ponies before, right?”

“Well, I do now,” Fancy said with a strained chuckle. “But that’s rather normal, I think. If anypony’s the deviation from the norm here, it’s me for abstaining for so long.”

“The thing is, it was always the final straw before we broke up,” Vinyl admitted.

“I see.” Fancy paused to consider the idea. “Are you worried that we’d break up if we did?”

“N-no!” Vinyl’s eyes fell away, unable to look at Fancy as she thought more about it. “But I’m scared. It always felt bad afterwards, like it was my fault it didn’t work out.”

Fancy brought both hooves up to grab hers, his warm gaze filled with tender understanding. “Vinyl, rest assured that I would never want to pressure you into doing something you didn’t want to do. I love you too much to do that.”

The soft reassurance brought a smile back to Vinyl’s face, cutting through the fear. She wanted to say something, but she wasn’t sure what.

“Do you feel uncomfortable when we cuddle or lie together in places?” Fancy asked.

“No no! Of course not!” Vinyl adamantly denied, shaking her head. “Cuddling next to you is one of my favorite things ever!”

“I enjoy you next to me as well. Feeling you lean against me brings an almost indescribable warmth to my heart. Then when you grace me with one of your brilliant smiles, brighter and more beautiful than any sunrise I’d ever seen, it’s pure bliss. I don’t need any more than that.” Fancy leaned in closer to meet Vinyl’s eyes, glistening with love for his tender words. “So, why don’t we just do that?”

The sudden question brought a confused frown to Vinyl’s face. “Do what?”

“Just be together in bed. You lay next to me. Nothing more than enjoying each other’s warmth until morning.”

Vinyl’s mouth nearly dropped at the simple offer. “Y-you wouldn’t mind?”

Fancy smiled warmly. “Of course not. I’d love to share a bed with you.”

“Can—can it be in my bed?” Vinyl asked, growing more and more excited by the idea by the second.

“Sure. Anywhere you want, Vinyl. We’ve got entirely too many beds in this mansion anyway.”

Vinyl giggled as she grabbed onto Fancy’s hooves. “Ain’t that the truth.” She leaned in and stole a kiss from her stallion to his delighted surprise.

“Well, my d—Vinyl,” the smooth-ish stallion stuttered, trying to regain control after the unexpected kiss. “I will see you in a few minutes then?”

“Don’t forget to brush your teeth.”

---

For some reason, Vinyl was just as excited as she was nervous. She paced around her room, waiting for her coltfriend to come knocking at her door. She’d brushed her teeth and tongue twice for good measure, though nothing would likely stave off her horrible morning breath outside of casting a preservation spell on her mouth.

This was entirely new for her. Sure she’d taken both stallions and mares to bed, but those were in a vain attempt to force herself to fall in love, to become the normal pony she wanted to be for them. Fleur and Princess Cadance would have her head for even suggesting she wasn’t normal, but she couldn’t help it. Fancy had offered to meet her at her weird level and suggested something she hadn’t even thought of that absolutely thrilled her.

Still, this was going to be the ultimate test of trust. Vinyl was going to sleep with Fancy. Just sleep. It was so weird to essentially have a sleepover with a coltfriend. She was almost tempted to bust out a board game or two for a laugh, but she was working at the lab tomorrow as well as playing a set at Cantrips afterwards. There was no time to while away the evening hours.

A knock came at the door, snapping her out of her musings. “Come in.”

Instead of some show of love or suggestive gesture, the stallion on the other side of the door covered his yawning mouth as he walked inside. A couple of trusty pillows were laid across his back and he was wearing a light silk robe she'd never seen before. “Ready for bed, Vinyl?”

“Umm… yeah,” she said as she eyed him curiously. “I didn’t know you had another robe besides your winter one.”

“Oh, yes. I haven’t worn this one in a few years. It was usually reserved for overnight stays abroad while on mission or a business trip. I figured wearing a full-body covering would make you more comfortable.”

“Won’t you get really hot in that?”

“Not at all. I’ve slept plenty of times in this, even during the summer.”

“But not with someone else in the bed with you, right?” Vinyl added.

Fancy opened his mouth to argue, but his trepidation conceded the point. “I suppose it’s possible. While I wouldn’t mind it, I don’t want to start sweating you out of the bed. Shall I take it off?”

Vinyl gave it a second thought, but eventually nodded. Fancy replied by tossing his pillows on the bed and levitating a hanger out of the closet to stow his nightwear. Being more in line with Canterlot’s expectations, it wasn’t often that Vinyl saw Fancy completely bare. She especially hadn’t seen him wearing nothing since he’d been on his health kick. It wasn’t some miraculous change that he’d undergone, but he was starting to look a lot more toned all around.

“Well then. Ready for bed?” Fancy asked.

The mare nodded, her eyes drifting back and forth between the bed and Fancy’s more defined chest. Part of her thought she was supposed to be more attracted to it, but she just felt self-conscious about her much softer self, having lost a lot after taking it easy for almost half a year.

Fancy flicked the lights off with his magic and the two crawled into bed on either side. They pulled the covers over themselves as they inched closer to each other. When their forelegs met in the middle, Vinyl wasn’t sure what to do. She’d been in this position more times than she cared to remember, struggling to find meaning in a meaningless relationship. She placed a hoof to Fancy’s bare chest, feeling its strength again with his heart beating underneath. Vinyl reminded herself that she was safe, that Fancy loved her.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Vinyl?”

“I don’t know.”

“How about this?” Fancy flopped over, turning his back to her and began scooching away to give her plenty of space. “All the… erm… equipment is on this side.”

Vinyl timidly inched closer, catching his shoulder by the hoof to stop his retreat. Pressing herself against his backside, she reached around and grabbed onto Fancy, wrapping her forelegs around him. As she dug into his fur, she could feel his gentle breathing again and savor his comforting scent. It was just like their time at the park, but more intimate, more loving. She squeezed tightly, pulling his warmth closer to hers.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

“A lot better.” Vinyl kissed him on the withers as she clung tightly to him. “I love you so much, Fancy Pants.”

“I love you more than anything, Vinyl Scratch.” Fancy shuffled a little, trying to get comfortable while not putting too much weight on the leg under him. “Would you mind if we tried one more kiss before bed?”

Realizing that he’d been so accommodating that he hadn’t even tried to kiss her goodnight, she giggled to herself and pulled her leg out from under him. “Okay.”

She leaned over him, getting ready to help him along, but to the DJ’s surprise, Fancy met her in the middle. His hoof caressed her cheek, guiding her closer to him in the dark. Their lips met, though a little more roughly than she would’ve done herself. They settled into each other, his strong peppermint mixed with her sweet spearmint in a medley of light love that she felt would only grow stronger with time. After savoring every last moment, they broke apart with her sliding into the safety of his neck.

Fancy’s small smile shined in the darkness. “I hope that was better than my earlier attempt.”

“It was perfect, Fancy.”

And it was perfect. He was perfect. The perfect gentlestallion that loved and cared for her. Vinyl cuddled up to Fancy, knowing that both of their thoughts were overflowing with the love they felt for each other. As they slowly drifted off together, she nuzzled his back one last time to show her appreciation. She had no need to worry, no need to feel alone. Fancy was here for her. He wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Vinyl breathed easy, knowing that she was finally safe.

Finally home.

Author's Note:

Special thanks to Jymbroni for helping me keep this chapter romantic!

If you find a simple mistake in the GSP (Grammar, Spelling, or Punctuation), please let me know through a private message rather than leaving it in the comment section. Thank you for reading!

Comments

[Daybreaker218]

That’s very touching.

[ShadowLDrago]

bespeckled

Bespectacled.

The work left Vinyl exhausted every time, but after the suffering and turmoil, the burden on her withers felt just a bit lighter. Still, she hated it in the moment at every single moment. It was just an hour that dragged on for an eternity.

That's therapy.

“I’m cut from the Canterlotian nobility. ‘Posh’ comes with the territory.”

He's got you there.

I haven’t been able to get the spectacular feats of magic I saw on display at that Practical Defense exhibition.

You forgot an "out of my mind".

Finally home.

Vinyl strikes me as ace. Not aromantic, that's a different thing, but asexual. Which I think is very neat.

[ShutterflyYay]

Every part of this was great! Nicely wrapped up

[Rego]

11773036 11773659
I tried to ensure the two had some good closure. Glad you both liked it.
11773331
Thanks for catching the mistakes.
My ace-ness probably bled into her a little bit here, but as far as I've written her, she's not the ace character in this story. Luna is currently aro/ace, but that will likely change once she's figured out who she is after being banished for a thousand years. Vinyl's actions resemble asexuality right now, but it's not from a lack of interest. She's associated sex with breaking up because she's Demi and hadn't built a personal connection with her attempted lovers in the past.