Chapter 1
“Hey, Boomy, you got those new Pon3 records yet?!” I heard a shout from inside of my little shop.
“Keep your horn in check Bree, I'll get them in a second.” I called back, not even bothering to look up from my drawing. “Just have to finish this drawing,” I was working on my own cover for the new Pon3 album and was in the zone with my paints.
Bree popped up from behind me obviously curious as to what I was working on this time. “Is this one for sale,” she asked, awestruck. I hadn't heard her come in and almost ruined the cover when she spoke. My office wasn't big and barely held enough for me and my desk, let alone this bubbling unicorn.
“Wha-!” I cried out trying not to spill my paints. Sure their was a lesser chance of that happening with my magic but with Bree involved, nothing was a guarantee. “You should know better than to sneak up on somepony when their working” I mock-scolded her. She gave me her usual confused look before bursting into a wide smile.
“Come on, Boomy, you can't stay mad at me” she chided. She was right, through the ten years I've lived in Manehatten, we've been best friends. It was one of those friendships that, neither of us could quite remember how we had become friends, but we couldn't imagine a time when we weren't.
I continued with my obviously fake anger. “Get outta here, I'll sell you your record after I finish the cover!” I smiled and stuck out my tongue, a usual sign that I was joking. Bree laughed and nodded, walking out to the shop. I didn't really need anypony to watch it, everypony who came into the store knew I would knock them on their mane if they tried anything. Not many ponies came into the record store, but the ones that did, came for my friendly service and fair prices. Word spread every now and then and I would get a new customer, almost always somepony friendly. The one time I got an unfriendly customer, they knocked over a stand of new records and received a firm buck to the muzzle. That's when word got out that you don't mess with Enormous Boom. Nopony treated me any different though. Good customer service and a face full of smiles made everypony realize that, if they didn't try to screw with me, I wouldn't buck 'em in the face. I didn't make much profit. Just enough to pay the bills and buy some cheap paints for my album artwork.
I finished the cover and put the album back in it then handed it to Bree. “The usual price?” she asked me. I shook my head.
“Five extra bits for startling me” I held out a hoof for my payment. She dropped thirty five bits in and grabbed her album. “Careful, I'm not sure how well the paint has dried!” I said. That didn't stop her though. She quickly pulled the album out to examine it. The paint appeared dry enough to her because she immediately hugged the album like it was old friend. The paint had dried enough not to smear but some small drips still ended up in Bree's light-gray fur. I rolled my eyes. Bree could be so cute sometimes, though we had been friends too long for me to ask her out. It would have been awkward to ask her out again. I keep telling myself this schoolfilly crush will wear out soon enough, I just have to wait for some other stallion or mare to catch my eye. In a big city like Manehatten how long could it take? Seeing as I've been single since I got here, quite some time. I shook off the thoughts of my love life to inform Bree that she got paint all in her fur.
“Oh” she looked down examining the blue's and purple's that had gotten on her. “Well, I suppose I'll have to go home and take a shower. We still on for drinks tomorrow night?”
“Of course, I'm probably closing up when you leave, talk to you tomorrow” I said as she went out the door.
“Ok, see ya” she called over her shoulder. I walked behind her and flipped the sign so that it showed closed to the outside world.
The next day
I woke up the next morning from my alarm clock, same as usual. I took a quick glance in the mirror, the same tan unicorn glanced back. I combed the bed-mane out of my neon green hair. I opened the store the same time as any other day. I sipped my oat-chocolate shake as usual and sat behind the counter as usual. Customer's poured in and out as usual. All in all a rather boring day. Which was the unusual part. Bree wasn't here making the day go by faster. I rechecked my voicemail for the umpteenth time. Still no message. I looked up at my sparsely populated store. Still no Bree. If she had gone partying the previous night she would have called, she would have been hungover and in bed, but she still would have called. I sighed. “She better still stop by to pick me up for drinks,” I said to myself. No sooner after I said this, my phone rang. I hastily answered it. Hello?”
“Is this miss Boom?” a deeper voiced stallion responded
“yeah, who's asking?” I responded gruffly
“Do you know a pony named Bree?” was his response
“What do you want with Bree?” I was genuinely confused. First the girl doesn't show up today, next I get a call about her from some pony with deep, official sounding voice.
“Listen closely, in four minutes, a car will be sent for you. You will get in that car, no questions asked, understood?” He didn't wait for a reply before hanging up the phone. What the hay was going on? Why did that guy ask about Bree? Was she in trouble? Where was she? All of these questions boomeranged around my head for a few minutes before I slowly decided it must have been some sort of practical joke. Bree must have hired that guy to scare me. Upon this revelation, I let out a sigh of relief and looked through portrait window at the front of the shop. I took another sip of my smoothie and then promptly spat it into a fine mist. Out front was a limo. The driver looked up and saw me, then pointed to his watch as if to say I was late. I ushered everypony out of my shop and locked it behind me. I strolled up to the limo. The rear passenger window opened.
“Get in,” a voice sounded from the inside of the car. It sounded like the voice from the phone.
“Who are you and how much did Bree pay you to prank me?” I rolled my eyes and asked.
“Get in, and what part of 'No questions asked' did you not understand?” The question was obviously rhetorical and this guy sounded serious. I thought over my options for a moment before deciding that if I was to get any answers, I had better get in the dang car. I opened the door and sat inside. It was your typical, movie style limo, with velvet interior and seats that surrounded the three walls. On the couch sat a dark-chocolate colored earth pony with a black mane. “take a seat.” I did as I was told and took a seat. Even through my nervousness it was a comfy seat. “did you draw this” he asked as he slid a record over to me. The case had been the very one I had finished the other day and sold to Bree.
“Uhh, yeah, why?” I asked, not sure if the 'No questions asked' rule just meant for when I was getting in the limo.
“Because, miss Scratch likes your work” the stallion smiled and chuckled at what I could only assume was my confused expression.
“Muh muh muh miss Scratch? As in Vinyl Scratch? As in The Vinyl Scratch?!” my voice was increasing in volume with each sentence.
“That's right, and it's your lucky day.” he said, stifling a giggle
“Why's that?”
“Because” he boomed “you're going to meet her!” I fainted into the comfy velvet couch.
I came to a couple minutes later to the sound of roaring laughter. “Man, Bree fainted like that too!” he said between snorts and guffaws after he realized I had awakened.
“So THAT'S where Bree was!” I retorted.
“Yeah. My name's Chuckles by the way. I'm Miss Scratch's personal assistant and bouncer.”
“They bundle those now?” I said jokingly to him. This got another smile to his face. I offered him a hoof “I'm Enormous Boom, though you can just call me Boomy.” He shook my hoof. “So what's Vinyl like, is she really as cute of a mare that everyone says?” I asked. Sure I was pretty obvious with that question, but Chuckles was a pretty nice stallion and I already trusted he wouldn't say anything to his boss.
“Watch here you're stepping Boomy. From what I hear, she already has a steady marefriend” Chuckles cautioned.
“I just figured you of all ponies would know” I said, trying to hide the disappointment in my voice.
“Miss Scratch tends to keep her personal life personal, I would caution against that avenue of conversation. Besides, the way that Bree girl talks about you, I would assume you two were an item”
His comment threw me a little. Sure Bree and I were close, but I was the one with the schoolfilly crush, not her. Or did she? I shook it off and decided to get some sort of debriefing. “So is their anything else I should avoid bringing up?”
“Hmm, not that I can think of. Just don't ask her anything too personal” I was just about to ask how personal was too personal before he said “we're here”. We had arrived at a luxurious hotel in the center of town. I whistled in awe at the massive size. “Heh, just wait until you get inside” my head ended up in an awkward angle we walked in from trying to gaze at the top of the hotel. The receptionist at the desk seemed to recognize Chuckles as we entered because immediately after seeing him she went to the hotel phone. By the time we reached the counter she was finished with the phone and informed us to just head up. The interior of the lift was as fancy as the rest of the hotel. Lush carpet flooring with real wood paneling. I mentally critiqued my own appearance. Chuckles stood next to me in dark aviators and a solid black vest, very much looking the part of a security pony. And I was in a nondescript red hoodie. It was what I normally wore and I didn't think to change into fancier clothes, mainly because I didn't own any. My heart was racing and I was inwardly sweating as we reached our floor. Judging by the time it took to get here, I assumed we were about in the middle of the hotel. We stepped into the hallway and walked a few feet to a door. Chuckles knocked. “Miss Scratch, Miss Boomy is here to...” he was caught off as a voice inside answered.
“Just come in Chuckles.” I recognized the voice as Vinyl's from her appearances on MTV. We entered to see a very luxurious hotel room. A flat screen dominated the right wall while two couches made a right angle for the other two with a moderate sized coffee table was in the center of the room. Bree was laying on the couch farthest from the door and Vinyl was laying on her back on the other, she looked at us upside down. “So you're Enormous Boom? I'm Vinyl Scratch, but I'm sure you already knew that.” I wasn't sure how to react. My first thought was to be starstruck but that was immediately thrown out. I certainly not going to act flirtatious, so I figured I might as well act like it wasn't a big deal.
“Yeah, just call me Boomy.” I smiled, managing to hide the nervousness from my voice.
“So anyone can call you Boomy, I figured it was just your girlfriend that could call you that” she said with a smug look on her face. I shot a look at Bree wondering just what she had told Vinyl. Bree blushed and looked back over what I had just noticed to be Vinyl's signature glasses.
“I swear, she came up with that on her own!” Bree said defensively raising up her hooves like she was under arrest. Vinyl snickered and motioned to a chair in the corner for me to sit in.
“Please, take a seat over there if you want, or you could stand, or you could lay with your not-girlfriend on the couch so long as you two don't try anything” there was a hint of laughter in her voice, presumably from the identical blush on both mine and Bree's faces. I decided to take the seat. A blue aura surrounded a record that was sitting on the coffee table as Vinyl picked it up. “So, from what Bree has told me, you drew this, right?” she levitated the album over to me. I nodded. It was the same cover I had painted just the other day.
“Yeah, I drew it” I looked back and forth between her and the album. She was sitting up on the couch now, rubbing one hoof under her chin like some sort of art critique. “Do you like it?” I asked more just to break the unsettling silence in the room. I didn't know what time it was when we had left but the sun was hanging low in the sky when I looked out the portrait window behind Bree's couch.
“Yeah, yeah I do” Vinyl replied, sounding more on the second yeah. “Do you do this a lot?”
Sure I meet mega-celebrities on the daily “What, do you mean the artwork? Yeah, it's a hobby of mine” I answered trying to exude a feeling of confidence, succeeding in shuffling nervously in my seat.
“I have to say, the guy I have on artwork is a little peeved that you did this.” Vinyl scolded sparing me a disapproving side-glance “What do you suppose we do about that” she asked me
I swallowed hard “I uh um” my words failed me until I grasped at the first thing that seemed coherent “I-I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to offend your artwork guy, please don't be angry” I was shaking now and was sweating slightly.
Vinyl kept the mean face up for a few seconds until it broke into a smirk. “Ha, my artwork guy is not my artwork guy anymore. If he can't take a little criticism then he can't work for me”
I was confused. “So if I'm not here to apologize to your art guy, than why am I here?” Bree was beaming in her seat. She had been uncharacteristically quiet the whole time.
“She wants to hire you!” she suddenly burst out, immediately clamping a hoof over her mouth. My jaw dropped. She couldn't be serious, could she? I looked at Vinyl to smirk or something indicating a joke, but she just rolled her eyes.
“Dang you're a loudmouth aren't you?” she grinned slightly “I'll have to make note of that, but you ruined it Bree, I wanted to tell her.” I shrugged off the obvious innuendo, then tried and failed to put my jaw back on it's hinges. Bree reached over and closed my mouth. Upon her doing so, I found my words.
“You want ME to work for YOU” I asked in disbelief. Both Vinyl and Bree nodded their heads. Chuckles came out of the kitchen with a bottle of champagne. I hadn't even notice him leave and his sudden emergence startled me slightly.
“You bet, welcome to the family!” Chuckles' voice slightly louder than needed boomed from the doorway. The bottle on the serving tray on his back was surrounded by a gray aura I immediately recognized as Bree's.
“Hey Boomy, does this qualify for drinks?” Bree said moving the bottle towards her. Her smile was huge and I'm sure mine reflected as much. I saw Vinyl look between us out of the corner of my eye as she got glasses from the kitchen. Bree popped the cork and poured I generous amount into each glass. We clinked our glasses together and we each took a large gulp. My brain immediately went fizzy as I smiled between the two mares in the room with me. Vinyl was giggling and Bree was getting wobbly to her hooves. Time seemed to speed a little as we finished our third respective glasses. I vaguely remember Bree and I on our hind legs with an arm around each other for support. I remember a kiss but I am not sure who with. And I remember Vinyl giving me a sultry, half-lidded, seductive glance as we made our way to the bedroom.
I woke up knowing three things. One: I had a massive hangover. Two: I was in bed between two other ponies. Three: The other two facts attested that last night was AWESOME...If I could only remember what happened.
“Vinyl, Chuckles told me I could find you he...oh” I heard an unfamiliar British accented voice say. I opened my eyes to see who it was and instantly regretted it. The light burned my eyes and I immediately squinted against it. I turned slightly away from the source when the stranger in the room closed the curtains.
“Thank you...” I groaned. The strange pony was silent. She was tan with a black mane and had a bow-tie on. She seemed vaguely familiar.
“Hey Tavi did you find her...” Chuckles walked in saying. He took in an overview of the scene and turned and left. “I'll just wait on the couch” he muttered on his way out.
“So, uh, who are you?” was the only thing I could ask.
“I'm Octavia Melody, and you're in bed with my marefriend” she said without emotion. I on the other hoof, started freaking out.
“Your muh” my eyes went wide as I remembered what I could about last night.
“Marefriend, yes” Octavia finished.
“I am so sorry, I had no idea I...” she raised a hoof to silence me when the other two bodies in the bed started stirring. The motion caught my attention and I looked over. Snoring to my right was Vinyl and to my left Bree was snuggling up against me. I was mostly interested in the latter. Her bed-mane was adorable, the black hair mixed so well with the neon green highlights. The sight of her warmed my heart and I smiled.
“So, who are you” she asked
“I'm Enormous Boom. Vinyl hired me last night.” remembering the events of last night I realized how that sounded.
“Oh, I didn't think Vinyl would ever pay to..” she started before I interrupted her
“No nononono. I'm her new artwork designer.” I spouted quickly. I couldn't have Vinyl Scratch's marefriend thinking I was a prostitute. “We had some champagne last night. I'm fairly certain we finished the bottle” I groaned towards the end as I started to move. My head was killing me and I swallowed to stop myself from retching.
“Ah, I see” Octavia smiled away her previous misconception.
“Octavia, you're surprisingly calm with seeing your marefriend in bed with two other mares.”
“Oh, I can see why you'd say that. Would you like to talk somewhere their isn't sleeping bodies?” she asked motioning to the door. I looked back at Bree sleeping adorably and decided to take mental pictures because this probably won't ever happen again then got up. Bree frowned in her sleep after losing her snuggle buddy. I slowly walked out past Octavia. She followed suit and closed the door. “So, I'm sure you're curious, ask away” she stated after we made it to the living area.
“Why are you okay with” I motioned to the bedroom door “That” was my first question.
“About five years ago, Vinyl and I both got extremely intoxicated and she and I both ended up in bed, but not with each other. We both realized that, although we had betrayed one another, we both still loved each other, even more so after our mutual affair. We then decided that maybe we should be allowed a little 'strange' every now and then” she held up a hoof in air quotes around the word strange. “Ever since we've allowed ourselves a give and take once a month where we can have a one night stand to keep the relationship fresh”
“I see. And that has been working for you two?” I was a little confused seeing as this tan mare acted so comfortably talking about adultery. Chuckles came in and poured us each a cup of coffee.
“Yes, it has. In fact just last week, I slept with Chuckles” this comment caused chuckles to spill some coffee out of Octavia's cup and causing me to spray my first sip.
“What!?” I was stunned
“Tavi!” Chuckles was mortified
“What's with all the yelling?” Vinyl had woken up and walked into the living room. I looked behind her but Bree hadn't followed her out. “Morning babe” she said, though I wasn't sure if it was to me or Octavia. In either case Octavia was the one who responded.
“Good morning dear, how was the meeting last night?” Octavia was so calm, it was almost unnerving.
“Judging by how you're talking to Boomy, I think you can infer.” Vinyl smiled and Chuckles poured her a cup of coffee. She walked over and gave me a peck on the cheek then promptly turned to Octavia and passionately kissed her.
“Is Bree up yet?” I asked Vinyl.
“Not yet. I thought you and Bree weren't interested with each other in that way anyways” Vinyl said over her cup of Octavia, seeing as the tan mare had pretty much melted where she stood.
“What are you...” I started then it hit me that, in a drunken escapade, I had had a threeway and Bree was involved “Look, I'm sure it was a one time thing. We aren't together!” I lightly stomped a hoof on the last word.
“Really? Because the way you two were going at it I'm sure anyone else would state otherwise, I barely got any last night.” Vinyl seemed rather put out.
“What do you mean by that?” my memories of the last night still extremely fuzzy.
“You were probably too drunk then, when did you stop remembering?”
“I remember the third glass of champagne then a blur then a raging headache”
“Ah in that case, “about halfway through the fourth glass, we finished the bottle by the way, you and Bree stared into each others eyes for a few seconds, I figured you two were either going to crack up or cry. But instead you two just started making out like a couple of horny teenagers. At some point Bree pulled your sweatshirt off and did something with it, I don't remember what. And then I mentioned the bedroom” she proceeded to go into detail of the drunken threesome from the previous night. “The last thing I remember before passing out was Bree saying something like 'I love you E.B'''
“And then I woke you up this morning” Octavia stated. Chuckles had left and entered multiple times during the conversation. When it was over he came in again.
“Miss Scratch, you have an album signing in a half hour”
“Thanks Chuckles. We better get going. You and Bree can stay all day if you want. I can get you two your own room or something when I get back later” and with that Vinyl and Octavia walked out of the hotel room. Chuckles was the last to leave.
“It was a pleasure meeting you the other day Boomy, tell Bree we'll be back later”
“See ya Chuckles” I said after him. Now what? I wasn't exactly tired but going back to bed sounded like a good idea. When I returned to the room, Bree was still peacefully sleeping. I crawled in next to her and, sensing the other body in the bed, rolled over and snuggled up against me. I snuggled back and we laid there for a good half hour before she woke up. “Morning” was all I could come up with. She looked up at me and smiled.
“Oh, good morning Boomy.” she then examined her surroundings then her gaze fell upon me. “I guess last night wasn't a dream was it?” she said with a giggle.
“Nope” I replied shaking my head
“Well then, we have some talking to do then don't we?”
“Yeah.”
“Well I hope you haven't eaten yet because I make some good pancakes” and with that she leapt from the bed. I hadn't noticed when I climbed in, but she was wearing my sweatshirt. I followed her out into the kitchen. I stood and watched as she made the pancakes.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, curious as to why she was making me breakfast.
“Well, isn't it customary for one to cook breakfast the next morning for a pony she's slept with?” she asked cockily smiling over her shoulder. I didn't for the life of me know. Bree dropped a few pancakes on a plate and magically moved them over to me. I looked between the plate on the table and Bree smiling next to me. I pushed the plate away and looked at Bree. “Is something wrong?” she looked almost hurt
“Not the pancakes, they look delicious”
“What is it then?” she looked and sounded deeply concerned.
“What are we going to do?”
“About?”
“US!” I slammed my hooves on the table. The action caused the pate of pancakes to hop towards me slightly
“What about us?” she sounded calm. I had never thought Bree could be calm. If she had a British accent, I would have sworn she was Octavia.
“What are we, are we dating, was last night just last night or..” Bree held up a hoof and I quieted down.
“Let's talk this through, we have all day. No need to rush. Eat” she motioned to the pancakes. I took a bite and she sat down. “You asked if last night was just last night. In all honesty, it's too early too tell.” she rested her head in her hooves and looked at me from across the table. She suddenly got a dreamy look in her eyes. “I have to admit, last night was” she sighed “amazing” she continued to look at me with her eyes half lidded. I looked back with an eyebrow raised and clapped my hooves together to snap her back to reality. She shook her head to break her of her spell. “As for what we are, well, what do YOU want us to be?”
“I-I” what DID I want. Did I still have a crush on Bree? It wasn't like there was anypony else who had caught my attention. “You know how I feel. I do like you and I do want us to be together.” I drooped my head towards my pancakes waiting the inevitable, heart crushing rejection like last time.
“Me too.” my head shot up when she said that.
“Pardon? You what?” my head was swirling.
“I have been thinking about it since last week. I was going to ask you out over drinks last night.” she paused a moment. “I suppose it went a little differently than I thought it would.” she giggled. “So where does that leave us?”
“I think it leaves us right about here” I said. The confused look on her face was quickly wiped away as I dived over the table and tackled her. I looked deep into her eyes and kissed her. She kissed back. She broke the kiss and planted smaller ones up and down my face and neck, each one like a little signature signing a declaration of passion. While doing all of this, she had managed to flip us both over with her now straddling me. She dropped her mouth next to my ear.
“This is going to be fun, but I need you to do something first” she whispered into my ear.
“What's that?” I whispered back.
“I need you” she bit her lip and paused before saying “To wake up” My dream shattered.
My dream shattered around me as I regained consciousness “It was all just a dream?” I said aloud
“Of course silly, that's what happens when you sleep. Do want pancakes as usual?” Bree asked. She was standing over my bed smiling sweetly.
“Huh, what?” I was still breaking free of the dreamstate to realize what was going on. “Usual?”
“Yeah, I've been cooking you pancakes after sex since we first got together” Bree said as though she were reminding me of something obvious. Shaking off the rest of the dream, I realized that the dream had been a flashback from almost a year ago.
“Pancakes sound delicious babe.” I smiled and rolled over. Life is good.