Octavia comes home to find that Vinyl has a magical duplicate / clone. She's not terribly surprised.
Vinyl Scratch, AKA the infamous DJ P0N-3, finishes working a show when she's greeted by a strange unicorn couple. They own a little shop in Canterlot, and want her help with a new invention. Something musical, and magical, and most importantly... fun. She agrees, and soon enough, her marefriend Octavia is in for a major surprise... Or she would be, if she were really capable of being surprised anymore. Living with Vinyl does that to you.
--Cover art and inspiration by the phenomenal Dawn Fade --This is a side-story for Four of Two. Reading Four of Two is NOT required to understand this story, and reading this is NOT required to understand everything going on in Four of Two, but they are connected.
Lights strobed. Hooves stomped. Smoke pumped through the air and the bass thumped hard enough to shake your flank straight through your legs. Drinks were slammed, surreptitious glances were stolen, furtive makeout sessions held in the corners. The entire building shook and flooded with the strength of their emotions, an audience hundreds-large all at her thrall. She was in her element, indisputably the Queen of All Wubs, the Lady of Discs, the one and only DJ P0N-3. But those were all just titles and stage names. She was Vinyl Scratch, and she ruled over this club, her hooves and magic flying across discs and dials in equal measure, making the night last as long as her crowd wanted it to.
And, once the hours got late (early) and the moon got low (sun got high), they finally began to calm down. Ponies left, in ones and twos and threes, while Vinyl played on. It wasn't until she was totally alone that she began to pack up. Her turntables were made to fold and collapse, quickly flipping and meeting together to form one of her now-iconic briefcases. Records in their slipcases, then the slipcases into in their hard cases, then all of that in the carrying case- Vinyl was careful with three things in her life. One was her gear, two was her records, and three was waiting at home in the bed they shared.
Speaking of which, it was soon time for her to get home, push Octy up against the wall, and have some frisky fun before they both went to sleep. Their bed schedule, both in cases of bed time and "bed" time, had grown pretty funky. Octavia worked long hours on weekdays, performing concerto pieces and teaching musical students at their old alma mater. Vinyl was free almost all week, but worked through the whole weekend as if tomorrow was not a thing. In the end, they had both gotten a bit flexible, sleeping whenever they got the chance, and "sleeping" just as often. And yeah, maybe part of that was just how insatiable she could be... But she'd learned that Octy could more than keep up.
Everything was collapsed and completed, the janitors were hitting the floor, and even the stallion tending bar was gone. So now she could just head out the door and... Ah, that would be a little bit of a problem. Across the wide floor, between her and the exit, a unicorn couple were walking in. They clearly didn't work here, and the stallion was singing, swaying from side to side- Maybe drunk, maybe just enthusiastic. Vinyl didn't quite recognize the song he was singing (and that was rare for her), but the lyrics caught her ear. The tone was melancholy, yet a bit upbeat, the weird kind of dichotomy she liked.
The couple themselves...Another rarity for her, she didn't recognize them. The singing fellow had a dark purple coat with a short riffed mane and tail, both coal-black. Cutie mark... A figure-8 made from two black squares, laid side to side. His (marefriend? wife? courtesan? whorse? sister?) companion was a huge contrast to him. A coat of pale violet with a white mane and tail, both braided, with a shockingly similar cutie mark- Two silver coins, instead of black squares, but the same configuration. Vinyl had them pegged as one of those lovey-dovey "destined to be together" couples, probably looking for a threesome with the hot DJ. She couldn't blame them.
Well, she'd shut them down gently, like she always did. No matter how many ponies asked, Vinyl Scratch was a one-mare mare, and had left those kinds of party day behind... Not that she ever had many of them to begin with. But what she got up to back in college was entirely her own business, and totally behind her. And in front of her was... Well, another couple of swingers about to be disappointed by her old-school monogamy. But hay, where she was concerned, Octavia was the only mare for Vinyl Scratch, and Vinyl Scratch was the only mare for Octavia.
By then, the two of them had made it closer to her. She prepared her usual spiel, and... "No, we're not here for that. And yeah, it's really that obvious that you were planning to shut us down."
Vinyl blinked. His voice was... not rough, but had a sort of calculated edge. Somepony who knew how to seem risky and dangerous even when he clearly wasn't. Not a talent most could pull convincingly. He extended a hoof, and she shook it warily.
"Matte Finish is my name, my wife here is Nickel n' Dime, and we are actually here to make you a different kind of offer. Similar topic, tho."
Wait, he (presumably) knew what she had been thinking about, and he -still- had the same topic in mind? That took some guts. Her respect for the guy rose another tick. "And what makes you think I'll hear you out, Mr. Finish?"
He grinned- Rakish, cocky. Not surprising, with what she had seen so far. "You have precisely buck-all better to do, you always have some excess energy to burn after a show, and you're probably sorta glad we aren't hitting on you."
Actually, that thought had been occurring to her... "Alright, hit me."
The mare floated a small slip of card-stock over to her. "Our card."
Vinyl looked it over.
The Black Door DISCREET & ELITE Adult Services, Literature, and Devices Servicing Canterlot (Soon to Expand)
Oh. Oh wow. Vinyl hadn't heard of any 'shops' like that in Canterlot apart from Velvet's place, which was really more about the clothes. Which is not to say she hadn't been looking... As awesome as Vinyl obviously was on her own, Octavia deserved the best she could muster in the bedroom. Sometimes that meant getting some help... Given the shoddy craftsmanship of the "toys" they often found, it ended up being easily-breakable help. So without a doubt, the idea was catching her interest. She looked past the card now, eyebrow raised. Matte Finish just looked back at her, smiling.
"We hadn't named the place at first, but some of our more... interesting customers gave us an idea, in passing. So yeah, now you know who we are. And as to why we're here... Ms. Scratch, we're here to talk business."
--------
Five AM. Celestia's Sun was coming fast, and that's why Vinyl found herself lying in the booth of her favorite diner, ordering just that. She turned to the waiter and floated the menu his way. "Celestia's Sun, extra hay, real crispy."
Matte and Nickel, snuggled close in the booth across from her, put their menus down. They hadn't really looked at them to begin with, now that she thought about it. "Same for both of us."
The waiter took their menus in his mouth and trotted off. Vinyl quirked an eyebrow at the pair. "Ordering something that isn't even on the menu? Daring couple."
Nickel, who up to this point had barely spoken, smiled. "Three eggs, basted in spicy broth, the sides are diced celery, hash browns, and hay fries."
"...Aand you've never been here before?"
Again, that slightly-off smile. "My mother used to make something with a similar name when I was a filly... It was an easy assumption to make, that it was the same dish."
Vinyl just nodded in response, looking over the two of them. That was pretty reasonable... Except she was responsible for that nickname herself. She ordered it constantly, since it was her favorite early-morning hangover cure. So now she had to wonder- Did she come up with it just like this mare's mother did, or was something strange going on? What would Octy do in this situation? Well... She'd figure out the facts. Facts make it all flow easier.Alright then, facts... What do I know about these ponies?
They came to see her after her show... So they didn't come in for the show itself and stay behind. Not a fan of the music? Needed prep time? Tight schedule, maybe. Business card, came here because of her... her what? Her music? Her reputation as a party pony? Was it about... The things she did back then? No, it couldn't have been...
"If you're wondering, Ms. Scratch-"
She interrupted Finish. No more of that. "Vinyl. Just call me Vinyl. No sense in getting formal with me, supposed business plans or not. I don't do formal."
He chuckled. "Fine by me. Well, if you're wondering why we want your help with a business venture... Let's just say that your reputation precedes you."
Buck. "My reputation for being a completely immaculate and awesome DJ, right?"
Neither one of them said anything. "...Right?"
----
In the corner of the Engineering Department's main building at Canterlot Technical Institute, a mare was working overtime. Then again, she worked overtime all the time. A double-major doctorate in Acoustical Engineering and Electrical Engineering (specifically the new and exclusive sub-department of 'Computer' Science) wasn't easy- And the 'art' of digital music (much less the existence of digital technology at all) was still terribly young. So not only was she taking two extremely high-stress course sets at once, but she was a pioneer in her field. And it showed- The stress and the pioneering. A messy white coat that hadn't seen a brush in days, a ragged cobalt mane that hadn't seen a comb in weeks; topped off with eyes bright, wide, and most of all enthusiastic behind her glasses.
The head of the department, coming through on inspection, called out to her. He had, over the years, formed a bit of a rapport with the department's star student.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Scratch!"
Vinyl turned around, smiling...
----
She scowled at Matte over her coffee. "Alright, that's the last straw, buddy. How do you know so much about me?"
Rather than getting a response from him, it was his mare who looked at her, taking a sip of her own drink. She seemed entirely calm when she spoke. "What if I told you I went to school with you?"
"I'd laugh in your face. I might have been pretty work-focused, but I would have remembered somepony with a name like "Nickel n' Dime". Pretty unique."
The other mare chuckled, refusing to make eye contact. "Aaand if I told you that Nickel n' Dime wasn't actually my name?"
Vinyl squinted at her. The wheels turned in her head- A bit slow at this time of morning, but still they turned. This girl wasn't exactly familiar, but plenty of ponies dyed their manes, or their coats... And then it clicked. "Wait. Wait, I do know you! You're Nickel Char-"
She was shushed almost immediately, a look of fear in Nickel's expression. "Quiet, please. Let's just... We won't spread around what we know about you, and you don't remember me. Sound like a plan?"
Privacy. Secrecy. Shared deception. Vinyl was used to it- Buck, she appreciated it. As much as her education was important to her, it was also tough to reconcile with her modern-day P0N-3 image. And if this mare had something to hide so recently after (graduating? But she was new to the school the year I got out, and that's only been...) leaving school, so be it. "Deal."
She would have asked something else, but their food arrived-- Three sizzling plates, eggs bright gold under the vicious red sauce. It would play merry Tartarus on her stomach, come morning, but it was so worth it. They all dug in, not even attempting to talk until the whole thing was finished. A few cups of coffee later (her favorite measurement of time) and they were finally ready to talk once more.
"OK, so, what's the scoop? Why've you got me tapped?"
"The 'scoop' is that we're pretty interested in the... feel of music."
"What, like the texture?"
He laughed- Not at her, just generally. He didn't seem the type to laugh over a misunderstanding. "Well, no, I was being more literal. I mean, you can touch music, right? Or any sound."
Vinyl knew exactly what he was talking about... The 'Wall of Sound'. It was a familiar concept to her- The sound waves from any source, like somepony's voice, or a speaker putting out music, create physical pressure. And unicorn magic could amplify those waves, and condense that pressure. The result could be a powerful blast, or even a dense presence, like a (very fleeting) solid object. She knew about it very well, after all... Her final project had involved the construction of an experimental "Wub Cannon". The first test firing took the roof off of the High-Energy Music Department. She passed with flying colors... after the review board got dug out of the rubble. It almost seemed like they were in a hurry to graduate her, after that.
"Hmmm. That sorta explains why you want me to help. But I'm getting tired, ponies- I want to hear the details sooner than later, or it's a no-go."
"Alright then, here's the facts: We want to make a line of sonic sex toys. Vibes that sync to music, sure, that's not too hard. But we're looking to stretch the limits, make toys that use sound, that are sound. And if anypony can make it work, it's you."
Vinyl could already see the possibilities in her head. It was a nice sight. "...Let's talk bits, then."
He grinned, a kilowatt smile to be sure. "So you're in?"
"We talk compensation first, then I tell you if I'm in."
For a moment, the two of them leaned back and whispered to one another, and Vinyl relaxed. This sounded... Good. She had been thinking about making some extra cash on the side anyways, to make things a bit nicer for Octavia and to prepare for... future events. Might as well make that money doing something fun and sexy, even if it did mean relying on her old decidedly un-sexy college experiences. So even if they named a bad price, she was up for it.
Matte looked back up from their discussion. "Thirty percent of the profits from whatever we design together, straight off the top. And the same percentage as a permanent discount at our shop, as a thank you."
...Or he could name a bucking phenomenal price. Mind-boggling, even. She shut her mouth, sure her jaw had been hanging open. There was really only one thing she could say. So she put her hoof out and smiled as he did the same. The smile got a bit wider as Nickel put her hoof in as well- Clearly she had been right about the whole "couple that does everything together" idea. "Matte, Nickel? You have a deal."
--------
In her rather well-appointed Canterlot apartment, a cellist named Octavia was disrupted from her sleep, suddenly chilled to the bone. Clearly, her dear Vinyl was about to do something atrociously stupid.
It said a fair bit about their relationship that she woke up with that kind of premonition most nights.
This early in the morning, Octavia could never tell up from down. The only way she could get her bearings upon waking was to check where other ponies were standing. Then again, given her roommate-cum-lover’s ridiculous magical tendencies, “the surface Vinyl is walking on” did not always equal the floor... But truthfully, Octavia was simply not a morning pony. Too long of nights composing, too tiring of days with the foals... And unlike her marefriend, she had no night of carousing or bloodstream coursing with various substances to help her cope.
All of that considered, she wasn’t very surprised to find Vinyl at the kitchen table, smiling and bobbing her head to a beat only she could hear. What was surprising was that, rather than the usual bowls of cereal and fruit she woke up to, there was...
“Breakfast?”
“Yup! Dig in, Tavi-babe, it’s all yours. I already finished up.”
Vinyl was up before her. This was natural. Vinyl was overly-excited. That was also natural. But Vinyl cooking? “Alright, who are you and where is my marefriend?”
A few moments later they both cracked up at the shared joke- It was an old one between them. The first time Vinyl had made her dinner, she had suspected, truthfully, that it was some kind of bizarre magical accident, or a replacement of some kind. Vinyl had, ah, proven her veracity, rather pleasantly, but to this day they still mocked the ridiculous evening’s events. She looked over the platter of food, pleased to see some of her favorite dishes involved.
“Was this a special occasion I forgot?”
The unicorn leaned in and kissed her cheek, forcing her to sit down at the table before heading to the sink and starting to clean up. “Nnnnope! Just felt like it. Plus, it’s tutor day- You could use the energy, right?”
She grimaced. It had been such a pleasant morning until she remembered just what kind of work she would be doing. Octavia didn’t... hate children, of course not. But even now, her third year working as a musical theory tutor, she just couldn’t get used to the high-energy antics of the fillies and colts in her classes. Occasionally, she made a jab that Vinyl was actually just there as a bit of practice dealing with the terminally childish. For now, however, she decided not to insult her (beautiful, accommodating, loving) breakfast-providing marefriend and just dig in to the meal.
“So, uh, babe...”
Octavia looked up through a mouthful of shredded oats. She must have looked ridiculous, and could only imagine how her parents would have reacted... But her manners usually didn’t kick in until about noon, on a good day. Hopefully this was going to be a good day. “Mmmfh?”
Vinyl shifted back and forth on her hooves. “I’m heading out. Gonna be back fairly late. Got some interesting work on the side, by commission.”
...Had she just said she was taking on more work? Ludicrous. “No, wait one moment. Did the infamously, neigh, iconically lazy Vinyl Scratch just say that she willingly took on more work than absolutely neccesary?”
“Hey! I resent that statement.”
“The word is represent, darling.”
They burst out laughing again, and Vinyl finished putting away the now-clean cooking equipment. “But seriously, yeah, I’m heading out and I might not be back until around bedtime.”
She hadn’t been kidding. Sweet Celestia, maybe this was an imposter. No, that would be far too ludicrous, even for her admittedly-madcap day to day life. “...Well, be safe then, and tell me all about it when you get back.”
Her marefriend leaned over and kissed her cheek, dropping those glasses of hers just long enough to throw Octavia a smoldering glance. If she didn’t have a class scheduled in a few minutes, she might have taken that glance up on its offer. “Oh don’t you worry a single hair on your mane- I’ll do way more than tell you.”
“I will believe it when I see it. Or feel it, I suppose.”
“Hah, or hear it.” Vinyl covered her mouth with one hoof after that, as if she had let some secret slip. “...Anyway-see-ya-later-gotta-go-BYE!”
And with that, the mare rushed out the door. Octavia shook her head and looked at the clock. Ten minutes to ten, first class was at ten fifteen... She could afford to take her time. So rather than rush to prepare herself, she leaned back in the chair and savored the meal her lover had made.
There would be time enough to worry about Vinyl’s strange behavior later.
--------
The business card she had gotten last night / that morning (time was a nebulous concept for her on a good day) had an address on the back, and Vinyl made her way there quickly. Hopefully the shop wasn’t one of the ones where everything was all garish lights and barely-decent displays; she liked a good time as much as the next mare, but there’s these things called taste and restraint, yaknow?
But she shouldn’t have been worried- The place was about as far from that ideal as you could get. Literally named, The Black Door was an unassuming building on one of Canterlot’s famous Intersecting Plazas with, yes, a jet black front door. And window frames filled with black-painted wood. And primarily-black stone facing, and even a black lamp-post that burned with... Nope, the fire was normal. OK, good. At least it’s not THAT terrifyingly foreboding.
She sidled up to the place, shot a quick glance both ways, and then knocked, three times rapid. No answer... A quick pull of her magic and the door opened. Rather than the shop itself, it led into a cozy little antechamber- Not large, but not the stifling pure-black of the outside. Warm light filtered in from above, and the door out of the little room had an eye-height shutter on it. Vinyl shrugged and knocked on that door.
The little shutter opened to reveal a pair of eyes, unsettlingly close. “Hello and welcome to The Black Door! If you would like to come inside, we have to magically confirm that you are of-age and not disguised in any way.”
“Hey Matte!”
“Hello again Vinyl. Just hold still a second for the scan.”
Seriously? “Wait, you really have to do that? But you can tell it’s me.”
“You did hear the bit about ‘disguised in any way’, neigh? That includes magic.”
“...Point. Just get it over with.”
Whatever he used, it was subtle- She didn’t even know it was done until she heard the door in front of her pop open. It took a little effort to swing it on the hinges the rest of the way, revealing... “Buck me.”
Rack upon long rack of toys, devices, and all sorts of things spread out before her. On one side, magazines and filmstrips showing quite a lot of very exposed pony. On her other, everything from lubricant to aphrodisiac cooking ingredients. And in the middle was a simply staggering display of top-shelf sex toys, quality apparent even at this distance. Fake plots, fake cocks, strap-ons, switches and crops, bridles and riding saddles... A notable absence of clothes compared to other shops, but even Vinyl could tell you it was a bad idea to try and compete with The Crop on those grounds.
Matte was already trotting back to his counter, overseeing things with a broad grin. “Like whatcha see?”
“And what I don’t.”
He quirked an eyebrow at her. “Que?”
“I’ve been looking for somepony who actually sells quality merchandise for a while. Most of the sellers out there almost seemed ashamed of their own work, or they’re just making disposable stuff for a quick buck. Hee, geddit? It’s a pun.”
“Well, it’s nothing but quality here, trust me- Me and Nickel make most of it ourselves. Not the pictures, of course- We’re not a film studio, yaknow? But the devices are mostly our work.”
Now that... She’d been impressed already, but to hear that those two made everything in the shop? She honestly, literally, did not believe that. Whether he was a liar or not, who knew, but there was no way Vinyl actually thought that two ponies were responsible for this ludicrous stock. It was just too much, too good. But... until she saw otherwise, she’d take him at his word. No sense in distrusting her new business partner, after all.
She stepped up to the counter, eager to get to development. Long-dormant bits of her brain dedicated to engineering ludicrous gear were already firing once more. “So, what’s the first order of business, Mr. Finish?”
“First? I guess first is... Take a look around!”
She looked at him quizzically. “I already did. We were just talking about it.”
“Pfft, no, I mean really look around. See what you like! It would be damn hard for us to make any progress developing new toys without inspiration from the old, right?”
Aaah, now she got it. That was... a pretty good idea. The difference between this stuff and what she was used to was like night and day. Buck, part of why she hadn’t told Octy where she was working, or on what, was because of the last time... Nothing in Equestria could ruin the mood quite like a brand-new toy actually breaking, straight-up jagged-edges snapping in half. It hadn’t been in anypony at the time, but they were both still a bit gunshy thanks to it.
So Vinyl made her way around the shelves and took in the sights. No real need to look at the smut, that wasn’t what they were working on (but in the back of her head, there was already a plan to make a movie whose audio could caress the viewer...) today. Plot devices... Octavia loved her dearly, but they hadn’t come to have the anal discussion just yet. Maybe once this new bit got working, she’d figure something out (a plug that had several distinct speaker-faces to create a flow of music that passes through the pony in all directions...) to change her mind.
Across the counter, Matte Finish watched a genius mind buzzing as its owner absent-mindedly shuffled through the aisles, and he couldn’t help but smile.
--------
It was almost impossible to describe just how rough Octavia’s average day of tutoring was. It began with the ridiculous demands of the foal’s normal teachers, sent to the company that hired her. She would easily lose half of her lunch break each day, if not more, sorting through their manure. Then the actual issues of dealing with the foals themselves. Octavia was positive she would go to her grave not knowing how the little ones managed to twist and abuse sound in such... creative ways. And the parents...
Well, that was the last straw. If she kept up on that train of thought she would simply break. So instead, she calmly trotted into the room for her next lesson. The school they were using today had mercifully-good acoustics, so she did not need to call on one of the unicorn instructors to soundproof the room. And in the room itself... She almost considered herself like an aunt to the little dear at this point, and her mother was a good friend of Vinyl, and herself if she was totally honest. But nothing said stress quite like...
“Hello Ms. Octavia! Dinky is already ready already in the other room with her instruments and everything! Although I think one of the chairs is broken, the leg sorta came off...”
She sighed and smiled. “Thank you, Ms. Hooves. I’m sure somepony will take care of it.”
And so it began.
--------
A good hour down the drain looking over the place, and Vinyl’s head was swimming with ideas. Somewhere during her traipsing trip through the shop, Nickel had come in through... Actually, she had no clue how the mare had gotten in. It certainly hadn’t been the front door, and she didn’t show up behind the counter... Eh, she’d figure that out later.
“Hey!”
Her former sorta-classmate nodded to her. “Good morning, Vinyl! How do you like the place?”
“You do some killer work here, Ch... Nickel. I think I’m ready to do some work. So, we got a workshop in mind? I know some engineers downtown who can...”
Nickel smiled and bucked the wall behind her casually with one hoof. The door (rather well-hidden, she could barely see the seams when it was open) popped open, revealing a sloping ramp down into the ground below. “No need- We’ve got our own on-site.”
“Classy. We heading down, then?”
“Let’s.”
It was a short walk, although after a little bit the ramp began to curve in on itself, spiralling down until she could no longer see the shop behind them. It came to an abrupt stop at a tiled floor, immaculately sterile surroundings despite them being easily two floors beneath ground level. Everything was immaculately clean, although instead of the blinding white she was used to from the University’s labs, it was done in a (much nicer) palette of reds and blacks. The door, on the other hand, was solid metal. Nickel’s grey magic spread around the handle and popped it open, letting her see inside. For the second time in a day, Vinyl had to close her suddenly-dropped jaw.
“Welcome to The Lab, Vinyl- I think you’re going to be pleased.”
In retrospect, that hadn’t been the longest lesson she had ever had with Dinky Hooves. Nor had it been the hardest, the most chaotic, or the most destructive. It said quite a bit about her mother’s atrocious luck that it was still on track to be the most exhausting one out of her entire ten-foal schedule for the day.
The mail-carrier pegasus did look a bit contrite as she left with her daughter. “Sorry again about the sheet stand! And, um, the other chair.”
Some teachers would have asked Octavia why she dealt with the stress of such a troublesome client. They had clearly never met this particular mare. Derpy Hooves was a phenomenal mother, a diligent worker, and quite smart in her way. It was no real wonder she had quickly become one of Octavia’s closest friends outside of Canterlot. “It’s no problem at all, Derpy- It is all replaceable. We’re still on for Friday, right?”
Her friend smiled. “Yup! Dinner at six, drinks at ten, same as always?”
“Vinyl and I will meet you there.”
They waved goodbye, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Even being one of her closest friends, Derpy Hooves could not help but be a bit of a stressor. But Octavia did not mind, and never had. If all else failed, it prepared her for the trials ahead of her, such as...
“Daddy! I thought you were going to be making sure I had a different teacher!”
Filthy Rich shook his head and nudged his daughter into the room. “Now listen here Diamond, honey. As much as you rant and rave, we come out to Canterlot every other week because Octavia is the best theory teacher out there, hooves down. And if you don’t like her, that’s fine- Just put all that emotion in your music, ya hear?”
Diamond Tiara, as always, rolled her eyes and walked into the classroom without even looking at her. Filthy just grimaced and flipped her a small pouch of bits- Their weekly commission for dealing with the inevitable tantrums and threats of ludicrous overblown legal action. “See you in two hours?”
“Assuming that, by Celestia’s grace, I am alive by then.”
Once, she had made the joke with a slight change- Questioning if Diamond would be alive by then. And while the filly’s father had laughed, he had also proceeded to withhold her extra payment and make very sure he had misheard her. She backpedalled quite quickly, at which point he slipped her even more bonus pay with a sly wink. The day likely would never come when she understood that family.
In the music room, the self-centered young filly was already tapping one hoof on the floor. “Are you going to teach me my lesson now, or am I going to have to tell Daddy that you wasted our time and money again?”
She sighed loudly, although not enough for the girl to hear. “...One moment please.”
--------
Vinyl couldn’t wait another moment. Her hooves were already gliding across consoles, looking through the settings with a well-trained eye. It took no concentration to keep a quill and clipboard floating behind her, writing fast and with as little mental input as she could afford. Skills she hadn’t practiced since the old days (even if they were just a few years ago) were coming back up to the surface, and she was very glad she’d worn her -real- shades today. During a lot of shows, she had no need for distance vision, and the rowdy crowd risked her losing a pair, so she wore plain old sunglasses, in her iconic tint. Right now, she had an actual prescription pair, not that anypony could tell through the glaze and the tint.
A few feet away, Nickel was obviously struggling not to laugh, or maybe just not to comment. She didn’t really care though- let her think and say whatever she wanted. It didn’t hurt anything, and Vinyl had a lot of planning to get done. After all, she didn’t even know what kind of spell base... Wait.
“Do you two even have a spell in mind? Like, I just realized, you came to me for help with the sonic side of it all... But do you have a base?”
Nickel smiled and reached into a drawer with her power. What she withdrew was... a pretty basic tuning fork. “You might want to prepare yourself for this one- Maybe brace a bit. I’m not very good with it yet, but it can still be pretty intense.”
Vinyl did her best to look confused, although with her glasses it was more of a flat stare of “Oh really?” than confusion. Just one of the many benefits... She nodded her assent to the girl. The other mare furrowed her brow in concentration, and then slammed the tuning fork against a table, producing...
No sound at all. The tuning fork was wrapped tight in Nickel’s magic, which quickly stripped away from the metal and bent, forming a fluid figure-eight in the air. Her face was scrunched in concentration as she moved the dense packet of magic towards Vinyl. “Go ahead, touch it. I can only maintain it for a minute or so with no tools.”
Vinyl could just feel how her face was full of trepidation as she put one hoof close to the strange little spell. She still didn’t hear a thing, even as she touched the ma-
-TIIIING-
The sound didn’t ring through her ears. Instead, the moment she brushed against it, she felt a tiny burst of static as the trapped tone went through her, rolled up her hooves and into her head, ruffling her fur and coruscating up her nerves as it went. The sensation was halfway between being touched or pressured by a hoof, and the crackle-tingle of static electricity. She sighed and relaxed, letting the pure F-sharp (even feeling it this way was enough to recognize the note) resonate until Nickel, panting and sweating, let the spell fade.
She looked over at the shop-owner with admiration. “That... How? I just wanna know how.”
“Well hay, that’s part of why we got you on board- So you can learn it. Think you’re ready?”
Vinyl couldn’t help but laugh as she plopped down on the cold floor, smiling at her underclassman and temporary teacher. “Drop some knowledge, Nickel- I’m all ears.”
--------
After the twice-monthly fiasco that was “teaching” Diamond Tiara the dead basics of musical theory, again, starting from co-operation with your fellow musicians and... frankly ending there as well, Octavia was tired. Her remaining lessons before the mid-day break (she always called it lunch despite it being much closer to sunset and a rational pony’s dinner) were a blur, but she suffered through them gladly- Some good, some bad, all better than dealing with Diamond Tiara for even one extra minute.
And so Octavia came home for her dinner break, a pleasant stretch of an hour or two where she could greet Vinyl and... Right. She wasn’t home. That was a change of pace, and a slightly too-quiet and uncomfortable one to be sure. She was used to having her marefriend close to hoof after a stressful day, even though they would likely meet again that night. Rather than stress further over it, she simply threw together a simple salad, broke out the sourest lemonade in the house (their mutual love of the bitter and tart made every summer harvest into a feasting season) and sat down to think.
Vinyl. Voluntarily taking additional work. During daylight hours, no less. She had ruled out an imposter, some kind of shapeshifting creature, an evil twin sister, a good twin sister, and a vengeful mime. So the only option left was that Vinyl actually was doing this, and the only question left was... Why?
If she were a more paranoid mare, Octavia would have worried that it was for an illicit or illegal reason. Supporting some kind of habit, or doing something shameful to work off a past debt. She removed those thoughts from her head with surgical precision and minimal thought- If that were the case, Vinyl would have simply come to her, and they would have found a way through. No, it had to be something... Simpler. Some relatively immediate need for a large amount of money which she was keeping suspiciously secret from her marefriend.
Her marefriend who she lived with. And had been living with for several years. The only real need such a long-term couple would have for a quick infusion of cash was... A brief image of Vinyl Scratch in a tuxedo suit, one hoof around her neck, left her a blushing wreck in her chair. No, it couldn’t possibly be... Could it, though? Could it really? But we said... What they had said was “When we’re able to handle it”, now that she thought about it. And certainly, an additional income would make it easier to handle. And now that the idea was loose in her head, it would not get out with even the most vigorous effort. She pushed away from her salad, suddenly far less hungry, and slammed down the entire glass of her drink in one shot. The stinging in her throat did little to calm her nerves.
“Oh... Oh buck.”
--------
Vinyl had expected a lot of things when she came to this shop. Ridiculous toys, sure. Risque photos and strange film, absolutely. But what she had not expected was to have every single thing she knew about magical theory flipped inside out.
“No. Just... Nope. That doesn’t work.”
Nickel, for her part, was just smiling and running her hoof over the spell diagram. It definitely looked simple... Deceptively simple. And that was part of the problem.
“Seriously Nick’, I mean... Look, this is way too basic for the amount of effort you just put into it. How does that even...”
Her host sighed. “Look, you know my name name, right? Not the ‘stage’ one I started using when I moved here?”
“Um, yeah? But what does that have to do with it?”
“OK, keep that in mind and look at the spell again. Think about why you don’t think it will work.”
Vinyl looked over the diagram again, frowning. The matrix of the spell was simple, practically on par with foalhood telekinetics. The execution was equally simple, just a matter of dumping power into the right circuits (she had always visualized her magic as circuitry, even before she got her first electronics kit from her Uncle on a glorious birthday) and pushing forward. Stripping it off afterwards seemed tough, but doable. So the only step she was missing was... Oh.
“Ah. Gotcha. That is why you want to make toys, rather than teach the spell itself.”
The other mare giggled. “Well, that and our rather large contingent of pegasus and earth pony customers.”
Now it all made sense. If the rest of the spell was glaringly, obscenely simple, then the bottleneck was power, the raw energy required to actually run the spell. And if it took so much power just to get it started, much less keep it going, no wonder nopony had ever made it viable before. But that was the trick, wasn’t it?
“So that’s why such a weird little spell came from ol’ Nicky Charge, eh?”
Nickel blushed. “I... yeah. I was so used to taking vast quantities of power for making magical batteries that dumping that much into one spell didn’t really faze me. But it’s still not good enough, and that’s why we got you on board.”
No questions about that. Her engineering work had all been focused around efficiency and improving yield, and most of her class projects had taken a special emphasis on low-power devices. After all, Vinyl was a lazy mare underneath it all, even back in her tech-head days. But that’s what Blue Gates, her favorite teacher, had always said was her best quality: “If I want a hard job done well, I give it to a lazy pony. Because they’ll find the easy solution.”
With the trick firmly in her head, she looked over the spell again. It was now or never... “Let’s get some work done here.”
--------
Work was done. Finally, blessedly, after a barrage of ridiculous students and kind ones, terrible musicians and virtuosos, Octavia could sit down and relax. Or try to relax, as the sound of distant celebratory bells kept ringing in the back of her head. She would never be accused of outright paranoia, but she certainly could latch onto an idea and refuse to let go. And with her marefriend buck-knows-where, doing work, actual extra work, the inevitable conclusion was starting to make headway to leaving her senseless. Worries assailed her, just barely hiding the gigantic supernova of joy over the fact that Vinyl might actually be saying that soon.
Her trip back to the house was going to be a nice and simple one, totally uninterrupted by any of this mad worrying about ludicrous things like... proposals. There. She had put a name to it, a face to it, and that meant she could confront the problem without shying away, like a big mare. She was worried because the thought had gotten stuck (embedded (entrenched (burrowed buck-deep))) in her head that Vinyl Scratch, the lazy non-committal party pony with a penchant for flirting, might actually propose to her. And now that Octavia was thinking about it, she could not even remotely STOP thinking about it, no matter how she tried. That made her distracted when she walked in the front door, which was never wise at their house...
As evidenced when she managed to impressively faceplant her marefriend’s waiting neck, suddenly (and pleasantly) stuck with a face full of white fur. Vinyl, looking down, just smirked. There were a lot of things Octavia didn’t like about having a marefriend who was so much taller than herself... This was one of the good things, thankfully.
“Hey babe! Happy to see me?”
She would have given a more coherent response, but for now she just nuzzled closer. “Mmmh. Longest day. Tiara. Ditzy. Pain.”
A soft hoof traced little circles across the back of her neck, spiraling up into her mane and making her shiver a bit. “Good pain tho, right? Educating the youth and all that?”
“Mmhmm. Don’t stop that, please.”
Vinyl laughed. “Wasn’t planning on it. Now come inside- I wanted to... talk.”
Well, there went her peaceful serenity. Octavia cleared her throat and stood up tall, pulling away from her marefriend with a bit of effort. There were only a few times they ever ‘talked’, with the emphasis and the pause and everything. Financial worries, house issues, family stuff, and... Well, that was it. So unless today had been some kind of emergency situation after all, then this was it. Vinyl was going to be asking the question she had been dreading (anticipating) all day.
And Octavia still had no clue what her answer was going to be.
