//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15 
// Story: Vinyl and Octavia: University Days 
// by DawnFade 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 15



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Octavia’s first no-study-allowed week had passed far too quickly.

The old adage “time flies when you’re having fun” came to mind, and it certainly rang true in this instance. The last week had been the most fun she’d had in her entire life, and it was all because of Vinyl.

They had just finished yet another experiment, and Vinyl was now on her computer tapping buttons with feverish speed. That didn’t surprise her; the DJ always became rather inspired after kissing.

For her part, Octavia still lay on their makeshift double bed, watching the glass of water on the table beside it quaver from the bass. As earth-shaking as it was, she had actually grown to enjoy this particular type of music. Vinyl had been experimenting with many different kinds of classical instruments in addition to her usual array of synthetic sounds. Ever since that first song on that fateful day, the tracks had gotten better and better, to the extent that the unicorn couldn’t wait for her next gig just so she could show them off.

“This is gonna change the world, filly,” Vinyl had said a few days ago as one of her songs drew to a close. “Just you watch. We’re not just re-writing the rule book, we’re burning it and snorting the ashes.”

As distasteful as that sounded, Octavia couldn’t deny that their latest creations were nothing like the current trends in the musical world. She entertained secret fantasies of herself and Vinyl leading a euphonious revolution with their combined talent, though she wasn’t quite sure how to go about such a thing. Besides, she didn’t even have a degree yet.

And that thought brought her back to the problem at hoof. Exams loomed in the distance, drawing closer with each day. Her no-study tactic was starting to make her nervous.

“Do you think Psych will mind if I do just a little bit of studying?” she said loudly over the music.

The track cut off abruptly with a comical record scratch, and the eponymous perpetrator spun in her computer chair. “Nuh-uh, don’t even think about it.” Vinyl tried to maintain a stern gaze, but the seat kept slowly rotating, making her look over the whole room before rounding on Octavia again. “If he said no studying, then no studying! Don’t make me lock your books up.”

“But exams are in one week!” sulked the cellist, knowing she wouldn’t be able to change her roommate’s mind.

Vinyl snorted. “You’d probably ace ‘em even if you never went to a single lecture.”

“I’m glad everypony is so confident in my abilities, but forgive me if I don’t share your certainty.” Octavia rolled over and stuffed her face into a pillow with a huff.

Unable to resist, the unicorn helped herself to an eyeful of classy grey backside. “You’re cute when you sulk.”

The treble-clef marked mare curled up, unintentionally aiding the voyeuristic agenda of her DJ. “I’m not sulking,” said her muffled voice.

“Yeah you are, and it’s adorable!”

Octavia turned and launched the pillow at her roommate, falling short by a metre. “I am not adorable!”

Giggling, Vinyl slid off her chair and walked over to the bed. “Screwing up your nose like that isn’t really helping your case, y’know.”

“Oh, you are impossible!” exclaimed the exasperated earth pony. She dropped off the side of the bed and marched straight up to her DJ, intending to give her a piece of her mind. As usual, her treacherous body decided it would be much more entertaining if she threw her hooves around Vinyl’s neck and gave her an angry kiss.

When they broke apart, the unicorn was wearing a cocky grin as if that was exactly the response she had expected. It infuriated Octavia to no end.

Why is she so confident all of a sudden?

During their first kiss, Vinyl had been just as hesitant as Octavia, perhaps even more so, but now seeing the DJ swagger over for a bit of fun was quickly becoming an hourly occurrence. Not that Octavia really minded; it was comforting to know that at least one of them seemed to know what they were doing. Still, the sudden boost in confidence was notable enough to warrant investigation.

Letting her glare drop into one of those fluttery-eyelid looks that her roommate inexplicably seemed to like, Octavia carefully began to dig. “You’re certainly very amorous today. Any particular reason why?”

“Filly, I’m always amorous when you’re around.” She paused. “What’s amorous mean?”

The cellist chuckled. “It’s the feeling that makes you want to… get close to somepony.”

“Oh.” Vinyl’s smile grew into a grin. “Ohhhh. I getcha.”

Octavia cleared her throat so she wouldn’t get distracted. Despite seeing them up-close every day, those red eyes were still as hypnotising as the first time. “You just seem very, um, bold lately, even more so than usual.”

Shrugging, the DJ brushed a strand of blue hair aside. “What can I say? Getting to make out with a high-class pony like you does wonders for my self-esteem.”

It was becoming difficult to resist getting hypnotised, especially after such sweet words. Vinyl was quickly becoming quite adept at finding new ways to make her blush. That was one of the things Octavia loved about her: she always knew the perfect thing to say.

That particular trait was one they did not share, she lamented. Every time she wanted to say something romantic or flirty, it always came out wrong or just made Vinyl call her ‘cheesy’, regardless of how sincere she was. Sometimes she couldn’t help but envy her roommate’s raw charisma, especially now that they were getting into the habit of spending entire days together.

It wasn’t that she didn’t feel comfortable around Vinyl, quite the opposite. She felt so comfortable that she wanted to say and try new things constantly, but she could never execute them without making a fool of herself.

Oh, what I would give just to be able to tell you the things I want…

As usual, her mind quickly moved onwards to avoid that particular path. It was too early, and it didn’t make sense, and they were too young, she affirmed to herself, piling as many excuses as possible on top of the topic in question so as to hide it from her mind’s eye.

“Vinyl,” she said, mind racing to find something to say that would distract her. “Have… have you ever been in a relationship before?” Her heart skipped a beat. “I-is that the right word for what we have?”

The DJ looked surprised for a moment. “Yeah… I guess it is.” She leaned forward and pressed her cheek against Octavia’s. “We didn’t really ask each other out, did we? It just sorta… happened.”

The refined mare closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth against her muzzle. “No, I suppose we didn’t.”

“Well then…” Vinyl took a step back and straightened up. “Will you be my fillyfriend?”

Octavia’s heart immediately began to beat faster. Even though they had been together for a little while now, it was oddly exhilarating to see Vinyl be so serious about making it official. She felt a light, fluttery feeling behind her chest. Suddenly the phrase ‘butterflies in her stomach’ made a lot more sense.

The unicorn coughed. “Uh, Octavia?”

“Yes! Sorry, yes!” She dove forward to engulf her fillyfriend in a hug. “Sorry again! I got lost in my thoughts.”

Letting out a relieved sigh, Vinyl held a hoof to her own chest as if in pain. “Don’t do that to me, filly!” She laughed hoarsely. “It’s cruel!”

“Sorry!” Octavia emphasised each apology with a peck on the other mare’s alabaster neck. “Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!”

A soft, high pitched noise slipped out of Vinyl’s mouth. The cellist froze immediately, lips still pressed against skin. Several little things became apparent.

Vinyl was panting, though she was trying to hide it by breathing through her nose. She was also warm, very warm, the kind of temperature that ponies only reached in certain situations. Her heart was beating even quicker than Octavia’s; she could feel her roommate’s pulse under her lips.

“Octavia…” Vinyl whispered shakily. “You really shouldn’t kiss there.”

The cellist slowly moved her head back so she could see Vinyl’s face. Those red eyes avoided her, looking somewhat pained. Guilt flooded Octavia’s mind, and she took another step backwards, feeling a little undeserving to be so close to the DJ. “Do… do you want to talk about it?” she asked. Talking was good; she always solved her problems with talking.

“I-I don’t know. Do you wanna talk about it?” Vinyl finally met her eyes, if only for a second.

“I don’t know either.”

They stood in silence, each wondering what the other was thinking instead of mulling the issue over. Eventually, after telepathy proved impossible, Octavia decided to try and give them both an escape route. It was the least she could do after creating this situation in the first place.

“We could always talk about it later…” she offered.

As she had hoped, Vinyl leapt at the thought. “Yeah, I mean, we’re not going anywhere –”

“–and exams are coming up–”

“–I’ve got a lot of music to work on–”

“–should really start preparing our cheat sheets–”

“–the internet isn’t going to surf itself–”

“–my cello needs cleaning–”

“–parties to go to, jaws to drop–”

“–so we can definitely–”

“–talk about it later,” Vinyl finished.

“Indeed.”

After another moment of staring, they broke into laughter, dispelling any awkwardness that had accumulated.

“Wow, we’re awful at this stuff,” chuckled Vinyl.

“I know!” Octavia replied from amidst giggles.

“Maybe we’ve been cooped up in here too long. Wanna go out somewhere?”

The cellist nodded. “Absolutely. Some fresh air will do us good.”

“To the tavern!” declared the DJ, rearing in the air dramatically before charging to the door.

“Oh dear.”


---


Octavia eyed the blue liquid in the small glass before her. It pulsed softly with magical energy and illuminated some scratches on the hard, dark wood of the bar. Under the right lighting, even the most well-maintained building on campus showed its age.

It was only early afternoon, so they were almost alone in the tavern. Vinyl was grinning and nodding her head, waiting for her fillyfriend to drink.

The cellist nudged the glass away with one hoof, watching the substance swirl around unnaturally. “I told you, I’m still underage.”

Unfazed, the DJ pushed it closer again. “And I told you, it’s non-alcoholic.”

“It’s a magical cocktail! It’s probably worse than alcohol.”

“And yet totally legal as long as you’re over sixteen! Cool, huh?” Vinyl looked incredibly pleased with herself. “I figured you might need something to take the edge off all that studying you’re not doing.”

Octavia slumped on her stool. “Oh Celestia, don’t remind me. I’m going to go insane if I keep thinking about that.”

“Yup. Hence…” The unicorn pushed the glass even closer. “Go on, just a sip.”

“Did you just say ‘hence’?” giggled Octavia.

“Don’t change the subject.”

“Vinyl, I just don’t want to drink anything like this, alright? Can’t we have fun without it?”

Finally giving up, the DJ left the glass alone and tossed her fillyfriend a smirk. “I thought we were gonna talk about that later.”

“I didn’t mean that,” the grey mare insisted, though she knew Vinyl wouldn’t believe her.

“’Course you didn’t.” She sighed. “Sorry, I shouldn’t keep trying to make you drink and stuff. It’s pretty much the only thing I did with my friends in high school, so I guess I just keep defaulting to it whenever we get bored. I mean, a bunch of other things come to mind, but, uh, I’m just gonna shut up now.”

Octavia decided to let that pass, simply because she had also found her mind coming back to one particular topic. It was frustrating; the harder she tried to avoid thinking about it, the more it invaded her mind. With a sigh of her own, she decided to confront the issue, or at least set up a future confrontation that was a little bit more specific than ‘later’.

“Vinyl, I think we really should talk about it.”

The white mare waved a hoof dismissively. “We will. Later.”

“No, we need to choose an actual time and day. Otherwise we’ll be saying ‘later’ forever.”

Vinyl opened her mouth to make another excuse, but all that came out was an exhausted groan. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. When should we do it?” She smacked a hoof into her face. “I mean talk. When should we talk?”

Octavia bit her lip as she thought. “Maybe… Wednesday? That way we have a few more days before it, and if it goes badly then we have an additional few days to get ourselves together for the exams.”

“Hey, come on,” Vinyl whispered comfortingly, shifting her stool closer so she could put a hoof around her cellist’s neck. “It won’t go badly. No matter what, I’ll… I’ll stick with you. Or something like that.” She winced. “I’m not as good at this as you are. Just trust me, it won’t go badly.”

Vinyl felt like kicking herself. This was one of those times where words meant everything, yet she could never get them to come out right. Her roommate always said sweet little things that rolled off the tongue and made her feel warm inside, but the DJ just couldn’t think of anything to say back to them. How could anything she might think of possibly compare to those treasured remarks?

And that wasn’t even including all the body language tricks she seemed to know. Vinyl could barely stop her jaw from dropping every time Octavia winked or posed in a seemingly innocuous manner and then acted oblivious to the tantalising nature of her actions.

Sometimes, late at night when Octavia was asleep, Vinyl would remember it all and feel more than a little unworthy. That refined grey mare was clearly working through an intricate game of courtship or something, and Vinyl had no idea how to play.

Are there dating classes for high-society ponies? Would they let me join one?

Not a chance, she concluded, a little bit annoyed at the imaginary snobs in their imaginary classes. She’d show them. She would learn to be a great fillyfriend without their help. Screw them!

“Thank you,” Octavia replied, smiling as she planted a kiss on the unicorn’s cheek. “You’re probably right, it will be fine.”

“Maybe more than fine, if you catch my drift,” said Vinyl instinctually. Once again, hoof met face with a resounding smack. “Look, just hit me next time I do that.”

“Why? You’re doing a fine job of it yourself.” The grey pony stuck out her tongue and giggled.

The sun slowly dimmed, unnoticed for a time by the two ponies at the bar. The only drinks they ordered were two glasses of water, between which a little cup full of blue liquid remained untouched. Though the bartender knew they weren’t going to be big customers today, he didn’t have the heart to tell them to buy something or get out. Besides, that kind of behaviour was for the late night crowd, not two mares relaxing on a Saturday evening. So they remained undisturbed by staff and owner alike.

Only when the bell above the doors began to ring every few minutes did they realise that time had once again passed them by. The sun was low in the sky, and students and staff alike were finishing up with the day’s work.

When they found themselves squeezed between two burly Physical Education students at the bar, it was unanimously agreed that the time had come to vacate the premises. After all, the only reason most bar crowds were tolerable at all was because everypony was drunk off their flank. Throwing two sober mares into the mix was just asking for trouble.

The couple pushed through the door and out into the oddly clear-skied weather. The temperature was still miserable, but they were just grateful to see the sun again. However, it only took a few moments for the novelty of Celestia’s charge being visible to wear off and be replaced by an intense longing for their new warm clothes, all of which were still back in the apartment.

But before they could even take three steps down the path leading home, they were halted by the sight of an incoming psychology tutor. Vinyl prayed that he would somehow not see them and continue past, though she knew it was a futile hope.

“Oh, hello you two! Lovely evening, isn’t it?” the stallion said cheerfully.

“Alright, just get it out of your system now and leave me in peace,” came the DJ’s harsh reply, cutting off Octavia’s significantly friendlier one.

Psych’s smile didn’t falter, but he did raise an eyebrow. “Get what out of my system?”

“Tell me how you knew it all along, and all that.” Vinyl braced herself.

“Knew what all along?”

“That… uh, that…” the unicorn was quickly becoming confused, and she cast a look at Octavia, who merely smiled and shrugged.

“Wow! This has been a great chat, but I’m going to have to leave you two mortal enemies to yourselves. There’s a mug full of alcohol of some kind that has my name on it.” Psych trotted merrily between them, pausing only to whisper in Vinyl’s ear. “If you ever need to talk about how much you hate Octavia, my office is in the big building next to the maintenance sheds.” With that, he practically skipped into the tavern.

The cellist couldn’t resist nudging her shell-shocked roommate. “I told you he’s not that bad.”




 
An amazing piece of music has been made by Lavender Harmony! It’s a sexy drumstep track partly inspired by the scene in which Octavia walks in on Vinyl incorporating classical instruments into her music.

Random note on perspective: Did you know this story is written from a third-person omniscient perspective? It allows me to delve into what multiple characters are thinking and feeling while maintaining a broad outlook over the rest of the world.

For example, in the previous chapter we saw Octavia’s thoughts [(the year(my life(eternity)))] as well as Vinyl’s [Grey and black boots and beanie. How did I not see that?!]. Pretty neat, huh?

It also allows me to occasionally leave the main characters behind in order to describe an event happening elsewhere, something that wouldn’t be possible if it was from a limited third-person perspective.  A good example of this is in chapter eleven: Octavia leaves the student councillor’s office, yet the narrator remains with Psych.

Now excuse me while I collapse crying in a pile of assignments.

(More long author’s notes due to popular request!)

(Oh, and have some prereader commentary)

