“YOU TWO ARE WHAT!?” Berry Punch shouted, her face awash with disbelief. Her eyes darted between Vinyl and I, clearly trying her hardest to see us romantically together in any way. “H-how… How did this happen? You two? Together? As in like, you, Octavia,” She pointed to me with a hoof, “And you, Vinyl Scratch. The DJ. The famous ass DJ.”

A smile stretched across her lips.

“You two are snogging!” She chuckled, glaring at me with a devious smile. I relaxed, realizing that Berry had been messing with us. Vinyl relaxed noticeably as well and leant up against me, her breathing now slowing.

“Berry, you scared me! I thought you were going to be mad or something.”

“Tavia, you know I wouldn’t do that! I'm so happy you two got together. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm still surprised as heck, but now that I think about it, it's kind of a natural fit.”

Vinyl suppressed one of her breathy chuckles and poked my side as if to say “Well, she’s not wrong.”

“I-I guess I get what you mean. We are both gay, we are both musicians, and I guess personality wise, opposites do attract.” I shrugged as I admitted defeat.

“And that's what makes this great! C’mon, we gotta show the others.” Berry grabbed us by the hooves and pulled us through the busy crowd toward where Vinyl and I first met. Tonight, the same ponies that were there the first time had arrived too. Swift, Pepper, Sour Twist and Bold Line.

“Guys, guess what!” Berry shouted out to her friends.

“Huh?” Bold Line and Swift turned their heads to see us.

“Oh, hey Octavia. Hi Vinyl. Nice to see you again.” Bold Line said.

“Listen up guys, these two have something to tell you.” She said, pushing Vinyl and I forward.

“Uh…” I muttered, trying to think of what to say. Vinyl rolled her eyes and leant forward, placing an affectionate kiss on my nose, then a slightly longer one of my lips.

“Woohoo!” Pepper called out. “Congratulations you two! Never thought it’d happen with you being so snooty, Octavia. No offense.”

I giggled playfully and gave her a light nudge.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“So, how'd it happen?” Swift asked as we took our seat next to them.

“Uh, well, the first time I met you guys, I really got to… know her very well. I drank a bit much and Vinyl took me home and I… kinda kissed her.

“Aww.” Sour Twist smiled, her eyes watering up.

“I didn't like that I forced myself on her so I thought I ruined it, but Vinyl said she liked it… so we gave us a shot. It seems to have worked out really well.”

“Well, to me, it looks like it's time to party! Shake yer rumps, girls!” Berry shouted with a tipsy smile. I felt like letting loose a little tonight, but not that loose. Dancing was something I could just not enjoy, no matter how much I tried. Music was for listening, in my very non-explorative mind. I instead decided on a few drinks and hoofed my saddlebag to Vinyl before I went out to get them, then heading back. Vinyl was on a chair, a spot next to her reserved by my bag, allowing me to sit happily next to her without drinks.

“Wow, Tavia. You seem kinda different.” Berry mentioned as I passed out the drinks.

“How so?”

“I dunno, you're just a little… relaxed I guess. Still prissy as ever, but you look good doing it.”

“Thank you, Berry.”

“See? If I said you looked good before, you would roll your eyes and groan. I have a feeling someone's done this to you.” She giggled cheekily. “Vinyl, how have you made our Octavia even more amazing.”

She shrugged at me and smirked confidently. This I did roll my eyes at.

“Well, Vinyl’s definitely a good influence on Tavia.” Swift added.

“She is!” Berry raised her mug, shouting above the music. “To Vinyl and Octavia!”

The rest of our group raised their mugs, Vinyl the most confidently of all, before we all clinked our glasses together in cheers.

------

The celebrations had continued all through the night, and even at midnight, we weren't giving up. Partway through the night, my inebriated self had decided it would be a great idea to try dancing. Vinyl had laughed her adorable airy laugh as I butt-planted in the middle of the dance floor. I blushed, partly because of the embarrassment, but my face was already extremely red from drinking so much. Vinyl had even teased at calling me tomato face earlier in the night.

I grumbled as Vinyl helped me up, stumbling a little as I rested my weight on her. I drunkenly began to nuzzle up against her giggling as her mane tickled my neck a little.

“Hee hee! I love you, Vinyl. So much.” I said, leaning into her ear. She smiled back at me and mouthed “I love you too.”

I wished she could say it.

Suddenly, a pained look crossed Vinyl’s face and she split from my grip as she moved off, hastily weaving through the crowd. What was she up to? I stumbled after her, easily keeping track of her using her beautiful, vibrant mane, but falling behind a bit due to my drunken state.

“Vinyl?” I shouted out, my call falling on deaf ears. As I followed her, we reached the edge of the crowd, heading toward the bar. She glanced behind her, presumably looking for me, but her sight passed me. She turned around again and went forward, straight to where Berry was sitting. She tapped her on the shoulder and said something to Berry.

She said something to Berry. She said something. She said something. I felt a massive sinking feeling sweep through me. So many mixed emotions rushed through me. Confusion. Denial. Anger.

Was she lying to me? Was she actually able to talk?

Berry looked back at her and started talking back. She knew? She didn't freak out, she didn't look shocked, so she must have known she could talk. Why would she… would she lie to me?

My eyes were frozen over, watching her lips move up and down. Those same lips that I kissed at night. The same lips that I wished could say how she felt about me every day.

But it didn't happen. She didn't say she loved me. She wrote them. But she spoke to Berry?

“Why?” I said, stepping away as tears filled my eyes. “Why.” I turned around and walked away, dropping my vision down. I made my way forward, ignoring the sounds and ponies around me. They faded into the background, their presence becoming little more than an obstacle to avoid. I left through the entrance of the club and stared out into the night.

I stood there silently for a while. What was I doing? Why was I here and not with her? Was I really that angry with her? I couldn't tell what emotion was flooding my heart, but it was rushing in fast and violent, crushing all others in its wake. I knew I was sad, that much was obvious from my tears. I knew I was angry, the undirected rage I had bouncing around in my skull enough for that to be obvious.

I quickly re-assessed my thoughts on Vinyl. She was incredible, beautiful, amazing, and everything I ever wanted in mare. I knew this revelation would change our relationship, but I had no idea how. Of course, I still loved her, but some part of me knew that was part of the problem.

Then it clicked.

She could talk. This whole time, she could have said that she loved me back. Every time I longed for those words to come from her mouth, I knew they never would. But she could have said it.

I dropped down to my knees and curled inwards as the sinking sadness filled my stomach to the brim. I let out a short whimper and held my mouth pursed shut, scared of anyone hearing.

I shuddered a bit in shock when I heard the door to the club open. The silence that followed spoke more than words. I could hear her approaching from behind, her hoofsteps clopping softly on the stone.

“Why, Vinyl.”

The hoofsteps halted. I spun around, finally facing my confused looking marefriend.

“Why did you lie to me?” I said. It was more of a statement than a question, but one I needed an answer to.

She stepped back, confusion on her face. She pulled out her pad and scribbled setting down.

What's wrong? What do you mean, lie to you?

“Are you that cruel? You know full well what you did. You spoke.”

A look of dread and shock passed her face.

“Thought I wouldn't find out, huh? That you've been lying to me? Saying you can't speak?”

She frantically wrote something on her pad again.

Please, I'm so sorry you had to find out like this, but… I never meant to hurt you. I'm so sorry.

I ignored her apology.

“That doesn't make it better, Vinyl. A relationship is built on trust. I want to trust you, but this… I don't even get it! Why would you do it? Why would you say you can't talk when you really can?”

It's not black and white, Tavi.

“Well to me, it certainly seems like you walked up to Berry and started chatting away!” I spat, immediately regretting the venom in my voice. Her look of sadness immediately shook me from my rage and I jumped upward, running to Vinyl and embracing her.

“I-I’m so s-sorry!” I screamed into her ear, my tears dripping messily into our manes. “I didn't m-mean to shout.”

Vinyl said nothing and stroked my mane in silence.

“D-Do you forgive me?”

She nodded and I cried a little more.

“Do you love me?”

Vinyl pulled away from me with tears in her eyes and looked directly into mine. She opened her mouth.

“Oc… tay-vee… uh.” Vinyl pushed out, her words slurring, almost as if she was drunk. But she was not drunk. She hadn’t drunk anything the entire night. “I… am sa… sorly. I din't w-wahnt yoo t-to hee… hear me l-laa… like thith. It… ho… hurts.”

Every word was a mountain. Every syllable an obstacle.

“Oh, Vinyl…”

I knew what this feeling was. Guilt.

“Oc...Tavi. I loo… I love y-you.”

I pulled my beloved in close and kissed her. I knew in that moment, though I had gotten what I wanted, I hadn't needed it in the first place. Vinyl showed me how much she loved me every day. In the way she smiled as she listened to me. The way she stroked my mane when I was sad. The way that she kissed me. Every single thing she did showed her how much she loved me.

Our kiss continued into the night as we sat in the cold, only warm because of the closeness of our bodies. Vinyl’s kiss was filled with fire, a passion that burned so brightly that anything besides us was bleached away. The outside world disappeared once more and with it, so did all my anger, guilt, confusion, sadness, the only thing that remained being my own fiery love, brightly burning for Vinyl and Vinyl only.

My lungs slightly burning for oxygen made us separate for a few seconds, but as soon as I breathed in, Vinyl mashed her lips against mine again. We both giggled into the kiss at her eagerness, struggling to keep the kiss connected with our lips stretching into smiles. Eventually we conceded and I held her tightly, the warmth of her fur pressing against mine. I hadn't even noticed that the giggle from our kiss had evolved into a loud, joyous laugh. I held my beautiful marefriend close as she let out her airy giggle alongside me.

I pulled away from our embrace and stared into her beautiful, radiant eyes, shimmering with tears in the light of the bars neon sign.

“Vinyl, I love you. I'm so sorry I said all of those terrible things and jumped to conclusions. I should have trusted you. I'm sorry for-” I was silenced as an alabaster hoof covered my muzzle softly. Vinyl removed it and pecked me softly on the lips.

“I l-love you t-too. I oll… al...ways w-will.”

Author's Notes:

And now, this story comes to a close. I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. An epilogue may show up in the future, but for now, we leave our lovers on a sweet note. Thank you all for reading, and thanks to my best friend in the whole wide world for proof reading for me.

See you, space pone.