The Snow on Her Cheek

Chapter Fifteen

One More for My Baby...

***

"So, when my folks kicked me out..." Vinyl began, leaning back, her hoof subconsciously stroking Octavia's mane. "Let's say... things got rough." She frowned, as if in pain, as the memories became more and more vivid. "I was a fool back then, not to take any money with me, but again, I guess I just was unprepared..." Who am I kidding? I was totally ready for this... Stupid, Vinyl. Stupid.

"You know, you have to earn for a living somehow, right?" Vinyl carried on, Octavia's eyes firmly locked on her, taking in every word, every motion of Vinyl's body.

The white mare gulped and held a long pause; long enough for Octavia to see that something was wrong here.

"T-t-they raped me, Tavi... One by one..." Vinyl let out with a sob, her eyes teary, her gaze adrift, fixed on some invisible demons of the past.

The cellist gasped in fear, her mind unable to comprehend the phrase completely, but her emotions telling her that it was indeed awful, awful beyond recognition.

"W-who?" the grey pony managed to partly ask, partly squeak. No. No, Vinyl... Please, no...

"The bums," Vinyl replied with a strange, terrifying mixture of disgust and idleness in her voice. "Stallions, mostly. Never liked them, anyway. But..." She smiled sadly, and that sombre, heart-wrenching smile was nearly enough to break Octavia's heart. "I... let them... I had to make money somehow... or... for food..." Behind the sobbing, the mare's story turned into an indistinct sequence of phrases and words, each one of them, though, still bearing significance.

Octavia hugged her marefriend tightly and began stroking her mane, cooing sweet nonsense into her ear, seeing the pianist visibly relax in her hooves.

"Never... wanted..." Vinyl finally finished with a quiet sob, her body firmly pressed into her marefriend's, Octavia's warmth and love cleansing her head of darkened thoughts.

The mares spent the next few minutes in silence, neither sure of what to say. Finally, Vinyl decided to go on with the story, but be more optimistic this time.

"So, day after day, I tried to find a bar where they would accept me as a pianist, but to no avail. However, at one bar - the one I met you in..." Vinyl smiled and kissed her cellist on the forehead gently. "They let me show 'what I was made of'. And, as fairy-talish as it may seem, George was in the audience that night. At first, when he came up to me and told me about his being a jazz pianist, and said that I had 'talent that needed refining', I didn't believe him, of course." The white mare chuckled, her sadness fading away, replaced with more pleasant memories. "How can you play the piano? You're blind! I said." She shook her head with a smile.

"But he couldn't see your point," Octavia continued with a smile of her own.

"Exactly." Vinyl nodded. "Soon, he became my tutor." She smiled, and that honest, genuine smile was enough for Octavia to stop worrying. "Those were the days..." She closed her eyes blissfully. "The days of jazz; pure, wonderful jazz. I really learned to drive into music... Everything was great. Until he became popular, that is..." The white mare sighed, her face darkening slightly.

"What do you mean?" Octavia wondered, raising her head to meet her mare's gaze, which was now focused on the opposite wall.

"You see, he was becoming gradually popular with the Manehattan audience. With popularity came gigs, and he had to hire managers, and, well..." The pianist chuckled sadly. "He had almost no time for me. One day, one of the managers came up to me and offered money, in exchange for my 'soonest departure'. He said he would tell George that I left on my own and found a place in one of the bars in other town." Vinyl shifted, making Octavia change her comfortable position slightly. "I refused the money and left. I was a fool to turn down the offer, though. I knew George would be too busy to teach me anyway..."

"Does he know?" Octavia asked after a moment of uneasy silence.

"No." Vinyl laughed. "No. It would hurt him a lot, to learn that his own manager basically threw me out in the streets, again. He still thinks that I found a nice job. Well, I have a nice job now, as a matter of fact." She smiled and winked at Octavia.

The cellist nodded, and the compartment was once more occupied by silence; though, this time it was thoughtful silence; contemplating silence; philosophical silence.

Suddenly, Vinyl groaned. Her whole body was pierced by an electrifying bolt of pain. It struck like a punishing arrow of justice; the ultimate punishment for her sins. However, this time, she noticed (If I can ever notice anything in such a condition) that the crucifying torture was soon limited to one particular part of her body - her horn. While the pain was still unbearable, at least it wasn't as uncontrollable as it used to be. However, her horn being part of her head, it still prevented her from forming decent thoughts.

Fortunately, Octavia immediately realised what was happening, and opened her saddlebag, taking out the tube with the ointment. She began applying the medicine to Vinyl's horn hastingly, but gently, not to cause her even more pain. She began humming a soothing tune, which put Vinyl at ease, despite the pain. I guess the power of music is really endless... the unicorn thought through tears; though, those were both tears of pain and tears of a feeling so intense that it couldn't be described with words: a feeling of endless love, a ceaseless devotion to her lover, a feeling of awe, and inspiration, and determination, and hope...

When the darkness crawls upon the city,

I will be there by your side, my love~

Octavia sang, crying herself, unable to look into her marefriend's eyes, lest she see that painful expression that had frightened her not so long ago.

There is no such thing as pain or pity,

There is nothing to be frightened of~

Octavia's voice, deep and powerful rushed into Vinyl's ears like downstream, just as the cure began kicking in. The pianist closed her eyes, her head heavy, her eyelids closing automatically.

Because you know I'll always stay by your side~

Yes, I know I'll always stay by your side~

The cellist finished her song, looking at her mare, who was by now sound asleep. She smiled and kissed the unicorn on her forehead, just below the horn; a quick, gentle kiss, not to wake her up.

She leaned against her lover and closed her eyes. What are we going to do? she asked herself, images of the past week rushing through her head, taking her mind wholly. She sighed. The future was unpredictable. Neither she nor Vinyl knew what would happen tomorrow. But right now, she was sure only of one thing.

Whatever might come, they would face it together. Whatever happened, she would always stay by Vinyl's side.

With that, Octavia blissfully drifted off to sleep, rhythmic percussion of the train soothing her, singing her a sweetest lullaby.