The Snow on Her Cheek

Chapter Thirty-One

Blue Moon

***

Octavia and Vinyl stood before a plain wooden door, the one next to the one leading to their own flat. The cellist was wearing her favourite pink bow tie, while the pianist had chosen to appear in her usual purple goggles that were shielding her "beautiful, mesmerising" red eyes, as Octavia would have said. Sure, Vinyl wasn't the pony to possess a wide vocabulary, but at least she knew how to appreciate one.

"Okay, how do I look?" the cellist asked nervously, touching her bow tie and running a hoof through her neatly combed mane. I really want to make an impression on our new neighbours...

"Marvellous," Vinyl replied, throwing a hoof around her mare's neck. She leaned in closer. "So marvellous I could take you right here, right now..."

Octavia blushed deeply and freed herself of the pianist's grasp. "I'm flattered, really, but if I may remind you, we did... 'it' a few hours ago," she whispered, tossing her mane.

"Hi, neighbours!" Lyra's voice interrupted them as she swung the door wide open, revealing a beautifully decorated, albeit not as elaborately as Vinyl and Octavia's, flat. The outlining was the same, that is, a living room; a bedroom, the door leading to which was conveniently locked beforehand; and a small kitchen which now was lacking one of its main pieces of furniture - the table.

Instead, the round table was occupying its regal place in the middle of the living room, a bright red tablecloth covering it. A single candle was adorning the table, with four plated surrounding it.

"Hi," Vinyl replied, waving a hoof. "We were just about to knock-"

"No, that's all right." Lyra waved her hoof dismissingly. "We have heard you talking," she carried on, letting the two musical ponies in, just as Bon-Bon trotted out of the kitchen, holding a tray in her mouth. Lyra winked at Vinyl, closing the door. "You know, you two can be reeeeally loud at times." She smirked, nudging the white mare, adding, "If you know what I mean..."

Octavia's jaw would have certainly hit the floor by this point, were it not for the equine physiology. Vinyl opened her mouth, her face now resembling the tablecloth in colour, but no sounds came out. The walls aren't soundproof here, are they? the pianist thought, facehoofing mentally.

Am I really... that loud in bed?.. the cellist thought in embarrassment, shifting from hoof to hoof as she watched Bon-Bon place the tray onto the table.

"Lyra, would you please so kindly stop embarrassing our new neighbours, thank you very much," the cream-coloured mare said with a frown, trotting towards the guests, extending her hoof.

"Aw, come on, Bonnie, I was just saying that some mares can be realy loud in be-" the mint unicorn began, but a swift kick from her wife interrupted her, just as Bon-Bon's face expression turned steely and cold.

"As if you are the one to talk," she scolded her mare, much to Lyra's embarrassment, and giggling of Octavia and Vinyl. "Now." The cream-coloured mare pointed at the table. "Would you please proceed to table to have our dinner?"

Vinyl and Octavia exchanged satisfactory looks. They didn't need to be asked twice - with cheerful nods, they occupied adjacent chairs at table, just as Bon-Bon and Lyra sat down opposite them.

"So, what's for dinner?" Vinyl asked, eagerly rubbing her hooves together. Hay, I'm starving!

Octavia groaned and facehoofed. So much for good manners... she thought, trying to send her mare a scolding look, which, however, was lost on the white unicorn as Bon-Bon chuckled and lifted the cover that had been concealing the dish.

"Spaghetti with tomato sauce and a hint of garlic," the cream-coloured mare replied, pride evident in her voice. She placed a portion onto each plate, deliberately making sure that Lyra's would be the least.

"Oh!" Octavia's face lit up as she tasted the wonderful treat. "It reminds me so much of my mother's Scoltcilian recipe!" she exclaimed before realising what exactly she had just said.

"I take it your mother's a wonderful cook, in this case," Lyra replied with a smile, complimenting both her wife and the grey earth pony.

The cellist's face faded a little. "She... She's dead."

Silence hung in the room for a few moments, uneasy silence that wasn't interrupted by any sound - the worst kind of silence.

"I'm sorry," Bon-Bon finally said, her mind reeling as she desperately tried to find any other topic to focus on. "Um... pardon my asking, but what are your current occupations? I can say, judging by your cutie marks, that they are connected to music, just as Lyra's." She smiled warmly at her mare, who blew her a kiss.

"Well, about that..." Vinyl scratched the back of her head sheepishly, receiving an encouraging nod from Octavia. "You see, back in Manehattan, I used to be a jazz pianist, while Tavi used to be a cellist for the Royal Orchestra..."

Bon-Bon gasped upon hearing the two magical words - Royal Orchestra, but knew better than to interrupt a pony while they're speaking.

"But when Tavi discovered her love for jazz, and, well, me," Vinyl chuckled, while Octavia blushed slightly, "those bastards fired her, and, well, now we both are jobless musicians, given the fact that our city's taken by the Griffins," she concluded with an uneasy smile.

To her surprise, Lyra's face lit up with excitement, her eyes shining.

"So you are jazz musicians?!" she exclaimed, clapping her hooves together. "I have been looking for jazz musicians, like, forever! So, piano and cello, is it?"

Vinyl and Octavia exchanged worried looks. "Um... yes..." Vinyl replied for both of them.

"Lyra runs a record label," Bon-Bon cleared the confusion. "Mostly recording blues, up to this point, but she's been looking for jazz musicians high and low lately."

"Yes, just because I can't play jazz myself doesn't mean I can't appreciate it!" Lyra exclaimed defensively, although nopony had meant any offence to her.

"Lyra's playing a lyre, and is very sensitive when it comes down to discussing what she can and can't do with it," Bon-Bon explained again.

"Yes, because you just can't play jazz with a lyre, you know?" Lyra said sadly, looking down at her meal.

"Hey, cheer up!" Vinyl said, winking at the mint unicorn. "Any instrument is suitable for jazz," she assured Lyra. "You just need to drive into it."

Octavia smiled, nodding in agreement with her mare. Thanks to Vinyl, she had learned what it truly meant to drive into jazz, become a part of it and let it become a part of you.

"Thanks, I guess." Lyra shrugged and raised her glass, eyeing the wine inside with a frown. "Bonnie, don't you have some harder stuff?" she asked, hope shining in her voice. "Just because you run a sweets shop, you don't need to make all the drinks you place on the table so sweet and mild."

"I second that motion," Vinyl said softly, receiving a cold glare from Octavia, who took a sip of wine delicately.

"Mmm... Is that Bordeaux, 1928?" the cellist wondered, smiling at Bon-Bon, who rose from her seat to get "some harder stuff" for Lyra... and Vinyl, apparently.

In a moment, the cream-coloured mare returned from the kitchen with a bottle of whisky, which she immediately put on the table, much to Lyra and Vinyl's delight.

"1898, actually," Bon-Bon replied to Octavia's question, sitting down at table next to Lyra once more.

"Wow." Octavia blinked in awe. You can afford it? she thought, knowing better, however, than to voice her unspoken question. She had tasted such wine only at her father's house, and only on special occasions...

"Yeah, we aren't exactly poor," Lyra said to Octavia with a wink, pouring whisky into her and Vinyl's glasses. "Chin-chin!" she exclaimed, raising the glass.

"Chin-chin!" Vinyl repeated cheerfully. "Although I don't know what that means," she admitted, however, raising her glass as well.

Bon-Bon and Octavia groaned and facehoofed in unison. Octavia looked at her mare, who downed the glass like it was pure water. And it's just the first one... she thought with a sigh, shaking her head.

***

"And then Bonnie said, 'Lyra, honey, I like your horn just like my whisky: hard and-'" Lyra began in what seemed to her a hushed tone, Vinyl listening eagerly and giggling.

"Lyra!" the cream-coloured mare exclaimed, shoving a hoof into the mint unicorn's mouth, blushing fiercely. "That's enough!" She turned towards Octavia and chuckled sheepishly. "What do you say we call it a day? I need a certain mare to talk to..." Bon-Bon glared at the visibly drunk Lyra, who waved her hoof and hiccupped.

Saying their goodbyes, Vinyl and Octavia rose from their seats and trotted out of the flat quickly, lest they be caught up in the middle of the upcoming... storm, so to speak.

Lyra's muffled cries could be heard as Octavia opened the door of their flat - their new flat, their own new flat. She chuckled and shook her head. Those two ponies... She let out a content sigh. It's true that you can find such good friends... only once in a blue moon.

"Say, Vinyl, we're really lucky to have such good neighbours, aren't we?" Octavia opened the door and almost entered the flat when she noticed that Vinyl was in stupor, lost in thought.

"Yeah... Say, Tavi..." the unicorn said slowly, alcohol making her mind weary and her phrasing prolonged. "How do you like my horn?" The pianist smirked, moving slowly towards the grey mare.

Octavia blushed fiercely. "Vinyl, you're drunk, and I-" she began, but Vinyl leaned closer and whispered something into her ear.

Oh. Oh my. Octavia's eyes widened as not only her face, but her whole body flushed, her mind already picturing some... scenes of what Vinyl had just suggested.

"How about that?" Vinyl winked. "And hey, I'm not even drunk. Just a little tipsy." In proof of her words, she closed her eyes and touched her nose with a hoof.

"Well..." Octavia grinned slyly, totally getting into the mood. "I guess... that can be arranged..."

With that, the two musical mares trotted into the flat, closing the door behind them.