DJ PON-3's Event Final Round! (Zelda/Inkbrand)

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Vinyl had finished a few rounds of speed dating. They had been pleasant enough, if only being chances to kick back and get to know some new faces. Well, one of the faces she had already known, but a chance to spend a little time chatting up Inkbrand was never unwelcome. That stallion always managed to give Vinyl the good feelings, even if she tried her hardest to contain herself. She allowed herself a sly smile, thinking that perhaps he might visit her in the DJ booth tomorrow night at the rave. She smiled again, happy with the success of this event. She had made some bits and if the course of the many conversations were evidence enough some great relationships may have started as well. Tomorrow night would be a treat, seeing who ended up with who out on the dance floor.

 

The white unicorn leaned forward over her disks, giving the speed daters a treat of scratch infused beats through the interior of the coffee house that had been disguised as a much more hip place than it sometimes was. Vinyl knew Joe liked to keep his shop a little on the old school side which was cool, but this event had required a little extra in the vibe department. Overall it had come off as a success as far as she was concerned!

 

She ended her riff on an upbeat, swinging the mic around to her muzzle.

 

"Alright everypony! I hope you're havin' a sweet time with your dating round! Guess what? it's time for the last match up! Slide to your left and meet the pony, or griffon, or diamond dog of your dreams!" She lowered her shades and winked at a couple that looked disappointed to be ending their discussion. "And don't forget, any connections you make tonight you can use at the rave tomorrow!"

 

The DJ kicked up the tunes as the daters switched places and then lowered the volume so the last round could begin!

[tacobob]

 

 

Zelda sat patiently at her table for her next 'date'. She had enjoyed interacting with the unique assortment of 'dates' she had been given so far. And while she probably would not be tossing on a wedding ring on just yet, there was always a chance she could end up becoming friends with the ponies and griffons she met. Imaging sneaking in the fact that she was good friends with the famous 'Foxglove' during a dinner conversation!

 

The black griffon glanced over at the other tables. Her pal Razor was sitting with what appeared to be an older mare. Was that  Sergeant Clandestine? She had heard stories about the former R.E.A officer, and how she just 'vanished' into civilian life. Thankfully the griffon while still being his usual shy-self, was holding his own. Maybe he was looking for a girlfriend that was tough and serious. Like a female version of his father? She shuddered as an mental image of old Ironclaw, gleefully bouncing around in a frilly pink dress and tiara popped into her head. ACK! This was a little to much for her griffon brain, and thankfully she was able to flush it away. That 'date' was just about to end. She felt a little sorry for the mare. She was probably not here for just a little bit of fun, but actually looking for a real mate. And there was probably a zillion guys out there looking for an older, experienced lady such as herself.

 

A few tables down, her former 'date' was now sitting with an rather handsome and exotic looking bird...A lovebird? Lucky devil!

 

"Nuts.", she grumbled. More bragging rights were lost, as she noticed that Soarin' was sitting with an sturdy-looking mare with a flying brick for a mark...Zelda quickly glanced around and noticed that Foxglove was gone. Probably had to rush off somewhere. And Inkbrand? Where the heck was he? Maybe he ended up with her? If so, he would need to be careful. It's very unwise to annoy a writer. She heard rumors that most of the villains in the Daring Do books were based off of A.K. Yearling's former friends and lovers. If this was true, she did not know, but it made sense.

 

"Oh.", nevermind, he was right there, making his way towards her table. The black bird let out a chuckle, "Saved the best for last, eh?"

[Zeig]

 

Whew!

Crisis averted.

Inkbrand felt rather pleased with himself as he shuffled around to his next, and last, date for the evening. All things considered, he'd handled the touch-sensitive mare with all the aplomb in the world, because he was bucking smooth like that. Seriously though, the grey stallion sincerely hoped she rethought her brilliant plan to participate in the rave portion of the evening. Having a mare break down crying and hyperventilating in the middle of the dance floor was going to be a real downer, for everypony involved.

But not for him, that rot would be somepony else's responsibility. Somepony that felt responsible and obligated to help every damsel or stallion in distress in all of bucking Equestria.

Which was not him.

But the knowledge that his evening was generally safe couldn't compare to the spike of anticipation that coursed through him, as sleek black feathers and wicked ice blue ink revealed themselves as his final speed date. There was no holding back the lascivious grin as Inkbrand added a touch more swagger into his step, immediately hooking his chair to drag it around the side of the table, much as he had with Clandestine. But with a big difference, as this mare - griffon - wasn't about flip about at his touch.

And of that, he had no doubt.

"Buck yeah, you know it," the tattoo clad stallion affirmed aggressively, dropping into his seat that was now sitting at a ninety degree angle with Zelda's own chair - a much closer, and much nicer view, "though I think I'm getting the better end of the bargain." Zelda was already probably used to his techniques, but that didn't stop Inkbrand's voice from lowering to a husky drawl, leaning forward on the table to imitate casual familiarity as he drilled his golden gaze into the griffon's own blue one.

They didn't stay linked for too long, however - inevitably, his gaze dropped downward to skim first across the generous plumage of feathers Zelda's crest boasted, before dropping lower towards her claws. Specifically, the left one. Inkbrand's sly glance became more narrowed, a half-lidded gaze as he reached forward, not bothering to restrain his blatant satisfaction at the spiraling ink curled possessively around her leg.

Buck, he was good.

"Had to beat anypony off you with a stick yet?" he questioned amusedly, idly resting Zelda's claw in one hoof as the other slowly traced the path of the spiral up her arm, a feather-light and teasing touch. "Buck, I bet you've been getting a lot of eyes since I marked you. Not that you didn't before," Inkbrand added, with an obvious leer on his face as he shot a wink towards the griffon.

Equestraia knows he had never had a problem noticing the griffons assets before she'd wandered into his parlor.
 

 

 

 

[tacobob]

 

Zelda had caught a few interesting ‘interactions’ at the stallion’s table when he was on a ‘date’ with the same older mare her buddy Razor was now with. She was not staring, but had seen a few things of notice from the corner of her right eye. She wondered what had happened to have caused such a noble and strong looking mare to break down like that. She felt a little sad for the lady. Was she a widow? Or maybe she spent so much time with her work that she had very little time for a social life. Inkbrand was probably able to break through her rocky exterior to find a sad and lonely little filly.  A good friend of the griffon was like that. She ended up taking a break from duty and went on a few adventures of her own. Gained new friends, saw lands she had seen before and even ended up with a new colt-friend.

 

Oh how she wanted to know what happened! The griffon’s beak scrunched up as she held the question to herself. After all, she had a very bad habit of putting it where it clearly did not belong. “Not sure if that’s entirety true, but I’ll agree with you for now.”, she ran her claws through his mane as she spoke.  “Actually, the ‘dates’ I have were.. er, nice.”, that sounded about right. “I ended up with a charming male griffon and also one of my favorite writers, believe it or not, Foxglove and she wasn’t that bad..Kind of cute.”, terrible, horrible and not-so-very-good book puns popped into her mind, but she decided, for Inkbrand’s sanity, she would not utter a single one.

 

“Uh-yeah.”, she stopped fussing with his hair as he glanced at her now-marked front leg, “Probably should have taken a box of your business cards with me before I left your place since I’ve been getting a ton of comments about my new ‘inkings’.”, she wiggled her claws as the stallion examined her leg, “Tried to convince an old friend of mine that she –would- look good with her own markings, but probably not where she wants it. I mean, if you get something there, you’d have to roll onto your back every time you wanted to show it off...That gal is crazy.”, she returned her attention to his fuzzy, fuzzy face and ran her hand across one of his cheeks..on his face....Thankfully her claws were dull and pony safe. “The guys at the smithy even gave me a new hammer with the markings on its side. Said it makes it look like the hammer is a part of me when I'm working the forge.”

 

“So, what have you been doing with yourself since we last ran into each other? Well, besides wooing all the pretty ladies in Equestria and causing the stallions of the world to shake their hooves at you in jealous-tinged anger?”, she returned the wink.

 

[Zeig]

 

Inkbrand let out a low hum of contentment as onyx-colored claws ran through his mane, gently yet firmly, listening to the griffon's words with a lazy sort of intent. He was entirely unsurprised that her speed-dating rounds had gone off well - who the buck wouldn't enjoy being in the company of a hot as griffon like Zelda - just as he was unsurprised the griffon had gotten several compliments on her inkings. He had painted them onto her skin after all, branded her. Of course she'd been getting eyes from all over the place.

Though, it was a bit of a surprise to hear that Zelda's smithing buddies had gone so far as to etch their likeness into a new hammer for the griffon. A surprise and a treat. He was worming his way not only onto her body, but now her workplace, the very tool of her trade and the ticket with which she used to eat.

Buck, did that make a stallion feel good.

"Somepony's got to keep all those coltfriends on their hooves," Inkbrand commented after a moment, smirk curling at his upper lip. "Keep them fighting for their fillies. I'm a public service, see?"

In more ways than one, apparently.

Chuckling to himself, Inkbrand finally set Zelda's claw back down on the table, leaning closer with an elbow on the table as he waved a vague hoof through the air in response to the griffon's inquiry. "Oh, a bit of this, a bit of that," he stated uncaringly, golden eyes sweeping over the mixture of bodies lingering over the other tables. His eyes involuntarily landed on Clandestine, in the midst of another awkward looking round, and the smirk on his face grew as he leaned closer to Zelda. "Getting my hoof bit off. You know, the usual."

A flicker of his eyes towards the mare in question seemed to grab Zelda's attention, and he elaborated in a conspiratorial whisper, "Ex-military mare almost ripped my leg off for touching her shoulder," the tattoo-clad stallion murmured low under his breath, with another sly glance towards Clandestine. "If you meet her on the dance floor, run. She'll probably knock you out first and apologize for it later."

Sage advice given, the grey Earth Pony leaned back in his seat again with a roughish wink, running a hoof through his mane. Honestly, he wasn't sure how Zelda would handle a broken down and crying mare - the griffon was amiable by nature, but was she selfless enough to give a total downer the time of day? He bucking hoped not, because he as hay sure wouldn't. Still, he'd prefer if the sleek black griffon didn't become entangled in comforting a grown mare all evening, especially during the subsequent rave and after party. Not that he had any immediate plans for Zelda, but…well.

It was always good to keep all the doors open, right?

"But don't worry baby, I'd protect you," Inkbrand went on a moment later, leer once again firmly in place as he brought his snout very close to the onyx-colored beak in front of him. "Just stick close to me on the dance floor, hmm?" The mention of the dance floor abruptly reminded Inkbrand of their initial meeting at the Veiled Garden, where he'd, quite boldly, pulled the griffon into a slow dance and been rewarded for it. The memory caused a bit of heat to raise into his gaze, and the grey stallion didn't bother hiding his appreciation, imagining the rave that would take place later on.

Slow and stately Zelda had been a bucking wonder in Canterlot. What would jumping and wild Zelda show him next?
 

 

 

 

[tacobob]

 

"Funny..." the griffon's eyes darted around the donut shop, "I've done these before in pubs, and it's usually the same sort of crowd. Silly little stallions and mares who had just managed to stumble into the magical, mysterious world of being able to drink legally in public.", the black bird snorted, "Always made me feel like some old buzzard. But Mister Joe managed to draw a rather unique little crowd here.", she returned her gaze back to the tattoo artist, "Shame this couldn't go on a little longer. Wouldn't mind running my claws through Miss Dash's unique mane, or having Soar'n give me a few lessons in flying while wearing his cute little tights, but I still did pretty good, as I ended up with you, my little public service!"

 

As the pony spoke about his previous 'date', Zelda glanced back at the older mare for only a moment. The longer Inkbrand spoke about her, the larger her eyes appeared to grow. "I could use somepony like that as a model. I could get so much out of her.", the bird whispered, "She's probably as intense as you said she was, being so full of passion that she has not been able to unleash in ages due to whatever. Maybe spent all of her time with her work, or had something traumatic happen during a previous relationship and she finds it hard to bond with others, eh?", she shrugged her shoulders, "And how about an Inkbrand statue? I could get a unicorn I know to do some permanent light magic on your markings. Would be cool, but I'd need someone who really wanted a big statue version of yourself. Wonder who that could be?", she smiled as she pictured the blue haired stallion as he was surrounded by stone copies of himself.

 

One final thing he said did sound inviting, "Yeah, we need to get on the dance floor. I'm starting to get a little tired of sitting on these chairs.", she rose up from her chair and reached over for Inkbrand's hoof, "I've learned a few moves since we last dance. Time for me to show 'em off."

[Zeig]

 

The tweaking twinge of something that shot up his spine was not entirely unsurprising, but it was certainly unwelcome.

It wasn't jealousy, that was a sure thing. Inkbrand wasn't the type to get jealous easily, not over griffons like Zelda who were great company and even greater eye candy. For close friends - and that one mare who made the best cup of coffee this side of Equestria - there was covetousness. 'Lit bit of possessiveness? Maybe. But not jealously. Jealously implied an insecurity, uncertainty of oneself that needed reassurance, which was not him, not by a long shot.

It wasn't annoyance either, not in a pay attention to me,buck it! sort of way. A close cousin to jealousy, maybe, but still removed as irritation or irateness at not being the center of Zelda's world right now. He had a glorious mane too, one that the black griffon had made it a special point to run her claws through on a regular basis (and that was another thing they shared in common, was it? Hay yes). The fact that she was thinking blatantly talking about other pony's manes and tights while he was sitting right across from her was a little off-putting, maybe, but not anything to get in a twist about, not even close.

…So what the buck was it?

For the life of him, Inkbrand couldn't identify it. In a rare moment of self-awareness, the tattoo-clad stallion observed it, inspected it, and catalogued it in the deepest recesses of his brain.

The grey Earth Pony listened silently as the griffon spoke, letting only a gleaming smile full of teeth curl upwards as she mentioned something about statues. The thought of being surrounded by nopony but himself, immobilized and immortalized a thousand times over, was a pretty amusing one, but not something Inkbrand believed even he could pull off. That sort of narcissism was reserved for the true megalomaniacs, the grade-B villains who monologued about themselves through the entire fight scene. Buck no, he wasn't that kind of pony, if they even truly existed.

Though honestly, he wouldn't put it past a few of these Canterlot mansions having one or two self…stone portraits. Self-statues?

Thoughts on Canterlot megalomania were, thankfully, put on hold as the black griffon in front of him suddenly slid from her chair, reaching out one hoof with clear intention. Inkbrand felt one eyebrow raised even as he couldn't keep his upper lip from curling even more, gaze suddenly sharper and intent on the other. "Oh hay yes," the grey stallion crowed as he jumped out of his seat, wasting no time in wrapping a - somewhat - friendly leg around the griffon's waist, "let's give 'em all a sneak preview."

They probably looked like complete idiots, two lone bodies dancing near a table in the midst of a bunch of seated bodies, but Inkbrand could have given a flying hoof as he felt the smooth slide of onyx feathers under his hooves. The low beat from the DJ booth was only a taste of the pounding bass that would be filling the area when the actual rave started, and there were fewer places Inkbrand enjoyed being than smushed between a group of jumping and crazed bodies.

Buck, the rave couldn't get started fast enough.