I awoke saturday morning, feeling my best. My mom had left already for work at the metallurgists lab and I was home alone.
I sat up with groggy eyes and checked the time, 10:37 AM. Letting out a small groan, I hoisted myself out of bed and into the kitchen.
My mom had left me a succulent-looking daffodil sandwich for breakfast or lunch or whenever I was expected to wake up. I bit into it and let out a satisfied moan as the rich petals filled my mouth.
Then in mid-chew I remembered there was something happening later today. I perused my brain for anything that may hint towards what it was. Then suddenly I gasped and almost choked on my sandwich. I almost shouted through the wet lump of bread and flower in my mouth "Vinyl!"
My eyes widened and I started to think... What to do to make the house look respectable... Crap! I need to shower!
I set down the half of the sandwich that I hadn't let myself eat and ran into the bathroom. I quickly turned on the valve and started tidying the living room while waiting for hot water.
As soon as I seen steam billowing out of the bathroom, I trotted in and stepped into the shower. It was a quick, but effective process. I stepped out and attempted to dry myself off with a towel, but only doing a half-assed job.
I brushed my teeth until they were no-longer tainted yellow and added a little spritz of some of my moms perfumes to my mane. It smelled strong, but delightful, as soon as I left the general area of which i sprayed, the smell toned down to the smooth, soft aroma of lilacs.
I finished the sandwich and washed the dish, levitating it back up to the cupboard.
Then I hurried off to clean anything else I thought needed to be brought slightly closer to perfection.
Once I was done, I hurried back into my room and sat down at my desk, staring at the half-filled piece of paper in my sketchbook.
What I had done was the outline of a massive mountain-scape that only existed in my head, rich with jungle trees and wildlife. I floated my pencil to the unfinished part of my page as a wonderful idea appeared in my mind, bringing a pleased grin to my lips.
When I had finished the rest of the picture, it was backing a radiant citrus sunset with a large, dormant dragon flying off behind the mountain. It was, in my eyes, a masterpiece.
I ripped the page out on the perforations in my book and stacked it neatly with about seven other pieces I had drawn in the few nights before.
Satisfied, I allowed a moment of relaxation. I brought out my guitar and settled on one of the low-seated chairs in the kitchen.
I opened the case, revealing a beautifully carved birchwood instrument with five woven iron strings. It was in crisp tune and sung like a bird.
I opened my book of songs to a random page and found myself on a song I had not played for many months.
I strummed once with my hoof and let my magic do the rest with the frets.
I let the sullen tune carry out until the first verse and begun to sing in tune with the rhythm of my guitar.
"Tired and lonely, Still we stand,
On a road to nowhere...
Trapped in a world of endless days, My engine's stalling,
(Road to nowhere)
Body and mind are breaking down,
On a road to nowhere...
Destiny silent, hear no sound,
As I wait forever...
Farewell, I'll miss you,
I'm sick of these goodbyes,
'Cause it tore us apart, right from the start,
I miss you..."
Then there was a quiet knocking at the door and I sprang up, accidentally hitting a few strings of my guitar. I muted them, put my thing of beauty back in it's case, and trotted to the door.
I opened it to see Vinyl staring back at me, looking slightly sorrowful, and then smiled.
"Hi, come on in," I welcomed her.
"Thanks," she replied.
She sontered in, taking in the new surroundings.
"I... I like your apartment," she finally said.
"Thanks... my mom and I will be moving into a new house when she can afford it, so we don't have to live in this cramped space," I explained.
"I heard you play...," the white mare pawed at the ground, "I'm sorry I interrupted... I didn't want to stop you..." she sighed.
"I..." taken back by the compliment, I regained my focus away from the millions of strands of happiness in my brain going "Vinyl likes my guitar!" and back to the fact that she seemed to have something troubling her. "Thank you... Vinyl... you seem sad. Is everything alright?" I asked.
"Y-yeah..." she stuttered,"just, your song... it was kinda sad and... Nevermind. I came to hang and have a good time, not cry like a filly." she perked up.
"Okay," i responded, acknowledging that the didn't want to talk about it. "So... This is the first time I've had anypony over at my house for more than a year... What do we do?" I questioned, lacking in the field of experience this kind of pony interaction required.
"Do you have any games?" she asked.
"No sorry, I've never needed them because I've never had anypony else to play them with".
"Then..." she scratched her chin, her mood had already changed dramatically and she was now appearing as joyous as ever. "How about you show me some of your art?" she suggested.
"Gladly," I chimed and motioned for her to follow me. We walked into my room, my bed wasn't made and my scrap papers were everywhere. How had I forgotten to clean my room but not the rest of the house! I mentally kicked myself and apologized for the mess.
"I put together a pile of things I thought were some of my best pieces. Browse through them as you will," I let her gaze at my desk. Instead of picking up the stack of my new drawings, she picked up my sketchbook and started flipping through it.
"Those ones... aren't as good, but you can see them if you want"
"My mom once told me, look for someones art in a piece they never intended to show, and then you get a full perspective of their passion," she explained, flipping through. "Wow... there's a lot of me in here...," she commented.
"I... dont have much else to draw. either my favourite scene at my best friends cottage out near whitetail woods, or you." I noted. And she was just so gorgeous! my mind told itself, but I caught myself from saying that aloud.
"These are amazing" she continued to flip through my work.
"Thanks... they're just doodles".
"Hey," a grin came upon her muzzle, "Have you ever had a model before?"
"I... no," I stammered
"Would you like to try?"
"I'd be...flattered"
She stood up and trotted over to my bed. She fixed the blankets and laid over them, facing my desk.
I levitated it up from the wall and around so it was facing the bed and sat down. I floated my pen to the paper and begun to capture the perfection stationed in front of me.
/***\\\
When I was finished, two hours had passed and there were eraser shavings cloaking the surface of my desk.
The sun was still high in the air when I held the paper up, letting Vinyl examine the work. She let out a small squee as her eyes fell upon it.
During the process, we talked. Mostly about small things, like our favourite colors and other things et cetera, but we did have a long, deep conversation about love. It always came to love. The one conversation I wanted to avoid for the sake of Vinyl's happiness.
Her and Octavia had been mercilessly in love since shortly after they met, but because of their varied genres, were forced to separate their dwellings and move on to different cities. Vinyl mostly played in Las Pegasus, while Octavia played here in Manehatten. She had booked this show hoping to find some time to see her lusted cellist, but before she got a chance to come out, Octavia ended the frail bonds holding them together. It was weeks of pain for Vinyl, and even once she cancelled a show and gave some merchandise for compensation, so she could be alone in her sorrow.
With this came no tears, only a sad tone in her voice.
After what Vinyl told me, I no longer felt sad for being broken by Lightning Dust, I almost felt pity for taking so much time for myself when things could have most definitely been worse.
She eventually settled down after I took a moment to trot up and give her an empathetic hug.
Then she resumed her pretty smile and let me finish my newly titled 'masterpiece'.
I pinned the drawing to a spot I sectioned off on my wall with all my posters and anything else worthy enough to show off.
"How... How do you draw such beautiful things?" Vinyl sounded astounded.
"I guess... the same way you create masterpieces of music," I responded, finding a point where the two arts mixed.
"That was deep," she snickered.
"Am I not shallow enough for you?" I responded, playing with her humor.
"No, of course not. You have the perfect amount of deepne-" she caught herself mid-way through the sentence and then began to giggle along with me.
"Now that was clever," she grinned at me, clearly amused.
"I got lots more where that came from. My best friend, Molto Tempest is full of nasty humor like that, and I think I've caught on to a fair bit of it," I smiled at her.
We calmed down and sat together on the bed. My mind was still just seeming to get around the fact that I was hanging with the Vinyl Scratch and start functioning properly.
"So," I tried to make conversation, "Tell me about your life. What makes up that sexy white ma-" I clasped a hoof to my mouth and stopped talking.
Vinyl was blushing slightly, but took my hoof-mute as a sign not to bring it up.
"What makes up... you," I expelled the words from my mouth, still embarrassed about my tongue slip.
"Well... Where do I begin... I got my cutie mark when I was relatively young, playing with my dad's old record player. I wasn't great at school so I dropped out and somehow pulled off a music scholarship at Manehatten University. That's where I met Octavia. After that, life was kind of a blur as my music was recognised and all of a sudden I was playing huge gigs with thousands of ponies attending, and I felt like a music goddess." she mused
"That's awesome," I responded.
"How about you?" She re-asked the question.
"There's nothing to me really..."
"No, there has to be something. Tell me about your life," she pleaded.
"Fine...," I huffed "I got my cutie mark drawing crude renditions of my andmym mom in kindergarten, and shortly after that, I met my best friend Molto, and we hung out together a ton. I moved around a lot due to my mom past... occupation... and I was pushed around a lot in school. Eventually I graduated with low Bs and moved to college, where I got somewhat of a discount because of my art trades. Soon my mom and I moved to Manehatten and mom got a new job to help me with college tuition. And here I am."
She seemed to take it all in once I was finished. "What was your mom's occupation?"
Damnit. I knew she'd ask that question.
"She was a... prostitute..." I mumbled under my breath.
"A what?"
"A prostitute..." I said getting a little louder.
"Still can't hear ya"
"She was a prostitute...," it was my turn to cry. I layed down with my face in my hooves, "All because she needed to support me..." I sniffled.
"O-oh..." pity welled up in her eyes. She moved over swiftly and put a hoof around me. "What about your dad?.." she asked, looking for a way to make me feel better I assumed.
"I never knew the bastard... Left mom and I when I was only a few weeks old..."
now she was pushed up beside me, holding me firmly in her comfort. I heard a sniffle from her and tried to pull myself together. I hadn't cried in years.
"I'm so, so sorry…"