Ponyville was, without a doubt, the strangest town in all of Equestria. It made no sense. Arcade games were outside and little colts and fillies played them constantly. The hospital had heart beat monitors and x-ray machines that could take a picture of a broken wing. Rumor was, the star pupil of Princess Celestia had a mad scientist vibe…thingy going down in the basement of the library. There were ponies with cameras, electric fans, flashlights, and Vinyl had even managed to hook up her entire rig with zero problems during Rarity’s first fashion show back in the day. This town and its ponies clearly knew what technology was.
And yet, they still used lanterns for most of their lighting. The local farmers still did everything by hoof, sometimes stubbornly so. Quills and parchment were still used just as much as pens and regular paper. Worst of all, letters were still the main means of communication in the strange little town. And that fact lead to one more fact that was threatening to drive Vinyl completely, utterly, go-to-the-moon-and-back insane.
There was not a single cell tower within any reasonable distance of Ponyville. Sure, full-blown arcade games were left outside with no questions asked, but Celestia help some poor pony if she wanted to make a bucking phone call.
The DJ pulled her phone out again for probably the fiftieth time in the past hour and groaned. There were no bars, no service, no nothing. Her phone was nothing more than a glorified paperweight while she was here. She had vainly hoped that going out with Rarity to look for gems today would have given her some vague hint of a signal. They had walked well outside of the town and the trip had lasted for the better part of half the day. Vinyl had been certain that somewhere out in the badlands of…wherever they were, there would be something to pick up.
Instead, her eyes were greeted with the same sight she had seen for the past three days:
Out of signal range.
So far, all today’s trip had gotten her was a seriously wicked case of phone anxiety, a coat that now looked closer to brown than white, a heavy cart full of gems, a rather…interesting and amusing conversation with some dogs that lived in the dirt and utterly feared Rarity, and a body that felt like it had been to ten too many club parties.
And that was just from today. Thinking about the previous days was enough for Vinyl to consider running back to Manehattan as fast as her hooves would carry her.
Rarity, despite hauling a cart that looked even fuller than Vinyl’s and constantly using her magic to locate the source of Vinyl’s aching body, did not have a hair out of place in her mane and her coat still gleamed with blinding whiteness. Vinyl was completely stumped on how Rarity had managed that, because she herself looked like she had rolled around on the floor like a puppy.
As the two unicorns walked in to Carousel Boutique, it was all Vinyl could do to keep from collapsing on Rarity’s floor. She had done all-nighters for years, sometimes multiple ones in a row. She had partied to the point of passing out on several occasions. She took joy in the fact that she was always the last pony standing after any drinking contest. Her reputation as a crazy party pony was well deserved and she took pride in it.
All of that paled to how she was feeling right that moment. Now, all she wanted to do was find the quietest, coolest, most comfortable place and pass out. That place happened to be in the guest room that Rarity had loaned her. All the way down the hall. The length to her melt-away-all-her-worries bed was only a few trots, but it seemed like it was longer than the walk back home.
After undoing the harness to her gem cart, Vinyl decided she’d had enough. She took one step and her body gave out. She collapsed in the center of Rarity’s shop, her glasses sliding off her nose as her body tried to sink into the cool floor. If she could just stay here for the next year or so, she’d be happy.
“Oh, Miss Scratch, sweetie—”
“Rarity, call me Vinyl,” Vinyl said for the sixth time today. She buried her face in the cool floor. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been so tired. So. Much. Work.
“Um, right,” Rarity said. “Vinyl, you cannot simply collapse on my floor. It’s very un-lady like. Not to mention it would be rather difficult for me to explain why the first thing my customers see would be your, um…bum, staring them in the face.”
“What’s wrong with my flank?” Vinyl swished her tail in the air, something that took a lot more effort than it normally did. “Ponies whistle at it all the time. I bet it would help drum up a lot of business if I just sat here all day and shook it.” She chuckled to herself, despite the exhaustion she was feeling.
“Er…no doubt. But still, I must ask that you pick yourself up off my floor.”
Vinyl sighed. She put her hooves under her body and pushed. After an eternity, she managed to get herself upright again. She started to drag her corpse to the guest room, hoping that Rarity would at least allow her to rest there.
No such luck.
“Where are you going?” Rarity asked.
Vinyl stopped, closed her eyes, and did her best not to say the words that were going through her head right that moment. She turned around slowly, making sure her glasses covered her eyes, and forced a smile to her lips.
“I was going to go lie down. I’m beat.” Not wanting to sound lazy, she hastily added, “I mean, I’m not used to doing this type of…work. At these hours either. I’m more of a nightlife pony.”
“Oh no, no, no. We’re not done yet, I’m afraid.”
Vinyl closed her eyes—thankful yet again that she always wore her glasses—and counted to ten. She could feel her muscles trembling. She had thought this trip would be good for her, and in a way, it was. Octavia was not constantly at the front of her mind like she had been for the past three weeks.
But that was only because Rarity had been working Vinyl so hard that she’d been too tired to even think about the cellist, much less freak out over the current situation with her.
Rarity had arrived bright and early the day after her first visit. She had had to practically drag Vinyl out of bed and load her onto the train like a piece of luggage, at which point the DJ had fallen asleep for the entire ride to Ponyville. Once there, Rarity had helped Vinyl unload her one bag—“You only packed one bag? Are you sure that’s enough?” Rarity had asked—shown her to her room, helped her get settled, and had then become a slave driver.
The first day had been nothing but shopping. And not even shopping for cool stuff, like new records, better music equipment, or awesome sunglasses. No, it had been fabric store after fabric store. Rarity had spent hours looking at rolls of silk, spools of thread, and tons of other clothing material that Vinyl had no words for. To her, it was all just fabric.
Which had made it very difficult for Vinyl to answer every time Rarity had asked, “So what do you think of this one?” or “How about this one? Too much? Do you think it will clash with the red?” Vinyl had spent an entire day being bored out of her mind and being little more than Rarity’s personal bagpony.
The first night, Vinyl had gone to bed and had slept like a little filly. For once, she hadn’t stayed awake and stared at the ceiling while wishing to see Octavia, and her dreams hadn’t been filled with guilt and treble clefs.
Sadly, morning had come too soon. Rarity had woken her up far too early—who in their right mind got up at ten a.m.?—and had started Vinyl’s day off with a lovely breakfast. Of course, Vinyl was certain that had just been Rarity’s way of guilt tripping Vinyl into helping her with her next project.
Vinyl had spent the second day of her trip to Ponyville trapped inside Rarity’s shop. She had done everything, from helping the unicorn clean off invisible dust on her mannequins, to hanging clothes on the washing line—to which Vinyl had wondered why there wasn’t a dryer in Rarity’s place—and, worst of all, modeling for Rarity’s clothes. Outfit after outfit. Dresses, skirts, wraps, pants, shirts, even veils and bridles. Rarity had made her try on everything while she made painfully slow adjustments to seams that only looked off in her own vision.
And today, Rarity had made Vinyl go with her to the outskirts of Ponyville and the two had spent all day looking for gems. Coming across the Diamond Dogs and their generous tribute had helped considerably in decreasing the work of digging up gems. However, the tribute had vastly increased the weight of Vinyl’s cart and had made it so she had to carry a fuller cart for a longer amount of time.
It was too much. As she stood there, staring at the unicorn with the purple mane and wondering why she was so intent to drive Vinyl into the ground, Vinyl decided that she had had enough.
“Look, Rarity,” Vinyl said, trying to choose her words carefully. She could hear her bed calling her, and that was going to make her pissed if she wasn’t careful. “I appreciate that you’re letting me stay here, but I’m starting to think you’re just using me as free labor for your fashion show.”
“Nonsense,” Rarity said with a wave of her hoof. “You are helping me to be sure, but this is also to help you.”
“How?” Vinyl demanded, careful not to slam her hoof down. “By making me bone tired? Okay, so I haven’t thought about Octavia in the past three days, but I’ve also never been so worn out in my entire life.” She didn’t add that she was seriously starting to wonder why she had agreed to come in the first place.
“Oh dear. I had no idea you were so tired. Why didn’t you say so? Well, there’s only one thing to do to fix that.”
Oh. No. Vinyl gulped as she saw Rarity’s eyes light up. “Um…yeah. Go collapse on that totally amazingly comfy bed you have?” she offered hopefully.
“Of course not. You don’t want to go to sleep covered in all that sweat and filth, do you?” Before Vinyl could say that she really didn’t mind at the moment, the unicorn continued. “You most certainly don’t. No, we’re going to the spa!”
Oh no. Please, no more prissy stuff. I can’t take it.
Vinyl sighed as Rarity turned and trotted out the door, still full of as much energy as she had been all day.
How the buck does she do that? Vinyl hung her head and followed. Well, at least the spa meant that she’d get to relax, and that was something at least. Then again, if this was a spa Rarity favored, it probably meant that there would be incense candles everywhere, cliché mood music, and plenty of plants to keep up the illusion of a tropical jungle.
None of that sounded relaxing to Vinyl. Incense made her nose twitch, sappy mood music made her body get restless because it reminded her that she was sitting still, and the thought of a tropical jungle just made her sweat. All that nature wasn’t really her thing, what with its total lack of electricity and thus no way to play her music.
Ten minutes later, Vinyl was certain of two things. First, she owed Rarity an apology for thinking that her spa would be torture on a whole new level.
Second, she was positive that she was dead. Her body must have collapsed somewhere in the dirt between Rarity’s shop and the Blossom sisters’ spa. Her soul had left that horribly tired shell to rot in the street, food for whatever animals would eat it. And now a beautiful pink angel, with an exotic voice that sent chills up Vinyl’s spine, was escorting her soul through heaven.
Wait. If I’m dead, how do I still have a spine…? she thought. Oh, forget it.
Sadly, it meant that Rarity had died as well, because she was sitting next to Vinyl on her own lavish spa bed, being attended to by her own blue angel. Vinyl found it hard to feel sorry for her life being cut so short though, because she was enjoying herself even more than Vinyl was.
“Ah, isn’t this nice?” Rarity asked as Lotus continued to massage her back.
“Uh huh,” Vinyl said as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Aloe’s hooves were magic, plain and simple. Every ache, every pain, and every knot that had developed over the past three days simply melted when the pink pony touched them. Vinyl wasn’t usually a fan of this pampering stuff, but she had to admit that she could get used to it. After a quick shower to wash off the dirt, the sisters had made it their sole purpose to give Vinyl utter bliss.
Vinyl’s eyes drifted close and her head sagged even lower off her bed. Aloe’s hooves worked her shoulders in small circles. They slowly moved up the unicorn’s neck and her mouth fell open. Her mind barely registered the fact that a small amount of drool had started to hang from her lip. She tried to suck it back in, but her face went slack as Aloe’s hooves moved behind her ears. She stuck her tongue out, trying to catch it before it fell. Her tongue lapped against the side of her face like a dog as the drool fell.
“Are you all right, Miss Scratch?” a heavenly voice asked.
“Huh?” Vinyl said, lifting her head. Her mouth hung open and she tried to form words, but her brain was still on bliss overload. Those hooves. Why had those hooves stopped rubbing her shoulders? Her back? Her neck? Why had they stopped rubbing her?
Aloe giggled. “Don’t fall asleep, Miss Scratch. Rarity scheduled you for the whole treatment.”
“Dere’s moor?” Vinyl asked as her brain began to come back from the near coma it had been so close to obtaining.
“Naturally,” Aloe said with a smile.
Wow, she has pretty teeth.
Aloe walked away and came back shortly with a file in her mouth. For a moment, Vinyl was afraid she was going to have to move because her hooves were not in the best position for filing. However, Aloe instead stepped in front of Vinyl and began to gently rub the file across Vinyl’s horn.
“Oh Celestia,” Vinyl said. Her eyes rolled even further back into her head and she set her chin down on the bed, like a dog wanting to be petted. She had never had her horn filed before, but after this, she was going to make sure she did it regularly. The grinding sound was a little off putting at first, but the feelings flooding her body quickly drowned out the noise. Her eyes were getting heavier with each stroke of the file. She could stay here forever, just drifting in the bliss…
Aloe stopped after a while and Vinyl couldn’t help but groan with disappointment. She felt her face slide through something wet and she realized that, once again, she had drooled all over herself. Sweet Celestia, Aloe was good. How were these ponies not famous and in high demand all over Equestria?
Blushing, Vinyl sat up and wiped her face with her hoof. She looked over at Rarity and blinked a few times.
“Uh…what are you doing?”
“It’s called a mud mask,” Rarity said simply. “I swear, has no pony ever heard of these things? Besides these lovely ladies, of course.” Rarity waved her hoof around, trying to indicate Lotus and Aloe. The sisters stood next to each other and smiled. “I had Lotus put it on while you slept.”
“I fell asleep?” Vinyl asked sheepishly.
“Why yes. You made the cutest little sounds. Did you know that your back leg kicks ever so slightly?”
Vinyl’s face burned. “Uh…no, I didn’t,” she lied. Octavia had told her that once too, after Vinyl had fallen asleep during one of their jam sessions. Octavia…
“Anyway,” Rarity continued before Vinyl’s thoughts drifted into unfriendly waters, “I didn’t think you’d enjoy this one, so I skipped it for you.” Rarity lifted…were those cucumbers on her eyes? She lifted one of them and peeked at Vinyl. “You don’t want to try it, do you?”
“No, I’ll pass on that one. What’s next?”
“The hot bubble bath,” Rarity said. “Just give me a moment to wash this refining mask off.”
A few minutes later, Vinyl was soaking in a bath and seriously considering never moving again. If she could somehow find a way to get all her gear from Manehattan to Ponyville and hook it up in the spa, without fear of electrocuting herself, she would happily spend the rest of her life in the water.
Aloe’s massage had loosened every sore spot in Vinyl’s being. The gentle bubbles and the warm water were now washing those aches from every pore. Her body felt like it was breathing for the first time, and in that one breath it felt like it had dissolved into air. She floated in the water, allowing her hooves to drift listlessly around her while her head sank into the water up to her chin. She closed her eyes and let her body melt away all its tension.
From somewhere far away, she heard Rarity chuckle.
“Be careful, you might drown,” the fashion pony said from across the bath.
“You’d never let that happen,” Vinyl said, her eyes closed. “You don’t want to lose your free labor.”
“Nonsense,” Rarity said. “I have my little Spikey-wikey if I ever need help. He is such a doll, always offering to help me with anything I need. But you, you’re helping because I thought you’d want to earn a little bit of the praise instead of just having it thrown on you.”
Vinyl’s eyes opened cautiously and she sat up in the bath. “Uh…what?”
Rarity levitated a pamphlet over and held it in front of Vinyl. “I included your name on the announcement pamphlet. See? Right there.”
Vinyl frantically scanned the piece of paper floating in front of her. She had done it! Rarity was admitting that she was guilt tripping Vinyl into helping. There was no way Vinyl would be able to turn her down after this.
“‘Ladies and gentlecolts,’” she mumbled as she skimmed the pamphlet. “‘Please join us…featuring exotic Saddle Arabian-themed music…sponsored by Rarity and D.J. Pon three’?” Vinyl looked up in shock, her anger at being tricked vanishing and being replaced with dread. “Rarity, are you insane? I don’t know anything about fashion! I hate that stuff. I…I mean, my mane is always a mess. My coat is not nearly as bright as yours for a reason. And…and I wear sunglasses nearly all the time. My fashion sense is less than zero.”
“Oh, I know. It was written all over your face these past few days. And yet, you still helped me with all my work without a single complaint. Well, except for that one from earlier today. So, it’s only fair that you share some of the credit. I had the print shop draft them yesterday as a way of saying thank you. You truly are a good friend.”
“But—” Wait. So she wasn’t trying to guilt-trip me?
“Nope. It’s done. The pamphlets are already being given out. After all, we need to get ponies excited for this. It’s in two days, and we’ve already waited too long to start ‘the buzz’ about it.”
“Two days?”
“Why yes, darling.”
“Uh…are you going to have enough time to get everything ready? I mean, I’m not that great with sewing and stuff. I don’t want to get in your way back at the shop—”
Rarity held up a hoof. “Oh, no need to worry about that, dear. As I said when I came to visit you, I’ve been planning this event for a while. All the other outfits are made, with only a few adjustments needed here and there. Most of which you helped me with yesterday.”
Vinyl cocked an eyebrow. She might not know much about fashion, but she understood supply and demand just fine. There was no possible way all that work from the past three days had been for just a few minor tweaks on already completed outfits. “But…what about all that fabric you bought?”
Rarity chuckled. “Oh, that was for your outfit.”
“WHAT?!” Water splashed over the edge of the bath as Vinyl stood up on all fours. She quickly lost her balance and fell forward, splashing water everywhere a second time.
“Your coat is dazzling, and your mane colors are very unique, not to mention your eyes and the way you wear your mane. I needed to try out several patterns before I chose what to make for you.”
“But I can’t—” Vinyl started.
There was a knock at the door and Vinyl turned around. Lotus poked her head in and smiled.
“Excuse me, Miss Rarity. There are some…uh, ponies asking to speak with you.”
“I’m sure they can wait,” Rarity said with a wave. “I’m in the middle of my spa bath.”
Lotus blushed and Vinyl nearly choked at the adorableness that beamed from her expression. “Uh, it’s them.”
Vinyl looked back at Rarity, confused by Lotus’ strange behavior, but she found no answers from the other unicorn. Rarity’s eyes had gone wide and she had a look of shock on her face. Her blue eyes darted from Lotus to Vinyl several times before they came to rest on Vinyl. She gave an uneasy, and slightly creepy, smile and blinked once. It was as if her face was trying to cover for her mind as it struggled to remember how to speak.
“Oh. Tell them I’ll be right out.” Rarity stood and exited the bath. She pulled a towel to her with her magic and dried her mane, then wrapped the thing around her head.
“So…are we done?” Vinyl asked, moving to get out of the bath. She hated to leave, but if Rarity was finished, then there really wasn’t any point in staying any—
“No!” Rarity said, spinning on her hooves so fast that Vinyl slipped back into the water out of surprise. “No, no of course not. I’ll, uh…just be a minute. You stay right there and relax. We want you at your best when you model your new outfit.”
Without another word, Rarity put on a bathrobe lined with pink fluff and walked out the exit. Vinyl noticed that not a single drop of water fell from her as she moved. Vinyl had no idea how that was possible, because she was always dripping wet whenever she got out of shower, no matter how many seconds she spent drying herself off.
Vinyl sat alone in the bubbling water. It was still nice to feel the constant pressure on her coat from the bubble jets, but the relaxation from earlier was starting to fade. Rarity’s bombshells about the fashion show were still raging in her mind, but she was more preoccupied with whoever them was. Whoever these ponies were, they had caught Rarity completely by surprise.
Curious, Vinyl tilted her head toward the door and perked her ears up, struggling to hear the conversation she knew had to be taking place on the other side of the door. After a few moments, she heard Rarity’s voice.
“Oh, uh, what a pleasure to finally meet you in pony!”
A reply, soft and too faint for Vinyl to make out.
“Why thank you! Although I feel the pleasure is all mine, truly. May I take it that you’ll be joining us then?”
Another soft reply. Vinyl made a face and stuck one of her hooves in her ear in an effort to clean it out. Whoever the other pony was, she sure was quiet.
“Oh, uh, that?” Rarity said nervously. She forced a laugh and continued. “Oh, that’s just…uh—”
“An old flier. Before we made the changes! We couldn’t get in touch, so, uh…” a new voice said. Vinyl frowned. She knew that voice, but she couldn’t place it.
“Yes!” Rarity said. “Yes, that’s it! I haven’t had a chance to draw up some new pamphlets, and with the event the day after tomorrow, there really hasn’t been any time. Every pony in Ponyville is already aware of the change though, so there’s really no need.”
The quiet voice again, or at least Vinyl thought so. It was so quiet that she wasn’t sure if she heard anything.
“Oh, um, Lyra?” Rarity said.
Lyra! Vinyl lowered her face into the water. At least she knew who the quiet pony was. Lyra rarely went anywhere without Bon Bon.
Great. Just bucking great, she thought. Octavia got along just perfectly with the harpist—“It’s a lyre, Vinyl,” Octavia’s voice said in her head—and that had always bothered Vinyl. Lyra wasn’t a bad pony by any means. Sure she had her weird quirks and habits, but Vinyl was hardly one to judge her for those. She herself was often told that she had a…unique personality, though not in such nice terms. In fact, if it wasn’t for one thing, the two of them would probably get along great.
But that one thing was that every time Lyra was around Octavia, Vinyl felt like she didn’t exist. Lyra understood Octavia’s music better than Vinyl could ever hope to.
Vinyl tried, she really did. She tried to understand the differences in form, what separated a good piece from a masterpiece, and she tried to find all the famous classical musicians as interesting as Octavia did, but she just couldn’t. It was so boring. It was so stale to talk about music and ponies that had long since been set in stone, never to change again, never to grow and be alive like Vinyl’s own music. The music sounded nice and she appreciated it—especially when it was Octavia playing—but that was all she felt for it. She could sit and listen to Octavia play for hours and be completely happy, but she knew she could never connect with the cellist on a higher level when it came to her musical tastes.
But Lyra, goody-little-Lyra, got it. She could keep up with Octavia whenever the cellist spoke of concerts. She knew exactly who Octavia meant whenever she spoke of a pony who had died centuries ago. They finished each other sentences when they spoke about a piece a music whose original copy had long since turned to dust. When those two were together and talking about music, the rest of the world ceased to be.
Vinyl ceased to be.
And she hated it.
She sank her muzzle further into the water and glared at the bubbles, blowing her own in frustration.
Not that it matters now. You may as well not exist as far as Octavia’s concerned.
“Go the buck away!” Vinyl said, slamming the water with her hoof. With Rarity gone, the thoughts that had been threatening her earlier came crashing back into her mind with full force. It wasn’t fair! She had gone three whole days with little more than a passing thought of Octavia. Sure, she had worked herself to the bone and she had spent the majority of those days fighting boredom and wishing her phone worked, but she’d also been marginally happy. Her sleep had been restful for the first time in weeks. She hadn’t spent all her free time staring at glasses full of hard cider and other drinks. And when she wasn’t being a slave driver, Rarity had been extremely generous. She had given Vinyl a place to stay, treated her to amazing meals, both home cooked and eating out, listened to everything Vinyl had to say, and honestly seemed willing to help her in any way she could.
And now, with the mention of a single name, that gentle peace had been shattered and all the thoughts about Octavia came flooding back.
Vinyl sat in the bath, all the joy and bliss gone from her body. The heat was no longer soothing and the bubbles were no longer pleasant to the touch. The jets that had felt like a mini massage moments before now only irritated her.
Realizing that her relaxation time was over long before she wanted it to be, Vinyl pulled herself out of the water and began to dry herself. Naturally, water dripped off of her in rivers and was soon gathering around her hooves, unlike when Rarity had gotten out.
“I am so sorry about that, Vinyl,” Rarity said as she came back in. “Oh, are you all finished?”
“What was that all about?” Vinyl asked as she dried her face. She suspected that bath water wasn’t the only type of water on her face now. She scrubbed extra hard around her eyes to make sure.
“Oh, uh…some ponies who are helping with the fashion show. They just got back into town and wanted to check with me to see if anything had, uh, changed.”
“Lyra and Bon Bon are helping too, huh?” Vinyl turned to face Rarity, confident she had dried her face off enough to do so. Still, she placed her sunglasses on just to be sure and everything took on a familiar purple tint.
“Bon—” Rarity stopped and put a hoof to her mouth. “Ah, yes! Yes, they are. Lyra’s going to be providing the music, along with a few other ponies, and Bon Bon is going to be one of the models.”
Great. I can’t wait to see Lyra. The first thing she’s gonna do is ask about Octavia.
“Speaking of models,” Rarity said as she took a step closer, “I got the impression earlier that you might not be entirely thrilled about being one. I am so sorry. I was so excited to create something new that I just assumed you shared my feelings. I tend to get swept up in the moment sometimes.”
Vinyl sighed. “Do you think I could do it?” She wasn’t sure what had made her say that. She was certain she didn’t want to be a model, and yet…
Maybe it was the depression eating at her core, or the fact that the logical part of her brain was still coming down from the relaxation high it had been on for the past hour, but she found herself wanting to be noticed. She wanted ponies to look at her and not think she was only good at throwing loud parties and getting wasted. She wanted ponies to think she had class. She wanted to think she had class.
Wow. I must really be screwed up if I’m seeking approval from the fashion world, she thought with a small smirk.
“Why yes, of course you can!” Rarity’s eyes went wide and a cautious smile graced her lips.
“Even though I’m…me?”
“What in Equestria does that have to do with anything, dear?”
Vinyl rolled her eyes behind her glasses. “Come on, Rarity. If there’s a pony with less class than me, I’ve never met them. ‘Graceful’ and ‘elegant’ are probably the last two words anypony would ever use to describe me. I’d hate to ruin your show.”
Rarity laughed and Vinyl felt herself blushing from embarrassment. She knew all those things were true, but still, it hurt to have one of her friends laugh at her when she was being so honest.
“Do you remember what happened at my first show?” Rarity asked, wiping a tear from her eye. “There is no possible way you could do worse than that, believe me.”
“Yeah,” Vinyl said, smiling at the memory. Those ponies had looked pretty bad. “I guess you’re right.”
“And I still managed to turn them into top models. A bookworm, a rough-and-tumble athlete, a country pony, a party animal, and…well, okay, Fluttershy didn’t really need any help,” Rarity looked down at the floor for a moment and frowned, “but still. Trust me darling, you’ll do fine. This isn’t a Canterlot-level fashion show. It’s just something for us ponies here in Ponyville.”
“Alright,” Vinyl said after a moment of thought.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you or anything.”
Vinyl smiled her first genuine smile in what felt like years. “This is important to you, right? And if I can help, I’ll do it. Besides, I’ve already worked this hard for your show. May as well go the whole way now.” I already blew it with another pony, she added silently.
Rarity’s eyes went wide and she clapped her front hooves.“Oh, I just knew you would say yes! Now come along, we still have to put the finishing touches on your outfit. Hurry up and dry yourself off. I don’t want the clothing sticking to your coat and getting all wrinkled.”
Vinyl groaned. “Ugh. More modeling?”
“But of course. Modeling is what, well, ‘modeling’ is all about.”
As Rarity walked out, chatting to herself about the color and design of Vinyl’s outfit and how she’d be the talk of the show, an idea slowly fought its way through Vinyl’s depression. It clawed at the dark thoughts, pulling them back enough so that its tiny rays of light could reach her brain.
If she could learn some class, like those fancy musicians that Octavia loved so much…if she could help create a fashion show that was the stuff of legends in the fashion world...if she could put on this outfit and pull off the grace of a model...if she could change herself to be more like what Octavia liked, then it would be Lyra’s turn to be ignored. If she could make all of those ifs become reality, then maybe, just maybe…
“Hey, Rarity?” Vinyl asked quietly.
“Yes?” Rarity stopped and looked over her shoulder, her eyes still gleaming with a thousand ideas of what to design.
“Do…do you think we could get one of those fliers to Octavia?”
Something flashed across Rarity’s face. It was there for just a moment, passing so fast that Vinyl almost thought it was a trick of the light or the shadow of a pegasus passing in front of the sun, but she was certain she had seen something in Rarity’s face. She just had no idea what.
“Oh…of course!” Rarity said. Her eyes refused to meet Vinyl’s and she scratched the back of her neck with her hoof. “I’ll send one out to her as soon as we get back. I will personally give it to Miss Hooves for delivery.”
Vinyl felt the claws of the idea shred the last pieces of the depression in her brain. “Thanks. That’d be great.”
“Think nothing of it, darling,” Rarity said, turning forward again without meeting Vinyl’s eyes. “It’s nothing, really.”