CHAPTER 2
Vinyl’s ears twitched nervously at the sound of hoofsteps coming from inside the house. She looked up just in the moment to see the door being pulled open.
There, in the doorframe, a hoof still at the doors handle and a friendly smile on her face, stood a grey earth pony mare. She had a black flowing mane and a pink treble-clef as a cutie mark. Vinyl knew who this mare was.
„Hello, can I help you?“ Octavia Philarmonica said after a moment of brief silence. The smile remained on her face, but it certainly didn’t reach her eyes anymore like it did before.
Vinyl had to swallow hard. She felt nervous about what she was about to do next. It had been a long time since she last spoken with Octavia, and they hadn’t parted as friends either.
She opened her mouth, which suddenly felt bone dry. She closed and opened it again. Then, finally, she managed to get some words out:
„Uhm... Hi... I-I don’t know if you remember me but w-we went to school together. It’s been about 7 years since we have last seen each other, so I don’t know if you still remember me. My name i-„
But before Vinyl could finish her sentance, she got interrupted by Octavias voice:
„I know your name, Vinyl. I remember you.“
Vinyl’s face brightened a bit upon hearing these words, and she started to gain some hope that she, at least for a while now, would not have to be homeless. But Octavia hadn’t finished speaking yet:
„You were the filly I was seated next to at my verry first day in that school.“ She said, her voice now had a slight anger in it: „When I recall this correctly you never liked me from the first second. I think that had something to do with me being a -How did you call me again? Oh yeah, thats right; A noble snob. Oh and please correct me if I am mistaken, but I think that has never really changed. Now has it?“
She took a step forward, her eyes small, burning in anger.
„So what in tarnation have I done wrong, to earn the great plesure of miss Vinyl Scratch’s appearence infront of my door?!“ Octavia now shouted at Vinyl. Her voice had constantly grown louder while she had been speaking.
Vinyl for her part had looked to the ground ever since Octavia had started talking again. Now that she had to answer, she couldn’t even bring her head up to face Octavia.
So Vinyl just spoke to the ground, her voice trembeling and shaking; „I... I ne- I need a... A place to stay.“
„Oh I am TERRIBLY sorry to hear that!“ Octavia said, her voice dripping of sarcasm and anger, „And I am also really sorry, but I can NOT help you with that. I am sure you will find another place to stay.“
Without another word Octavia turned around, and slammed the door shut behind her.
Left outside, Vinyl stood in front of the closed door, her legs shaking wildly and not able to move.
Slowly the meaning of what Octavia had said came to Vinyl. Not only the meaning that she could not stay at her place, but the overall meaning: She was now officially homeless.
Vinyl slowly moved. Her legs were shaking badly, but she moved on auto pilot. She picked up the bags with her magic and levitated them next to her. She slowly walked down the path towards the property exit and left through the iron gate. She stepped on the street and automaticly turned to the left. Vinyl walked down the street, not thinking about where she was going, her hoofes carried her further away down the road while her mind was preoccupied, thinking about the events which had just occured.
Hours had passed since the events at Octavias house, and the sun had settled already a while ago. Vinyl on the other hand had been wandering through the streets ever since. She had no destination.
„Where should I go...? I mean.. I can’t just stay on the streets... Maybe I can.... no I don’t have money... Or... ARGH, I can’t take the train without any bits either...“
These thoughts had been wandering through her mind the entire time, ever since she left the property. She tryed her best to find a way out of her situation, but now after hours of walking her hoofes became heavy, and she had to accept the fact that she had nowhere else to go.
„Looks like I’m stuck here...“
Vinyl thought when she stopped under a lantern. She dropped her bags next to her and layed down on the street right under the lantern. Her eyes started to water, and a moment later a single tear slowly made it's way down her cheek. When she felt the tear dropping off her chin, she buried her face into her forelegs and started to sob heavily.
Vinyl didn’t even try to fight the tears. It would have been a lost battle anyhow, so she just let it happen. Soon her forelegs where covered in snot and tears. After a while the sobbing came to an end and she wiped the last tear away.
„Okay vinyl girl... It has no use to cry like a little filly now, so pick your sorry flank up off the ground and get yourself moving“ Vinyl thought to herself after wiping her face one last time.
She rose to her hoofes one more time, and picked her luggage up in the magical grip. Her eyes looked around and took in her surroundings with interest for the first time since... You know since when.
She looked around and found herself in a rather bad luminated area of Ponyville. About half the lanterns on the street where broken, or flickering on and off. The houses which surrounded had once been friendly, but not anymore as they were not in the best shape. They all could use some renovation work, but Vinyl doubted that the owners would have the money for it. It was a typical housing area for... let’s call them not that well off ponies.
Vinyl knew that since this was the type of living area she had lived in first when she still had a job, but owning an owen place was too expensive on the long term, and the residental areas were too far away from her usual workplaces. So after a while she had decided to settle down on a simple apartment; only a kitchen, a bedroom shared with living area and small bath. That meant of corse while she still had her job...
She walked the street down further, and after a while the area changed; The houses grew closer together, and some of them started to look rather like shops, then the residents for citizens. Also the houses were now taller and with a cleaner appearence then in the former residental area Vinyl had walked through.
Her hoofes had started to hurt a while ago from the hours of walking and thinking, so Vinyl decided that she should look for a sheltered place to spend the night -or better, the rest of it- and maybe even a bit longer than only one night.
A small alley caught her eye when she looked around for a suitible place. She stepped closer to examine what she had found. She looked in the street and saw that it was rather dirty. Discarded boxes set at the side and trashed newspapers covered the ground. She picked one up and skimmed over it, just to let it go again as it was an old one published a few weeks ago. She lifted her look again and in the dark of the night she found a small light, shining around a corner. Vinyl stepped closer to examine, and when she reached the corner she carefully peeked around it.
The part of the alley she looked in now was a dead end, formed by the backwall of what looked like a restaurant. At least it looked like it,due to the containers of discarded food next to an old metal door. In the far corner of the alley Vinyl could see a pile of cardbords leaned against a wall, and a ligt shine coming from inside it.
Vinyl carefully sneaked closer to examine the pile, and soon she had found an opening on the side facing the dead end. It was just the size of a pony. She couldn’t see what was inside the pile, but from what she had seen yet it looked something like a shelter.
When she peeked around the edge of the shelter she could see what layed inside, and what she saw blew her mind in milliseconds. Her heart froze and skipped at least 2 beats. There, inside this improvised cardboard shelter, on the far side right next to the cold brick wall, from under some discarded newspaper, the purple eyes of an orange filly looked up to Vinyl. The look in them resembled horror and fear.
Neither of the two ponys moved or made a sound. They stood there, frozen, until a fresh breeze rushed through the alley and made it’s way through the improvised cardbord boxes, rushling the papers which covered the little orange filly. Like they had been given an invisible signal, both of them stardet to talk at the same time;
„What a-„ Vinyl started, her voice trembeling in shock.
„Please don’t bring me back!„ The filly cryed out in horror, backing up further into the corner, and nearly falling over a wooden scooter.
„What are-“ Vinyl tryed again, but got interrupted by the filly a secod time.
„Please don’t make me go back to that orphanage again!“ The filly’s voice was filled with plea and fear. She had the cold wall in her back and couldn’t back up any further. When Vinyl took a closer look at the filly, she saw The fear in the young ponys eyes.
„Hey... I- It’s okay, I won’t bring you back to the orphanage.“ She said in an attempt to calm the filly, but the little ponie didn’t seem to hear her as she just continued to plea for not being send back.
Vinly took a small step forward, and the filly immediatly went quiet. Now her eyes were filled with pure fear, and started to dart around in an attempt to find a way to escape. But there was none. Finally they settled on Vinyl and a quiet voice full of plea and fear came out of the fillys mouth: „Please.. Please don’t take me back.“
Vinyl had been speachless over the entire time. She had been shocked by the look in the little ponys eyes, so full with horror and fear. After a few seconds, Vinyl had come over the shock enought to speak up again: „ I- I wont bring you back.“ She sayd with a calm voice, only trembeling slightly. When the filly didn’t answered, but just continued to look up at her with horror and fear, Vinyl continued to speak.
„I- I promise I won’t bring you back to the... orphanage.“ Vinyl continued. She looked at the filly and felt pityness rise in her.
The little ponie seemed to relax a little upon hearing these words. Then it looked up at her and asked in a hopefull voice:
„R-really?“.
„Yes, really.“ Vinyl said. „So...“ She continued after a moment of silence, in which both the ponys had just looked at each other. „Why... don’t you tell me who you are and what you are doing out here all on your own?“
„Why do you want to know?“ The filly asked ab bit suspiciously, still backed up into her corner.
„Uhm...“ Vinyl replied, „Because you’re a little filly living in a cardbord shelter out on the street?“
The filly looked at her for a moment, then to the ground and said quitely „I’m Scootaloo...“
Vinyl looked at Scootaloo for a moment before she answered. It looked like the filly had given up on something. Her body had lost all of the tension it held before, and her shoulders had dropped in some sort of defeat.
„Hey Scootaloo. My name is Vinyl Scratch, but you can just call me Vinyl if you like.“
Scootaloo remained quiet, still looking to the ground.
„Do you mind if I come in?“ Vinyl asked in an attempt to get the filly talking again. As it seemed her words had an effect, because Scootaloo looked up at her in surprise.
„You mean... in here?“ Scootaloos eyes widened a bit in surprise. „Why do you want to come in here? I am sure your house is waaay more comftable then,“ She waved a hoof around, gesturing at the cardboards. „this,“ she finished her sentence.
„Uhm... yeah. About that.“ Vinyls ears dropped. „You see, I... I don’t have a house. Or at least not anymore.“
Scootaloo looked up at her in surprise. Her eyes were widened a bit and her mouth hung open in disbelive.
„But you are an adult...“ she said. “ All adults have houses!“ She kept looking at Vinyl in disbelive.
„Well... no. Not all adults have one. Some are living on the streets, have no job and no bit's. Maybe, if you let me in, I could tell you my story?“ Vinyl waited for a second, then added with a small smile: „It really is cold out here, you know.“
Scootaloo had to chuckle a bit and seemed to relax further. But still she kept a slight tension in her body, ready to react in case Vinyl would do something in attempt to catch her or something.
„Okay.“ Was all Scootaloo said as an answer. She carefully emerged from the corner she had been sitting in all the time since Vinyls appearence, and moved the papers on the ground aside to give Vinyl some space to sit.
Vinyl was happy to see that the filly was no longer frightened about being taken back to some orphanage. Even tough the she didn’t outright trust Vinyl, she didn’t seem to belive anymore that Vinyl was a threat to her.
Vinyl stepped inside the shelter and made herself, somehow, comftable on the cold ground. Her bags had been hoovering outside the cardboard construction, out of scootaloos sight. Now she levitated them carefully through the opening and dropped them down next to herself.
Scootaloo eyed the bag of apples, and ignored the other stuff completely.
„Whats in this bag?“ She asked innocently, even though she obviously knew the answer, judged by the hungy groul her stomach made just at this very second.
Chuckling at the obviously hungry filly, Vinyl levitated one of the apples out of the bag and let it hoover towards Scootaloo: „Apples.“ She said, stating the obvious.
Scootaloo reached out to grab the apple out of the air, and without wasting another second she took a huge bite out of it. Within a few seconds the whole apple vanished inside Scootaloos stomach, leaving nothing behind. Vinyl wondered when it had been the last time the filly had eaten properly. She levitated the bag in the middle between them.
„Take some more if you want.“ She said in an attempt to win the fillys trust. It seemed to work because the filly took another apple, but now she didn’t inhale it like the other, but took a small bite. Then for a while neither of them spoke a word.
„What’s in there?“ Scootaloo asked, looking curiously at Vinyls turntable bag, still munching on her apple.
Vinyl followed Scootaloos look and respondet happily to the question.
„My turntables. I used them to make musik. It was my job -being a DJ that is- until... I lost it.“
„Oh, is that why you are here? I mean, is that why you don’t have a house anymore? Because you have no job?“ Scootaloo asked, eyes wide and the apple halfway risen to her mouth for another bite.
Vinyl sighted, then she looked away. The filly was right. Only because the loss of her job she had ended here, on the street. She knew that. But it was different to hear it, instead of just knowing it. It hurt Vinyl. She took a breath in and turned back to Scootaloo.
„Yeah... thats about right. Something happened and I got kicked out of my company. To cut it short; one thing led to another, and here I am in Ponyville. Without a home, a job and no bits to live.“
Scotaloo just looked at her. She could see the pain in Vinyl’s composure, even though she could not see her eyes behind those shades. Carefully she moved a bit closer to Vinyl. Something about the white unicorn told Scootaloo that she could trust her.
The DJ looked down at the filly, and gave Scootaloo a small smile.
„So, Why are you out here?“, she asked Scootaloo. Vinyl had already guessed that the fillys parents must be dead, as she begged her not to take her back to the orphanage when Vinyl had found her. But Vinyl just wanted to make sure. And keep the conversation going somehow.
„My parents.... are dead. They... they died in a fire.“ Scootaloo said tiredly. „Then, when they put me in an orpahnage, I ran away from there. Ended up alone in Ponyville eventually.“
Vinyl felt sorry for Scootaloo. She moved closer until she sat right next to the little filly, then wrapped her into a tight hug.
„Don’t worry... You are not alone anymore,“ Vinyl whispered into Scootaloos ear. That is... If you dont mind me staying with you?