Sunset had to admit, though she had forgotten it for a while, she LOVED music. Even with all of the pressure and concern that’d come from fighting the Dazzlings, finally having a reason to sing and play her guitar made her remember how much she loved it. Initially, she’d learned from Flash Sentry, both for the chance to build up her image as well as mastering the many digits her new body had instead of hooves. She’d turned out to be a natural, and even if she hadn’t done it much once she started… ruling the school, it apparently never left her. As her friends’ shocked expression had shown, she was still one of the best in the school. That feeling had been propelling her for the rest of the Spring, getting her to play more often, and bringing her where she was now.
As much as she had enjoyed joining the Rainbooms to replace Princess Twilight, at the moment, she was playing in Canterlot High’s music room by herself, blasting the room with her guitar. Partway through the song she was playing, she felt Equestrian magic fill her as she grew her ears, and her “pony-tail” (still not sure how she felt about that part of the transformations). In the middle of her guitar riffs though, She was then interrupted as amidst her guitar solo, she could hear the door opening, before blinking and seeing the girl who came in pay her no mind.
While the two-toned blue hair was somewhat recognizable, the distinguishing feature of the girl who came in was her headphones over her head. This was Vinyl Scratch, their new friend who’d helped them fight the Dazzlings. While she could hear the headphones blasting some loud dubstep that she could hear from across the room, Vinyl seemed completely unaware of the fact she was in the middle of someone’s jam session, bobbing her head. Sunset blinked and watched the girl walk past and set up a keyboard by one of the speakers, still unaware of the guitarist.
Vinyl had always been…. One of the stranger students of CHS. Sunset had to admit that she was one of the few girls in Canterlot High that she had never really bothered with. She’d never ruined her reputation, had never been annoyed or challenged by Vinyl, and honestly didn’t even remember she existed most of the time aside from whenever she heard Vinyl’s music through her headphones. But she couldn’t deny that the girl had proven to be impressive during the battle of the bands (especially with her car that was Pinkie levels of impossible).
After a moment of Vinyl finishing setting up her equipment, she turned and looked over, raising an eyebrow at Sunset (if she blinked, it was hidden behind her shades). “Uh, hey…. Kinda been here a while.” She said, giving a small wave and an awkward shrug. “Thought I’d get in a little time on my guitar after class.” She explained. “You doing the same? I’m almost done myself if you want me to leave.” She added, though Vinyl quickly shook her head and gave her a thumbs up. “Heh, cool. I wouldn’t mind hearing some more of your music myself. Those headphones kinda muffle it.” She added playfully, taking off her guitar and starting to put it away while Vinyl turned on the speakers and started briefly messing with them.
While Sunset didn’t mind the silence and just sat watching her, it did feel a little odd not to strike up some casual conversation with her, especially since she was just getting to know her after the Battle of the Bands. It felt like she should have a bit more in common with her newest friend at CHS. “… You don’t talk much, do you?” she asked curiously, Vinyl glancing back at her and looking thoughtful, before lifting her shoulders in a shrug as she started her music instead. Vinyl’s music was… different, for Sunset. Certainly nothing she’d ever heard in Equestria. On the other hand, she had to admit that she rather liked Vinyl’s dubstep. It was catchy, rather upbeat, and music you could definitely move too (that was something else, Vinyl always had a certain jump to her step when she walked in the halls).
The music was a tad LOUD, but at the same time, they weren’t having much conversation so she was fine with it. Besides, for someone like Vinyl, music was a big part of her life, Sunset supposed. It could’ve easily been a better way for them to talk then just with words. She closed her eyes with a smile and started lightly bobbing her head with the music, feeling the soundwaves vibrate over her form from across the room. She even started tapping a foot on the floor, her boots adding a small clapping rhythm under the rest of the beats from Vinyl’s music. She then blinked briefly at noticing the music tone down and glanced back at her. “What’s up?”
Vinyl gave her a clever smirk as she leaned over her keyboard and pointed back at Sunset’s guitar again, the former-Equestrian blinking before giving her a grin. “Heh, whatever you say. Don’t think I’ve gotten to try combining rock and dubstep before outside our finale.” She replied, nodding back to her as she quickly got her guitar back out, slung the strap over her shoulder, then struck a quick power chord as she gave Vinyl a challenging grin. Vinyl smirked back and turned her own music back up as well, though Sunset took a minute to keep listening first, tapping her foot again as she started to pick up on the rhythm. After a minute while Vinyl watched expectantly, Sunset began strumming chords herself, trying to time out the beats from Vinyl’s music and then add her own music as something of a bass line. She had no clue how you PLAYED dubstep on an actual instrument, so instead settled for just supplementing Vinyl’s, but she had to admit it wasn’t a bad sound. It was almost like someone trying to make something their friend had better by adding something they liked as well, though both of them had more than enough fondness from both styles of music.
After a bit longer, the two of them finally came to a stop, Vinyl’s music fading out first as Sunset likewise eased up on her guitar and then came to a stop, glancing back at her again. Vinyl grinned back and gave a brief thumbs up towards her. “Heh, okay, THAT was a lot of fun!” Sunset replied, smirking and nodding back as she took off her guitar again. “We gotta try that again sometime. Maybe even get the rest of the Rainbooms to help out and we can try making more new music.” Vinyl nodded again as she then turned off the speakers and started unplugging her keyboard. A moment after though, Sunset recalled how little she actually knew about her, then looked at her. “Hey… I know this is out of the blue, but, you wanna hang out sometime?” Sunset asked, Vinyl standing up and giving a confused look (the fact Sunset could tell despite her shades said how confused she was). “I mean… I know I’m trying to fit in with the school and stuff now, but you’re someone I never knew in the first place.” She explained. That did make her pause though. Sure, Vinyl had never stood up to her, or looked scared of her, but the point remained that a lot of people at Canterlot High distrusted her for all the bad stuff she’d done. Had Vinyl been the same way. “So… want to, or no? Maybe just, try looking at some music stores or instruments? Take a walk or something?”
Vinyl tilted her head at Sunset, then put a hand to her chin for a bit before smiling back at her, nodding enthusiastically. She then quickly dug out her phone, and Sunset was about to ask for her number, before blinking as her own phone went off. “Hang on, lemme get that.” She said, fishing it out of her jacket before making a face.
“Sounds like a blast! Let’s set a date sometime! XD”
It wasn’t a number she recognized, but given the smug grin Vinyl had, it was rather obvious who the sender was. “… HOW exactly do you have my number? That’s… a little weird, you know.” Sunset told her, raising an eyebrow. Vinyl started texting again before Sunset felt her phone vibrate again.
“I do a lot of gigs and stuff for Pinkie Pie. That includes parties, so she got me the contact info for her favorite friends. AKA you and the rest of the Rainbooms.” Said text was also followed by three Party Balloon emoticons to send the point home, and Sunset rolled her eyes with a smile.
“Alright, guess I should’ve seen that coming. So how about we try meeting up next weekend or so? Sound like a blast, as you put it?” Sunset asked her with a smirk. Vinyl nodded back to her and gave one last thumbs-up before hefting up her keyboard and heading out the door.
---
Sunset smiled as she sat in the music room, tuning her guitar and glancing around briefly in apprehension. Vinyl Scratch had turned out to be akin to a somewhat mellow version of Pinkie Pie, mostly due to the fact that all they’d done was text. She’d STILL never heard her voice before. Instead, the texting thing had just continued and went on for the next few weeks. Honestly, it was pretty fun, and occasionally, they spent their whole day together just texting, trying to decipher emotes, and so on.
Honestly, she felt like a friend as much as the rest of the Rainbooms, even if they didn’t talk as much yet. Vinyl’s texting habit made it a bit harder for her to keep in touch during group conversations and the like. Still, Pinkie had helped them get in touch once in a while, and more importantly, they had been playing alongside Vinyl’s music. Even Fluttershy found herself starting to enjoy the music despite it’s faster pace.
Despite all her friends getting along with her though, Sunset HAD been noticing one thing about Vinyl Scratch… even though they all got along with her, everyone seemed to get a tad… awkward whenever she was texting. Sunset couldn’t really see why, since she’d had some decent-sized phone conversations with several of her friends, primarily Pinkie Pie. But whenever Sunset tried asking them about it, even once when Vinyl was there with the rest of them, they all just said not to worry about it and it was just “how Vinyl was.” Sunset didn’t care, not by a long shot. After what SHE’D done to the school, no secrets or quirks Vinyl could have could be anywhere near that bad.
Just then, she got yet another text, from Vinyl of course. “Heading to music room. Need you to get the door. Fully loaded today.” Sunset made a face before giving a quick sigh as she turned and came over to open the door, just barely catching it as Vinyl was pushing in a large speaker that was on par with the desks in school. Sunset raised an eyebrow at her while Vinyl just grinned, then shook her head with a smile as she took over pushing it inside by where Vinyl normally set up her share of equipment.
“… Hey, can we talk for a bit before we jam today?” Sunset asked, glancing at her curiously. Vinyl just nodded cheerfully before she knealt down and started messing with a surprising amount of cables in the back of her speaker. “So, um… we’ve been hanging for a while now, right? Like, four weeks?” She asked, then blinking as Vinyl held seven fingers above the base. “Wow… time flies when you’re not fighting evil.” She said awkwardly, blinking. “… Hey, I don’t… mean to be insensitive or anything, but… how come you never talk?” she asked. Vinyl paused, then glanced up in confusion at her. “I-I know, I’m probably being silly but…. I don’t even know what your voice sounds like. I haven’t heard even a one-syllable word from you.” She shrugged. “Just, feels kinda odd that’s all.”
Vinyl looked at her a moment, then tilted her shades up to rest on her forehead. Sunset glanced back at her, having on occasion gotten to see Vinyl’s magenta-colored eyes, but not often since she even wore them inside all the time. Vinyl kept looking at her, briefly tilted her head in thought, then tapped her hands on the speaker as she thought. Finally, she opened her mouth, and just gave a silent “ah” motion. She then held up her hands and shook her head. Sunset stared in surprise at her, a small part telling her it was rude, but still…
“… You can’t speak? You’ve been doing everything…. Um, at all, here at Canterlot High and nobody here noticed? I mean, has this been a life-long thing or-“ Sunset then jumped in surprise as Vinyl put both hands down on the speaker with a loud slam, giving her a glare as she stood up and stared at her. “W-What? What’d I do?” She asked hesitantly, backing away from her slightly. Vinyl continued glaring at her before she dug out her cell phone and quickly typed.
“Nobody here is a funny way of saying you.” Vinyl outright held the phone up in front of her rather than sending the text, but Sunset nonetheless flinched. It was a good point. All this time trying to get to know her better and then instead she not only misses the obvious, but then treats her like a freak for it.
“Vinyl… I-I didn’t mean it like that.” Sunset said slowly, shaking her head as she tried to hold onto what she feared would be the first friendship she’d ruin on CHS. “I… I’ve been trying to get to know everyone at CHS now that I’m finally getting people to forgive me. And you were someone I didn’t know anything about so… I wanted to get to know you. Really.” Vinyl gave her a frown, and still didn’t seem all that impressed with an answer. “… It doesn’t matter to me, if you can’t talk. I just wanted to know why… I’ve been trying these last few weeks to get to know you more, and I felt like I was missing something important.” She said, before turning and sitting on the ground. “And apparently I was. Sorry for being a horrible friend.” She told her, putting a hand to her forehead.
Vinyl kept staring at her for a minute, before finally starting to text on her phone again. The end result was that the message rang on her phone as Sunset slowly pulled it out and looked.
“Let’s just focus on music for today. We can talk some other time.” Sunset honestly couldn’t tell if she felt happy or sad about that answer, but it at least said that they’d still be hanging out regardless of her faux pas. This time, their music was a bit more… disjointed. She couldn’t tell if Vinyl had picked the track on purpose, if it was coincident, or maybe it was just the giant subwoofer she was using this time. Whatever it was, Vinyl’s music felt overpowering, like Sunset was standing at the epicenter of an earthquake. It was pushing at her, drowning out her guitar, and half the time, Sunset couldn’t even recognize what the music was, instead coming off as just static noise that shook up her brain.
When they were finally done, Vinyl seemed… apathetic, and Sunset had to wonder if she’d enjoyed herself either. It hadn’t been fun, creative, or even ENJOYABLE. It was almost like they’d done it for the sake of tradition despite one of them probably wanting to leave. Vinyl had made up her mind at least, given that they were both starting to pack up their instruments (or speakers). “… Do you want to do this again? Maybe next week?” she asked hesitantly, glancing at her. She then blinked as she instead noticed Vinyl had put her cell phone already. Vinyl looked back at her and just gave a noncommittal shrug before starting to push the speaker out of her room again. Sunset bit her lip as she debated giving her another text or something, or even just saying “sorry” a few more times, but didn’t think any of that would help her case. Instead, she just sat there a bit longer, beating herself up over her biggest mistake she’d made since the Battle of the Bands where she let the Rainbooms keep fighting.
---
Sunset never knew that Summer could change to Fall so quickly, but she’d spent the last of the school days and after feeling unnaturally cold. Even compared to Equestria where the winters came almost overnight due to pegasi and magic, all the warm days were behind her. It wasn’t like she never saw Vinyl again. The Rainbooms had really taken a liking to getting her unique perspective on music, and they still met up for a few more sessions to either play together or just share music. Fluttershy in particular was almost driven to find a way to put lyrics to Vinyl’s dubstep.
Still, everyone had noticed what was going on between her and Vinyl now. How Sunset was less active with her around, how Vinyl was more willing to just listen to her headphones until someone actually addressed her… honestly, it was like the other five girls were all trying to keep everything positive for their sake. Still, it didn’t really help Sunset since she could tell Vinyl was still bitter about what’d happened. Furthermore, not being able to get her to cheer up made Sunset feel less inclined to spend time with her as well, like she was just wasting her time since she couldn’t do anything that was good enough.
The day she finally decided not to go, she just didn’t show up to their session. Sent one group text to the Rainbooms stating she didn’t feel well, and that was it.
She shouldn’t have been surprised that soon after, she started getting some texts. The first one was from Pinkie. “Sorry you’re not feeling well, Sunset. Want us to come by and make you feel better? We can do some more music while you watch if you aren’t up to it.”
Sunset glanced at the phone, then gave a sigh as she put her phone aside. Honestly, she was already playing music. She’d gotten her guitar and was just strumming out chords in her bedroom, but didn’t have it in her to play any upbeat songs.
“You know, we’re all getting a little worried about you and Vinyl, Sugarcube. You wanna fix this soon?” The next text was Applejack, and while it was… refreshing to have someone finally bring up her situation, Applejack almost made it sound TOO simple. She’d been spending almost two months on this and still had no ideas.
“Okay, ditching the Rainbooms’ practice is bad enough, but are you really running from Vinyl when you two are already having your pity party? I thought Sunset Shimmer was tougher then that!” That one actually made her strike a sour note when she read it, doing a doubletake. Of course, seeing it was a text from Rainbow got it to make a bit more sense. She’d been a little too blunt, but hey, fall was apparently Sunset’s worst part of the year. What was one more little jab when she already felt as low as could be?
“Sunset, you’re scaring us. You shouldn’t be letting yourselves suffer like this. You need to talk to your friends.” Sunset looked at the message, and couldn’t help even giving a small smile. She could just imagine Fluttershy giving her a hug to make sure she wouldn’t cry, trying to help however she could even if there wasn’t anything to do in the first place.
“Darling, if you’ll forgive my forwardness… you two were growing rather close. And now you’re having a surprisingly intense fight. Have you ever considered all these strong emotions may indicate… something else? Hint. Hint.” Sunset started reading that next one, and then after reading aloud the last part, her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. A part of her, a LARGE part of her, wanted to dismiss that on the premise of Rarity just being a romantic, but… really? Her first attempt at spending one on one time with a “Friend” was leading into romance? That was the biggest jump she could’ve imagined making in this endeavor. But… what did that mean about their CURRENT situation? Having this entire fight when they could’ve been MORE then friends?
Sunset bit her lip, arguing several of those questions in her head before she finally looked at her phone, then typed up a text and sent it to all five of them. “If I talked to her about everything, and apologized… do you guys think I’d have a chance with her?” She probably could’ve been less (or perhaps more) direct, but after spending so long feeling alone and ashamed of how she acted around Vinyl, she was ready to set things right regardless of the cost.
“You know it! You guys have tons in common!”
“The gal’s a lot more understanding then you’d think. Go for it.”
“Hey, we forgiven you for way worse. Why can’t she?”
“Vinyl knows how good a person you can be. I’m sure she’ll give you a chance.”
“We all saw how happy you two made each other. I’m sure she wants to be with you just as much.”
Aside from the fact Rarity was still being a tad blunt about their potential relationship, having all of her friends supporting her was definitely a confidence booster. That left just one thing to do.
“Vinyl, can you meet me somewhere? We need to talk about us. And I want to do it as soon as possible.”
Sunset bit her lip, not sure how long it would take to get a reply from her… or if she’d even get one. To her surprise, she actually got a text back before she even managed to finish that line of worrisome thoughts.
“Sure. See you in front of CHS on Saturday.”
Sunset immediately let out a sigh of relief as she collapsed on her bed, holding the phone close to her as she closed her eyes. Alright, that’s it. Now she just had to figure out how to apologize… and how to ask if Vinyl had a crush on her. Or if SHE had a crush on VINYL!
---
To her surprise, that Saturday ended up being the first snowfall of the year. While it wasn’t cold enough to stick to the ground, the snowfall went on all day, and by the time Sunset had gone out to meet Vinyl, she likewise had to throw on a thicker jacket, gloves, and a scarf. She headed over to Canterlot High at a casual pace, trying to take any last minutes to collect her thoughts so she didn’t put her foot in her mouth. She also checked her phone, and while it was fully charged, there were no more texts from Vinyl. On the other hand, when the school came in site, she saw the blue-haired girl leaning against the corner of the CHS statue and listening to her headphones again. Rather than try to call out to her, she instead just pulled out her phone, took a deep breath, and sent her a text. “I’m here now. Coming up the left street. Hope we can finally talk about this.”
She noticed Vinyl checking her phone in surprise, then after looking over at Sunset, took her headphones off to rest around her neck as she watched Sunset walk over before texting her. “Wasn’t sure you even remembered after how long it’s been… anything you want to say first?” Though Sunset winced when she got the text, the expression on Vinyl’s face showed that it seemed to be curious rather than accusatory.
Sunset looked at her for a moment and nodded, took a breath… then sent another text. Vinyl made a face before checking her phone again. “I’m sorry for how I offended you before. I don’t have anything against you, and it likewise makes no difference towards if we’re friends. I liked spending time with you and playing music. And I want to keep doing that, even if neither of us ever speak and we spend the rest of our time just texting.” Vinyl again looked up and stared at her in surprise, before giving a small smirk. Sunset smiled back and give her a hesitant shrug, but the smirk did give her some confidence nonetheless.
“… Won’t lie, people have been a lot meaner about my condition. And people treated me strange sometimes too.” Sunset frowned at the text and glanced at her, before hearing her phone again. “You’re a talking horse, I’m a non-talking human. We both get to be the odd ones out.” Vinyl grinned at her again and gave a quick wink before resting her shades on her head to actually look her in the eyes for once.
“… Guess I should’ve expected that topic to come up.” Sunset texted, giving her a sheepish grin while Vinyl snickered again. Sunset swallowed once more before texting her again. “Can I ask if I really messed up as bad as I thought I did?”
She glanced up at Vinyl expectantly for an answer, before stopping as she saw Vinyl had stopped grinning. She wasn’t typing either, and Sunset swallowed nervously. She noticed Vinyl take a deep breath as some cold mist flew from her mouth over her phone, before she frowned and wiped it with her sleeve and then started texting her again. “No offense, but I saw how many people judged you after the Fall Formal. I thought when we hung out that you were looking past my flaw like I looked past yours… then you started acting how everyone else does when they find out.”
Sunset stared in surprise at her phone, reading the message several times over. She glanced back at Vinyl afterwards, and saw her looking aside. Sunset could feel her eyes misting up and briefly wiped her own eyes before starting to hurriedly type her own. “I am so sorry. That is not what I wanted to do to you, Vinyl. Not before, and definitely not now.”
“… What do you mean now??” Vinyl asked, looking up at Sunset in confusion. Sunset slowly lifted her gaze from her phone to Vinyl, then swallowed nervously as she started blushing. “Sunset, your face is blending in with your hair.”
Sunset felt her blush double as she immediately texted back. “STOP THAT! I’M TRYING TO BE ROMANTIC!” The caps probably wasn’t necessary since she probably looked like a filly dealing with her first Hearts and Hooves Day crush, but Vinyl was nonetheless giving her a curious, yet amused grin. Sunset swallowed hesitantly as she typed one last part, then came up and immediately held the phone in her face while she looked away. “Vinyl Scratch. I have enjoyed every moment I’ve spent with you, and making us grow apart was just as painful by comparison. When I talked to my friends though, I realized that I’ve managed to bond with you in even less time then it took me with my other five friends. I didn’t think that it’d be possible for me to grow more attached to people then to the girls who saved me from being a demon (or the teacher who raised me in Equestria). The biggest reason I can think of for having these feelings is I’m in love with you.”
She hesitantly opened her eyes afterwards as she looked up, and was surprised to see Vinyl blushing as well, before slowly pulling her shades down in an attempt to hide her eyes and blush. She then hesitantly put a hand on Sunset’s and pushed her phone down, before slowly texting on her own and holding it up as well. “… Didn’t think my music was THAT impressive, but kinda just relieved you’re still into humans afterall.” Sunset blushed as well, trying not to think that far into the relationship, but still… did that mean- She glanced at Vinyl again with wide eyes as her brain caught up with the rest of her while Vinyl put up another text. “So… was this an apology or asking me to be your girlfriend?” Sunset shut her eyes tight, feeling like her face could’ve kept her warm without her winter clothes by this point with how much she was blushing. She then quickly nodded her head in acknowledgement to both questions. Sunset was about to try putting out a text saying Vinyl didn’t have to say yes out of pity, that they could go back to just playing music, or a few more excuses, before blinking as she felt something nestle in her hair, seeing Vinyl had put her shades in her hair. She was about to open her mouth and ask what she was doing (a bit too embarrassed to do her phone thing by this point).
… Vinyl kissed her. In front of the school, in the snow, just after they resolved a fight from mid-summer… Vinyl had kissed her on the lips. Sunset stared in dumb shock while the mute musician grinned at her. “S-So…. Uh, d-does this mean we-“ She stopped as she felt her phone vibrate, looking down to see a text from Vinyl.
“I <3 Sunset Shimmer.” She stared briefly before Vinyl grinned at her, then, still feeling a light blush, Sunset grinned back as she threw her arms around her new girlfriend, feeling Vinyl hug back.
“Heh… I love you too, Vinyl.” Sunset said with a smile, leaning her head on her shoulder just close enough that she could hear the dubstep faintly playing from Vinyl’s headphones. Right now, it was the most beautiful sound in the world to her.