The woodwinds called, and the brass responded. Call and response, woodwind and brass, woodwind and response, call and brass; over and over it repeated in Vinyl’s mind. She dwelled on the timeless pattern that occurred in both music and nature. There were echoes bounding around the open mountains, the soft crashes of waves on the beach, and the steady rise and fall of her breathing. It was the comforting stillness that allowed Vinyl to savor the sound.
She needed this. Deep focus within the nothingness around her. A place alone where she could dwell on her work. She needed to keep her focus on the sound and not think. Thinking would be bad.
Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Call, response. Call, response.
Meanwhile, the pulsating rhythm of trance had the familiar steadiness of a regular heartbeat.
One, two, three, four. One, two, call, response. One, two, thee, four. One, two, Ca—
“Miss Vinyl? Are you in there?”
“Mmm? Whazit-huh?” Vinyl responded blearily.
“Ah, so this is where you’ve—good heavens! Have you been there all night?”
Vinyl’s eyes shot open from the new voice. Though she got a brief shot of adrenaline, it wasn’t enough to overcome her exhaustion and spur her from her frozen seat.
Seat? That was different. It would explain the crick in her neck and the chills wracking her body if she wasn’t in a bed. When had she fallen asleep? The last thing she remembered was jotting down some melody progressions. After that, there was a blur of panic followed by a deep nothingness. Had she dreamed anything? She couldn’t remember dreaming all week, not since she had upset Fan—
Don’t think about it!
The thought blitzed through her mind to suppress the incessant dread. Vinyl refocused on the present. Smacking her lips, the familiar taste of morning breath defiled her senses again as she forced herself to sit up in the chair. Half of her vision was obscured by a brilliant white light. She shook her head, causing the paper she had fallen asleep on to slip off and drift to the floor.
Yawning loudly, the DJ shook her head in a vain attempt to kickstart her rickety steam engine of a brain. Steam, however, took heat to start, and despite her hoodie, she was anything but warm. Taking a moment to gain her bearings, she recognized that she was still in the recording studio. Vinyl stretched her legs and placed them on the table in front of her, hearing the familiar shuffle of papers along with feeling a splotch of something curiously wet.
“And this is why I don’t sleep at desks,” she mumbled groggily to herself, feeling the familiar trail of drool on the side of her muzzle.
“It has been quite a long time since the studio has served as an unwitting bedroom.” Vinyl finally shook enough of the sleep away to recognize Dapper Dandy at her side, helping pick up her mess. Papers and crystals were strewn about with a pencil somewhere amid the wreckage of last night. “My, my, you have been busy.” He remarked as he magically lifted the soggy piece of paper, half-stained with spit from the floor.
Vinyl snatched the page with a blush from the stallion’s grasp and laughed nervously. Looking back over it, she was glad she had only washed a few notes away. As to where the missing pieces of last night’s composition had gone, she pulled back her sleeve and wiped the damp spot on her muzzle to see their remnants as nothing more than a gray smear staining her fetlock.
As he helped clean up, Dapper briefly caught sight of Vinyl’s face from behind his obscuring facial hair. He recoiled slightly, raising his brows to give Vinyl his full attention. “Oh my word! Miss Vinyl, are you alright?”
“Y-yeah,” she lied as she broke eye contact. The sting in her eyes meant they were probably red from stress again, but her state of mind was none of his business. She was more curious about the drop in temperature. “It’s absolutely freezing in here!”
“I apologize Miss Vinyl. We cut the heat to everywhere but the bedrooms in use overnight. I will be sure to add checking on you before bed to my list of nightly duties.”
She wanted to protest the unnecessary servile action, but she had given up on trying to stop the old dog from performing new tricks. Or old tricks in an older dog. She decided she was too tired to say otherwise or to fix her mixed metaphor.
He paused and cleared his throat. “Are you sure you’re alright, Miss Vinyl?”
“Rough night,” Vinyl answered curtly. She could add a rough morning to it as well if Dapper Dandy didn’t stop with the needless hospitality. “Why are you here?”
“I wanted to inform you that your breakfast is ready, but I’d much rather you warm yourself first. Shall I run a bath?” Dapper asked as he retreated to a nearby cupboard and withdrew a cleaning solution for the dribble on the table.
She silently cursed herself. She’d been doing so well to avoid troubling Fancy’s little helpers all week. “No thanks. I’m good with a shower.”
“Very well, Miss Vinyl. Hopefully, it will help you feel better. In the meantime, I will fetch your breakfast from the kitchen and deliver it myself.”
The willingness to fight the stallion waned with her mood, so she decided to simply accept the gesture. “Thanks, but you don’t have to do that.”
“Not to worry, Miss Vinyl. I will retrieve it posthaste and ensure it’s kept fresh while you freshen up.”
Of course it couldn’t be easy. The last thing she wanted was for somepony to be waiting on her. “On second thought, just throw it out. I can make myself something later. You don’t need to stop your morning for me.”
“Oh, but you are part of my morning, young lady. Are you sure you want to say no to haybacon and scrambled eggs? I even threw in some catsup for good measure.” Vinyl couldn’t help but smirk at the old pony’s bushy eyebrow waggling. It was like a pair of sweepers brushing dirt from his face.
“It’s fine. I just… I need to get back to work.” Vinyl organized her composition, bound the unfinished song with a paperclip, and pocketed the pencil. She needed to keep working, keep grinding, not thinking. Anything but think. “Besides, I can just whip something up using the stuff I bought later.”
“About that. Forgive me, Miss Vinyl. I know you’ve mentioned your… apprehension about eating food you didn’t purchase yourself, so I took the liberty of utilizing some of the ingredients you bought from the market in making your meal.”
Vinyl stopped and looked up at the stallion who was starting to spray down the table and wipe away her sleepytime mess. “Really? Cause I don’t remember getting myself haybacon.”
“I thought your eggs could use a better companion than just the catsup.”
Vinyl sighed as she pulled at her face. “Sweet Celestia, you just don’t take a hint, do you?”
“If I may be so bold, it will take far more than mere ‘hints’ to stop this stubborn stallion. I’ve made many a mule beg for mercy before the end, Miss Vinyl.” He chortled with a stately amount of pride.
Vinyl smacked her nose with her papers and took a deep, patient breath. She already felt wrong for everything Dapper and Fluffer Duster had been doing for her, despite her constant protests. Even though Fancy Pants had been leaving her be since the incident, these two just wouldn’t stop. She’d quickly given into letting the maid clean constantly. Who was she to deny somepony their feather duster cutie mark?
Of course, that was when the butler took the chance to showcase the covered serving platter on his flank, meaning she had given him permission to serve her as well. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that both of Fancy Pants’ servants would be highly talented in their field, but it was too much to deal with right now. Vinyl just wanted to be left alone!
The old stallion politely cleared his throat. “Excuse me, but I know that look all too well, Miss Vinyl.”
That, and he was the only one who refused to simply call her Vinyl slightly grated on her. Though the old stallion never seemed to call anypony without adding a miss or mister something-or-other to their name.
“I must remind you that—”
“—Everything in the estate must be properly maintained,” Dapper and Vinyl said together.
“Ugh. You’re riding me worse than Professor Arpeggio does, and trust me, that’s an accomplishment.” Vinyl complained as she collected her things in her magic. It was his favorite thing to say when he divined her desires for him to go away.
“I suppose you could say I have honed my nagging over the years. It has served me well in serving others.” Dapper gave a polite chortle at his own wordplay, billowing the old stallion’s mustache ever-so-slightly. “I’ve ‘proudly maintained’ this house for… oh, I forget. What year is it?”
“1001, I think,” Vinyl pondered aloud.
It was 1001 CR, or Celestia’s Reign. Now, she supposed it should be 1 CLR with the return of Princess Luna. There was also Princess Cadance ascending to her throne later in the year after her coronation in the Crystal Empire. Would she be included in the era name?
“Ah, so then fifty-seven, going on eight years, then. And don’t you start forgetting the year, too. You’re far too young for memory lapses.”
“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”
“Precisely, Miss Vinyl. I’m quite the old codger, but thankfully I have ponies like you to help keep me young and healthy. The least I can do is make sure you all are as well.”
“Right. Thanks, Dapper.”
“Think nothing of it. It’s mutually beneficial, I assure you.”
Vinyl started for the door, but an errant thought nagged at her. She was already stuck with the old butler, so she might as well get an answer. “So, you’ve been around here for a while, huh?”
Dapper looked up from his work and smiled politely. “I’ve proudly served the Suede Shoes Estate since I graduated first in class from the Canterlot Butler Academy.”
The idea of there being a school specifically to learn how to serve the rich equally surprised and disturbed Vinyl. She shook the thought from her head. “Why did you stick around here for so long? Is the pay really that good?”
“You assume I do this for something as trivial as money, my dear.”
It would be ‘trivial’ to a pony working for one of the richest ponies in the world, but she wasn’t about to say that. “What I mean is, haven’t you earned more than enough to stop working? You know, to leave?”
The butler shifted his bottom jaw from side to side as he pondered the question. “I suppose I have. In fact, I’m sure I’ve earned enough to retire anywhere in the world I’d want to, but I must disagree with the premise of your question. It would be like me asking if you’ve made enough music to satisfy your creativity.”
“B-but that’s completely different! I am making something that I want.”
“I don’t see how the desire to exercise my talent is any different than yours,” Dapper remarked as he lifted a brow to regard Vinyl curiously.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that. I… ” Vinyl bit her lip to shut herself up. She was messing up again. She scrambled, trying to find the right words. It was an old prejudice, but she couldn’t help seeing hospitality cutie marks as some sort of curse. It was like fate slapped you across the face by saddling you with a destiny of servitude. How could anypony live like that? “Isn’t it irritating to just be waiting on Fancy Pants all the time?”
“Don’t worry, Miss Vinyl. No offense taken. And, to answer your question, it’s quite the opposite. The work I do is fulfilling and I consider myself quite fortunate to do my best for the best stallion in all of Canterlot. I’ve been there for him since before he was born, and I plan to be here for as long as I am needed. I may not be the young master’s father, but I’ve grown to love him all the same.”
“But what about what you want to do? Why not, I dunno, serve up something nice for yourself?”
“You're not the first to ask me something like that, Miss Vinyl. The young master asked me something similar upon Master Suede Shoes’ untimely passing. I will tell you what I told him: no matter what your trot through this world is, a life best lived is one that lives for the sake of others.”
Being compared to the stallion felt like a body blow to the young unicorn. Part of her wanted to write off his words as an excuse to live with his lot in life, but all things considered, he seemed to live quite a good one. Even if she was failing at it, all Vinyl wanted was to be able to live for herself, by herself. Self-reliance wasn’t wrong. She just wanted to be independent; to do what she wanted.
“I just wish the boy would strike a better balance for himself,” Dapper sighed as he dried the surface with another rag.
“Better balance between what?”
“Oh! Don’t worry about that, Miss Vinyl. You’ll have to pardon an old stallion for rambling and keeping you. You should get washed up and warmed up, Miss Vinyl. I will meet you at your room with a piping hot breakfast.”
It took the DJ all of five minutes to shower. While she would prefer to take a longer one, or even settle into the oversized tub for a relaxing bath, there was no reason to inconvenience Dapper with waiting around for her. She quickly dried off with a towel and a bit of magic, shaking her mane to its usual disheveled style before trotting out of the bathroom into the enormous closet.
At first, Vinyl found it odd that the bathroom wasn’t directly attached to the guest room. The doors led into the hallway and the guest room’s closet, but she supposed those who would bother getting dressed after bathing would appreciate the privacy. Still, she didn’t understand why a guest room needed enough storage space to fit her entire apartment inside it. It’d fit everything she’d ever owned and a boutique’s worth of clothes with room to spare.
She put on one of her regular sweaters to chase away the morning chill and stepped out into her room. Expecting Dapper, she was mildly surprised to find Fluffer Duster standing in the corner with a covered serving platter carefully balancing on a hoof and wing.
“Good morning, Vinyl. Sir Fancy Pants needed Mister Dandy for something, so I’ve brought the breakfast he made for you instead. I hope it’s to your liking.”
The maid lifted the massive cover off, revealing the humble plate of haybacon and eggs underneath, with a dish of catsup and a teacup of something else next to it. Vinyl felt like there should've been a sarcastic kazoo fanfare accompanying the underwhelming reveal. With a sigh, she took her seat at the desk, and the maid quickly set her food down with a mat and utensils. Looking into the teacup, she recognized the instant cocoa mix with the mini-marshmallows that were as deliciously disappointing. Dapper sure went the extra mile to ensure he mostly used the things that she had bought, though she could tell he had used milk rather than water to give more flavor to the humble mix.
“Thanks, Fluffs,” she mumbled with uncertainty.
“You’re very welcome, Vinyl. I hope the hot chocolate is okay.” The pegasus pulled slightly at her apron in apprehension. “We both knew you wanted to only use what you bought, but I don’t know if your drink pairs well with your meal.”
“It’s fine, really. Never worried about that before.”
Vinyl took the silverware in her magic and began with the eggs. She wasn’t sure if she should pour the catsup on them or dip them since they had gone through the trouble of providing a separate dish for them. Looking over to the pegasus, she saw Fluffer Duster still standing at the ready with a tea towel draped over her wing.
“Umm, thank you,” Vinyl said with a bit more force while tilting her head towards the door. The mare simply mirrored the head bobbing in confusion. “You don’t need to wait for me,” she clarified as she dipped her eggs in the catsup.
The maid looked around while fidgeting under the DJ’s gaze. “Oh, I know, but… but who would bring the dishes back to the kitchen?”
“I would. Obviously.”
“But then you’d have to find where to put the dishes after you were done.”
“It’s a kitchen,” Vinyl stated flatly. “I’m pretty sure I can figure out where a plate goes. Besides, don’t you have something else you can be doing, like cleaning?”
“Oh. Oh! Oh yes. I can do that.” Fluffer Duster set the tea towel down and started to remake Vinyl’s pristine bed, or rather the bed Vinyl was using for the moment.
“Fluffs,” Vinyl muttered with rising indignation.
“What?” she asked with the innocence of a filly with her hoof caught in a cookie jar.
“The bed was already made. I didn’t even use it last night.”
“Oh, right. Mister Dandy mentioned that he found you in the studio,” the pegasus admitted with a slight titter. “I… uhh… noticed a few wrinkles and wanted to straighten them out! I always find that a perfectly made bed is easier for me to fall asleep in.”
Vinyl pushed her hooves together and took a deep breath for patience. “Fluffer Duster? I went from a rusty cot to this king-sized monster of a bed. I think I’ll be fine if the sheets are just a little messy.”
“Of course, Silly me. I can be a bit of a featherhead sometimes. I’ll be right back with my feather duster.”
Vinyl arched a quizzical brow. “You’re going to dust while I eat?”
The maid nearly tripped on her hooves as she trotted towards the door. “On second thought, that would be bad, wouldn’t it? I could just—”
“You could just leave,” Vinyl tilted her horn towards the door, “and get back to your work.” Vinyl leaned in deeper. “You know, somewhere else?” Vinyl dipped into a right angle, her horn pointing directly at the latch.
“But…” Fluffer Duster trailed as she looked down at her hooves, “but then you’d be eating alone.”
“Uh-huh…”
“I-I…” the maid trailed off as she kicked at the carpet. “I don’t want you eating alone. Again.”
“Why?” Vinyl asked as her patience started to wane.
“Because we haven’t seen you all week,” the pegasus admitted as she chewed on her lip.
“‘We?’”
“Mister Dandy and I.” Fluffer Duster clip-clopped a hoof on the floor nervously and looked away. “I don’t even think Sir Fancy Pants has seen you.”
“I’ve just been busy,” Vinyl quickly clarified. “Is that a problem?”
“What do you mean ‘is that a problem?’ Of course it’s a problem. It’s a big problem!” The maid threw her hooves up in distress as she fluttered off the floor.
“Okay, getting kinda sick of twenty questions here.” Vinyl massaged the front of her head, trying to keep her voice in check. “I told you guys before, I don’t want special treatment.”
“This isn’t special treatment, Vinyl, we’re just worried about you.”
“Worried? Of all the…” The DJ felt her eyelid begin to twitch as she tried to keep herself under control. “Why does everypony have to be so worried or concerned about me? Did Fancy put you up to this?”
“Sir Fancy Pants? Well…”
“Yes or no, Fluffer Duster!” The DJ slammed her hooves on the desk.
“N-not exactly—”
“So, yes actually.”
“No!” Fluffer Duster shook her head vigorously in denial. “Sir Fancy Pants has nothing to do with this!”
“That’s a load of bull and you know it!” Vinyl shouted as she stood up from her chair, knocking it over. “He has everything to do with this. We all work for him! It’s the only reason we’re all here in the first place. Why wouldn’t he want you keeping tabs on me?”
“But he didn’t, honest! In fact, he told us to do the opposite and give you some space.”
“Then why the hay are you still doing here? You should’ve listened to him!”
“Look, okay? I lied about Sir Fancy Pants needing Mister Dandy. I wanted to bring the food myself because you’ve been avoiding us!”
“W-what makes you think that?” Vinyl did her best to remain calm despite the pit forming in her stomach. She desperately wished she was wearing her shades, but levitating them on now would look suspicious.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe how every time you go down a hall, you’re checking to make sure nopony is there? Like that time you snuck that album out of the studio?”
“How did you—”
She pumped her wings, flaring them open. “You looked left and right, but you didn’t look up.”
“Fine! So I have been avoiding you. I guess I was right, too, considering you are far more annoying than I gave you credit for!” Vinyl seethed through gritted teeth. “I haven’t exactly been in the mood for talking, so maybe you should get to doing your job so I can get back to mine!”
Fluffer Duster’s breath hitched at Vinyl’s outburst, but she did her best to shake the blow away. “I’m sorry, Vinyl. I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I’d be perfectly alright if all of you would just leave me alone! It’s not hard. You see me? You act like you didn’t. Find me in a room? Walk past the room! See? Super duper easy! This place is so stupidly huge, you have to go out of your way to run into me. We never even have to see each other!”
“I know! I’ve been doing that all week trying to find an excuse to talk to you, but I can’t take it anymore! I’m worried about you, Vinyl. We all are!”
Vinyl grabbed her head and massaged her temples to try to chase the quickly forming stress headache away. The maid just wasn’t getting it through that thick skull of hers. Fluffer Duster was being just as bad as Fleur, but at least the unicorn knew when to take lay off. Since when did the pegasus start caring so much about her, anyway? They barely even knew each other!
“Okay. You win. You don’t want me eating alone, huh?” Fluffer Duster nodded with a tiny smile. “Fine, I can do that!” Vinyl dumped the excessive catsup on her eggs and began scarfing them down as quickly as she could manage.
The maid gaped in surprise. “Vinyl, please, slow down! You’re going to choke!”
Almost taking it as a challenge, she chewed through the haybacon like a ravenous beast and then, ignoring the burn, chugged the hot cocoa as fast as she could. She tried to stop herself from coughing from the heat, but the scalding temperature caused her eyes to tear up from the pressure she was putting on her throat.
“There, see? Didn’t eat alone. Happy?” She showed the clean plate between coughing fits to Fluffer Duster who gave her a pleading look. “Even better! You wanted to make sure the dishes are done right, right?” Vinyl hastily gathered all of the dishes together and shoved them back under the covered platter. “Here, take ‘em.”
“Vinyl—”
“I said take ‘em!” Vinyl took the platter in her magic and shoved it into the maid’s face. The pegasus caught it and placed it on her back, still giving the DJ her full attention.
“You don’t have to push us away. Please, just talk to me. What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong is that nopony in this stupid mansion knows when to leave well enough alone! Fancy isn’t paying you nearly enough to worry about me!”
“Of course he isn’t,” Fluffer Duster gasped in horror. “He doesn’t have to pay me to care about you.”
“Great, fantastic, perfect! I’m fine, so don’t worry your pretty little head about me and get the hay out of here!”
Fluffer Duster lowered her hooves back down and took a calming breath. She took the tray and put it down on the floor next to her and kept her eyes downcast. “... No,” she whispered.
“What did you just say?”
“I said no!” the maid shouted with resolution burning in her eyes. “Everypony here is supposed to look out for each other! How can I just leave you all alone?”
Vinyl’s snappy retorts got caught at the back of her throat. The usual nervous mare readied herself for a fight, flaring her wings out and leaning down for a charge. She tried to gather her words, but Fluffer Duster was having none of it.
“You said you wanted to be treated like Mister Dandy and me, right? Well, there’s no way I could leave Mister Dandy alone for a week and not worry about him!”
“O-of course you wouldn’t!” Vinyl bit back after finding her ire again. “There’s a good chance if you didn’t hear from him, you’d find the old stallion’s body in some long lost corner of this stupidly massive mansion.”
The maid recoiled from Vinyl’s words. “How horrible!”
“Well, I’m a horrible pony! The sooner you get it through that ‘featherhead’ of yours, the better.”
“No, you’re not. You’re a good pony,” the pegasus argued.
“And how would you know that?” Vinyl marched forward, staring the maid in the eyes. “You’ve known me for, what, three weeks? Four? You barely know me at all, Fluffs! Did you know I’ve been arrested? I’ve kicked a royal guard in the teeth before!” Admittedly, the last one was an accident, but Fluffer Duster didn’t need to know that.
“That…” she stuttered before shaking her nerves away. “That doesn’t matter! If you were really that bad, you wouldn’t be here at all. You wouldn’t be working so diligently every time I’ve seen you in the studio. You wouldn’t make such wonderful music. And you most certainly wouldn’t bother to remember my nickname.”
Vinyl felt her face tightening the more she looked at the mare putting on a brave face. It was just a face, right? “I… I just don’t—Why can’t you all just leave me alone?”
“Because you're my friend. At least, I hope we’re friends. I like to think we are.” Fluffer Duster’s demeanor softened as she gave her best supportive smile. She reached out to touch Vinyl’s shoulder. “Just talk to me, please. It hurts so much to see you like this.”
She was hurting her? Vinyl was messing things up, as usual, but it wasn’t her fault. This nosy pegasus just wouldn’t take no for an answer! Vinyl felt her breathing become more shallow seeing the other mare’s pleading eyes and the hoof getting closer. Fluffer Duster was on the verge of tears for her sake. Despite everything, the maid still considered her to be a friend. Maybe that would be okay. Maybe she could trust—
Don’t forget. Mommy loves you.
“Get away from me!” Vinyl roared as she swatted the mare’s foreleg.
Fluffer Duster yelped and backed away, rubbing her hoof on her chest. “Vinyl?”
“No! I don’t need your pity! I don’t need anypony! I don’t want you to worry about me, cause I’m not worth worrying about!”
“Don’t say that!” the maid cried. “You don’t have to be alone. It’s going to be okay—”
“It will be once you get out!”
Vinyl threw the bedroom door open and tried to push the pegasus out of the room. The lithe pegasus deftly flipped out of the way, rolling over and landing on Vinyl’s back. Before she could react, Fluffer Duster wrapped her wings and legs around her body, locking into place. Vinyl struggled, trying to force the smaller mare off. Though she wasn’t as strong as Fleur, she was slippery. Every time Vinyl got close to kicking Fluffer Duster away, the pegasus would get another wing on her or hook her hooves around.
“What the hay are you doing?” Vinyl yelled as her anger began to give way to fear. “L-let go of me!”
“I won’t! Not until you tell me what’s wrong!”
As the struggle continued, Vinyl’s headache grew worse and worse. Her heart raced, trying to beat itself out of her chest. Fluffer Duster was too close. Too close!
“G-get off!”
“Stop pushing us away!”
“Stop it!” Vinyl screeched for relief. She wanted to escape; to get away. She bucked and flailed, trying to shake the stubborn pegasus off, but nothing was working. She was trapped. Trapped!
Panic filled Vinyl’s veins. She couldn’t focus. Couldn’t breathe. The world fell away as adrenaline surged through her heart. There was a primal warble of frantically charging magic, a white light, and then everything exploded in a burst of electric blue.
A shrill cry cut through the noise, snapping Vinyl back to reality just in time to see Fluffer Duster sail across the room, violently tumbling across the bed before slamming her back into the headboard. She tried to reach out towards the poor pegasus, but the world was already spinning along with waves of pain and nausea pulsing from the base of Vinyl’s horn. Along with the shimmering blue sparkles left behind by raw mana expulsion, she knew the tell-tale signs of a magic surge.
It was perfect.
“See?” Vinyl spat through gasps as she stumbled towards the downed mare. “Not so good now, am I? Is this what a good pony would do?”
Fluffer Duster groaned as she recollected herself. When their eyes met, she gasped in shock and tried to pull herself up to her haunches, but a wince of pain kept her from righting herself. “Are you okay, Vinyl?”
“Am… am I okay?” Vinyl tried to laugh, but it only came out as a hacking cough. “That’s rich. I just blasted you away and you’re worried about me?”
“I’m so sorry. I just wanted to help. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Me? Scared? You’re the one who—” Vinyl’s words failed her as she noticed the other mare’s concerned eyes reflecting her own.
Vinyl could see them: her traitorous orbs that wouldn’t keep a single emotion to themselves. They were the same cracked, frail, timid, weepy eyes filled with needless fear and sorrow that she’d left behind years ago. Right when she needed to double-down, all she could see was the terrified thoughts rushing behind them. The same terror she’d seen a thousand times of a hopeless, worthless marionette trying to fix what was beyond repair.
“Get away,” Vinyl murmured at the terrified reflection. “Get away from me!” she screamed at the mare in the mirror. “Stay back! Stop looking at me!”
Vinyl desperately tried to channel magic into her horn to do something, anything to make that other unicorn go away, but her restlessness was quickly catching up to her. The DJ’s lungs failed as her horn fizzled out with a few sputtering sparkles shooting out of it. She tried again, and again.
One-two-blank-blank! Blank-Blank-three-four! She called, no response!
“Vinyl, please! Stop!” Vinyl heard somepony call from the void. She tried making a run for it until she heard the sound of hooves tripping over a chair. There was a flash of feathers as the unicorn reeled her hoof back for a punch only to see it was Fluffer Duster crumpled in a feathery heap on the floor behind her. The pegasus was leaning away from her damaged wing with tears in her eyes as she lifted her shaky forelegs up to block the DJ’s incoming blow. Vinyl’s fear drained as reality came back into focus.
“Why?” Vinyl croaked. “Why did you do that? I told you to go away, but you just—Why?” Vinyl swallowed, seeing the damage she had done to the mare. “Get out. Please, just… leave me alone. Limp over to Fancy, tell him what happened. You’ll never have to see me again.”
With that, Vinyl crawled onto the bed and laid down to wait for the surge’s effects to subside. If she was going to be thrown away again, she at least wanted to be comfortable before the end. But then, the tender touch of a hoof on her back sent her rigid.
“I’m so sorry, Vinyl,” Fluffer Duster said as she tried to stay calm.
“Y-you’re sorry?” Vinyl started to laugh, but coughed from her ragged breathing. “I just blew you across a room with my magic, and you’re just gonna pretend like that’s okay?”
“But it was a magical surge, right? You didn’t have control over it.”
“And how would you know anything about that?”
“Well… it’s covered in family housekeeping classes. Unicorn foals can have surges when they get their cutie marks or when they’re, umm, frightened.”
Vinyl chuckled to herself. Of course a Canterlot maid would know about them. It was just her luck. “Yeah, but last I checked, I wasn't a cute little bundle of innocent joy.”
“But I still scared you, right?”
“That's… you’re the one who’s actually hurt!” She didn’t turn towards the maid. She didn’t want to risk seeing her eyes again, afraid of what they would show. “Please. Just stop. I always mess things up.”
“It’s okay. I mess up all the time, too,” the maid laughed a little before the pain set in again. “It just means we both have room for improvement. Are you okay?”
After magically rocketing the mare off of her, injuring her in a fit of surging instability, Fluffer Duster had the gall to ask that? Vinyl snickered to herself and couldn’t help it as it grew louder and louder. She then started laughing so hard that she couldn’t take it anymore and she collapsed onto the bed away from the maid and began sobbing uncontrollably.
“A-alright? I’ve never been alright! It’s always going wrong! I can barely sleep, I need to work constantly or I feel like I’m going to tear myself apart! I can’t even work on my crystal research anymore because it’s sensitive to my emotions, and I’ve just been getting worse and worse! I can’t keep this up forever. Fleur will get suspicious and storm over here and then she’ll get mad at me and then-then at Fancy and-and… I just can’t!”
The cries grew shriller as Vinyl desperately tried to stop her breakdown. Her throat burned from rawness, and she bit down on a pillow to try to muffle the outpouring of needless emotions. Nopony needed to hear her. She just wanted to be alone with her problems. She couldn’t deal with them, but she couldn’t deal with anything, so that wasn’t any different. The only difference this time was injuring a pony during a panic attack, but the injured pony refused to let the DJ rightfully take the blame and go away. Now, said stubborn mare was gently stroking her mane for whatever reason trying to calm her down. It felt so nice, but she didn’t deserve to be comforted.
Why wouldn’t Fluffer Duster just go away?
After a few minutes of getting it out of her system, the maid finally spoke up. “I’m sorry that happened. And I’m sorry that I lost my temper, but if it's this bad, you need to let it out.”
“No! You saw how I let it out, didn’t you? B-but you don't know when to quit, so it doesn’t look like I have much of a choice, do I?” Vinyl spat back, her words dripping with venom that she couldn’t control.
The DJ took a moment and tried to collect herself from being such an emotional trainwreck. Taking her bite-mark riddled pillow in her legs, she gathered her courage to tell the truth while holding it close to her barrel. “I’m scared.”
“You’re scared? Of what?”
“Everything.”
“Everything? E-even me?”
Vinyl nodded. “I can’t trust anypony.” She opened her eyes to turn to Fluffer Duster, but stopped as her gaze caught the vanity and the odd bend of the maid’s wing. “I can’t even trust myself. Just look at what I did to you.”
“Don’t worry about me, Vinyl. It’s only a little strain… I think.” Fluffer Duster winced with uncertainty as she tried to flex the wing slightly. “It doesn’t hurt that bad since I landed on something soft.”
“Right, b-because blasting a pony away like a changeling when all they wanted was to talk and just I couldn’t—”
Fluffer Duster shushed Vinyl and stroked her mane with more gusto, trying to calm the unicorn down and prevent another outpouring of tears. “It’s okay, It was my fault, remember? I was being pushy because I couldn’t stand thinking you were all alone in here. I already told you I’m scared of being alone and… Sorry, this wasn’t supposed to be about me, but I made it that way anyway.
“I already forgave you,” she reassured the DJ. “Do you forgive me?”
“If it will get you to shut up about something that’s clearly my fault, then yes,” Vinyl mumbled with a sniff as she squeezed the pillow.
“Then, we’re good, Vinyl.” The maid sat up straight and collected herself from the bed. “Now, I know you said you’re scared of everything, but you can’t mean that. You’re so strong and capable—”
“No I’m not!” Vinyl whipped around and sat up to look Fluffer Duster in the eyes. “If I was, then none of this would be happening! I’d be in control of my destiny.” Vinyl turned her hooves towards her face. They wouldn’t stop shaking, no matter how hard she tried to make them stop. “Or at least, I’d still think I was. If it wasn’t for that stupid Screech, I’d be blindly taking my financial aid and cashing checks from Cantrips to keep myself going, completely ignorant of everything. Now, I’m trapped and I have to keep everypony happy, or he’ll just throw me out.”
“Who will throw you out?”
“Who do you think? Fancy Pants!”
“But why would he throw you out?” Fluffer Duster asked with genuine confusion.
“All I had to do was not mess up. Have a normal conversation, and I couldn’t even do that. And now, I’m hiding like it will help. Like the problem doesn’t exist if I can’t see it. I can’t figure out why he hasn’t fired me yet.” Vinyl sighed despondently and laid back down. “What’s the point? I’m just… I don’t matter.”
“You don’t believe that. Do you?” All it took was looking into the maid’s eyes to convey her feelings. Fluffer Duster gasped and clenched Vinyl’s hoof with a pained whisper. “Oh no. No Vinyl. H-how could you possibly think that? You’re a very special pony.”
“Cause it’s true. If I wasn’t, why is it that nothing I do works out for long? I-I always mess things up. And don’t give me that ‘everypony is special’ horseapples. Just because it’s called a ‘special talent’ doesn’t mean it is. I’ve seen plenty of ponies with musical talents. I haven’t proven myself better than anypony.”
“But you don’t need to prove yourself to anypony.”
“You think I don’t know that already? I know that! I’ve always known that! Hard work doesn’t matter! It doesn’t pay off to try your hardest, cause in the end you just—” Vinyl bit the inside of her cheek and groaned as she punched the mattress, letting out her old frustrations on the luxurious bed. After a few stress-relieving blows, she found her words again. “It never helped before, why should it work now? It’s not like anything would change.”
“If it doesn’t matter, then why does it sound like you’re trying so hard to?”
“Because what else am I supposed to do? I have to become something, but I’m nothing without Fancy Pants!”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes it is! The only thing I have going for me is my music, and even that isn’t enough! Not without…” She stopped herself again as she nearly let her underground rave record slip. She hated her emotions. They didn’t know when to shut up. “I can’t do anything alone.”
“So? I live off of his bits and board, too. Is that so bad?”
“At least you have ponies to catch you if you fall. Me? I’m Canterlot’s public enemy number one! He’s the only thing between me and them. If I do anything to upset him, I’m done! He’ll cut my funding, cut me out of the ESPA and CSGU, cut me…” Vinyl felt her heart clench as her breathing became erratic. New tears started flowing freely as she stared down at her fragile, powerless hooves. “He’ll cut me off from my only friends,” she whispered, a hollowness chomping away at her soul as she uttered it.
“No! No-no-no-no-no!” Using her good one, the maid pulled Vinyl into a tight wing hug, almost trying to squeeze all of the fear out of the unicorn. “You’re okay. You’re alright, Vinyl. I promise. And I promise, he wouldn’t do that. He’s a good pony, too.”
“What makes you so sure? He’s friends with the princesses, he knows ponies and creatures all over the world, he’s practically got infinite money to bury me alive. W-what am I supposed to do against somepony like that?”
“Why do you have to be against him? You could try trusting him like I do.”
“Wha—You can’t do that!” Vinyl shoved the other mare off of her, causing the maid to yelp as she fell backwards on the bed. “You can’t trust anypony as powerful as him.”
Fluffer Duster shook the impact off and pulled herself back up to keep facing Vinyl. “Sure you can. You just need to choose to.”
“You make it sound so easy,” the DJ scoffed as she laid her head back down, refusing to meet the pegasus’ eyes.
“Well, you’re right. It’s not,” The maid stroked Vinyl’s mane as she considered her words carefully. “I’ll admit that I was scared of Sir Fancy Pants at first. When I saw the job posting for a live-in maid position, it didn’t even say who was hiring, just that they were a high-profile pony. It did say bilingual Prench would be a bonus. I thought it would give me an edge, so I applied.
“A few weeks later, the recruitment officer that interviewed me took me and two other ponies here. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the ‘Sir Fancy Pants’ come down the stairs to greet us. After we all introduced ourselves and our credentials, he paused for a second like he was thinking deeply. Then he asked a question I don’t think any of us were prepared for.”
“And that was?” Vinyl asked as she side-eyed the maid.
“‘What is your favorite color and why?’” Fluffer Duster quoted, raising her hoof to adjust a non-existent monocle for maximum Fancy-ness.
Vinyl blinked. “What?”
“I know, right? I was so thrown by the question, I didn’t know how to respond at all! I remembered later that it’s violet, but I was just so nervous when he asked! I thought it was a trick question and was so worried about saying the wrong thing, I hadn’t even noticed that he asked it in Prench. I just started babbling, trying to think of a good answer and not even realizing I was speaking it too. I couldn’t even pick a color. I just started running through some of the ones I liked with a few reasons, but I couldn’t give him a straight answer. Still, he chose me.”
“Wait, you couldn’t tell him what your favorite color was, and he still picked you?”
“Sir Fancy Pants simply told me my Prench was better than his and hired me on the spot.”
Vinyl wasn’t sure what to do with that story. She blew some of her mane out of her face and kept her gaze glued on the very interesting and messy bedspread they were laying on. She was starting to count the wrinkles, but then they increased as Fluffer Duster shifted closer to Vinyl. Anypony walking in might mistake them for two large cats loafing around on a messy bedspread.
“Look, the point is I know it's the most obvious thing in the world, but I’m a maid, Vinyl. Anypony, or anyone that I will ever work for will always have power over me,” Fluffer Duster admitted as she clopped her hooves together while looking to the side. But then she looked back and smiled sweetly at Vinyl. “But you know what? That’s fine. I like cleaning. It makes others happy, which makes me happy, too. I just do the best I can to bring a smile to everypony I meet. After getting to know Fancy Pants and Mister Dandy, I know they appreciate the smiles I bring.
“I may not be special, unless being bilingual counts, but they make me feel like I am. Even though I haven’t been working with them long, I think—no, I know I can trust them. What I can’t do is imagine either of them doing something cruel, like throwing a truly special pony like you away.”
“I’m pretty sure two languages count more than being an unstable DJ,” Vinyl mumbled.
“You’re a DJ, and a student at Celestia’s School, and an amazing ESPA musician, and one of the coolest ponies I’ve ever met!” The maid practically squee’d like a fangirl as she leaned into Vinyl. “I’ve never been to the Drive before, but I have heard what you’ve been working on in the studio. Your music is incredible! I’ve never heard anything so lively before!”
The DJ rolled her eyes. “Now you’re just saying things. Even if I missed you the other day, I would’ve seen you sneak into the studio.”
“Why do you think the hallway outside of the studio is always so clean?” the maid asked with a sly smirk. “You know that old studio isn’t completely soundproof, right? I couldn’t help but dance to that version of ‘Sway’ when you were working on it.” The mare clopped her hooves again as she giggled nervously. “To be honest, even though I was mostly trying to work up the courage to talk to you, I was also kind of sad that it’s been so quiet the past two days.”
Vinyl snorted slightly at the admission. DJ Pon-3 was infamous for keeping her fans at leg’s length, but it seemed like she’d stumbled into the wings of a new one without knowing. “I’ve been working on something else. It’s still in the planning stages, and I’m still trying to figure things out, but I think it’s going somewhere.”
“Great! I can’t wait to hear it,” the maid bubbled earnesty. “Oh, this is so exciting! No wonder Mister Dandy liked working for Mister Shoes and Miss Summers. Getting a chance to hear brand new music every day is the coolest workplace perk ever!”
“Yeah. Great,” Vinyl remarked sardonically.
“Hey, Vinyl?” The maid brushed Vinyl’s back with her wing before resting it comfortably on the mare again like a warm blanket. “Can I ask you a favor?”
“Sure.”
“It’s kind of a big favor and, the things is, I’m going to ask you to trust me. Is that okay with you?”
“Not like you have to ask,” Vinyl chuckled as she turned to face the maid’s bad wing. “After what I just did to you, you could just blackmail me easily enough.”
“But I would never do that! Why would I want to—” The mare chewed on her lip and tried to think of something. “Please Vinyl. I don’t know what I can say, but you have to believe me. What can I do to prove that I don’t want to hurt you?”
“I… I don’t know. I don’t think you can.”
Fluffer Duster gave a shaky sigh. With a deep, pained breath, she managed to stop herself from crying. “I understand. I mean, I don’t understand, but I want to understand, if that makes sense.” Another pause later, her eyes sparked with a new light. “Oh, I know! I have two favors now, if that’s alright.”
“Okay,” the unicorn shuddered and surrendered. “Lay ‘em on me.”
“Can I ask you to try to trust me?”
Vinyl was about to say no, but the mare wasn’t asking for her faith. She just needed to try. Even if she messed up, it’d still be okay, right? “Yeah. I can do that.”
“Great! Now for favor two.”
“‘Trying to trust’ was favor number one?” Vinyl quirked her brow as Fluffer Duster… Fluffs nodded excitedly with a big grin. “Whatever. What’s number two?”
Vinyl absolutely hated favor two. Fluffs had asked her if she’d join her for dinner later, which was fine. She could stand to get out of the mansion and grab something with the pegasus. They had gone their separate ways after a little more of their heart-to-heart conversation, the maid quickly straightening up the room before going to see somepony about her wing. Vinyl had decided to try and nap away the aftershock of her surge, and fell asleep until Fluffs had returned sporting a new splint on her wing. Oddly enough, she remembered dreaming about two cats looking down from a pier trying to figure out how to fish without jumping in the water.
What wasn’t fine was the fact that they were standing outside the dining hall. Outside the dining hall at dinner time. When everypony ate dinner.
“I think I’m gonna fail this trust thing, Fluffs,” Vinyl muttered as she stared at the imposing double doors in front of them.
“I’m right here, Vinyl. You don’t have to trust me, just try your best.”
Vinyl felt Fluffs drape a supportive wing over her back. She glanced over her shoulder, and the maid returned the look with a genuine smile. The unicorn’s gaze kept shifting back to the splint holding the other wing in place. While it wasn’t broken, Vinyl had done enough to sprain it. Despite the maid’s pleas to forget it, the DJ couldn’t help but feel like she owed the mare.
With a deep breath, Vinyl slowly opened one of the doors to peek in. While she had passed this room before, she’d never really taken the time to look at it. Like the study, this room also had the hallmarks Fancy had mentioned in their conversation about the study. While he hadn’t mentioned this room by name, she wondered if it had been part of the original building too.
Calling it a dining hall was almost too modest a term for the splendor all around them. The walls were decorated with portraits, pictures, and other knick-knacks with their own stories to tell amid large, multistoried windows that let the fading light of sunset inside. Three chandeliers hung from the ceiling, giving the opulent hall a distinct, ballroom classiness. Speaking of which, Fancy Pants could easily host a large party of ponies for most any size event, which made the rectangular table Fancy was seated at feel even smaller. The table’s extra leaves, legs, and chairs stacked in a quiet corner of the room didn’t go unnoticed by DJ either.
Vinyl was about to brave taking a small step in, but Fluffs was having none of it and thrust the other open instead, calling the attention of the two stallions inside.
“Oh, Miss Fluffer Duster, there you are,” Fancy called happily after seeing the maid enter. Vinyl skulked closely behind, putting off the encounter for as long as possible. “I’ve taken care of the house call expenses, but please, do be more careful. When I told you not to break anything, I hoped it would go without saying that you would include yourself.”
“Thank you, Sir Fancy Pants. And I apologize. I was… doing something I shouldn’t have.”
“It’s quite alright. Just as long as you’re all right, Miss Duster…?” Fancy stopped as he noticed the other mare behind Fluffs. “Miss Scr—Vinyl.”
Vinyl hoped her expression was unreadable behind her shades as she tried her best to appear calm and aloof. She kept her focus forward and lips firmly drawn in a straight line by chewing on her tongue. Taking her seat, her act lasted all of five seconds until the butler swooped in next to her.
“How lovely of you to join us for dinner, Miss Vinyl,” Dapper Dandy greeted her sincerely as he levitated a serving platter to her place and unveiled their meal for the evening. “I hope you’ll pardon a more humble bit of pasta tonight. Pesto fettuccine with tomatoes, basil, and dried marigold for a little extra kick.”
Vinyl looked at the dinner and back at Dapper, not that the old stallion would be able to tell behind her sunglasses. At least she hoped he couldn’t. “Umm… is it okay if I eat this?”
“Why, of course it is. What a silly question.” The old stallion chortled as he poured her a glass of water. “You’ve always had a place at the table since you started living here. It is just lovely finally having everypony here for dinner, isn’t that right, master Fancy Pants?”
“I couldn’t agree more, Dapper. You’ve always had a seat at the table, Vinyl.” Fancy offered a warm smile to her. She couldn’t trust it, but she could try. “I do hope the food is to your liking.”
“After perfecting my pesto preparation, it hasn’t failed to impress for… forty years now?”
“We’ll all have to take your word for it, Dapper. After all, you’d be the only one old enough to know for sure.”
“If you’re that gullible, then it’s been a hundred years in the making.”
Everypony but Vinyl shared in a small laugh as the others took their seats behind their own plates of the pesto pasta. She sat and watched as each pony prepared to dig in in their own way. Fluffs asked for Fancy to pass the cheese, which he went the extra mile by politely distributing it himself with the rotary cheese grater until she asked him to stop. Dapper took the time to cut a slice off a baguette and applied a light touch of butter before taking a careful bite. As for Fancy, he poured himself and Dapper some wine, offering some to Fluffs and herself, which both mares declined.
Vinyl couldn’t remember the last time she’d sat down for a family dinner. Sure, there was that time during the Moondance, and then there were those pizza runs with Fleur after long days at the audio lab, but neither were like this. She didn’t have fond memories of family dinners, which was why she had avoided dinnertime around the mansion, too. They were always so cold and stressful. This was different. It was—
“How’s the pasta, Vinyl?” Fancy asked.
She picked up her fork, twisted a noodle onto it, and took a bite. She looked up to the other two, who were also wondering what she thought about the meal.
“—It’s good,” Vinyl answered with a smile she could trust.