//------------------------------// // 1. Hello... // Story: I Always Had Eyes On You // by Dragon-In-Black //------------------------------// It was not easy being a deejay when you played music way late into the cold night when the moon was high up in the sky, with the other ponies slumbering late into the night while some others were partying like wild animals. Vinyl Scratch knew this very well, being a deejay herself. She worked long, exhausting hours to meet ends meet. But not just that, but to grow as large as possible so her music would reach other places in Equestria than just Ponyville, where she was residing and was making a name for herself. Some ponies would say that she had it all; she had the career of her dreams, she had a good income compared to others, and she had fun. She had a roommate named Octavia who was her polar opposite and was more into the traditional line of music. There was a clear mark in their house where they lived. One side was Vinyls’ and the other was her roommate Octavias’ place. It probably looked a little funny for some ponies who visit them for the first time. While the two roommates had their disagreements and differences, they were very good friends. But despite all of this, there was always something that Vinyl always wanted, something that no music or money could give her and that was love. Romantic love, the kind that you would only read in some romance novels, which was a well-kept secret that she had only told Octavia about. And she certainly had eyes on somepony or some dragon, rather. But the problem lay with the fact that the dragon she was interested in was not interested in her because the dragon had eyes for the most beautiful mare in Ponyville. How could she ever compete with that? It wasn’t possible, which was the reason she had slowly been giving up before she completely, out of the blue, just gave up. But she never gave up hope for her crush, that, remained with her. It remained on her like glue, not being able to be taken off. She sighed as she lay there, on the bed, remembering the first time her eyes laid on Spike the Dragon. At first, she had been a bit pensive, never in her life seen a dragon, but when she and he started to talk, she realized that he was a cool dragon, not being like those she had read in history books. But that was when the new pony, Twilight Sparkle, had moved there on Princess Celestias’ orders. When she learned that Spike, her crush, was the number one assistant, she was concerned that Twilight was only using him and never saw him as a friend. But that changed when she realized that Spike willingly did every deed that was asked of him, and he was paid for his work as well. But that did not soothe things entirely for Vinyl Scratch. Oh no, far from it. She had witnessed when Rainbow Dash, the fastest pegasus in Equestria as well as the element of loyalty, did a prank that resulted in Spike getting slightly hurt. The prank was with an ice-cold water bucket that was dropped on his head. She had been furious but when she endorsed that Spike called her out for it and explained why he did not like the prank, she sort of laid off. “Ugh!” She groaned. She smashed her face against the pillow, feeling the fluffy contents suffocating her slightly. “Why is this so hard?!” Her voice was muffled from the pillow. But the question was still heard by a special friend of hers who had just so happened to have stopped by her door. “Vinyl?” Came an elegant voice that sounded authentically posh, as if the mare came from a higher ranking family. She opened the door to her friends’ room and witnessed the chaos that was around the room, opened apple cider cans, old plates with small amounts of food on them, clothing, music equipment, and different magazines ranging from music to facts about Equestria. “Hmph?” Came the response. “Vinyl, are you alright, darling?” She moved closer to the bed that was pushed against the corner of the room that had at the foot of the bed, a proportionate amount of cans from food to drinks. A lot of energy drinks. Her elegant voice made Vinyl look, up. Her roommate, Octavia Melody was a mare who had a grey coat along with a black mane and tail. Her eyes were purple that showed a certain amount of wisdom. She wore a pink tie with a white collar around her neck. She moved slowly to the bed, as if not to startle her. “Oh,” Vinyl responded. “ Yeah, I’m alright, I just need a little sleep is all.” Octavia didn’t believe that. “Darling,” Octavia said, her voice sounding both frustrated and tired. She moved close enough to the bed so she could sit. “Are you still thinking about your special dragon?” Vinyl couldn’t lie to her, she couldn’t. She nodded without looking at her, not bothering to respond verbally. They sat there in silence for a long while, enjoying it slightly. This was one of those rare moments they shared when they weren’t fighting about which genre of music was better, they could simply relax and talk about other things, like stallions, or in Vinyl’s case; dragons. Octavia had given her friend advice but she had not taken them, assuming that they would never work. “I just ...” Vinyl tried, but she could not find the words to describe what she was feeling. It was like her mind refused to give in to her hopelessness. “Yes?” Octavia inquired when she saw her friend hesitate. “I just feel as though he would never look at me.” She finally said. “I feel as though he only sees me as an acquaintance of Pinkie Pie and nothing more, we spoke once but we haven’t spoken again since, we have looked at each other, but we have not approached one another.” Octavia glanced into the hopeless eyes of Vinyl, seeing the internal conflict within the mare. But sadly, there was nothing Octavia could do, it was all up to Vinyl in what she would do. “Maybe he does look at you ...” Octavia tried to cheer her up but she did not continue her intended sentence, not confident if that was the case; she had never spoken to Spike nor had she ever looked his way. The only time she did that was the first few weeks because she had never seen a dragon, but then it dimmed down as time flew by. “No, Octavia, he isn’t.” Vinyl in a voice that almost sounded confident. Almost. “He has never looked at me the same way he looks at Rarity,” Octavia looked at Vinyl with no small amount of surprise, she did not think her friend was capable of romantic love. Where had this side of her friend been hiding? “Do you want to go on a date with him?” Octavia casually asked, but still sounded supportive. She wanted to check if her friend had hidden another side of herself that she has never shown. Octavia stood up, looked at her friend who now looked at the bed covers that had a dark blue background and light blue musical note that represented Vinyl. Vinyl slowly, looked into the purple eyes of Octavia whose eyes were now gleaming with a passion that she had only constantly seen when she was playing music, but this was entirely different. Something new. “I ...” Did she want to? She always wondered what she felt for the little guy, was it love, or was it friendship she was after? “I don’t know.” Predictable, Octavia believed. She did not blame her friend because emotions were something any creature could truly master. No matter how hard you try; you never control who you fall in love with. And it was not even a bad thing. “Well,” Octavia started, walking towards the exit of the room. Before she left, she turned around and looked at her friend one more time who was now looking at her. “You should find out quickly, eventually, somepony or dragon will snatch him, and you won’t be able to tell him how you feel, darling.” With that, she left, leaving Vinyl Scratch to wonder what she felt for her crush. “What do I feel for him?” Was the question that was plaguing Vinyl’s mind like an infection that did not stop until you cleaned the area where the infection was coming from, this was no normal wound. This was one made from emotions about what you feel for someone. She had left the comfort of her home, and set out to take a walk around the small town to see if she could get some ideas about what she felt for the little guy, but it wouldn’t be easy. It was a busy day in Ponyville, the ponies running around, minding their affairs, not looking Vinyl’s way. She waved to some ponies and friends that spotted her but there were no conversations between them, just friendly waves. The buildings in the small town were not the same, one building could look like cotton candy while the other looked like an ordinary house on the outside but not the inside; nothing was the same. But that is what Vinyl liked about the town, it wasn’t the same boring buildings that she saw every day, sometimes, she even laid eyes on buildings she had not seen before. No day was the same in the small town. Walking down a small path that lead to a house a little bit outside of town, she strolled up without looking at the surroundings that displayed a series of mountains and hills, and instead, knocked on the door to the three-floor house with greyish bluish walls and black roof. The door opened and it revealed a pony with a mint coat, golden eyes, light mint mane, and tail with a white streak. The mare on the other side smiled widely when she saw her friend. “Hello, Vinyl!” She exclaimed with joy. She opened the door widely and stepped aside to allow her friend entry. Lyra wasted no time in leading Vinyl to the living room where there was a large couch, two armchairs, and a coffee table. “Do you want anything to snack on or drink?” Lyra jumpily asked, catching Vinyl off-guard with the mare’s enthusiasm. “Uh, sure ... what drinks you have?” Vinyl coaxed herself into asking but instantly regretted it because she remembered that Lyra’s best friend, Bon Bon who had a cutie mark of candy and owned a candy business, obviously had drinks with a lot of sugar. “Well,” Lyra began, almost as if she could tell that Vinyl was regretting it, but did not stop because it was funny. “We have many different energy drinks, sodas—” “I’ll take an energy drink, please, thank you.” Vinyl hastily ordered which made Lyra smile and walked into the kitchen to get it. Vinyl would swear for years to come that Lyra cackled. When the mint-coated mare returned, she handed her deejay friend her energy drink that had the bold letters; Angry Timberwolf. The logo was of the face of a Timberwolf from the Everfree Forest that was showing its teeth as if it would bite the drinker. Pouring the drink into a glass that Lyra had fetched while in the kitchen, Vinyl took her first sip and felt the rich taste reach her tongue and go down her throat as she swallowed. “So ...” Lyra’s voice didn’t change one bit since she saw her deejay friend. “What made you come all this way?” Vinyl stared at Lyra for a long time, debating whether or not she should tell her, but something inside of her told her that Lyra already knew ... “Well, I was hoping that you would give me some advice ...” Vinyl carefully worded, not allowing her friend to embarrass her. But not everything would go her way ... “What kind of advice?” Lyra innocently asked. Vinyl wanted to jump out of a window. The way Lyra phrased the question made her realize that her friend knew all her secrets. It was not pleasant for her at all. She felt like she had been stripped naked. “Well ...” She did not know how to word her question and knew she would have to be very specific. Barring the fact because of the topic, Vinyl was not eager to start explaining her feelings. Fidgeting with her drink, she started to slightly sweat, her eyes darted from left to right, which Lyra could not see because of the pink sunglasses that the mare always wore. “I was hoping to get some ... romantic ... advice,” “Really?” Lyra responded, pretending to be shocked. Her face still held a wide smile, one that unsettled Vinyl strongly. The air around them was both awkward and amusing, on one end, the mare was asking for advice in something she has never felt before. The other mare, only a little bit experienced, could not stop herself from laughing at the slight misery her friend was feeling. “Y—yes,” Vinyl stammered with a stridulous voice. She berated herself inwards, feeling dumb for stammering; giving her friend more ammunition for the battle. Lyra’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “So, what precisely do you want advice in, romantic wise?” That innocent smile was plastered again on Lyra’s face and Vinyl wanted to scream. She wanted to scream so badly and felt her cheeks heat up on her white coat. She took a large gulp on her energy drink. “I have fallen for some ...” Vinyl did not know what would be the best approach to this. And judging by the look on Lyra’s face, the mint-coated mare already knew who she’d fallen for but she could not be sure, perhaps Lyra believed Vinyl had fallen for Octavia? “You’ve fallen for whom?” She asked, her eyes gleaming. “I have fallen for a special somepony.” Vinyl did not notice the emphasis she put on ‘pony’, but Lyra sure did. She tried to read Vinyl’s eyes but with the sunglasses on, it was quite difficult. “Let me guess; you have fallen for a special somedragon?” Lyra coolly asked. Vinyl’s eyes nearly popped out of her sockets. How did Lyra know that?! No pony knew it except for Octavia. Vinyl had confided in her when she needed some advice in attracting attention to the young dragon. “Why would I fall for a dragon?” Vinyl tried, feigning confusion. Lyra looked at her with a raised brow, looking very amused. “Perhaps because you emphasized the word ‘pony’ giving me the right to be suspicious. That ... and the fact that ... uh ...” Lyra started getting nervous. How would she explain to Vinyl that she may or may not have read the other mares’ diary? “What?” Vinyl questioned, getting increasingly pale by every passing second. Her face was whiter than it should have been, her eyes’ red colour was fading away. Like, she knew the answer but prayed that she would hear an answer she wasn’t expecting. Lyra had the decency to look ashamed. “I read ... your diary.” She whispered into the room where the two mares were occupied. Vinyl felt her body turn to ice, her heart frozen, her lungs nonexistent, her hooves numb, her neon dark and light blue mane and tail losing its colourful taste. She had just in time placed the empty can of energy drink on the coffee table. Her mind was going into a frenzy. What had Lyra just said? “What ... what did you say?” Vinyl warily asked in a neutral tone. Lyra froze. She did not expect this, she expected Vinyl to lash out from that tidbit of information alone, but it allegedly wasn’t enough. Now, the mint-coated mare was getting frightened, like she had seen something she couldn’t explain. But she could explain ... That was the problem ... “I ...” Lyra’s voice failed her. “I read your ... diary.” Her voice wasn’t a whisper anymore. Her voice was stable for the last word, but she knew it would be the last time, her voice would help her. For a while at least. “Did it have two drawn pigeons?” Vinyl asked, voice still neutral. She lowered her body forward, looking at Lyra’s face that did not meet the later mares’ gaze. “... yes ...” Lyra said, knowing that Vinyl would explode like an angry volcano. Vinyl burst out laughing. She laughed to her heart’s content, making the other mare bewildered by what was going on. Vinyl continued to laugh as if she had heard the funniest joke she’d ever heard while Lyra just sat awkwardly there. When Vinyl had calmed herself down enough to explain, Lyra was in for a shock. “Lyra,” Vinyl began. Her voice was kind and gentle with laughter evident in the voice. “That diary is not my real one. That is a fake I created in case you or Octavia would look through my things.” Lyra looked at Vinyl in shock. The deejay mare had expected something like that? Lyra could say with confidence that she did not expect that turnabout at all. Vinyl grabbed her energy drink but was still a giggling mess. She took a few sips, trying not to laugh at the expression on Lyra’s face. “All that time ...” The mare began. “Was a fake ...” “Yeah, sorry about that, I just do not like when other ponies are reading through my stuff.” Vinyl lied smoothly. While it was true that she did not like other ponies reading her things, she had lied to Lyra about her diary not being her real one. It was indeed real. She just needed to act as though it wasn’t. Octavia knew her crush, yes, but that was because Vinyl had asked her friend for advice. She didn’t realize that Octavia though invaded her privacy by reading her diary and telling Lyra about her crush on the purple dragon. Lyra glanced at Vinyl who was still giggling like a maniac and she felt a small frown make its way up her face. “If Spike the Dragon isn’t who you have a crush on, then who is?” Lyra knew that there was something ... off about Vinyl’s giggles, but she could not make the bold claim that her friend was lying. She had no wood for the fire so to speak. Vinyl straightens herself. “Doesn’t matter.” That surprised Lyra. The lyrist unicorn glanced at Lyra with no small amount of concern. If Vinyl said it didn’t matter, then it meant she wanted others to back off, but Lyra was not so sure ... “Are you sure?” Came the question that made Vinyl slightly falter. She hesitated, then she nodded, standing with what she stated. No point in changing it. The rest of the conversation had gone rather ... awkward to say the least but they both pushed through it. Before they knew it, Bon Bon was home and Vinyl bid them far well, wanting to give her two friends the space they needed. Despite Vinyl saving face, that did not shake away the fact that her “secret” almost slipped. She slapped the dirt path she was walking, angry that she had told Octavia who in turn told their other friends. She knew that Octavia had not meant to be respectless, but that did not mean that she wasn’t still disappointed in the mare. Vinyl walked briskly but did not have a particular location in mind to rethink the choices she had made. She turned a corner to head through an alley but bumped into some pony. Falling on her rump, she was about to yell at the pony who bumped into her, when she heard the voice that always made her heart melt. “Oh! I’m sorry, Vinyl Scratch, I did not see where I was walking.” The voice of Spike explained. The young dragon had purple scales with green spikes and emerald green eyes. “Here, let me help you up,” Extending his claw, Spike helped her up on her hooves again.