//------------------------------// // Stormfront Ahead // Story: Not My Fault // by Daemon McRae //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Stormfront Ahead I couldn’t believe how pissed off I was at that snobby elitist mare. Nopony’s ever been that rude during a date with me. ...I mean, I might have, others have told me so, but I’ve never argued like that on the first date. That usually takes months. I’ve never admitted to being great at the whole dating thing. But still, I was pissed. I hadn’t had anything to eat yet, and I was freakin’ exhausted from moving all my stuff in. At least most of it was unpacked, so I just microwaved something. Compared to what I thought I was going to be eating (heh) that night, my frozen dinner tasted like cardboard. But I wasn’t about to let this ruin things for me. Sure, I had one stuffy neighbor that didn’t like me. I’m used to that. More than I’d like to admit. But I still had a whole building’s worth of ponies to talk to, and hang out with, and stuff. I mean really, how many of them could be like HER? All stuck-up and rude. Yells a lot. Makes a big deal out of little things. Can’t read the atmosphere. Stupid poofy hair. Stupid pristine coat. Great flank. Pretty eyes. ...dammit. Now I was MORE mad. ------ I’d never been so humiliated. Eating alone? Having your date (which it was so very NOT a date), walk out on you before the appetizer even arrives? Who does that to a pony. Honestly, the sheer gall of that girl. It was rather astounding how presumptuous she was. I mean yes, she did make several remarks that could probably only be read as “coming onto somepony”, but she never once used the word date. It was just dinner. I’d only known her for maybe ten minutes, sure. But it wasn’t a date. Even if she did have every reason to suspect otherwise. I hadn’t even opened the door to my apartment before that thought struck me. Even if I hadn’t thought so, she clearly did. And I’d given her no reason to suspect otherwise. Not to mention, my behavior was rather appalling. I’d never lost my temper like that before. So, instead of turning my key in the lock and opening my door, I turned around and knocked on hers. After all, it’s not like I can just live across the hall from somepony, see her everyday, and be so... so... FURIOUS with her. I needed to be the better mare and apologize. It took her a little while to open the door, but there she was. Still wearing those shades. Mind you, I understood why she did, now, so it’s not like I could be mad about it (even though I was, for some stupid reason). “Yeah, what do you want?” She had good reason to be upset. “I... listen, I came back to apologize. Even if I didn’t think it was a date-” “Which it WAS”, she interrupted. “EVEN IF I didn’t think it was a date, I hadn’t taken into account how you felt. I’d given you every reason to think it was, and then treated you very poorly. So... I came to apologize.” I wouldn’t let myself get riled up by her. I was trying to be nice. She looked taken aback, to my surprise. “Oh... um, ok. Wow. Nopony’s ever... I mean... thank you. I appreciate that. Listen, I know trying this whole date thing again probably isn’t going to work-” “EVER.” I interjected. She smiled a little “Yeah, yeah. Even if that doesn’t work, I do appreciate you coming over and apologizing. And taking me somewhere nice for dinner.” I must have had a look on my face, because she quickly corrected herself “ACCOMPANYING me to a nice restaurant where we could have dinner as friends. I never thanked you properly for that. And besides, it would be TOTALLY uncool if we were to like, glare at each other whenever we opened the door at the same time, or whatever, right?” She seamed rather earnest, which I remember thinking was very nice of her. “Yes, that would be a little troublesome.” “So yeah, I should maybe say I’m sorry, too? I did yell at you and stuff, and that’s also so very uncool of me. I mean, come on. I’m the coolest DJ in Equestria. I can’t go around being lame like that all the time!” She puffed up a little in pride, which I was starting to see was a regular trait of hers. “Hey, how about this. We go to lunch tomorrow. NOT a date, just two friends sitting down and having a meal. Like, food-friends. Or something.” I thought about it for a bit. What was the worst that could happen, now that we were on even footing? “Sure. Ok, I think that’s fine.” “Great. Ok, I gotta get some sleep. I have like a BUNCH of work tomorrow morning setting up for a gig tomorrow night. But I should be back here like a little after noon or something.” “Well, aside from practice I have a few days off before a recital this weekend, so I should be around.” “Awesome. Good night, Tavi.” “...good night, Vinyl.” Really, what WAS the worst that could happen? ------- I woke up that morning feeling amazing. I was totally expecting to go to sleep like, really angry last night, but that so did not happen. I was stoked. I had a huge party that night, I had lunch with a crazy gorgeous girl (“EVER”, my flank. I’d get a date out of her eventually. I’m awesome like that.), and the morning view from my apartment was total sunrise GREATNESS. Today was going to be amazing. At least, I thought so. Ok, so it started exactly like I thought it was going to. I got up at sunrise, had breakfast, and went down to the ginormous auditorium I was performing at. It was an invite-only preshow for a huge concert they were having this weekend (which I was ALSO DJing for), some really big party for all kinds of rock and pop artists or something. I think it was an award ceremony or whatever. I stopped paying attention when they showed me the check. Sooooo many zeros. Ok, maybe not that many. But it was awesome. Anyway, that’s not where it started. Like most of what’s gone wrong lately, it started when Octavia showed up. Although I didn’t know it at the time, I was going to start hating that name. Now, I’d thought that I was going to wait until I got home to see her, or whatever. But right when I’m getting the last finishing touches on my console set up, she walks in. I recognized her right away. I’d been staring at that flank WAY too long. (Pfft, that’s a lie. No such thing.) So, being the polite and courteous lady that I am (oh shut up), I walked up and said hi. “Hey, Tavi, what’s up?” “Oh, Vinyl! I had no idea you’d be here. Um... what are you doing here?” She raised an eyebrow at me, and I noticed the other three ponies she’d walked in with. They also gave me weird looks. Not like “What’s her problem?” looks, more like, “Who is this AWESOME pony Octavia is talking to?” Obviously. “I’m setting up. We’re doing a preshow tonight for some huge thing this weekend. I gotta make sure everything works right, y’know?” Her eyebrow twitched. “Some... huge... thing?” “Yeah, it’s some kind of award ceremony or whatever. Pretty fancy, huh?” I knew she’d be impressed. The ponies behind her seemed less so, but Octavia just asked calmly, “Vinyl, do you know what award ceremony this is?” I had no idea. “Nope. I just looked at the check and said OK.” There she goes again with the eyebrow twitching. “Well, it’s called the Grammy Awards. It’s one of the most prestigious accomplishments for a musician. And you say you’re... DJ-ing?” She was starting to get all snooty again. But I’d learned my lesson last night. “Well, yes and no. Kind of no. I’m just responsible for all the music that plays when they hand out awards and stuff. There’ll be some live performances and all that that I’ll be helping out with, too. But mostly I’m just getting paid to sit around and play the right music at the right time. Pretty sweet, huh?” Then this stuffy stallion spoke up. “And WHO, exactly, is this... mare you’re talking to, Octavia?” “Her name is Vinyl Scratch. She’s... well, I don’t exactly know WHAT she does aside from DJ-ing. She lives across the hall from me. We’re having lunch later.” She seemed all tense and stuff. I guess she was keeping up appearances or something. “Vinyl Scratch? I can’t say I’ve ever heard of you.” What a tight-flank. But he gave me a great opening to just knock him off his hooves. “Well, you probably wouldn’t. Most ponies know me as... DJ Pon-3.” -------- I could not BELIEVE what I had just heard. DJ Pon-3? The DJ for Princess Cadence’s wedding? The rising star in the pop music industry? THIS was HER?! “...um, wow, Vinyl. I had no idea you were DJ Pon-3.” I tried to sound rather nonchalant. I think. “That’s ok, Tavi. You already told me you don’t listen to music that requires a DJ. A lot of ponies don’t. Wouldn’t surprise me that you didn’t recognize the shades.” She had that slowly-becoming-familiar arrogance about her. Frederick, or, I should say, the stallion who’d been talking just a moment ago, spoke up. “YOU are DJ Pon-3? I find that rather hard to believe. You expect me to buy that YOU DJ’ed for the PRINCESS?” I hindsight, I should have stopped him talking earlier. Vinyl was getting agitated. “Tavi, please tell me these... ponies aren’t coming to lunch with us.” That had actually been my original plan, but I hadn’t said anything. I’d wanted them to be there so that I had somepony to lean on if things went south again. “Um, no. I just had them come with me, because we’re giving our recital during the awards ceremony. We’re one of the performances.” She raised her eyebrows at that. Which just barely made it over the top of her sunglasses. “Oh, really? That’s pretty cool. Good luck and all. Listen, I gotta finish up. I saw a cafe like a block away this morning, how about we meet there for lunch?” She obviously wanted this conversation to be over. I was inclined to agree. :Yes, that sounds nice. I will see you later.” So far, so good... right? ------- Ok, so she had some stick-in-the-mud friends. They’d warm up to me once they saw my AWESOME performance tonight and this weekend. If they were playing during the awards show, they were going to be there tonight. I’d show them. And totally impress Tavi. My master plan was foolproof. So what happened next was TOTALLY not my fault. Ok, so I got done setting up and stuff, right? Then I went to the cafe. I found Octavia sitting at a table outside, and she waved me down. “Oh, hey, were you waiting long?” I am SO smooth. She smiled politely. “Not very, I just got here myself.” “Great. Let’s see what they have.” I pulled up a menu and perused. (I was getting used to this whole high society thing. Perused. Great word. Just say it for no reason for a while. It’s great. Perused.) We were silent for a bit while we looked at our menus, then Tavi spoke up. “Listen, Vinyl, I’m sorry about Frederick. He’s always very conscious about the ponies he spends time with. His reputation means a lot to him.” “Hey, it’s no biggie. I haven’t played a whole lot in Canterlot, so I’m not surprised he hasn’t seen me before. He must not have gone to the wedding.” He’d know me after tonight, though. “Well, yes. After the Grand Galloping Gala, the Princesses saw it fit to look for more... contemporary music for the wedding. I think the groom had something to do with it, too. Do you know him? Your mane looks a little like his. And your coat...” “Nah. I got that a bit at the wedding. He’s actually Princess Twilight’s older brother. But yeah, no relation.” That’d be sweet, though. Being a Prince’s sister? Heck yeah. “Oh, I see.” She went back to her menu, but something buged me a little. “You said you performed at the Grand Galloping Gala?” She lowered the menu a little. “Um, yes?” “You wouldn’t happen to be... the Canter Quartet, would you?” She paused a little, then put the menu down. She was blushing. “Heh heh... yes. Yes we are.” “I KNEW it!” I smacked my hoof on the bale. A few ponies glared at me for the noise. “My bad. Anyway, you guys are like, really big, aren’t you? Even I’ve heard of you, and I SO don’t do classical.” She seemed to brighten up after that. “Well, I wouldn’t say that... but thank you. That’s... rather sweet.” I mean, I only heard about what happened at the Gala from a friend of mine in Ponyville. She didn’t seem impressed. But then again, I can see her not wanting to sit still for classical music at a party.” A cloudy look came over her face. “A... friend? What would her name be, exactly?” “Huh? Oh, her name’s Pinkie Pie. She’s this awesome party planner. Bit of a sugar addict, but she’s totally cool.” “Totally COOL?!” Uh oh. “She RUINED the biggest performance of my LIFE!” “Hey, hey, calm down. She was just trying to be nice. I mean, she IS the Element of Laughter, right? Not a lot of people laughing during a quarter performance.” She practically rumbled. “WHY am I not surprised you’re FRIENDS with her?! It took me MONTHS to get over that, and even then we barely made it as a performance for the Grammy’s!” Now I was a little miffed. Nopony talks about my friends like that. ESPECIALLY not my friends who have also SAVED the WORLD. “But you’re FINE now, right?! Big ol’ fancy apartment in uptown Canterlot. Playing award shows-” “And ANOTHER thing. It’s not just an ‘Award Show.’ It’s the bloody GRAMMY’S! The most prestigious musical accomplishment possible, and you don’t even know what it’s called! And you’re PART of the CEREMONY! How can ANYpony be this dense?!” She had officially gone nuclear. “Are you kidding? I have more right to be there than you do! If anyone should be at a music awards ceremony, it's a musician who DIDN'T get kicked out of Canterlot and WASN'T made to play for Halloween festivals in Ponyville! I should thank you, by the way. It's entirely because of you and your group I got to DJ that wedding! Think about THAT the next time you decide to yell at me for no reason!" I didn't give her a chance to respond, I just stormed off, and went home. NOT my fault.