If there was a downside to having a nightlife and being able to stay up as late as possible, it is the fact that there is a very good chance that sleep will get interrupted by those whose lifestyle is the opposite. Vinyl Scratch was about to experience that consequence, first hoof. A few hard knocks on the hotel room door was enough to rouse her from her slumber and pull her from her couch. Unfortunately, it pulled her from the couch to the floor with her muzzle as the lead. This was also unfortunate as it reminded Vinyl of the one thing that usually comes from her partying the way she did last night, the hangover. Vinyl's groaning and moaning was followed by another round of knocks, this time the knocking was coming with more urgency. The night pony was able to get herself off the floor and with one hoof rubbing her sore nose she made her way to the door, grumbling and swearing under her breath as she did so. Keep in mind that lack of sleep (and booze tainted blood) can cause anypony to be disoriented in the morning, so Vinyl was unable to recognize who it was that was standing at her door when she opened it.
"I am terribly sorry, Vinyl," said the grey pony in the hall, "but I have to talk to you again. It's urgent and you already know about the issue." Vinyl squinted at the disturber of dreams for a moment before grunting and stepping off to the side to let it inside. "Thank you, Vinyl. I know it is probably a little early for you, but you are the only pony I know that I can trust with this." Vinyl gave the chatty grey blur another grunt as the two made their way back to the couch. A growl escaped the DJ's throat, when she noticed that the pony had bypassed the couch and was headed for the window shades. "Oh be quiet," the increasingly familiar pony said to her, "a little sun won't kill you."
As the shades were pulled up, one by one, Vinyl became aware that she was missing something. Something that she would have normally forgotten to take off after a night like yesterday. Something that would have kept the demonic sunlight from reaching her eyes and increasing the pain of her hangover.
"You know," the grey pony began, "as often as you were those gaudy sunglasses of your's, I forget that you have purple eyes."
Vinyl stiffened the moment she heard the word sunglasses mentioned. Her specs, her image, it was gone! Lost in the blur that was yesterday night. Before she had a chance to react, however, something else was said that caused the usually unflappable DJ to panic a bit.
"Is that a...bow tie and collar around your neck?"
Vinyl's eyes went wide and she quickly, albeit awkwardly, ran past her morning intruder and into her bathroom to look herself over. Sure enough, around her neck was a white collar and a red bow tie. Combined with the lack of her specs, Vinyl was begging to look...classy. She was horrified.
"AGGGHHHHHOOOOWWWWWW," Vinyl instantly regretted allowing her shock to get the best of her, as her scream instantly set off the throbbing pain in her skull. She crumbled to the floor in pain, where the grey pony (whom she swears she knows but was too hungover to recall at the moment) found her. She looked down at Vinyl and shook her head. "I'll go fetch you some aspirin and start a cup of coffee." She sounded like somepony who has done this before. Many times, actually. The pony turned around and left, leaving Vinyl rolling around on the cold bathroom tile in pain. It was actually one of Vinyl's better starts to her day.
A few cups of black coffee and a cold shower later, Vinyl was close to her normal self. She was still a little slowed down, but at least the hangover demon was vanquished. Plus she was able to recognize things beyond shapes and blurs, like the grey pony blob that was still hanging around and giving her weird look.
"Octy? Why are you looking at me like that?" Vinyl asked, her head was resting on one hoof while the other was wrapped around her fourth mug of coffee. Across from her sat Octavia with a look of curiosity on her face.
"I am just wondering why you have that collar and bow tie back around your neck?" she asked while pointing at Vinyl's neck. "You seemed to be quite muddled about it earlier."
"Hey, I made sure to keep out of mud last night. At least, I think I did." Vinyl was about to get herself lost in her thoughts if it wasn't for the groan coming from her friend across from her.
"Vinyl, just tell me why you are still wearing the collar."
Vinyl grew quiet, a rarity, and smiled at the internal memories that began to creep into her mind. She must have been quiet for a while because Octavia was calling her name.
"Vinyl!"
"Muwuh?"
Octavia gave her friend another weird look. This look also had a touch of worry to it. "Are you still ill? Should I come back at another time?"
"Uhhh..." Vinyl was about to tell Octavia that she was fine, but an idea came into her head that caused her to do a 180. "If she thinks I am still hungover and decides to leave,"she thought to herself, "I can go out and retrieve my specs...and the stud that they are likely attached to. " Scratch let began a short coughing fit before she spoke. "Yeah, Octy, later would be good. Ya know me, once the party starts I can't stop myself." She placed a hoof onto her forehead and let out a groan. "I think I'll go back to sleep for a while. When I feel better, I'll drop by your place. Sound cool?"
Octavia sighed and gave her friend a nod. "Sure thing, Vinyl. I wouldn't want to talk to you about this if you weren't all there."
Vinyl couldn't help but laugh. "And when have I been all there?" she asked, before quickly following up with another groan to keep up with her hangover act.
"Touche. I will probably be in my suite," Octavia turned towards the door to leave. "It was a rough night for me, so I will probably try and get some sleep."
Vinyl had made her way back to her couch and was already stretched out. "Rough night, eh? Did your moon goddess come sweep ya off your hooves?"
Octavia sighed and lowered her head a bit. "No, although I did have another dream," she answered, her voice sounding slightly disappointed and a little sad. "But I'll tell you about it later. Rest well, Vinyl." Octavia left before she could hear what Vinyl would respond with and began to walk to the stairs that would lead her to her suite.
"Sweep me off my hooves," she mocked, "that will be the day. A day when a dream comes true maybe." She allowed her head to sink as she made her way back to her suite. "Maybe I should give it the old college try, and set up a meeting with her." Her head rose up a little, as she was beginning to show some confidence. "I will set up am appointment, march right up to her, give a nice regal bow," Octavia knelt down as she was absently acting out her idea, "rise up, hold my head up high, look her in the eye and..." Octavia let out a sigh as suddenly all of her confidence deflated out of her. "Oh who am I kidding. I could never do something like that."
Octavia had since reached her door, but instead of going in she just stood there in place as she was still having an argument with herself. "What is the matter with me? I should be figuring out a way to write the music for the grand opening, not pine over some pony I only met in a dream. A couple of dreams." She groaned out of frustration and slammed her head against the door. "All I wanted was to create the finest piece of music in Equestria and show it off at the concert, so that me and my friends can get the attention and accolades we deserve. To get better opportunities and to move up in life. Not to have weird distracting dreams about a princess!" She stopped and sighed, "I am just over reacting again. Two dreams in two nights does not mean anything. I have to stop thinking about it, stop talking to myself, maybe take a shot of wine, and get back to work." Octavia took her head off of the door and was about to open it, when she heard a pony clear their throat behind her. She turned around and gasped. Standing before her were what looked to be two royal guards. These two guards, however, were not clad in gold armor. These two were covered in armor that was the same color as the night sky and had a more sinister otherworldly design to it . And instead of the typical white coat of hair, these ponies were grey. But what really caught Octavia's eye and had her in a bit of fright were the eyes of the guards. With a pale yellow iris and slit pupils, they resembled something that some predatory creature would have. Like a serpent, a cat...or a bat.
"We wish to meet with Octavia Melody. Is this her hotel suite?" The pony that spoke had a deep voice that matched the fearful appearance and sent chills down Octavia's spine. While her instincts told her to lie, her upbringing and manners overruled them and she answered.
"Y-yes it is. A-and I-I am Miss Melody." Octavia had pushed herself against the door and was standing stock still, the intimidating sight of the two stallions had paralyzed her on the spot.
The other guard stepped forward and spoke, his voice just as deep as the others. "We have come to escort you to the palace. Her majesty, Princess Luna wishes to speak with you, immediately." The guard narrowed his eyes at Octavia before adding, "Know that this is not a request, Miss Melody."
Vinyl decided an hour was long enough to wait before deciding to head out into the open and onto the streets of Canterlot. She had since taken off the collar and left it back in her suite and was now on her way towards the place where she would find the pony that was holding her glasses. As she walked the memories of last night relived themselves in her mind. It didn't start out well, but she couldn't argue with the results. Not this early in the game, at least. She chuckled as she allowed her thoughts to go further back in time. "Good thing I was chilling in that restaurant, last month," she thought to herself, "else last night wouldn't have happened."
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The whole thing started a month ago. Vinyl was relaxing at a restaurant after a gig. A fairly classy place, it was out of Vinyl's usual comfort zone, but it had a bar which was all she cared about at the time. She remembered that she ordered an apple ale and it took a good five minutes before she got it. Vinyl seemed to have bad luck when it came to service in Canterlot. Her magic had just wrapped itself around the bottle when she heard a familiar voice intermingled with a collection of pony laughter.
"Octy?" she thought to herself, as she turned towards the source. Sure enough there was her friend sitting at a nearby table, telling a story of some sort to three other ponies that seemed to share her cellist friend's taste for style. "Wouldn't be caught dead with a bow on any part of me," she thought, "let alone the neck. Little pretty nooses waiting to choke the life out of ya. That's what they are."
Vinyl's thoughts about the evil conspiracy of the bow tie was interrupted, when she heard Octavia mention her name in a conversation. And no pony can invoke the name of Vinyl Scratch and not expect something to happen as a result. With a grin on her face and her bottle still being held tight in her magic, Vinyl slips herself off of her bar stool and crouches herself low onto the floor. However, just before she begins to stalk her prey, a nearby waitress stops her. The waitress has seen her share of drunk ponies and probably assumed that Vinyl was another one to add to her list.
"Miss? Are you alright, down there?" she asked.
"Shhh," Vinyl hushed the waitress, "Be very very quiet. I'm hunting cellists."
Before the confused waitress could react, Vinyl began to crawl along the restaurant floor towards Octavia and her group of friends. The table they were sitting at had a tablecloth and looked large enough for a pony to hide under. Octavia apparently made another joke when Vinyl got to the table, because there was another round of laughter. "Perfect," she thought to herself. She thought that she had managed to get herself underneath the table unnoticed and was about to plan out out her dramatic entrance. Unfortunately, one of the ponies did noticed her and peeked under the table cloth to see address the intruder.
"Excuse me, miss," the pony asked in a calm sophisticated voice, "Are you lost?"
Vinyl turned to face the stallion and, once she got over the fact that he called her miss, she noticed that the guy was kind of cute. Champagne colored body, white mane, green eyes, nope he wasn't bad at all. And judging from the look she was getting in return, he seemed to like what he saw too. They must have been looking at each other a bit too long because they were soon joined by three more pairs of eyes. They weren't as attractive. In fact, the one pair of lavender eyes were downright frightening. It was only made worse when the owner of those eyes spoke.
"Vinyl Scratch, what are you doing here?"
"Ummm," Vinyl panicked for a bit before smiling and floating her bottle of ale over to Octavia. "Thirsty?"
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Vinyl's trip down memory lane ended when her real world trip brought her to her destination. The neighborhood was fairly nice: the townhouses were in good shape, the sidewalks were clear of debris and leaves, the trees were perfectly cut trimmed, the fences around said trees looked as if they were polished, it seemed like the perfect neighborhood to live in. In short, its the type of place one wouldn't normally find a pony like Vinyl. However, it wasn't the first time Vinyl has been in this part of Canterlot. She has actually been here off and on for close to a month now, although usually at night. Specifically, she has been at this townhouse address.
She looks around her to make sure no one is around and uses her magic to unlock the door. Vinyl quickly enters the door and closes it behind her. "Phase one, infiltrate the hangout is complete," she thought to herself, "Now for phase two, retrieve the goods." Vinyl searched around most of the two story residence. The first floor search began with her passing the first two rooms and going straight into the kitchen and the refrigerator. "Fuel for the search!" she said to herself as she began to root around the A thorough search through the bread, lettuce, olives, and a bag of hay chips later, Vinyl had deemed the kitchen all clear.
Vinyl left the kitchen through the way she came and did a quick walk through of the dining room. There wasn't much to it: a table with six seats, an ornate glass door cabinet that held the fine china, a floor rug that was sitting perfectly flat under the table and chairs, and a few wall paintings that hid nothing behind them but wallpaper. Vinyl headed back towards the other room that she ran through; the living room. It was fairly large, for a town house living room, which meant a more thorough search was in order. Vinyl checked the love seat first, looking both in between the cushions and under the love seat itself. She then checked the matching chairs, before going over to the large piece of furniture in the room. The upright piano.
"Well I wouldn't be surprised if I find my specs with you," she said to the piano. More memories entered her mind as she made her way to the piano.
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Despite the awkward introduction, Vinyl was able to hit it off with Octavia band that night. The five of them spent the night laughing and drinking, telling stories about how everyone met, and talking about music. At the end of the night after every one had said their goodbyes and Vinyl was all ready to carry herself (and an unconscious Octavia) home for the night. Frederic, the pony that caught her under the table, had stayed behind to help carry their friend to the hotel. He had been the one to ask Vinyl the most questions about herself and seemed interested in getting to know her even more. Not that Vinyl minded.
"I think you made a good first impression, tonight," commented Frederic as the two exited through the door. He had Octavia draped across his back.
"Right?" Vinyl answered. It wasn't the relaxing night she had planned, but it still turned out alright. Any night that ended in creating new friends and carrying your drunk best friend home was a good one.
"I haven't heard Harpo talk like that with anypony in quite a few days," Frederic continued, his voice had a bit of admiration in it. "Do you always cause such a spark in ponies you meet for the first time?"
Vinyl merely shrugged and smirked. "What can I say, I have a natural talent for lighting up the party. Besides, I bet Harpo speaks plenty when it is just him and BB."
Frederic rose an eyebrow at Vinyl. "So you've noticed?"
Vinyl slid herself up close to Frederic, the sudden warmth on his shoulder causing him to blush slightly. It was also the first time he noticed that he was about the same height as her. Vinyl used her magic to lower her glasses down her nose a bit and peered at the stallion over the top. "Nothing escapes these eyes, Freddy. It was plain to see how those two were looking at each other and know what was going on between them." Vinyl grinned at the way Frederic was squirming and blushing next to her, she seemed to have gotten her desired reaction. "In fact, they were staring at each other the same way you were staring at me."
"Me?" Frederic's voice seemed to had gone up an octave. It was cute.
Vinyl wouldn't let up. "Yeah you. You only thought you were getting away with it unnoticed." She rubbed her shoulder against Frederic's again, this time it nearly made him stumble. "Not that I think it's a bad thing. Shows that you have good taste." Vinyl gave Frederic a wink and slid her glasses back up to cover her eyes.
Frederic cleared his throat and tried to regain his composure, but there was no getting rid of that red tinge on his face. "Well then, since there is no hiding things from you, I have to ask you something."
"Ask away."
Frederic paused for a second to gather his courage then spoke, "Are you, seeing anypony?"
"Cutting straight to the chase, aren't we?" Vinyl asked with a smirk on her face.
"Well you have made it clear that you have noticed me staring at you. And you seemed to understand that it meant that I am attracted to you. So i might as well ask and see if I have a chance."
Vinyl gave a slight huff and turned her head forward. "Well that isn't any fun."
Frederic went from slightly nervous to very confused as he looked at Vinyl with disbelief. "Fun?"
"Yeah, fun." Vinyl repeated in a matte of fact tone. "You can't just come right out and ask, it's boring."
"What should I do instead?" Frederic asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I dunno, that is for you to figure out. But you are suppose to make it more interesting and dramatic." Vinyl sighed and shook her head. "I'll just have to deduct points from ya."
Frederic furrowed his brow. "Points? There is a point system in all of this?"
It took everything Vinyl had to keep a straight face. Frederic was proving to be a naive and gullible one, which made him all the more fun in her opinion. "Yep. Didn't ya know? Every girl has one. It is how we know whether or not a stallion is worth the chance or not."
"I see..." Frederic thought to himself for a moment, not noticing Vinyl chuckling under her breath beside him. By the time he turned his head towards her, she had already settled herself down. "If that is the case, how is my rating?" he asked in a calm and serious tone.
"Hmmm," Vinyl pretended to think about it for a bit while she looked him over. "You have enough points to earn the right to buy me another drink sometime."
Frederic's face showed a bit of hope. "As in a date?"
"Of course a date," she thought . "Maybe," she answered which only confused and frustrated Frederic more. It was fun stringing him along like this.
It wasn't long after that exchange that they reached the hotel where Vinyl and Octavia stayed at. It was late enough that there wasn't a doorpony to greet them as they entered. As they walked up to the front desk, the clerk that was there saw Octavia on Frederic's back and gave a worried look. Frederic merely shrugged, while Vinyl merely made a drinking motion with her hoof. The clerk rolled her eyes and asked if Frederic would be staying overnight. He shook his head, stating that he was only here to help bring his friend home and then he would leave.
The two were given a spare key to Octavia's suite where, once they got there, they placed her on her bed for the night. Once they left the suite, Vinyl had a thought.
"Say Freddy," she started, "how about I walk home with you?"
Frederic smiled and gave Vinyl a slight nod, "I would be honored."
"Since you had to carry Octy the whole trip, maybe I can work on your back and help you relax?"
Frederic tilted his head at Vinyl, "That would be nice, but have you ever done a back massage before?"
Vinyl shrugged, "Eh, I work on turn tables for a living. Same thing, right?"
"I guess?" Frederic suddenly became a bit unsure about the results of the incoming back massage, but he figured it would be worth it in the end.
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Vinyl checked the inside of the piano bench, under the piano, behind the piano, on top of the piano, and the inside of the piano, and they all yielded the same results as before.
"Ugh, they're not here either," the frustrated DJ thought to herself. She was about to leave the room, when she decided to look at the piano in a different way. "Ya know, I have been here...five times over the past few weeks since that night," she mused, "and he hasn't played on this thing once since I have been here." Vinyl pulled the bench up with her magic and sat down to looked over the keys. "How in the hay does he even play this thing?" Vinyl decided to give the piano a try, figuring that if Frederic was here he would have heard the commotion she had caused earlier. She hovered a hoof over the keys for a moment before placing the tip of her hoof down on a note. It ended up hitting a couple of keys and it sounded awful. "Seriously, he has to have a trick to playing this thing without unicorn magic." Vinyl studied the keys then studied her hoof for a while. She decided to try using the side edge of her hoof this time. This time a produced a much more satisfying sound. "Well that makes a little bit more sense. Still..." Vinyl looked at the sheet of music that was resting above the keys. "It's still impossible to play music this complicated with hooves alone," she said out loud to herself.
"Its earth pony magic."
"Ack!" the sudden appearance of another voice caused Vinyl to swing a hoof back out of reflex. She connected with a crack and heard the owner of the voice fall to the floor with a thud. She knew she would dread the decision when she decided to turn around and look over who she clocked. Sure enough, there on the floor was Frederic. Unconscious. Wearing Vinyl's now broken sunglasses. Vinyl's ears drooped as she face hoofed and mumbled to herself. "Fussy useless clothed kittens..."