//------------------------------// // Prompt #532-All In The Past // Story: Ponywatching // by ThunderTempest //------------------------------// “...And that, kids, is how I realised that I wanted to make ponies dance and move and have a good time. And just like that, bam! Cutie mark,” finished Vinyl Scratch, sitting back in her chair, and sipping a glass of water at one of the few cafes in Ponyville, her signature shades down over her eyes. “Hey, that sounds pretty awesome! We should try that, girls!” exclaimed an orange pegasus filly, and Vinyl had to pause for a minute as she coughed after sending some water down the wrong pipe. “Uh, kids, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said, “I got into a heap of trouble after that. Like, a ton.” “Yes, I would not recommend following any advice that Vinyl gives, young ones. She tends to find trouble, even where it should not exist,” said Octavia, walking up behind the trio of young blank flank fillies, a smile on her face, and in her voice. “I resent that remark, Tavi,” retorted Vinyl, “I also resemble it.” The fillies thanked Vinyl, and then scurried off, probably to ask someone else about their cutie mark, and Octavia sat down opposite Vinyl, who immediately poured out Octavia a glass of water using her magic. “So, Tavi. Get everything you wanted done here?” “Indeed, Vinyl. I have accomplished almost everything I wanted to.” “Almost?” “There is but one thing remaining, Vinyl; having lunch with a friend,” smiled Octavia, and Vinyl grinned back, and waved a fore hoof in the air, attracting the attention of a nearby waiter. After ordering their food, the two settled down for a wait. “Vinyl, why do you keep changing your cutie mark story? Every time I have heard you tell it, it’s completely different. You know you lied to those fillies,” said Octavia, and Vinyl met Octavia’s stare through her glasses. “The message is the same, Tavi, and it was what they needed to hear. ‘sides, my real one is kinda unpleasant.” “Please, do share,” said Octavia. “Really, you don’t want to hear it, Tavi. It’s not all that good.” “Vinyl, we have been living together for years. You know my story; I do believe that it is only fair that I hear yours. Your actual one, not whatever altered fiction you come up with.” Vinyl sighed, “Ok, Tavi. Just for you, but you have to promise to not tell anypony,” Octavia nodded, and Vinyl continued, “So, you know I got my cutie mark pretty young. See, when I was younger, I was right into this guitarist by the name of Satch Boogie-brilliant, awesome stallion. Earth pony, too. Anyway, he was putting on a concert in Canterlot, and I really wanted to go, but my dad said no. So I snuck out. And ‘cause I was only a filly, once I got there, I couldn’t see the stage, but there was this cool dude who let me ride on his back, right near the front. So, Boogie’s in the middle of his most famous song, and I’m rocking out, and then I have this thought. I look around, and everypony is having a great time, and I think to myself, ‘I wanna make ponies have a good time, but I don’t know how’. But here’s the kicker, Tavi. Boogie sees me, this blank flank filly, in the front row, and pulls me up on stage.” [Time] “So what happened then, Vinyl?” asked Octavia, truly enraptured by Vinyl’s story, and the two had to pause for a second while the waiter delivered the two’s lunch. “Well,” said Vinyl, taking a bite from her daisy sandwich, “I’m on stage, and it feels like everypony there is cheering at me, and Boogie asks me what I want to be when I grow up, and I say ‘I wanna be a musician!’, so he goes off stage for a sec, and comes back out with a pen, and a copy of his record, and the whole band on stage signs it. There’s more cheering, and he puts me back onto that cool stallion’s back again-thinks we’re siblings or something, and I realise that music makes ponies happy. I wanted to bring that to them, and then I got my cutie mark.” Octavia blinked. “Vinyl, that is simply the most amazing story I have ever heard.” “Oh, it gets better,” said Vinyl, her face scrunching up, and her mouth turning down, “You know how I snuck out to go and see that concert? Well, I wasn’t looking forward to going home afterwards, let me tell you. But as I was going home, still high as a kite, I could see a plume of smoke rising over the buildings, and knew that it was coming from somewhere around my house, so I ran as fast as I could, hoping that it wasn’t my house. When I got back to my street, I could see smoke pouring out of the windows of my house, and the roof was on fire. The weather patrol was overhead, trying to put out the fire with some rainclouds, and it kinda looked like it was working. Never did find out how the house caught fire. Neither of my parents survived, and with no other close relatives, I got sent to the orphanage. But yeah. That’s my actual Cutie mark story, Tavi.” Octavia had stopped eating her own sandwich roughly halfway through Vinyl’s story. “Oh my. Vinyl, I...had no idea.” “Nah, its fine. I’m pretty much over it; I just don’t like to talk about it a whole lot, and it’s not something that you tell the average pony, let alone a young filly,” said Vinyl, taking another bite from her sandwich, and washing it down with a gulp of water, “Now come on, Tavi. Finish your lunch, and we’ll be able to get the midday train back to Canterlot.”