Ch. 7- Ask the Lonely
“No, I know. It’s not that, it’s… you wouldn’t understand.”
Vinyl put as much distance as she could between herself and the concert hall, tears threatening to spill from behind her glasses.
“Stupid Tavi, stupid swing, stupid philatines,” She grumbled as she came as close as she could to running while still walking. “Whatadda they know, huh? Huh!?” She screamed the last word at the sky. Receiving no response, she continued on her way.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid…”
She reached her rundown apartment in minutes, slamming the door hard enough to make the walls vibrate.
“Vinyl!” Her landlord called from down the hall.
“Sorry, Ginger!” she shouted back. She looked for something safe to hit. She settled on her bed, but regretted it after she remembered the hard wooden box it was mounted on. Nursing a hoof, she decided the bed would be put to better use if she flopped down on it and vented into her pillow.
Her mini-tantrum didn’t last; her impulsive anger could only energize her for so long. After a mild bout of thrashing she went limp, silent but for her quiet sniffles.
“Stupid…”
-XXX-
Everypony copes with problems in their own way. Some meditate calmly and breathe deeply, others go hysterical trying to find out what they did wrong. Vinyl preferred to use flashing lights, loud music, and a whole lot of booze. The club she DJ’d for was a good place to find all of those things in one convenient package. The downside was that she had to deal with ponies who knew her well enough to pick up on her troubles.
“What’s happenin’, V?”
“Hey, Mix! Doin’ good, how ‘bout you?”
The bartender glanced down the counter, than leaned closer. “You misunderstand my question. What happened to you?”
“What makes you think something happened?” beneath her shades, Vinyl’s smile dropped just enough to be perceptible.
“You can try to hide behind those glasses, V, but I can read you like a scroll.” Vinyl clenched her jaw, and Mix noticed. “So let’s try this again; what happened?”
“Ponies, Mix. Ponies friggin’ happened.” Vinyl took a swig of her usual.
“Well that’s specific,” A customer occupying one of his stools caught Mix’s attention. “We’re not done with this,” he said before he turned away.
Vinyl glared after him, but caught herself. He was only trying to help. She should have known he would see right through her. Wasn’t it part of a bartender’s job to be a shrink? Or sorta, at least? She went back to her drink.
She must have dozed off, because an instant later Mix was shaking her awake. “Stay with me, V! You sill got a story to tell.”
“More booze first.” She nudged her glass over, and Mix obliged. After draining half, Vinyl started talking. She told him about Octavia, about finding Syncopation and learning swing, their rehearsals, and their resulting failure.
“So that’s what happened.” She finished her story and drink one after the other, and gestured for more of the latter.
Mix hesitated, digesting what she had told him. “I dunno, V. That doesn’t sound like something that would get you this down,”
“Yeah, well, it did, okay? I’m sick and tired of it.”
While surprised by her tone of voice, Mix took it in stride. “Didn’t think you were the type of pony to let anything get to you. I mean, you’ve been here for two years and haven’t gotten tired,”
Vinyl’s head hit the counter with a clunk. “It’s not that, it’s... well, you know.”
Mix wordlessly topped off her glass.
-XXX-
Stumbling the streets of the Outer District at one in the morning was good for her health, right? The cool night air, the shadowy darkness, the nice friendly ground that caught her when she fell…
“Good morning, my little pony,”
Oh, and here are the hallucinations, right on time. Hello, Princess Luna, her mind said.
“Ullo, Prnciss… Oona,” her mouth formed. “’M a lil’ bizzy righ’ now… bein’ drunk,” she giggled and hiccupped.
“So I see,”
Vinyl squinted. The princess looked oddly solid, for some reason. “You… are you a ‘llushinashun?”
Luna considered this. “No more than the rest of the world around you,” she finally answered. “Why do you ask?”
“Good… tha’s good,” Vinyl managed to slur before she fell unconscious.
The Princess of the night paused. She had seen this conversation being… less one-sided. This pony clearly wasn’t going to be able to comprehend her in their state. Not knowing what else to do, she sat down and waited. As she did, the unicorn before her began to dream.
~OOO~
Luna found herself in a small schoolyard. Suddenly, a loud, repeating clang shattered the peaceful silence, and young foals flooded out of the school doors. They laughed, they talked, they enjoyed each other’s company.
“Out of the way, freak!”
“Yeah! Out of the way!”
The shouts drew Luna’s attention to a trio of colts shoving past a small white unicorn filly. She stumbled, almost falling down the set of stone stairs that led to the street.
“Can’t see where you’re goin,’ freak? Lemme help you!” One of the colts finished the job, and the filly slipped and tumbled to the sidewalk, sustaining scrapes to her legs and face. The colts rushed on.
“See you tomorrow, stupid freak!”
Luna had to restrain herself from helping the little unicorn; she couldn’t interfere just yet, not even as the child began to softly sob, not even attempting to pick herself up from the ground.
Luna felt a rush of acceleration as the landscape morphed into a dimly lit house. A pale purple mare with a striking light blue mane lay in a simple bed, waiting for something. To Luna’s right, a wooden door opened, admitting a slightly older version of the white foal she had just seen. In her magic, she held a steaming bowl of soup and a tall glass of water.
“Thank you, dearie,” the mare whispered hoarsely. “I know this probably isn’t—“
“Mom, please,” the unicorn waved her off. “You took care of me for sixteen years; let me do the same for you.”
The mare in the bed smiled weakly. “At least… you won’t have to for much longer…”
The dream changed again, and Luna saw the unicorn, now with a large pair of shades, walking down the hall of a high school. Turning a corner, another student crashed into her head first, knocking the glasses to the floor.
“Oh, I’m so sorry! Are you—“ the student stopped when she noticed the white mare’s eyes. “Wha… wha,” she stammered.
The unicorn scrambled to put her lenses back on, but the damage had been done.
“Get away, you freak!”
Luna did not have time to brace herself; she fell into darkness, overwhelmed by words.
“Freak!”
“Useless!”
“Stupid!”
“Weirdo!’
“Can’t you do anything right?”
~OOO~
Luna gasped as her mind was expunged form the dream. She looked down at the pony writhing and whimpering on the ground. With a sympathetic frown, she lowered her horn to the pony’s head, and she fell still.
“Sleep well, my little pony,” she murmured. “You deserve it.”