Vinyl sat at the bar a glass of hard cider between her hooves, she stared into the mug thinking. Why did everyone always assume that she was some druggy or alcoholic? Just because of her choice in music and her love to all out party didn't mean she spent her entire life partying and drinking. Despite what most people thought, Vinyl was a hard working moral mare, she hadn't been introduced to the music through the lifestyle but rather the opposite, the music had lead her to the wild side and she knew exactly where the line was.
Only an hour ago some mid upper class stallion had been at the apartment with Octavia, discussing something about the orchestra, Vinyl had come back around nine from having gone out to set up for a gig at four am. “Oh so the 'Electronica Queen' is back from the slums. Honestly Miss Melody I don't see how you could stand to live with such a degenerate junkie.” the stallions nose was so high in the air that he could have drowned in the rain.
Vinyl hadn't waited for Ocatvia's reply, she simply put on a grin and went up to her room to grab her demo disk before heading out again. Now here she was at The Luck Clover, the best pub around, she wasn't upset by the stallions words, just really miffed. Everyone made that mistake, why? She was careful not to get drunk-unless on a special occasion-, she refused to be anywhere where drugs were allowed, if a stallion wanted her he better have a ring and she only went to the nightclubs and bars that had a clean bill and a good atmosphere.
Yet despite all her actions ponies nearly always took one look at her mane and her genre before branding her an irresponsible party animal. Vinyl thought back to her child hood, maybe if they knew her story things would be different. Or maybe they would just find justification for their thoughts.
“STOP THAT FOAL!”
Vinyl ran as fast as she could her hooves dancing across the concrete sidewalk, in her magic she held two shiny apples. Dodging ponies, she tore through the streets of downtown Manehattan. She heard sounds of pursuit, and felt some hooves and magical auras try to grip her, but she broke away and dove down an ally, when the pursuers followed she was gone.
Vinyl watched the ponies leave from on top of a nearby brick building, she took a bite of one of the apples before moving on. She skillfully made her way through the city, picking up a few useful scraps from alleys. Winding over roof tops and and down fire escapes she eventually arrived at a run down warehouse. Half the windows were shattered, the others no longer see through due to the grime.
She walked over to door with a padlock, concentrating on the screws that attached the lock to the wall she quickly took them out before passing through the door and re attaching them. The warehouse held old machines used for cart production, Vinyl wove through them and arrived at the open floor of the building.
A few dozen cardboard boxes, makeshift tents and even piles of bedding took up a majority of the space. Foals anywhere from the age of five to thirteen milled around, rearranging their areas, talking or more often arguing.
“Yo scratch! Did you get any food?” A blue Pegasus colt asked. “You need to reach your quota if you want to keep being a member of the gang.
Vinyl levitated a bag for him to see before hoofing it over. “Enough for my share?” she asked walking towards the rest of the group. The colt nodded and vinyl made a bee line for her box. A large cardboard refrigerator box that she had hauled in from an ally served as her home in this make shift mini town.
She pushed on the door she had cut out and went in, shaking up the jar of fireflies that lit her home she proceeded to pull her bit jar out of it's hiding spot and dumped in the hoofful of coins she had earned from helping ponies carry their groceries to their carts.
She levitated a second bag to her hooves. It was filled with odds and ends, she added another threadbare pillow to her makeshift mattress and a few discarded carpet samples to her floor.
Grabbing a torn magazine from a stack Vinyl lay down on an a pile of old pillows and began to read.
That night Vinyl dreamed of her earliest memory.
She was running, tearing through the streets of a city trying to get away from... from.... she couldn't remember, it had been something important, why couldn't she remember, she had known just a second ago. She kept running, she may have forgotten what it was she was running from but she knew what ever it was, she wasn't away from it yet.
Her hoof falls rung out against the stone roads, she had to keep....to keep... what was she doing again? That nagging feeling like she should remember what she was doing and why, it kept itching, what ever she was doing it was important and she was going to keep at it.
Her frenzied running slowed gradually as she tried to save energy, what was she doing? Was it really that important? Well she knew one thing she wasn't one to give up, she was.... she was... She slowed to a stop. She looked down at a puddle, staring back was a white unicorn filly around the age of five....
Who am I again?
It was a few weeks later when the gangs 'fearless leaders' got their bright idea. The group of urchins had managed to get enough respect from the local adult gangs to keep the warehouse as their turf. However the leaders wanted more, they wanted to gain status as an actual gang.
They had found out about a party for the local gangs and had decided to drag over half the group down with them.
When the group arrived Vinyl immediately went on red alert. The old train station where the party was being held reeked of something foul, none of the original walls were visible through the layers of graffiti and trash was strewn about.
The other ponies who were present were mostly rough looking stallions, who were either drinking and complaining about the quality of the music, or drunk off their heads and shuffling around in some semblance of a dance.
By the end of the first hour the leaders of the small gang were drunk and trying to hobnob with the gang elite. The rest of the members stayed in the corner trying to keep from being noticed.
The previously drunk stallions were now even more drunk and Vinyl was not liking the predatory look they were giving herself and the other fillies. The stallions began to nudge each other and gesture in the direction of the kids. Vinyl desperately began to look around for something to distract them with.
Her eyes landed on the turntables which were currently spewing out a mess of sounds that apparently was considered music. Moving quickly but calmly Vinyl made her way up to the stage, once there she quickly looked the device and the collection of records over. Well here goes nothing she thought and changed out the discs before placing both her hooves and magic on the turntables
What came out was nothing like she was expecting... It was better. The ponies perked up at the sound of actual music and began to dance in earnest. The stallions who had been eyeing the fillies found there attention drawn to the stage.
Vinyl played for hours until the party finally ended. She was so relieved that everyone got out safe that she almost didn't notice the music note that had appeared on her rear.