• Published 16th Jun 2012
  • 3,934 Views, 138 Comments

Scratching the Surface - Johnny_Bell



Vinyl moves from Manehatten to Ponyville due to budget problems, adventure ensues!

  • ...
11
 138
 3,934

Chapter 6 (Tryin' Not to Love You)

It had been a few weeks since the two mares moved into their new home. All the boxes were now unpacked and folded away. The two rooms now fit the personalities of the different ponies. Vinyl’s room had her favorite records up on one wall, her different headphones all hung up on another wall, her window was covered by a fan-made poster, that was given to her, showing Vinyl at her DJ table with sparks coming out of the speakers and large letters saying “She drops it harder than GRAVITY.” Her shades were in a glass display case, and her DJ table was in one corner of the room, thanks to Roofus’s friend Big Macintosh, while the speakers were in the opposite corner, facing the table. Vinyl smiled as she took a record from her turn table and set it in a blank record sleeve.

“Finished.” She spoke softly, using her magic to take off her headphones. The unicorn walked over to her poster and moved it slightly, showing it was night outside, her favorite time of the not day. She walked out of her room into the dark apartment, looking to see if light was coming from under Octavia’s room. There wasn’t any. Assuming she must have gone to sleep, Vinyl turned off her light, grabbed her shades and walked out to the living room. She grabbed keys to the front door, headed outside, and locked the door behind her.

Surprisingly, there were a bunch of other ponies who also loved the night time in Ponyville, there were groups of three, even four around at times. Vinyl gazed up at the stars through her shades, enjoying the peace as she walked. When suddenly she bumped into another pony, knocking them both to the ground.

“Oof! Hey! What are you doing, not watching where you’re going? You could have hurt somepony.”

“Oh, sorry. I was...engaged in the night sky.” Vinyl rose to her hoofs and helped the other pony to her feet. She was all pink, cotton-candy looking mane and tail. Three balloons of blue and yellow were her cutie mark.

“Well if you weren’t wearing shades at night, silly, you’d be able to see better.” The pony suddenly gasped. “Wait, do you wear those shades because you’re a super-hero?”

“No, actually-”

“What are your powers? I bet those shades hold back a powerful laser that comes from your eyes! Oh! Are you new in town?”

“Yes, I-” Vinyl tried to say, stepping back.

“Oh super! See, I knew you were new here because I know everypony in Ponyville and I didn’t recognize you, so you just HAD to have moved in! I’m going to throw you a huge party! Oh, I’m being missy rude pants, aren’t I? Hi! My name’s Pinkie Pie!” She hugged Vinyl. “We’re gonna be awesome friends.” Vinyl gave a nervous laugh. “So what are you doing out here at this time of night anyway, silly willy?” Pinkie took a step back, smiling a huge smile.

“Uhm..Well I guess I was enjoying the stars. It’s been a while since I’ve seen them.” Vinyl looked up at the night sky again. “and I think I was maybe looking for a club to maybe check out.” Her gaze returned to the pink pony again, who was still smiling.

“Clubs? Oh, we don’t have any in this town.” Pinkie frowned a little.

“Oh.”

“You looking to have fun?”

“More like looking for a place to work.”

“You’re a bouncer!” The pony made a “grrrr” face. Vinyl laughed. Even though this pony was out there...WAY out there, she was actually pretty funny.

“Actually, I’m a DJ. You know, I play songs for people to dance to for a small price.” Vinyl smiled.

“Oh! Fun! You have your own musical play things?”

“Turn table?”

“Yeah! That! You have that?”

“ As a matter of fact, I do. I use it at home for practice.” Vinyl then remembered her record she just finished recording. “I actually have a song I’d like to use somewhere.”

“Oooo! I have an idea! Lemme talk to a friend of mine, Rarity. She has a fashion show coming up soon, maybe you can play a song at that!” Pinkie jumped with excitement, then hopped off.

“But.. Wait.. Uh.. Ok..” Vinyl said, watching the pony bounce away. “Strange.”

Vinyl continued to walk around the town, looking at buildings, and surveying which roads lead to where. She found SugarCube corner again, followed buy the library, then a place called Rarity’s Boutique. She guessed that was the pony Pinkie was talking about. The unicorn pressed her face to the window and looked in. The place was filled with beautiful dresses of all colors.

“All of them pretty, none of them my style.” Vinyl thought to herself. “Besides, why would I want a dress?” She shrugged and continued walking in the night, humming a familiar beat to her self.

“One trick pony’s only got one song and One trick pony plays it all night long. One trick pony never tries something new, One trick pony could be me or it could be you.” She sang the song to herself quietly while walking dow the street back to her apartment.

“Mic the Microphone and JackleApp. Nice.” She heard another pony compliment her choice of song.

“One of my favorites!” She called over her shoulder, smiling and continuing to walk. She walked past a library, finding it interesting that it was built in a tree. Crossing past the town’s center, she saw a podium from a town meeting that happened a few days ago. Not really taking interest in that, Vinyl decided she should get back to the apartment before Octavia wakes. She picked up the pace of her walking, and went back to the apartment.

She carefully closed the door, then turned around in the dark room, sighing in relief she had successfully got in the place quietly. Vinyl walked down the hall to her room and checked to see if her roommate was still sleeping. She smiled as she saw Octavia, sleeping soundly in her room. She slowly shut the earth pony’s door, and entered her own room, setting her shades in the case. The unicorn then flopped on her bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Vinyl awoke in the morning, feeling refreshed. As far as she knew, she didn’t have anything planned today, and neither did Octavia.

“Heck, Tavi always does the dishes. I should do them this morning to give her time to sleep in.” She thought to herself, smiling. She quietly snuck into the kitchen, and started doing the dishes. She placed them in the dishwasher, then loaded it up with cleaning agents, softly humming to herself. She closed up the dishwasher after filling it up, then turned it on and listened to it hum for a little while. She started to think of a melody, then a drum line, followed by her head bopping and adding little “wub wub wub” every now and then. The unicorn grinned, coming up with her next hit song.

“Oh, this sounds awesome.” She said to herself.

“Next thing I know, you’re going to be cleaning them with wubs.” Octavia’s voice sounded from behind her. Vinyl turned quickly.

“Hey there.” The white pony scratched the back of her head. “I was gonna let you sleep in this morning.”

“That’s kind of you, but you should know I don’t sleep in much.” The grey mare walked past her roommate, smiling. Octavia sat on the couch, closely followed by Vinyl.

“So how did you sleep?” The unicorn asked.

“Not too bad, but I did hear you leave last night.” Vinyl dropped her ears.

“I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Not at all, I was already awake. So what did you do last night?”

“Just walked around, getting used to the streets. I ran into an interesting pony.”

“Yeah?” Octavia suddenly stood. “Coffee?”

“Sure. And yeah, she was a little on the.... How do I put this kindly... Weird side.”

“You’re gonna have to tell me more!” Octavia called from the kitchen, starting up the coffee pot. “How do you like your coffee?”

“Surprise me, babe.” Vinyl covered her mouth upon releasing that word.

“What the buck did I just say? Oh no...did she hear me? Shoot! What will she think? Wait, just act calm, maybe she didn’t-”

“Okay.” Octavia responded. “Hey, you got anything planned for today?”

“Uhm..” Vinyl sighed in relief. “Not that I can think of, you?” Octavia returned with two cups, and walking on her hind legs. “and that STILL gets me.” Vinyl took a cup with her magic and sipped.

“I’m only thinking of finding me a job.”

“Oh yeah, I think I have a gig coming up soon. It’s a small one, but hey, bits is bits.” Vinyl said, taking another sip. “This is good.”

“Thanks. So what’s the gig?” the earth pony sat on the floor under Vinyl.

“I think it’s playing songs at a dress show.”

“So, you’re going to play songs at a fashion show then.” Octavia leaned her head in between Vinyl’s legs, looking up at her.

“That’s the word.” The unicorn nodded.

“Where at?”

“I have no clue.” Octavia gave the white pony a blank stare. “What?” Vinyl asked.

“You agreed to a gig, and you have no clue where it is?”

“I didn’t really agree to it...” Vinyl sipped. The grey mare continued to stare blankly. “She kinda...ran off before I could say yes.” Octavia returned her head to looking forward.

“But you’re still going to take it, right?” She asked, taking a sip of her own coffee.

“Well yeah, a gig is a gig. It’s money I can use to help pay for the apartment.” Vinyl smiled, patting her friend’s mane.

“So that means you have to find her.”

“Yeah, I guess I do. Should be easy, she said she knew everyone in town.” Vinyl said, setting her empty mug on the side-table. She patted Octavia’s head again, and stood on her hooves once the mare moved.

“Well, mind if I go with you?” Octavia stood. The unicorn smiled.

“Not at all.”

“Dear.” The earth pony gave a smile.

“Oh... You heard that.” Vinyl grabbed her shades and frowned slightly at her friend.

“Don’t worry about it. Nicknames are fun sometimes.”

“And yet, you won’t let me call you ‘Tavi.’” Vinyl opened the door for them both.

“Notice I said sometimes.” The grey mare bumped into Vinyl before heading out the door.



Hey readers and fellow MLP FIM fans and artists! I have a favor I kinda wana ask. ok so, this is the sixth chapter (duh) and I can't help but notice...
every time I look at the recent updates page, there are some stories that do have a picture for their story. no big really I don't mind not having a picture, but this is where I want to see if any y'all wana get involved in the story.
and there's a simple way to do it: if you are or know an artist who would gladly make up a.. i guess I'll call it cover photo... who can make up a cover photo please PM it to me (links are nice) and which ever one really stands out for me, I'll pick it, and (if you have one) I'll add your ponysonia to the story in some way. not really important, but if you want to, give it a shot. thanks in advance!