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Chapter 13,442 words
Chapter 26,011 words
Chapter 33,385 words
Chapter 45,092 words
Chapter 56,308 words
Chapter 6, Part 13,359 words
Chapter 6, Part 24,939 words
Chapter 74,929 words
Chapter 85,430 words

Chapter 6, Part 1

Chapter 6, Part 1

Vinyl shivered, pulling her heavy winter coat over her shoulders. She walked down the main school hallway into the foyer, sitting down against a pillar to wait. She reached into her coat pocket, fishing out her MP3 player and putting on, what else, some house music. Vinyl gazed outside, watching some snowflakes fly by the glass doors. It was deep into winter by now, and she sure as hell wasn’t going outside just yet. Bobbing her head in place, she waited for Mac. Once the snow started to fall, her large friend had offered to give her a steady ride home. Walking in this weather was rather hard, and he wanted to make sure she got home safe. Vinyl smiled thinking about him. Thank god for Mac; I would've had to walk home. I really gotta find a way to thank him. Before she could get far into her song, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Hmm?” She pulled her headphones off her ears. “Whadda want?”

“Ah asked if yer ready ta go?” Mac spoke. He held out his hand, helping Vinyl to her feet.

“Yeah.” She slinked behind him as they walked outside, stepping over a small hill of slush on the way to Mac’s truck. Well, it was actually the Apple family truck, an old, gray chevy that had more miles than the odometer could count. Still, it worked fine enough for winter use, since a motorcycle didn’t handle so well on icy roads. Vinyl climbed into the cabin, latching into the old waist seatbelt that the bench seat provided.

“So” Mac started as he turned the key and pulled out of the parking lot, “now that Hearth’s Warming break is here, what’re ya going do fer the week?”

Vinyl shrugged. “Probably just bummin’ around. You?”

“Well, tomorrow we got our finally game against Fillydelphia East, and Sunday Ah got nothin’. And then, mah families comin‘ up from Appleloosa the week after.”

“So your week’s pretty much filled then?”

“Kinda. You’re comin‘ to the game tomorrow, right?

Vinyl fidgeted and looked away from him. Truthfully, she didn’t want to go. It wasn’t really her scene, and the inclement weather added to her unwillingness to go watch Mac freeze his ass off. “I hadn’t planned on it, soooo... no.”

“But it’s mah final one...” Mac keep his eyes on the road, but his quivering lip and tone of voice told Vinyl everything.

“Don’t even try those puppy-eyes on me. I’m immune” she said, pointing at her glasses.

“Damn” Mac muttered under his breath, dropping his facade as soon as it failed. “Let’s try a different approach.” He parked the truck outside of Vinyl’s house and turned towards her. “ Are ya sure you don’t wanna go?”

Vinyl slightly pulled her glasses down to look into Mac’s eyes. “I’m sure.”

“Cause ya know, that just might ruin mah day. And then, Ah might have to get inta the whiskey at the after-party. An’ we both know what happened last time...”

“Wait, there’s a party after this ...thing?”

Mac smiled. Works every time. “Eeyup.”

“...Fine. I’ll go, but only for you.” Vinyl crossed her arms, pretending to pout. But it was difficult to keep herself from grinning.

“But o’ course” Mac beamed. “Ah’ll see ya tomorrow.”

“See ya.” Vinyl slid into the cold and quickly back into warmth. She slammed her door closed, locking the heat inside her home. Throwing her bags to the side, he went upstairs to her room. Vinyl pulled in her stereo system, along with her mixer, synth and turntable, which had a record consisting of general beats on it. She started to mess around with a few faders, liking a few of the sounds it produced.

“I hope it isn’t too cold tomorrow” she said to herself. Vinyl was certainly not looking forward to the cold, metal bleachers. And forget trying to socialize with anyone other than her few friends, one of whom would be preoccupied. She chuckled despite herself. After a week and a half of convincing, Mac was finally loosening up about the whole Manetreal incident. She was fine with it, but Mac kept apologizing for “not being a gentleman.” Vinyl had told him plenty of times that it didn’t bother her, that it was her fault for suggesting they share a bed, but he insisted. It was goofy and unnecessary, but that was just who he was. Can’t fault him for that. And we’re lucky enough that Roseluck hadn’t said anything about that morning. Well, she hadn’t said anything yet. Probably. Hopefully.

“Holy c-c-crap” Vinyl squeaked, he teeth chattering together. Even with a full winter coat, gloves, boots and hat, the spine-chilling wind shook her to the core. she walked towards the parking lot, where her mother was waiting in her car. The game was rather uneventful; Ponyville won, but it wasn’t like them winning would’ve meant anything. They finished their season with a winning record, but they missed the playoffs, making Vinyl realize she suffered through this terrible cold for no reason at all. She caught sight of Mac jogging across the field towards her, a twinkle in his eye.

“Ah knew ya’ll would show up.”

Vinyl rose her brow. “I did say I would come” she reminded him.

Mac nodded his head. “Right. So, you got a ride fer tonight?”

“Well...” Vinyl flushed. I knew I forgot something.

“Ah got ya covered” Macintosh sighed. “But ya’ll owe me.”

“Is that right?” Vinyl smirked, throwing a wink his way.

“Don’t make me take you up on that” he teased back. “Well, Ah gotta git this stuff off," he said, gesturing to his pads. "Pick ya up around seven?”

“Sure.” She waved goodbye to Mac and quickly fled to her car, the wind howling at her back. “Hey mom. Thanks fer pickin’ me up.”

“Of course, sweetie.” She threw the car into drive and took off down the road, humming whatever tune happened to be on the radio. “So honey, got any plans for tonight?”

“I guess there’s a party tonight. And, yes, there’s probably gonna be alcohol.” Vinyl’d had this talk many times with her mother, and she never gave her any reason to worry. Vinyl found nothing wrong with a drink or two, but getting as smashed as possible was just stupid, and she almost never got fully drunk.

“Okay, Vinyl. Sounds like fun.” She pulled into the spot front of their house, sloshing through a thick pile of snow. “Do you have a ride?”

“Yeah, Mac’s picking me up.”

Vinyl’s mom wiggled her eyebrows. “Ooooo! Lucky you.”

Vinyl sighed in defeat. Ever since her mom met him, she hadn’t stopped teasing her about Mac. It was always (mostly) in a kind-hearted manner, but she was starting to get tired of everyone assuming they were a thing. Even if that’s exactly what I want, she thought.

“Yup, lucky me.”

A few hours later, Scratch answered a knock on the door. “H-Hey” Mac stammered, his hands clasped together over his mouth. “It’s colder than hell out here. Y-You ready ta go?”

“Yeah. Bye mom!” she shouted from the entrance, closing it behind her. She jumped into Mac’s truck. Thankfully, he left the heater on, so the inside was nice and toasty. “So, you ready for round 2 of ‘Mac’s Drunken Adventure’?” Vinyl giggled.

“Ah dunno” he smirked, “Are you ready for it?”

“Ah...” Vinyl’s speech caught in her throat. “How do you end up making me the speechless one?” Mac smiled and shrugged, leading them into the city.

After ten minutes of increasingly dangerous driving (due to the weather; according to the weather woman, a bad storm was rolling in), they arrived at a medium-size cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville. There were cars parked around the wooden abode, pretty much anywhere there wasn’t snow. Mac led Vinyl inside, taking her coat into a separate room. Music was coming from a large open room to her left, and to her right lay a long table being used for a round of Beer Pong. She went left, waiting against the wall until mac came back. She recognized a lot of people from school; most of the football team and cheer squad was here, along with most of the more popular students.

Oh, it’s one of those kind of parties. Most everyone was just standing around. A few people were laughing, but not many. And the only real activity was heavy abuse of booze. The party goers were stumbling in place, and few were already passed out

“Thirsty?” Mac asked after finding a place for their jackets.

“Sure.” She walked with him into the kitchen, where an assortment of hard liquors, along with a tapped keg, were being used frequently.

“Pick yer poison” teased Mac as he cracked open a can of beer.

“Aren’t you driving?” Vinyl asked. She picked up a bottle of vodka, and mixed it with some orange juice in a traditional red cup.

“Ah’m only gonna have one.” He spotted a familiar face from the football team. “Hey, Ah’m gonna go talk to Goldengrape. Ya wanna come?”

Vinyl shook her head. “Nah. I’m not completely dependent on you for entertainment.”

Mac chuckled and left her where she stood. She leaned against the wall behind her and listened to whatever alternative rock band was playing from the other room. It was decent music, but nothing particularly special. She started to walk into the dining room opposite her wall, accidentally bumping into someone.

“Hey, watch it!” Vinyl grumbled. The girl she ran into was shorter than her, about 5’5” with cream-colored skin and light blue eyes. She had spiky, ice-blue hair with white highlights, and wore a purple top with black jeans. She noticed the girl was wearing black shoes that had a large, green neon logo on them. She looked a little closer, realizing what the logo was. “Are those Deadmau5 shoes?”

“Yeah” the girl replied in a husky voice. “You jelly?”

“Totally” Vinyl replied absentmindedly.

“Enjoying yourself?”

Vinyl shrugged. “Yeah, though this isn’t really my kinda party.”

“Let me guess, you’re a club kind of girl.”

“Good guess” Vinyl laughed.

“Yeah, I feel ya. I got dragged here by my stupid sister. She needed a ride, ‘cause she’s mad at her boyfriend, or ...something.”

“That sucks. At least I chose to come here.” The two started to talk, mostly about how boring the party was. Vinyl learned that Cloudchaser, the girl, was a year younger than her. That’s probably why I never see her, she thought. She was very similar to Vinyl, except for her sibling, which she apparently didn’t have much love for.

“Well, it was nice talkin‘ to ya” Vinyl said, fist-bumping with Cloudchaser. “Gonna take a walk.”

“Cool” Cloudchaser replied, turning into another room. Vinyl walked around the party for a little, nothing in particular really stood out. She found Cheerilee in the living room talking to Macintosh.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Vinyl asked worried.

“Not a lot, honestly” muttered Mac. “This party’s kinda boring.”

“Yeah” Vinyl chimed in. “Ya wanna get going?”

“Ah suppose so, just let me say mah goodbyes to Flitter.” Macintosh stood up, groaning partially from exhaustion and partially from his task at hand. Since the incident at Manetreal, Flitter had been acting stranger by the day. He found her distain for Vinyl was stronger than ever, and to be quite honest Mac was sick of it. What the hell is her problem with Vinyl, anyway?, he thought as he searched the party for his girlfriend. She literally did nothin‘ to piss Flitter off, and it ain’t like Ah’m foolin‘ around with Vinyl behind her back. Mac swung around the corner of the kitchen, continuing his search. How come everythin' seems to come back to me an‘ Vinyl? He didn’t really have to ask himself that question.

Mac pushed those ideas aside; it was hard enough worried after one woman, and he didn’t want to muddy the situation by thinking about another. He searched kitchen, but didn’t find his girlfriend there, either. He heard a commotion coming from above him, quickly locating the stairs and bounding up them. The second floor of the party haven’t differed much from the first. Many partygoers found themselves either passed out in the hallway, or engaged in some other form of debauchery. It bothered him a little, hoping he hadn’t been like that when he was drunk. The hallway had a few rooms around it with strange, muffled sounds coming from behind closed doors. He knew exactly what was going on, quickly walking by them with a blush on his face. He was so focused on ignoring the sounds that he nearly ran over another man exiting from the end of the hall. He was fairly big, but still smaller than Mac, with dark brown hair that fell into a mullet, and a thick mustache.

“Hey, watch it!” The man snarled.

“Yeah, sorry” Mac grunted. In passing, he picked up the features of the man’s face and realized this guy was Ace. Ace was captain of the Ponyville football team. While rather smart, he tended to use his cunning to pick on others. Mac kept his distance from him usually, small talk being the only real conversation between them. Mac always had the feeling that Ace was a little threatened by him. He watched his teammate descend the stairs before tripping into the door at the end of the hall.

The door flung open, Mac falling flat on the floor. He groaned, pushing himself to his knees. Ow! ...Really not the best way to enter a room, he thought. Mac could tell the activities of the room just by looking around. Articles of clothing lay around lazily, chairs were tipped over, and the sheets on the bed were nearly ripped off. The smell of sweat permeated the air, along with something less foul but more telling of the act. Macintosh scrambled to his feet, glad he hadn’t stumbled in mid-session.

A shuffling sound to his right broke Mac’s train of thought. A female figure swung around the doorway of the bathroom, the top bed sheet draped around her otherwise naked form. Her light green hair was messy and erratic, partially matted to her body. The girl’s rose-colored eyes were glazed over, giving off the feeling that she wasn’t quite “with it” at the moment. She purred, hearing someone enter the room.

“Ace, I’m surprised you’re back so soon. Usually, you need a breather before....” If Flitter’s eyes weren’t attached, one might think they were going to shoot out of her head. “M-M-Mac! I didn’t see you there!” she stuttered, backpedaling into the wall.

“Before what?!” Mac growled, a fierce look in his eye. He knew exactly what was going on, he wasn’t stupid. He was, however, growing increasingly furious.

“What?” Flitter breathed confused.

“Ace needs a breather before WHAT!?” Mac bellowed, visibly shaking with anger. Flitter opened her mouth, only a little squeak coming out. She tightened the bed sheet around herself and continued to back away.

“We didn’t- I mean I didn’t do anything!” Flitter lied, now squishing herself into the corner.

“Ah can’t believe... Ah- Ah!” Mac struggled with each word, unsure of how exactly the could express his outrage. He couldn’t come up with anything, so Mac settled with the obvious.

“We’re done” he said, scowling at his now ex-girlfriend with hard, cold eyes. He turned, walking through the door and slamming it behind him, nearly taking it off its hinges. Mac rounded the stairs relieving the past few weeks in his head. All the little jabs he’d put up with, the complaining and whining, and Flitter’s utter disregard for anything he cared about. And after all that, she didn’t even have the decency to admit what she was doing. Mac could hear his teeth grinding, but that wasn’t his concern right now. He wanted to hit something, anything right now. A sharp pain in his right hand made him look down, and he noticed that his fist was clenched so tightly that his nails had actually broken through his palm.

H-How could she? J-Just...!? Mac couldn’t imagine how someone so close to him was so dishonest, so devious. He wondered how long this had been going on, if it was all just some cruel joke, with him as the punchline. When the heel did she become so... so... such a bitch! When he’d first met her, Flitter seemed like any other girl he knew. She was nice enough, maybe a bit forward with him, but fairly normal. How did it all go wrong?

Rounding the corner to the stairs, Macintosh’s anger ebbed away, being replaced by a slowly seeping sadness. He was a little glad his anger was fading; Mac detested being angry, finding that it usually led to something very bad for him. But the hole in his stomach certainly didn’t feel any better. Mac tried to think of something he’d done that could have made it go so wrong. He thought he was good, he thought maybe he was finally ready for a relationship.

Mac nearly ran into a group of people on his way off the stair. He looked around the room, seeing plenty of recognizable faces. But for the first time his recent memory, he felt like he didn’t know any of them.

Vinyl waited in the front hall, tapping her foot. What’s he doing up there? Of course, a few things did run through her imagination, but Vinyl brushed them off. She knew he was looking around for Flitter, but she hadn’t thought it’d take this long. She saw her friend descend the staircase, and she walked over to him. “Finally” she mutter to herself. “Find her?”

Mac looked at her blankly, his mind obviously elsewhere. He tried to speak, but his voice caught in his throat. He coughed, turned his gaze from Vinyl, and squeaked out a quiet “let’s go”. Vinyl watched him walk towards the door, surprised at Mac’s attitude.

“Ooo-kay then” she whispered to herself, catching up with her friend at the door. The two stepped outside and were immediately ambushed by the elements. Snow barreled down on them as they dragged their feet to Mac’s truck. Reaching the vehicle, both had to wedge their doors through the heavy snow. They climbed in, and after the engine turned over a few times it finally started.

“So...” Vinyl said, watching the snowflakes whip by her. “You enjoy ourself?” Mac snorted, mumbling something intelligible. “... You okay, dude? You seem distracted.” Vinyl placed a hand on Mac’s arm, but he nudged it away.

“No Vinyl, Ah’m... Ah’m not.”

“What happened?”

Mac took a deep breath, pushing it out through his nose. “Ah don’t wanna talk about it.” He set his eyes on the road ahead, trying to focus on something other than the party. The wind had picked up even more than before, and Vinyl hoped this storm wasn’t going to last all week.

She sighed, looking out the window to her right. She wanted to help him, but Vinyl knew when not to push Mac. He’ll talk when he’s ready, I guess. The rest of the ride was taken in silence; Mac pulled up to Vinyl’s house and dropped her off, gave her a quick goodbye and drove away. Vinyl walked inside quickly, confused and worried. She took off her winter gear and slipped into bed silently. Burying her face in her pillow, Vinyl groaned. Great way to start the break, I guess.

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