Simple Music

Nightshade awoke to the sudden screeching of his alarm clock. He promptly hit the snooze button and drifted back in the sanctuary of his dreams, where no pony expected anything of him. Dreams for Nightshade had always been his greatest source of escape from a world that was constantly shifting. He had started to rekindle the dream he was having about him and Vinyl playing up the Grand Galloping Gala, when the alarm sliced through his mind once more. Nightshade slowly started to rise out of bed, reluctant to get started on the long day that awaited him.

It had been one week since his arrival in Ponyvile. During that time, he had spent most of it with Vinyl figuring out the best way to utilize his astounding ability to create life like illusions, and place them in her show. Nightshade couldn’t help but smile as he remembered all the wild things she had come up with.

“A dragon the spits out bubbles, that burst into sound!”  She had dreamed up one particular late night.

“Yea I could see that. The bubbles could explode with time to the beat.” Nightshade had agreed. They ended up planning so late that he had to put her to bed.

Except today wouldn’t be about him and Vinyl. No, today would be all about him and Octavia. After spending a week in Ponyvile, and not really getting out to see the town, she had made him promise to spend the day with her.

“You need to get out. Your shut in life style is quite unhealthy.” She had argued.

He had tried to tell her that he’d seen plenty of Ponyvile from the tranquility of the apartment building’s roof. He goes out at least once a day to watch the setting sun over Ponyvile, and the rise of the moon. It was the only spot he felt comfortable in, and honestly the only place he wanted to be. Nightshade’s original purpose for even coming to the small town was to escape the rush of Canterlot. However, Ponyvile seemed to be in it’s own rush, even when it didn’t seem like it.

Octavia, of course, didn’t want to hear any of it, which was one of the reasons Nightshade was making his way down the hall at nine o’clock in the morning. He knocked on his neighbor’s door and after a few minutes no pony had answered. Strange. Octavia doesn’t seem like the type of pony to sleep in. Nightshade continued to wonder what was keeping her as he knocked three more times.

The door finally swung open practically throwing him backwards onto the floor. He was surprised to see, not Octavia waiting to greet him, but Vinyl instead. She looked exhausted, like she had just played a thousand concerts in one night.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?” She yawned.

“Like, nine o’clock.”

“So then why are you up?” She asked feeling a bit more awake now.

“Why else would a pony wake up at this most unholy of hours? To go out with your psychotic roommate so she’ll stop bugging me.”

“What? Oh, that might explain the note on the fridge…and stove, and TV.”

“What note?”

Vinyl started to read aloud a note that was taped to her hoof, “Went out for emergency band practice. Won’t be home until late. Please take Nightshade out. Octavia.”

Nightshade started to feel a lightness enter his body. He would get to spend the day with Vinyl, which most likely meant not going anywhere at all. He started to enter the apartment when Vinyl put a hoof in his way, blocking the entrance.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Inside?”

“I believe the note says we need to go out.”

“Hey, you said it, not me.” Nightshade teased.

“Yea huh. Get your stuff and let’s go.”

When the duo got outside Nightshade took in a deep breath. It was summer, and the air in Ponyvile was a lot cleaner than that of Canterlot’s. He closed his eyes and tried to listen for the town’s tempo. Everything seems to be nice and paced today. He thought. When Nightshade reopened his eyes, he saw Vinyl staring at him.

“Sorry, sorry.” He apologized.

“For what? Taking in the feel?”

“Well…yea.”

“Dude, you need to chill. Why’d you get so upset?”

“It’s kind of a long story. I’ll maybe tell you sometime.”

“Alright, I’ll hold you to it.” She said as she started to pull out her signature glasses.  Without giving it a thought, Nightshade let out a sigh, which made Vinyl freeze.

“What?”

“Nothing. I’m sorry.”

This made Vinyl let out a little sigh of her own. “C’mon man, just be real with me.”

Nightshade started to shift in place a little bit. It always made him feel uncomfortable when confronting others.

“It’s just that…I kinda think you look better without them…” He drifted off.

Vinyl’s face started to get red. She quickly stashed her glasses back into her saddlebag, and then started to walk down the street forcing Nightshade to break out into a trot just to keep up.

“Hey, where are we going?” Nightshade asked.

“Sugar Cube Corner. I need to eat something.”

“Okay. Is the place any good?”

“See for yourself.” Vinyl said as she stopped in front of very edible looking building. The structure looked like it was made out of ice cream, with the roof having the same color as chocolate sauce. Nightshade was in awe that a building such as this even existed as he entered.

A thousand different aromas circling the inside instantly hit Nightshade. He was able to smell muffins, cookies, cake, and best of all, pie. His concentration was instantly broken, however, by an overly happy voice he’d herd once before.

“Nightshade! I was wondering when I’d get to see you again.” Pinkie Pie skipped over.

“Hi…Pinkie Pie, right?”

“Yep! I see you brought a friend as well.” She winked.

“More like she brought me.” He mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing, don’t worry about it. I should really get back to Vinyl.” Nightshade started to look around for her in order to escape his current conversation. He spotted her looking over the pastries and walked over. Vinyl was staring at what appeared to be a blue berry muffin.

“Is that what you want?” He asked, startling her a little by his sudden approach.

“Yea right, look at the price. Sorry but I don’t have ten bits to just blow on a muffin.”

“Well I am supposed to be taking you out right now, so I’ll just pay for it.” He started to reach for his saddlebag when she smacked his hoof away.

“C’mon, don’t spend money on me.”

“Why not?”

“Cause it’d kind of feel like I’m…” She drifted off a little.

“Like you’re what?”

“Like I’m taking advantage of you.”

“It’s just a muffin Vinyl. Besides, I brought my money for you. Otherwise I would have just left it at home.” She started to blush again and turned away.

“I’ll go get us a table.” She hurried outside.

Nightshade paid for the muffin and a bagel for himself. He’d started to feel hungry and bought it, praying that this was the only thing Vinyl wanted. After all, he’d only brought so much with him when he moved out to Ponyvile.

When he got outside he quickly spotted Vinyl sitting at a table that was near the fence gate in front of the restaurant. She appeared to be listening to some music, and therefore, didn’t notice Nightshade’s approach once again.

“Who’re you listening too?” He asked when he sat down.

“Dude!” She jumped. “You’ve got to stop sneaking up on me.”

“Sorry.” He said as he handed her the muffin. She took it greedily, and began to eat. Nightshade took the opportunity to eat his bagel as well, and thus began a quite, ten-minute lunch. After they had both finished, Nightshade looked up and saw that she was still listening to some music, her magenta eyes lost deep in thought.

“Hey Vinyl?”

“Huh? Yea, what is it?”

“What are you thinking about?”

“N-nothing, nothing at all.” She rushed.

“Ok, fine, that’s cool…who are you listening to?” Nightshade asked again.

“Octavia. This is part of her instrumental album.”

“I love that album! Do you mind?”

“Knock your self out.” She passed him an ear bud.

They sat at their table for another fifteen-minutes, just listening to Octavia’s masterfully put together songs. It was really an amazing thing to hear, and showed how deep her passion truly went. When the album had finally ended they both realized the time and left.

They began to walk down the street and Vinyl started to point out the various shops, ponies, and best spots to hang. They started to pass by the elementary school when she stopped. Curious as to what could have slowed her down, Nightshade took a step forward. The entire class was outside, but all the students seemed downtrodden. Vinyl began to walk up to the pony that was clearly the teacher.

“What’s up Cheerilee?” Vinyl asked.

“I’m afraid that our music lesson for the day is canceled. The instruments that I had ordered won’t be in for another week unfortunately.”

“Well…maybe Nightshade can help.” Vinyl shoved him forward. He turned to glare at her just wondering why. He was sure they’d had a discussion about how he hated being noticed. However, seeing no other way out of it, he decided to take charge.

“Alright students, I want you all to split up into two even groups.” All the students started to shift into groups, confused by the sudden change of events. Once they had split up into the two groupings, Nightshade continued. “Good job. Now for the group on the left, I want you to do this.” He stomped his hoof on the ground. “Then wait for two beats or pauses. You may continue after the group on the right does this.” He stomped his hoof twice rapidly on the ground. “Now try it.” The students played along, and then after a while started to really get into it. “Can any pony tell me what you just learned?” Nightshade asked. A single hoof flew in the air. “Yes, you.”

“We learned a half note and an eighth note.” The little filly squeaked.

“Right, exactly. Thank you miss…”

“Sweetie Belle.”

“Thank you miss Sweetie Belle.” Nightshade checked his watch and noticed that it was almost ten-thirty and decide to hand the lesson back off to Cheerilee.

“Thank you very much mister…”

“Nightshade.”

“Thank you mister Nightshade. I don’t what I would have done without you. Would like to come back again next week at this time to give another lesson?”

“Sure, why not.” He saw all the kids leaning in, waiting for the moment where he accepts. Nightshade leaned in and asked if he would get paid. Cheerilee said yes and he officially accepted.

When he got back to Vinyl, she had a small grin on her face. “What?” Nightshade asked.

“Nothing…I just didn’t know you were such a natural teacher is all.”

“Neither did I.”

“Well hey!” She nudged. “Now you’ve got a job, which means there won’t be any future excuses to not ask me out again.”

“So there will be a next time?” Nightshade asked, feeling bold.

“Well…I wouldn’t really even call this a first time. After all, you did basically drag me into a job interview.” She teased.

“Yea, one that you unknowingly brought me to.” He challenged a little defensively.

“Yea, I guess I did.” They started to walk a few more blocks before Vinyl turned around.

“Where are we going now?”

“You’ll see when we get there.” She promised.

They walked south of town for about an hour. The trip to the destination required a small hike, which Nightshade was defiantly not up for. He hated the woods. Too many bugs in his opinion, always buzzing around his head. He tried to keep his mood from showing until they had reached their destination, which wasn’t an easy thing for him to do. Nightshade was usually prone to overreacting to certain situations.

Vinyl finally stopped at the top of a cliff and sat down. When Nightshade had come to join her, he was stunned by the view. The cliff was overlooking thousands of apple trees with the sun reflecting perfectly off of each apple, enhancing their color.

“Where are we?” Nightshade asked when he sat down.

“This is just where I come to thinks some times.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know. Life, music…relationships.”

“Oh…okay. Do you want to listen to some music?” He asked as he pulled out his mp3. Luckily he’d brought his headphone splitter, so they would each get to listen in full. He turned on some chillstep, and after a while Vinyl leaned on him and fell asleep. Feeling kind of tired himself Nightshade did the same.

Nightshade was the first to wake up. He’d heard a bird screech in the distance, which brought him back reality. It took him a while to remember what had happened. He glanced over to his shoulder and saw that Vinyl was still there. She looked so at peace that it pained Nightshade to wake her up. So he waited for a while, letting the warmth of the moment sink in.

“Hey Vinyl.” He nudged.

“Wha-? What time is it?” She asked.

“Almost four. We should probably go back.”

“Can’t we just stay here for a little while longer? I had such an awesome time today.”

“Yea me too. And trust me, I don’t want to leave anymore than you do, but Octavia might be back and wondering where we are. “

“Fine.”

They started the trek back to Ponyvile. Most of the ponies in town were inside eating or just hanging out with their families. Vinyl was walking really close to Nightshade, which he didn’t mind. They finally reached their apartment and arrived on the top floor. When they came to Vinyl’s apartment, Nightshade stopped and turned to face her.

“Today was nice.”

“Yea, it was.”She smiled.

“Do you think that maybe this is going a little too fast?”

“Yea, actually, I was.” She admitted. “But then I thought about how much time we had been spending beforehand, and how this relationship just feels…” She struggled to find the words.

“Natural?” He offered.

“Yea, natural.” When she opened the door Octavia was inside eating a salad.

“Good evening you two. Nightshade, did Vinyl show you the sights alright?” She asked as they entered.

“Yea, she did alright.” He teased

Octavia didn’t seem to notice and continued speaking. “Good, I’m very pleased to hear it. Did you also acquire the job I had set up for you?”

“What job?”

“The one with Cheerilee.”

Nightshade turned to Vinyl and remembered the conversation they’d had before. “I guess I really did drag you to my interview.”

“Yea…sorry about that. Me and Cheerilee thought it would be better to put you on the spot.” Vinyl admitted.

“Well it worked. I guess.” He looked at the clock that sat above their couch. It was almost five-thirty, and Nightshade wanted to be alone for a while. “Alright, well, hey it’s getting late, and I should go.”

“I’ll come with.” Vinyl offered. Not wanting to turn away the pony he was trying to build a relationship with, Nightshade agreed.

When they got to his door, Vinyl gave him a warm embrace. Nightshade returned the action and felt his blood being replaced by air.

“Hey. This isn’t going to get complicated right?” He asked while he held her.

“What? No way man.” She promised.

Nightshade was sure he could have held her forever, but unfortunately, dinner did call. They said their so longs and Nightshade entered his apartment. When he got to his room, he lied down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking about his day and his future. He also started to recall the argument with his father, which brought him back to one conclusion.

No complications. Nightshade thought as he put on his headphones, and turned up his music. No complications.