*will be editting this chapter over the next few days before submitting it again.*
How long has it been? A year? Two?
Vinyl hasn’t been able to find a steady, surefire way to earn bits.
Besides the few odd jobs here and there on the local jobs, and the time she played for the Canterlot wedding between Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor, she hasn’t had a single job.
She was kicked out of the Maretrot club two years ago.
Their excuse? They found a new talent. A new DJ to take her place. Neon Lights had taken her job, and her future.
So here she was, sitting alone in an alleyway near her old apartment, which she couldn’t afford the rent for anymore.
She had only been on the streets for a week, and already she hated her life for what it had become.
Contrary to popular belief of many ex-fans and the other popular artists, Vinyl and Octavia wasn’t friends.
Every time the DJ would try to become friends with the cellist, she would scoff and turn away from Vinyl.
Naturally, Vinyl gave up. Who wanted to be friends with a snooty mare like that, anyway?
She didn’t even give Vinyl a chance to talk, before turning away from her, acting high and mighty. Above Vinyl.
It was one of the things that made Canterlot a hell to live in. But.. It was the best place to rise in fame. It was THE city for the nightlife scene. Anypony worth their salt had made it big in Canterlot.
But Vinyl didn’t. She had a moment of glory in the Maretrot club, sure.. But once Neon Lights stepped in, she was quickly ushered out on the streets.
But despite it all, she didn’t blame anypony but herself. She was, after all, the only one who could change her music. Make it more popular. But she didn’t.
She thought she was the best, and that she didn’t have to keep making music. She thought that her fans would love the music she had already made, but she was quickly convinced otherwise when she was forced to sell her turntables to pay for food.
Tossed out on the streets by her own parents for wanting to pursue her career in the electronic music scene. They didn’t approve of her ”trash” as they called it. It quickly evolved into a shouting match, ending in her being kicked out.
She couldn’t bring herself to hate Neon Lights or Octavia, no matter what she thought of them, though.
Neon Lights was a new talent, just like she was herself once, and she didn’t want to take that away from him.
And she honestly didn’t expect Octavia to even look at her, given their difference in status.
She was a prim and proper mare, while Vinyl herself was a rowdy, unmannered filly. How could she even hope to befriend the cellist?
Besides, Octavia probably had a lot of friends already, and might not want to be seen with a dirty, lazy DJ from a nightclub.
She probably thought of Vinyl the same way that everypony else did. She hated it, but she was the odd one out in Canterlot.
She was the new face. The one trying to integrate.
But it didn’t work out in the end. She thought of her life back before moving to Canterlot.
She missed her parents. She wanted to go home. To apologize. To make them understand why it was that she loved the electronic music so much.
She regretted everything she said, and wished to take it all back.
But she didn’t even have enough bits for a train ticket now, so she couldn't even go home.
Sighing to herself, Vinyl trudged down the alleyway, trying once again to look for some sort of work.
She quickly hit the main street of Canterlot. Everything looked the same.
Busy ponies everywhere, nopony as much as looking in her direction without a frown on their faces.
Her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten in a few days by now. Scowling at her misfortune, she kept walking down the streets in hope of seeing a “Help needed” sign in one of the windows.
She had tried more than just looking for signs, of course. But every time she had entered a shop, asking for work, they had chased her back out on the streets, saying things like “We don’t need pone like you working for us.” or “Who would want a whorse like you working for them?”
She didn’t understand it. She wasn’t like the rest. Sure, she had tried drinking, and woke up backstage in the club.
But she never touched drugs, or gave her body up to any stallion that showed a slight interest in her.
She hadn’t even kissed anypony. Except for her parents, but every foal does that.
After a few hours of walking up the main street of Canterlot once again, she gave up.
Mindlessly wandering around, she reached the outskirts of the city.
The part of town where all the homeless ponies lived in. Where she lived herself.
With a frown on her muzzle, she walked towards the spot she had picked out for herself.
Tired and depressed, she wanted nothing more than take a nap.
But even that, she couldn’t. Her spot had been occupied by another homeless pony.
Frowning, and yet unwilling to disturb the sleeping pony, she trudged further into the outskirts of Canterlot.
Reaching the edge, she looked down the side of the mountain. She didn’t know what to do anymore. Maybe her answer was at the bottom of the mountain? Maybe somepony would look for her?
Maybe… Just maybe her parents would come to Canterlot in hopes of dragging her back home?
She sighed once again, shaking her head. Nopony would come. Nopony cared. She was just another pony that tried to rise in fame, only to be cruelly stomped underhoof of a new, better talent.
Closing her eyes with a frown, she leaned forward.
She felt the rush of wind in her mane, the feeling of a final freedom in her body. She didn’t know what to expect, but she knew there was no going back.
“I wonder where I’ll end up...” was the only words that left her muzzle as she plummeted towards what would likely be her end.