Faded Note Blues

“I can’t believe this,” Vinyl muttered under her breath, stomping down the cobbled street.

How was she meant to know that the music was too loud? She was just the DJ. It wasn’t like she had a choice in the matter. When her employer told her to crank it up, that’s what she did. How was she meant to know that it counted as disturbing the peace? How was she meant to know that the chief of police had just gotten home from the hospital with her new foal? How was she meant to know that her home was right next door to the party?

The second the cops had burst in there, they’d hauled her off without even glancing sideways at the other ponies at the party. The ass that had hired her had even held the door open for them when she was dragged out. Must have thought that it would give him the right to skip out on her payment.

Well it didn’t matter; he got his in the end. Vinyl would relish that smug look on his face draining away to revulsion for the rest of her life.

But that didn’t change the fact that she had gotten enough community service hours to make a full time job of it. At least her position as a semi celebrity and a lucky opening had landed her a spot as a babysitter to seniors. It sucked, but compared to all the other options she’d had it was heaven.

Though the summer wind ruffled her coat and mane, she didn’t care. Just why would she, anyway? She had enough product in her mane to keep it just the way she liked it, mussed and untamed. No stupid breeze was going to change that, no matter how hard it tried.

As she walked, her head throbbed in time with the click of her hooves on the ground. Maybe she shouldn’t have gone out partying the night before and gotten wasted, but with the day that she was in for, she deserved to treat herself.

The early morning sun was doing its best to pierce her bloodshot eyes, but at least her trademark shades performed their intended function for once.

“Heh, Vinyl one, nature zero.” The mare chuckled under her breath, earning her a raised eyebrow from the middle-aged stallion that had just passed her.

Shooting him a glare, Vinyl continued on her journey, only pausing for a moment to down a couple of aspirins and as much water as she could stomach.

Shoving the bottles back into her bag, Vinyl became aware of her surroundings for the first time. She could smell freshly cut grass in the air and hear a pair of foals laughing somewhere off in the distance.

Against her better judgment, she decided then to take a break for a few minutes. She was rarely ever out, or even awake, this early in the morning, so the sights and smells around her were something of a novelty.

Dumping her saddlebags on the ground, she flopped down along with them, leaning her back up against the white picket fence whose style dominated the street. The grass was soft and inviting, not like that razor-sharp crap that they used in the pokey garden at her apartment complex.

Her regimen of anti-hangover techniques felt like they were already working, the throbbing of her temples not so painful and her stomach not doing backflips constantly. Again she delicately sniffed at the air, savoring the scent given off by the perfectly trimmed red roses that grew behind her.

It was powerful–intoxicating, even; and Vinyl knew intoxicating. She breathed in deeply, her eyes closing as she tried to heighten her sense of smell. Sometimes she forgot that there were other smells in the world other than cigarette smoke, sweat and alcohol.

“Maybe this won’t be so bad,” Vinyl quietly admitted to herself. In fact, a part of her even wanted to doze off in the sun, though she forced that desire down.

She had worked hard on her persona, and knowing how her luck had been lately, one of her fans would stumble across the sight of her drooling all over herself in her sleep. She shuddered at the thought. At least her arrest, uncomfortable and humiliating as it may have been, helped to boost her “party hard” image. However, there was no coming back from showing off her vulnerable side for everyone to see.

Diving forward, she tackled Octavia to the ground, not even caring about the leaves caught in her mane or the green streaks that littered her coat. They rolled together in a heap down the grassy hill, laughing together all the way. Then suddenly, they stopped, though the world stillspun around her. Even the other mare’s pretty face spun in her vision, and Vinyl couldn’t help but laugh. She was still laughing when her friend began to lean in closer, a strange look on her face, her eyes half lidded. That laughter died when their lips suddenly met, and all Vinyl could do was draw her in closer, her forelegs wrapping around her back. They stayed like that for a time, their tongues playing with each other in between short moans.

After a time she felt Octavia draw herself away, and though Vinyl’s hooves tensed for a minute, not letting her go, the earth pony managed it anyway.

“Vinyl, I… apologize,” Octavia said, a blush playing over her cheeks that matched her bowtie. “I… I don’t know what came over me. The dizziness, I just couldn’t stop myself and you were looking up at me and—”

“Ssshhh Tavi, it’s cool,” Vinyl whispered back, pushing the tip of her hoof against her friend’s lips. “You don’t need to explain anything. I’ve wanted to kiss you for months now, but I shouldn’t be surprised you were the one who actually did something about it.”

“Well yes, I rather did—” The mare’s words were interrupted by an eep as Vinyl suddenly flipped her over, leaving the DJ on top, straddling her stomach.

“We can talk about it all later Tavi,” Vinyl said, leaning in close enough to feel the other mare’s breath tickle the fur on her nose. “But right now we’re going to not worry about that. Let’s justget lost in the moment.”

That said, Octavia angled her chin upwards, and kissed her again.

Desperately, Vinyl shook her head, trying to banish that memory. But it stayed lodged in there, playing over and over again, and as she fought harder to ignore it, the images only became clearer. That day had been one of the happiest in her life, when Octavia had agreed to be her marefriend. But by then, it left the taste of ashes in her mouth.

She could feel her mood souring, and the songbirds mocked her, their cheerful calls piercing into her skull.

With a muffled curse, Vinyl pulled herself to her feet. She just hoped the old bat was somewhere nearby. Quickly, she ran herself down with her magic, brushing off the few pieces of grass that clung to her coat.

Once again she carried on down the street, her eyes running over the numbered letterboxes.

As she continued on, she began to count down the numbers. Her previous optimistic outlook was long gone. Things were made worse as her mind began to wander, subjecting her to all the humiliation she would be forced through.

By the time she reached her destination, eighteen Good Spring Road, she was in an even worse mood than when she had started. Her vague, grumbling complaints were interspersed with the occasional curse. Nothing was sacred to her; one minute she was complaining about the police, and the next, she was cursing the sun for being too hot.

Glancing up at the house, Vinyl felt a perverted satisfaction that her pessimism had been justified. As she expected, it seemed that the one old geezer she had been stuck with was the only one who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, look after their own place.

The house was hard edges in a street of soft curves; even though the poor state of the garden was enough to stick out on a street like Good Spring. Every other house appeared to belong to ponies who spent a disportionate amount of time gardening. However, it went far beyond that. While all of the other houses were painted a pleasing shade of white, coupled with warm highlights, and decorated with lovingly crafted wooden trim, number eighteen seemed to be designed specifically to fly in the faces of all others around it. It was painted a muted grey, which made her feel like she was looking at it on a rainy day.

Giving another sigh of frustration, Vinyl went to pull open the gate, though stopped herself at the last moment. Just from the condition of it, the black iron marred by large swathes of muddy red rust, Vinyl decided to instead use her magic to pull it open. The tortured groan it let out as she did so, the hinges so stiff it required more force than she’d initially thought, more than justified her choice. The last thing her style needed was rust stains all over her coat.

As Vinyl strode down the path, she registered a faint hint of surprise that it wasn’t overgrown like she had originally assumed when she had seen the house from a distance. In fact, while the plant life was given free rein everywhere else in the garden, the path was off limits; the overgrowth ending abruptly where the stepping stones began. She could even see a few severed stems from plants that had crawled onto the pathway and had been quickly struck down.

It did look sort of nice; the flowers made a riot of bright colours as they bobbed in the breeze, reminding Vinyl of ponies dancing in the club.

Unable to delay things any longer, Vinyl squared her withers and marched her way over to the door. There was a knocker attached to it, fashioned into a generic horseshoe shape.Vinyl decided to ignore the knocker, instead banging her hoof against the door until it throbbed.

Finally, the door cracked open and an elderly mare, an earth pony, whom Vinyl could only assume was Faded Note, the pony who she had been enlisted to help, shuffled out.

She was old, that being the best estimate of her age Vinyl could give. Her grey, almost white, mane was done up in a tight but short ponytail that managed to just reach her withers while her coat was a deep azure, though it appeared to have faded so that the colour looked muted. Her eyes were a watery blue that, coupled with the way in which her wrinkles lined her face, made it look like she was seconds away from bursting into tears.

“Yes?” the mare asked coldly, giving Vinyl a glare which the DJ was happy to return in kind, pushing down her glasses to make sure she got the full force of it.

“Yeah, uhh...” Vinyl hesitated. For a second, a weaker side of her was tempted to make a half hearted excuse and leave, but she took a deep breath and forced it down. Vinyl Scratch did not skimp out on a promise.

“Hello, I’m here from the Heart to Heart Charity,” Vinyl droned, rolling her eyes as she spoke. “I’m here at the request of your granddaughter, Angel Flight, to come and see you each week and provide you with some company.”

Vinyl wanted to gag as she said it, but she hadn’t had much choice. The manager had been so insistent on it she had threatened to throw Vinyl out if she didn’t recite it. Celestia knew why. Some bull about failing memories or trustworthiness or something equally wrong. Still, the choice between her pride or picking up rubbish off the side of the road was easy enough to make.

It seemed impossible, but the mare’s expression grew even chillier as her eyes narrowed, though they become distant, focusing on an area over Vinyl’s shoulder. “That insolent brat,” she spat.

The venom in the old mare’s voice might have upset another pony, but all it prompted Vinyl to do was raise an eyebrow and utter a flat “What’s that you say, granny?”

Faded Note stiffened, her eyes slowly coming back to rest on Vinyl.

“That’s ‘pardon’ missy,” she growled, dangerously. “I won’t abide poor manners, even from cocky no-goods like yourself.” She paused, before adding. “And I’m nopony’s granny”

“What did you call me?” Vinyl shot back, taking a step forward so that she was almost touching snouts with the other mare. She was in a bad mood to begin with, and the last thing she needed was shit from some washed-up old maid. She’d worked hard for what she’d gotten in life, and nopony got to claim otherwise.

Faded Note did not hesitate to meet the DJ’s challenge, leaning forward as her lips curled into a sneer. “You heard me missy. I know your type: all party and no presence. You’re more focused on having a good time than doing anything worthwhile.”

Vinyl frowned. She had no idea what the crazy old mare was on about, but she had been insulted enough times to pick up when it was happening.

“Hey, back off, lady,” Vinyl said, thrusting a light jab into Faded’s chest, just hard enough to let her know that she was serious.

However, Vinyl, used to confrontations with ponies of her own age, completely misjudged her own strength. The older mare stumbled backwards, her balance wobbling precariously.

With a gasp and a curse, Vinyl reached up her forelegs to rest on Faded Note’s shoulders. At the same time, she manifested her blue magical aura under the older mare’s barrel, helping Faded keep her balance.

“Jeez, I’m sorry,” Vinyl said, the uncomfortable feeling of ice water in her stomach coming to her as she grasped the extent of what she had almost done.

Though Faded’s balance wavered for a few more seconds, it quickly reasserted itself. If anything, the mare looked even more annoyed than she had before, though she pried Vinyl’s hooves off her with surprising gentleness.

“It’s fine, missy.” She relented after another round of glaring, the DJ too concerned to meet her challenge again. “Much my fault as…” She trailed off for a second, before she spoke again, her voice having regained some of its harder edge. “Just don’t do that again.”

“No, no, never,” Vinyl replied, shaking her head furiously. The frantic pace of her heart was returning to normal, though her legs still shook and her tail twitched from the adrenaline.

Faded Note gave a deep sigh, which seemed to expel the fight out of her, leaving her looking smaller than she was before.

“Don’t worry, I won’t complain or anything,” she said, her voice morose. “I shouldn’t have provoked you like that. It’s just the mare that lives next to me. She seems to have made it her personal project to ‘improve’ my life.”

“Oh.” Vinyl replied, smiling cautiously, all the while trying to figure out just where the other mare was going. “Well, that’s nice of her... I guess.”

“It’s not,” Faded Note snapped, before pinching the bridge of her nose and giving an exasperated sigh. “She sees too much of herself in me. She thinks that if she can save me she can somehow save herself.” The older mare snorted scornfully. “Doesn’t change that it’s pointless. I have no desire to be saved and Angel Flight has no need to be.”

Without warning Faded spun around and disappeared inside the house, giving a flick of her tail before Vinyl lost sight of her. In that moment, Vinyl had gotten her first clear look at the other mare’s cutie mark. It was a bluebird—or she was pretty sure it was one. Octavia had been the birdwatcher—its wings outstretched as if in midflight. It was an unusual mark, in that its exact meaning wasn’t obvious. Her gut reaction was that Faded was an animal lover, but it wouldn’t have been the first time she’d misinterpreted a mark.

Vinyl stood there, debating what to do. She craned her neck to check out as much of the room as possible without crossing the threshold. She desperately hoped that she wouldn’t see the mare. If she wasn’t invited inside, then it was pretty clear that her company wasn’t wanted. At least, that was how she was going to take it. Ergo, if that happened then she was sure she could convince her supervisor to reassign her to somepony else. Hopefully it would be some drooling invalid who would be content to let her do whatever she wanted as long as they got her ‘company’.

Glancing over the top of her glasses, all that she could see through the doorway was an art deco cabinet. The design itself was vaguely familiar to her, though she couldn’t put her hoof on it.

Vinyl was still not convinced that Faded wasn’t just off in some corner, waiting for her to leave so she could complain to the charity out of spite. Pivoting her body side to side, she tried to fill in the few blind spots that were created by the door and frame. Even then little more of the room was shown, just an extra half of a cushion and one or two extra books on a shelf.

Even though things didn’t feel right to Vinyl, she decided then that she had tried everything in her power. She began turn around, holding her breath in the hope it would make her stealthier. The music beginning to throb through her head again.

“Well, aren’t you coming?” Faded Note asked from somewhere inside.

Gritting her teeth, Vinyl stamped her right foreleg against the ground hard enough to leave her hoof throbbing again. Cursing under her breath the DJ wheeled around, glaring at the door.

Things weren’t made much better when Faded Note’s voice carried out from the house. “You better hurry, missy. I don’t have all day, and I’m running low on the milk of pony kindness.”

“Damn it,” Vinyl muttered, pushing the door open wider. “I was almost there.”