Just a Scratch
By Mist
01
I think the best way to start off is by setting the record straight and saying that this was not our intent. We didn’t mean for any of them to get involved, it was our mistake and they shouldn’t have had to pay the price for it. We were foolish from the start to overlook the things we did, which lead up to the mistakes we made.
The only reason I even relay this story is so that perhaps you may learn from our mistakes. Chaos, betrayal, romance, desire, and deception, all elements that make up this particular tale.
Our story begins on a cold rainy night in mid-December.
Most would stay indoors in this weather, especially at this time of night. The true nightowls however didn't let a little water stop them. They were going celebrate the glory of Luna's night regardless of the circumstances.
Wiping the water off of her sunglasses and lifting the hood of her jacket just enough to see above her, a drenched unicorn caught a glimpse of the clocktower before throwing her hood back up.
It was 9:47, which relieved the white mare knowing she wasn't as late as she thought she was. It was always her style to show up fashionably late, though she didn't like being too fashionable.
She was fortunate that the manager was used to her tardiness and almost came to expect it of her at this point. The two were usually on the same wavelength a majority of the time, which made working together a cinch.
Nearly fifteen minutes of braving the waters of the skies had brought the young mare to the building sitting at the furthest edge of town, "The Unicorn".
It was the only night club in Ponyville, but far from the least lively. There was a reason it sat at the edge of town: so others could get some sleep. The Unicorn's Friday nights were so chaotic and out of control sometimes that they wouldn’t even realize that the Sun had risen yet.
The mare smiled excitedly at the blinking rainbow colored light up sign perched over the entrance before appraoching.
"Show time," she muttered to herself.
Two brutish colts guarded the entrance with extreme vigilance. The rain didn't seem to affect them in the slightest. They stood there looking as fierce as ever unfaltered by the water; it actually made them look more intimidating.
The two eyed up the mare quickly before standing out of her path and gesturing for her to enter. She thanked them only with a nod and pressed the doors open.
Rave lights flared across the room and bounced off of her purple glasses, which was accompanied by music at such a high decibel that it was difficult to even hear yourself think; exactly the way she liked it.
She trotted confidently past the dance floor through waves of ponies just moving every possible way their bodies would allow. On her way through she flared a move or two herself, turning a few heads. Rocking her head gently to the music she made it to the other side and approached back table where all the music equipment was set up.
A pink mare gave her a smile and a wave, which she returned; her boss, the owner and proprietor of The Unicorn, Pinkie Pie.
The wild mare always loved the thrill of parties, and with the convincing of a few friends she combined that love with the sensation of the night life. With a few months of saving, and calling in a few favors from old friends she had purchased the building that would become “The Unicorn.” Before too long she was running the most successful night club in the region, even more so than Canterlot. The big secret to her sucess relied on one key fact: no pony else had Pinkie Pie. She was her own greatest attraction, as no pony knew how to party like Pinkie Pie.
The white unicorn gave her a smile in return and followed it up with a suggestive licking gesture while mouthing "call me," to the party animal.
Pinkie only responded with an amused giggle and shook her hoof to imply that she caught the joke.
Approaching the area harboring all the music equipment a smile grew on the unicorn's face. Darting to the operating area she lowered her nose to the turntables and took in a big whiff. The smell of turntables, records, instruments and anything about music excited her. She was in her element.
"Did you miss me? I know you did..." She spoke affectionately to the turntable while rubbing its side.
"Nice of you to show up," another more sophisticated voice called out from behind her.
The unicorn turned to face the familiar face. Her dark coat made her interesting to look at in the rave lights, but up close anypony could tell she truly didn't belong at the night club scene. She had an aura of sophistication and poise much higher than the crowd around the two of them. This pony was clearly out of place here in this night club.
Everything about her was neat and tidy right down to her jet black mane; not a strand out of place.
"Don't worry, I'm here to save you from this heartless witch," the unicorn continued to speak to the piece of hardware, making sure she was loud enough for the other pony could hear her.
"Seriously Vinyl Scratch, we have certain obligations that we must meet, one of them is being here and being here on time," the gray pony lectured.
Vinyl Scratch half tuned her out.
"Octi, sweetheart, just relax; you're too stressed. This job is all about love and showing your wild side," Vinyl smirked.
"That's Octavia, and stop with the pet names," she pouted in return.
"Then again thank you for reminding me that those are two things you do not have..." Vinyl Scratch chuckled at the thought.
"Sometimes I think you live in a fantasy world, probably accompanied by Pinkie Pie..." Octavia rolled her eyes.
Vinyl laughed heartily at the suggestion, musing the idea of her and Pinkie Pie living in some kind of alternate reality.
"That can't ever happen, you'd miss me too much," Vinyl spoke confidently.
"As if, this place might actually get some class in that scenario, and I wouldn't have to deal with you pestering me all the time," Octavia replied.
"Oh please, you'd be lost without me. I am the glue that holds this place together. Me and Pinkie Pie are the main attractions here!" Vinyl praised herself.
"Pinkie and I," the earth pony corrected.
"Always have to get the last word don't you?" Vinyl sighed.
“Are you implying something?” Octavia growled.
Vinyl shook her head while rolling her eyes. She took amusement in how clueless Octavia could be at times. The two of them were always on separate wavelengths on just about everything they ever talked about. It was truly an accomplishment to maintain their friendship. Being co-workers wasn’t enough to keep the two of them from ripping each other’s throats out.
“Just saying what a pain you are sometimes…” Vinyl yawned.
The mare was starting to get irritated with Vinyl’s teasing, and proceeded to scold her relentlessly.
It had little effect, as Vinyl wasn’t paying any attention. Her eyes were drawn to a strange black mist that circled around in the distance. It was swirling around near the bathroom area, just dancing on air itself. It didn’t move very naturally, but it looked like it was almost alive.
Octavia attempted to respond but she was ignored by the DJ unicorn whom was preoccupied with whipping her soaked jacket off and tossing it aside. With a violent flick she threw the rain off of her wild mane and into the direction of a rather irritated Octavia.
"Hey, do you mind?" She protested.
Vinyl ignored her however. Grabbing her usual microphone she started to address the crowd.
"How are y'all doing tonight!?" An excitable Vinyl Scratch screamed to the crowd over the speaker system.
Her voice echoed through the room and was given an uproar of noise from the crowd as a response.
"It's good to be here tonight at The Unicorn. Special thanks to Pinkie Pie for keeping this place active even in this garbage weather," Vinyl spoke into the microphone.
Everyone cheered and whistled for the party mare.
"Also a special shout out to my co-DJ, Miss Buzz Kill," she teased.
Octavia rolled her eyes as the crowd laughed at her expense.
Vinyl silenced the laughter to continue with her ego trip.
“Now enough of these pleasantries, we all know what you’re really here for…” she smirked.
The crowd began to chant for her, using the stage name she had grown accustomed to. Vinyl only responded by raising her front hooves in the air encouraging the noise.
“Vinyl Scratch! Vinyl Scratch! Vinyl Scratch!” the crowd roared.
“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” Vinyl replied.
Before she knew it the screaming intensified, and many more voices joined in to calling her name. Turning to her right she even caught a glimpse of Pinkie Pie chanting for her. Finally satisfied she decided to give them what they want.
“Let’s get this party started!” she hollered to the audience.
The disk jockey levitated some records over to her turn table and flipped them onto the trays with grace. Cranking the volume to max she let the loud rave music fill the whole club. Despite its massive volume however, it was second only to the cheers and encouragement of the crowd.
Vinyl gazed up at the passing balls of visible white gasses in the sky with eyes filled of intrigue. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for her to be lying around and relaxing, as she spent a lot of her free time just “slacking off,” as Octavia usually put it.
“That cloud looks a lot like you,” Octavia joked as she gestured to a unicorn shaped cloud.
The cloud did bear a striking resemblance to the DJ; it had a similar mane style and if she squinted hard enough she could even see a pair of stylish sunglasses on it.
“Heh, that’s pretty cool. I wonder if there’s any up there that look like you; keep your eyes open for any that look like an obnoxious earth pony with a stick up her butt,” Vinyl chuckled.
Octavia rolled her eyes.
“Very funny, I’ll have you know that I can be just as much as a free spirit as you can,” she replied.
Vinyl laughed at the thought.
“I don’t think it’s possible to use your name and the words ‘free spirit’ in the same sentence,” Vinyl giggled.
“I’m serious!” She pouted.
“Yeah, yeah I know…” Vinyl nodded.
Vinyl let out a deep exhale then reverted her gaze back to the clouds. Her mind began to wander on everything that rested on the top of her brain.
“Vinyl Scratch…” Octavia started.
Vinyl didn’t bother looking in her direction, but instead kept her eyes fixated on the clouds above her.
“What is it?” she replied.
“Have you ever felt like life is very… Stagnant?” Octavia questioned.
That question caught Vinyl off guard. Octavia wasn’t one to ask that kind of question, nor was she one to open up out of nowhere. She turned to Octavia only to find that the grass the two of them were lying on had vanished, and was replaced with just empty black nothingness that seemed to go on for miles.
“Haven’t you ever felt that you wanted more out of life, like you were missing something?” Octavia asked.
Vinyl wasn’t certain how to answer. She had thought about the question before, but she never could really pinpoint what was missing. She had everything she could ever want. She worked a job that she loved, doing what she’s always wanted to do with her life. She had friends, fans, and financial security, with plenty of free time to boot; there was little more she could ask for.
She opened her mouth to answer but no words came out.
BUZZZZ!
BUZZZZ!
The loud irritating alarm clock kept attacking Vinyl’s pleasant slumber, trying to get her on her hooves and start the day, even if it was too late to start the day “on time.”
Vinyl almost always slept in until around 1:00 or 2:00PM, she wasn’t exactly a morning pony. Today however she managed to get herself to get up at around 10:15AM, almost a new record for her.
Slamming her front hoof around aimlessly, she attempted to silence the dream killer. The fact that she didn’t lift her head up from the pillow made the task take her four tries just to locate the device, then another three to hit the correct button.
Before doing anything further she levitated her favorite purple sunglasses from the night stand onto her face. Vinyl had worn those sunglasses for as long as she could remember. She got them back when she was just a young filly from her mother.
She had always had very sensitive eyes, and years of prolonged protection from sunglasses didn’t help any. As a result though, not many had ever seen what Vinyl’s eyes looked like. A lot of ponies would joke with her trying to guess what they looked like; Vinyl always laughed it off and told them it was a secret.
The mare rolled out of bed carelessly and tossed the blue and white checkered comforter back onto the bed with no effort to make it look presentable.
She started to go through her normal routine and gathered a bunch of painting supplies scattered all across the room.
Most ponies would get up, take a shower, get some breakfast and then get prepared for the day, but not Vinyl Scratch. The unicorn didn’t even run a hoof through her mane before painting in the morning.
Painting was almost like a second talent of hers. She had always been an artist, just not solely with music. Vinyl Scratch had been working on painting a mural on the wall in her bedroom for a solid two months now. Every room in her home had some kind of elaborate mural on one of the walls, and each one telling a story. Most of the paintings on the walls could tell a story about Vinyl and had a piece of her hidden in them.
This particular mural however was her favorite, and had taken her the longest to finish, mostly due to wanting perfection from it. Her inspiration usually came from dreams, but a lot from experiences that came from her day-to-day life.
Vinyl kept her mind focused only on what she was painting while she raised a brush. Making gentle strokes accompanied by small dabs with the brush, she lost herself in her art. She must have spent a solid three days working on only a square foot of wall; doing everything she could to perfect it. Painting from memory was easy; however she was going for realism with this painting.
The first hour of the day for her would be lost to this mural before she ran into a part that she didn’t remember perfectly, and would then take some time to study it so she could come back later. Making a mental note of what needed to be done next, she left her supplies where they lay and finally went on to her morning routine.
She always spent an abnormally long time in the shower, and today was no exception. The extra time was usually wasted on her mane, which she loved. She ordered special shampoos and conditioners from Canterlot every month to use on her mane. Vinyl always wanted to appear stylish to everypony, and her occupation called for her to look her best.
After stepping out of the shower Vinyl gave a quick flick to free her hair from the water that soaked it, the proceeded to the mirror.
The unicorn whittled away fifteen minutes easily while styling her hair. With a quick mist of her expensive hair spray she smiled at herself in the mirror.
“Lookin’ good,” she commented at the attractive unicorn looking back at her.
Throwing her favorite blue and white scarf around her neck, she prepared to go out into the cold. She wasn’t in the mood to cook anything, so a nice café sounded pretty good at that moment. She wasn’t much for breakfast, but she had a weakness for croissants. A cheddar filled croissant and vanilla cappuccino was her breakfast of choice when she was in the mood. It had to be vanilla, it was her favorite flavor. She sometimes would enjoy the taste of French vanilla as well; however this was only on special occasions.
Her mouth watered at the thought of the delicious meal she’d soon be enjoying. She had been having so much fun at the club the other night that she forgot to eat, which wasn’t uncommon; because of this fact, her hunger was even greater.
The mare checked herself over to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. Once she was certain that she had everything she needed, she proceeded out the door.
The warm soothing taste of vanilla and coffee slithered down Vinyl’s throat. A sense of pleasure and comfort washed over her as she enjoyed her favorite drink.
“Perfection…” Vinyl mumbled to herself.
Vinyl brought her croissant to her lips and took the first bite of the delicious treat. The piquant, but savory taste of cheddar cheese filled her mouth, along with the flakey, crispy taste of finely baked dough. Cooing in delight a smile crossed her face. The DJ could think of no better way to start her day, despite how late she was in doing so. She was only glad that most of the cafés in the area served breakfast food throughout a majority of the day.
A familiar young mare entered the café; she glanced around clearly trying to find a certain DJ. Her ingenuity told her that Vinyl Scratch came here often, regardless of the time of day. This was her favorite café out of the three that operated in Ponyville.
The elegant pony seated herself across from Vinyl without a word exchanged between either of them.
Vinyl eyed her ensemble through her shades. She was wearing her usual knitted black scarf, along with her matching black earmuffs. Flakes of snow fell out of her well-kept mane here and there, which amused Vinyl mildly.
The December weather had finally been picking up, and every pony in Equestria was starting to dress accordingly, except for those who were fortunate enough to live further down south, where the temperate didn’t drop too drastically. Vinyl didn’t mind either way, she didn’t truly have a preference for seasons.
“You’re up fairly early; it’s only noon, what are you doing out of bed?” Octavia teased.
“Figured I’d grace you with my presence earlier in the day, so you don’t have to take in the amazingness that is me all at once,” Vinyl spoke between sips of her beverage.
Octavia rolled her eyes at Vinyl’s arrogance.
“I definitely need more time to be able to take you all in…” Octavia remarked.
“I like where this is going,” Vinyl replied with a perverted grin.
Octavia let out a grunt of disgust.
“I swear you have absolutely no decency do you?” she questioned.
“Guess not,” Vinyl shrugged.
“Anyway, I tried to call you earlier, but your phone was off, not that I’m surprised by that though. I have been trying to tell you that the club is closed tonight, Pinkie Pie is having a new light system put into place, and she doesn’t want anypony around while they’re installing it,” Octavia said.
Vinyl frowned at the news.
“Awww, there goes my whole Saturday night…” she sighed.
Octavia rolled her eyes once more.
“Don’t you have anything to do besides play loud music and make a complete fool of yourself?” She raised a brow.
“Of course,” Vinyl commented.
“Like what? The entire time I’ve known you I don’t think you’ve ever told me about anything you enjoy besides loud music, partying and the occasional flirting,” Octavia spoke.
Vinyl took another sip of her coffee before replying with, “I like to paint.”
Octavia’s interest was sparked now.
“You? A painter?” she laughed.
“It’s true. I paint just about every day, it’s one of my second loves right up there with music. I am a mare of many talents,” Vinyl struck a dramatic pose.
“I never pictured you doing anything remotely classy…” Octavia said.
“Well then we’re even, because I can’t imagine you doing anything that isn’t boring, monotonous, or raining on somepony’s parade,” Vinyl remarked.
“Sometimes I think you go out of your way just to irritate me…” Octavia replied.
“Me? Never!” Vinyl sarcastically retorted.
“You’re quite a pain you know that?” Octavia sighed.
“Just for you, sweetheart,” Vinyl smirked.
Octavia only shook her head. There really was no arguing with Vinyl, she was either too clever with her comebacks or completely refused to accept being wrong.
“Sometimes I question why I bother with you…” Octavia said.
“It’s because you know how great I am,” Vinyl smiled.
“A great pain in the tail maybe…” she replied.
“Don’t you think everything is boring Vinyl? Don’t you want a change?” A mysterious dark figure spoke.
Vinyl couldn’t quite see the face of the creature, but it looked like a rather slender looking dark pony. The major difference though was that this creature’s movement was more like a slithering snake than a pony.
The abnormal being seemed to move with the shadows rather than with its hooves. Creeping up behind her it placed a hoof around her neck as it continued.
The being was able to stand out from the empty darkness that surrounded the both of them, despite its jet black appearance. The two of them stood in the vast emptiness of what appeared to be space itself, defying almost every law of physics that Vinyl understood.
“You’ve always been the adventurous type of pony. You’ve always been seeking new opportunities, always been welcoming the unknown…” It whispered.
Vinyl said nothing; she stood unaffected by the creature.
“You’ve always been the rebellious type, the one who stands out from the crowd. You’re a trend setter, not a follower,” it whispered into her other ear.
“I guess so…” Vinyl shrugged.
“You guess so? No my dear, you are truly something divine, something worthy of mention. You’re far greater than you give yourself credit for…” It hissed.
Vinyl let a smile play her lips.
“Well… I am pretty awesome aren’t I?” She said.
“Pretty awesome doesn’t even begin to describe it… You’re phenomenal, a visionary,” it replied.
Vinyl was enjoying the praise she was receiving.
“Well, me and Octavia do a pretty good job at the Unicorn, we’re certainly the main attractions there.” Vinyl praised herself.
“I’d say that you’re the one who deserves more praise,” the creature replied.
“True, I mean Octavia would probably have an emotional breakdown if I wasn’t there to help her out,” Vinyl laughed.
The black creature nodded in agreement with her.
“You’re a unicorn that has the right attitude to get things done. You don’t let anything or anypony hold you back, and that is a trait worth its weight in gold,” the figure whispered.
“Yeah, well I try…” Vinyl shook a hoof in an attempt at a modest gesture.
“And you succeed,” the figure complimented.
Vinyl smiled at the thought, but felt a sense of curiosity overcome her.
“Not for nothing, I mean I appreciate you recognizing how amazing I am and all, but what’s your point?” Vinyl questioned.
The creature snaked around her body and brought its face to meet with Vinyl’s. It had the most bizarre white glowing eyes she had ever seen. The eyes however were just about the only facial feature it had, as the rest of it was just pure darkness.
“I want to help you unlock your potential…” It smiled deviously.
With those words Vinyl Scratch snapped back to reality and out of her dreamland.
These dreams were becoming more and more detailed every night. This had to have been the most surreal one yet.
They had been going on for nearly a month now, and at first Vinyl dismissed them as just some kind of stress coming out in the form of strange dreams. She had been thinking quite extensively about the upcoming holidays, and trivial matters such as seeing her father and what to get Octavia. It was rare for her to be stressed as she normally maintained her usual carefree demeanor.
It hardly bothered her though. Vinyl had always had strange and outlandish dreams since childhood. Her love for art and music had always lead her to having bizarre and wild dreams, though most were not as realistic and relative as the ones she had been experiencing recently.
We were foolish, this contact between the two of them slipped past us. We weren’t as vigilant as we should have been, and for that we apologize.
