A beam of light shone through a window right onto Cross’ face. The sun was up and, now, so was he. He didn’t want to get up. He had one foreleg draped over the side of his couch, for it was too small to accommodate his size. The colt had slept on it the night before due to the absence of his bed. His head seemed to weigh a ton, as did the rest of his body. The pegasus didn’t have the strength to lift himself from the couch to start his day, but he wasn’t worried. He had nowhere to be anyway. Groaning, he made an attempt to open his eyes, having turned himself away from the sun. No use. He laid there a while, mustering the strength to try again. ‘Okay...’ he thought. ‘on three...’ he turned to face upward again. ‘One... two... three!’ he threw his forelegs skyward and lifted his head but to no avail. The rest of him didn’t give, they just fell back down again. The morning grogginess had come out on top, as it usually does. Slowly, Cross felt himself slipping away. The warm sunlight from the window began to comfort him, instead of keep him awake, giving yet another reason to stay. Cloudiness reigned in his mind, the fog of sleepiness spread throughout until there was nothing. Nothing but quiet... and serenity...

Cross suddenly found himself back at the party from the night before, standing with Vinyl behind the turntables. She turned to him and spoke, “Hey, hotshot. You got some pretty slick moves.”

“You’re not too bad yourself.” Cross responded. A strange familiarity graced to the situation graced him.

“Y’know, I could probably use some help moving my gear back to my place after this. Sometimes if I carry it all with my magic I get a headache. Can you lend me a hoof?” a short smile grew on her face.

“Sure thing. It doesn’t look too heavy.” he gestured a hoof toward the equipment.

“Thanks, man.” Vinyl held her hoof out and Cross gave her a brohoof. To his surprise, she pulled him in for a hug. It was short, but Cross took the time to enjoy it. Her coat was soft to the touch, and her mane luscious (which was interesting, seeing as how it was spiked, was it her natural manestyle?). Her scent was sweet and alluring; she smelled of... haycakes.
Haycakes?

“Hey, do you smell hay-”

“I made you breakfast!” Vinyl chirped.

“Uh... what?”

“I always make haycakes for my new friends!” she put on a large smile, like Twilight’s. “Get up, get up!” the colt felt an invisible hoof prodding his chest, and in an instant, everything was gone. The party, the equipment, Vinyl, they were all gone. Instead, Pinkie was standing over him.

“Yay, you’re awake!” Pinkie beamed down at him.

“What are you doing in my house, Pinkie? There’s a little something called boundaries.” Cross was irritated, as anyone who’d just been woken up would be.

“The door was open so I let myself in...” she looked down at the floor for a second, then looked back at him with a smile. “But I made you breakfast!” Of course she could just walk in, nopony has locks, for nopony uses keys. How could they? Having hooves made it extremely difficult. Cross sighed, he didn’t feel like arguing.

“Fine. Just... put ‘em over there.” the pegasus gestured to the kitchen in the corner of the room, whilst keeping his free hoof draped over his face. The sun didn’t seem so comforting anymore.

“Okie-dokie-lokie!” the mare took her haycakes to the kitchen and set them down. “I brought you some orange juice and syrup to go with your haycakes!”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks.” The colt groaned. Pinkie just stared at him with her head high, chest out, and grinning ear to ear, which was pretty big since ponies’ ears are on top of their heads. “Yes. Thank you. You may leave now.”

“Okay! Buh-bye!” The bubbly mare bounced off and out of Cross’ flat.

“Ugh..” The cobalt pegasus was still lying on his couch, still groggy and still completely unwilling to get up. “These ponies are great and all, but I think there’s bit of a privacy issue going on here.”

After another twenty or so minutes, Cross finally gathered the strength to drag himself off the couch and onto the floor. And, eventually, he was standing. The haycakes were the center of his focus for he wanted food. He made his way into the kitchen and sat down at the table, with the haycakes lying in front of him. Time seemed to slow as he ate in silence. The crunchy haycakes with the viscous, sweet syrup seemed to be the perfect combination. With the house quiet all throughout, Cross saw it in a different light, for yesterday’s events hadn’t allowed him time enough to feel at ease. The colt allowed his mind to float off, as he continued to eat almost unknowingly. When suddenly, a loud THUD! from the door broke his pseudo-trance. An unintelligible, muffled voice emerged from the other end.

“You gotta be kidding me. Ugh-- NOBODY’S HOME!” The voice responded, this time a bit louder, but still unintelligible. Cross begrudgingly stood and made his way over to the door and opened it, to find a familiar grey mare on the other side. What was her name? Dippy? “Oh. Hey.”

“Hi! Hello!” A dopey smile spread across her face. “I- uh- sorry about your door...” Cross turned to the door and noticed a crack in it, along with a bit of blonde hair and some feathers.

“Uh... Yeah. You should probably be a little more careful.” The cobalt pony was well aware of her ‘condition,’ so he tried not to be rude.

“Sorry... Anyway, you got some mail, Mister!” She stuck her muzzle into a satchel hanging from her neck and pulled out a letter. Cross looked it over and furrowed his brow.

“That says, “BonBon” on it.” Ditzy frowned and gave an apology that Cross couldn’t understand because of the letter in her mouth. She replaced it and grabbed another, this time with the correct name on it. “Thanks.” The colt said as he gripped it between his teeth.

“Buh-bye, Mister!” Said the mare as she fluttered skyward and flew off, just barely avoiding a nearby tree.

Cross shook his head as he returned inside. He set down the letter on the counter next to his breakfast and decided to deal with it later. He just wanted to finish eating and explore the town some more. Which is just what he did.

The day was warm and sunny. The town was buzzing with activity. Everywhere he looked, Cross saw somepony doing something. Carrot Top was tending her garden, the fillies and foals were at play, Applejack was selling apples, and Lyra was... sitting again? Is that all she does?

As the colt passed by Applejack’s cart, a little yellow filly rushed toward him and shouted, “BUY SOME APPLES!” The pegasus was so startled he nearly fell over.

“Uh... no thanks?” He said, not sure of how he should respond to the filly’s strange behavior.

Applejack approached and said, “Sorry, Sugarcube.” She gently coerced the filly back to the cart. “Applebloom’s been actin’ a might strange lately.” She gestured a hoof toward Applebloom, whom Cross assumed was Applejack’s sister. The filly had begun twirling round and round, muttering something about spin classes. “How ‘bout you just run along now and here, have an apple.” Applejack hoofed over a fresh, red apple and turned to tend to Applebloom.

“Yeah, thanks.” He said, and trotted off, wanting to put as much distance between the crazy filly and himself as possible.

The pegasus began wandering the streets of Ponyville once again. Almost aimlessly, but not quite. He was intentionally heading in the direction of The Omni, for he still wanted to visit, but he was taking as many detours and roundabouts as possible. The colt wasn’t sure what to do about the situation with Vinyl that he so skillfully handled the night before so he used his time wandering to think. Sure, she’d definitely still give him work at the club, but that’s not what he was worried about. The real issue was how to show Vinyl he’s interested, without making a fool of himself again. Clearly, she too was interested in him, judging by her flirtatious behavior. However, due to a handful of mistakes he’d made, he very well may have ruined his chance. But she was too special, too unique to pass up. Vinyl was pretty much everything Cross wanted. Everything. Maybe he could just be honest with her? Just tell her straight up... No. That wouldn’t work. It’s not Cross’ style and frankly, it’s almost a little weird. He barely knows her, but he feels that way regardless. Even so, that doesn’t guarantee that she feels as strongly as he does, so being completely straight probably won’t end well. ‘Where am I even at?’

Cross made a sudden realization about where he was, and it was that he didn’t know. Twilight hadn’t taken him to that part of town the day before. His surroundings had faded from colorful, friendly homes and ponies to dark, dingy, and empty. Nopony was around, and the sun was beginning to set. He’d rolled out of bed-- er, couch-- a bit later than he’d thought.

“I didn’t know small towns like this even had slums.” He said to himself. Of course, the colt had been in unfriendly neighborhoods plenty of times before, and wasn’t unaccustomed to them, for Canterlot had its fair share as well. He continued a bit more slowly, and definitely more aware of his surroundings.

The pegasus heard the occasional stray dog, or feral cat, some yelling in the distance. The expected ambiance of an area such as that. To his left, a door suddenly flung open and out came a familiar pony, she seemed to be struggling to carry a suitcase on her back with a couple more floating behind her. She stumbled and fell to the ground, dropping all the luggage in tow. Two more boxes flew out of the door and landed beside her, followed by some shouting, then the door slammed shut. After a moment, Cross walked over to the mare, nervously. That electric blue mane and alabaster coat undeniably belonged to the one he so admired. She had her back turned to him, trying to gather up her belongings that had spilled from the boxes.

When Cross got within a few feet of her, Vinyl said without turning, “Listen beatnick, I know your type and if you so much as touch me, you’re going to find walking to be much more difficult.”

“Uh-- No, Vinyl, it’s- it’s me.” Cross stuttered a bit, afraid not only of what she’ll think he’s doing there, but also of what she might do to him.

The mare looked back at him for a moment, “Oh. Hey.” then she turned back to continue floating various items back into their rightful places. “What’re you doin’ here?”

“Well, I was just walkin’ around when I saw what happened. You okay?”

“Welp, yeah. I’m fine I guess, considering I uh... don’t really have a place to live anymore.”

The colt was a little surprised. “You mean, you live here?”

“Lived, and yeah. Don’t sound so impressed.”

“I just... why? A DJ’s salary is typically pretty decent, especially if you work a club every night.” Cross explained.

“Yeah, I kinda know that. But a club can’t really pay you if they aren’t making money either. Nopony ever goes there anymore. That’s why I made up that spell, I was hoping that maybe ponies would start to enjoy the music again and come back. But it seems like ever since the Changelings attacked Canterlot, everypony’s been settlin’ down and doin’ their own thing. The club scene kinda died down.” Vinyl finished repacking her things, and latched her boxes and suitcases closed.

“So... what? You’ve been living here for a couple years then?” Cross asked.

“Nah, I used to live with my... friend, Octavia, and we had a nice place on the other side of town. She and I would get work wherever and pool the money to pay bills and stuff. After the club stopped getting business I would just get gigs outside of town and she’d help pay to get me there and back. But then we kinda got into it once, and sorta gave each other the silent treatment for a while. Then she got discovered or whatever, and left to be a cellist in the Royal Canterlot Symphony...” Cross saw something move down Vinyl’s cheek, but it was dark so he couldn’t quite tell what it was. He had a feeling he knew, though. “So uh... yeah. That was that. I couldn’t afford to keep going in and out of town for gigs anymore, then I couldn’t afford to pay the bills, so I had to move out here and rent this place... I lived off doing house parties every now and then when I could.”

“Wait, what about last night? Did you get paid for that?”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t enough. I already had too much debt piled up. So, the boss man took what I earned last night and kept my furniture as payment, and gave me the boot. And now here we are...” She sighed, and her ears fell. “I uh... should get going.” Vinyl started down the street slowly, with her belongings floating behind her.

Cross was dumbfounded at what he’d just heard. That, and he felt terrible for her. But the colt had an idea. A crazy, stupid idea. It’d never work. Not a chance. Don’t even say it. No. Don’t do it--

“Wait!” he shouted, Vinyl stopped and looked back, her head hanging low. “You could uh... stay with me.”

Author's Note

Some more references here, but I guess they'll be in every chapter. Anyway, super big thanks to my prereader, The5Pieces, who, even after this long, is still by my side!