I'm not sure if this is legal... (Vinyl Scratch)

[Deleted]

Quill was nervous. As she looked at herself in the mirror, hair neatly combed and a scarf wrapped around her neck, she was trying to remember exactly why she was doing this. She knew her reason, but the more she repeated it, the weaker it sounded. Truth be told, Quill didn't want to go on this blind date.

Ponyville was holding a Hearts and Hooves event where you signed up and they would randomly pair you with another pony. The location and time of the date were also assigned. All Quill knew was the other pony's name and that they were supposed to meet rather conveniently right outside Quill's own shop. She had been matched with a pony named Vinyl Scratch.

The only reason the teenager had signed up was because she wanted to be more sociable. She had lived in Ponyville for over a year and barely knew anypony, and after a certain few events, she decided to change that. But she couldn't just learn how to socialize overnight. The grey pegasus figured a blind date would be a good opportunity to meet somepony one-on-one, and hopefully it wouldn't be too awkward. And that is why she was standing in front of her mirror trying to gather her courage to get through this date.

Finally, she trotted downstairs and slipped out the front door of her shop. She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not when she realized her date had not arrived yet. She ended up feeling mire nervous than anything as she glanced up and down the street, wondering what this pony would look like.

[Vinyl Scratch]

Dating, not really something Vinyl Scratch did with any sort of consistency. It just wasn't really her scene, not her thing, she didn't mesh with it. Of course, that was in Canterlot. Here in Ponyville was a whole different story. It would just be fun here. There wasn't any chance of running into somepony she knew and there was barely any huge press here, just a single newspaper, not nearly as bad as Canterlot's plethora of gossip papers.

In short, she had signed up in seconds when she saw the application for this. She wasn't expecting anything serious. Vinyl really just wanted some excitement and to meet somepony new, something she didn't do nearly often enough.

Sure she met a ton of ponies during her shows but most the time she couldn't remember their names by the end of the week. Sometimes she didn't even remember meeting them, but that was only on the really good nights or the REALLY, really bad nights. So she expected this to be pretty epic in comparison to the nights she spent at home alone, writing music.

But even all her expectations and readiness couldn't stop her from being late, as always. She had only gotten into Ponyville minutes ago before running to the market and wondering who and where her date was. Her name was Quill, how weird was that? It was more of an object than a name...course her own first name was Vinyl, so...nevermind.

She reared up and hopped onto a cart to look around before spotting a mare who had what looked like a quill on her flank. Bingo. Vinyl hopped over and raced to the mare, she was young, just Vinyl's audience! "Hi! Vinyl Scratch, don't suppose you know anypony named Quill?" Vinyl wasn't dressed up or anything, not more than usual at least. She had her shades on, that was it. She never went anywhere without those of course.

[Deleted]

Quill nearly jumped out of her skin when the pony spoke to her. Furthermore, she wasn't quite sure if the mare was calling her Vinyl Scratch or introducing herself. 'Wait...' She thought. 'Isn't my date's name Vinyl Scratch?' Mentally slapping herself for both forgetting and zoning out, she calmed herself enough to answer Vinyl.

"Um...I'm Quill." She paused for a moment, not sure what to say. 'I really do need to socialize more,' she thought with another mental facehoof. "So..." And she stopped again, still unable to find any words.

The teenager really didn't know what she was doing there. She had never been on a date and had barely a clue what went on during one. She shifted her weight nervously from one side to another and back again, sort of looking at the ground, and peeking up at the other mare.

Her date was definitely interesting. She had a pure white coat, perfectly clean and unstained, and a wild two-toned blue mane. The only thing she wore was a pair of purple-tinted sunglasses that Quill supposed were more accurately described as 'shades'. They completely hid Vinyl's eyes and the grey pegasus found herself wondering what color was hiding behind the lenses. She had a grin that showed a lot of teeth, and Quill thought she seemed like a bit of a daredevil.

She noticed this in just the few moments before she managed to speak again. "...Shall we go?"

[Vinyl Scratch]

Ha! Excellent guess Vinyl, thank you Vinyl, I couldn't have done it without your expertise in cutiemark spottery. Oh please, you flatter me, it was clearly your genius that led to this success."

Directly from the mind of Vinyl, she had guessed on the first try! She deserved a celebratory moment of complete insanity inside her own mind. She had earned it. She stared blankly at the mare as she introduced herself. Vinyl could tell this was going to be slow going. The mare didn't trip over her words, but she sure took her time stepping through them.

She was skinny! Of course that could be because the mare was young, but that didn't change the here and now. Her mane was also short, like Vinyl's but no where near the same style, she was obviously way more reserved, like her coloring...for the most part anyways.

"Sure lets go!" she turned on a dime and began trotting off, then stopped and, with a jerk, twisted her head back to Quill "Where are we going again?" Vinyl chuckled a bit "I'm not actually from around here if you hadn't noticed.. Course in a small town like this she might just know Vinyl wasn't from town by looking at her. Wasn't everypony supposed to know everypony in places like this? That sounded right. Though Vinyl knew nothing about normal social lives, that just seemed right. She swore she had heard a song that said something like that.

[Deleted]

"I'm not actually from around here if you hadn't noticed.." Quill blushed a little because, as it happened, she had not noticed. She tried to reassure herself that it wasn't her fault. She was always busy with her store, and she had to write her stories and...

Then she realized that there had been a question. She jumped slightly, startled from her thoughts by...her...thoughts...or something.

"Oh! Um, well, the paper said to meet here and then walk around the market...and I think we have reservations a little later at a cafe down the street from Sugarcube Corner." After she finished speaking, Quill began pondering the lovely shade of red her face must have turned by now. She certainly was doing well on this date so far. She just couldn't wait to see how the rest of the night went.

To her credit, Vinyl Scratch seemed very laid-back. As far as the grey pegasus could tell, the white mare seemed pretty cool. Quill was already intrigued by the mystery of her eyes, but that might have just been her natural curiosity. Still, she knew it would be bothering her somewhat throughout the date; she could probably ignore it. Already she had barely noticed when they began walking.

The younger pony knew this would probably be the most awkward experience of her life. She knew she was bad at being social and she knew she would probably do something horribly, horribly wrong tonight. 'Still,' She thought, 'Practice makes perfect!'

[Vinyl Scratch]

A cafe?! Vinyl never went to cafes, they always seemed to be closed when she woke up. That or it only served coffee, which she was happy to have of course. It would just be nice if they were still serving pancakes to go with the coffee. Was it too much to ask for a breakfasty place to not close until 5 in the afternoon? Maybe even 3 in the afternoon, if she was waking up early.

Vinyl's smile stayed glued to her face. The girl's face seemed pretty hilarious she was blushing. It was just a date, nothing serious. It was even less serious now that Vinyl knew that her date was so much younger than her. Of course, if Quill didn't mind that it'd get awkward pretty fast. Vinyl hadn't been planning on breaking any hearts tonight or even disappointing anypony. She had been planning on having an excellent time though!

"I've got a good bit of bits to spend on this. We can make you less skinny.~" Vinyl gave Quill a poke in the ribs. She really was a tiny thing. Not that anything was wrong with skinny, she made it look fine, Vinyl just thought she looked like she could use a bit to eat. Not to mention it gave Vinyl an excuse to eat a whole bunch from some cafe she had never been to and hopefully full of ponies that didn't know her.

Typically the latter wasn't a problem but every once in a while she'd walk in some place and half the ponies in the room would be staring at her. It was hard to eat with all that pressure. Usually when it happened she ended up getting in trouble after doing something crazy to sate all her...fans? Groupies?

Either way, Vinyl expected this meal to be less...loud, wild, exciting and she thought it was safe to assume there probably wouldn't include a small gas explosion this time around. That was just speculation though. Anything could happen. "So...you have any idea what there is to do in this glorious market Quill? I've never been to one." Vinyl usually got her food at a bar or restaurant. If it wasn't either of those it was only snacks one would get at a convenience store.

[Deleted]

Quill was blushing a lot tonight.

It wasn't that it was crush-blushing (as one might do when near a pony one has a crush on), but rather embarrassment- or discomfort-blushing. Embarrassment because she barely knew more about this town than this pony did, and Vinyl had apparently arrived just recently. Discomfort, for the obvious reason that she was just not used to being in social situation of this sort. Or of any sort, for that matter. She hoped that Vinyl wasn't misunderstanding the blushing or something. Not to say Vinyl was unattractive, but she was much too old for Quill. This would probably just be some sort of hanging out or something. Probably why they had placed the two in a somewhat casual setting.

"I've got a good bit of bits to spend on this. We can make you less skinny.~" She squealed as the unicorn poked her. The teen was quite a bit more ticklish than she was ever willing to admit, and she hoped the other mare hadn't picked up on that. She looked down at herself. She knew she was pretty skinny, but it wasn't really her fault. She just forgot to eat...a lot...

"Uh, w-well, I think the dinner is paid for. And, um...I don't really go out very much, so...I guess we could just walk until we see something cool?" She hoped she wasn't disappointing her date, even though it might have been a little late for that. Vinyl had probably been expecting a full-grown pony, not a scrawny little teenager. Plus, she had probably been hoping for somepony who knew where they were going when they were supposed to be walking around town for like, an hour. At least it wasn't as bad as disappointing her parents had been.

But she shoved those thoughts away. She didn't want to seem depressed from thinking about her parents. This was a date and she was going to do her best to at least have fun.

[Vinyl Scratch]

She sqeaks!! That was absolutely adorable and hilarious. Vinyl had to hold in her laughter. She didn't do it very well though. It was pretty obvious that Vinyl had found the squeal amazingly funny. That, along with the blushing was making this date heaps of fun already. Well, maybe not heaps, but the potential for heaps of fun was there! If this Mare would just loosen up a bit, she seemed a bit nervous, which confused Vinyl, had she been expecting a really serious romantic date? Vinyl hoped not, because she never had even considered the possibility.

"Come on! Don't ya live here?" Vinyl teased her. Now the nervousness made a bit more sense. This mare seemed to be a pretty close opposite to what Vinyl had been as a teenager. Where as Vinyl had been rowdy and extremely social, this mare seemed to be withdrawn. Who didn't know what to do in their own home town?

Vinyl guessed it would be up to herself to start the conversation or let them walk around in silence before they actually found or figured out something to do. "Well...what do you do?" she paused then continued, "Well, first of all, what's your job? Second of all, what do you do when you're not on the job." there, that was a nice and easy question. Of course...she was only a teenager, she might not have a job. Vinyl hadn't thought about that.

Too late now. Well, she could always answer first! She quickly piped up before Quill was able to answer. "I," she started, "am the best D.J. in all of Canterlot!" she shouted that part, she was proud of it after all. "If you ever find yourself in Canterlot, I'll be at one of the parties, probably the big one. You should swing by~."

[Deleted]

"Come on! Don't ya live here?" Quill flinched and glanced up at the white mare sheepishly. She was still trying to convince herself that there were reasons why she didn't know much about Ponyville.

"W-well, I've really only lived here for a little less than a year..." She trailed off and the silence quickly grew awkward. Finally, to Quill's relief, the unicorn decided to speak first.

"Well...what do you do?" However, the question was quickly revised to, "Well, first of all, what's your job? Second of all, what do you do when you're not on the job." The teen paused for a moment, restraining her initial impulse to launch into her pre-prepared spiel about quills. She was about to give her refined and much shorter answer when Vinyl decided she had been quiet for too long again.

"I am the best D.J. in all of Canterlot!" The reserved pegasus flinched as the mare beside her shouted. She was beginning to question the purpose of certain parts of the application she had been required to fill out for this blind date. Namely, the 'dislikes' section, where she had specifically written, "loud ponies."

"If you ever find yourself in Canterlot, I'll be at one of the parties, probably the big one. You should swing by~." Although Quill didn't like loud parties, she was still intrigued. Why would she leave Canterlot if she had it so good there? Why would she come to Ponyville, of all places? However, she decided those questions could wait momentarily while she answered the one posed to her in the first place.

"R-really? Wow, that's really cool. I mostly don't like parties, but it must be really great to be able to get up in front of a crowd and not feel like you're going to faint." She paused and cleared her throat. 'Answer the question, Quill,' She thought, 'before you make yourself look like more of a fool.' She coughed lightly into her hoof before continuing.

"Well, I...I make quills. I actually run that quill shop we met at. When the shop's not open, I mostly read or...or write." She halfway mumbled the last part, a little reluctant to share that she was a writer for fear that this pony would ask to see her work. Quill was quite reluctant to let ponies read her unfinished work--it wasn't good enough.

[Vinyl Scratch]

"New in town, eh?" Vinyl said, looking back at the teen. "I know the feeling, I travel around from town to town to play my music sometimes." though those parties had a much higher chance of getting too wild for even Vinyl to handle. Of course she didn't mind it getting that wild but the local authorities usually had some silly 'noise laws' or said she was 'disturbing the peace' or was 'assaulting an officer.' it was always stupid stuff like that.

She loved DJ'ing, it was probably why she had never had a problem with crowds. They were always her crowds. It might be different if the crowd turned against her, but she was good at her job so that hadn't happened as of yet. The crowd loved her and she loved them even more than that. They were practically her best friends....she had a lot of best friends.

"You write? That's awesome!" Vinyl said, spinning around from her spot in front of Quill to face her. "I write too!...I mean, I write music but its sorta kinda similar!" they both kinda told stories. Vinyl's stories were just a bit more...abstract. "I mean, there is a pretty big difference, but still!"

She paused, maybe that line of thought was just a dead end. "Anyways, it's not too hard to not faint in front of a crowd...not when they all are cheering for you anyways, it feels really, really, good actually." she turned back to one of the tables, it had some really nice and bright colored fruit on it that she looked at intensely. "So do you shop here? The grub looks preeeetty nice."

Vinyl loved food. It was one of her many, many, many weaknesses. They including loving parting, drinking, staying up late and even more! First and foremost though, was good food. She didn't get that much, spending most of hey days indoors and spending her nights in clubs didn't really include time for restaurants...ever, so she was sorta stuck with bar food and ramen noodles most the time. "I might come back here some time for some shopping even, is all the food round here so...fresh?"

[Deleted]

Quill nodded as Vinyl talked. Although most ponies would disagree, the young pegasus did see a link between writing music and writing stories. And more importantly, she was starting to feel a little more comfortable. Falling into a groove, one might say.

"Oh, uh, actually I do sometimes. It's all pretty good food. Vinyl was looking hungry, and Quill was starting to feel it too. Had she eaten today? She tried to think back through her day.

Okay, I woke up, took a shower, combed my hair, I think I might have grabbed some hay...

"...is all the food round here so...fresh?" Startled from her thoughts, Quill needed a moment to focus on what the other pony was saying. After a moment, her brain caught up.

"Oh! Um, yeah. I think most of the vendors around here grow all of their stuff, or at least most of it. Like Sweet Apple Acres is just outside of town, over that way. She pointed in a direction where hills could be seen rising above the buildings. There were apple trees covering the hills. Feeling a little more confident and comfortable now, Quill decided it was time to turn some questions on the white unicorn.

"So, Vinyl. You're from Canterlot, right? Or did you come from somewhere else and move there?

[Vinyl Scratch]

Sweet Apple Acres? Wasn't that the place zap apple jam was made? Vinyl was also pretty sure she had heard that they have great cider but she had never actually been around to try it so she couldn't vouch. Still, all this food was cool. Canterlot was on a mountain so it had to have all of its food brought in or grown personally in tiny little gardens. Of course, that didn't include the richer ponies who could afford entire courtyards, but they usually used those to...look nice rather than grow food.

Well, you could eat rose gardens technically, but they were thorny. You could also probably eat a lot of the other stuff they grew if you could avoid groundskeepers and stay unseen. Fresher food probably wasn't worth being dragged away by royal guards though, so even Vinyl probably wouldn't try it. Besides, getting in trouble with the rich folk was no fun unless it was too their face and they gave those ridiculous 'I say' faces.

"Yep! I'm from Canterlot, it's really cool for my music and the city is all full of ponies all the time." She thought back to her shows, that was when she had the most fun. Of course she never minded being in the audience either. "There's always something going on somewhere in the city. You just have to know where to look and I like that because I definitely know where to look." she smiled "Of course, its pretty easy for me cuz half the time I'm the one making things happen, but going to shows is almost as fun as preforming at them! Sometimes it's even better."

[Deleted]

Vinyl seemed rather fond of Canterlot. Quill began to wonder why the unicorn had moved to Ponyville. After all, the majority of the parties here were thrown by that one pink pony who sometimes worked the counter at Sugarcube Corner. And it wasn't like they were subtle or anything, since she invited literally everypony in town to almost every single one. But maybe that part didn't really matter to Vinyl, and she just liked the parties themselves. The young pegasus wasn't too fond of them herself, and often found herself creating excuses to not go.

Quill looked around as they moved through the market place. The crowd that had gathered to purchase groceries wasn't enough to make her uncomfortable, but it wasn't exactly small. She was actually feeling quite energized by the low hum of activity around them--she was walking with something of a spring to her step and there was definitely a smile upon her face. She felt comfortable with the silence between herself and Vinyl, but she guessed that the party pony would not be.

"That sounds really interesting. Back in Cloudsdale, we had a neighbor who would sometimes have his music turned up full blast until the break of dawn. It made it kind of hard to sleep sometimes, and it made my parents really angry. Between that and me, there wasn't a lot of time they weren't angry!" She laughed to herself, in too cheerful a mood and far too proud of herself for being comfortable in a social situation to let the memories of her past bring her down.

[Vinyl Scratch]

She was finally smiling. It was about time too. Vinyl had begun to think that Quill was going to be a total bummer. Well, not exactly a bummer...just...not fun. Which, to Vinyl, was pretty much a bummer since she was used to all crazy, all the time, around the clock. Of course she wasn't expecting anything like that from Quill, that would just be stupid. It was pretty obvious that she wasn't a huge party goer. Vinyl's first hint had been that she walked out of a quill shop.

"Your neighbor sounds interesting." of course that was only because the neighbor sounded a lot like her. Her parents also sounded a lot like Vinyl's neighbors...and her own parents, but that was a whole 'nother story and Vinyl wasn't one to bring them up in a casual conversation anyways. "Cloudsdale sounds so cool! I wish I had wings...course it'd be hard to DJ without magic...but still, it'd be cool for a few days at least"

Of course she would eventually get tired of not being able to play her music, but that would take a while since she'd be able to get to every club quick...thanks to being able to fly, which would be SO. AWESOME. She could see herself soaring over... everything!! Then again, she'd either need a straw or learn how to lift drinks with hooves. She wasn't sure her lips were strong enough to lift an entire bottle. She knew she wouldn't be able to lift anything that didn't have a bottle shape.

"My parents were usually pretty angry at me too...of course they were angry at me for being the one playing extremely loud music, so it's a bit different." she laughed. "The folks can be so uptight, right?"