A twist of perception

[Hurricane]

The ringing of the alarm filled the room with its cacophany of noise, instantly rousing the dreaming unicorn from her slumber. The sheets around her rustled as she shifted her position, glaring at the bell-topped clockwork device, trying to focus her eyes on the time displayed on it. 3:45. This made the sleepy filly sigh to herself, it meant either she had overslept, and had missed her chance to spend the day with Lotus and Aloe tending to her every need, or she had only gone to sleep an hour ago, and her alarm was broken again. She glanced to her window, and to her chagrin found that it was the former, and she had only half an hour to shower and prepare herself for what was, given her pounding headache, going to be a hellish day. The pony flipped herself out of bed, and trotted to the washroom. One quick soaking later, she was dried, and, with the magic from her horn setting her hair and goggles in place, Vinyl Scratch, the best DJ in Ponyville, was ready for her bad day to start.

-----

"Rarity, stop it! Please, just come back down!" the voice of Twilight Sparkle could be heard as Vinyl trotted along the grassy streets of the town, causing the DJ to turn, her itnerest piqued by the likelihood of shenanigans that seemed to follow the purple unicorn wherever she went. As it turned out, Rarity, the owner of the Carousel Boutique, had stolen Twilight's balloon, and was even now floating up into the sky.

"No! Never! I'm not coming back down to ground! It's so... dirty! Mud everywhere! Ponies who don't even wash their hooves before shaking yours! Germs! Filth! APPLEJACK!" came the reply, the cleanly unicorn's voice ragged, as though she had been under some severe stress.

"Whut in tarnation dya suppose she means by that?" Applejack, the orange earth pony asked the little collection of ponies that had an affinity to the Elements of Harmony. This question was rather silly, considering that she currently looked as though she had been fighting a mud wrestling bout against the mud itself, with a thick layer of grime smeared all down her coat. Vinyl shook her head as she passed by the scene, she had more important things to worry about. Like trying to fix the problem she had been out drinking all night to avoid.

-----

In the dark, echoey hall of the club Hot to Trot, there should have been no soul around. However, Vinyl knew as she pushed the back door open that someone was inside. Someone who was waiting just for her. Someone very, very angry. Glancing around the back offices, she could find no trace of the pony she had come to see, but, as she headed closer to the public area of the club, she heard it. A light, plinking sound, a metallic but very delicate noise, one that could have only been generated by one thing. Pushing the door to the stage open slowly, she glanced out onto the stage to see Lyra, the cyan-coloured musician, sat in the centre, her eyes closed as she played a slow, minor key lament upon her lyre. Vinyl couldn't help but let out a noiseless whimper as she listened to the song, knowing in her heart that what she was about to do would likely destroy the chance for her to hear the music ever again. As the song finished, she walked slowly onto the stage, her head dipped low.

"Oh... it's you. You're late," Lyra stated, her tone one of quiet aggression. It was clear she was holding back her rage, unable to look at the DJ or her multi-coloured mane for more than a few seconds before turning away in disgust. Vinyl held up a hoof, but Lyra snapped back at her.

"Save it! I don't want to know what you want to say. I don't care! I just want you to know how much pain you're putting me through. How much anguish, how much... it doesn't just... you can't... ARRRGH! Get out of my damn sight, Vinyl. Just leave! I can't do this," she said, turning away from the other unicorn, whose expression was one of pain, fear, and, above all, sadness. She knew she had done wrong, but she couldn't even express it to Lyra how she felt.

-----

Seconds drifted by, but they felt like hours to Vinyl. In that time, she pondered everything she had done. She and Lyra had been close friends since Elementary, and over the years, their mutual love of music had developed into something a little more personal. It had taken Vinyl a while to confess to the classical music lover how she felt, partly because she had never been able to talk. The unicorn had been mute since birth, and used music as a way of expressing herself, but nothing she had ever heard had come close to how she felt about Lyra. But, of course, as relationships rise, they can also fall, and the two ponies had always fought hoof and tail about this and that, classical vs modern, instrument vs machine, the debates had always raged, and, the previous night, Vinyl had finally snapped, and, in her irritation, had lashed out at Lyra, her hoof catching rather nastily against the pony's eye. Even now, as she stared at the love of her life, she couldn't help but focus on the huge bruise around her eye, and about the fact that she had caused it.

-----

"Why are you still here, I said leave!" Lyra snapped suddenly, tears welling up in her eyes as she glared at the DJ, who slowly shook her head. She paced towards the sobbing pony, her every step echoing around the vast, empty hall, until she was stood next to her. With tears forming in her own eyes, she dipped her head down, and, with the gentlest touch, licked at the bruised skin. This made Lyra flinch backwards.

"N..no! You don't get to... you can't just come up to me and do something sweet and just make everything better! You don't have that right anymore, Vinyl!" Lyra croaked, her whole body shaking as she stared at the white pony. Vinyl nodded her head glumly, and rested back on her haunches. She began to move her front legs in vague shapes, using a technique known as Hoof language.

'Please. Let me show you how sorry I am' she signed, before pulling up her goggles, to give the pony the chance to see her in earnest, to see that she was trying her very best to atone for her terrible mistake. Lyra looked deep into those eyes, those pure, dazzling amethyst orbs, and her expression softened, ever so slightly. Slowly, she stood, and began to head to the front door, leaving Vinyl sat on the stage, her head hung low.

"Tomorrow. Five o clock. We are going to the library. You are going to tell Celestia's student, and then, you're going to take a punishment for hitting me," she said softly, halting at the door to glance back at the DJ. "If you can accept what they deem a suitable punishment, I might be able to find a way to forgive you," she said, pushing the door open. Without another glance back, she trotted through it, kicking it closed with a hoof. Vinyl's head pounded as she took this in, before she grinned. She had a chance!