The Line Between Business and Pleasure

The next afternoon, the Scratch cousins made their way through town to the offices of Sunrise Records, the label founded and owned by Golden Record. Once they reached the skyscraper that housed said office and the attached studio, the two unicorns ascended halfway up the building in an elevator.

Once one stepped out of the elevator on the correct floor, they walked straight into the reception room. There wasn't much space there, as most of the square footage available was set aside for the recording studio. Score lit up his echolocation magic to make his way through the room.

"Hello Vinyl," the receptionist, a light green Earth mare greeted, "Hello Score." She said the second part with a bit of a lower, silkier voice. Score could tell, of course, but chose to ignore it. He was here on business after all.

"Is Sweetie Belle already here," he asked, totally serious.

"Uh, yes," the receptionist answered, a bit put off that her flirting was ignored, "she got here 10 minutes ago, right on time."

"Good. We'll be going now."

Score led the way as the two unicorns went through a doorway into a narrow hallway. The stallion quickly found the door to the sound room and opened it.

"Hey Scratches," a black-and-brown Earth stallion said as they walked in, "what's shakin'?"

"Yo, Spin," Vinyl greeted in return. Lyric Spin and Vinyl hoofbumped.

"So how's it going," Lyric asked before getting cut off.

"Quiet," Score said from the other side of the switchboard that took up the majority of the room, "I can already hear her."

He was right, of course. Sweetie Belle was standing in the adjourning room, right next to the single microphone, warming up her vocal chords. Although they weren't recording yet, the microphone was live, and thus could be heard from the main room.

Score magically removed his glasses and took a seat right on the floor. With his eyes closed and his face pointed straight ahead, the other two ponies in the room got silent real fast. Anypony who knew Score at all knew that when he was intently listening to music, it was not smart to break his concentration.

Most ponies, even those who listened to music for a living, wouldn't give a second thought to a singer warming up. But Score was not most ponies. He could often tell just from the simple scales and arpeggios that were being sung how good the pony would sound when they were belting it out.

"I'm ready when you are," Sweetie said into the microphone.

"Just a moment," Lyric replied, quickly moving a couple of the sliders on the soundboard, kicking in the background music and pressing the Record button, "OK, we're recording."

Sweetie Belle began to sing. At first, it didn't seem like much, a pop song, not Score's favorite genre, but it fit well with who she was. Score barely even recognized the song anyway, mostly because he didn't pay attention to song lyrics. He was always too enamored with the beat and melody, and lyrics usually got in the way of hearing those things.

However, as Sweetie made it to the chorus, Score understood why she had chosen this particular song. The chorus showed off her range, the range that Score had theorized that she had, but now was on full display. She could sing the low notes of an alto, while hitting high notes that some sopranos dare not touch. But the best part, to Score anyway, was that the range didn't seem forced. It seemed to come naturally to her, as if it took no effort, which he knew was no easy task to pull off.

There was another feature of Sweetie's singing that Score found most intriguing. If there was one thing Score couldn't stand, it was what he called 'unnecessary notes'. Some pop singers put too much vibratto, or warble, into notes. More still had this bad habit of holding notes out for extended periods of time, as if it was some sort of achievement to hold a note for more than four counts. Sweetie did neither of these, she didn't have to. Her singing was so pure, so effortless, with nary a missed note or anything that sounded out of place.

When she finished, Score didn't stop listening. He was so focused that he was now dissecting the sound of nothing, the sound of empty air, as he pulled every sound wave of Sweetie's singing into his ears. Normally, Vinyl would snap her cousin out of his trance, but not this time.

Eventually, when he felt he had heard as much as he could hear at the present moment, Score shot his eyes open, revealing the blood red irises that almost nopony knew he possessed. He blinked a few times before turning to face Vinyl and Lyric.

"Sign her," he said simply, "sign her this very instant."

"Wish I could, bro," Lyric replied, "but you know only Golden can actually ink contracts."

"Don't care. Get him on the phone. If she walks out of here without a deal, I will quit."

"OK then," Lyric made for the door, "I hope I can reach him."

With the Earth pony gone, Vinyl just looked at her cousin with curiosity.

"That good, huh," the DJ asked.

"That good."

"At a loss for words?"

"You know it happens sometimes."

"I know, cuz."

"Hey," it was Sweetie Belle, still standing in the other room, "do you want me to do another take, or what?"

Vinyl ambled up to the mic in the main room, "No, that's good Sweetie. Come on around here."

Taking the invitation, Sweetie left the sound room and came around to the main room. She ambled in to find Score still sitting there in a state of mesmerization.

"So," the singer asked, "how did I sound?"

"Really good," Vinyl answered with a nod.

"Really good," Score echoed, dumbfounded, as he magically placed his glasses back on, "The Canterlot Philharmonic Orchestra is really good. Sweetie Belle, she is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard."

Now Vinyl was a little stunned.

"Really," Sweetie almost squeaked.

"I don't say those words lightly," Score replied, "I told Lyric to call Golden Record. If you walk out of here without a contract, I will quit as his consultant."

"Well you don't have to go that far," Sweetie said sheepishly.

"Yeah, he kinda does," Vinyl explained, "You see, if you didn't pick it up yesterday when you two ran into each other, Score is blind. He has never seen anything in his life. Having him say that something is the most beautiful thing he has ever heard is the equivalent of anypony else saying something is the most beautiful thing they have ever seen."

This little factoid caused Sweetie to blush.

"Exactly," Score said, reacting to Vinyl's explanation.

"Yo, Score," it was Lyric popping his head back in the door, "got Golden on the phone, he wants to talk to you."

"Excuse me," Score said as he passed by Vinyl and Sweetie, following Lyric into the front office.

"So," Sweetie said to the only other pony in the room, "Score is your cousin?"

"Yep," Vinyl answered, "he's been staying with me these past two weeks."

"He really knows music, doesn't he?"

"His blindness enhanced his hearing sense. His hearing is so acute that he can hear somepony whispering all the way across a hoofball field. His magic is tuned to it, too."

"So how did he get this job?"

"Oh, Golden and I go way back. I told him about Score's abilities, and he asked if my cousin would be interested in working as a consultant, doing mainly what he just did now. It allows Golden to travel around more, do more PR, which is what he's really good at, and more promotion. Trust me, Sweetie, Score is going to get you signed to this label, and you will not be sorry."

The door opened again to reveal Score standing there.

"Talked to Golden," he said, "He'll write up the contract when he gets back from Las Pegasus in a few days. By this time next week, Sweetie will be signed to a contract, and then the work can begin."

"Thank you," Sweetie exclaimed, rushing up to Score and giving him a hug, one that Score wasn't exactly prepared for. He had to use his magic to hold himself up, lest he get toppled.

"No need to thank me," Score replied once he had recovered and Sweetie had let go, "After all, as Vinyl would say, you were the one who did the actual work."

"Sweetie," Vinyl spoke up, "you gonna be here awhile?"

"Well," the songstress answered, "I've got nothing going on the rest of the day, so I don't know."

"Wait here a minute. Score, a word?"

The cousins walked into the adjourning room, which was soundproof, of course. With the mic off, nopony could hear their conversation.

"What do you need, cuz," Score asked, looking in a random direction.

"Go for it."

"What?"

"Ask her to dinner, you know you want to."

"What about Vinyl dating rule number one," the stallion asked sarcastically.

"Technically, you aren't working together yet. And, well, like I said last night, I don't want to keep you from something just because it might not be what I would do. So we're gonna go back in there and you're gonna ask her out."

"I don't know, Vinyl. What if she's not interested?"

"Cuz, you couldn't see her, of course, but when you were going on about her singing, she was totally blushed out. Plus, we talked while you were dealing with Golden. She's at least interested in you, if not outright attracted to you. What have you got to lose?"

"Nothing, I suppose. OK."

The two unicorns returned to the recording room, where Lyric was explaining various things about the soundboard to Sweetie. The both turned their attention to the Scratches when they entered.

"Hey," Lyric asked, "what were you two talking about in there?"

Vinyl nudged Score with her shoulder.

"Sweetie," Score began, his voice clear and with no hint of indecision, "I would like to treat you to dinner tonight."

"OK," the songstress beamed, "pick me up at seven?"

"OK. Where?"

"I'm staying at the Canterlot Garden Hotel, I'll meet you in the lobby."

"I'll be there. And, just for your information, it's not going to be anything fancy."

"No problem, there's plenty of time for fancy stuff later. Oh, I guess I have to go get ready now, see you all later."

Sweetie made her way out of the room.

"Damn bro," Lyric bumped Score on the shoulder, "you work fast."

"Keep it under your hat, Lyric," Score replied, "it's just dinner."

*--*--*--*--*

Score hoped he was on time. It was one of those petty annoyances of blindness, that he could never see the clock or know what time it was, unless somepony told him. So now he was walking through the hotel lobby, toward the receptionist to find the time, hoping that he hadn't passed the point of being fashionably late.

"Score, I'm over here."

Score turned toward the voice, which he instantly recognized as Sweetie Belle. When he knew that she was within comfortable earshot, he spoke.

"I hope I'm not late."

"Nope, just in time. So where are we going?"

"Oh, just this place I know. It's not too far from here."

"I hope you know where you're going."

"Don't worry."

Usually those words would fall under the category of "Famous Last Words" but in this case, Score was completely right. In no time at all, they had reached, and were seated inside, the very restaurant where Score had intended for them to go.

As they purveyed over their menus, Sweetie noticed something odd in Score's behavior.

"Umm, Score, and I hope that you don't mind me asking, but why are you staring at your menu."

Sweetie was accurate, Score had taken off his glasses and was holding up the menu in his magic, even though he couldn't read it.

"It's for show," he explained, "you'd be surprised how many ponies get weirded out by the thought of a blind pony, so I do whatever I can to make it look like I'm not."

"Well that's silly," Sweetie said with a tilt of her head.

"You're probably right," Score conceded, "In a place like Ponyville, nopony would probably care, but Canterlot is a different beast. Everypony expects everypony to be the same."

"That's sad."

"Indeed it is, but I've gotten used to it. Sorry, I guess this conversation has taken a plunge south, how about something to fix that."

"Yes, let's. I want to hear you critique my singing more."

Score let out a small chuckle, "You already heard my piece, and it's not going to change."

"It's just that, nopony has ever said anything of that magnitude before. What if your boss doesn't agree?"

"If Golden goes against my recommendation, then he is an idiot. He hired me to do part of his job, so that he could spend more time having fun and whatever else it is that music producers do with their free time. I know for a fact that he isn't in Las Pegasus for business. No, as far as music and sound goes, my word is law."

Immediately after Score's little speech, the waitress came by to take their orders. With that taken care of, the two settled down into more of small talk. Score asked a lot about Sweetie's personal history, where she was from, how she got connected to Golden Record, all of that stuff. Sweetie was equally interested in Score's backstory, but couldn't even get in the proper questions over food.

"Geez," Sweetie said in the middle of dessert, "I feel like I've spent this whole date talking about myself."

The use of the word 'date' was not lost on Score, who smiled very slightly.

"That was the point," he answered.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Most ponies have the luxury of being able to look at whomever they are with. A lot of ponies use this as an excuse to not listen intently to whatever is being said to them. I, on the other hoof, must use my ears to construct and analyze the world which surrounds me. Hearing your voice is the same as anypony else staring into your eyes. It keeps me connected on that sort of intimate level. That's why I had you do most of the talking."

The two sat in silence for a time after this, Score having said his piece the best way he knew how, and Sweetie not exactly sure how to respond. The silence continued even after Score had paid the bill and they had taken a taxi back to Sweetie's hotel. When they got there, Score stopped short as Sweetie kept walking, which caused her to look back.

"Aren't you going to escort me all the way back to my room," Sweetie asked with a smirk.

"If that's what you want," Score replied.

The two ponies took the elevator up six floors and walked the short distance to Sweetie's room.

"Well, here we are," Sweetie announced.

"When are you going home," Score asked, surprising himself that he hadn't asked the question previously.

"Tomorrow. Mom, dad, and Rarity are going to be so excited."

"I bet they will be. Well, goodnight Sweetie Belle, see you next week sometime."

"Right," Sweetie replied. Score began to turn to walk away, but Sweetie stopped him, "Oh, one more thing."

She leaned forward and met her lips with Score's. The stallion was even more surprised than he had been when she hugged him earlier in the day. This wasn't to say he wasn't enjoying it, eventually leaning into the kiss himself. After about a minute, they broke off, both of them smiling.

"Well," Score said, "that was that."

This caused Sweetie to smile wider.

"See you next week, Score Scratch," she said as she magically opened the door, leaving a semi-stunned Score standing in the hallway.

"Well, that was that."