Broken Strings and BPM's

Broken Strings, Ch. 18: A Shot to Remember.

I was stretched out on the couch, lazily letting the day pass by. We only had two more weeks until the competition, and a thousand thoughts were galloping through my head. I had been out of the hospital for a few days, and had already received my "heroic reward" from Ivory… quite a few times. Mic had come to visit, bringing the traditional bottle of Buck Daniels Winter Select. Well… Traditional in the once-in-a-while sense of the word… and only when they sell it. We talked, and drank for a few hours, talking about the old times. After a few hours, he and Ivory left for the Dual Core for Mic Night, leaving the small apartment to me, and my thoughts, which lately, hadn't exactly been the best company.

A moment to myself used to breed endless inspiration, but lately, it had been filling me with fear. The worst fear imaginable. I was terrified. I remembered the warning that had been given in my nightmare. The threat that had rattled me to the bone. The threat of Lunar Black's return. I was scared to death. I needed something to take my mind off it all. Something that would make me forget that horrible nightmare, and that horrible message. I had no clue how I was going to do it, but I knew I'd have to tell Ivory about it, eventually.

I had fallen asleep on the couch with my notepad, and my pencil laying next to me. After a few hours of a calm, dreamless sleep, I awoke to the sound of a door closing. I could tell the pony who had done so was trying to do so silently, yet had failed. I opened one eye, and looked toward the source of the noise. It was just Ivory coming back from her set. I tried to pretend that I was still asleep, as I watched her stumble over to the couch, noting the staggered pattern of her hoofsteps on the wooden floor. She flopped down next to me, nuzzling herself close to me. I closed my eye, and smiled, happy enough to be next to this wonderful mare. We laid there for a few minutes, face to face, till I felt something clamp down on my ear. My body tensed slightly. Despite the fact that she was biting my ear, it felt kind of good. The teeth relaxed, and released my ear, and I heard the more than slightly intoxicated mare whisper into my ear, "I know you're awake, baby. You're a horrible actor."

I couldn't help but chuckle, softly. "Yeah, I know. I should probably stick to music, huh?"

"Mmm-probably," she moaned sleepily. "It's still kinda cute, though."

"Oh really? How cute?"

"Let's just say you're making me feel like a unicorn right now."

"Magical?" Wrong answer.

Ivory corrected me in a way that only her drunken mind could conjure. "Nope," she began. "Horny."

I couldn't do much, except raise an eyebrow at her. "Again? We've been doing it every night for the past week."

She giggled, and nuzzled into my neck, kissing it, ever so softly. "I know, and each time it feels amazing, baby."

My legs started tingling as she kissed my neck. I knew what she had planned, however I was in no position to fight it. "Baby, you're drunk."

"And you're sexy. But that doesn't change a thing. As long as you always promise to be there the morning after, it'll never matter."

I closed my eyes, and smiled, shooting them back open just as quickly, as I felt her bite my neck.

"Pruff I kin aw wave do diff."

I gasped, as my leg started twitching. "You're going down a dangerous path, babe."

She released my neck from her bite, and giggled. "Then I guess I'd better be like Daring Do, and dive head first into adventure."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The next morning, I woke up, feeling rather refreshed. Shockingly enough, I was awake before Ivory. Liquor does that to a pony. I looked around the living room from my on couch vantage point, noting the collateral damage. I figured she'd have fun trying to figure out what happened to her living room, so I decided against cleaning it, myself, until she woke up. I slid out from my spot between Ivory, and the couch, and landed lightly on my hooves, having rolled over the back of the couch. I tip hoofed to the kitchen, and looked through the fridge for something to drink. I managed to decide on a glass of lemonade, and took a seat at the kitchen table. I sat quietly, sipping the tangy beverage, and recollecting the previous night's events. Looking back, I still can't believe that I could do some of those things with a broken leg.

As I was walking back to the destroyed living room, where Ivory was now sprawled out on the couch, I heard a light knock at the door. I turned from my limping course, heading to the door, opening it slowly to see Mic smiling.

"What the hay are you doing up so early?"

I chuckled, and pulled the door open the rest of the way. "Well, I was kind of wondering that myself."

Mic trotted in, and stared, slack-jawed at the disaster that was once Ivory's living room. "Um… the bigger question is what happened in here?"

I laughed, barely able to hold it. "I don't think you want to know."

"You're right… I don't. I was just coming to check up on her, but I can see she's in good hooves." He patted my head, ruffling my mane slightly. "Thanks for taking such good care of my little sister, Bass."

I chuckled, and fixed my mane. "I think she's the one who's taking care of me, Mic."

"Either way, you two are doing wonders for each other."

"Thanks, pal. So, what do you have planned for today?"

"Not much. Jack and I are going out for lunch, and that's about all I have planned."

"Oh, you mean the Gryphon?"

"Yep." It seemed as though Mic was being kind of short. With his answer. I had no idea why, at the time.

"Cool, well have fun, bro. I'll see ya around." I could tell that he was in sort of a rush, so I wasn't going to keep him any longer than I had.

He gave a quick wave, and was out the door. I turned, and headed back toward the hurricane of a living room, turning the radio on, and sitting next on the couch, next to my sleeping lover. At first, the radio show was slightly boring.

"And that concludes our advertisement. Now, we have an interview with musical genius, Dr. Hooves Zimmer. Welcome, Dr. Zimmer."

"Und a fine velcome to you, too, sir."

"So, word around Canterlot is that you, in your extensive research, have found that there may be a separate elemental set to the arts. What exactly does that mean?"

"Vell, many of us know ze story of ze Elements of Harmony. Ze six elements that were used to defeat ze lord of chaos. But I believe zat I have found a reference to anozer set of elements zat vere created to bwing ze arts to all ponykind. Zese are referred to as ze Elements of ze Arts. Zese elements consist of six Elements. Ze first being ze element of harmonization. Ze pony who could possibly be ze bearer of zis element would be ze kind who can perform vith any kind of group. Ze second is ze element of emotion. Zis pony would be able to move an audience with zeir own emotions through zeir playing or singing. Ze third is ze element of Rhyme. Zis pony could captivate an audience vith little to no effort using nothing but vords. Ze fourth is ze Element of Purity. Zis element would have two twin bearers, who wish to keep music pure und righteous. Und ze final element is ze element zat embodies all ze ozer elements. Zis von is ze Element of Music! Zis bearer vill have ze ability to perform any style of music at his vim. In fact, contrary to popular belief, zis bearer doesn't even have to be a unicorn, such as we've seen in kvite a few cases, such as mizz Octavia Philharmonica, und mizter Deep Bass. However, zis bearer will have seen both ze light side, und dark side to ze music vorld."

"So, you're saying that somewhere out there is a group of elements just like the fabled elements of harmony, except their purpose is to bring joy through music?"

"Exactly."

"Riveting stuff. Alright, this concludes our interview with Dr. Zimmer. Next, we go to Whinny Hooveston for a breaking news update."

Oh how I hated Whinny Hooveston. We had met, a while back, and we just really didn't hit it off, so well.

"Thanks, Rock. Now, for those of you, who have read this week's Musical Weekly, you may have seen the article featuring a very riveting, and very emotional letter from Vinyl Scratch, a.k.a. DJ PON-E. For those of you, who haven't seen it, I won't spoil it for you, but I'll give you the outline of it. This is a very emotional letter, in which she tells all about her previous relationship with Deep Bass, as well as her now-previous relationship with Sharp Flats. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you turn the radio off, and go read it, now."

For once, I was about to do what the radio told me to do, when I heard another knock at the door.

I slowly rose to go answer the door for the second time this morning, trotting over to the door, the two things I had just heard on the radio weighing on my mind. They were weighing about even on the distraction scale. But the moment I opened that door, the scales tipped completely, as I was looking I to a pair of teary crimson eyes.

((Okay, now that I'm satisfied with chapter 18, I would like to make a few disclaimers. One, I am sticking to the fanon red eyes for Vinyl Scratch. I know that the eyes may have looked almost purple in the finale, but I'm doing this for two reasons. One is for continuity, and two is because they looked red to me. The second disclaimer is the reference to the Mic character's sexuality. I am not slandering Mic the Microphone Zero at all, nor am I making fun of him in any way. I fully support him in his choice, and as Bronies, we should all do the same. In his YouTube channel, he even states in one of his videos that he is indeed homosexual and is dating Jackle App. Therefore no slander is being committed here. As an author, I strive to keep characters that are based off of irl people as accurate as possible. Down to the littlest detail. Although I'm sure the real Mic wouldn't smack somebody without giving them a chance to explain. I just did that for dramatic effect. By the way, there will be a mature version of this chapter, and for reference, chapter nineteen will mark the happy branch of the two endings for this story. The sad ending will be written after I finish the happy ending.))