Broken Strings and BPM's

I don't exactly recall how it happened, but I found myself in downtown Manehattan with Mic, in a dance club called the Dual Core. It was actually quite an interesting place. A two story club. On the top floor was a bar, where they played ambient electronic music, and on the lower floor, it was purely a dance club that played hardstyle house music, trance, and something called "dubstep."

Mic and I sat at the bar, sipping on some light blue beverage. The one thing that had been eating away at me all night is why Mic had asked me to bring my guitar. I didn't even ask, to be honest. I figured he'd explain in due time. I didn't think he had any real plans for it, especially since he asked me to bring my guitar to an electronic music club. After two of these relatively weak drinks, Mic decided to pull me downstairs. Of course, in the state I was in, I didn't care. Another odd thing I noticed was that the door to the downstairs area had a sign over it that read "Mic Night." I had assumed that it was supposed to say "Open Mic Night," but as before, I was wrong. As Mic pushed the door open, a loud roar of cheering erupted from the club within. I looked around, as my eyes took a moment to adjust to the bright lights within. Then I realized that they were all cheering for us... And we were on a stage. I had been set up. I tried to turn and escape, only to feel myself being levitated back toward the stage. About halfway to the stage, I quit struggling. I realized that this was going to happen, like it or not. Just as I was next to Mic, I was dropped onto the stage. I stood, and turned around, looking out at the ponies in the crowd. "Mic! Mic! Mic! Mic," they chanted, as their hero gave a bow and a grin, then levitated the microphone in front of his face.

"Good evening, Fillies and Gentlecolts," he spoke. "Tonight's show is a very special one, indeed. Tonight, I brought a very special guest with me."He turned, and smiled at me. "You all know who he is, but you might not recognize him. He's a really old friend of mine, and for a while, he was on top of the music industry. So, everypony give a warm welcome to my friend, Deep Bass!" As soon as he said my name, the crowd went wild. Mic walked over to me, and nodded toward the crowd. "Your fans are waiting.

I looked at him, already knowing I had lost. "Fine. Plug me in." With that, I slung my guitar around to my front, and found that the cable had already been plugged in. I shot Mic a questioning look, to which he responded with an innocent grin, as he walked up to the microphone.

"Alright, everypony. This is a song that Bass and I wrote years ago, and have never recorded, let alone played live. I don't have any doubt that you'll love it. Of course, we can't play this with only a guitar. So, allow me to introduce everypony's favorite musical technician, and my own little sister, Ivory Keys!"

I turned my head back to the door that led offstage, and saw a beautiful pure white earth pony mare with a long dark red mane with a streak of electric blue step through the door, onto the stage, holding a small box in her mouth, as she walked toward her table, which was littered with synth pads, a few keyboards, a computer screen, and a turntable. As she took her place behind the table, she set the box down, and waved to the crowd. I couldn't make out much more detail of the mare, due to the flashing lights, and the glare coming from her glasses.

I turned back to Mic, and turned my head in a slight confusion. I didn't remember him having a sister, let alone him ever mentioning her. But, then again, my memory was pretty well polluted by all the alcohol and drugs, and what not. I had only been sober for about nine months, so my head was still clearing up.

Mic smiled at me. "Well, pal? You ready to give these folks a show?"

I shrugged. "As ready as I'll ever be. Which song are we doing, anyways?"

He kept his sly grin. "Surely you remember 'Cut by a Sharp Note,' Bass."

My expression turned for the worse. "You can't be serious," I scoffed. "That song was horrible!" It really was. No matter how I tried to disguise the fact, the song was a lost cause. We wrote it years ago. In fact, I think it was the first song I had written with another pony. We could never come up with lyrics to it, either, so that only added to the problem.

Mic shook his head. "It wasn't horrible, Bass. It was just… missing something. And I found that something. Just sing the chorus, when it comes up."

I rolled my eyes at my old friend. "Fine," I sighed. "I'm trusting you on this, Mic." I walked up to the microphone, and looked out on the smallest crowd I'd played for in years. There was a strange feeling in my gut, as I scanned the crowd of mares, and stallions, all of them my age with oddly styled manes. There's always a strange feeling of intimacy when you play for a smaller crowd. It's a feeling that makes any little mistake feel like a brick hitting your face. "Good evening, everypony," I spoke nervously into the microphone. "I'm Deep Bass, and this song's called 'Cut by a Sharp Note.' I haven't played this song in a few years, but I'll do my best for you." I backed away from the microphone, and stood up on my back legs, and began playing the intro on my guitar. It was a two bar, scale-styled, haunting melody. I had no clue what Mic had planned, so I played it as usual. After the first bar, I found a smile forming on my face, and I closed my eyes. After I made it through the second bar, I almost felt as though nothing had changed with the song… until Ivory's special talent kicked in. As I started the second half of the intro, my ears were suddenly assaulted by a loud blast of sounds. I tuned my ears in to the sounds, and picked out three distinct tones. The first was a low, solid bassline that seemed to blend perfectly with my melody, despite it being half the tempo. The second was a high synth, which, just like the bassline, complimented my melody masterfully. It was an up-octave mirror of the guitar line, but doubled. The third was an odd assortment of whooping sounds that had a rhythm of their own, yet still sounded amazing. The  last was an unconventional drumline. These sounds continued with me through the second half of the intro. As I began to play the verse, the only thing that stayed with me was the drumline. Just as I started, Mic kicked in with his rapping. I won't lie. He had gotten a lot better.

My old friend put on his game face, and stepped up to the microphone, spitting out a quick rap verse.

Then came my turn. I let my hooves move for themselves, as I began the same riff as the intro, the assault of electronic sounds joining in again, as I belted out the chorus, in a style I had forgotten I was capable of. "Clipping a Stallion's wings ain't right, he'll fight for former glory. Cut my heart out with sharp notes, so I can sing this story. Love me under the moonlight, then leave me morning. Cut my heart out with sharp notes, so I can sing this story." After finishing the chorus, I went back to playing the verse, the drums and bass being my only company, aside from Mic's powerful voice.

After that, I played and sang the chorus once again, then came the most dread part of the song for me: the bridge. It was the one part of the song that we couldn't even get close to perfecting. Regardless, I played the first bar, never expecting what was about to happen. After the first bar of the bridge, one of the strings broke on my guitar. I was mortified. The whole song had gone off without a hitch up until that point. I thought it was all over. I was wrong. Just as the string broke, the electronic tones kicked in again. I looked at Mic, and he smiled at me. I knew what he wanted me to do, and I was definitely up for it. I slung the guitar back over my back, and landed back on all four hooves, and screamed into the microphone. I hadn't screamed like this since we wrote the song. I had forgotten how good it felt. "Nooooooo! Take it back now take it back down right nooooooow! Take it back down!" Then I let the rest of the bridge go without me. Then when the bridge was over, it was time for one more chorus. But I couldn't settle for just another chorus. I took the microphone for the last time of the night, and sang a melody the same progression as the verse guitar lines. "Stuck in this fantasy, I'm living in a dream, but now this dream feels like a bucking nightmare! Keep trying to escape, but fuck, I simply lack the means. Kicking, bleeding, screaming 'This is so unfair!' So full of hatred, in a state of agony. I hope nopony else around me ever has this curse on their hearts, I'm in a state of misery. Love with caution, and don't be so careless."

I looked among the crowd, as the instruments stopped, leaving nothing but a low, rolling bass note. The crowd was going absolutely wild, and I was loving it. I was an idiot for ever thinking I could abandon this life. I almost wanted to jump out into the crowd, but before I could even twitch a muscle to do so, I found myself being pulled back to the door, by the tail... Rather quickly. Then I saw the door shut, and I stood up, turning around, and looking at Mic, who was busy spitting black, and blue tail hairs from his mouth, and Ivory, who had the same small box as before in her mouth, trying her best to smile with the package between her teeth. Now that we were off stage, and in the rather well lit hallway, backstage, I could make out the little details of this stunning mare. Aside from the previously mentioned features, she also had the most beautiful sky blue eyes I had ever seen, and she wasn't wearing shades like Vinyl did, but instead, glasses, like Treble used to. Her cutie mark was a simple sixteenth note sitting in solitude on her flank. Then she bent down, and placed the small package on the ground, in front of my hooves. She then returned to her standing position, smiled sweetly at me, and spoke in the softest, most beautiful voice I had heard since my last moments with Rythm. "This is for you, Bass," she said. Her voice was like the most beautiful symphony. "I figured you'd need something to match your killer new look."

I smiled, and bent down, opening the box with a hoof. My eyes went wide, as I looked at the sunglasses, and bandana. The sunglasses were an odd, but fitting shape, with black frames, and blue lenses that matched the stripe in my mane and tail, and the bandana was black, with a matching blue rising sun design. I looked back up, and smiled at Ivory. "Thank you, Ivory Keys. These are amazing."

She blushed at me, and giggled, which oddly made my heart melt. "Please, Bass. Just call me Ivory."

((Post-read:)) Hah! Bet you didn't think you'd ever see one of these from me, again! Well, this is going to be a formal apology to anyone who actually enjoyed the happy epilogue to LTBR, which was shamelessly deleted from the Fimfiction universe the day that I decided to start writing Broken Strings and BPM's. I'm not sorry for doing that, actually. If I had kept it up, it would've just been a giant Plothole. And for those of you who liked Strings Eternal, fear not. I haven't abandoned the project yet, despite it only having been an LTBR ripoff up until probably chapter five. Another reason Strings is so hard for me to write is because Treble's character is a world away from Bass's. I base Bass's personality off my own, as to where Treble's is completely fabricated. Well, hopefully this story will make up for the halting of Strings Eternal.