Broken Strings and BPM's

The night was still young, and Mic, and I had ventured off to another night club, dropping my guitar off at a shop, to be restrung. I took this as a sign that I wouldn't be tricked into playing another show. Which ended up being correct. This time, we ended up at another dance club. Not much of a dancer, myself, I used it as another chance to sample the local specialties. And scope out the local mares. At this point, I could care less about anything... Until I found out who the DJ at this particular club was. I turned to check out the stage, and there, behind two turntables, and a computer screen, much like Keys' setup, was a light brown unicorn stallion, with a white, spiked mane. Yeah… that one.

"Good evening, fillies and gentlecolts," he spoke through a grin. "I hope you're all having a good night, so far. I'm Sharp Flats, and I'm going to be your host for the evening." He looked at me, and Mic, then grinned.

Mic looked over to me. "You know him, Bass?"

I turned my eyes to Mic, and shook my head. "Not exactly."

"You sure? Because you've been glaring at him since he started talking."

I sighed. "That's the asshole that Vinyl cheated on me with."

Mic looked back at the DJ, then back at me. "We can leave, if you want, Bass."

I shook my head, and took another sip of my drink. "No, let's just enjoy the night."

Mic shrugged. "If you say so, bud."

After a few hours, we decided to pay our tab, and leave. If only it was that easy.

As Mic and I walked out, we were stopped by a challenging tone. "Hey, you! Has-been!"

I don't know how I knew he was talking about me, but I did. I whipped around, and glared at the brown stallion. "What do you want?"

He grinned at me with a smug look. "I just wanted to show you just how much better than you Vinyl can do. It seems your girl has a thing for talent. Maybe that's why she ditched you."

I couldn't help but feel absolutely furious, and it showed. Fortunately for the brown stallion, Mic stepped between us. "Look, pal. Bass has more talent in a single hair than you do in your whole body."

Flats grinned a wicked grin. "I highly doubt that one trick pony could come up with anything original if his life depended on it."

"You just wait," Mic snarled. "My old pal, here, is a musical mastermind. He'll put you to shame any day of the bucking week."

The DJ chuckled, so smug in his self-confidence. "I'd love to see that." Then, he turned, and retreated back into the club.

Mic turned, and cantered back over to me. "Don't worry about him, Bass. He's just arrogant because he cheated his way into a nightly gig in a dive bar. He'll never come close to what you've done."

I smiled at my long-time partner in crime. "Thanks, bro. It means a lot."

"Hey, what are friends for, if not to help out?"

I knew Mic was trying to help out, and he kind of did, but I couldn't help but compare myself to the asshole. He had confidence. He was at least two years younger than me. But most of all, he had Vinyl. I could care less about getting Vinyl back at that point. Especially after what she did to me. I just wanted to go back to Mic's, and go to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up in a rather decently sized bed. I guess Mic had a spare bedroom, so I didn't have to crash on the couch. I sat up in the soft bed, and looked around. Something was amiss. I tried desperately to figure out what it was, scanning the room. After a few seconds, I figured it out. The box that held my bandana, and shades was on the nightstand, and the smell of breakfast was in the air. I got out of bed, and donned my new bandana, tying it around my neck, and walked out of the bedroom, to find out who was creating the hypnotic aroma.

I slowly walked into the kitchen, and spotted Keys standing at the oven, her mane tied back, and splitting a spatula of freshly cooked bacon between two plates, preloaded with scrambled eggs, and a fresh biscuit. She turned, and smiled at me. "Good morning, Bass. I hope you slept well."

I smiled back at the lovely mare, who was showing me such kindness. "I did, actually. So, where's Mic?"

Ivory looked at me, and shrugged. "Probably at his place."

Now fully awake from the shock of that statement, my eyes went wide. "S-s-so… I'm at… YOUR place?"

She giggled. "No, we're in the royal castle in Canterlot, and I am Princess Ivory, Mistress of Music throughout the land" Then she busted out laughing. I'll admit, her sense of humor was pretty adorable. Almost as adorable as her laugh. "Well, last night, after you and Mic left the club, you both came here. You were both kind of drunk. Anyways, you two were arguing about who was going to sleep in Mic's bed. He was going to let you have his bed, and he was going to sleep on the couch, but you refused to let him do that. You two argued back and forth for a few minutes. It was actually kind of funny. Well, I decided to step in, and I offered to let you stay here for the night. I don't get many guests besides Mic, since I'm so wrapped up in my work, so it was nice to have somepony new over for a change," she continued. I listened intently to her words, almost as if they were important. Then, I couldn't help but smile when she giggled again. "Especially somepony so romantic." Then the smile was gone.

I lowered my head slightly. "I'm uh… sorry if I tried anything, last night."

She held her cheerful smile, and kissed me on the cheek. "You didn't. You were a perfect gentlecolt. In fact, the only thing that happened was that you earned a kiss goodnight. It's the least I could do for the pony who saved my career."

I looked up, in a slight confusion. "I did what?"

She nodded, having taken her plate to the table, and sat down. "Well, last time we met, I was the keyboard player for Silver Sky. And after you helped myself and Up Tempo ruin her, I was able to finally find my true calling. So, how are you and Vinyl?"

Now, of everything that had happened that morning, I think it's safe to add that to the list. Did she really not know? How could Mic not have told her? I had already grabbed my plate, and sat at the table. When she asked that, my expression turned around completely. "Vinyl and I… We split up, recently."

Her look turned to that of concern. "Oh no! If you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened between you two?" I was absolutely puzzled. How could this mare that I had only met once possibly give a damn about my problems?

"Well," I began. "Long story short, she cheated on me with Sharp Flats."

Ivory quickly swallowed the food she had in her mouth, almost choking on it. "Are you bucking serious? THAT loser?"

"You know him?" I inquired.

"Of course I do. I used to work with him. He's never had an original thought in his life. He's just a dumb, half-flanked ripoff of Deadpon-3."

I nodded, and went about eating my breakfast.

"So, Mr. Bass. I've got you for the day. Is there anything you'd like to do?"

I thought for a few minutes, as I chewed my mouthful of food, then swallowed it down. "Well, I would love to see the city, actually."

"Yay," she squealed, clapping her hooves together. "I'm gonna show you all my favorite places!" She looked at me, a blush of embarrassment on her face. "Um… if you want to, that is."

As I smiled at Ivory, something told me that today was going to be an awesome day.