Chapter 4

A friend in need...

10 years have passed since the day of the talent show. Record friction was now a full grown seventeen year old colt, who now lived out on his own. His mane and tail were longer, and his coat was a darker shade of gray than it was, but it was still light grey. Record had made a name for himself when it came to music. He had gotten a few gigs to preform with his new turntable set at a local nightclub down the street from his house. But it wasn't just manehatten he was noticed in, soon everypony in equestria started hearing about Records music. Record had also made a few friends but he had never had a marefriend before, but he didn't care at least he had friends and he should be grateful for that.
Records violence has also gotten more intense. He still got into a couple of fights from time-to-time but it was nothing he couldn't handle, after all he had to learn self defense to live in his area.
One day Record decided to take a walk down his street. It was a beautiful mid-autumn evening, the air was cool and crisp, the trees blowed with the wind, Record felt calm, collected, and at peace. The sun was beginning to set for the day, he decided to continue walking until the moon had fully risen. Until he had an unsettling feeling in his gut. He had the feeling of turning around and going down to the bad side of town. He didn't know why because he had always stayed away from there, but this time he felt like he needed to go there. Sure enough he turned around and started heading toward the bad side of town; or as most ponies liked to call it "The Black Snake turf" because it was run by The Black Snakes, a ruthless gang of well armed ponies who know nothing about resistance and mercy. Why did Record have the urge to come down here?
He walked cautiously on the sidewalk careful not attract any attention. That's when he heard it.

"Somepony, please help me!" Said the voice of a mare. Record heard the cry and quickly galloped to where her sound. Again he heard a blood curdling scream for help. Within seconds he arrived at the area of where he heard the scream. It was down an alley way.

"Buck...this always seems to happen. Whether it be in movies, or stories, whenever there's a scream for help in a gang area, it's always down an alley way." Record shook his head and went down the alley. What he saw around the corner shocked him.
3 Black Snakes were mugging what looked like a 14 or 15 year old mare. All of the ponies were unicorns. Two of the thugs were wearing masks while the other one was holding a knife up to the mare wearing only a jacket.

"What did I just tell you would happen if you tried to call for help bitch?" Said the pony with the knife. He made her look him in the eyes as he started to smile and laugh uncontrollably. "I said that we were gonna have our way with you...DIDN'T I?" The mare started to cry. This was enough for Record, he stepped out from around the corner.

"Leave her alone!" Said Record with a slight growl in his voice.

"Oh boys look what we have here. A wanna be hero...wait! I've seen you before kid. Yea, your that nightclub DJ, Record Friction aren't you? Well let me tell you what hotshot, around here I don't take shit from no pony. We could kill you where you stand right now. BUT... Since I like your music... I'm gonna make you a deal. You leave and forget everything you saw just now and let us get back to business, or we'll kill you!" Record just stood there with a face of hatred and disgust. What he was actually doing, however, was observing his surroundings. He was looking for anything he could get his hooves on to fight the 3 thugs. He finally noticed a glass bottle and a wooden stick on the side of the building to his left. He quickly got an idea. Record let out a smile and was biting his tongue at the same time. A huge portion of his tongue was sticking out of his mouth.

"No, I'm gonna stand and fight." Said Record.

"Then at least put that stupid tongue back in your mouth before I cut it off!" Said the pony with the knife. Record immediately responded.

"That's not what your mother said last night." The ponies facial expressions dropped. The leader punched the hostage mare in the face, knocking her to the ground.

"I'll get to you in a second sweetie. First it's time to deal with this little shit. GET HIM FELLAS!" All the ponies rushed Record. The leader was slashing at him and Record was dodging the blade. He side stepped, and ducked through all the attacks thrown at him. The masked ponies got around behind Record and bucked him, knocking him straight down in front of the leader. The leader picked him up with telekinesis, and threw Record over toward where they were standing. He laid there motionless in front of the young mare. He looked up to see her with a bruise on her face and blood coming out of her lip. She let out a single tear. Record knew what she was thinking. She thought that somepony was going to save her and get her out of this nightmare. Record knew what he had to do. He wasn't going to just sit there and have these thugs do everything unimaginable to this young mare.
Record slowly got up, and knelt next to the pony. He saw the sadness in her eyes. He knew the second he was finished with these jerks we would have to get her to safety. He let out a single tear, Record never cried before but why now? He whispered into her ear three small words.

"I...won't...lose." With that Record stood up and turned to the ponies.

"You just won't give up will you?" Said one of the masked ponies.

"Not until I win." Record spits a little bit of blood out of his mouth. "Let's go!" Record charge at the three ponies. All of them tried to get out of the way, but the leader was hit head on and sent flying into the side of a building. Record was on top of him, the two were fighting hoof-to-hoof. Record was pounding at the leaders face, blood started gushing, his face was becoming bruised, and the ground was becoming a dark ominous crimson as Record kept punching the pony.
The masked ponies pulled Record off of him and started whaling at his face. Record felt a surge of pain when they hit him directly in the jaw. He thought they might have broken it with how much pain he was in. Record decided he had to finish this. He used a repulse spell knocking the two ponies off of him and sending them hurdling into the wall. Record got up and walked over to the leader and knelt down beside him.

"Listen to me and listen good... Butcher! If you so much as lay hoof again on another pony, then I won't hesitate to kill you. I thought you learned your lesson going against me 10 years ago. I didn't realize who you were until I saw that knife up close and personal. It's reasons like this that brace died last year in the gang turf war. Remember?"
Record stood up avoiding eye contact. That's when Butcher spoke.

"Record? Don't leave... me here to die! Please..." Record bowed his head with his back turned.

"I'm not that kind of pony Butch... I wont finish you off. If your friends here really care about you, then when they wake up they'll take you to a hospital. If not then I just hope celestia let's you see brace one last time." Record looked at Butch one last time before walking over to aid the mare. He could see she was given an extremely hard blow to the face because she was still out cold. Record put the mare on his back and began galloping off to his house.
Record arrived home after several minutes. He opened the door and went upstairs to his room and set the mare down gently in his bed. He went into his bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. He got out a few cotton ball, some bandages, and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Record started applying the peroxide onto the cotton balls, and that's when the mare woke up.

"GHAA, what's going on? Who are you? Where am I?" Said the mare. She was very afraid by what had happened.

"Calm down! Your safe now. I helped you from those thugs back in the alley. The names Record by the way, Record Friction and your in my house." Record let out a smile. The mare was very beautiful in the light in Records opinion.
Her coat glowed a magnificent light blue and her purple mane complimented her coat even more. She had beautiful ocean blue eyes that seemed to make Record smile every time he looked into them. Her cutie mark was also adorable for it was a simple thought clouds with Z's inside of it. Record wondered what her special talent could be but he just set that aside for now and went back to talking to the mare. She spoke suddenly.

"O-oh w-well I'm Sleepy."

"Oh well okay I'll just get out of you m-" Record was cut off by the mare.

"No I mean that my name... Sleepy Zee. But everypony just calls me Zee." Record look at the mare embarrassed.

"Oh I'm sorry."

"It's okay Record." Zee smiled at him. Record loved her smile, he couldn't help but smile back.

"So... Um w-would you like anything to drink?" Record asked with a smile still on his face.

"Just some water would be fine." Said Zee. She had a little bit of nervousness in her voice, but Record didn't react to it. Record nodded and went downstairs into the kitchen. Zee just sat there in the bed waiting for Record to come back. She glanced around the room until she saw something that caught her eye: a small box underneath the bed. She looked out the door to see if Record was coming yet. He was still downstairs. She leaned over and picked up the box. She was hesitant to open because she didn't know who Record was or what he had in this box. She wanted closure on what was in the box so she opened it. There wants much inside the box except for a few photos, a blue ribbon, a small book, and a golden ticket. Zee didn't pay attention to the ticket but instead picked up the pictures. She looked through and saw a few with Record as a filly. He was smiling and playing with a younger mare than he was. Zee went on to the next picture, again was Record and the filly but they seemed older and at someponies birthday. She went on to another picture this one again had Record and the filly but they were with to grown ponies, they all looked happy together in front of a museum. Zee smiled at the picture.

"I remember that day..." Zee was startled. Record was standing right beside her the whole time, she didn't even notice he had walked in.

"R-Record! I-I...didn't know but-" She was cut off by Record.

"It's fine, I'm not mad Zee." Record smiled at her. Zee paused for a long time before speaking again.

"Record? Who are these ponies in the pictures?" Record was happy she asked that question.

"They're my family. That filly next to me is my sister, Vinyl, and those two ponies behind us are my mom and dad." Zee smiled as she put the photos back in the box, but Record stopped her. "Wait! What's this?" He said as he picked up the ticket. His jaw dropped.

"What is it?" Zee asked confused.

"It's a ticket that allows me to spend one day with Princess Celestia." He smiled widely. "I thought I lost this thing years ago but... But you found it."

"Oh, so your going to go aren't you?" Zee asked looking down.

"Not without you. You found this so I feel it's only right to allow you to come too." Zee looked up at him surprised. She just met him an he was already treating her like a best friend.

"Really? You'd take me with you?"

"Of course I'll also let my sister and my friend Cyber tag along. Make it a fun day with the Princess as friends."
Zee was skeptical about what Record just said. Did he honestly think Princess Celestia would just let anypony walk in for no reason. She didn't want to say anything though. Everything was just going by so fast. Why is this happening this fast? She simply nodded and laid down. Record didn't want to say anything so he slept on his couch letting Zee take his bed.

"There's something different about this mare. I can't put my hoof on it but there's just something that makes me feel different." Record whispered to himself. He just brushed off his thoughts and tried to go to sleep, but he couldn't. He just sat there awake. How was he not wore out from the fight? He forced himself to try and go to sleep. Soon he felt dreary, and smiled as he drifted off into sleep. He spoke one last sentence before falling into the deep sleep.

"A friend in need... Is a friend indeed."

Author's Note

Chapter 4 will probably be the fastest chapter in the story so please no hate