86-34: Arc 1: Fight the Power, Fight the Fad

Ponyville’s own TV station was the center where weather reports and current events were broadcasted to the other towns and cities in Equestria,and vice versa. Usually it wasn’t that busy,but today it was bustling with activity,for it was chosen for a very important event. For a video interview with three Masters,every pony wanted to make sure everything went right.

“Ugh,what do you MEAN the station’s video feeds are not working?! It’s not a video interview without video,is it?” exclaimed Scoop, a beige earth pony, with a camera cutie mark.

“Sorry,sir. The repairs have not been on schedule. But the audio and other systems are working fine. At least we’ll be able to get on with the interview,just without video feed,” replied Scoop’s personal assistant.

“Hmm,well the show must go on. Alright people, get everything sorted out. How long do we have till the show starts?”

“20 minutes and counting,sir!” a random technician on the set responded.

“Very good. Have the Masters made contact with us?”

“Still trying to reach them. Hold on...got ‘em on the line,sir!”, another technician said excitedly.

“Excellent, let me talk to them,” Scoop said with his face lit up.

”Glad you guys could make it through. Sorry about the video feed. That’s our bad.”

”It’s cool. As long as we can entertain our fans, that’s enough for us. Besides, I haven’t made much of an appearance since The Equestrian Post went up”, replied one of them.

”I appreciate that thought, thanks."

”All for the magic of friendship, right?”

”Of course.”

”Sir, the show will start in 10 minutes”, reminded one of Scoop’s PAs.

”Alright, people, final prep. Check the camera, lights, and get me some damn coffee!”

~~~

Badger, Circuit Cut and Hot Shot were all eagerly sitting on the couch, waiting for the interview to start, with Circuit Cut being in the middle.

“Man, I can’t wait to see this!”, Circuit Cut said excitedly, rubbing his hooves together.

“What are you so geared up for?” Badger asked.

“Well this IS the first time an interview is held with 3 Masters at once. Lexus, Nano-Tech-Know, and Mephisto. How is that not cool?”

“Tech-What-Now?” Badge was confused.

“Okay, let me explain”, Circuit said as he was all too happy to do so,“The first one is Lexus. He’s a Master of Music. He’s made a ton of remixes. The second is Nano-Tech-Know. He’s another Master of Music,also the co-founder of The Equestrian Post, mainly focuses on Techno-style music as his nickname suggests, and he has a position in the ER&D(Equestrian Research and Development). Last,but not least,is The Great Mephistopheles,or Mephisto for short. He’s the founder of The Equestrian Post.”

“ER&D? Are you serious?” Badger was bewildered.

“Note serious face,” Circuit Cut replied, a hoof pointing to his face.

“Oh yeah, the show’s about to start!” Hot shot said as she threw her hooves in the air as the commercial cut back to the show.

~~~

“Okay,people,we are live in 5,4,....”,shouted someone on the set,the last 3 seconds were silent.

“Good morning,Equestria! Today we have 3 very special guests with us on video. Give it up for Lexus, Nano-Tech-Know,and The Great Mephistopheles!”

“Yo.”

“Hey.”

“‘Sup,Equestria?”

“Fillies and gentlecolts, there has been a slight technical difficulty with the video feed, but the show can still go on. Now,to start things off, what have you colts been doing lately? Al,you first. Working on the latest mix track I presume?”

“Night and day. Don’t wanna disappoint my fans. I’ve been working real hard on this latest piece”.

“Any idea on when it’s gonna be out?”

“Well, I can’t make any promises,but soon,I assure you.”

“I’m sure we all can’t wait for that. Now,moving on to Nano-Tech-Know. What's on your techno-to-do list,NTK?”

“Nothing much at the moment. I’m mainly focusing on my job.”

“Ah, working on some new gizmo in that department of yours,eh?”

“Always finding ways to enhance the lives of ponies,as usual.”

“And we appreciate your effort so far. Keep it up. And,finally,the head honcho himself. Must be tough running the most popular site on the EqueNet, eh,Mephisto?

“Yeah, it takes a lot of work, but most of it is taken care of you guys, the ones who give us much support in what we do. That alone is a great feat,and we at The Equestrian Post can’t express our gratitude enough.”

“Well,that really is quite moving. Don’t worry, I’m sure your site won’t run out of fans any time soon. Now, fillies and gentlecolts, as promised, we’ll be taking questions from callers,so keep those calls coming. Wow,that was fast. Caller number 1,you’re on the line.”

“Oh my gosh this is SOOO AWESOME! I’m such a huge fan of...all three of you! *fan-filly scream* ok, so, when are you guys gonna do a full length movie directed by Mephisto, featuring Lexus’s music, and Techno’s gadgets ?!”

“That’s an interesting idea you got there. We’ll consider it”, responded Lexus.

“Thank you,Caller 1. Caller 2,you’re on the line”, said Scoop, keeping the show moving swiftly. This time it was a colt.

“Hey,Tech-Know. I’m a huge fan of your work. I too have a list of my own designs. Where should I upload them?”

“You have your own ideas? Cool. Upload ‘em to The Equestrian Post and I’ll have a look at them.”

“Thank you,Caller 2. Caller 3,you’re up next.”

“Mephiiii! You should totally write a shipping fic starring you and me! We’d be like...”

Caller 3’s line was cut and replaced by another voice, this one being electronic.

“Well, I’m glad we didn’t have to listen to that.”

“Who is this?”, asked Mephisto.

“Me? I’m a fan,too, and I sure like to ask a few questions.”

“You only get one,pal.”

“I don’t think that’s an option.”

“What in the world?” Circuit Cut’s eyes widened as they remained glued to the TV.

Scoop tried to cut the call off,but failed. “What the buck’s going on?”

“My first question: why did you butcher The magic of friendship?”

“Butchered it?” Mephisto repeated. “Far from it. We are the reason it has spread far and wide across Equestria.”

“More like over-popularized it, and in doing so,you depreciated its true value. This is not something to make the cool kids stand out.”

“You’re completely missing the point,” Lexus intervened.

“Am I, Mr-I-like-videos-and-they-become-overnight-sensations?”

Lexus went silent.

“Second question: what is up with shipping?”

“Nothing. It’s just harmless fun,not anything serious or offensive”, responded Mephisto.

“Harmless? Fun? More like disrespectful and derogatory.”

“We would never disrespect anypony in any way,especially not the Six.”

“Oh yeah,what about Wild Equestria?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. What of it?”.

“I think you do,since you’re the one running it and all.”

The entire studio gasped. Mephisto took a deep breath as he replied. “The EqueNet is somewhere ponies can express their innermost desires, and sometimes those desires can be out of the norm. I kept that from the masses so as not make it a shock and merely an exclusive to the minority.” This time,NTK interjected, “Meph,what are you...?”

“No, I’m not giving in to this guy. Wild Equestria has no relation to what we do.”

The electronic voice responded,“Minority? You and I both know that’s a load of crap. You spread things like ‘friendshipping’, and this is wrong on so many levels.”

The entire studio fell silent as the electronic voice continued to talk.

“In the last month alone there’s already a surge in similar content, and at the rate this is going, it will become an entity of it’s own, and the very meaning of “friendship” will either have dark lining at best, or be changed forever at worst. You are Masters. You’re supposed to set an example for all these ponies, but by helping to create this entity, you’ve failed.”

“I don’t need you to tell me what to do!” Mephisto retorted.

“Oh,I’m not,just giving you a little heads-up: some of us do not approve of your methods. Actually,there are more of us than you think. Now,you better get back on the saddle,or else...”

“Or else what?”

The call went dead.

The entire studio, as well as Circuit Cut and Hot Shot were still very silent from shock.

“Go to commercial! Go to commercial!” Scoop shouted, and sure enough, the studio feed was cut,an ad playing on screen.

Suddenly Badger burst out laughing. “BAAAAHA HA HA. Did you see the whole crowd gasp when the voice revealed Mephisto was running Wild Equestria? That means they all are frequent visitors of the sit-” He tried to laugh but no voice came out for a few seconds, his mouth gaping open. “That is priceless. Oh, my flanks. I guess you were right, CC. How can something like this not be cool?” Badger continued laughing as he slapped Circuit Cut on the back with a hoof.

“Your attention to even the most minute of details, is sometimes disturbing,” Circuit Cut said, his smile drooping. “Also, I guess when I said Wild Equestria was like the dark side of TheEquestrianPost, it probably looked that way because Mephisto was the one running it the whole time.”

“Well, I didn’t see that one coming”, Hot Shot finally spoke, turning to the other two,“and since we’re in such a good mode, thought I’d share this piece of news right away: We got a new contract.”

“A new contract? So-weeeet!” Circuit Cut exclaimed with joy. “So, who’s it from?”

“A coincidence, that’s for sure. Alicorp Industries. They want us to escort a carriage from their research facility from Fillydelphia to Manehattan Outskirts. The payoff is 1500 bits up front, and 2500 bits when the carriage reaches it’s destination. They’ll start moving in two days.

“Two days? Well, we better not waste time. Let’s pack our stuff,” Badger replied.

~~~