Chapter OneView OnlineScratched back to XeroChapter OneRoughly 2 years later. I got enough money to retire early when I released my first album. I could go and look for Vinyl now, and bring her home. What kind of trouble has she gotten into this time? Why did she never tell me? Is she safe? I kept asking myself these questions over and over. I traveled all over the place, asking nightclubs, bars, studios, anything involving music if they had seen my sister. The most grateful that I've been was when I went looking in Canterlot, and stumbled across one of our princesses, Luna. She asked me what was wrong, with a look of worry in her eyes. As I told her that I was looking for my sister, she had sent the city guard to search Canterlot and ask everypony if they've seen a white mare with a blue mane. I decided I would go see Elvaire, my marefriend, and ask her if she had seen her. Sadly, nopony in all of Canterlot had seen her, and I decided to go back to Manehatten, everything came to a blur as the tears fell from my eyes. I started walking back to the train station after thanking Luna for her help, and knelt before I was on my way. "Loyal subject, we ask that you be so kind as to give us your name." "Oh right, sorry, Luna. My name is Xero, Xero Scratch." I said dumbfounded at my impoliteness "We ask that you come back to Canterlot soon for a visit, and we do hope you find your sister soon." With that, I took my leave and felt a bitter-sweetness during the ride home. I went into a deep depression, and I stayed in my recording studio for weeks. My manager, Tim, wasn't happy with me, he'd never seen me this upset. I told him about my sister and what happened, he told me to take as much time as I needed to get back into producing. I took a month off and started to get back into producing and DJ'ing. I passed the months by, remaining a small time producer and an unknown DJ, but I always had cash flowing in. I never payed much attention to it, I just continued on living and making music, I started making collaboration songs with other EDM artists, and they sold quickly. I was still unknown, but I decided that it was time I went on tour, I needed a change of scenery. I played quite a few shows and got minor recognition, the crowd seemed to forget about me pretty quickly, like always. I traveled to the largest cities; Stalliongrad, Fillydelphia, the far city of Seaddle , and even the Capital of the Griffin Kingdom: Gryphus. Stalliongrad was in the middle of a war, so I was paid to help lighten the mood of soldiers while they were off duty, they paid very generously. I even got a neat hat, I think it's called a "Ushanka"? anyways, it had the army's crest on it, and it's very warm and fuzzy. Fillydelphia was a very loud city, and they loved to party, so I got a large venue to play for, even if the crowd was unruly. It was an interesting experience there, but I don't think I'll be going back any time soon. Traveling to Seaddle took awhile, about a month to be accurate, and when I got there, I was welcomed with open hooves. It was one of the first times I had felt happy to see a new city, and I played at quite a few clubs since I might as well have stayed for a bit since it takes a month to get back home. I learned that music wasn't a big thing there, and I had met a lot of nice ponies, and got a few gifts, and I even got a picture taken for me and put in the news paper, as "The DJ who brought joy to us through music." I felt so happy that I could make a difference in the views of ponies towards music. The last place on my tour was the city of Gryphus. As frightening as it was, to be in the heart of the Griffin Kingdom as a pony, I needed to get over the fear, and play some music. The griffins were amazingly courteous and even helped me set up my show, provided free security and provided me with a living space. I couldn't let them down for the show I was going to play. I was infront of 4,000 griffins screaming for music, and as I played my final show, I saw that music feeds the soul, and brings joy. When I got home, I had been so tired from constant travel, I lied down and slept for the next two days, upon waking up I noticed I had mail at the door. It was from my manager, and it wasn't good news. My sales were down, and that meant he was getting less money, sales meant nothing to me as long as I enjoyed what I did. I didn't care anymore, I had nothing and I just wanted to find Vinyl, so I kept going being cautious with my money. I decided to get back into DJ'ing at clubs and festivals. We had a huge festival coming up soon, it was Mixcon, and I sent in my application the day they started taking them in, I got selected to be the 4th to play, I was excited to play, for once. I know Vinyl has always wanted to go to Mixcon, and maybe seeing her brother preforming will make her show up. I started working on a new song, and I was going to make it my best one yet. Hopefully this will get me more recognition, and make things easier for myself. I know a lot of the DJ's playing, only a few that are new, and I wasn't planning on being shown up by any of them. I decided to go under the alias of Fynn, and I managed to finish the song in the 2 weeks preparation time. I decided to use a different style of music, a mix between rock and trance. I named it after the fact this is my one last shot at fame. Two days, two days left until the festival opens. I actually feel anxiety about this, and I've never felt this way about preforming, I can't believe this is all happening. I hope that Vinyl is somewhere in the crowd, so she can see her brother rise to the top. She's all I have left, and I lost her, I just wanted to have her back and give her everything she wanted. I know she had a reason for leaving, but why didn't she tell me? I needed a drink after all the memories poured back into my head, I passed out around 4am, or I think it as 4am. I woke up with a pounding headache, and bottles everywhere, it looks like there was a party in here. I looked at the clock, and it was 3pm, I looked at the date and it was the 17th of the month. I flipped out, "I've been gone for two days?! The festival is today and I need to get there by four, for my set!" I bolted into the studio to grab my record and headed over to the festival as fast as I could. Wondering if my spot was revoked or not, was worrisome for me, and I didn't want to lose this opportunity. I felt like everything was balancing on this one show, as though it would decide my fate. I held on to the record like it was more valuable than anything, and I managed to think of a name for the song, "Edge of Fate". Vinyl would love it, she always got excited when I produced new songs. After rushing to the festival, I managed to find my way through the masses and to the stage area. All I could hear was the roar of the crowd, drowning out any words that the other producers said to me. The first producer was about to go on, his name was Milo, and he played at the last festival, his music sounded amazing. He was done after only 5 minutes, then the next one, Dom finished after a 10 minute song, which didn't sound half bad. Sam was the third to play and she... didn't sound so great, she got upset when the crowd didn't like her music. Then, it was my turn, the crowd was in an uproar, and wanted good music. I just reached a new level of nervousness, and I needed to make the crowd happy. I went up on to the stage and got my record out. But then I noticed that there was another producer on stage with me, she had her face and mane covered, so I didn't know who she was. There was a note on the turntables that read "Just play along with it, we need to keep the crowd happy." I looked at her cautiously and wondered what she was up too. She started to play a smooth trance song, so after 2 minutes into her song I decided to make this into a producer battle, I hopped in with my song and she sat and listened as I played the best set of my life, and we continued that for a good 20 minutes before both songs ended. I grabbed the mic and said to the crowd "I'm Fynn, and this is -" I said looking at her "DJ PON-3" "So who do you think had the better song?" I said while raising my voice. The crowd cheered with the answer of both of us. She decided it was time to take the mask off, and I was shocked at the blue mane with teal stripes. It was my sister, Vinyl, she finally came back home. She stared at me and laughed, then proceeded to walk away from the stage. I was confronted by my manager, Tim, telling me that he was getting call after call about getting me signed onto a label. He asked me which I wanted to sign with, I told him I'm quitting the music business. He was shocked and I began to walk away. I didn't know if that was really Vinyl, or if it was only a dream, but I do know that the crowd was cheering loudly, and I had gotten my recognition. My career in the music industry finally had closure, and I could quit worrying about getting my name out in the world. I went back home and I put my record in the basement, but then, as I walked back upstairs, Vinyl was sitting there waiting for me. She began to cry and told me "Xero, I'm so sorry I left all those years ago. I just... I needed to find who I am and where I belong." She turned her side to me to show her cutie mark, I was amazed and happy for her. I forgot all about her leaving and I was just happy she was back.
Chapter TwoView OnlineScratched back to XeroChapter Two2 days later With Vinyl back, we had a lot of catching up to do, and so many stories to tell each other, where we've been and what we've done. We decided to go to a local club that I used to work at, it felt odd walking in there and not having to go up on stage. The owner is a good friend of mine, so we got free food and drinks, and Vinyl was just happy she got some decent food for once. The DJ started playing some crappy techno tune, and Vinyl gave me a look like she wanted to hop up on stage, I asked her "Do you think we should show him how it's really done?" She jolted up, and doing so her drink got knocked over the table, and in an instant we were up on stage talking with the DJ. Vinyl's drink could be heard shattering on the floor throughout the entire room, and as that happened she grabbed the mic and yelled "Get ready for The Scratch Session!" and the DJ decided he needed a break anyways and the two of us decided to play a quick 30 minute set and get back to our food. We did another brother-sister battle, and the crowd went wild for it, afterwards I played one of my unreleased songs and Vinyl played a remix of a song dad made. The crowd cheered as we finished the set, and let the DJ get back to his job. He sounded better, maybe he learned something from us. Our food was cold and Vinyl's drink was spilled, glass everywhere, so we decided to go and walk around town. It was a beautiful night, clear as can be, the pegasi did a great job clearing the sky. She had been gone for so long everything had changed, except for our house, same old brown and grey. I took her to the gardens that were made a year ago, she didn't seem to enjoy nature very much anymore. She began to grow more and more distant as the night went on, and it worried me, we headed back home and I asked her what was wrong. The same generic answer "Nothing, I'm fine, Xero." I felt... hurt in a way, she wouldn't tell me what was wrong. I let out a saddened sigh and slowly walked to my room. "Oh, Vinyl... Your room's been left the same since you left, so if you feel like staying here you're still welcome... Night, Sis." I hadn't realized that I said something that mean to her. She started to cry as I walked away, and it just killed me. "Xero, I'm sorry.. I-I just... I've been gone for so long and everything feels wrong here, I don't recognize anything anymore. Please don't be mad at me for tonight." She gave me the most heartbreaking look she could ever muster up. Everything melted away and I just went to her and comforted her. "I'm sorry for what I said, you're always welcome to stay here, and a lot has changed since you left, except for here, and the club. Two little pieces of your past stayed the same, kiddo." I just smiled away and she stopped crying and yawned, she started walking to her room while singing a song that our mother used to sing, she knew it from our dad, singing her to sleep. I suddenly felt as tired as the living dead, I slowly staggered to my room, and dropping onto my bed, falling asleep almost instantly. I woke up to Vinyl blasting music in my face, telling me to wake up. It must've been important because she seemed like she was in a rush, I staggered down the hallway following her. She blinded me with a strobe light and the next thing I knew there was a crowd of people yelling surprise. When my eyes finally adjusted I saw all of my old friends, and a few of Vinyl's, I was wondering if anybody would remember my birthday. I haven't celebrated it in 2 years, and now, I'm finally 18, a stallion. My life came crashing down on me, and I realized that my childhood is over, it felt like it was only a few days ago I was just a little colt learning to spin records in the basement. Maybe it was the alcohol from last night, but I felt groggy and ready to vomit, I couldn't see straight, next thing I knew, everything went black, and I woke up on the couch. A slice of cake was at my side and everyone was crowded around me, and Vinyl bounced up and down yelling "He's awake, he's awake!" as everyone started to sing happy birthday, and asking me how I've been. My dyed blue hair started to fade on the right, so I had blue on the left and red hair on the right. Everyone who showed up seemed to be so happy that I'm still here, since most of them thought I died or moved away. Vinyl decided to start blaring music in the living room and everyone was having a great time and we eventually got tired and decided to have some cake. I don't know who made the cake, but it tasted amazing. Soon, the party came to a bittersweet end, that left my wanting to go back and keep my friends close to me. But, Vinyl decided to drag me to the basement and locked the door, I had no idea what she was doing at first. She hooked up the small recording set-up and told me to sing what I felt from the music. As she started to play a few notes and change the pitch, resonance and add an effect or two, she started to play a warm trance tune. "Over and over~ Each day and each night~ I tell myself this, with your voice in my head~ I love you more, than the sun and the moon~ Each passing day, is a blessing to be... With you~" She asked me what I was singing about, and I told her that it was somepony special that I met last summer during Mixcon. Her reaction was typical, an over exaggerated "B'AWWWWW, that's so cuuuute~!" and then she continued to question me about her, and asked me one question that hit me like a brick. "Sooo... Where is she now?" I guess I had to tell Vinyl, or she'd bug me all day. "She's getting an education out in Canterlot." "Really?! She got into a school in Canterlot?" She was stunned. "Heh... Yeah, she promised me that she'd come back and live with me when she's done." I was getting shaky and nervous. "She'll be done when Autumn comes around though." I said with a small grin on my face.
Chapter ThreeView OnlineScratched back to XeroChapter ThreeHer happy attitude made me feel better about the subject of her leaving, and I was just glad she was back to her old self. Although nothing really interesting happened for the next few months, just practicing for shows and catching up. The next thing we knew, fall had come, which meant I had to go to Canterlot to help Elvaire move back here. Vinyl was more than happy to join me, she was always wondering what she was like. We got out tickets the day before and we were on the train to Canterlot, I could see that everything was the same here, same faces, same buildings. After we got off the train, the royal guard stopped us, all so that Princess Luna could walk by. What shocked me more is that she recognized me, from when I was looking for Vinyl, and was asking everypony I could find. Luna had helped me look everywhere, and she even sent the guards to look and ask around. "Hello, Xero. It's nice to see you in a cheerful mood. Is that her?" "Yes Luna, this is Vinyl. You'll never believe what I have to tell you. Mind joining us to go pick up my special somepony?" "We... I, would be delighted too." As we walked to the university, I told Luna what had happened in the past little while. "You mean to say that she found her talent by fighting you?" She said in a confused tone. "No, Luna, it was a competition to see who was a better DJ." I said with a hint of laughter. "I see, we still have much to learn, and I would like to see you and your sister here in Canterlot more often." "We'll try to visit you more often. Well... here we are, the ceremony should be starting soon.... Say, you wouldn't mind joining us, would you?" I was curious if she would or not. "It would such a pleasantry to join you and your sister. Xero, what is your.... "special somepony's" name?" "Oh, right, her name is Elvaire." We stepped in through the archway to the auditorium where the ceremony was being held, and we hit an instant wall of noise. We could hardly see anypony we knew, and Luna decided it was time to "use her royal presence" to create order. She began to speak as everypony looked at her and silence is all we heard, she only said one thing. "If you would kindly move into an orderly fashion." as everypony infront of us quickly moved into tight rows allowing Luna to have plenty of space. "So, Xero, where is Elvaire?" "She should be showing up any second now" As we continued to the reception are behind the stage, I was suddenly on my ass from Elvaire tackling me. Due to her doing that, Luna was shocked and reared up, Vinyl decided to intervene and said to her calmly: "Luna, don't worry, she's Elvaire, don't get your hooves rustled..." Elvaire was still ontop of me when she noticed my sister and Luna looming over us. "Xero... Who are they...?" "Sweety, this is my sister Vinyl, and you should recognize Luna from when you got accepted into University." as I pointed my hoof towards the two. "YOU'RE Xero's sister?!" as she stood up and her eyes begun to enlarge. Vinyl awkwardly said "Yeah... I'm his sister, you've probably heard about what I did..." Elvaire looked at her, turned away, and looked at me with a grin, winked and turned around quickly to hug Vinyl. She was dumbfounded by her sudden hug and slowly began to warm up to her and hugged her back. "So... Elvaire...." Vinyl said as she scraped her hoof on the floor "Yes?" as she looked concerned "Are... you coming back to Manehatten?" She looked at me and down at her hooves "Well...." she paused as Vinyl's mouth was widening "OF COURSE I'M GOING TOO!" Vinyl looked as though she was about to explode with joy, when she fainted. She woke up at the beginning of the ceremony, on my back, with Luna supporting her so she wouldn't fall. She woke up a jolt and fell off my back. She looked around, dazed from just waking up, and saw the room starting to go dark. I tapped her side with my hoof and whispered for her to stand up. As she stood up, Luna began to walk to the stage, Vinyl asked me where she was going and I told her "She has to present the graduates." We stood and watched as Luna took the center of the stage and levitated a scroll infront of her, as she begun reading. She read thirteen names before she reached Elvaire's and Vinyl begun to bounce in place, she stopped as Elvaire walked onto the stage and stood with her classmates. She stood proud and happy, as she heard her name being called, she had received the third highest mark in her class, and got her graduation certificate. I couldn't help but think in the back of my mind "she deserves so much better than myself, a simple DJ and courier..." she trotted towards me, and nuzzled up against me, so I smiled, always thinking she could do better. Luna had finished the list for the first group of graduates, and introduced Celestia to the stage, to finish the rest of the graduates. She flew over to us, and we began to leave the auditorium, as I stepped out, I was blinded by the light. The next thing I remembered was that we were on the train, heading home, with Luna accompanying us. I guess she was coming for a visit to our house, Vinyl probably invited her, and I know Elvaire wouldn't say no to her, everything feels like it's to good to be true right now, I mean... My sister comes home, my special somepony graduates and moves in with me, and a princess is coming over to my house for a visit. I suppose it was the fact I had blacked out for about an hour and I just gained coherency once again.
Chapter FourView OnlineScratched back to XeroChapter FourWhen we had gotten back to Manehatten, the sun began to set. Luna had told us, "Would you mind waiting here for a few minutes, while we... I mean I raise the moon?" "Oh, no, it's no we don't mind at all." I said with a smile on my face. She took flight and as she peaked, her mane had a beautiful colour has the sun's final rays shone on her. We watched as the sun set on the horizon, and for a moment, I thought I saw that same mysterious stallion who had knocked on my door asking for dad's record all those years ago. I suppose it was just my eyes playing tricks on me, I've had a long day of excitement. After Luna had finished raising the moon, she flew back to us, and we headed back to my house. On the way back Elvaire had commented that everything looks just how she remembered it, back when we first met at Mixcon the year before. Luna looked relaxed for once, I suppose that as a princess she didn't get much leisure time. When we got back, I showed Luna around the house, and brought her to the guest room. "You're welcome to stay here whenever you want, our door is always open to you." "We shall keep that in mind, thank you, Xero." Vinyl had been sitting in the living room with Elvaire talking to her, about what, I couldn't hear, but they were hugging when Luna and I came back downstairs. I went down stairs to grab a few records and the turntables, I asked what everyone liked; Elvaire said "I like classical, or electronic" Vinyl had eagerly said "EDM!" of course. And Luna quietly said "We enjoy classical..." As it stood, it was a tie between genres, so I decided to play some electro-classical songs to make everypony happy. We had a small party in the living room until about two in the morning. At that point, everypony was exhausted and decided to sleep, so I showed them to their rooms. I woke up in a jolt, scaring Elvaire bad enough that she fell off the bed. I couldn't recall the dream I had that night. After she and I had both calmed down, we went to the living room to see Luna and Vinyl getting to know each other. "She seems very talkative lately, wouldn't you say so?" I said as Elvaire looked at me, smiled and said to me: "She seems like she's enjoying herself, meeting new ponies, and such." Vinyl had noticed us at the end of the hallway, and smiled, turning back to Luna. I went over to them and asked Luna what she had planned for the day, which was surprisingly nothing. Vinyl had wanted to go around town, and see if her friends were still around, which last I heard they had all moved away... She had such a dissapointed look on her face, beneath those purple sunglasses she had gotten when she was just a small little foal. "So, doth thou want to come to Canterlot for a small umm... 'get together' as they call it?" Luna had said in a calm, somewhat hesitant tone. "I'm up for it! How about you two?" I looked to Vinyl and Elvaire, excited. They simply nodded, as Luna told us "We shall enjoy your company there, and we will come back when it is time." Luna hadn't told us what it is she's bringing us too, but we figured it was just a small party in Canterlot Castle. Vinyl and Elvaire were getting along very nicely, and I was busy doing nothing as usual. I thought about becoming a courier, since I'm quite fast, for a pony without wings that is. I'd get to travel, and get paid for walking around giving people packages. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go out and be a courier. I talked to Elvaire about it, and she was all for it, since it gave me something to do, now that I quit the music industry. I decided to just go to the post office, and apply for a job, as a courier. To my luck, they had been in need of a new courier, and said they would let me know in a week or so if I had the job, so after dropping off my resumé, I had decided to see if there were any live performances in the city. Once again, to my luck, there was a show just about to start in a new club that opened about a month ago, a band called "Screen Door", the guitarist seemed to have a broken horn, the singer, seemed kinda... blue, and the bassist was vibrant orange, not to mention the red keytarist and the blue drummer with neon hair. Seemed like they were missing something... maybe a little flare to this punkish rock. After the opening song, the next band went on, and Screen Door, as strange as the name is, went behind stage. I decided to go talk with them, and tell them they had a good opener. The guitarist had told me they didn't do so well without their mixer, as he pointed his hoof to the empty set of turntables. The other band members had their eyes fixed on my cutie mark for some reason, then called the guitarist, who's name was "X-Rated", the name fit his personality for sure. When it was time for them to go back on stage, they quickly stenciled my name on the front of the turntables, and told me to just go with the flow. Next thing I knew, I was on stage once again... Picture by: Jimimipwr
PrologueView OnlineScratched back to XeroPrologueYoung sounding mare: "Xero, why don't you tell us about yourself. I mean, your past, with you and your sister." Xero: "Oh, you actually want to hear about the past of a washed up DJ?" my voice sounding hoarse with age Mare: "We're doing a segment on Manehatten's youngest celebrity." Xero: "I guess I could tell you a little about myself, want anything to drink?" Mare: "Some water will be fine, thank you." My life used to be full of joy, I had a beautiful marefriend, a great job, and a lot of fun teaching my sister to DJ, and telling her all about performances and music. She would sit there and listen with all the attention she could give, I knew she would become a great musician. We lived in quite a large city, people always passing through and we would occasionally get knocks on the door, they would usually ask for our father.... He taught me everything I know, and we never really knew our mother, since I was only four when my sister was born, our mom left us, and dad raised us on his own. He did a damn good job, too. One day near the beginning of summer, for the life of me I couldn't remember. A friend of my dad knocked on the door, I had no idea if he was really my dad's friend, but I recognized him from years ago, he always talked with my dad. He asked me if I had my dad's old record anywhere, I told him he took it with him. I didn't like to lie to people, but I could tell he wanted my father's record, and it was all we had left of him. I wouldn't give it up for anything. I called my sister to the studio room in the basement, and set up the speakers, and started to play a few songs off our dad's record and she started to cheer and dance. She was young at the time, maybe 12, I've lost track of time. She was full of energy and happiness, but that came to an end in Autumn. I was offered a DJ'ing position across town, and sister wasn't happy that she couldn't come with me. I had to take the job, it payed really well, and we needed money. She stayed home, and DJ'd in the basement with friends most of the time. But one day, in the middle of spring, she decided to leave. She didn't tell me anything, she left a note saying she was sleeping over at her friends house, and that was the last time I saw her for two years. I kept working, hoping that she would be in the basement when I got home, playing her favorite songs, partying like there's no tomorrow. That day never came.
