HPNR

Spades Proudly Presents (Again):

HPNR

Chapter I: "Good Morning Ponyville!"

Twilight let out a sigh as she looked down her list of things to do, a number of them including things that a normally librarian of a small town would never think of doing. Unfortunately, she wasn't a normal librarian and the small town she lived in was everything but normal. Sure, it had started out fine. She had moved in, introduced herself to the townponies (whose reactions were less than stellar in some cases), and made what could possibly count as friends. But things started to downhill when she wound up confronting an possessed alicorn who wanted to plunge Equestria into eternal darkness, which was strange since said alicorn was Princess Celestia’s sister and that Celestia had banished her to the moon exactly a millennium ago but wasn't there to stop Nightmare Moon. Nonetheless, she was able to defeat the corrupted Princess with the help of her friends. After a quick visit from Celestia herself, she renovated her new home; which happened to be the town’s library.

Fortunately for Twilight, everything on her list aside from one thing was checked off and soon that met the fate as the others as she picked up the last item. With a smile on her face, she drew a big black check mark in the last box and rolled up the scroll before putting it in her saddlebags along with what she had gotten. “There, finally done!”

The personal student of Princess Celestia began thinking of all the things she could do as she began to head back to her home, becoming almost giddy at everything she accomplish. “I could finish A.K. Yearling’s newest novel! Or get a new schedule ready! I could plan out what I was going to do for the next few years! I could-”

Twilight stopped thinking as a strange sound caught her attention, the unicorn’s ears swiveling to try and determine what she was hearing. Celestia’s student stood before her door for a moment as she tried her hardest to decipher what it was. Moments past and Twilight found herself, for once, unable to figure something out. Slightly upset at this, she opened the door and went directly to the

kitchen to put up the food she had bought. It was only then that Twilight was able to hear the sound of music and the words that went along with it. As she listened, the purple unicorn wondered who would be listened to such an odd song. “Spike, is that you listening to the radio?”

The Ponyvillie’s librarian got no response until the sound ended, the instruments and their notes gradually fading. “Who else would it be?” Twilight opened her mouth to reply but noticed the sarcasm in the question. Letting out a huff, she didn’t speak for a moment. “Anyways, you should come up and listen to some of these guys! I haven’t heard any of the artists before!”

Rolling her eyes, the lavender mare walked up the stairs and was surprised to hear a smooth, distinctly male voice coming from the grey radio on the floor next to Spike’s bed. She levitated a pillow from her bed and laid down on it, listening with open ears.

"And that, my little ponies, was another hit by Green Day. One of my personal favorites, ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’. Up next, a new song by My Chemical Romance: I'm not okay. Take a seat, close your eyes, and let the music flow. As always, this is DJ Stryker, wishing you lady-like luck today."

After a few seconds of silence, a sudden beat came in accompanied by a mature sounding voice from the speakers built into the radio set. "You like D&D, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, Harry Houdini and Croquet. You can't swim, you can't dance, and you don't know karate. Face it, you're never gonna make it."

As the two listened to the perplexing song, the confused expression on Twilight’s face became more and more apparent. However, Spike was the first to speak. "Whoa, that was deep." Was all the little dragon said from the comfort of his bed. Twilight, on the other hoof, looked like she was about to explode.

"I didn't understand half of... whatever that was. Most of that made no sense! What is ‘D&D’? Who is Harry Houdini? And what is wrong with Croquet!?" Spike saw a flicker of fire appeared on Twilight’s mane and he immediately turned off the radio, the next song dying on its first few notes. He knew Twilight was frustrated, but he thought it would be better just to leave her alone for a bit. It wasn't her fault if it didn't make sense to her.

Twilight just stood there for a moment as she closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling deep breaths. Eventually, she seemed back to her normal self. She looked at the radio for a moment before turning her gaze to her purple-scaled assistant. “What channel was that station on?”

“98.6 F.M.” Replied Spike without even looking at the radio. “Why?”

Twilight furrowed her brow inquisitively. "Didn't that used to be Equestrian Public Radio’s old frequency?"

Spike just shrugged "I dunno, I never listened to them. Probably got kicked off. Last time I heard, they weren't doing so hot. Only eggheads would ever listen to that boring news channels, and Ponyville isn't exact a city of scholars and brainiacs if you hadn't noticed." Twilight glared sharply at him. Spike smiled sheepishly for a moment as he rubbed his neck, managing to come up with an apology seconds later. "Heh sorry Twilight, I didn't mean to insult you in anyway, shape, or form. I just, you know what? I’m just going to stop talking now."

Twilight dropped her glare, rolled her eyes, and turned her attention towards the radio. “I know you didn't mean it Spike, and its fine. Still, I need to figure out what's up with this station. I mean honestly, why would you call a station HPNR? What does that even stand for?"

Spike just shrugged, his arms up and claws splayed wide. "I don't know, that's just what the DJ calls the station."

Twilight’s determination to find out what it stood for made the conversation go on for nearly half an hour, though she finally gave up when Spike convinced her that nopony, not even him, knew. She made a mental note to make a physical note to remind herself to investigate the station when she found the time, but figured it would be best to let sleeping dogs, or dragons in this case, lie for now. She brought over a couple more pillows from her bed and made herself comfortable as she began to take in the music, closing her eyes as calm song played. After several songs, she found herself becoming an avid fan of the station. If you can’t beat them, join them right? Was all Twilight thought to herself before falling asleep.

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Days passed and Twilight soon discovered that nearly everypony had ditched their former radio stations for HNPR, even the Mayor had ditched the old classical station she had listened to for years on end. It wasn't that surprisingly really considering that it had music for all ages and types. Rock, Pop, Country, and a variety of other genres never heard of before began to overshadow the contemporary ones that had flooded the airwaves months before. But as the number of songs grew so did the odd messages broadcast, mention things that seem completely irrelevant at times. Everypony who listened just accepted this as one of Stryker Z’s quirks, though they weren't ignored as he occasionally cracked a joke or two. Eventually Twilight discontinued her quest to find out what ‘HPNR’ stood for and instead focused on locating it, as she knew that since the signal was so strong it had to be close.Several hours and countless books later, she found a spell that would allow her to trace a signal by send out her own, though she could ‘broadcast’ like a station could. Focusing her magic, she was able to send her signal all over the town though she only received part of it back in the direction of the Everfree.

“That couldn't be right? Could it? No... The spell must have picked up too much interference or the Everfree must’ve warped it somehow.” Twilight pondered the thought for a moment and then came to the conclusion that she had botched it up. Having a stern with herself about proper use of the spell, she decided that it was time to stop worrying about it. After all, what was the worst that could happen?

However, Twilight couldn't help but wonder how the station had been found in the first place. After a bit of investigating, she learned about its origins. Turn outs, that Ditzy Doo had found it after she had accidentally tipped her radio off her kitchen counter, not to the surprise of anyone, and it happened switch to 98.6, which was HPNR’s channel. After introducing it to her friends, the news about the new station spread like wild fire. Pretty soon, HPNR was the new favorite station in Ponyville. Every morning, Ponyville was greeted by Stryker Z's cheery morning wrap-up of yesterday's events. Throughout the day, people would listen to everything HPNR and its DJ had to offer. From the rock ballads of "Green Day" to the calm tunes of "Owl City" there was something for everyone. HPNR, had been widely accepted as part of the Ponyville lifestyle.