Burnout

Vinyl's tour had gotten off to a fantastic start.  After being picked up by a label a few years ago, she was producing under the name of DJ PON-3, and had begun to make a name for herself.  Her unique style of music, and her even more unique look and performances made her an instant hit.  Now, she was on her first Equestrian tour, getting near the final performances, and she couldn't be more excited, not to mention nervous, about her next show.  Admittedly, she was becoming tired from all of this, but her fans had been expecting this show to be a big one, and she was not in any sort of mood to disappoint them.

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The 9:00 sky was filled with the usual assortment of beautiful stars and planets, and Luna seemed to have user plenty of extra care when raising the full moon that night.  However, nopony really was paying attention to it in Ponyville Square, which was packed for a huge party. The roar of the crowd was already deafening, and Vinyl hadn't even stepped onto the stage.  Her announcer was doing an excellent job of getting everypony ramped up about the performance though.  Vinyl was nervous, having only played in Ponyville once before, not to mention tired from this first tour.

'Chill out, Vinyl.  You got this.' the unicorn thought to herself.  She focused on the world around her again, just in time to hear the announcer's shouts,

"Fillies and Gentlecolts, I give you...DJ PON-3!" The lights throughout the building dimmed, and Vinyl made her way onto the stage in the darkness.  Acting quickly, she fired up her first track and the crowd went silent.  The song built up slowly, but after a short while grew rapidly in intensity as the digital equalizer panel on the front of her stand lit up in response.  The crowd was stomping their hooves to the beats of the track, while Vinyl remained hidden in the dark. Finally, the big moment came as the bass dropped. Lights flared up throughout the building, illuminating everything around the stage, not to mention the multicolored array of flashing lights which spread across the crowd.  It was easily enough to induce seizures.

Vinyl was already waving her hoof in synchronization with each beat, and much of the crowd had started to do the same.  A beach ball shot out of the crowd, flying high into the air; it was tossed around as the party raged on below.  Vinyl Scratch made an effort to live up to her name, offering up some scratches on the second deck, and modifying the beats of her track.  Her nervousness had left her by this stage, as she readied her second track of the night.  The crowd was already going wild, and they showed no signs of slowing down.  As the first track wound down, Scratch switched over to the next one, featuring a heavier drop, which she could use as an excuse for even more lights.  The fog machines off to the side began to warm up for the next song.  DJ PON-3 settled down from pumping up the crowd as the next track spun into existence, whilst the other faded out.

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Halfway through Vinyl's hour long performance, the crowd still had just as much enthusiasm and energy as they had at the start.  Her current hit, "Spin that Record" was blasting through the speakers, and lighting was in full swing for the main portion of the song, featuring more strobes than she had used in any other song so far.  Vinyl, on the other hand, was starting to wear down.  Sweat was pouring from her brow as she continued to perform for everypony, but she was losing energy at an alarming rate.

'Don't give up! You can't disappoint your fans!' she mentally chided herself.  But the physical strain was getting to her now.  She was trying to stay awake, to finish this performance.  She didn’t want to blow it, especially not on tour!  She began to blink more heavily, slowly succumbing to the utter exhaustion.  She blinked for a final time and blacked out, landing on her turntables.  The crowd's attitude quickly shifted from party to shock.  They watched in silence as DJ PON-3 slid off of her table and fell out of sight, unconscious.  The lights went out on stage, leaving the crowd to bathe in  moonlight.  After a few seconds, a pony began to push through the crowd, asking that others got out of his way.  They obliged and created a clear path for the pony to come through, as Vinyl's stage medics rushed to her aid.  Her manager called frantically for the emergency services.  The pony from the crowd got up on to the stage, and bent down to look at Vinyl Scratch.

"Exhaustion; possible dehydration." He muttered as the stage medics approached him.

"Excuse me sir," One of them started, "would you mind stepping back?  We're professionals; we'll take it from here."  The brown pony didn't think for a second before offering his response.

"Same here," he said, briefly flashing his hospital id badge, "and I’ll assist you however I can."

"Alright then.  Help us get her off the stage." The second medic came rolling onto the stage with a stretcher, followed closely by the announcer.  The stretcher rolled up beside the two ponies, and they prepared to life Vinyl onto it and get her out of there.  "On three. Ready?"

"Ready." he replied.

"One. Two. Three." The two ponies gently lifted Vinyl off the ground, placing her onto the stretcher.

"Everypony, please remain calm." The announcer began to say to the still shocked crowd. "Rest assured, DJ PON-3 will be fine, but unfortunately, the rest of the show is cancelled." Confused looks spread across the crowd as Vinyl was pulled off the stage in the stretcher.  "Refunds will not be issued for this concert.  Thank you very much for coming out tonight..."

Backstage, the brown earth pony who had been assisting was running the show.

"Listen up everypony, I'm going to need some water, and we're going to need to get emergency personnel here on the double.  Has anypony already gone for them?"

"Her manager went to get them." One of the roadies replied.

"Good.  Now, let's get some water over here!"

"Catch!" A shout came from behind him.  He turned around to see a flying water bottle, which he deftly caught.

"Can I get one of the medics to hold her mouth open a little?"

"Right away sir." A medic replied, moving to open Scratch’s mouth a little bit.  The earth pony poured a small amount of water into Vinyl's mouth, noting it's dryness.  Vinyl's eyes fluttered slightly and opened, observing the brown pony giving her water.  She could barely make out the shape of him; everything was too hazy for her to see, let alone understand, anything.

"You’re gonna be all right.  Just stay calm, and relax." The pony said before Vinyl fell back into the depths of unconsciousness.  "How far away are the emergency ponies from here?"

"I can't see them anywhere!" One of the medics said, looking out the door.

"Alright then, we're taking her to them."

Vinyl opened her eyes again, and unleashed a stream of vomit off to the side of the stretcher, missing the pony who had been helping her by mere inches.  "And somepony clean that up." He said, as he moved the stretcher and the pony on it towards the door.  After gently lowering the pony to the ground, he and one of Vinyl's travelling medics began to move her off to Ponyville hospital.  The medic spoke up as they raced towards the hospital.

"Thank you so much.  Can I get your name?""

"At the moment, my name doesn't really matter.  I'm a fan of hers, and I'm willing to help.  That's all that matters."  Vinyl's medic couldn't help but acknowledge this.  Looking ahead, she could see Vinyl's manager, Flat Note, racing towards them, medical ponies in tow. "About buckin' time!" The earth pony shouted at him.

"Well, I beg your pardon!" the cream colored unicorn shouted back.  "How's she holding up?"

"Severely dehydrated and exhausted, but other than that, not too bad." The two groups caught up with each other, and Flat Note's group took over control of the rolling stretcher.

"Thank you very much, but we'll take it from here." Flat Note said.  The brown earth pony began to slow, and eventually stopped.  He smiled, knowing he was able to help one of his idols out.  He made his way back to see the medic who had also pulled away from the stretcher.

"Thank you for letting me to help." he said.

"You're welcome.  Thank you for helping in the first place." she said to him.  He nodded, and walked back towards his home on the other side of Ponyville.  It was a long walk now, but he would get there soon enough.  The medic simply continued onwards to the hospital, determined to help out Vinyl as much as they would let her.