Everypony BOUNCE!
Everypony BOUNCE!
Bouncin’ all together now, Everypony BOUNCE!
Everypony JUMP!
Everypony JUMP!
Bounce off the walls YEAH! Everypony JUMP!
Everypony GROOVE!
Everypony GROOVE!
Everypony’s groovin’! Everypony GROOOOOoooooo........oooooooOO-O-OO-O-O-OOOOVE!
Strobe lights went haywire; dry ice fogged the stage and crowd as they all merged into one seething mass to the pulsing beat! Pinkie was settled in the dead centre of the room, she trotted on the spot with all her might, making her small pink limbs a blur for all to see in the semi darkness. Applejack stood beside her bucking in the air with excitement, both were sweating profusely but neither cared.
In the back of the club sat Rainbow and Fluttershy together, taking a break from their (In Rainbow’s case) wild dancing to have a small cider to refresh themselves. They too sweated as they held each other’s hooves as they sipped, the room’s air itself was thick with moisture from everypony who stood on the floor jumping to the pulsing music! Not a single pony’s mane was not clinging to their scalp from frantic perspiration!
Twilight and Rarity were also somewhere in the crowd, but you wouldn’t have been able to spot them due to the constant movement and flux of the crowd itself. All of them, lost in the marvellous sound.
And on stage, behind a turntable fit for god! Stood Vinyl Scratch! She whirled the records, distorted the beat and warped the vocals at such a speed and rhythm that not a single Pony in the room could be left un-affected by her magical music! Her signature shades rested on the end of her muzzle, reflecting the beams of strobe and lasers back out to the audience, giving her the appearance of an other worldly being.
She pounded her hoof in the air to the beat, showing her amazing skill by mixing the sound with only one hoof. Then returned to the song in earnest! This was the life, this was what she loved! This. Was. Perfect!
SCRRRRRRREEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Everypony called out in pain as the noise pierced their ears! Vinyl winced in pain! Uh-oh! Pull off the needle quick! Her sudden movement jostles the table slightly. Another long screech to the audiences displeasure. Her hoof, catches the volume dial, turns it all the way to mute and then...snaps clean off!
The dial flew out into the dark and silent room, nopony’s jumping now, nopony’s bouncing either. They just watched Vinyl. She scratched her neck unsure of what to do, with no dial how was she supposed to turn the music back up? She looked to the exit of the stage pleadingly. The stage manager was a small brown and white stallion. He took the despairing look from the blue haired artist as a signal, so he swiped his hoof over his throat to the ponies behind him, they obeyed and proceeded to kill the lights.
When all was dark, and all the ponies in the audience called out in annoyance with the lack of light. Vinyl ran off stage. The stage manager met her halfway and walked her offstage. “You ok sweat heart?”
“Uhh, yeah, yeah I’m fine!” She took off her shades to reveal the most dazzlingly shocking red eyes in all of Equestria. She pierced her lips and whistled as she released a huge breath of nerves. “We got another turntable?”
The stage manager looked at her amazed! “You want to go back out there?! After that?” The blue mane’d pony frowned at him.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?” He spluttered for a moment in sheer surprise.
“Umm... Well you- I mean to say they- uhh you kinda flopped out there!”
“It happens.” The musical pony said amazingly calmly. The manager stared at her incredulously.
“Well I’m sorry darling, but We only have the one out there!” He gestured back onstage where the house lighting had come back on and the crowd began to talk and rumble loudly.
“Fine, we need to fix it then don’t we!” Vinyl turned round and bolted back out onstage to the gorgeous turntable. Everypony in the club grew suddenly quiet as she set her hoof into their view. They looked disappointed, they had been having so much fun. This is what Vinyl hated about gigs, if you screw up, then everyone else has a terrible time!
Searched for everything they needed, a new dial for the volume, and a new copy of the record she had scratched. The silver line was a horrifying sight to the little pony. She took it off of the table and held it in her dazzlingly blue hue of magic. She looked to everypony before her and laughed nervously, every eye was now on her. They all stared unblinking, waiting for some explanation. “Uhhhh....We’re gonna take a little ten minute break here everypony, then we’ll be back into the swing of things better than ever! Please bare with me.” Nopony said a word, a bead of sweat began to trickle down the back of Vinyl’s neck, she gave out another nervous chuckle. She then tore her way back to the backstage area. The rumbling of the audience began again as she raced away, it was a lot louder this time!
She threw the now useless record on a collapsible chair nearby, and then addressed the crew who were now gathered at the side of the stage to hear the plan of action. “Right!” She began enthusiastically. “We need a new copy of this record, and a volume dial! Anypony got either?” She knew the answer to the record would be no, but it never hurt to ask!
The crew responded in the way she had guessed they would. They all shook their heads. The manager began to speak dejectedly. “You brought that table remember. So we don’t have any spares for you, not for that model anyway. And why can’t you use a different song? Why does it have to be this record exactly?”
“It’s my base record! It’s the one I use the most in my songs, and it’s the one with all the sounds my songs are based on. All the others are the ones I use for effects and distortions. Right then...” She looked for the back door of the club, she’d need to get back here pretty quick so she’d need to find the quickest way out, this wasn’t going to be easy.
She spotted it and ran for the green marked door, as the red eyed and blue maned pony ran she heard the manager yell out in panic. “What are we supposed to do while you’re gone exactly!?!?”
She opened the door, looked back for a moment and shrugged.
“I dunno! Stall?” Then she was gone.
...................................................................
In the small music shop just in the centre of Ponyville entitled “Synthany’s symphonies” a grey pony with a long flowing dark mane was rambling on about the crisis she was in.
“So now, I have no D string for my cello! My concert is in a weak and I STILL can’t get that progression right! So PLEASE tell me you have a D string for it! Please!” The cream coloured unicorn behind the counter smiled, she was very slim, tall and slender. Her main was a misty blue colour, and her eyes were two dazzling emeralds set into her beautiful face.
“Well, though I don’t display them, I’m sure I have them! I’ll go check in the bac”-
“SYYYYYYYYYYN!” The screaming Vinyl Dash burst through the door of the shop and toppled to the ground from her sudden stop, she rolled a good six feet and ended with a crash into a set of drums. The whole display fell and crashed on top of her. The two female ponies watched in horror and amazement as the noise of collapsing instruments finally dimmed.
Drums lay scattered everywhere, Vinyl now sat on her haunches, her head spinning and her body swaying ever so slightly as she saw stars. To the grey pony’s utter disbelief, she watched as a teetering symbol swayed above the dark blue and white unicorn toppled and crashed on her head, making the precise sound it should make when hit with a stick.
As the metal circle fell off her head and down to the floor with a huge clang, Vinyl shook her head to clear it. She then looked around at the mess she had made. “Hehehh...” She closed her eyes and smiled sheepishly. “Oops.”
The grey Pony stared in disbelief, her mouth hung agape as she watched the unbelievably strange coloured pony stand completely unscathed. The shop keeper giggled at the whole incident, and then suddenly with a look of realisation on her face she suddenly shouted with worry.
“Scratch! Aren’t you supposed to be performing now?!” Vinyl’s eyes flew open with realisation. She zipped up to the counter, unintentionally barging past the cello playing pony, causing her to topple over to the ground.
“YEAH I AM! But Synthany, my record got scratched! And then I lost the volume dial, so now it won’t work!” The floored pony got back up to her feet and brushed herself off touchily. She tilted her head away from the shouting pony; she wished that the obnoxious creature had a volume dial of her own so she could make her pitch less deafening!
“Oh no! Right hold on one second! I’ve got a copy of it myself! ‘Pony bounce’ wasn’t it?”
“Yeah!”
“Ok hold on! I’ll go upstairs and find it! I have some dials somewhere around here, you look for them!”
“ ‘Kay! Thanks Synthany!” The attractive unicorn vanished up the stairs. The grey pony looked in complete outrage as the mare ran off to serve a customer who came in after her!
“Excuse me! Ma’am! EXCUSE ME!” But she was already upstairs, you could hear her rummaging around through the floorboards above. The grey pony huffed, blowing a stray loch of her dark mane back up into place from over her eyes.
Vinyl used her magic to open each draw viciously and then began rummaging through it at top speed. Unbeknownst to the vibrantly blue and white unicorn, the cellist approached her and blocked her exit when she did or didn’t find what she was looking for.
When Vinyl eventually didn’t find a dial in any of the drawers, she turned and nearly ploughed right into the unimpressed face in front of her. The grey pony’s eyes were a brilliant shade of dark purple. As her eyes met Vinyl’s red ones, she backed away slightly in shock!
“Eeek! What’s the matter with your eyes!?!” She squealed, slightly frightened. Vinyl tilted her head to the side slightly and frowned. Then her face popped into sudden understanding.
“Oooooohhhhh! I forgot my shades!” She bumped her hoof against her forehead. “Dooooyyyy! Sorry, about the shock.” She opened her eyes wide; and her horn then began to glow softly. The red iris’s glowed slightly for a moment and then began to shift into a more peaceful shade of dark pink. “That better?” She asked happily.
The grey pony simply stared at the strange unicorn. “Y-you... were those the real colours of your eyes?” Vinyl closed her eyes tightly and smiled, nodding vigorously.
“Yup! Cool huh? Really helps when I’m performing, they really suite the music!” If the pony had been shocked before, then she was simply incredulous now!
“Y-YOU!?! Perform? With an instrument?! What could you possibly play?” The question had been worded kind of harshly, but the earth pony obviously came from a higher class than Vinyl. She simply couldn’t understand how somepony who looked so odd could perform in front of a crowd and play cultured music!
“Tables.” She said blissfully unaware of the earth pony’s tone. She ducked away and continued her search for a volume dial.
“T-tables?!”
“Yeah, Turntables!” Said the unseen unicorn from behind a mass of instruments. There was a pause in her movements, silence for a moment, and then she sprang her head up above the many different musical devices. She smiled at the pony and said joyfully. “I’m a DJ! Names Scratch. Vinyl Scratch!” She then dove back into the treasure trove of items.
“Uhh... Octavia.” The pony said with a very reserved voice, unsure what to make of this strangely friendly pony. Most ponies in the city were friendly, but not THIS friendly.
“Nice to meat yah! Uhh excuse me...” Somehow, Vinyl had crawled across the floor of the entire store without being noticed and now Octavia stood across her path. The perplexed pony moved to allow the unicorn to continue her search out of sheer astonishment at the randomness of this vibrant creature.
It was then that Octavia realised why she had been annoyed. Her face grew stern and she spoke strongly and loudly for the unicorn to hear her, wherever she had gotten to now! “Actually! Excuse me, but I was here first, and you barged in and stopped me from concluding my business here! Now I’m stuck here until you’re done!” She didn’t raise her voice, but she made it obvious she was unhappy!
“Oh.” Vinyl stood up, immediately abandoning her search. “I’m sorry! I really am, I guess I was rushing too much to notice!” She came and stood in front of Octavia, every glimpse of randomness miraculously gone, replaced by a serious and sincere looking unicorn. Octavia felt childish now, She looked away from Vinyl and muttered embarrassedly.
“Uhhh, it’s fine, never mind.”
“THERE!” Octavia jumped at the sudden loud shout that came from the unicorn. The blue maned Unicorn pounced on a small box on the floor. When she rose again, she had a small black cylinder floating in her magical field. It was a hollow tube, with an opening at one end, which then ended with a solid wall of plastic on the other with a little white line marked out on its side. “Yes! This is great! Now all I need’s Synthany’s record!”
The unicorn finally relaxed, she smiled at Octavia she moved over to the counter, placing the dial to the side, she hopped up and planted her haunches firmly down. She sat there happily and looked across the small cluttered room to Octavia. “So, what do you play?” Octavia stared at the shockingly strange pony for another moment, before speaking, unsure of what will come of her telling this unicorn anything about herself.
“Cello.”
“Sweet! You any good?” Octavia couldn’t believe it! Any good?! She was one of the most popular classical artists in all Equestria! She calmed her raging inner storm before she spoke coldly robotically.
“One shouldn’t try to establish their own standing in their field, because then one would become big headed and full of themselves.”
“Oh.” The unicorn looked slightly crest fallen at the obvious attempt to close the convocation. She looked around awkwardly for a moment, before another question came to mind.
“Ok then! You played any gigs? What’s the biggest one you played?” Octavia was beginning to become slightly annoyed with all the questions. But she couldn’t help responding with a certain sense of pride.
“The Grand Galloping Galla.” Scratch’s jaw dropped!
“NO KIDDIN?! HOW THE HAY DID YOU SWING THAT?!?!” Octavia felt a little warmth from the sudden admiration from the unicorn, in her line of work it was more expected to play big venues, so not many people showed interest where you had played. It was a nice feeling.
“I was requested by the princess herself, she had heard my music at some of my previous venues and asked me to take part at the gala.
“Sooooo you’re kind of a hot shot then?” Asked Vinyl bluntly. Octavia blushed bright pink at the brashness of the comment.
“Not...in such latent terms, that sounds big headed. But I have done quite well for myself.”
“No kidding” Scratch whistled in slight amazement. “Well I was playing my biggest gig just now, but everything went wrong in the middle of a song. So I’m trying to sort it all out while the crew all stall for me.” She looked back to the stairs nervously for the first time.
Octavia frowned at her. “You mean... you were in the middle of a concert and you just left?”
“Well yeah, they didn’t have any dials and they didn’t have the record I scratched.”
“But shouldn’t they be fixing your instruments for you?” That’s how it had always been done when Octavia was at a concert.
“Why should they?” The unicorn looked confused. “If it’s my instrument, and my fault the gig’s been delayed, then why shouldn’t I be the one to fix it all?” The bluntness of the unicorn was unbelievable. Octavia opened and closed her mouth, unable to form words, they both worked in the career of music, but the two of them couldn’t be any more different! This was a pony who lived solely for the joy of her music, and not for the money it made her! It was oddly refreshing to see such passion in somepony so young, it almost reminded Octavia of herself a few years ago.
“I FOUND IT!” The attractive Synthany finally returned holding a record in her cream coloured magic. She passed it to the overjoyed Vinyl Scratch, who then jumped off the counter and picked up the dial.
“I’ll come back later and pay!” The store owner giggled.
“Ok then, have fun Scratch!”
“Will do Syn! It was nice meeting you Octavia!” She bolted out of the room, leaving the shop in a suddenly aerie silence. Octavia’s ears began to ring slightly with the sudden quietness after so much loud shouting and noise.
The grey pony shook her head, strange, a very strange pony. She slowly made her way across the small shop, heading for the counter. Synthany smiled up at her. “Hey, thanks for waiting, she’s just worked so hard for this, practising every night. I live next door to her, so I kind of see her a lot, sucks that something went wrong though.” She grimaced at the prospect. “Oh!” her eye sprung open with happiness. “I found some strings while I was up there! Here!” She pulled out a small Florissant packet from under the counter and passed it to the quiet grey pony.
Octavia took them silently, she didn’t move. She simply stood and thought, letting the packet rest on the end of her hoof. The cream shop keeper smiled she leant forward, propping her elbows up on the counter and resting her head on her hooves. “She is quite interesting isn’t she?” There was no need to guess who she was referring to. “Did you see her eyes? Freaky eh?” She laughed harmlessly, meaning nothing but a joke with her comment.
Freaky...no... They weren’t freaky! They just... ‘really suite the music!’ Though she had been slightly startled by the pony’s appearance, that unbelievably dark neon blue mane, the dark red eyes, she seemed... Kind. Fun. Passionate. She was everything Octavia had lost long ago. When had it all stopped being about the music? When she became successful? When had she stopped staying up all night writing new pieces she prayed would bring emotions welling up in her audiences?
“...You know...” The cream pony let out an all knowing smile. “I could hold on to them if you want, you could always pick them up on your way back to the hotel. Something tells me you have somewhere you want to be.” Octavia frowned. Did she? Where did she want to be? She wanted to go back to her hotel and fix her cello then...go...to bed. That was what she HAD wanted to do when she came in the shop. But now...
....................................................
Everypony BOUNCE! Bouncebouncebounce!
Everypony JUMP! Jumpjumpjump!
Everypony, everypony, JUMP!
Everypony, everypony! E-ver-y-po-ny......................BOUNCE!
The club was in full swing again! Applejack and Pinkie danced wildly yet again, and were soon joined by Rainbow and Fluttershy. The rainbow maned pony joined in frantically, while the yellow and pink Pegasus hopped around quietly and contently. Soon Rarity and Twilight found their way to their friends and joined in the big group dance to the amazingly fast and loud music that was being played.
Scratch was in her element! Something was different, but she was playing better than ever before. Nopony understood how that was possible, she distorted the beat and remixed the tune’s so quickly and seamlessly it was almost as though she were an entirely new musician. The stage manager simply stared at the vibrant DJ, his clipboard had long since fallen to the floor in amazement and evrypony was so entranced that they never even bothered to tell him!
Onstage, Vinyl was having the time of her life. Meeting a professional musician had inspired her. There were a few musically talented ponies in Ponyville, but not did it as a career. In this town she was unique in that regard! Now all that inspiration came out as an explosion of creativity! She’d work even harder! Even longer! She would keep going until she became as successful as that grey cello playing Octavia! Then the next time they met, if they ever did again. The two of them would be on the same level! The two of them would be equal in their own field of music and would probably have a lot more to talk about.
Although she had only just met her, Vinyl liked the upper class pony. The way she held herself, the fact she was unashamed of what she did, but yet not enough to brag about her own achievements. That’s what Vinyl wanted to be like! So she’d keep working, just to get that little bit of recognition!
Across the dance floor, past the tables at the back, beyond the stairs to the upper balconies, situated just next to the bar, stood the entrance. The light from the outside let in a quick burst of natural light from the setting sun outside. When the door shut, the pony who had entered was pulled into an entirely different world! One of strobe lights, teens, drinking, and pounding pulsing music!
She watched everypony, all talking and laughing. This was something she never got to see! Everypony stayed so silent in her concerts, their judgement obvious in the way the silence rings out around you! If it the silence is too taught then you know you’ve failed. If every breath was held, then you knew they waited excitedly for more. This was far more relaxed, far more ... fun! The happy laughing faces proved the music was having its desired effect!
Octavia came over to the bar and leant against it nervously, she didn’t want to be noticed she probably didn’t look like the right kind of pony to be here. She didn’t really belong. “Get yah a drink good looking?” She jumped at the loudness of the yell over the music. She looked up into the eyes of a tall and dark stallion, he smiled happily and jerked his head to the bar, a questioning look in his eye.
Octavia blushed for the second time of the night. “Oh, ummm, thank you. But I’m only here for a moment.” Before she could explain any further, the crowd exploded with cheers. With the stallions attention taken away from her for that moment, she slipped away to one of the empty tables.
She looked up to the stage, waiting to see what had made the crowd go so crazy. On stage, a white coated unicorn had thrown her sunglasses into the crowd, her vibrantly red eyes clashed against her dark neon blue mane beautifully as she yelled out and pointed to the crowd. She was right, they really did suite the atmosphere in this place, they seemed to glow like two rubies set against the lack of light and abundance of fog.
Octavia smiled, this wasn’t half bad. This was actually quite enjoyable, to hear music that wasn’t her own genre was a refreshing change. And this new genre! It sent chills up her spine, made her hooves tingle slightly. It was a true feeling of excitement that Octavia hadn’t felt for years, not since she first heard a cello being played!
With her vision fully restored Vinyl looked out into the crowd, they all cheered again. She laughed, the noise never reached anyone but her gaping, smiling mouth showed them all she was overjoyed! Slowly her scarlet eyes scanned the room, and soon spotted Octavia. A brief look of surprise crossed the unicorn’s face, but it was soon replaced by one of happiness! She waved frantically at the grey pony.
Her overly exaggerated movements made Octavia laugh out loud. When she recovered from her giggles, she smiled back and waved encouragingly. That was all Vinyl needed! She blasted into the next song with new found gusto, letting her music say what she felt. The song was fast, happy and powerful!
Octavia looked around one last time, would Scratch mind her staying for the rest of the show? Maybe she’d stay to talk to the unicorn afterwards. Maybe she could realise what exactly she was missing, what had made her lose sight of her passion. If there was a way to see what was wrong, this pony, this unbelievably random, kind and funny pony, would be the best bet at helping her find out what it was.
Maybe she’d stick around...just a little longer.
