Chapter 1: Practice makes Perfect
A mare with a dark mane walked into the room. She gave the group of people in the room with her a stern look and straightened out her bow tie.
"Alright, let's take it from the top, everypony." Octavia Melody said to the orchestra. They straightened up as well and started tuning their instruments. Octavia's cello was ready to play, of course. She was never unprepared. Though she was only a cellist, she was practically in charge of everypony. Octavia was the most organized, dedicated, and hard working musician any of her orchestra mates had ever seen. However, she never took breaks and hung out with the rest of them. She was always practicing, sun up until sun down. Octavia was never found to be in a relationship with anypony; she didn't even seem to talk to her own family that often. But during rehearsal or any performance, her cello always stood out. Octavia's music was like a gift from Celestia herself, taking everypony who listened to it away to a magical place of class and grace.
As Octavia played away during that rehearsal though, no pony was taken away. The piece seemed worn out and tired, as did the mare herself.
"Uh, Octavia, are you okay?" asked a blue colt named Noteworthy.
"Huh? No, I'm completely fine. Now continue!" Octavia shouted at him.
"Uh, ma'am, you seem rather...overworked. Maybe you should take a break." a mint colored mare named Lyra Heartstrings mumbled out. The words splashed over Octavia like a giant wave.
"Overworked? OVERWORKED?!? I am DEFINITELY NOT overworked!! I am JUST fine!! I...I..." Octavia shouted to the orchestra as they came to sudden stop.
"Maybe you're right. But this is the Grand Galloping Gala for bucks sake!" Octavia exclaimed to her fellow musicians. "We know, Octavia, but now it's finally time to let the professionals take this in their own hooves."
Lyra said to her friend, "Go enjoy yourself for once. If you don't, we just might have to kidnap you and force you to."
"Alright, alright. I will, but only for a couple of hours, got it?" Octavia said with a rare giggle. Thus, she reluctantly left the building and her cello behind.
"Maybe I can make a dash to my house to continue practicing. No, no, I bet they have spies everywhere considering the last time this happened" Octavia whispered to herself, "Well, what if...what if I go to a place they would never expect? I can slip in there, then sneak out." Octavia smiled to herself, pleased with herself. Little did she know that her plan was going to backfire majorly.
Octavia walked into the nearest bar in Ponyville known as the Shindig. She hadn't been there in ages, it had seemed. The old stage she had remembered to have the band's instruments now had turn tables where loud dub step music was bursting out to the small crowd of dancing ponies. The wooden floor where Octavia had been swung was replaced by a bright, multi-colored dance floor.
"It really has been a long time. Eh, might as well order a drink while I'm here." Octavia thought to herself as she settled into a red, rubber stool that she hadn't remembered being there before.
"Cherry Twist with a sprig of mint, please." Octavia politely requested.
"I haven't had an order like that in four years." the waitress responded with a bit of shock in her voice.
"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just been a while since I've been here and I thought..." Octavia trailed off, embarrassed and at a loss for words.
"Octavia? Is that really you?" the waitress asked with awe in her voice. She turned around to reveal herself as a purple mare with a magenta mane in a sloshing sort of form with matching magenta eyes.
"Berry Punch! I'm glad to see that one thing hasn't changed while I was gone. Speaking of that, has it really been four years?" Octavia responded with a bit of relief in her voice. Berry Punch's smile turned to a frown automatically.
"Yeah, it has, Tav. I've heard a lot about you from your bandmates. They say that all you ever do is work. I couldn't believe it; that sure wasn't the Tavi I knew from her time here. But after I realized you probably weren't coming back..." she sighed
"Anyway, the drink's on the house. I haven't been able to make one of these babies in a while." Berry Punch stated as she started to make the drink for Octavia. Suddenly, all the lights went out for a single spotlight. A white unicorn with a spiky blue mane jumped out onto the stage.
She shouted "Ponyville, are you ready to par-tay?!?"
Chapter 2: The Drink and The Music
~5 minutes earlier~
"This is it." Vinyl Scratch thought to herself, "This is the moment I've been waiting for. I'll finally be able to prove them all wrong." She straightened her mane out a bit and tried to remember which track she was going to start with. Vinyl tried to calm down, but it seemed impossible. Finally getting to shove the fact that she had a gig in every haters' face felt so good. Tonight she wasn't Vinyl Scratch, she was the rocking, epic DJ PON3.
She jumped on the stage with all the confidence she could muster and shouted "Ponyville, are you ready to par-tay?!?" She closed her eyes and hoped, prayed to Celestia that she would get a response. Luckily, her prayers were answered as the crowd responded with a giant "YEAH!". She got to the turn tables and started to let the music flow through her. Every beat, every sound had to be in the right place at the right time. If that didn't happen, the magic and groove would all be lost. Of course, nopony could really achieve perfection; Vinyl would always have a few mistakes here and there, but would always find a way to change it into something breathtaking. She felt everything round freeze almost as she prepared for her favorite part of every song, the bass drop. As soon as she let go, she looked up from the turn tables to find a gray mare looking at her in awe.
When the song had started, she had internally groaned. Dubstep was definitely not Octavia's music of preference. But as she really listened, a trait she had gained from years of practice, she heard more than just wubs and bass. A strive for perfection, a burning passion to be up there among the stars; Octavia heard it clearly. And to be honest, it did sound a bit like perfection, in its own little remixy sort of way. Octavia simply could believe it; whenever she heard music like this it sounded like an excuse for money. But this, this sounded like a pure strive to be the best, something Octavia only heard in, well, herself. She grabbed the drink from Berry Punch and took a sip. It tasted like she had returned home, back to her inspiration, with just a hint of mint.
"So, um, who's the newbie?" Octavia asked Berry Punch nervously. Berry raised an eyebrow but then simply shook her head and said
"Calls herself DJ PON3. This is her first day and she seems surprisingly successful. Looks like a keeper to me, what do you think?"
"YES, DEFINITELY, ABSOLUTELY!" Octavia yelped at Berry Punch. Her friend looked at her, bewildered. "Are you already drunk? It was only one drink and I didn't even make it that strong." Berry questioned her. Octavia looked down at her hooves sheepishly and stammered out a response.
"N-no. It's just..." she sighed "It's just the way she plays. She so full of inspiration and a goal of only perfection." She looked over at the DJ and said "She reminds me a lot of myself, in a way."
"And you can tell all that from her music? Impressive." Berry Punch simply responded. "Oh, and by the way, you do realize you're staring, right?"
The song had finished and Octavia was now blushing a deep crimson. She hadn't realized she was staring, she didn't mean to stare, PON3 just seemed so interesting. But that didn't seem to make a difference, because the white unicorn was now approaching her.
"Shit" Octavia thought to herself, "How am I going to explain this?"
PON3 stopped right next to her and said "Um, hey."
Octavia tried to redeem herself and asked ("quite stupidly" part of her thought) "Hey, me?" "Uh, yeah. C-can I buy you a drink?" Vinyl Scratch asked her. Octavia almost choked on air, speechless.
"Um... Miss- what your name?" Vinyl asked, waving her hoof in front of Octavia's face.
"Oc-Octavia. My name is Octavia Melody. And thank you for the offer, but I already had a drink." Octavia responded with more confidence.
"O-oh, I didn't mean like- Sorry, I'm just not myself today." Vinyl said, her face turning as crimson as Octavia's once was, shaking her head.
"What the hell is wrong with me? Usually I don't slip up like this. Seriously, what the hell?!?" Vinyl thought to herself.
"It's alright, I believe I lead you to be confused. I'm simply interested in the way you play." Octavia said, not looking her in the eye.
"You like the way I play?!?" Vinyl said excitedly, "Um, I mean, I figured." Octavia laughed; though PON3 was good with music, she was nowhere near serious.
"Yes, I find it fascinating. You seem so into it when you play." Octavia said in awe.
"How can you tell?" Vinyl asked.
Octavia sighed, "I've worked hard to make my pieces like that."
"Oh, so you're a musician too? What do you play?" Vinyl asked with a large amount of curiosity.
"Well, um, it's sort of like a giant violin, you see." Octavia said, trying to explain it to such a simpleton.
"You mean a cello? Just because I play the turn tables, doesn't mean I'm an idiot when it comes to classical." Vinyl said with her usual sass.
Octavia raised an eyebrow, "Maybe she isn't a simpleton." she thought to herself.
"Uh, yes, that would be it." she responded, but Berry Punch had decided to cut in and say "Well, she also specializes, or should I say specialized, in playing the bass."
"Interesting." Vinyl simply said, "Well, Miss Octavia, how would you say to stepping back into the bass?"
"What do you mean?" Octavia questioned her, definitely not feeling like playing the bass.
"What I mean is, how would you care to join me as I dance the day away to some awesome bass tracks I have?" Vinyl answered cooly.
"Sure, why not?" Octavia thought as she spoke, "Oh, wait, Miss PON3, I didn't-" "The name's Vinyl, and you won't regret this" she was answered as she was dragged to the dance floor.
"Oh, Celestia, what have I done?" both of them thought in unison.
