Vinyl's Fire

Night had always seemed like the best time of day to Vinyl. Afterall, it was night that ponies seemed the most free to do what they wanted. It suited her lifestyle quite well. What better time to have a show than night, anyways?

Vinyl was laying on the bed in her dark room, exhausted after what seemed like forever at the festival. She could swear she could still hear the drowned out roar of the crowd echoing in her ears from earlier that day. She replayed the events of the day in her mind, smiling while doing so. It had started out pretty well, she had managed to arrive to the event on time, and even managed to catch a few performances before she had to attend to her own. Then she’d met up with Spitfire for the first time in a while.

Normally she’d now be at peace for the the night, but something in her thoughts about the day’s events were eating away at the edge of her consciousness. First of all, there had been Spitfire. She had seemed off to Vinyl, in a way she couldn’t quite place during the dinner. Then there had been the other Wonderbolt, Soarin. Despite his laughs in general good naturedness, she couldn’t help but feel like he was keeping an eye on her for whatever reason.

Vinyl frowned. She couldn’t think of any reason that might’ve displeased the two Wonderbolts. She could assume that it was because of her general appearance that might’ve put Soarin on edge, but there was still the issue of Spitfire. Vinyl had known her for quite sometime, and Vinyl was sure she had barely changed at all since college. Underneath the exterior of the seasoned captain Spitfire was, Vinyl could still see the pony she knew so well from so long ago.

Vinyl sighed and rolled over, tossing around her blankets in a desperate attempt to get comfortable. There was no way of being certain of the reason of Spitfire’s sudden change in demeanour.

“I’ll ask her tomorrow,” Vinyl muttered resolutely.

~-~

The following morning proceeded as expected, with her waking up late and barely managing to make it to the festival at the time that she had wanted to be there by.

Vinyl panted, catching her breath at the entrance. Carrying equipment was hard work. It was a few minutes before she started moving to the stage she was on yesterday, which was where she said she would meet Spitfire.

She pace slowed down as she listened to the chorus of various genres of music being played all around her. The music began to bring her mind to other places, long nights at clubs, lazy afternoons in the summer. It was amazing what sound could do. Vinyl began to hum along to one of the songs that was being played that she was familiar with. It was only when she heard the start of another house song she realized she had somewhere she was supposed to be.

Vinyl began to move quicker towards the stage from yesterday. She was already later than she had anticipated, even if she ran she wasn’t sure they’d have time to do much more than talk for a few minutes before she was forced to start setting up.

Vinyl’s trot turned into a gallop reaching the side of the stage before slowing down. She sighed contentedly that she had made it with a little time to spare. As she walked towards the back of the stage she began to hear indistinct voices. The closer she got to the back, the louder and more agitated the voices grew. She didn’t want to eavesdrop, but something stopped her from turning the corner.

“I don’t think that just giving it to her is the right way to go about this, Spits.”

“Well what do you suggest, that we just audition DJs at random? We’ve been thinking about something like this for a while, consider this just speeding up the process.”

“I just want the best for the team, can’t you see that? There’s no way that-”

Vinyl’s curiosity got the better of her, causing her to round the corner to see Spitfire and Soarin waiting around the back of the stages as she had expected them to.

“Hey,” Vinyl said awkwardly.

Spitfire appeared to jump slightly, turning around sharply, before appearing to relax at the sight of her.

“Hey, Vinyl.”

“I know we didn’t really go over in detail what you wanted to do today,” She paused momentarily glancing at Soarin to see the same expression from before. “So uh, what didja’ have in mind?”

Soarin looked like he was about to say something before Spitfire cut in.

“We can hang out after your set later,” Spitfire said, looking at the sun. “Which I would guess is in a few minutes.”

“Crap!” Vinyl yelped before dashing off to get set up for her set.

The two Wonderbolts watched her leave before Soarin spoke rounding on Spitfire.

“You can’t just give her the job like that, are you kidding me Spitfire?” Before she could respond, he continued. “Are you even thinking about how it would in the headlines with blatant favoritism like that?”

In the background she could hear Vinyl’s first song starting up with the familiar bassline. Spitfire was silent, she didn’t have a logical response to what Soarin had said. Finally she spoke,

“I’m doing what it’ll take to help my friend. She’s damn good at what she does as well, and if that doesn’t qualify her for this job I don’t know what would.”

Soarin shook his head, still distressed.

“I don’t want the Bolts’ to feel any backlash from a rushed decision on something like this.”

“I-”

“There’s a lot of pressure that comes with being associated with the Wonderbolts, you’ve seen what it can make ponies do first hand,” Soarin said, looking Spitfire directly in her eyes.

Spitfire averted her eyes pawing at the ground with a hoof.

“She’s can handle it, besides she doesn’t even… y’know…”

Soarin sighed.

“Sorry, Cap’, I just needed to remind you of what could happen.”

“It’s fine,” Spitfire muttered.

The pair remained quiet, listening to Vinyl’s set. They could both easily hear the noise of the music and the crowd from where they were sitting. Soarin got up and stretched himself out, Spitfire was surprised he had stayed for as long as he had.

“I think I’ll take my leave and explore the rest of the event, Spitfire,” Soarin said. He was at the corner when he said, “It’s your call with Vinyl, Captain. If you think it’s best for the team, go for it.”

Then just like that, he was gone. Spitfire frowned, there was a very real dilemma she had to deal with. Spitfire got up, and poked her head over the back of the stage cautiously. Vinyl was facing the crowd, immersed fully into what she was doing. Spitfire had a very nice view indeed. She could also see Vinyl’s magic clearly dancing around the panels, flicking switches and knobs.

Spitfire’s imagination began to wander to other places, she could just as easily see this being a Wonderbolt show, and not just a fair. Vinyl had it in her to achieve exactly what the Bolts’ were looking for, she had to. From her vantage point, Vinyl looked completely at ease performing in front of the moderately sized crowd.

How different could a show for the Wonderbolts be anyways? Vinyl would more or less be on the side of the crowd’s focus. Spitfire felt wholeheartedly she could trust Vinyl to not crack under pressure. She smiled, Vinyl was made for pressure, a mare after her own heart.

Spitfire refrained from jumping up on stage next to her friend, there would be plenty of time to help Vinyl out later. At this point she was certain of her choice. There was nothing else for her to consider, no more problems for the present time. The only thing left was to actually offer the job to her. It left her with a warm feeling inside just thinking about Vinyl traveling along with her.

So when Vinyl had finally finished, and descended down stairs at the back of the stage, she caught Spitfire wearing a silly smile on her face.

“Uh, hello? Anyone home?”

Spitfire shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts, blushing slightly realizing how she must’ve looked.

“I was just caught in the moment,” She said, trying to change the subject as quickly possible. “Do you want to find somewhere to eat? I have a couple things I want to talk to about.”

Vinyl’s heartbeat sped up, this had to be the subject of Spitfire’s discomfort yesterday.

“Yeah, I’m starving,” Vinyl replied. She was more eager to get to the bottom of her friend’s behavior than she would care to admit.

They wandered across the fairgrounds, soon finding assorted vendors of food. When they found a particular one, Vinyl licked her lips in anticipation.

“I know what I’m getting, how bout you?”

Spitfire face-hoofed.

“Hayburgers, again?”

Vinyl snorted indignantly.

“If you want something else, I’ll meet you by that table over there in five minutes.”

“Sounds good,” Spitfire replied, moving off to another vendor.

Then there they were, five minutes later, sitting at the indicated table with their lunch. After they had both dug in, Vinyl cut immediately to the chase.

“What did you want to ask me, Spits?”

Spitfire gulped, swallowing her food.

“Well, the rest of the Bolts’ and myself were discussing the idea of adding a certain modern musical element to our shows,” Spitfire paused briefly to see how Vinyl was reacting. She hadn’t.

“An electronic element.”

Still nothing.

“Damn it Scratch, fine I’ll say it. We want you to DJ for a couple shows or more with us.”

An ear to ear grin was spreading across Vinyl’s face.

“Sweeet,” She said, her infectiously happy mood leaking into her speech.

“So you’ll do it?” Spitfire asked excitedly.

“Of course I will, I couldn’t just leave you guys DJ-less like that,” Vinyl said.

Spitfire deadpanned.

“...And I might need the money, you got me.”

Spitfire walked around to the other side of the table, pulling Vinyl into a strong hug.

“It’ll be like college, except this time without having to die working on essays.” Spitfire said, grinning.

“It definitely will be.”

They remained locked in their embrace for a bit longer than what would be considered normal, before Spitfire reluctantly pulled away, and sat back down on her side of the table. The rest of their meal was held in silence, both of their imagination’s unable to stop generating ideas of what they could do. One’s ideas were straying off in a different direction than the other’s however. Vinyl couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to the offer than met the eyes.