“Remind me why we’re here again, Spits?”
Soarin and Spitfire were walking through a rather crowded outdoor festival, numerous songs could be heard playing through the air.
Spitfire rolled her eyes, “I told you already, we might as well spend our off-time doing something interesting for once. Not to mention I was planning on meeting up with an old friend of mine.”
Soarin snorted, “You have a lot of ‘friends’, is this one going to be as bad as the others?”
“I made some mistakes like everyone else,” Spitfire said, slightly irked.
“Yeah, well as long as this friend doesn’t leave you crying for days, then they’re cool with me.” Soarin said, nudging Spitfire with a foreleg.
“Fine, just try not to draw too much attention while we’re wandering around here, I don’t want to deal with any fanatics right now,” Spitfire said.
As the pair wandered around the event, certain loud noises became more audible to them.
Spitfire perked up, looking for the source of the familiar sounding commotion. It was Vinyl Scratch, it was always Vinyl Scratch. Ever since college it had been Scratch. From the moment they met it seemed that Vinyl had an affinity to creating a somewhat controlled chaos wherever she performed. With her crazed electric blue mane, and her purple glasses, she seemed to thrive in situations like the ones she created with her music.
It was hard to tell where Vinyl was looking because of the shades that seemed to follow her everywhere she went. Somehow Spitfire could still feel herself being picked out of the crowd by her old friend. She could feel what was going to happen next.
“Soarin, I think we should-”
“Spitfire! Get your flank up here!”
“-Nevermind.” Celestia damn it. Spitfire groaned, sometimes she wasn’t sure who played the spotlight better, her or Vinyl. She could only watch as heads in the crowd turned her way, eliminating any chances of escaping fans. Murmurs of excitement rippled through the crowd.
She pushed off the floor taking only two flaps of her wings to reach the stage, landing next to Vinyl. By now the chatter in the gathered crowd has increased tenfold.
“Well, that was going to be my last song for today”- the audience moaned- “but since Spits is here now, I think that warrants one more track.” Cheers erupted from the crowd, eager for one more song.
Spitfire grinned. “I find it amazing that your ears haven’t fallen off yet with all of this constant noise.” Noise blasted from the speakers set up around the stage, signaling the resumption of Vinyl’s performance.
“Comes with the job,” Vinyl replied, while messing with some dials on her setup. Spitfire was having trouble hearing her now over the music and noise from the crowd. She figured further attempts at conversation would be futile.
Stuck on stage with nothing better to do, she let herself get lost in the music, feeling the beats rattling her body. Her eyes combed the crowd, then strayed to Vinyl. It’d been a while since she had met up with her college friend. Vinyl hadn’t changed a bit, it seemed. She still had her hair in the same style as always, combined with the same pair of shades.Her flank still looks sexy too. Spitfire wasn’t one to deny facts.
Then it seemed like in no time at all, the song was over. She could see Vinyl grab the mic and say something she couldn’t hear into it. The crowd seemed to dissipate as Spitfire watched in mild fascination. She barely noticed when she was tapped on the shoulder. Vinyl was saying something, she wasn’t sure what.
“I can’t hear you,” Spitfire said, embarrassed. Vinyl rolled her eyes then her horn glowed, casting a spell.
“That better?” She asked.
Spitfire nodded. “Thanks, Vinyl.”
Vinyl snorted. “No problem, I think you need to go clubbing more though. What happened to the college days, Spits?”
“Some of us can’t part for our job, Scratch,” Spitfire chuckled.
Vinyl laughed. “And being a Wonderbolt is the worst thing ever.”
“I’d like to see you with wings, just so I could put you through half the drills we do,” Spitfire smirked.
“No, thank you, I’m fine.”
Just at that moment, Soarin landed next to the pair. Vinyl blinked.
“Say, aren’t you...”
Soarin struck a confident pose. “Soarin, second in command of the Wonderbolts, at your service.”
“I was going to ask if you were the same pony who mauled a pie at the Gala, but hey that works too.”
“I wish everyone would let me live that down,” Soarin muttered.
“Life is hard, being famous,” Vinyl shook her head. “Is it just you and Spits here, or are the rest of the Bolts’ along too?”
“Just us,” Soarin said, “Unless they snuck off to join us.”
“You guys wanna grab dinner someplace then, my treat?” Vinyl asked.
Soarin’s stomach rumbled.
“I think that’s a yes,” Spitfire replied while smirking.
Not that much later, the group was seated around a table in a small fast-food establishment.
“When you said you were treating,” Soarin said, poking at his hayburger. “I didn’t think you meant these.” Soarin flinched in disbelief in how bad that had come out. “No offense or anything.”
“Everybody likes hayburgers,” Vinyl snorted, taking a bite out of her own. “I’m on kind of a budget, not to mention Spits likes em’ too.”
Soarin shrugged, and took a bite out of his own burger. Spitfire frowned. “What about all of those ponies who were at your set? Surely you have to see some profit from that.”
“Not everyone there’s gonna buy my stuff,” Vinyl said, swallowing her food, “and I’m pretty sure half of the crowd are just going to forget about me. How many other artists do you think they’ll hear at a music festival? Too many to remember me for sure.”
Spitfire’s frown deepened at this, taking a small bite of her own food. Ideas swirled around inside her head, there had to be something she could do to boost up Vinyl. She was the captain of the Wonderbolts! Surely there was something she could incorporate Vinyl into with the Wonderbolts. Something to repay her for all of the help she got from in college. All she needed was some creativity.
While she mulled over the possibilities, Vinyl sat uncomfortably. She hadn’t wanted to seem like she was desperate for bits. This dinner wasn’t going as well as she hoped it would. It didn’t seem as much like college, as it felt like a comparison to how much better off Spitfire was. Vinyl Scratch, charity case.
It was an unrestful minute before normal conversation resumed at the table, ranging from old college stories, to new ones from various places.
“Then he said, ‘Pimp squad for life, baby!’” Vinyl had her head on the table dying in laughter with similar reactions being echoed around the table.
“Are you still going to be around for the the other days of the festival, Vinyl?” Spitfire asked, taking a sip of her drink.
Vinyl nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be around here still.” Spitfire nodded as well, an plan forming in her head. As she was thinking, Vinyl yawned rather loudly. “I think I have to get some sleep,” She said. “I’ve got another set tomorrow.”
Spitfire said goodbye absent-mindedly, while Soarin said his farewells as well. Vinyl gave her a strange look as if to say, ‘What’s eating you?’, before leaving the restaurant.
Soarin turned to face Spitfire, “Alright, what’s up with you?” He asked.
Spitfire blinked, “Me?” She asked. Soarin gave her an unamused look. “I was just thinking of a way to, well, help Vinyl out a little bit.”
“Help her out,” Soarin deadpanned. “No ulterior motives this time?”
“No,” Spitfire said, trying her best to avoid eye contact, before coughing awkwardly. “Anyways, thats not the point here. Do you know those shows we’ve done in the past around a musical routine?”
Soarin’s eyes widened. “Are you really-”
“How do you feel about dubstep?”
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.