I Could Never Leave You Behind
Picture yourself in a room full of ponies.
The lights are all out and the music is just starting. Suddenly colorful beams shoot down from the ceiling and dance on the floor. The beat is causing your hooves to shake. You can’t stop it, so you start jumping on the floor. Then the vocals drop in.
Somepony sings
“Through friendship and sorrow
We’ll all be here tomorrow
I could never leave you behind.”
It’s dark by the DJ’s mic, but it’s clear that the singer came from over there. It’s not that important.
The beat becomes louder and more spasmodic. It doesn’t matter if you like the song or not; now you’re addicted to the beat. The pulsing makes you move. You’re barely dancing, but everypony around you is doing the exact same thing. The singer takes a breath.
“When we’re together
Everything’s better
I could never leave you behind.”
You sort of see her now. The singer, I mean. Her poufy orange mane is sort of bouncing as she sings, and when she opens her eyes green beams seem to dazzle in front of her face. But that could just be the lights. Calm down; you’ve been staring too long.
“I see Twinkle and Berry
And nothing is scary
I could never leave you behind.”
The beat stops thudding so much and starts instead to…sparkle? Can you imagine that? Can you see the beat sparkling? Oh well, Octavia sees it, and one musician to another, that’s all I need.
More instruments come in and you can see the DJ leave her stand. That’s a risky move as she left a certain bouncy pink mare to take over for her. Oh well. That’s none of your concern. You want to watch Vinyl. She’s headed towards an earth pony with a cello. Except something’s different about the cello. It seems like it’s gone on a diet. Then you watch as Vinyl takes a plug you hadn’t noticed before from the end of the cello and plugs it into a giant speaker. Then Octavia starts to play and you realize it’s an electric cello. The cello music alone could make you faint with the pure awesomeness but you stay awake as Carrot Top starts singing again. I’m sorry; she goes by Golden Harvest now, doesn’t she?
“When Nightmares threatened to rule the land
Did I cower like Daisy’s band?
What did I do when the Elements were lost?
I thought of leaving Ponyville
I swear I changed my mind
I could never leave you behind.”
You see two ponies looking at Golden Harvest with absolute sunshine on their faces. In the dark, the friendship shines brighter than the lights because you see it without ever opening your eyes. They’re touched by Carrot Top’s love and friendship.
Suddenly the beat changes and Golden Harvest steps down. You don’t look to see who the new singer is because somepony’s asked you to dance. No telling how you heard them ask you; the music’s too loud for speech. Since the beat is no longer erratic, you can assume that DJ Pon3 has taken over for Pinkie. A new voice takes the mic.
“Though we’ve run away some
It’s better than being lonesome
I could never leave you behind.”
Her voice is very beautiful, though her volume could use some work. She’s singing into the mic, and that’s the only thing saving her from silence. Your dance partner leaves you in a huff when you stop paying attention to the tempo. You recognize this pony on first look and it’s kind of surprising.
“Through all the trouble
I’ll sing for you double
I could never leave you behind!”
Oh wow. It’s Rose. You didn’t think she ever said much. She prefers to stay in her garden, doesn’t she? I guess the dark brought her out, like most secrets.
Suddenly you feel that familiar beat change and some of Octavia’s band join her on their own electric instruments.
“When the bunnies almost trampled us
Lily came out somewhat mussed
The horror of that event still makes me cry.
A month’s work flattened, that’s okay
We’ll win the fight another day
I could never leave you behind!”
As Rose finishes her part, she jumps down from the podium. There is an affectionate crowd to receive her; apparently you weren’t the only one to notice her sudden vocal talent. You’re about to join them when another pony steps up to the mic. This is someone you definitely don’t recognize off the top. But for some reason--maybe it’s because he’s the first stallion you’ve seen up there tonight—you look up at him intently.
“Winter Wrap-Up sure was fun
We worked together everyone
I could never leave you behind.”
The stallion’s head slips into the light; but only for an instant. Just long enough to see that he is blue.
“I glitched a bit, ashamed but true
I’m sorry I offended you
You would always leave me behind.”
The beat starts bouncing again and you look over and can’t help but groan in good humor as you see the DJ and Pinkie fighting over the spinning record. No one’s complaining; whatever they’re doing, it’s making a cool sound. Even the blue stallion, whose musical cutie mark gets splashed briefly with light, is looking over at them good-naturedly, waiting for his next cue. Finally the mares stop fighting and work together; then they give Noteworthy the cue he’s been waiting for all night.
“I’m drenched with snow but when I’m done
There will be plenty of room for fun
We’ll be together from now on, I swear.
Lucky, remember when we got our wings?
But there are worse things I could sing
Of the questions in the rainbow factory!
Caramel, remember when you were a mare?
I loved looking at your hair
You flashed your tail without a care
I will never leave you behind!”
There’s a flurry of notes, and Octavia’s quartet is glistening sweat as they rush to keep up with Pinkie’s beat. Vinyl looks like she wants to stop this. She even pulls her glasses up to see better. Her eyes are worried, but she’s trying to be nice as she says something to Pinkie, who’s not really listening. Unfortunately, the unstable mare is just spinning the records faster. Finally, every musician other than Octavia stops playing, and panting, look over at Pinkie. Vinyl is shaking her head and stepping away from the chaos. This happens about a third of the time, and she is used to it by now.
Finally the music stops after an amazingly long crescendo and the ponies clap so maybe Pinkie will let the real DJ take over. Luckily, Pinkie starts bowing like she’s finished and steps away. Vinyl immediately takes her place, lets her glasses fall into place again, and starts a new tune.
