The Wub That Blinds

Chapters

The Show
The Meet
The Dream
The Date
The Rehearsal
The Battle
Alt Ending

The Show

“Come on everypony, let’s see those hooves stomping!” A blue pegasus called from atop a brightly lit stage. As the crowd above burst to life, you couldn’t help but feel out of place. You didn’t like the club scene, you hated the way the lights blinked and the way everypony would shove each other around. As a mare to your left begins bouncing to the beat of the song you lower head and slowly back out of the crowd. Some overly excited ponies fill the hole you made.

The song had ended and the crowd was silent. You look around for any hint as to why it’s so quiet. The stage was dark and nopony could be seen behind the mixer. You tap one of the overly hyped ponies looking up at the stage on the shoulder.

“Uh, hey, what’s going on?” You ask.

He looks at you. “Show’s over, we’re waiting for an encore.”

Almost as soon as he said encore the stage lights burst to life again. The blue Pegasus was back behind the controls. He raised one hoof and the crowd began to scream and cheer.

You could see a grin appear on his face. He lowered his hoof onto the turntable and the speaker exploded with sound. The sound was different to what you were used to. It consisted of skipping beats and copious amounts of wub noises. You liked it, it felt amazing. The sound was so loud it shook the ground and everything attached to the floor. You couldn’t control yourself, you bobbed your head to the beat and stomped your hooves to the beat. You found yourself enjoying this new sensation.

When the song finished you found yourself amongst a crowd of overly excited ponies, you quickly make your way away from those ponies. You head for the lobby thinking the show was over, that’s when you hear a voice from the stage. You turn and see a white unicorn wearing purple glasses behind the turntable. The crowd began to chant something.

“Scratch, Scratch, Scratch!” You could hear the crowd chanting.

You trot over and stand behind the crowd, you’re just off the dance floor. You see the unicorn scanning the crowd. She smiles before a beat starts to play, starting with heavy bass hits, than transitioning to high pitch treble tones. It was a sight to see. The stage seemed to change color with the beat and the dance floor lit up. Each tile of the dance floor was a different color, and some tiles blinked or faded in and out of different colors. Needless to say, the DJ was rocking the house.

You decided to join the crowd. You step onto the dance floor. The tile under your front right hoof immediately flashes a bright pink at your touch.

The sensation of the music and the lights was magical.

You begin to mingle with the crowd, jumping up and down, brushing up against other ponies and the occasional push. The music changed you, and you liked it.

When the song was done you looked up to the stage and saw a new pony had joined the DJ.

“Hello everypony!” He yelled out. The crowd erupted into cheer.

They started chanting again. “Tombstone, Tombstone, Tombstone!”

You didn’t join in the chanting, you just kept quiet and looked upon the stage. This new pony was pure white, he had a blue mane with red tips and he had a pair of solid blue headphones around his neck. He had a strange accent, but you didn’t mind. He looked over at the one the crowd called Scratch and nodded. She nodded in response.

She put a hoof on the turntable and a beat started. Tombstone trotted up to a mic and started singing. The beat was fast and intense. Once again the crowd got rowdy, only difference was that you were more involved. When Tombstone started singing the crowd sang along. You didn’t know the song, so you stayed quiet and enjoyed the song. When the second drop hit the floor became a solid red and it seemed to pulsate with the beat.

When the song was finished the crowd became very still and quiet.

It was creepy, seeing a crowd that was in constant motion suddenly stop moving. You look around at the crowd, then back up at the stage. Tombstone and Scratch looked down upon the crowd and smiled. Are they doing this? You think. Then the crowd bursts to life again. Another song starts, same reaction from the crowd. As you bounced and dance across the club you notice the DJ watching you.

You think nothing of it and continue enjoying yourself.

After a few more songs Scratch left the stage. It was all Tombstone now. The dance floor turned black now. Everypony in the club all cheered and stomped as Tombstone trotted around the turntable.

Suddenly a beat exploded out of the speakers and the dance floor lit up again, except instead of lights, it was a face. The face of Discord. Everypony bursts into cheer and begins dancing. You look down at the face on the floor, it appears to be looking at you. You blink a couple times than look up. You look up and see Tombstone waving his hoof, indicating he wants the crowd louder. You yell and cheer along with the crowd.

As the song continues you feel a headache coming on. You decide that you’ve had enough fun for one night. You head for the bar on the other side of the club.

As you walk into the bar you notice the DJ from before sitting in the corner looking out over the dance floor. You look at her, your eyes wander up and down her figure. Her coat was white with no signs of discoloring anywhere; her mane was two shades of blue and was gelled forward. He glasses were over her eyes so you couldn’t tell what color they were. She looks over at you and you quickly avert your gaze.

You sit at the bar; you could feel some heat on your cheeks. You look around the bar, it’s strangely empty. The bartender trots over to you. “Can I get you something buddy?” He asks. “Uh, just some water please.” You respond. He shrugs and uses his magic to get a glass. He fills it with water and slides it across the bar. It stops right in front of you. You chuckle at his little display.

As you take a sip of your drink you hear a voice come from your right. You look over and see the DJ standing beside you.

“Uh, hey.” You say nervously.

“Hey, I saw you looking me back there.” She says, her tone deadly serious.

“Oh, you did? I’m sorry.” You say. You could feel the heat returning to your cheeks.

“Oh I don’t mind, I get it all the time.” She explains.

“I see. Well I must say you did a good job out there today.” You say to her, your cheeks still on fire.

She smirks. “Thanks. Tombstone is really killing it right now.” She says, she looks out the window at the dance floor. She looks back to you. “What made you ditch the dance floor and come in here?” She asks while taking a seat in the stool next to you.

“Headache, I’m not used to partying this hard.” You say.

She giggles at your response. “This is nothing dude, you should see the Canterlot shows we do. We need escorts on and off stage. Those things are intense.” She says, her voice laced with enthusiasm.

“Sounds fun.” You say, shrugging a little. You take a swig of your water.

“You play any instruments?” She asks out of nowhere.

“Me? No, I sang once. But that was a train wreck.” You say with a chuckle.

Scratch laughed at that. “Well I’d love to hear it sometime. Maybe we could fix you.” She says.

That comment caught you off guard. You choke a little on you water.

“What? Me? Why?” You ask between coughs.

“Oh I dunno, Tombstone and I are working on some new stuff and we need a different singer. You interested?” She asks while hitting your back.

The hits helped get the water out of your lungs. “Uh…” You stop and think. “Well, maybe. I don't think I'd be any help to you, seeing as I haven't had any practice.” You say.

"Oh don't worry, I'll take care of ya." Vinyl's tone becoming more playful.

You feel your cheeks light up. "Uh, um.. Well, I dunno." You stammer.

She laughs at your nervousness. "C'mon dude, it'll be fun." She says, a little bit of a beg could be heard in her voice.

"Alright, fine. But don't say I didn't warn you. I'm terrible." You say after a second of silence.

“Awesome, here,” Scratch’s horn began to glow, a piece of paper and a pen hovered in front of her. You could see the pen scribble across the paper. When the pen stops moving she hovers the paper over to you.

“Give this number a call and I’ll see when I can fit you in, okay?” She says. You take the paper and look at it. On the paper was a number and a name. You read the name, Vinyl Scratch DJ P0N-3. You smirk at the last bit.

“Consider it an autograph.” She says with a smile.

“Will do.” You reply.

She looks out the window and nods. “Well looks like Tombstone’s done. I’ll see ya around.” She says.

She stands and heads for a door off to the side of the bar. You watch her exit. You look down at the paper. “What just happened?” You ask yourself. You finish your drink, pay and leave the club.

On your way home you keep thinking about that conversation. Thousands of questions rushed through your head. The most prominent was: Is this real?

When you reach your house you push the door open and trot inside. You walk past the living room and into the kitchen. You look at the folded piece of paper in you hoof. You smile at it and place it beside a small phone.

You look at the digital clock on the stove; it reads 2:28 AM.

You sigh and head for the stairs. You climb the stairs. It feels like a battle because of all the dancing and movement you've done today.

When you reach the top of the stairs you walk into your room. You don’t even bother to turn any lights on, you knew this house like the back of your hoof, and you could walk the house blind and not bump into a single thing.

As you trot through your dark room you throw yourself onto your bed. The second your head touches the pillow it’s lights out.

The Meet

You open your eyes only to be instantly blinded by the sun. You slam your eyes shut and roll over.

“Oh go away sun.” You mumble. You sit up and rub your eyes. You sit there on your bed blinking a few times, trying to get the morning feeling out of you. You decide it’s time to get up. You slide your hooves off the bed and stand lazily.

“That was one hell of a dream, me at a club, the one and only Vinyl Scratch talking to me and giving me her number. There is no way that was real.” You walk the halls of your house talking to yourself.

You trot down the stairs, your hooves still a bit sore from the night before. When you reach the bottom you see a bundle of mail in the mail slot in your door. You trot over and pick it up by the string binding it together. With the stack of mail hanging from your mouth you head for the kitchen.

You drop the bundle on the table and untie it.

“Okay, let’s see what’s actually mine.” You say. You put a hoof and start sliding letters, bills and magazines off the pile.

“No, no, no, no, yes, yes, no, no, yes, no.” You’ve gotten good at this routine, seeing as almost every day you had to do it. Ever since you switched to Pegasus Mail for faster deliveries, they’ve been sending a wall-eyed pegasus to your place to deliver the mail. She always seems to get something wrong. Oh well, at least the wrong ones aren’t far away. You think.

“Now that that’s done, I think it’s coffee time.” You say after tying the wrong mail back up. You turn and face the counter. It’s a very simple design, coffee maker in the corner beside the fridge and toaster beside the coffee maker. You take a quick glance at the clock on the stove, it reads 12:09 PM. You shrug and trot over to the coffee maker. You do the usual morning routine, make coffee, put wrong mail on your doorstep, look at current headlines in the newspaper and groom yourself.

After your morning, or well afternoon routine, you’ve had something in the back of your mind that’s been killing you. A note, something from the dream, you remember it being beside your phone. You trot into the kitchen and look at the phone. Sure enough there it was a white folded piece of paper. You cock your head in confusion.

“Maybe it wasn’t a dream, and if it wasn’t, why me?” You say aloud. You walk cautiously, unsure of what you’ll find written on the paper. You take the paper in one hoof and begin to unfold it. Sure enough it’s as you thought, Vinyl Scratch’s number.

“Once again, why me?” You ask aloud. You flatten the note on the counter and leave it beside the phone. You pace from the kitchen to the living room and back again. Thousands of questions began to leak back into your head. You pick up the phone and stare at the number on the paper. You just stand and stare for a good few minutes. You finally find the courage to dial the number.

You take a deep breath and hold it while dialing the number. You hold the phone to your ear and wait, when you hear it ringing you let out the breath. At the end of your sigh you hear a familiar voice.

“Bass Canon records, Vinyl Scratch speaking.” You hear over the phone.

“Uh, hey, it’s me. From the club yesterday, you uh, offered me that singing thing.” You say, your nerves getting the better of you.

“Oh yeah, sup dude?” She asks.

“Oh. Uh nothing much. Just calling like you said.” You reply.

“Alright, let’s see. I have a spot open for later today, would you be able to make six o’clock?” She asks, you can hear paper rustling in the background.

“Yeah, I should be able to make it.” You say. You look around your kitchen, looking for anything to do until six.

“Awesome, just come to my studio, it’s on the corner of Fifth and Mane.” She says, the sounds of paper stops. You can hear hoofsteps through the phone.

“Will do. See ya there.” You say, your voice still shaky.

“Alright, well I gotta go. See ya later bro.” She says before hanging up.

You place the phone down on the receiver and let out a bigger sigh then before. You heart was beating a mile a minute. You lean yourself against the wall. You feel a little sweat run down your forehead; you wipe your forehead with your hoof.

“Guess I should practice.” You say.

You walk into your living room and turn on the radio. There is a blue cable connecting a small music player to the radio. The music player lights up and music begins to play through the radio. The song that comes on you know very well, you clear your throat and get ready to sing.

A few hours of singing later you find that it’s quickly approaching six o’clock. You turn off the music and head for the door. On your way out you lock the door and slip the key under the door mat. You begin to walk the streets towards Fifth and Mane.

It was a strange time of year, and day. It was on the border of Autumn and Winter, the trees were barren of any leaves and most animals were hibernating. But the air was still kinda warm, sure with a breeze you could feel the cold, but when there was no wind it was nice and warm.

Finally after fifteen minutes of walking you made it to Mane. Now you had to find Fifth and Mane. The streets of Ponyville have gotten confusing. You’ve lived in Ponyville since it was just a little village town, now it’s a borderline city.

You reach Fifth and Mane, only to be met by a massive neon sign reading. “Bass Canon Studio” You look up at the sign in amazement. It’s not often you come to this part of town. You like the outskirts, where it’s quiet.

You walk up to the door of the studio and push it open. Loud music could be heard playing throughout the studio. You look around, trying to soak in the sights and sounds. The walls were painted a dark shade of red and were covered in paintings and posters. Your eyes wander the walls, looking at the posters and paintings. Some of the posters you recognized but most were completely alien to you. Before long your surveillance was cut short by a voice.

“You’re late.” You hear. You look over to see Vinyl Scratch standing behind a counter; she was levitating a pen over a book. She looked visibly pissed.

“I am? I’m sorry, I don’t come to town that often.” You say defensively.

“Mmhm.” She hums. She writes something in the book then closes it.

“Alright, you’re here now. That’s what counts. C’mon, we should get started.” She says. She begins to walk to an open door. You follow her to the door. You look through the door way, all you see is a stairway leading down. Vinyl Scratch begins to walk down the stairs. You follow her closely.

At the bottom of the stairs there was another door, but there was no door, it was only a frame. Above the frame was a sign, it said.

“Welcome to The Pit.” You read out loud, you snicker slightly at what it says. Vinyl looks back at you, no emotion on her face. You could feel her eyes boring into you through her glasses. You wince and continue following her.

She leads you to a glass booth, inside was a single microphone. The microphone was hanging from the ceiling and had a rather large pop filter in front of it.

“Step in there. Do you have a particular song you like to sing?” She asks.

“Uh yeah, Beyond Her Tomb by Glaze and Mic The Microphone.” You say. She noticeably winces when you say Glaze. You look at her; a look of concern adorns your face.

She looks back at you, her horn starts to glow and some papers fly into the room with the mic. She looks at the control panel outside the room, some knobs and switches begin to glow.

“Alright, room’s set up. Now it’s all you.” She says.

“O-okay.” You say nervously. You walk into the room, the door closes behind you. It’s deathly quiet in the room. The papers were hovering under the mic, you walk up to them and begin to read what they say. It’s just the lyrics to the song. Suddenly you hear something over the speakers in the room, it sounded like feedback, but worse. You cringe and lower your head.

“Sorry, just adjusting some things out here. Just let me know when you’re ready to begin.” She says over the intercom.

You take a deep breath and look at the papers. You look out the glass wall at Vinyl, you nod and the music begins.

You quickly start to rap to the song, you mess up a few parts, but you soldier on. To your surprise you were doing relatively well, keeping your pitch and tone steady. You skip over the parts of the song when Glaze sings, seeing as you don’t have a voice synth, you figure there’s no point in singing those parts.

When the song finishes the door to the room opens.

“Alright, come on out.” Vinyl says over the intercom.

You walk out of the room and into the control room. High tech stuff in the control room, nothing you knew how to use. You see Vinyl Scratch sitting in a chair staring at a computer screen.

“Not bad, you just need to work on a few pitch corrections here and there, but other than that it sounded good.” She says, she swings around in the chair and smiles at you.

“Okay, I can work on that. But I have an unrelated question, well questions.” You reply.

“Shoot.” She says while leaning back into the chair.

“My first question is, why did you cringe when I mentioned Glaze?” You ask. She once again cringes at the name.

“He stole Tombstone. We were supposed to be work on some new tracks, but he ran out this morning saying he had some huge tour to do with Glaze. He didn’t even tell me about it. So I’m pretty pissed at both of them right now.” She explains.

“Ah, I see. My second question is, Why me? Why not get some other musician to help you?”

“Because I’m tired of working around schedules. Tombstone and I have been looking for new singers for about a year now. We’ve tried all the other musicians, and all we’ve gotten are maybes. I’m sick of it; I just want this damn project done now.” She explains, a hint of anger in her voice.

“Yes, but why me? There was hundreds of ponies in that club, why did you choose me?” You ask, your tone a little more forceful.

“Instinct, foolishness, last resort. Call it what you want. I just had a feeling and I acted on it, and looks like we got a winner.” She says, her tone was very quick and dismissive.

“What do you mean we got a winner?” You ask, a very confused tone covered your words.

“You’re the best we’ve gotten. What do you say?” She leans forward in the chair, staring into your eyes.

The question caught you by surprise. You stammer and mumble.

“What was that?” She asks.

“S-sure. What do I have to do?” You ask, your voice shaky.

“Just be here tomorrow. Eight AM. We start early.” She says excitedly.

“Really? Eight AM, fine.” You reply.

“Something wrong?” She asks.

“I’m usually asleep until at least ten.” You say.

Vinyl bursts out laughing. She almost falls out of her chair.

“Me too dude, that’s why I live here. I’m usually up at six, but I’m a zombie until ten.” She says between fits of laughter. You chuckle along with her.

“Well I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” You say, glancing over at the clock. The clock reads 8:37 PM. Two hours, how did I spend two hours here? You think.

“Alright dude. I’ll catch ya later.” She replies. She gives you a little smile then swings the chair back around face the computer screen.

You turn and trot for the stairs. On the way up the gears in your head start to turn. You mind is full of questions once again. You shake your head. When you reached the top of the stairs you see its gotten dark outside.

You head for the door and open it. You look back at the studio. Your mind is flooded with more questions. Once again you shake your head to get the questions out. You close the door behind you and head for home.

It was quicker on the way home now that you know the route.

When you get home you take the key out from under the door mat and unlock your front door. You head inside. The lights were on, that was good. You head to the kitchen and fix yourself a little snack before bed.

After you finish eating you drop your plate in the sink and head for the stairs. You turn off the lights as you pass them. When reach the top of the stairs you look into your room. The window was open and a cold breeze blew through. You lazily walk up to the window and close it. You look over at your bed and flop down on it. You slip under the covers for warmth.

It takes a while before you fall asleep, but eventually you do fall asleep. Before you fell asleep you remembered to set your alarm. Once you close your eyes you begin to feel yourself drift off.

The Dream

The alarm is blasting the song of its people as you slowly open your eyes. You reach out a hoof and push a small button on the top of the clock, silencing it. As you slide out of bed you peek out the window, the sun was barely over the horizon. You groan and walk out of your room, towards the bathroom.

After a quick clean up you’re ready to leave. As you head out the door you’re met by a cock-eyed pegasus. She looks at you confused.

“Uh, good morning.” You say. She gives you a big smile.

“Mornin’, here’s your mail.” She picks a bundle of papers out of her bag and hands them to you. You take the bundle by the string and toss it inside.

“Sorry, I’m a little rushed. I’ll look through it later.” You say to the mare. You turn and lock the door, slipping the key in its usual spot.

“Okay, have a good day mister.” The pegasus says before flying off.

You take a deep breath of the early morning air before trotting into the city.

After a quick twenty minutes you make it to Vinyl’s studio. The city was unusually dead this morning; only a few ponies could be seen walking the streets. The air was colder today, indicating winter was coming soon. You shiver slightly as a cold breeze blows past you. As you cross the street in front of Vinyl’s studio, you can’t help but notice the large neon sign was off. Does that mean she’s closed? You think to yourself. You shrug and walk up to the front door, no lights were on inside. You put a hoof on the door and try to open it, but it’s locked.

Suddenly the door begins to glow and you hear it unlock. You push it open and step inside. The door shuts and locks behind you.

“Uh, Vinyl? I’m here!” You call out as you look around the dark and empty studio.

“Yeah, yeah, gimme a sec.” You hear Vinyl call out. The lights in the studio flash on and a door in the far right corner of the room opens. Vinyl lazily walks out, her mane loose and her trademark glasses nowhere to be see. Finally you get a glimpse of her eyes; they were a dark red color. The color of her eyes surprised you; they didn’t match anything about her. You just stared into her eyes, completely ignoring the world around you.

“Uh, you okay dude? You’re staring.” Vinyl says, her voice heavy and tired.

“Yeah, I’m good. Just a little tired.” You reply, trying to avoid the fact that you were staring. You shake your head and walk through the studio, looking at the paintings that adorned the walls.

The paintings were of other pony musicians, most were signed too. Mic The Microphone, Glaze, JackleApp, H8_Seed, General Mumble, they were all there. You see Vinyl watching you out of the corner of your eye.

“Quite the collection you have. I’m guessing you’ve met them all?” You say, trying to break the silence.

“Yeah, every time I meet a famous musician I get them to sign something, and then I get these paintings done.” She explains. She shakes her head a bit then brushes her mane out of her face.

“I see. Since you’re not open this early, why am I here this early?” You ask, turning to face Vinyl Scratch; her red eyes entrancing you.

“Oh I don’t know,” She sighs. “Usually Tombstone helps me set up for the day, but seeing as he’s not here…” She trails off.

“Ah, you need help so you asked me. I see. So what do you need help with?” You ask.

“You can clean up The Pit, it doesn’t have to be spotless it just needs to be accessible.” She says. She rests her head on the front desk and mumbles something to herself.

“Alright, I’ll be down below.” You say before heading to The Pit.

Cleaning The Pit was hard, wires and various cables ran across the floor. You didn’t know what half of the cables were for, but none the less you tidied them up. The work station with the computers was the worst to clean, even more cables running everywhere. The cables seemed to never end.

A few hours passed and you were finally done. Not once did Vinyl come down to try and help, or give you advice as to what cable goes where. A little ticked at that fact you head upstairs to the main room of the studio.

When you reach the top of the stairs you see Vinyl standing at the front desk. As you approach her you hear something, you cock your head to hear it better. Snoring, she was lightly snoring. Truthfully, it was quite adorable. But you had to wake her. You lightly step around the desk and look at her. You felt really bad about what you’re about to do, she looks so peaceful.

“Uh Vinyl, Pit’s clean.” You say, you lightly tap her on the shoulder to wake her. She mumbles a bit then looks up at you, her mane partially covering her face. For a brief moment you actually felt some attraction to this mare, when she looked at you with those eyes your heart seemed to melt.

“Wha? Oh thanks. I owe ya one.” She says, she brushes her mane out of her face and looks at you. “Coffee?”

“No thanks, I think you need it more than I do.” You reply with a chuckle.

“Hehe, yeah I guess so.” She chuckles before heading through the door to her left. When she was out of sight you began to have a little freak out.

“What are you doing? You idiot! She’s a partner, you work with her now. She’s probably with Tombstone anyway. But if she’s not… No! You can’t try anything, keep it professional.” You say to yourself, you watch your tone so Vinyl doesn’t hear you arguing with yourself. You pace around the studio, slightly nervous at your new found feelings.

“Yo, can you come help me with something?!” Vinyl calls from the door.

“Yeah, just a sec.” You call back. You trot over to the door, but you take some deep breaths to calm yourself before going in. When you walk through the door you see a kitchen, a very white kitchen. Everything seemed to sparkle; it was all just so white. You see Vinyl staring at her coffee maker, she looked a little angry.

“What’s the matter?” You ask.

“Coffee maker doesn’t want to work.” She replies.

“Alright, let me take a look at it.” You offer.

“It’s all yours.” She says lazily.

You trot over beside her and look at the coffee maker. It was the same model you had, so this should be an easy fix. You pull the coffee maker close to you for a better look, nothing seems wrong on the outside. You place a hoof on the top and take the lid off.

“You do know there’s no filter, or water, or coffee in here right?” You say with a little chuckle.

“What, I swear I put those in there.” She says defensively.

“It’s no problem, it’s an easy fix.” You say, you push the coffee make back to its spot and put in the filter, then the coffee and lastly the water. You close the lid and turn on the coffee maker.

“There, it’s all good now.” You say, you look over at Vinyl and notice that she’s staring at you.

“What? Oh, um right. The coffee.” She says, she rubs the back of her head with her hoof and blushes slightly. “Tombstone usually makes the coffee, I’ve never used the coffee maker before.”

“That’s fine.” You say. You look around at the kitchen, an awkward silence follows.

“So, uh what are we working on today?” You finally ask, breaking the silence.

“Well let’s see, we need to get your pitch issue worked out and I want to see your vocal range.” She says. She looks over at a clock on the wall. She sighs and looks back at you. “Was I really out for two hours?”

“Yeah, when I came up from The Pit you were snoring away.” You say, a smile forming on your face.

“Really, I’m sorry. Like I said yesterday, I’m a zombie for most of the day.” She says, blushing even more.

Your mind is racing with things to say, all of which would probably get you killed. You just nod your head and look around.

“I’m really sorry, it’s not usually this dead around here.” She says, while pouring a cup of coffee with her magic.

“I don’t care. I kinda like the silence.” You say. “Hey, where’s the music controls? You know, the ones for the studio speakers?”

“They’re down in The Pit. Just pick a song from the computer, it should play up here automatically.” She explains.

You trot out of the kitchen and down to The Pit. You walk up to the control panel and look at the computer screen. The next song on queue was the one you were looking for. You press the green play button in front of you and the song starts playing. You can hear it slightly, but as you walk back to the kitchen it gets louder.

When you return to the kitchen you see Vinyl sitting at the table, she was levitating her coffee cup with her magic. She was bobbing her head to the music.

“Good choice.” She says. She takes a sip of her coffee and sets the cup down on the table. She gestures for you to sit
as well. You sit in the chair across from her.

“Okay, let’s talk business.” She says.

A few hours of talking business and doing various vocal exercises later, you find yourself in the booth again, doing another recording. This was a much more mellow song, a song of many feels, as Vinyl put it. It was a JackleApp song, Autumn, very fitting for the weather outside.

You nod at Vinyl and the song starts playing. This song had a special meaning to you, something you couldn’t explain. As you start singing you close your eyes and visions play in your mind. When you get to the chorus you opened your eyes and looked out at Vinyl. You couldn’t help yourself at this point, your feelings for her were becoming stronger and stronger.

When the song was finished you walked out of the booth and met Vinyl in the control room.

“So, how was it?” You ask.

“Great! It was perfect! I’ve never seen this much improvement in such a short time.” She says excitedly. She swings her chair around and looks at you. Your eyes meet hers and time seems to stop. She blinks a couple times before speaking.

“You know, if you keep this up I might just bring you along to my next show.” She chirps.

“Am I really that good?” You ask.

“Hells yeah you’re that good.” She yells, she was excited and didn’t even try to hide it.

“Well I guess I should be flattered you think so.” You give a little bow with a smirk on your face. Vinyl burst out laughing. You laugh along with her. She takes a peek up at the clock. It read 11:50 PM.

“Holy crap dude, we went overtime, by three hours.” She continued to laugh.

“Well it looks like I must be off. I’ve had fun, I’ll see ya tomorrow.” You say.

“Uh, tomorrow’s no good bro. It’s Sunday, I don’t work on Sundays.” She says between deep breaths.

“Oh, well in that case I’ll see you on Monday.” You reply. You head up the stairs to the studio and make your way to the door. You hear galloping hoofsteps behind you. You turn and see Vinyl running up the stairs and around the front desk. She stops a few feet from you, she’s blushing intensely.

“Uh, wait. I was w-wondering something.” She says, stammering some of her words.

“What’s up?” You respond.

“I was wondering if you wanted to hangout tomorrow night.” She asks shyly.

“Uh, yeah sure. Why not?” You say. Now it was your turn to blush, you could feel your cheeks turning red.

“Um, alright cool. Meet at Sugarcube Corner at six.” She says, her white coat glowing red.

“Will do, see ya there.” You respond. You nervously leave the studio. You look back and see Vinyl watching you. You give her a little smile, she smiles back. You look at the road ahead of you. Not a pony in sight.

By the time you got home it was past midnight. Your mind was racing with questions. You were bouncing with excitement, but at the same time you felt sick due to anxiety. You paced back and forth in your house; you couldn’t sleep with this new found energy.

You look around your house, looking for anything to take your mind off the date. Date, you can’t believe you’re using that word. You resort to reading some crappy books your friends gave you for your birthday. You grab one off the shelf and plop down in on the couch. You start reading the book.

The book was so bad, but it seemed to be doing the trick. You could feel yourself drifting off the more you read. Before long you were completely passed out.

You open your eyes and all you see is white, white everywhere. There was no differentiating between objects. It was all white, no textures, no other colors, no wind, and no sound. It was kinda creepy. You begin to walk forward, but it felt as if you weren’t moving at all. Suddenly sounds filled your ears, hoofsteps. They were loud and they echoed. You looked all around for the source of these hoofsteps, but nothing but white could be seen, until you heard a voice.

The voice was familiar, very familiar. Every time you heard the voice a little bit of white would disappear. Before long all the white had faded away, revealing Vinyl Scratch’s studio. You look around confused, then you spot Vinyl in the corner. She turns her head and looks at you; her mane is loose and wild. She stands and trots up to you. She’s standing only a foot away from you, you could feel her breaths on your coat.

“Vinyl… I-” You’re cut off when her lips touch yours. You pull away shocked.

“Vinyl what are you doing?” You ask, an urgent tone in your voice. She doesn’t respond. She wraps her arms around your neck and pulls you in for another kiss. Your heart nearly explodes when your lips connect again. You wrap one hoof around her and pull her closer, deepening the kiss. You feel her tongue on yours; you move yours around hers like it’s some kind of dance. She breaks the kiss and gasps for air.
She looks at you smiling. All of a sudden you feel a strong tugging from behind, you look over your shoulder and see a light. The light seems to be pulling you in, you look back at Vinyl.

“Vinyl, I lo-” Your cut off by the light, you close your eyes before it engulfs you.

Your eyes shoot open and you look around. You’re in a cold sweat and your heart is pounding. You’re on the couch in your living room. You’re panting, you look over at the clock, and it reads 5:45 AM.

“Well balls. Looks like I have to stay awake now.” You say to yourself. “Why was that a dream? Why couldn’t that have been real?” You ask yourself. You lean your head back. You slowly start to drift off again.

The Date

Just as a little side note for this chapter, I would like to thank everyone who've supported me this far.

Thank you to everyone who wished me well when I was sick. I would like to give a huge thank you to Mic The Microphone who wished me well on Twitter, that was an amazing feeling.

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Your eyes shoot open only to be greeted by the sun, you groan and quickly shut them.

“How long did I sleep?” You ask yourself, slowly opening your eyes you look for a clock. When your eyes adjust to the light you focus on the wall clock, it read 11:19 AM.

You look around your living room, looking for something to do until tonight. You notice the book you were reading on the floor. You lazily stand from the couch and pick it up with one hoof; you place it on the coffee table.

You trot around your house looking for some form of entertainment until tonight. Boredom quickly taking over, you decide to rummage through some old boxes in your basement. The boxes were given to you by your parents when you moved out. They mostly contained stuff from you foalhood, old books, toys and games. About half an hour of searching through boxes you find one labeled “Video Games”. You look at the box, curiosity overwhelming your brain.

“Let’s see what kind of crap I liked as a kid.” You say to yourself with a chuckle. You balance the box on your back and trot up to the living room. You place the box in the middle of the floor. There is a thick layer of dust coating the box.

You take a deep breath and blow the dust off, a grey cloud of dust shoots from the box. You sneeze after you blow the dust off. You open the box and peer inside. You’re amazed at what’s inside.

Inside the box was a stack of old games, beside the stack was a game consol. You reach inside and pull out the consol. You look at it with a smirk; you place it down beside you and look at the games. The game sitting on top of the pile catches your attention. It’s solid black and in big bold letters it reads “DOOM”. It doesn’t take a second before you start hooking the console up to your TV.

After a few seconds of fiddling with the console the game finally starts. Amazingly it still works; you take a control in your hoof and trot over to your couch. Surprisingly your save games are still there, but you decide to start a new game, just for the hell of it.

The second you press New Game a familiar and awesome tune starts to play.

“Awwwww yeaaaaaaah! This is going to be the hypest thing ever. Of all time.” You say out loud, the song pumped you up.

“Oh buck right off!” You yell at the TV. “Man, younger me was way better at this.”

A few hours of cussing and swearing later you manage to beat the level.

“ARE YOU BUCKING KIDDING ME?! That was only the first level?!” You have a minor rage quit. You look at the clock, it reads 4:32 PM. “What the buck?! Five hours?”

You scramble off the couch and you run to the bathroom. You hop into the shower and turn the taps.

“Cold, COLD!” You exclaim. The water quickly becomes warmer. After your shower you groom further, brushing you mane so it doesn’t look like a mess.

With only an hour until you had to meet Vinyl Scratch at Sugarcube Corner, you started to freak out.

“What if I say something stupid, what if I act stupid, what if I’m late, what if she’s late.” The scenarios played out in your head, none of them ending in a good way. You head started to pound.

“Okay, calm down. I’m sure it’ll be fine.” You reassure yourself. You pace through your house to kill time. Finally the time has come, the time for you to make a fool of yourself. You head out the door, locking it behind you.

As you walk the streets you can’t stop thinking about all the bad scenarios that could play out, it’s plaguing your brain. Your nerves begin to kick into overdrive; your head is pounding just a little bit harder now. Finally you make it to Sugarcube Corner.

You step inside and spot Vinyl sitting at a booth in the far corner, her mane was gelled forward and her glasses covered her eyes. She looks over to you, smiles and waves you over. You nervously trot over and sit across from her.

“H-hey.” You stutter.

“Hey, sup?” She replies.

“Nothing much, you?” You reply, trying to make small talk.

“Same. Do anything fun since yesterday?” She asks.

“Yes actually. I found some old games from when I was a kid, I started to replay them.” You say, thinking back to earlier that day.

“That’s cool, what games?” She asks.

“Well, I was mostly playing Doom today, but I found some Final Fantasy games.” You say, think back to what was in the box.

“Doom eh? We should play sometime.” She says. What she said shocked you.

“You play? I didn’t take you to be a gamer.” You say.

“Meh, I don’t play that much, once or twice when I was a teenager. But I did play a ton of Doom; the music in it is awesome.” She says.

“Agreed, that’s why I played it today, just for the music.” You say.

A bouncy pink pony came up to the booth. You look at her, her mane and tail looked as if they were made of cotton candy and her cutie mark was three balloons.

“How are you two doing? Great I bet. Do you guys want something?” She chirps. Her voice was squeaky and annoying. You look over to Vinyl, she’s shaking her head.

“No thanks, we’re good.” You say.

“Okay! Have fun!” She says and bounces away.

“Well, she’s… Different.” You say, you look back at Vinyl. She had a little smile on her face.

“Yeah, that’s Pinkie for ya. Hey, you wanna go walk?” Vinyl asks.

“Nothing better to do, let’s go.” You say. You stand and wait for Vinyl to accompany you.

She stands and walks ahead of you. As the two of you leave Sugarcube Corner you hear Pinkie talking to another group of ponies, her voice really didn’t help your headache.

The air was cold outside and a slight wind didn’t help that fact. Winter was fast approaching and the weather proved it.

“It’s cold out now; it wasn’t on my way here.” You say. You trot a little faster to get beside Vinyl; she slows down to a walking pace.

“Yeah, I like the cold though.” She says. Her horn starts to glow and her glasses float up and rest on her horn. Her red eyes still entranced you. You looked at her as you walked.

“I’ve never been a fan of the cold.” You say.

“Hey, I want to show you something.” She says, enthusiasm laced in her words. She happily trotted towards the park. You happily followed.

When you reached the park there was nopony in there, either due to the time or the weather. You look around; almost all the trees were naked, only a few trees had leaves left.

Vinyl’s horn began to glow again. There was suddenly a warm breeze, you look at her, and she’s looking back at you. Your eyes meet, she quickly looks away. You can see her cheeks turn a light red. She walks forward towards an opening in the trees. You follow her. Through the opening you see a bench; the bench is surrounded by trees. It was a completely secluded spot.

Vinyl’s horn started to glow and the trees started to get their leaves back. You looked up in awe, your mouth agape. Vinyl turns and looks at you.

“Thought you might like that, I love coming here. It’s so quiet and peaceful.” She says. You look at her.

“But I thought you liked noise?” You say a little confused.

“Hey dude, just because I make it doesn’t mean I like it.” She says with a chuckle.

“Well then. It’s a nice spot, I bet everypony comes here.” You say.

“Nope. During summer all the trees and bushes hide this place, and in the winter it’s covered in snow.” She explains.

“I see.” You say, patting your chin with your hoof.

Vinyl walks over and sits on the bench. She looks over at you and gestures for you to sit as well. You trot over and sit beside her. She sighs and looks around.

“Something on your mind?” You ask.

“Just thinking.” She replies.

“About?” You ask.

“How we got here. We met three days ago at a bar, now we’re on a date.” She says with a sigh.

“I call it chance, or fate.” You say with a smirk.

She looks over at you and scoots a little closer. You look at her and smile. She rests her head on your shoulder.

“I like you.” She says.

“I like you too.” You say, your heart pumping adrenalin through your veins. Your head stops hurting and your limbs go numb. Am I dying? You think.

You just sit in silence with Vinyl; you wouldn’t have it any other way. You feel her stir a little, but she quickly settles. The last remnants of light escape the sky, the air grows colder. A breeze blows past you and you shiver. Vinyl looks up at you.

“Wanna go?” She asks.

“No, I’m good.” You say.

“I kinda wanna go, you still owe me that game of Doom.” She says with a smile.

“You’re right let’s go.” You say. Vinyl stands and starts to walk away. You stand and walk beside her. She trots closer to you.

A few moments of walking, you finally reach your house. You take the key from its usual spot and unlock the door. Upon entering you turn on the lights. The living room was a mess, wires and games everywhere.

“Sorry about the mess, I didn’t really have time to clean.” You say rubbing the back of your head.

“It’s no problem, I’m used to messes. You saw The Pit.” She says.

“True enough.” You say. You walk over and turn on the console. Vinyl plops herself down on your couch. You look over and she’s laying across the whole couch.

“I guess I’ll get the chair.” You say. You hand Vinyl the control.

“I guess so, or you can suck it up and sit on the floor.” She replies with a chuckle. You shrug and sit on the floor. The familiar tune starts to play again.

A few hours of back and forth victories you and Vinyl had enough of that game.

“So what do you want to do now?” You ask, turning the console off. Vinyl looks out the window.

“Well it looks too late for me to walk home, so I might have to stay here for the night.” She says. Your cheeks instantly light up.

“Oh, well I’ll go get a blanket and some pillows. I don’t have a guest room so you can take my room.” You offer.

“Sounds good.” She says.

You stand and trot upstairs, you come back down with a blanket and two pillows on your back. Vinyl is still prone across the couch. You drop the stuff on your back beside the couch. Vinyl sits up and gestures for you to sit. You sit beside her.

She leans on you and wraps her arms around your chest. You wrap one arm around her. She looks up at you and smiles. You look down at her and return the smile. She sits up and looks you in the eyes. You stare back at her, her eyes entrancing you once more. She slowly leans forward. Watching her get closer, your heart nearly explodes. Your mind is racing, and your thoughts are coming and going at light speed.

You feel her breaths on your coat, you’re breathing heavily now. You start to feel dizzy, so you close your eyes.

Suddenly you feel a pressure on your lips. You open your eyes to see Vinyl kissing you. Her cheeks were glowing red and yours were too. You closed your eyes again and enjoyed the moment. She broke the kiss for air.

“Vinyl, I-” You were cut off when Vinyl put her hoof on your lips.

“Shhhh. You don’t need to say a thing bro.” She says. She kisses you again, this time more passionately. She was on top of you now. You had your arms wrapped around her. She broke the kiss and looked down at you.

“So, where’s the bedroom?” Her voice was playful and seductive.

“Top of the stairs, first door on the right.” You say back.

“Let’s go.” She says. She stands and heads for the stairs. You just lie on the couch staring at the ceiling.

“Is this really happening?” You ask out loud before standing and following Vinyl.

You follow her up the stairs and into the bedroom.

“This is it, nothing fancy.” You say.

“It’ll do.” She says. She walks over and sits on the end of the bed. She looks at you and shakes her head. Her mane loosens and falls over her face. She brushes it out of the way and smiles. You trot over and sit beside her. Her horn glows and her glasses hover over to the night stand. She wraps her arms around you and kisses you again.

She rolls you onto your back and lies down on top of you, still kissing you deeply. You run one hoof down her back and the other through her mane. She breaks for air and smiles down upon you. Her horn starts to glow and the lights in the room turn off.

You swear you hear something in your head, it sounds like a victory.

The Rehearsal

Your mind races as you sleep, recapping the events of last night. In your unconscious state you thought it was all just a dream. When you slowly start to wake up you’re greeted by a wall of blue. Your still asleep mind can’t make out what you’re looking at. You lean your head back to get a better view. You see what looks like a mane, its two shades of blue. You feel something stir against you. You look down and see a body up against yours, it was completely white.

Your mind almost breaks trying to figure out what you’re looking at, then it dons on you. What if the things you saw in your sleep were real? You try to roll over to see the time, but you’re stopped when you realize you have your arm around the pony in front of you. You just lie still and wait.

Only a few minutes passed before the pony in front of you awoke. She rolled over and faced you.

“Good morning.” She says.

Your eyes meet hers, those deep red eyes. Your mind clicks and you realize who it is. Vinyl Scratch.

“Morning.” You say back.

“So much for the couch huh?” She says, her voice heavy and tired.

“Hehe, yeah.” You say, you can feel your cheeks starting to turn red. Vinyl leans forward and kisses you on the nose.

“Come on, we have to work today.” She says.

“I guess we do.” You reply. She smiles and slides off the bed and stands. Her horn glows and her glasses float from the night stand to above her horn. You slide off the bed and shake your head, trying to wake yourself up.

“Want breakfast? Or do you want to head straight to the studio?” You ask.

“Breakfast would be nice, but I think we should head straight to the studio. We have a ton of work to do.” She says before leaving the room and trotting downstairs. You follow her. When you get downstairs you look into the living room. It was still a mess. Vinyl trots into the bathroom and closes the door. You take this alone time to freak out.

“Did we? No we couldn’t have…” The questions go on and on. You decide to tidy up the living room. After a few minutes of silently freaking out you’re finally done cleaning up. Vinyl came out of the bathroom, her mane gelled forward and her glasses over her eyes.

“Let’s go.” She says. She walks out the front door; you follow her and lock the door behind you. The two of you walk beside each other on the way to the studio; she seems to be walking closer to you, only a few inches from touching.

When you get to the studio Vinyl unlocks the door and turns on the lights.

“Alright, I’ll see you in The Pit. I have some stuff to do up here.” Vinyl says.

“Okay.” You reply. You walk down into The Pit and Vinyl walks into her kitchen. Down in the pit you see there’s a bulletin board beside the control room. You walk over to the board and look at some of the papers. Most were posters for clubs and shows.

Vinyl walks into The Pit.

“Okay, let’s see how fast you can go.” She says. You walk into the booth and she walks into the control room. A beat starts. You start to freestyle it.

After a few minutes she ends the beat, the door opens and you walk out.

“So, how was it?” You ask.

“That was great, we could actually win this.” She says.

“Win what?” You ask with a confused tone.

“There’s a battle of the bands next week. With the way you’re improving, we could win this.” She explains.

“Alright, we should practice a ton then.” You say.

“You’re right. Alright bro, back in the booth.” She says. You walk back in the booth and drop a couple more verses.

A few days pass of the same routine, get up early, head to the studio, work on vocals, and stay up super late practicing and with no mention of your relationship. Day in day out, it’s the same. You’ve had enough.

“Hey Vinyl, can I speak to you?” You ask.

“Of course. What’s up?” She says.

“Do you still consider us together?” You ask your tone serious.

“Of course I do, why do you ask?” She replies, her tone laced with confusion.

“Well, we haven’t really shown it.” You say. Vinyl stands and walks over to you. She wraps her arms and pulls you into a tight hug.

“I know I haven’t shown it, but I do. We’ve been making some good progress on the battle performance. We almost have this done. When it’s done, we’ll have all the time in the world. Sound good?” She says.

“Yeah, sounds good.” You reply.

“Good, now get back in the booth, we’re almost done for today.” She says. She releases you from the hug and kisses you lightly on the lips. You smile back at her and walk back in the booth. She sends some papers into the room with you.

“What’s this?” You ask.

“New song.” She says over the intercom.

You look at the paper, they had lyrics on them. Ok, let’s do this. You think. The beat starts and you try to sing along, but you choke and stumble through it.

“I mean, there should be no reason why I’m fucking this up, I have the lyrics right in front of me and I’m usually really good at singing.” You say defensively.

“No, okay. Just try and record it one more time.” She says. She restarts the beat and you start to sing, this time you nail it.

“Perfect dude, come on out.” She says. The door to the booth opens and you step out. You walking to the control room and Vinyl is looking into the computer screen. She looks shocked.

“Something wrong?” You ask.

“I just got the roster for the Battle of the Bands. It’s not looking good.” She says.

“Why, who’s going to be there?” You ask.

“Let’s see. JackleApp and Mic The Microphone, AlexS and Omnipony, H8_Seed, General Mumble, and one other group that hasn’t been announced.”

“Okay, so on a scale of one to screwed how bad is it?” You ask jokingly.

“Twenty eight points past screwed.” She says. You look around at the control room. You spot the clock.

“Looks like we finished early today.” You say.

“Yeah.” She says.

“Wanna do something? Take your mind off the competition?” You ask.

“Like what?” She asks.

“Fancy night on the town? Something for us to get outta here.” You say.

“Sure why not.” She says. She stands and heads for the stairs. You follow her. She heads into the kitchen and you stay in the main studio. She comes out with her mane gelled forward and her glasses on.

Alrighty, let’s go.” She says.

A few hours pass and Vinyl seems to be loving it. The two of you were walking the entertainment district of the city. Strip clubs and bars for miles, of course you ignored them. Vinyl was smiling from ear to ear, seeing this only made you happier. You loved all the you spent with her, and she showed the same feelings back.

The two of you duck in and out of restaurants, getting little snacks from each. It was about midnight when the two of you head back home.

“You might have to stay with me tonight.” Vinyl says.

“Yeah, probably.” You say back with a smirk.

When you reach the studio Vinyl leads you into the kitchen. She walks through a door on the far side, you follow her. The door leads to a hallway. There were three doors. Two had little gold plaques on them. The first door on the right said The Living Tombstone on it, the second door on the right was unlabeled, bathroom probably, and the last door was at the end of the hall on the left. It read Vinyl Scratch. Vinyl opened the door and walked inside, you’re right behind her.

The room is bright white, one or two posters on the walls and a large bed in the middle. The bed had dark burgundy sheets.

“You can share my bed tonight.” She says. She smiles at you, you can see bags starting to form under her eyes.

“Alright.” You say.

Vinyl walks over and her horn glows. He glasses hover from her face to a desk beside the door. She shakes her head to loosen her mane; she lies down on the bed. You smile at her and lie down next to her. She rolls over and faces you. She wraps her arms around you and kisses you.

“Thank you.” She says.

“For?” You ask.

“Being there.” She says.

You hear Vinyl yawn. You roll onto your back and wrap one arm around Vinyl. She rests her head on your chest and falls asleep. You look down and smile at the adorableness of the situation. Before long you feel yourself drifting off. You close your eyes and lean your head back.

You open your eyes, but all you see is white. Much like the dream before. You look around, but all you see is white. You can hear running water now, that’s different. You cock your head to hear the water better. You slowly start to trot in the direction of the sound. A waterfall starts to come into view. The sight confuses you, color in this colorless world. The water was blue, the same shade as the darker parts of Vinyl’s mane. You trot up to the water and look in. You see your reflection, except you look slightly different. You look closer; something shimmers under the surface of the water. You put a hoof in the water. The water isn’t cold or warm, it’s a comfortable temperature. The object is just out of your reach, you reach a little further but you lose your footing and fall in. You flail your limbs around before swimming to the surface.

You gasp for air and look back down into the water. You see a white thing at the bottom of the pool. It looks like a pony. You gasp and dive into the water. You open your eyes and look at the thing. It IS a pony. You swim up to it and notice it’s Vinyl, she’s not moving. You scoop her into your arms and swim back to the surface. When you get to the surface you put her on the shore.

When her body touches the ground color starts to appear around her. She wasn’t moving, not even breathing. You start CPR, but it’s futile. You can feel your eyes starting to water. You feel tears running down your cheeks. You lower your head to hers. Your forehead touches hers. Suddenly her eyes shoot open and she starts coughing up water. You jump back and watch as she slowly rolls over. She breaths heavily and stands, she looks at you. She takes a step forward but falls. You run beside her.

“Vinyl, are you okay?” You ask urgently.

“Now I am. Thanks to you.” She says.

Hearing her say that filled you with some form of pride. She tries to stand again, you help her up. She stands shakily. She looks at you, you look back. She leans in and kisses you. You feel her lips tremble on yours. You wrap an arm around her to keep her up. She breaks the kiss for air. She looks at you; her red eyes were weak and tired. You look back at her; your only thoughts were of her. She kisses you once more, this time the kiss is deep and passionate. You close your eyes and pull her close.

Suddenly you feel her being pulled away. You open your eyes and see a light; it’s shining brighter than the white surroundings. It’s pulling Vinyl in, she looks at you, and her eyes are now filled with fear.

“Don’t let go, please don’t let go.” She pleads.

“I’ll never let you go.” You reply. You feel the ground slipping beneath your hooves. And both of you are sucked into the light.

Your eyes shoot open and you sit up. You look around and see Vinyl sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Vinyl, are you okay?” You ask. She looks back at you and nods.

“Yeah I’m good, nightmare. That’s all.” She says.

“Wait, nightmare? Me too, what was yours?” You ask. Vinyl lies back down beside you.

“I woke up and all I saw was white. I heard water and followed the sound to its source. I found a waterfall and a little pool. There was something in the water, but when I tried to get it, I drowned.” She explains.

“Strange, I had the same nightmare. Was I in yours at all?” You ask.

“Yeah, towards the end. You came and brought me back to life.” She says.

“Same thing here. I heard the water, followed it to its source, found you and brought you back.” You say. You lie back down and stare up at the ceiling. Vinyl cuddles up beside you. You smile and feel yourself drifting off again.

The Battle

You awake and Vinyl was gone. Her glasses were still on the desk. You look around the room for any signs as to where she went. You sigh and stand. You lazily trot out the door and down the hall towards the kitchen. You see Vinyl making some coffee.

“Morning.” You say as you sit at the table.

“Morning.” She responds.

You lay your head on the table, recalling the shared dream. What could it mean? How could we have shared the same dream? You think to yourself.

“Hey Vinyl, do you remember that dream?” You ask.

“How could I forget?” She replies.

“Right, do think it meant something? It’s not every day you have a shared dream.” You say.

“Maybe, could be nerves for the battle.” She says. She turns and her horn glows. Two cups levitate to the table, both filled with coffee.

“Thanks.” You say. You take a sip of the coffee.

“Two days bro. You ready for this?” She says sitting across from you.

“Yeah, I’m ready. Are you?” You ask.

“I don’t know. I’ve been working on a new mix, but I don’t think I’ll have it done in time.” She says.

“You can do it Scratch. I believe in you.” You say.

“Oh save the cheese.” She says laughing.

You laugh with her. You look at her. The stress is really getting to her. Her eyes looked heavier and her coat doesn’t seem as white as when you first met. The meant a lot to her and it would be the death of her. Not to lie, it was straining you as well. Your voice was being push to different levels; you strained to keep it the same. All the stress of the upcoming show also made feel physically weak and sick. But you had to stay strong for her. For Scratch.

“Okay come on. We should get an early start.” She says.

“Agreed, we’re going to have to get a ton practice in the next two days.” You reply. She simply nods and walks out of the kitchen. You sigh and take another sip of your coffee.

“Okay, we need to nail this.” Vinyl says over the intercom. You nod back. She turns the beat up and you start to sing along. The beat fast, your rhymes faster. You closed your eyes and kept on driving it.

“Okay, that’s good dude. One more time and we should be golden for that song.” She says. You nod and do the process over again.

Hours upon hours of the same routine. You nail all the beats. Things are looking good for you.
One day left, and you’re on the verge of having a full blown breakdown. Your nerves are on overdrive. The stress is seeping into your soul; it’s hard for you to find pleasure in anything now. The only thing on your mind is the show. With the songs all nailed and ready to go, you had to work on showmanship. How to act on stage, and how to entice the crowd.

“Do you have any idea of what we’re dealing with venue wise?” You ask.

“Yeah. It’s the Chaos Theater. Five stages, one triangle stage on each wall, and a circular stage hanging in the middle. I’ve been to the venue a few times, but I’ve never performed there. The crowd will be down below the stages.” She explains.

“Why is the crowd below the stages? Seems impractical.” You say.

“It’s not, it actually works well. You see, if the crowd is visible you’re going to try and get them riled up, taking focus off your performance. If you don’t see the crowd you can focus on your performance. The stages have cameras set up all around them so the crowd can see what’s going on. It’s actually really cool. There’s a stage layout down below and the performances are projected onto them. I like it, it looks so sick. Basic layout is DJ booth in the back and mics set up along the front. The booth is elevated for better acoustics. One last thing. We’re all going to be playing at the same time. I don’t know how it works, but whoever is leading their volume gets pumped up. So the key is having the loudest booth.” She explains further.

“Why not just turn up the volume at the beginning?” You ask.

“Because we don’t have control of that, the crowd does. Like I said, I don’t know how it works. It’s probably magic, but whoever the crowd likes more gets louder.” She says.

“Okay. So what tips do you have for showmanship?” You ask.

“Seeing as you don’t have to worry about the crowd, just do an arm pump here and there. I think the music should take care of the rest.” She says.

“Got it.” You reply.

“Okay, grab your stuff we’re heading over to the theater.” She says.

“But the show’s not until tomorrow.” You rebuttal.

“I know, but we have to set up and check levels. Plus it’ll give you a feel for the stage.” She says. You shrug and sling your saddlebags over your back. Inside are a few wires and mics. You follow Vinyl out of the studio. The two of you trotted through the city. The theater came into view. It was a giant pyramid. It was solid black and had an almost scary look to it. It was very tall as well.

“Well there it is.” Vinyl sighs.

“You okay Vinyl?” You ask.

“Yeah I’m good, it’s just nerves.” She says. You nuzzle her.

“It’ll be fine.” You say back, your tone soft and kind. She smiles at you and continues to walk. She walks the front of the club and opens the door. You follow her inside.

Your jaw instantly hits the floor when you step inside. The club felt bigger on the inside. The décor was very dark, consisting of blacks and reds. You looked up and saw the five stages; they were smaller in your head.

“This place is huge.” You say in awe.

“Yeah it is. But no time to admire the place, come on we have set up.” She says. She trots through a door labeled Stage Access. You follow her through.
At the top of the stairs you see doors, all were labeled. You find a door with your name on it. You trot through. It was a control room. There were some ponies sitting at the controls.

“What’s this room for?” You ask.

“Lighting controls. We make the magic happen.” One of the ponies responds.

“Alright lads, make us shine.” You say. The other pony waves a hoof dismissively.
You continue through the room onto the stage. Vinyl was up in the booth hooking up her turn table. You trot ahead to the mics. There were three, all looked the same. You then question why you brought yours. You look back at Vinyl and she’s waving you over.

“What’s up?” You ask as you walk over.

“I just hooked up one of the mics to a distorter. Can check which one it was?” She asks.

“Sure thing.” You say. Walk over to the first mic and speak into it, sounds normal. You walk up to the second mic and speak into it, sounds normal. You walk up to the third mic and speak into it. Your voice comes out distorted. You look back at Vinyl and she nods. You walk back to the booth.

“So what now?” You ask.

“You need to get used to this stage, so go up front and we’ll practice some songs. It won’t be as exciting as the actual show, but it should work.” She says. You walk to the first mic and get ready for the beat to start.
After that practice you and Vinyl head back to the studio. Once inside you feel the mood drop. Both you and Vinyl start to freak out. The nerves became way too much. Vinyl began to cry. You pull her into a hug.

“Vinyl, we’ll be fine. If we don’t win we’ll still have each other.” You say. She wraps her arms around you and hugs you tightly. She’s breathing heavily. “Now come on. We should get some sleep before tomorrow.”
She looks up at you and nods. She releases you from the hug and walks to the bedroom. You follow her. The two of you cuddle in the bed and fall asleep.

You open your eyes to a familiar sight: White. Once again you’re in your dreams. But this time it’s loud. It sounds like hundreds of ponies yelling and screaming. It’s defining. You look down at you hooves and notice there’s a tiny bit of color under them. You raise one hoof to look at the color. As you lower your head for a better view the sound gets louder. It’s not coming from a specific direction, it’s coming from everywhere. Suddenly the entire environment bursts into color.

You knew the new sights. It was the Chaos Theater. Was this the show? You look around; there are lasers and lights shining everywhere. You don’t see the crowd though. Suddenly a wave of sound hits you and knocks you down. You look at the other stages. All have ponies on them, but you can’t see who. All you see are silhouettes.

You hear a cracking noise and look down at your hooves. There’s a large crack spreading across the stage. You feel the stage shift. Suddenly the stage collapses.

You gasp as your eyes shoot open. You’re breathing heavily. You look at the clock on the wall. It was time to get up anyway.

You walk into the kitchen, but Vinyl’s not there. There’s a coffee cup and a note sitting on the table. You trot over and look at it. It reads.

“Couldn’t sleep. I’m at the theater now trying to finish the new song. Come find me when you’re up.” You read the note and look at the coffee; it was cold. You decide to go find Scratch.

You walk into the theater and head up to your stage. There she was. She had her headphones plugged into the turntable and her head was bobbing. You walk up beside her and put your hoof on the turntable. She looks at the hoof and follows it up. Her eyes meet yours. They look heavy and worn out.

“Oh, hey. Looks like you’re awake.” She says while lowering her headphones.

“Yeah, how long have you been here?” You ask.

“Not too long, maybe an hour… Or three.” She says.

“Come on Vinyl, you need sleep. At least get an hour or two in before the show.” You say.

“Yeah, alright. I just need to finish this track, it’s almost done.” She replies.

“Okay, but don’t be too long. I’ll be at home.” You say.
You turn and leave the stage. You feel bad for Vinyl; she’s really wrapped up in this. How could you take some of the pressure off? Nothing came to mind.

When you arrived at the studio you see a massive black vehicle pass by, you’ve never seen anything like it. It was headed in the direction of the theater. You shrug it off and head inside.

A few hours pass before Vinyl gets home. She looks completely exhausted.

“Ah, Scratch you’re back. Good, now you need to sleep. I’ll wake you two hours before the show. Okay?” You say.

“Y-yeah, sounds good…” She trails off. She slowly walks past you, dragging her hooves along the way. You follow her, just to make sure she doesn’t pass out in the hall. She reaches the bedroom. She bumps her head into the door and it opens. She walks in and falls face first onto the bed. As soon as she hits the bed you hear snoring. You chuckle lightly and head back to the kitchen.

After about two hours you hear Vinyl wake up. She walks down the hall and into the kitchen. She looks at you and smiles lightly. You return the smile.

“So it’s about four hours ‘til the show. What do you want to do?” You ask.

“First, wake up. Then it’s all on you.” She replies.

“Sounds like a plan. We could spend some time in the booth and rehearse.” You say. Vinyl just nods and rubs her eyes. She yawns and heads for The Pit. You follow her.

When you get to The Pit you head for the booth and Vinyl heads for the controls. Your usual practice begins.
This was it. It’s now or never. The time has come for you two to head over to the theater for final sound check. Your stomach was in the tightest knot, your breathing became heavy and you broke out into a cold sweat. Vinyl seemed to feel the same, even though she had her glasses you see the nerves taking over.

The two of you now stand in front of the black pyramid that is the Chaos Theater. You hear Vinyl gulp. You can’t help but do the same. On the outside you were calm and collected, but on the inside you were tearing yourself apart. You look over at Vinyl, she looks back at you. You nod at her and head into the club.

When the two of you get to the stage you can see all the other performers. On the stage to your right was AlexS and Omnipony, on the stage to your left were Mic The Microphone and JackleApp, and on the stage directly across from yours was H8_Seed and General Mumble. But the hanging stage was still empty. There was equipment on the stage, but no ponies could be seen. Your heart skips a beat when you notice everyone looking at you. All these musicians you adored and never dreamed of meeting looking at you, it’s a surreal feeling.

You cock your head, cracking your neck. You walk up to the mic and begin sound checks.

After the check you can hear the other ponies talking. You head back stage with Vinyl. While waiting back stage you peek outside. With just under two hours till the show you notice a rather large line gathered outside. It seems to wrap around the building.

You notice a black and white griffon with a top hat walking towards you. It stops in front of you and looks down. A very intimidating sight indeed.

“Hey, name’s JackleApp.” The griffon says. He holds out his claw. You raise your hoof to meet his claw.

“Really? JackleApp is talking to me? It’s an honor sir.” You say, your voice laced with awe. He shakes your hoof.

“Heard of me? I’m no one special.” He says.

“No one special?! You’re one of my favourite musicians! In fact all my favourites are here tonight.” You say. He laughs at that.

“Well thank you, I see you’re performing with Vinyl. You new to this?” He asks

“Yeah, I’ve been to clubs but I’ve never performed.” You say.

“Ah, well it’s really simple. It’s better here because you don’t see the crowd. Just keep your head clear and don’t second guess yourself. If you mess up, who cares? Just remember to have fun.” He explains.

“Thanks for the tip. Good luck out there.” You say.

“Likewise. Now, where’s Mic?” He says before walking off.
Did that just happen? You think. You look over and see Vinyl staring off into space.

“How’re you holding up?” You ask her. She looks at you.

“I’m doing fine. I’ve calmed greatly.” She says.

“That’s good. Not much longer.” You say.

“Yeah, they’re opening the doors now.” She points out a small window. You look and see the line slowly moving forward.
After a few minutes of meeting all the other musicians you and Vinyl head out onto the stage. With only a few minutes before the show you have to get ready. You notice the middle stage now has a heavy black curtain covering it. You can’t see through it. You look at the other stages see everyone else getting ready. You limber up and take a few deep breaths.

The house lights turn off. It’s damn near pitch black now. Only a little bit of light is leaking up from the dance floor below. You look back at Vinyl; she seems to glow from the lights on the turntable. She was in her show form: Glasses on, main gelled forward, large smile on her face and her headphones around her neck.

You hear the crowd burst into cheers as you hear somepony announcing the performers. You see bright spotlights shine on AlexS and Omnipony. The crowd screams. You can’t see past the middle stage but you hear General Mumble and H8_Seed get announced. The crowd screams again. You see the lights shine on Mic and Jackle, and once again the crowd screams. Finally it was your turn.

The lights burst to life and shine upon you. You hear the crowd cheer, not as loudly, but still cheering. You see the cameras moving along a track, trying to capture every inch of the stage. You smile and wave. The crowd grows louder. You notice one of the mics starting to glow. It floats over to Vinyl.

“Let’s spin this shit!!” She yells into the mic. The crowd explodes into screams and cheers.
Suddenly a beat blasts out of your stage. You look around at the other stages. They too are playing music, but yours is loudest. That’s a good sign right?

Lasers and pot lights blinked and flashed to the beat. It was a weird feeling. You couldn’t feel your body anymore. So much adrenalin was pumping through your veins, you felt numb. Your beat started to fade, AlexS’ beat grew louder. As you all battled, bright spotlights shone on the middle stage.

You looked at the stage. The black curtain fell. As it got below the stages it turned into confetti and rained upon the crowd. You could only see a silhouette of two ponies. A wall of sound came from the center stage, overpowering all the other stages. The lights shine upon the stage. They light up two ponies.

It was Tombstone and Glaze. You hear Vinyl gasp over the music. You look back and see that she has a furious look on her face. You look back to the center stage. Tombstone is staring at Vinyl; a shocked look adorns his face. You feel your stage start to shake; Vinyl is turning every knob on the turntable to full, trying to overpower Tombstone and Glaze.
You hear your beats clearly; it’s your time to shine. You walk up to one of the mics, close your eyes and start to rap. Your stage lights up and grows louder. The increase in lights means you’re getting more attention, meaning you’re in the lead. You can’t hear anyone else anymore, just you and Tombstone. You’re living in the moment. You can no longer feel anything; it’s as if you’re floating on adrenalin. Your song ends, nothing following it. There’s just silence.

You hear Vinyl grunt before she blasts her new song. It’s pretty intense. You look over to the other stages. They’ve given up. It’s now a one on one battle. You have to do this, for you and for Scratch.

Tombstone nods at Glaze and an equally intense beat starts. You hear the crowd going nuts below. Your volumes are equal, that’s not a good sign. You need this to be louder. You step up to the mic and start a rap, pulling the lyrics from the top of your head. Your beat grows louder and louder.

It’s an orgy of sound at this point. The other musicians trying to gain a little ground now. You’re on top now, a far lead over Tombstone.

A few heart stopping hours later the show is over. The stages lower, fitting into the place where the projections were. You can see the crowd now, hundreds maybe even thousands of ponies are staring at you now. You look out over the crowd and wave. They all cheer and applause. You hear the announcer once again.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, we have seen these performers fight tooth and nail tonight. Let’s see who the victor is.” The crowd begins to scream and cheer. It was a little too much for you. You backed up a little, but stopped when you bumped into something. You look back and see Vinyl standing there. She smiles at you and pushes you back to the front of the stage. She stands beside you and waves at the crowd.

“Okay, starting at the bottom and working up the ranks. In last place we have General Mumble and H8_Seed! In third we have AlexS and Omnipony! In a very very close second we have Tombstone and Glaze!” The crowd gasps and goes silent. You look beside you and see Vinyl with her mouth agape. She looks at you and throws her arms around you. You wrap your arms around her too.

“That’s right folks. In first we have Vinyl Scratch!!!” The crowd erupts into cheers and applause. You hug Vinyl tightly; you can feel tears running down your back. You release her from the hug and look at her. You can see tears coming from behind the glasses.

“Vinyl, are yo-” You’re cut off when she put her hoof on your lips. She just nods and looks out to the crowd. She waves and smiles.

After the show you and Vinyl were backstage with the VIPs. Mostly just ponies that spent way too much bits on a backstage pass. You couldn’t help but notice all the other performers watching you. You break away from the crowd and trot over to the group of other performers. As you approach them they all wear smiles. They pull you into a group hug. You can’t help but smile.

“Good job out there.” You hear. You look over and see Glaze looking at you.

“Thanks, you guys did great as well.” You say. Glaze just nods and walks away. You continued to get showered with praise from the other performers.

You look over and see Vinyl and Tombstone in a heated argument. You think it’s better for them to work it out alone. You continue to hang with everyone else.

After an extra hour of signing autographs you and Scratch head home. When you get to the studio, both you and her freak out.

“Holy shit dude! We did it!” She yells.

“I know, I can hardly believe it myself.” You say excitedly.

“I couldn’t have done this without you.” She says. She turns and faces you.

“Yes you cou-” You were cut off when her lips touch yours. You close your eyes and enjoy the moment. She breaks the kiss and looks into your eyes.

“No I couldn’t.” She says. She wraps her arms around your neck and pulls you in for another kiss. You happily accept.
You’ve never been happier. This incredible mare has made something out of you, and you liked it. She was the one, the one you wanted to be with. You loved her with every fiber of your being. She touched something inside of you. She tapped into your pure untouched love.

“Vinyl. I love you.” You say. She looks at you and smiles playfully.

“I wub you too.”

Alt Ending

After the show you and Vinyl head back to the studio. Once inside, the two of you have a mini freak out. She bouncing around with glee, but you couldn’t blame her. She bounces up to you and looks you in the eye. She leans in and kisses you.

“Thank you.” She says.

“For?” You respond.

“Helping me achieve this, and for being there for me.” She says. You just smile and kiss her.

You look at the clock on the wall, it was rather late. All the extra time hanging out with the other musicians and signing autographs really added up.

“We should probably get some sleep.” You say. Vinyl nods in response. She trots off to the bedroom. You follow her. By the time you get into the bedroom she’s already laying on the bed. You chuckle at how quick she was. You pull the sheet aside and slip in beside her. You wrap your arms around her; you feel her lean into you. You smile and close your eyes. You too are quickly asleep.

Your eyes open and you look around the room, no one to be seen.

“Guess it was a dream.” You say. You lazily stretch and get out of bed. Your horn starts to glow and your famous purple glasses float onto your face. You walk over and look into a mirror. You see your electric blue mane is loose. You use your magic to gel it forward, the way you do at shows.

“God I hate those dreams.” You say. You look at a poster beside the mirror. It read DJ P0N-3 LIVE TONIGHT!

“Oh yeah, I guess I have a show tonight.” You say. You look into the mirror and sigh.

"Will I ever find somepony?"