Bass and Trouble

The room was peaceful. As the viewers began to settle down, they saw a red curtain pull apart. The room grew dark as the stage grew brighter. On the stage, a few sophisticated ponies sat. The conductor drew her baton and the Royal Canterlot Orchestra began to play. As the orchestra started to play, they played a deep song. A strange song. A song that awoke emotions one isn’t aware of. A second song played as the first one ended. It was a sad and mournful song. A song that clouded the mind and wetted the eyes. As the song ended, suddenly a new one played. This song happy, joyous and cleared the old thoughts away, just as the sun clears away the morning fog. Then the orchestra played their final piece. It was a calming song, one that had a hypnotic feeling to it. It lulled the audience into a sleeplike state. At the end, the crowd stood and cheered. Throughout this admirable performance, one instrument loomed over them all. It was the Cello, and its master was Octavia.

Octavia was an Earth Pony, very rare in the music scene. She had a grey coat with a bass clef as her cutie mark. Her mane was jet black and she had a sophisticated air about her. She arived at her dressing room and was greeted by the familiar face of her marefriend Vinyl Scratch. Scratch’s coat seemed paler than usual. “Thank Celestia you’re here”, Octavia said. “I am absolutely exhausted.”

“Tavi, there is some bad news,” Scratch said with an almost terrified tone.

“What is it dear?”

“It’s Pants. He found us.”

“WHAT!?!” Octavia was furious.

“We were compromised. They used a defector from a failed espionage program. They beat him to death ‘til his mind and body were too weak to resist.”

“Mac is dead?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“How about Jack?”, Octavia asked looking for some sliver of hope.

“She’s still alive, but she’s hiding.”

“WHERE IS SHE!?!”

“She’s at the ruins of the old Sweet Apple Acres barn.”

“And Pinkie?”

“No one’s heard from her for five years Tavi. I’m sure she’s fine.”

“Alright.” Octavia was starting to calm down and think rationally. “How much dirt does he have on us.”

“I don’t know. Oh Celestia Tavi, what if they find us? I thought we were done with this.”

"I know Scratch, I know."

They were about to share an embrace when they heard screaming. Followed by several gunshots. They heard loud hoof-steps. "It's them.", Scratch said.

“We have to get out of here NOW.”

As the two were running, the memories started to come back to both of them.

______________________________________________________________________________

It was the middle of spring. A bouncer sat outside of Club Hoof. The large stallion let a group of four on the list into the building. They were there to kidnap the owner, DJ P0N3 for suspicion of being a mutant. They entered the club and a scent of sweat, drugs and alcohol hung in the air. It was not necessarily an unpleasant scent, but certainly an interesting one. There she sat, the owner of the club spinning her turntable. Octavia watched her and the seizure inducing light show behind her. The song was something about something being in the air. The words did not matter, as the music she was playing was causing the other ponies in the room to dance uncontrollably. The music changed and so did the dancing of the ponies. They started to sway differently. It was almost as if they were being controlled.

“This place seems strange”, Carrot top said.

“I quite like it,” Said Doctor Hooves

“I love it!”, exclaimed the derp eyed pony that bounced about the club.

These ponies were raised together. Carrot Top was found as an orphan outside of a rock farm a few hundred miles out from Fillydelphia. Doctor Whooves was found in Everfree forest wrapped in a blue blanket. Derpy just sort of appeared in front of the Legion’s doorstep one day. Octavia though, was different. She was born into the Legion, her parents being high ranking officials. She is and always has been the leader of her squad. Their job? To wipe out any mutants that the Legion assigns them.

After the performance, they went into the office of Vinyl Scratch. As they entered the room they saw records on the wall, all gold or platinum. They saw a white mare with a blue mane in the seat at the desk. She turned towards them and motioned for them to sit down. “I know why you are here. The bastards at the Legion sent you didn’t they?”

“Mam if you’ll just come with us quietly this won’t be a problem,” Octavia said.

“Did the big wigs at the Legion tell you what my ability was?”

“Some form of hypnosis.”

“I’m sure they sent you with adequate protection did they not?”

“They did train us against this sort of thing, yes.”

“Good thing they didn’t tell you about my guards.”

“What guards?”, and just like that, five invisible ponies materialized out of the room. They seized the would be abductors and took the tranquilizers and non-lethal weapons they had with them.

“I sure do love Forge. She has such a knack for creating the technologically impossible.”

“What the hell is this?”

“ Like I said, my guards. I have them under auditory hypnosis. Now they can’t remember a thing so the Legion can’t interrogate them.” It was just then that Octavia noticed the subtle music coming out of the earpiece of each guard in the night club.

“What are you going to do to us?”

“This is for your own good Octavia. You’ve been slowly wiping us off the map for a few years now and we don’t like that.”

“ Who the hell is ‘we’?”

“ You’ll find out soon enough. Oh, and one more thing. We all have a special talent inside of us all. Even you Octavia, even you.” All four of them felt a needle go into their arm and the calming embrace of the tranquiliser took them over.