Chapters The Best Riff in Equestria
The Best Riff in Equestria
Chapter One: Here I go...
“Riff Track! You’re up next!”
I snapped out of my stupor by the sudden scream of our class teacher Mrs.Flower Light; she was strict, but she loved to teach. I remember I got scolded many times, and often I stayed alone in detention quite often with her. Once you get to know her, though, she was actually a nice lady.
“Now is the time to prove myself,” I thought to myself.
I was pretty confident I’d do well; I practised my technique day and night, I barely studied, I gave my all to be there.
“...I hope I don’t mess this up”
As if I jinxed myself, I managed to trip over my own hooves in the sudden rush of panic, and stumble onto stage. I at least managed to keep my magic focused on not dropping my guitar. I loved that thing ever since my dad gave it to me for my birthday; I remember going everywhere with it.
“And now, Riff Track is going to perform a musical number for the audience. Everypony, let’s give him a helping hoof!” shouted Mrs. Flower Light, enthusiasm oozing out of every word.
Everypony applauded; my cheeks turned red from the embarrassment as I saw my parents in the audience with huge grins on their faces. My mom was never fond of the loud practice sessions I had back home, but she was still really supportive. I mean, she’s my mom! Of course she would support me no matter what I’d do, right?
“...Well, no turning back now.” As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t chicken out at that point.
I took a deep breath and brought my guitar closer to my chest. I practised using magic in order to play multiple notes at the same time, to achieve an effect of more than one instrument playing... but that didn’t work out so well as I started losing focus.
One wrong note after another, the song started to sound more out of place, and I started to slowly fall into panic. The ‘plings and plongs’ sounded a lot more irritating than I had imagined; I had to think of something fast. That’s when suddenly I remembered the song I heard at my first concert. As though suddenly possessed, I just started remembering the melody note for note, chord after chord. I finally started playing my guitar in a way I thought impossible, and it all passed me in a trance. I closed my eyes to focus on the magic, manipulating the guitar to my will, when I reached the end of the song.
…
There was silence. I slowly opened my eye, afraid of the inevitable laughter and the feeling of humiliation striking me, but everypony just stared, jaw-dropped. I thought I saw my dad tearing up a bit before he began a slow applause. Soon after, everypony followed and starting applauding and cheering loudly.
It was amazing... this, I would remember for the rest of my life! It was all me right there!
I made it big time! A bright light behind me caught my attention, as an image of a guitar and a vinyl record materialized on my flank.
Then suddenly everypony started chanting my name.
“RIFF TRACK! RIFF TRACK! RIFF TRACK!”
“Riff Track”
“Riff...”
“Riff Track...”
“RIFF TRACK WAKE UP!”
“Huh?! WOAH!”
I felt confusion and pain as I fell off my sofa and onto the hard unforgiving wood. From the tone of that all to familiar voice, it seems I overslept once again.
I groaned in pain as I tried to make out who it was that interrupted my slumber.
Turns out it was my old friend, Sieg Musica. He helped me out way back when I was still starting my career as a travelling musician.
“Aww, Sieg c’mon, like, five more minutes...”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you oversleep again, we have work to do.”
His brown mane rubbed my face as he tried to get me back on my hooves. I wobbled for a few moments before finally waking up.
“You are a mess Riff; we can’t put on a show with you looking like that!” His light-grayish face was mere centimeters from mine.
“Alright, alright, sheesh...”
Sieg has been my manager for more than six years, since we met. He organizes everything for me, knowing I wouldn’t bother with it, and even though I’m deeply thankful to him for everything he has done for me, he can get pretty annoying at times.
“We have stopped in Ponyville. I heard it was a pretty nice place,” Sieg said in his modest fashion.
“And you think the ponies ‘ere will like my performance?” I asked, still drowsy.
“Depends; I do believe that a small town like this will appreciate true talent. The important thing is for us to put on a good show. Whether they liked it or not depends solely on them.”
“Umm, okay? ...I’m still not entirely sure what you meant by that,” I replied, confused by the sudden long answer. A simple “sure” or something would’ve been okay.
“Just try and have fun. The show goes way better when you’re having fun doing it... and not looking like you had covered your head in black lint!” Sieg chuckled as he parked the trailer car.
The trailer car was like a second home to me. We’ve been travelling all throughout Equestria, putting on small performances for years. Sieg, being him, organized the set up and stage whilst I handled the performance myself. My shows don’t always cough up many bits, but there’s usually enough to keep us going ‘till we get to our next stop.
As I stumbled on over to the bathroom, I saw my mane in a curly mess of tangles and my eyes still looking half-asleep.
“Ugh...I wonder...” I pondered, for the moment, if I could use my magic to straighten my mane to its former shape.
“Meh, might as well try. What’s the worst that could happen?” As I said those words I started to focus my magic, my horn began to glow, and for the moment I thought it was working...
My black mane was slowly regaining it’s spiky form, going downwards on the end.
“ACH-CHOO!!!”
My horn illuminated the room and a cloud of smoke sparked from it.
I got fried pretty badly, though not as badly as my hair.
“Oh, horse-radishes.”
I looked at myself in the mirror after wiping off the black dust that covered it, my hair and bits of my orange fur, completely fried. Now I’m even more of a spectacular mess.
I peeked out of the bathroom door.
“Hey-uh, Sieg? Ponyville wouldn’t happen to have a hair-salon nearby? Oh and I do think bits of my fur are-” I paused to take a look at my fur, slowly coming off in patches. “...yeah, my fur is falling out. Rapidly.”
This was going to be the longest stop I had in a while.
=====================================================================
As expected, Sieg tried desperately not to panic. I tried joking about it to avoid making a big deal out of it. I was sure that Ponyville would have some place where I can get my fur and hair back to normal in time for my show.
“Riff! How in the hay did you manage to do...THIS!” Sieg half-shouted, pointing an accusing hoof at the bald patches that began appearing on where my fur used to be.
“I have no idea. I tried to use my magic to straighten out my hair, and well... I sneezed.” I tried holding in my urge to laugh, realizing how stupid the words coming out of my mouth sounded.
“Well, we can’t have you walking around Ponyville looking like that,” Sieg almost chuckled, a smirk almost escaping his panicked face.
“Well, maybe there’s some kind of spa place for these kind of occasions? Maybe a ‘Boutique’ of some sort?” I suggested.
Sieg almost instantly lost his panicked expression in exchange for one of enlightenment as he went to the front of the trailer where the drivers seat is situated, reaching out for a magazine called “Ponyville Times”.
“I picked it up on the way here,” he explained, “maybe it can tell us where we can find the local fashion salon and get you back into your ‘normal’ shape.” The way Sieg said ‘normal’ made me question my appearance before; my hair isn’t that outlandish now, is it?
“Well let’s see what it’s got,” I said, curious about the local shops since I would probably require some extra supplies, what with most of my shampoo turned into dust.
As we turned the pages, I saw articles about local places of interest and events coming up. There was also an article about a travelling magician pony who claimed to have vanquished an Ursa major but was later found to have fabricated the whole story to gain popularity.
“Wasn’t that smart of her, eh?”
“Keep looking Riff... we don’t have a lot of time and- there!” He shouted excitedly.
“What did ya find?” I asked.
“Here, look.”
“That’s where you’re gonna go, Riff” Sieg said, as if commanding me to do just that, “but we can’t let you be seen in public in your current state.”
“You have any ideas?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yup. You can trust me to always have a plan in mind!” He exclaimed with a self-satisfied grin.
=====================================================================
“RAGS?! THIS WAS YOUR PLAN? TO COVER ME IN RAGS?!” I shouted at him in a playful manner, trying to understand how he saw this as a good idea.
“Hey, c’mon, it’s better than having your bald patches shown to everypony. Besides, nopony is even gonna know it’s you!” He excused his actions, but I still felt frustrated at the fact I’m now forced to wear rags in order to sneak into a Spa. I wouldn’t mind so much if it wasn’t so awfully hot!
“Dear Celestia, why?!”
“C’mon, it’s not too far now.”
As we trotted through Ponyville, I saw some ponies looking at me in a very weird way, but most seemed to ignore me. I mean, what’s so conspicuous about a pony that nopony saw before, covered in rags, walking beside another pony wearing a suit?
“I have no Idea how you can stand the heat wearing that suit. Aren’t you sweating?” I asked, honestly baffled by how he didn’t even break a sweat.
“It’s pretty thin, so it’s not really that hot actually. Besides, I like it.”
I guess that made sense, but was the tie really necessary?
After a while of walking through Ponyville, we finally reached our destination.
“There it is; The Bath House. C’mon Riff, let’s go!” He elbowed me in the neck.
“Why does this always happen to me?” I asked in a sigh.
Sieg seemed to ignore my comment and we approached the entrance of the Bath house.
He knocked on the door while I studied the building. The Bath House seemed pretty big from the outside, and the door was simple and stained with a darker shade of wood.
We heard a voice emanating from behind the door.
“Coming!” said the voice of a mare with a strange accent I had never heard before.
As the doors opened, we were greeted by two ponies who seemed like copies of each other. One was a pink pony with a cyan mane and a headband, while the other was cyan with a pink mane, also wearing a headband.
“Yes? How can we help you?” asked the cyan coloured pony.
“Well, you see, my friend here got himself fried whilst trying to do his hair with magic, and, well, the result is... this,” Sieg then took off my hood to reveal my fried, burned hair as well as patches of fur falling out.
“Eek! O’ no no no no no! This won’t do! Quickly! Inside!” Shouted the Pink pony, she and her possible twin dragging us inside.
“Uh, this can be fixed, right?” I asked nervously, having seen the horror in their faces back at the entrance.
“I’ll see what I can do...” Said the pink pony with determination. “We’re going to have to give you the full treatment.”
“Anything, please; just make my fur come back!” I pleaded with the pink pony, who looked at me with pitying eyes.
“Lotus! Handle the other customers! I will handle this one personally,” she gave orders to her co-worker. Then, after giving me a quick glance, she proceeded to give me the full spa treatment.
Sieg, in the meantime was sitting at the waiting room near the entrance, reading the magazines left on the tables, trying to find out what is up and about in Ponyville. He always wants to be ‘In-the-know’ and not feel uninformed.
“Hmm... this could work...” Sieg pondered aloud as he read an article about an outdoor rave party.
As I was taken from one bath tub to the next, I felt as if they were pulling me on a short leash. Each tub they threw me in was amazingly warm and relaxing, though. I never had enough of a moment to ask what each was for and how they worked.
The steam rising from the small circular pools were almost mesmerizing. It was like the steam just took all my worries away.
“Aww, yeah! I could just stay in this tub forever,” I said as I felt the pure ecstasy pulsing throughout my body, “This feels absolutely great!”
The pony who treated me was Aloe; she and her twin sister run this Bath house and spa place. A mighty fine job they’re doing, too.
“We are done Mr. Track. You can get out of the pool now,” Aloe said in a very calm tone.
“Oh? Am I done already?” I asked quizzically, having lost track of time.
“Yes, and here, take a look. You are absolutely astonishing!” As I got out of the pool they pointed me to a nearby mirror where my reflection showed me, with all my fur back where it should be and my hair glistening in the light as I tried to slick it back with my hooves.
“Wow! Amazing. How?” I was at loss for words. I looked just stunning; even I was surprised that was me.
“Oh, it is thanks to the natural herbs that we are supplied with by a zebra named Zecora. The herbal baths can do wonders for anypony!” She said excitedly, satisfied with another happy customer.
“Miss Aloe, I cannot thank you enough. How much do I owe you?” I asked, knowing that it would take probably most of my budget to pay for such a treatment.
“..Oh, do not worry Mr.Track. It was a pleasure helping a pony in dire distress. This is on the house,” She said, being absolutely honest.
“You mean that? W-wow! I mean, thank you so much! Maybe I’ll visit you again when I’m finished with my show, Aloe,” I exclaimed. I’ve never met such a kind pony before; not only did she bother fixing me up, but she did it free of charge!
“Oh? What is it that you do, Mr. Track?” she asked, a cheerful, curious expression on her face. “I don’t think my sister or I have ever seen you here in Ponyville before.”
“Oh, um, I’m a travelling musician. I go all over Equestria and put on rock performances,” I said with a proud look on my face.
“That is most exquisite! The graceful melody, the heart-stopping beats. I may not seem like it, but I have been to my fair share of music concerts,” she sighed, almost falling into a daydream.
“Well, I have to go now. We have a show planned for today,” I waved my hoof to her.
“Farewell, Mr. Track!” Aloe waved back in a gentle fashion.
I trotted over to the entrance where Sieg was pacing back and forth. I walked over to him.
“Hey dude, check me out!” I half-shouted in excitement.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s nice, Riff,” he said in a very disinterested manner, “I have something better than your new look right now!”
“What could be better than my awesome new look?” I asked completely oblivious to the fact he was smiling maniacally.
“Riff, I just read an ad. There is this Pony DJ that I think we could make an agreement with,” he said, even more excited than before.
“Go on?” I asked, being curious about what he had planned this time.
“And... she can get us in contact with some major record dealers! We’ll finally have a place to stay!”
“Awesome, but can we keep the trailer? I kinda like it,” I said in a joking fashion.
“When we go big, we won’t need trailers, Riff.”
The Best Riff in Equestria
The Best Riff in Equestria
Chapter Two: A new opportunity!
“So, let me get this straight: you want me to perform with a DJ at an outdoor rave party?”
“That’s the idea! I’m sure she’ll be okay with it as long as it’s in good fun,” Sieg said.
“Oh yeah, and if I get booed off stage?” I asked, knowing this was going to be the crowds’ most probable reaction to me crashing their rave party.
“Hey, this is the only chance we’ll have to actually have a crowd. All you need is some new gear.”
“What’s wrong with my guitar?” I asked, puzzled. It did it’s job fine for the past six years.
“We need something with more ‘oomph’ in it. I suggest we grab an electric guitar so you can really start rocking.”
“I guess,” I said, not really happy that I wasn’t going to be using my trusted instrument of choice.
“It’ll be fine, Riff. Just you wait and see!” Sieg uttered cheerfully, gaining a pep in his step.
The thought of performing at an outdoor rave party seemed good on paper, but I was still skeptical about the whole thing.
“So, where did you say we’re meeting this Vinyl Scratch?” I asked, having forgotten amidst my thoughts.
“I read that she would be visiting the Café before the show,” Sieg explained.
“Oh, great! I am starving!” I chirped, not having eaten since morning.
It was still broad daylight when we approached the fancy looking restaurant.
“There she is! C’mon Riff, let’s go meet her,” Sieg said with a smile on his face.
“Alright, let’s see what the fuss is about,” I relented before being confronted by Sieg face to face.
“Oh and Riff, try to keep your comments to yourself. This is important,” Sieg told me with a stone-faced expression I’ve rarely seen on him.
“Uh, sure thing, Sieg, I won’t mess this up,” I responded nervously, trying not to show the fact that I was completely smothered in fear at the thought of what he’d do to me if I made us lose our only chance at going big.
Sieg and I approached the white pony wearing black-rimmed shades with purple lenses on her forehead. She seemed to be enjoying a daffodil and daisy sandwich.
Sieg stepped forward to the DJ pony’s table first.
“Hello. Vinyl Scratch, I presume?” Sieg asked, again returning to his good-mannered self.
“You presumed right! What can I help you two colts with?” She replied. Her voice was quite powerful but it had a sense of calmness in it; I wasn’t sure how to describe it.
“My name is Sieg Musica, and this is my companion, Riff!”
I waved a hoof at her. She didn’t seem to notice.
“We were just hoping that we could come to an agreement with you in regards to the rave party you are planning today,” Sieg continued.
“Hmm... proceed,” she said in an almost mocking manner.
“Well, uh... we thought that we could help spice up your show a bit by doing rock performances in between your songs for tonight,” Sieg explained nervously, starting to sweat a bit, managing to keep a polite smile in spite of his obvious concern.
“I’m guessing the orange guy here is the one performing?” She shot me a look, freezing me in place.
“Um, yes, that is correct,” Sieg answered promptly, becoming even more nervous about whether or not she would approve of this.
“You think you can put on a good show?” Vinyl asked, still facing me.
“Um, yes I bel-” Sieg was abruptly interrupted by the DJ pony.
“I wasn’t asking you, I was asking him,” she pointed her hoof at me.
“Oh! Well, yeah! Of course I’ll put on a good show! I’m the best rocker around!” That last phrase sounded a bit too cocky. I am going to die any moment now, I just know it.
“Oh, really? Well, I’ll see you at the show then,” the DJ pony responded cooly. She then got up from her table while putting back on her trademark shades with her magic.
“Consider this an agreement, Mr. Musica. We’ll meet backstage in the town square,” having said her piece, she trotted off.
“Hey! look at that; my blabbering got us in the show!” I said with a smug grin.
“Riff, sometimes, you just amaze me,” Sieg said with a relief.
It is still daylight; that meant we still had time to explore Ponyville. I was still hungry from before, so we decided to stay at the cafe and order some food.
Sieg ordered some hay fries, while I ordered the daffodil and daisy sandwich.
“Hey Sieg? What did ya think of that Vinyl Scratch?” I asked, trying to stir up a conversation.
“Oh, uh, she was... helpful,” said Sieg, not really paying attention to my words.
“I dunno, man. I thought she was cool,” I added, “those shades of hers were awesome. Where can I get some of those?”
“I have no idea, Riff. Just focus on getting that electric guitar for tonight's show,” Sieg said, munching on his hay fries.
After we finished up our food and paid for our orders, we started heading towards the town square. A stage had already been erected by the work-ponies.
After wondering around the square for a while, I was hit with a sudden realization.
“Sieg... there are no music shops in Ponyville.”
Sieg froze, suddenly realizing this as well. I guess we both kinda forgot that little detail.
“Riff, you don’t happen to have a possible relative in Ponyville who is also musically inclined?” he asked, his pupils slowly shrinking in size.
“Uh, no...” I answered, his pupils now resembling small dots.
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“How are we supposed to be heard now if you don’t have an electric guitar we can plug into a speaker?!” Sieg predictably panicked.
Calming him down was no easy task as he took to flailing about in circles.
“Sieg! Calm down! I think I know where we can get an electric guitar,” I half-shouted.
Sieg stopped dead in his circular routine and faced me, standing a bit too close for comfort.
“Where, Riff? WHERE?!” he screamed at me, taking hold of and then shaking me at the same time.
“Manehattan.”
“We won’t be able to get there and back in time! It’s almost afternoon!” Sieg exclaimed, returning back to his circular motions.
“The more time you spend going in circles, the less time we have actually getting to Manehattan!” I shouted, trying to snap him out of his panicked circular pacing. It started to make me feel sick from dizziness. “It’s not like we have another choice.”
Sieg stopped circling about to face me.
“...Okay, Riff, but if we miss this chance... you don’t even wanna imagine what I’ll do to you!” He glared at me for a moment.
“Alright, Sieg. Trust me, we’ll get through this.”
We both nodded and galloped towards the trailer we parked near the entrance.
We both climbed into the trailer, Sieg taking the wheel while I gave him directions.
“Uh, Sieg, when did you last refill the gas?” I asked out of curiosity, noticing a slight jerkiness to the trailer.
“Not since our previous sto-... uh-oh...” Sieg froze up, quickly looking at the tank meter. We were running empty.
“Oh, well that’s just great!” I said in annoyance as the trailer immediately started to slow down until it reached a full stop.
Sieg and I got out of the trailer to try and examine the situation. It was still a long way to go.
“Argh! This is all your fault, Riff!” Sieg shouted, and pointed accusingly.
“My fault?! It was you who wanted me to get that stupid electric guitar!” I argued.
“I never should have agreed to this!” Sieg retorted.
Our arguing soon reached a peak and we were about to charge one another when I saw something in the distance that appeared to be coming our way.
“Sieg stop. Look!” I pointed behind him to a horse-drawn carriage approaching us.
“Trying to trick me again, eh? Not this time!” He almost charged me until we heard a voice coming from the carriage as it stopped beside us.
“Do you two you require some assistance?” said an unfamiliar voice. It was coming from behind the door of the carriage.
“Well, our vehicle broke down and we desperately need to get to Manehattan,” Sieg suddenly forgot all his rage towards me and proceeded to speak in a polite manner.
“I can get you to Manehattan, if you wish,” replied the voice.
“Yes please!” We said in unison.
After being invited into the carriage, which was in fact very nicely decorated with red cushions and very dark wood paneling, we were greeted by a very unexpected pony.
“Princess Luna?” Sieg asked as it sunk in that the pony was an alicorn, and was of a dark blue color.
“Princess Luna? But wait I thought you were ban-” Sieg’s hoof was practically in my mouth before I had a chance to speak another word.
“Your highness!” Sieg said, bowing his head and elbowing me in the sides, prompting me to do the same. “What brings you here?”
“I was just visiting Ponyville to check up on a few things. You two seemed like you were about to tear each other apart back there,” She stated in a very calming tone, a touch of sadness in her eyes.
“Oh it was nothing, Princess,” Sieg nervously explained, glaring back at me with a grin.
“Y-yeah, n-nothing,” I added.
“Very well. I will let you two sort it out yourselves. You needed to go to Manehattan, yes?” Luna asked.
“Yes. We need to get to a music shop in Manehattan in order to buy a certain instrument for our show tonight,” I quickly answered.
“I’m afraid we don’t have much time,” Sieg added dourly.
“I can drop you off at Manehattan’s market district,” she offered in a soft, comforting tone.
“Oh, many thanks to you, your Majesty!” Sieg practically wept, bowing his head lower..
“It is not a problem. I was heading there myself,” she replied with a warm smile.
We conversed during the rest of the trip to Manehattan’s market district. Luna had quite the thirst for knowledge of the daily life of a pony in today’s times, especially travelling ponies like us.
In what felt like only a few minutes, we arrived in Manehattan’s market district. Princess Luna dropped us off, as promised. Before we could even state our thanks, she offered us yet another kindness.
“Here are some bits for your troubles.” She handed us an impressive satchel containing numerous bits. “I just wanted to make sure the show goes well tonight,” she added somewhat bashfully.
As she started to close the carriage door, we quickly brought our jaws back from the ground in order to thank the Princess one last time.
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We gleefully hopped all the way through the market district until we saw a shop called “Guitars, Flutes And More.”
“There! I think we found it, Siegy!” I chirped with excitement.
“Let’s go! Before it closes!” Sieg replied, obviously feeling just as happy as I was.
Upon entering the store, Sieg and I scoured the shop for the most expensive electric guitar we could find.
“Hey Riff, you like this one?” He pointed his hoof to a brilliant white guitar. It’s fretboard was infused with diamonds and the base of the guitar was polished to the point of mirroring my reflection.
“Yeah, let’s go with this one.”
I carefully lifted the guitar off its stand and brought it over to the counter.
The receptionist pony looked at us with a bored look on his face.
“That will be two-thousand-seven-hundred and ninety-nine bits, sir,” said the dull gray pony.
We tossed the satchel on the counter.
“Will this cover it?” We asked in unison, huge, cheerful grins on our faces at the sight of the receptionist-pony’s surprised look.
The withdrawal of almost three-thousand bits left the satchel significantly emptier, though the tell-tale jingle of a few dozen remaining bits sang with every step.
“This should be enough for the taxi fare to Ponyville,” Sieg observed after taking a quick peak inside.
The Best Riff in Equestria
The Best Riff in Equestria
Chapter Three: On with the show
I held the guitar floating near us as we exited the shop and fared for a taxi-pony.
Sieg let out a whistle.
“Taxi! Over here!” Sieg shouted at an incoming pony who had a blinker strapped to his head. The pony was pulling a yellow open-carriage.
“Get us to ponyville, as fast as equinely possible.”
We got into the carriage, which promptly raced towards Ponyville.
The trip went by quite fast and the moon was just slowly rising while the sun set in the west as we arrived at the entrance to Ponyville. It was almost time to start the show.
“Thank you again. These should cover it.” I gave the taxi-pony a hoof-full of bits that was probably more than I owed him. “Consider the rest a big tip.”
Sieg and I then proceeded to gallop towards the town square where we saw that the stage had already been set up. The lights danced and the music was already playing, the audience carrying glow-sticks of various neon colours.
“Do you think we’re late?” I asked Sieg as we galloped closer.
“Not sure. It doesn’t seem as if she’s on stage,” replied Sieg.
Before we knew it, we had reached the stage. We entered through the back to meet up with Vinyl Scratch who had apparently been waiting for us, trying to stall the crowd in our absence.
“Where have you two been? The crowd is getting restless!” Vinyl Scratch half-shouted.
“We ran into a bit of a problem and then we had to-” before I could continue, Vinyl was already behind me, pushing me onto the stage.
“Just play along, alright?” She whispered to me. I wasn’t quite sure what she meant, but before I could ask, she had already stormed towards her turntable on the upper platform of the stage.
I was situated at the ground level of the stage, somewhere in the middle. The lights above me blinked on and off to the beat of the loud electronic music.
Sieg, in the meantime, was backstage watching the whole thing; he simply couldn’t keep himself under control since he knew I wasn’t prepared even the slightest bit for this show.
I kinda regretted oversleeping now.
“Ladies and gentlecolts! Are you ready for this? Are you ready to drop it to the beat? Are you ready for DJ P0n-3!?” Vinyl Scratch shouted into her mic, causing the audience to go mad, their glow-sticks becoming a multi-chromatic blur of light above the crowd as everypony started waving them around.
“I hope you’re ready, ‘cause tonight we have something special!” As she said that, I knew that I had to be prepared for something; I just wasn’t sure what ‘it’ was.
“Tonight, somepony dares to challenge me! The turntable temptress herself - DJ-P0n-3!” Vinyl once more shouted to the crowd who had, believe or not, become even more restless than before. “The pony present here tonight thinks his musical abilities can rival to that of mine!”
I was getting quite nervous already; I expected something, but not a challenge!
“Let us see how this, lost, confused, over-his-head pony can stand up to yours truly!”
“Everypony, give it up for Riff Track!” Vinyl shouted. For a moment, I had frozen in place as the crowd suddenly became a little quieter - which wasn’t saying much. I was certain that the background roar of the crowd could still be heard for over a mile - an idea that frightened me more than I would have liked to admit. I tried as hard as I could to give a confident smirk to the audience, but to no effect.
“Let’s see how you can handle these beats, Riff!” I was immediately bombarded by the loud sound of a remixed bass & drum track. I thought I felt my ears go numb before suddenly snapping back. It felt like a blitzkrieg of sound.
“A little too loud for ya Riff?” Vinyl’s continual mocking was starting to tick me off a bit. That’s when I decided it was time to strike back.
I quickly plugged my guitar into the nearest amp, and proceeded to turn it up to eleven. I felt hesitant about doing so, but I felt like I had to fight loud music with even louder music.
“Well Vinyl, I hope you’re ready, ‘cause it’s about to get 20% louder!” I tried shouting to her, only notice that they forgot to give me a mic. Guess they didn’t expect me to actually have anything to say. “Here goes!” With that, I began to play a power chord over the bass in the vain hope It would sound louder and gain the crowds attention.
Attention I got... for a few seconds before the bass’ volume began to steadily increase.
My ears were almost bleeding; I couldn’t handle being this close to the speaker. The stage was literally starting to tremble from the sound.
“You think I was playing at max volume? That was only the low setting!” Vinyl screamed maniacally, as if possessed by the music.
I had to think of something; the crowd was slowly starting to try and boo me off stage, probably seeing me as an interruption to the rave. I had to get louder - much louder.
“I got it!” I said to myself. If I used my magic to increase the amp’s output beyond its limit, I could blast a sound wave from the speakers and steal the crowds attention from Vinyl. It was a risky move, as it could blow out the amp, but I had little choice.
“Let’s make some magic!” I said, grinning to myself.
Sieg was still sweating buckets from the stress of the whole situation backstage.
I quickly began magically amplifying the volume of my speakers, Vinyl raising her eyebrow as I gave her a cocky grin.
My muscles tensed and I was gritting my teeth as I tried to squeeze as much juice into the speakers as I could.
“Done...” I groaned under my breath, exhausted from the ritual.
I levitated my guitar closer to me and tried to ready myself for the inevitable tidal wave of sound I was about to unleash. I took in a deep breath, standing up straighter as I braced myself.
I then struck another power chord.
The ensuing blast of sound propelled me several inches forward, even as I dug the edge of my hooves into the hardwood floor of the stage.
The soundwave vibrated - rather than echoed - through the air around the crowd, everypony's mane rippling backwards as though struck by a powerful gust of wind. Somepony’s even had their glow-sticks blown away by the enormous blast of sound. I continued to play in rhythm to the bass as the roaring wave of sound continued propelling me inches closer to the edge of the stage with each strike of the chord.
Nearby, Vinyl was briefly perturbed by the sudden change in the playing field, the skilled DJ gradually shifting her music into a new rhythm - no doubt to try and throw me off. I took a moment to listen to the new rhythm - as well as to reposition myself further back from the stage’s edge - before gradually and skillfully adjusting my chord to the new rhythm, continuing to keep pace with her.
Now that our instruments were at equal levels of sound, it was truly my guitar versus her beats. Despite successfully matching her new rhythm, Vinyl continued to frequently change the rhythm at random intervals, trying to keep me off balance. I did my best to keep pace her abrupt changes, and for the most part, I was successful, despite being thrown off rhythm a couple of times when Vinyl switched beats quicker than I anticipated. I mean, who switches thirty seconds into a new rhythm? Seriously.
Sieg, meanwhile - amazed by the whole thing - was crying tears of joy as he hopped around like a little foal backstage. I only chanced a couple of glances and couldn’t actually hear him over the music, but I could swear he was chanting something about money from the way his mouth was moving.
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After the show was over and most the crowd had dispersed, I walked backstage. I was promptly greeted by both Sieg and Vinyl, the two exchanging smiles with each other before turning their attention to me.
“Riff! That was amazing! When did you learn how to do that?” Sieg asked, obviously having been completely taken aback by my performance.
“I just focused on my objective. I said I was gonna get loud, didn’t I?” I replied smoothly, offering as innocent a grin as I could.
“Well, you sure surprised everypony - myself included,” replied Vinyl, the talented DJ pony no longer wearing her trademark sunglasses, giving us a rare view of her stunning ruby eyes.
“Thanks!” I chirped, pleased with myself.
“In fact, my producer was actually in crowd. Unfortunately, he’s got some important business in Manehattan, so he asked me to give you his card personally,” she explained as she levitated the card over to us. “I look forward to working with you in the future, Riff,” she said that last phrase in a much calmer voice than I expected after all of her shouting during the show.
“Oh, uh, o-of course! You too!” I couldn’t help but blush at the thought of meeting her again. I can’t really understand why, but her mocking was slightly charming to me.
Sieg and I stood silently as the white DJ pony walked away. After a few moments, Sieg suddenly elbowed me in the side.
“Ow! What’s the big idea, Sieg?” I replied with a grin.
“Oh, no idea. Just felt like hitting you,” Sieg replied in a sarcastic tone.
We both started to laugh and praise our good fortune; we finally had a contact that could get us to the top in no time! Sieg eventually suggested we head on over to the Café and celebrate. My stomach answered for me before I had a chance to even open my mouth.
Later at the Café, we ordered a couple of bottles of the local cider. By the time we had finished them, we were singing makeshift lyrics about our recent success loudly. Before we had a chance to order another bottle, the staff asked us to leave the restaurant. The nerve of those ponies!
Sieg, being the most sober out of the two of us - which wasn’t saying much, and was only the case since I repeatedly drank from his glass when he wasn’t looking - tried and keep me balanced upright on our way, presumably, to our trailer.
It was then - as we trotted clumsily towards the entrance of Ponyville - that I had a sudden, horrifying realization.
“Sieg... di-didn’t uhhh... didn’t we leave our uhm... our uh.. trailer back on the- on the road?” I asked a bit drunkenly while trying to keep my head steady.
Sieg was about to say something, but before he could open his mouth; we saw our trailer, parked right at the side of the entrance.
“Great show, you two!” Read the letter in an elegant, graceful font. Upon seeing a familiar royal seal at the bottom, we immediately realized who it was from.
“Looks like Princess Luna has a likin’ for this new generation of music,” Sieg chuckled, slurring only slightly.
“Ar.. aren’t we just.. *erp*... lucky?” I added in a mixture of drunken disbelief and sarcasm.
“Yeah... imagine alllll those bits tha’ we’re gonna earn on this record deal! Speaking of which, where’d you put that producers business card, Riff?” Sieg faced me, wobbling only very slightly.
“I uhh, I thought you had it...” I replied blankly, hiccuping shortly after speaking.
We both stared at each other for a moment in thought, another horrifying thought slowly creeping into our heads. Our eyes went wide as we both shouted in unison.
“THE RESTAURANT!”
I’ve never sobered up faster in my life.
We galloped back to the restaurant as fast as we could, too panicked to take pride in having avoided drunkenly tripping over ourselves. We saw the same waiter who asked us to leave standing at the entrance of the restaurant. He turned just as we approached him, Sieg and I slowing down and fighting to catch our breath.
“I do believe you... gentlecolts... forgot this when you left,” the waiter pony said in the most stuck-up manner a sentence could be uttered as far as I was concerned; he even paused a moment before sarcastically emphasizing ‘gentlecolts.’ Fortunately, he presented us with the precious business card shortly after.
“Ah, yes,” Sieg took a sigh of relief, “thank you kindly.”
“At least one of you still has manners,” said the waiter pony. He was lucky that I was too relieved to argue. “Please try and pay us a more quiet visit in the future.”
“Y-yes, of course. Thank you again!” Sieg took the card and we began to slowly walk back to our trailer, significantly more sober than our previous trip. Most of the walk this time, though, was silent, each of us smiling and looking up at the night sky in a thoughtful - and thankful - manner.
After a while, we reached the trailer once again, and the realization that we were about to leave settled in. While Sieg began checking it over and preparing it, I started thinking about all I’d been through in just the past day, and how fun it had been in spite of all the panicking. I also found myself thinking about the kindness of the ponies here, from Aloe cleaning me up for free, to Vinyl agreeing to let us perform with her on the spot.
As I stared at the village, lost in thought, I didn’t even hear Sieg laugh and loudly thank Luna for apparently refilling our trailer’s gas tank. I was snapped back to reality once it started up, and finally climbed into the trailer next to my manager and long time friend.
“Hey, Sieg?”
“Yes, Riff?”
“When are we gonna visit Ponyville again? I kinda want to have my own concert here, you know?”
“Soon, I hope. Let’s focus on getting the bits for that concert before we plan it.”
“Alright. Whatever you say, Sieg.”
The End
