30 Minute Delay

The Beat and The Pulse

“OH YEAH!” The cue shot forward, launching the white into the final spot, which careened off two stripes and glided dead-centre into the corner pocket. The smile on the Earth Mare’s face was triumphant. She hoof-bumped her Pegasus partner before turning towards their opponents.

“We win.” Ace’s face was a picture of annoyance and disappointment but Roseluck just shrugged and kept on smiling.

“So you did. This time. A bet’s a bet. Next round’s on us. We just couldn’t outpace The Pulse.” She put her hoof around Ace’s arm.

“Come on, Stallion of Stallions, let’s go buy the winners a drink.” Ace, however, lingered a moment.

“Next time…” he grumbled, before he calmed himself,

“Well played ladies, you showed much spirit.” Then he joined Rose at the bar. The victors, Redheart and Silverspeed, just rolled their eyes at Ace’s rhetoric. Silverspeed nodded towards a booth in the corner.

“Come on, Red, let’s take a break. Give somepony else a chance to win.” Redheart, who’d been scanning the crowd for their next challengers, groaned and reluctantly nodded.

“Yeah, okay. Lead the way, Silver.”

<><><><><><>

At a table on the mezzanine, two Unicorns and an Earth pony had been watching the entire game. One, a mint-green Unicorn scowled and piped up:

“The Pulse. Please. Those two get luckier than Fluttershy with a scorpion. They only ever play the games they want to play. If they wanted to try to beat me in music they’d lose hands-down.”

“Whats-down? Ugh, never mind,” the grey Earth Mare continued,

“You know they always play as a team, if one’s in the other’s in too. You’d need a partner. Fortunately I agree with your assessment. It would be nice to round out the night by putting them in their place.” The third pony in their trio, who’d been silently lying on her back while her smile grew wider and wider at her friends’ words, sat up suddenly. Ignoring, or perhaps enjoying, the head rush, she nudged them both:

“So go challenge them, Tavi. You too, Ra-Ra.” Both of her friends huffed and spoke at the same time.

“Do you have to call me that, Vinyl?” Vinyl Scratch, resident record-spinner kept her manic grin.

“Yes, now come on, you two. Let’s show them that The Pulse doesn’t rule here, the club only moves to the beat!”

<><><><><><>

Redheart and Silverspeed were enjoying the new drinks (free, their favourite flavour!) when the three musician ponies approached. Redheart greeted them warmly.

“Hey girls. Need a place to sit? We can scooch up.” Siverspeed grinned in agreement and began moving along the cushion but Octavia waved her off.

“That’s very kind, my dears, however it’s not Redheart and Silverspeed we have business with, it’s The Pulse.” At the cellist’s words, an edge crept into the eyes of the two friends.

“Is that so?” Drawled Silverspeed,

“You have our attention.” Her partner was leaning forward, drinks momentarily forgotten. Lyra pushed past Octavia and Vinyl and pointed a hoof at the two.

“We challenge The Pulse to a contest!”

“What kind of contest?” Vinyl Scratch fielded this one.

“What else? A dance-off! Naturally we’ll provide the music. Think you got what it takes to step into OUR world?” The three musicians bore confident smirks but it didn’t seem to shake the nerve of the Earth Mare and Pegasus. They simply looked at each other, grinned excitedly, and nodded.

“We’re in.”

<><><><><><>

“ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! ALL YOU PONY PEEPS OUT THERE BETTER LISTEN UP!” Daisy, acting as announcer for the event, shouted into her mic to get the entire bar’s attention,

“We’ve got a fresh challenge to The Pulse! Can the unbeaten pair keep their record going when they face off against Ponyville’s finest on their home turf? Taking on the defending duo tonight is a threesome of music maestros; Lyra, Octavia AND our old friend, DJ PON-3!!!” The crowd stamped and whooped as the challengers raised a hoof casually. Daisy waited for the noise to die down before continuing.

“That’s what we want to hear folks! Lots of noise, lots of excitement, let’s make this one for the ages! Let me clue you in on how this is going to go down. The Pulse is gonna step into the world of sound, a dance-off with the challengers providing the soundtrack themselves! The odds are stacked against our current champs but you know they do what they do when they do what they do! They won’t throw in the towel, they’ll push through to the very end!” There was no question the crowd was into it. They cheered long and loud.

“Go music mares!” Ace bellowed, still smarting from the earlier loss.

“Woo, Daisy!” Cheered a slightly-tipsy Rose.

“You got this, Silverspeed!” Cloudkicker stuck up for her fellow Pegasus.

“Send ‘em to the Emergency Room, Nurse!” One of the hospital orderlies shouted encouragement to his colleague.

“ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT!” Daisy repeated, silencing the crowd,

“Let’s get started then shall we? It’s gonna be a best of three contest. The first two rounds are one-on-one with the final round being a pair battle! We wanted to keep the best for last, you know as well as I do that The Pulse work best together but first they gotta make it through the single rounds!” She addressed the crowd again,

“What do you think, Ponyville? Have they got what it takes?” She held the mic out to the crowd, who went wild.

<><><><><><>

“Our first round features Silverspeed taking on Octavia, DJ PON-3 will be providing the music. Swiftness and sophistication! Speed and style! Who will win?” The dance floor was empty bar the two combatants. The three musicians had set up their gear on one edge, with Scratch now preparing.

“You ready, Silverspeed?”

“Naturally, Octavia. I’m just waiting on the bell.” Satisfied, the two looked to Daisy, who nodded towards DJ PON-3. Her horn glowing, the Unicorn laid a record down on the turntables.

After a second or two, a thumping beat blared from the speakers.

“GO!!!!!!” Roared Daisy, who was then drowned out by the crowd.

Not wasting any time, Silverspeed danced forward, timing her jerks with the beat, furling and unfurling her wings to the music before pointing them at Octavia in a challenging manner. Not to be outdone, Octavia countered with a flowing step that used the beat as a single repeated rhythm rather than a series of jumps. She finished with a graceful spin that had her pointing back at Silver. The Pegasus countered as the beat picked up, using her wings as extra appendages to flip her whole body over and over. She finished in a standing position, wings outstretched, looking smoulderingly over her shoulder at Octavia, who began to incorporate more classical mannerisms into her movements which only sort of fit the beat, however it was obvious she was reaching. She finished on a high note with a beautiful flourish when the song ended.

“Wow! That was impressive. I wouldn’t dare decide this by myself, so I’m going to hand it over to you guys! Make some noise if you think Octavia was better!” A sizeable portion of the crowd opened up for this. Daisy checked the decibel level briefly before continuing,

“Now show your support if you think Silverspeed won!” It hadn’t seemed so uneven at first, but the bars jumped twice as high this time as the majority made their decision.

“Well I think that settles it. The first round goes to Silverspeed and The Pulse!” Daisy held up Silverspeed’s hoof as Octavia slinked back to her two teammates.

“Sorry you two, I thought I had her for a second there.” They waved her off.

“Don’t worry Octavia. I’m up next, I’ll take Redheart no problem.”

“Yeah, Tavi, Ra-Ra’s got your back.”

<><><><><><>

“Well that was a wild first round, folks, and it isn’t going to slow down any time soon! Up next we’ve got a real Heart-to-Heart. Will the nurse see red or will the Unicorn have her strings cut? It’s the second round folks, with our first rounder, Octavia, providing the score!”

This round was won from the start. Octavia started up a flowing operatic tune and Redheart couldn’t find her rhythm. Lyra, on the other hand, was making graceful leaps and twirls, easily keeping with the piece. This time the crowd was unanimously in favour of the musicians, with both teams taking a moment to prepare for the pair stage.

“Gah!” Redheart stomped her hoof in annoyance,

“Can’t believe I lost so badly.” Silverspeed didn’t immediately respond, instead she grabbed Redheart’s face in both hooves and gently shook the nurse’s head.

“It’s fine, it just wasn’t your song. You know we’ll take ‘em in the doubles contest. Have we ever lost when we work together?”

“Heh, yeah, I guess you’re right.” She managed a smile. Silverspeed always made her feel better. Across the dance floor, their opponents were also debating the final round.

“Who’s doing the music this time?”

“Me me me! I haven’t had a chance yet.”

“…….Okay. Lyra does the music, guess it’s you and me, Vinyl.”

“I won’t let you down, Tavi. Be sure to give us something we can really move to, Ra-Ra.”

“I’d rather have something that’ll let us win.” The two Unicorns stared at her.

“What?”

“Do you have to take it so seriously? I know you lost but come on, admit this is fun.”

“……….’s fun.” Grinning at each other, Scratch and Lyra leaned in closer.

“What? Didn’t catch that, Tavi.” The Earth mare glared daggers at the two before relenting and surrendering a smile.

“Fine, I’m having fun. Even if I lost.”

“Hah! I knew it. Come on, I’m not dancing with a misery-guts. Will you smile if I let you lead?”

<><><><><><>

“ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT FOLKS!” Daisy was literally bouncing.

“Before the last round, let’s give it up for all five of our brave contestants for giving us such a great show! GIVE ‘EM SOME LOVE!”

Several minutes later, when the cheering had died down, Daisy finally managed to get a word in again.

“Okay! We’re in the last round. Its 1 point apiece right now, so this is for all the marbles! Will The Pulse stay steady or will our three challengers put a shock in the system? Let’s find out! Can our pairs step onto the floor please?”

The crowd parted to let them through. Redheart and Silverspeed entered first, standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Smiling broadly, Vinyl Scratch led Octavia back onto the floor, the two standing across from their opponents. Scratch nudged Octavia, who nodded and extended a hoof. All four ponies were grinning wildly as they shook hooves and got into their starting positions. Each team nodded their readiness at Daisy, who motioned for Lyra to start playing. In that second before her hoof touched a string, there was no sound. The crowd didn’t dare interrupt and every breath was held.

Most everypony there was expecting a soft, sweet sound to play. That’s why they were very surprised when Lyra began belting out a quick, power-chord-filled ballad on her lyre, somehow making the soft bells into fuller, meatier sounds. The pace was quick but elegant and each team took a few seconds to adjust. Soon enough the pairs began moving.

Octavia and Vinyl faced each other, staying close and mirroring their actions. They kept pace well with the music and soon had their fans smiling.

On the other side Redheart had been lost at the start, but Silverspeed had taken the lead, wrapping her arms around her from behind and, working together, they began swaying to the music.

As the tempo increased, Vinyl used her magic to give form to the music, green-and-gold wisps swirled around them all. That scored her team some major points……

……until Redheart capitalised on it by taking the lead and sending Silverspeed spinning with the music, wings twirled around her like a dress. That drew some “Ooh!”s from the crowd.

Scratch, taking the lead from Octavia, soon had the two body-popping to the music, their moving limbs flicking the wisps around, causing a fantastic light show.

Octavia and Silverspeed, following their partners, did their best, keeping their moves graceful and flowing. At one point they ended up back-to-back and it almost looked like they were dancing with each other. The gathered pony throng loved it.

Redheart brought things to a close though, sensing that they were falling behind to the natural rhythms of Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, she snatched the mic from Daisy’s hand as she passed, dipping it into the miasma as she danced, she twirled it over and over, forming a bouquet of shifting light which, as Lyra struck the final note, she presented to Silverspeed on one knee. The stunned crowd was silent. Silverspeed, smiling back, blew gently onto the gift, sending the ‘petals’ gliding up into the sky.

The crowd went insane.

<><><><><><>

“Well well well. I don’t think we’ll see anything like that for a while now, will we Ponyville?” Daisy had retrieved her mic.

“Much as we’d like everypony involved to get their due. We must have a winner. So we need your voices, ponies! Give it up for The Pulse!”

Everypony, every single one of them, cheered. Daisy blinked in surprise, then rallied.

“Rrrrright then. How about our challengers, the musician trio?”

Everypony, every single one of them, cheered. Daisy sighed, not at all surprised this time.

“Well then, it’s gonna have to be a show of hooves. Put ‘em up there if you think The Pulse should win.”

This time the crowd got serious. Roughly half of the crowd raised ‘em. The other half raised ‘em for the musicians. Daisy was intensely pleased after the count.

“It’s a dead heat folks! Unbelievable!”

“Not quite there, Daisy.” Everypony looked at the speaker, who continued.

“Much as we’d like a draw, The Pulse came into our house and gave us everything we could handle. That’s worth something to us. So Ra-Ra, Tavi and me’re throwing our votes behind Red and Silver there. They earned it.”

“AND because there're three of us they can’t win even if they give us their votes.” Octavia chipped in,

“So there! Nyeh!” Finished Lyra, sticking out her tongue playfully.

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Author’s note: I have no aptitude or knowledge of music so I have no idea whether this is good or mind-gratingly rage-worthy for musicians. Sorry XP.