“Hm.” A soft spoken, pale skinned man with shock white hair and cloudy eyes sat at the low table in in the informal office, seemingly more interested with a collection of haphazard cards than the people and pony before him. “I understand you need a music venue. Somewhere discreet from certain eyes?”

“How…” Doctor Changs protest trailed off into wordless silence.

“You bring a magical unicorn into my house and ask me how I know what I know?” The young man smirked. “At least one party here knows how they do what they did. No, you need a physical space. A place to see and be seen. A place that can provide appropriate security for your performer. And if things go wrong with your employer, you need a place to hide. Have my cards lied to me?”

Herrington raised a finger. "We're not on bad terms with our employers. Hiding from them isn't something we're looking for, but the rest—"

Vinyl hopped up to her hind legs, standing on twos. "Yes! I want a place to rock. I have so many beats just waiting for a chance to be performed for a live audience!"

Chang brushed a hand over Vinyl's mane as she leaned in. "She does enjoy performing, I think it's best that we don't stop her." She gently pet her face with one hand.

“And you shall have it.” The young man smiled warmly. “Already my patrons are going home and noting on their social mediums where they were when they saw the unicorn. You're a niche act, like the freakshow, but just as unique, and perhaps more captivating. You will be given the lesser stage. Thursday nights. There are guest rooms upstairs reserved for performers should you need them for any reason. You are safe in my house.”

“What’s the catch?” Kyle squinted hard at the young me.

“I make money, and I give some of it to you lot?” The pale man quipped in an annoyed tone. “Your didn’t come here asking favors. I am simply offering favors, as my cards advise. I know your reputation Ki, and you know mine. I honor my arrangements.”

Chang rubbed at her temple. "And if there's ever a change, or we decide we don't want to keep this up, you'll still let us walk away, right?"

Vinyl swatted at Chang, bapping her on the side. "We're not signing in blood here, guys. I perform, we all win. I get bored, I stop performing. Not complicated." She fired a hooves-up at the man. "But I don't get tired, especially not slinging sweet beats for people that want to hear them."

The man gave a slight bow as he collected his cards into a tidy stack. "Then it is settled. You have the weekend to prepare your act. Thursday you are on the schedule."

“What the hell just happened?” Doctor Chang nearly snarled at Kyle.

“The Blind Goat.” The old man responded drily as they walked back up to the street-level floors. “We got what we wanted. Best to leave it at that.”

The band had managed to slip away while the bosses were having their private conversation. Vinyl sat alone on the stage, hugging herself and trying not to cry. She tried her best to appear tough, and did not look at anyone when she finally spoke. "Mic check, mic check." Her voice echoed nicely, proving she was live. It was her chance to perform. Sure, it wasn't the right time, but the drive to care wasn't there for her.

Every sound device in the factory was gripped by her magic. Every digital device that could produce sound was in harmony. And the Wubbs Dropped.

The gathered humans upstairs perked at the muffled beats thumping towards them through the floor. One of the two bouncers walked downstairs with the others behind him. Kyle leaned back with his arms folded. "Yeah, this is gonna work out just fine."

Herrington shook his head and muttered. "Can't say I agree. This is quite the risk."

Chang snorted back a laugh. "Agree to disagree." She hummed softly to herself, bobbing along to the beat. "A happy pony means a willing pony. She'll tolerate the boring parts later if we let her play right now.

“And think about it, Doc.” Kyle grinned at Herington. “You danced with the girl, and you got a back-up lair. We are winning. So if we get fired we all still have a place to work! Good news everybody!”

“Don’t be dramatic Kyle! They are a reasonable employer! They are not going to fire us just because we smuggled a research subject into the public!” Herrington’s pupils shrank drastically. “And entered into a verbal contract with a shady fortune teller! I am so fired! And I loved my job!”

“Calm down dude, they haven’t fired me yet.” Kyle laughed taking a swallow of bitter ale.

“You’re just an elderly hooligan who smokes in the garage!” Herrington screamed in his face.

“Pretty much? I also sweep occasionally. I am not a good janitor.” Kyle shrugged.

And the wubs dropped. Through every on sight cell phone, through every speaker, and through every intercom. And there was no doubt who controlled the narrative.

“I don’t know what any of you think I am.” The unicorn’s voice warbled with skillful autotune through out the club. “But I’m just a unicorn mare who loves to drop the beat.”

The dance floor filled, both by the patrons still in the club and those streaming in from the street, their cellphones pulled up as Vinyl Scratch found herself. The words of the song she crooned into the mic changed little, but the emotion behind them grew stronger with each beat. She loved being up there, and the humans were enthralled with their dancing equine DJ.

Chang sat back and folded her arms with a smile. "I feel like I've raised my own magical child, with all the challenges that come with it."

Vinyl and the crowd together created a low beat that filled the air with buzzing energy.

“Get ready!” Vinyl giggled rhythmically into the nearest microphone. “Because I promise you are not ready for this.”

And an electric blue pulse of pure bass erupted as the Belfry itself became both the speaker and the broadcast point harmonic beat line that could not be contained by science. The rhythm of friendship.

Doctor Herrington sat in a stunned silence, knowing that he would need to do something when his brain started working again.

For the next hour and change, Vinyl had the audience dancing to the beats she slung. When she finally retired for the day, huffing for breath, she raced back to her human pals. "That? That was great. Yeah!" She shook with excited energy. "That was amazing! And we can do it again on Thursday! That's so amazing!" She gave Herrington a firm bump on the side with her head.

“I’m pretty sure you could have just told RGB to just not watch everything?” Chang laughed playfully at Kyle, in the aftermath of the broadcast heartsong. “But instead we just loaded a magical unicorn into the backseat and rode out to maybe the shadiest music venue I’ve ever seen…”

“You shoulda seen the Gravel Pit. The Belfry is medium shady.” The janitor laughed easily. “Sometimes cleaning up a mess means sweeping it outside. Actually I’m more like an anti-janitor… I kinda make it impossible to sweep things under rugs.”

The party gathered around their favorite pony as she entered, offering gentle pats on her sweaty flanks. Herrington shook his head softly at her glee. "Yes, we had some fun, but it's time to head back. Little ponies need their rest." He guided Vinyl out towards their waiting car.

Chang snorted with amusement. "She's not that little, doctor." She shot a teasing wink. "And she sure did dance all night."

Herrington frowned in his usual reserved way. "All the more reason she needs her rest, as do we all. We do have work tomorrow." He slid into the driver's seat. "Come on."

Vinyl grumbled softly, but didn't argue. Her large, expressive eyes were beginning to droop as she fell asleep in the car. Herrington leaned in and buckled her into place, knowing that she would fuss about it otherwise.

“So, even with all this going on, we’re just gonna go back to office and sleep it off till dayshift?” Chang argued.

“Hell, I could do that even if all this wasn’t going on.” Kyle laughed.

Herrington shrugged calmly. "Yes. There's still work to be done, even if the source of our research seems to enjoy singing during her downtime." He pulled out into the road and sped back towards the lab. "That doesn't mean we all get a vacation. We all have a job, even our subject."

Chang shook her head as she sat back in the passenger seat. "Work will be there in the morning. If Vinyl gets up before us, I'm sure she'll find a way to make it noisy enough to wake us."

“I’m gonna sleep like a cat under somebody's desk at random in the building.” Kyle grinned. “What are they gonna do? Fire me?”

“You talk like that's not a threat!” Herrington screamed in the older man's face.

“It's just the threat of freedom.” Kyle laughed. “What are they gonna do? You don’t even know what you did. But you just did it.”

The lights on the car bathed Vinyl's form in dancing lights as she slept through the car ride. Herrington took his time as he pulled into the parking lot, giving Chang and Kyle plenty of time to say goodnight. He was the last one out.

He gathered Vinyl up carefully, placing her forehooves over his shoulder to sling her as much as a sleeping dog or child rather than the strange creature she was. "Let's get you to bed."

The familiar walls of the lab brought her back to her senses as she found herself being gently carried. She sat up on his shoulder, giving him a firm nuzzle. "Hey there." She yawned with obvious fatigue. "Wow, today sure was a day."

Herrington chuckled gently. "It certainly was." He took Vinyl by the sides, placing her down on her cozy little mat. They hadn't told her it was supposed to be a dog bed, but she seemed to like it well enough. She curled up in a ball as soon as she hit the bedding, already fast asleep again.

"My little unicorn." Herrington smirked gently as he pulled a blanket over her to keep her warm. "See you in the morning."

Author's Note

Vinyl's found a few things she really loves to do, and her human caretakers are happy to see her enjoying herself so much. The science must continue!

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