A few miles outside of the capital of Canterlot, a small wagon slowly bounced over the dirt path toward Manehattan. Walking in front, the white unicorn trotted at a casual pace as she pulled her belongings towards her next performance tomorrow. Trotting along in the afternoon sun, she shook her head to get her two toned blue mane out of her face as she groaned to herself, "Vinyl, you have got to try and wake up on time better."
Vinyl Scratch was one to always get the best gigs in any town around due to her raw talent working her machines, making her the most famous DJ in all of Equestria. Yet despite her great talent, she always had the tendency to sleep in due to her late night work. Her last act of snoozing longer than expected caused her to miss her train to Manehattan. Knowing that the next train would not be there until the following morning, she knew the best thing to do was to just hoof it.
Loading up all of her speakers and her turn table in the back of her wagon, she hooked up and started the trek out of the capital of the land and off to her next performance. She was personally asked by Sapphire Shores, the greatest pop star in the land, to serve as the entertainment for a party she was throwing for a friend of hers. As soon as she heard the request, Vinyl jumped at the chance. The pay would be amazing, and it was only five hours of work.
Yet despite all the benefits for the future, the DJ's attitude was down because her current position. If she had just woken up on time, she would have been on the train and in Manehattan by noon. Now, she had to trot the whole way there while pulling her equipment, and she wouldn't even arrive until dark. Putting her in an even more irritated mood was how she had forgotten to pack some food before she left, causing her to have to travel on only a small breakfast.
Vinyl heard her stomach growl, begging her to get something down her throat. "Tell me about it, buddy..." she said as she glanced down at her abdomen, "If I had something I would have eaten it by now." she turned back forward to look down the road. She paused for a moment to clean off a small smudge on the inside of her purple glasses. Once done, she quickly put them back on out of habit despite the fact nopony was around. Many ponies found her eyes to be... Disturbing say the least.
Frowning to herself, she pushed on forward. Now she found herself in the middle of a small forest. The low hanging trees brought well needed shade to the dirt road. Mixed in with the Gentle breeze, the weather was now pleasantly cool for Vinyl now, making a small smile spread across her face as she walked.
Crack.
The sound of a snapping branch made her ears perk up instantly. Stopping in her tracks, she quickly whipped her head back and forth looking around herself into the trees. "Hello? Somepony there?" she hesitantly asked. Then, a large stallion stepped out of the bush in front of her. Inside her chest, her heart rate slightly increased when she saw him. 'What does this guy want?' she thought to herself.
The pony was a larger than average sized earth pony. His tan coat was stained all over with dirt and grass stains. Even his black mane and tail had a mix of sticks and other random pieces of forest stuck in the mix of all of it. What caught Vinyl's attention the most was the large sword hanging from his belt. The large pony grinned at the DJ, "Well, what do we have here?"
More bushes rustled down the path behind the cart, revealing another earth pony coming out. It's coat was just as dirty as the first ones, except it was of a dark gray color with a beige mane. It too also had a large sword on its side. "Looks like to me boss that we found a mare walking down our road." the smirking pony said.
As Vinyl unhooked herself from her cart and moved to the left of the wagon, a shadow passed overhead. Seconds later, a bright green Pegasus dropped on the ground to the left. This one had two long daggers on its sides hidden under its wings. Grinning, the new pony stared at the frightened Vinyl as he walked toward her, "And it seem like this mare is... Alone."
Snickers and laughs were exchanged between the three ponies, causing a shudder to run through Vinyl's body as she realized what they intended. She backed her flank up and pressed it against the wood behind her, trying to bring some protection to her. 'Of all the days I had to miss the train.' she whispered inside her head. "Look, I have plenty of bits if you fellas are interested in that. So, how about you take all I got and we can be on our way." she quickly said, trying to hide the shakiness in her voice.
the large leader approached with a large grin plastered on his face, "Don't worry, we are going to take your bits. And..." the leader paused as he gave a look down to her flank, "We are gonna take all that you got like you said we should."
In an instant, the pegasus rushed forward and slammed Vinyl into the side of the cart, pinning her right side against the rough wood. "Get off of me!" she yelled out. She tried to push out against him, but his larger size easily held her in place. Panicking, she began to scream out,
"Help! Somepony help me!"
The leader glared down at her, "shut up!"
"Help!"
The large stallion brought his one hoof back, "I said shut up!" he yelled as he swung down and connected with the side of her horn.
"AHH!" Vinyl nearly collapsed from the sudden strike. Her head felt like it had been hit with a hammer as her horn continued to throb. The dizziness in her mind made her head fall for a moment, causing her glasses to fall off her face. When she looked back, the Pegasus was caught off guard by her bright red eyes. He then grinned and looked over to his leader, "Hey boss, check this out."
The lead pony stepped closer to look, then gave a cold laugh, "We got ourselves a little freak here, boys!"
Vinyl shut her eyes tight and pressed her face against the cart to try and hide herself; not only her unique eyes, but she wanted to somehow hide from the horrible thing that was about to happen. The Pegasus leaned in close to her ear and whispered just faint enough to barely hear. "Don't struggle, it makes it less enjoyable for you. Heh heh- Agh!"
Vinyl felt her attacker suddenly get yanked off her. Opening her eyes, she saw the Pegasus on the ground to the side, and the other two jumping back out of surprise. She then noticed the new pony standing between her and the three criminals.
The new stallion was also quite large, his defined muscles showing through his light brown coat. Over his body was a white flak jacket that only went over his left shoulder. His blonde mane was slicked back and held down by what looked like a white bandana with a flat piece of metal over the forehead. She couldn't see his eyes because of the black oval sunglasses he had over them. And to top it all off, the pony had seven swords attached to his back.
The leader of the gang glared at the new intruder for interrupting their fun. "I would suggest that you get out of here stranger before we show you the punishment for getting in our way."
The brown pony lifted his front right hoof, and then began to go off in a tangent of raps.
"Ay, now what do we got here?
Three ponies causing this girl a scare.
You think you are all tough and cool like this?
You act all without a care, fools ya fools!"
Every pony, including Vinyl, all gave confused looks at the pony as he did his raps. The gang leader glared at the strange pony, "Just who do you think you are supposed to be?"
The brown pony began to move his hoof up and down to match the beat of his rapping.
"You ask, 'who am I supposed to be?’
Well I say, my names Killer Bee.
Now why don't you just leave and hit the road.
If not i got a nice lesson to show, ay."
The Gang leader was now getting annoyed by this pony. 'This idiot thinks he can come and get in our way like this? Not only that, this pony sucks at rapping!' walking forward, he signaled his comrades for combat. "I don't think you have any idea who we are, stranger. We don't take insults and threats easy from another pony." reaching down, he gripped his large sword in his teeth and pulled it out of it's sheath. His two comrades also got ready, the earth pony grabbing his sword in mouth, and the Pegasus holding his daggers in his wings.
Music link
Killer Bee stared at them for moment before giving a small grin in their direction. "You wish to do a battle with swords, fools ya fools." he reached back with his hoof and put it on one of his sword hilts, "Be ready for a special lesson, baby."
Vinyl gasped as she watched all of the swords get whipped out in an instant and flip through the air. Killer bee stood up on his back legs and began catching them in different places on his body. One sword dropped in each foreleg in his elbows and under his left armpit. Another one fell on his shoulder. Lifting his right leg, he caught one under his knee and another one between his leg and stomach. The final sword fell down and was caught between his teeth.
All three criminals were staring in amazement to the odd pony at how he was able to ever balance swords like that, but they all figured something like this was all for show. No pony could ever fight like that. Charging forward, they brought their swords back and swung forward.
Killer Bee launched forward and flipped through the air, his body resembling a spiked ball. Dropping in the center of the incoming ponies, he spun around, swinging his arms out and slashing out at the gray pony. The smaller pony was immediately overwhelmed by the mass of swords swiping rapidly in his direction. After a flurry of hits by swords coming from Killer Bee's forelegs, his mouth went forward and knocked the large sword out of the ponies grasp. Panicked, the small pony turned tail and fled into the forest.
Seconds later, The pegasus was caught in the middle of spinning blades coming at him. Killer Bee flipped over onto his forehooves and began spinning around like a top. The flying thief could not judge the incoming swings in the ponies legs. Then, one of Killer Bee's legs shot out and connected in the chest of the pony and flung it into a nearby tree, its head colliding with the wood with a sickening crack and causing the whole trunk to shake.
Vinyl felt as if her jaw was touching the ground from the sight set had just seen. In just a few moments, this new pony came and disarmed two ponies with no trouble at all. In fact, the way he was moving as he fought looked more like he was dancing instead of fighting seriously "Who is this pony?" she said to herself.
The gang leader sat in shock to how fast this pony was able to move while holding so many swords in his grasp. He then noticed that Bee was facing the other way looking at the downed pegasus. His anger suddenly grew even more at the pony before him. “No pony does this to me and gets away with it.’ He shouted inside of his head. Glaring, he charged forward and prepared to hit him from behind. Vinyl snapped out of her trance when she saw the pony going for her savior. "Look out!" she screamed.
Killer Bee flipped backwards over the incoming pony and dropped down onto its back. The leader gasped out as he felt the sudden weight crush him flat into the dirt. Bee then released one of his swords from his arms and caught it in his hooves. Spinning it in his grip, he swung down and hit the sword out of the ponies mouth, followed by him bringing the hilt of the blade down and cracking the pony over the head with it, knocking him out cold.
(music ends)
Bee stood up from His accomplishment and began sliding his blades back into their sheaths on his back. After he was done, he began rapping to himself again.
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
That is me, the one you see. Yeah!"
"Umm, excuse me?"
Bee stopped his singing to the voice to his side. Turning his head, he saw the unicorn looking up at him. "Hmm?"
Vinyl took a second to compose herself. "I... I wanted to say thank you, for saving me." she looked past the large stallion to the unconscious bodies of the two thieves. "If you didn't show up, they..." she trailed off at the end, still shaken from what came so close to happening to her.
Bee was about to respond, but was caught off guard by her eyes. The bright red irises seems to shine in the setting sun, giving off an almost glowing appearance. "My, what unique eyes you have." he stated in a normal speaking tone.
"My eyes?" vinyl questioned. Then she gasped as she realized that she wasn't wearing her glasses. Covering up her eyes, she turned and found her glasses on the ground. Picking them up, she hastily put them on as fast as she could. "I- I'm sorry you had to see that."
Bee saw how upset she suddenly became over her appearance, now feeling bad for what he said. "What's your name?"
She turned back towards him, now sporting her purple sunglasses. "Vinyl Scratch." she quietly answered.
Killer bee began bouncing to a beat inside his head as he tried to cheer up the upset pony.
"Now look here and don’t be upset, scratch.
Your eyes are quite a catch.
You got a bright vibe off you that gives a glow.
Why sit and hide it when you can show, yeah!"
"Wait what?" vinyl said in shock, "You, don't think my eyes are strange?" she couldn't believe it. No pony had ever given her compliments on her eyes before. Because of her white coat and since red was such an unusual color, it gave her an even more stand out appearance to most. Because of all the stares and whispers, she got into the habit to just hide her eyes from others. She felt a small blush on her cheeks as she gave a sincere smile in his direction. "Thank you."
Bee grinned at seeing her not upset anymore. 'I have seen much stranger eyes in my world.' he thought to himself.
"No thanks is needed for the words i shot.
Just go on and show what you got. ay."
Vinyl gave a small chuckle. 'This pony is not good at rapping, but he doesn't give up. Gotta give him props for that.' she thought. "So, where are you going?"
"you ask 'where are you going?' little one.
That is where my trouble starts, yo.
I got caught in a weird flash, and then was gone from my land.
Now, I am different than before and I do not know where i stand. Baby."
Vinyl sat for a minute, trying to put together what she could even make out from his completely off and non rhyming raps. 'He must have had some weird accident, can't even remember what happened to him.' she thought. Then an idea came to her head. "Well, if you don't know where to go, you can come with me to Manehattan."
"Manehattan?" Bee asked. 'What a strange name for a place.'
"Yeah, Maybe some pony can help you find out where to go from there. And..." Vinyl paused and pawed at the ground with her hoof, "It would be nice to travel with another pony. I... Kinda don't want to go alone after what just happened."
Bee smiled down at her.
"going to a new town with one named Scratch.
That is the place where I will be at. Yeah!"
Vinyl smiled as she walked back towards her wagon. Knowing she would have company with her put her in a much better mood now. Being the pony that saved her as well made her extremely grateful. Hooking back up, her and her new friend walked on towards the town.
As he trotted on, Bee suddenly heard a voice inside of his head. Entering his mind subconsciously, he found himself in a dark void with a massive creature in front of him. The purplish toned beast was over a hundred feet tall, its head resembling an ox with four long horns on its head. The lower left part of its horn was sliced off, leaving a stump in its place. It also had straight teeth, one of which was missing. It had a muscular upper-body structure, with a hunched back similar to a bison, arms with spiked protrusions on the elbows, and gigantic hands. It had no hind-legs, instead its lower half was made up of eight tentacles that resemble the cephalopod arms of an octopus, which at the moment most were scorched off.
'Bee, how do you know that we can even trust her? You have no idea who she is.' the deep voiced creature told him.
Bee grinned up to the beast that was sealed inside of him.
"You believe she is bad?
did you not see her face sad?"
'She may be innocent, or she could have had that attack set up to trick you. I have no knowledge of her, but we are in a new world and should be more cautious. I am actually surprised you are so calm right now.'
“Now eight tails, why wouldn’t I be calm here?
There is nothing to fear. Yeah.”
The tailed beast shook his head in annoyance to his host rapping. ‘Unless you haven’t noticed, but we are no longer in the Hidden Cloud village. And another thing, you don’t exactly look like yourself anymore.’
“Now that is something not true, yo.
I am still the same to you.
Looking like them will help us blend in.
Maybe they can help us find out how we got here to begin. Yeah.”
The tailed beast sat quietly for a moment before speaking again. ‘We must have somehow been sent here fighting that Uchiha kid. The mix of our chakra may have caused something strange to occur when we tried to escape those black flames.’
“By the way, how do you feel now?
Those hot flames caused quite a pow.”
The beast grunted in frustration from his horrible rhyming just to rap. ‘most of my tentacles were burned off. Besides that, by body is intact. At least they will grow back.’
“You see? You are tough and made it through.
Now let’s go and kick it for some time us two.”
‘What?’ The beast yelled out, ‘I know exactly what you mean by that. You want to stay here for a while?’
Bee grinned even bigger than before as he went off rapping again.
“A vacation for time will be sick.
Being stuck in the village was making me tick.
We never had free time and were always stuck.
Now stuck in this place could be some good luck.
We will find a way to get back to our land.
For now though let us chill and don’t act all bland. Yeah!”
The giant ox shook his head. ‘I will never understand you Bee.’
A few hours quickly passed by that evening. The sun had now set completely, replaced by the bright moon sitting high in the sky above Equestria. Vinyl Scratch had now passed completely through the forest and was now walking down the small trail in the middle of a wide open field. Despite still being outdoors this late at night, she wasn't without company.
Killer Bee continued on trotting by her side the entire time of the walk. Having somepony walking with her definitely made her more comfortable than being on her own like she was earlier. Several times throughout the walk he had even offered to pull the wagon for her to help with the haul. Although she smiled seeing he was a gentlecolt for offering to help, Vinyl chose to pull it herself as her thanks for his assistance for earlier. 'And I still don't know you too well buddy...' She said to herself, 'My equipment is a little expensive to let another pony just pull.'
Most of the time, the two of them joked back and forth with each other over how that one pony got knocked out, which really made Vinyl happy. "I gotta say, when you flipped over him like that? Wow, that was awesome." She chuckled, "That pony got knocked the buck out!"
Bee bounced his head to some unheard beat.
"That jerk thought he was tough with friends.
Now he is asleep with a head to mend. Yeah."
He lifted a hoof up to her for a hoof bump, which by now was perhaps the tenth time of him doing that. 'He really likes bumping.' Vinyl chuckled to herself. Not being rude, she returned it once again and smiled.
As they went on, they talked about several different things about themselves and what they did. Vinyl had asked the most questions about Bee, asking him where he was from and other things like how he fought with those swords like that.
"So, you came from the Hidden... Cloud?" Vinyl questioned. She had never heard of a place of that name.
Bee nodded. "Yeah, that is the place I live at.
Is there nothing here named that?"
Vinyl shrugged. "Well, no. I can't say that I have ever heard of a place anywhere by that name."
Bee sat quietly for a minute after the response he heard. 'Hmm, so it seems that I really am in a different world than before. Will there even be a way for me to return back to the village?' Deciding not to worry himself, Bee turned back to Vinyl.
"Now, tell me about your skill.
That equipment back there has quite a bill."
Vinyl chuckled a little bit. "Yeah, that stuff is a little expensive. It's worth it though since I DJ all over Equestria."
"So, you have got a knack of making a sweet beat.
I bet you can make a tune to move the feet."
"Heh, yeah, i don't mean to brag but..." Vinyl paused and tilted her head in confusion. "Feet? What's that?"
Bee realized his mistake and quickly waved his hoof.
"That is just a saying I have from where I'm from.
Don't worry about the meaning if it sounds dumb."
Deciding not to think about it too much, Vinyl shrugged her shoulders and continued on.
Coming over a hill, the two travelers saw the sprawling city far down below. Massive skyscrapers stood high up into the air above the smaller buildings lining the streets. Light posts lined up all the roads in between all the structures, allowing the many ponies walking about to whatever store or restaurant they were going to. Vinyl sighed in relief as she stared at her destination. "Well, here we are. Manehatten."
As she trotted on down the road, Bee stood in his spot for a moment as he looked on. Inside his head, he could hear the eight tails talking to him again.
'Bee, you think it is smart to be going into a populated area like that?' The giant octo ox asked.
Going into his mind, Bee once again stood in front of the giant tailed beast. Smiling, he trotted up until he stood below the massive creature.
"Now, why are you so worried here?
You know you have nothing to fear.
I want to go chill for now and rest some time.
Now relax while I continue my rhyme."
As Bee chuckled to himself for his last clever rap, the ox grunted in frustration. 'Why do you always take everything as if it is all a game? We have no idea what this place is like and you want to just waltz on in there.'
Snickering, Bee jumped up onto the snout of the creature and sat down so he looked into the pale white eyes of the tailed beast.
"Come on now, why you acting like all down?
Give a smile and not a frown.
Let's see what this place has got for us.
Just sit back and don't make a fuss."
'You expect me to just stay calm in a time like this? Who knows if you ever will be able to get back to our world?'
"We are new to this place, a secret in fact.
You can relax now, keep your nerves intact.
None hear know just what you are.
Any danger after you is now gone far."
The large ox went to protest, but stopped himself as he thought about those last words. 'That is true. Since they don't seem to know anything about our world or jinchuuriki, we shouldn't have to worry about being captured or killed every other week.'
"Oh yeah!" Bee cheered as he saw his buddy agreeing with him now. Exiting his mind, he quickly trotted down the road after Vinyl.
After a few more minutes, both of the travelers entered the outskirts of Manehatten and began making their way down the lit up strip. Dozens of ponies were slowly going in and out of the high class stores of
One thing that Vinyl noticed was all of the strange looks that she was getting from all of the ponies around her. At first she was confused, but then realized that she wasn't the one being stared at. Turning to her right, she stared at Bee for a moment. 'I guess looking like a warrior pony with those swords is kinda intimating.' She thought to herself. Her stomach growling again broke her train of thought. "Phew, I'm starving. You want anything?"
"Hmm, a bite does sound sick.
I could give it a bite or a lick."
Vinyl laughed at hearing him make up a rhyme at how he made a rhyme for every word he said. Walking up to a roadside stall, she ordered two daisy sandwiches and a bag of apples. Activating her magic, a sparkling silver glow enveloped her horn and the small bag in the back of her wagon. Bee sat curiously as he watched the act before him.
"What is that you are doing right there?
Is that chakra you are emitting and-
"Wait, what?" Vinyl cut him off, "what is chakra?"
Once again, Bee realized he was talking about something that she had no knowledge of.
"Oh, don't worry about what I say.
I am speaking of things in my life and way."
Lifting an eyebrow, Vinyl stared at him for a moment. "That was magic I just did. All unicorns can do that. Aren't there unicorns from where you are from?"
Bee shook his head and took a bite of his sandwich. To his surprise, the flowers inside were very tasty. They had a sweet honeydew flavor to them as he chewed. His enjoyment was disrupted when he suddenly felt his head smacked from behind. He didn't even have to turn around to know it was the tailed beast inside is mind.
'Bee, watch what you say. You are going to cause suspicion if you keep mentioning things like that.' The beast snapped.
The jinchuuriki grunted to himself.
'Dont get angry and your nerves in a shake.
It was a mistake. Fool, ya fool!'
After their meal, The two of them continued on. Coming up to the Golden Horseshoe Hotel, vinyl took a deep breath at finally seeing her destination. She had offered Bee to get him a room as gratitude for helping, and since she wasn't exactly comfortable just letting him into her own room. As soon as she came up to the entrance, several ponies all dressed in their green bell hop suits immediately came up to her cart and offered to carry her things. 'Heh heh, just what to expect from the top rated hotel in all of Manehatten.' She said to herself.
After she unhooked herself, Vinyl walked back and pulled her small bag out of the side of the cart. Using her magic, she levitated her pack by her side and prepared to go inside, but stopped when she remembered her companion. Turning back, she saw how that some of the employees were giving Bee the same look of fear like all the others. "Don't worry. He is my... My bodyguard. Yeah."
The workers gulped but nodded as they trotted away. Vinyl giggled at how much Bee intimidated other just by his appearance. "Alright, I'm gonna go inside and book my room and get you one. Just wait outside for a minute."
Bee gave her a salute. "Don't you worry about me at all.
I will be here and wait for your call. Ay."
Nodding, Vinyl pushed through the door and made her way up to the front desk to check into the hotel. Behind the desk was an extremely large stallion, around the stomach to be precise. His uniform was already double the size of all the other employees, yet his still seemed to be bursting at the seams as the pony waddled over to his spot by the cash register. As he looked up, he gave a slight chuckle at the DJ. "So, what's a pony like you think you are doing here?"
"Uh, excuse me?" Vinyl was caught off guard by what the worker said. "What is that supposed to mean?"
The desk pony lifted a hoof onto the counter to lean on, his face still plastered with that arrogant smirk. "This hotel is perhaps a little out of your budget, miss."
Realizing what he was implying, the white unicorn grunted and readjusted her shades. While she had plenty of bits from her job, Vinyl was never one to have to buy expensive clothing to look like she was some kind of big shot. She had come to realize that when in towns like Canterlot and Manehatten, many ponies would put on expensive things just so they could appear to have all the wealth. And the sad part was most of the time, it did work. Her being one to never have to act like a big shot tended to have her appear to be what some in this town considered, "normal ponies."
Frowning, she walked forward and slid her identification out onto the counter. "Vinyl Scratch. I had a reservation down on a room."
The stallion lifted an eyebrow at hearing the name, then smirked again as he reached into his desk and pulled out a... Cupcake? Shoving it into his mouth, he quickly swallowed the whole thing before talking again. "So, you are the party pony that was coming in, huh?"
Furrowing her brow, vinyl took a breath to keep her cool. "Yes, I am. I need to add a room to my booking, please."
"Oh, have a little friend joining you?" The stallion smirked as he pulled out another cupcake. Turning to his file, he began flipping through the pages until he reached the end. "I hate to tell you we don't have any other rooms available tonight."
Her jaw hung open for a few moments before any words came out. "What? Nothing left at all?"
"Nope, I guess you and your friend are going to have to bunk up tonight."
Vinyl frowned and turned around back to the door. 'That room better have a couch in there.'
Pushing the door open, Vinyl trotted to the side. "Hey Bee, I got a room and I couldn't get one one for yourself. I hope you don't mind sleeping on the..." She stopped when she noticed she was alone. "Bee?" She noticed one of the workers by the outside counter. "Excuse me, did you see where my friend went?"
The pony nodded, "Yeah, he walked off down to the main shopping plaza. Said he wanted to look around real quick."
Vinyl flipped around and stared at the bustling street down the road. "What does he think he is doing? He doesn't even know of this place and he is just walking off on his own."
Thinking she should go look for him, she began trotting down the road but stopped herself. "Wait , what am I doing? He will be fine, he is tough. I shouldn't worry about him getting into trouble." Vinyl turned back to the hotel but stopped again. "I mean, he should be fine, he is a tough pony.... Who doesn't have any bits... And doesn't know where he is... And probably wouldn't take any trash from any and would beat them up... And he has seven swords."
Rubbing the back of her head, she flipped back around and walked towards the Main Street. "Maybe I will just go check on him. He probably won't get into any trouble... Right?"
