Bows and Bass

Octavia always enjoyed the countryside. The gentle breeze, the wonderful scenery, and most of all, the pure silence, compared to living with a hard-core, bass-dropping DJ.

The silence of course, didn’t last very long as Octavia heard a familiar, boisterous voice behind her.

“‘Sup, Tavi? Mind if I liven up this joint?” said the blue-maned white unicorn behind her. Vinyl Scratch, or more commonly known as DJ-PON3. She was pushing a black box with four circular rivets on one side. A giant subwoofer, to be exact.

“Oh, no. Not again. The last time you used that thing, you nearly caused an avalanche!” Octavia cried, preparing to move from her spot.

“Not this time. I’ve been looking for an excuse to test out my bass cannon’s new upgrade.” Vinyl Scratch said, waving her hoof at Octavia.

“Upgrade?” Octavia asked, instantly regretting the decision to ask her.

“Chill, its just a positioning function. Watch.” Vinyl said, grasping the sides of the cannon and pointing the end of it up into the sky at a 45 degree angle.

“Ok, your upgrade works. Time for me to go now.” Octavia muttered, but Vinyl quickly pulled her back.

“Hold on there, Tavi. You gotta check the rest of this out.” Vinyl said, and began powering up the device. The panels of the subwoofer began to slide away, revealing a large pulsating speaker.

“Oh dear.” Octavia muttered, covering her ears as a Vinyl flicked the switch.

The air began shaking as a blue laser shot from the cannon, wildly pulsating to the beat of the heavy techno song. Vinyl had a wicked grin on her face, and began swiveling the laser slowly so it changed its path.

Vinyl’s sunglasses started to crack under the intense pounding of the music started to make everything around her vibrate. Soon, the song ended, the cannon started to loose energy, and fold back into a regular subwoofer.

Vinyl Scratch smirked. “There. No harm, no foul.” she boasted, causing Octavia to roll her eyes. However, the cellist caught a glimpse of something in the sky. A dark, blurry shape rocketing toward the ground. Vinyl stared at the object as well, and the dark shape soon crashed into a small part of the forest a short while away.

Octavia rushed toward the fallen object, with Vinyl short behind. “No harm, you said. No foul, you said.” The earth pony said, mocking Vinyl’s promise.

“Hey! I didn’t know this was going to happen! Besides, what are the odds we actually hurt somepony?” Vinyl asked, but her question was finally answered as the reached the crash site.

Laying a small divot in the ground, was a stallion. A gray-coated pegasus, with a brown mane, unkempt from plummeting to the ground. One of his wings was bent at an unnatural angle, and he was covered with scratches and bruises. His eyes were shut as he lay face down in the dirt. His cutie mark was a small crimson shield, and he carried some saddle-bags on his back.

“The odds are you did hurt somepony! That blasted cannon of yours did this!” Octavia yelled at Vinyl, brushing away some debris and rubble off the pegasus.

“I didn’t mean to! I didn’t know he was there!” Vinyl retaliated, removing her broken glasses.

“Let’s just get him to Ponyville before someone else gets hurt...” Octavia muttered, Vinyl helping her carry the unconscious pegasus.

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

“You’re in luck, girls. This pony’s just has some very minor blunt trauma. Given a few hours of sleep, and he’ll be fine.” Nurse Redheart said to Octavia and Vinyl Scratch.

“That’s a load off my mind.” Octavia sighed.

“Yes, but remember to keep quiet around him. He almost had his eardrums ruptured, but as long as everything around him is quiet, he’ll heal in a day or two.” Redheart explained, unveiling a curtain which housed the grey stallion in a hospital bed. He was still asleep, but his ears were bandaged.

“Nurse? Is it alright if I... watch over him? I just feel the need to make it up to him.” Vinyl asked.

“Well, I don’t see why not. Take all the time you need.” Redheart answered, stepping out of the room.

Octavia raised an eyebrow. “Vinyl? Are you being... considerate?” she asked, a little surprised at her friend.

“So? I just wanna make sure he’s ok. I did this, after all.” The DJ said, sitting next to the injured stallion.

Octavia blinked. Now Vinyl was acting responsible. It wasn’t like her to accept the negative consequences of her actions, but why stop her now? “Alright. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” The earth pony said, leaving Vinyl Scratch with the pegasus.

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

The stallion slowly open his eyes, which faintly shimmered a light blue in the morning light.

“Oh... my head... what happened?” He asked aloud, observing his surroundings. He found himself in a white hospital room. Not too bad, in his opinion. That only meant someone brought him for help after he blacked out.

“Did I crash? How did I wind up here?”  He thought, as he felt his wing stinging.

“Hey. Look’s like you finally woke up.” He heard, looking to see Vinyl Scratch sitting in a chair beside the bed.

“Wait a second... you’re DJ-PON3.” He said, rubbing his eyes.

“Yeah. But that’s my stage name. My real name’s Vinyl Scratch.” she replied.

“What are you doing here? What happened? How long was I out? And-... are you going through my saddlebags?!” The pegasus asked, as Vinyl had her hooves in the bags that the pegasus was carrying.

“To answer your questions, first, you were, uh... unfortunate enough to be in the path of my bass cannon.” Vinyl replied, not looking up from the bag. The pegasus felt a scowl form on his face, wincing at his head throbbing.

“Second, you were only out for a day. Just for the night. Nurse Redheart said you should be fine. And lastly, yes I was. I couldn’t help it. I got curious.” She said, flipping through some photographs.

“Hey! Put those back!” The pegasus frantically yelled hoarsely.

“No way... I know this guy!” Vinyl said, holding out a photograph to the pegasus. It showed the same gray and brown pony, but as a young colt. Beside him was a smaller, unicorn foal, with a mane colored a dark red, and fur was a light gray. Standing above the two colts, were two other ponies. The stallion looked a lot like the smaller colt, a unicorn with a shaggy, black brown and grey coat. His cutie mark were three silver lines, parallel to each other. Beside him was a pegasus mare, with a bright red mane and white fur. Her cutie mark was a small wisp of fire.

“How’d you and your family score a photo with Iron Strings? Get it at one of his concerts?” Vinyl asked.

“Uh.. well, actually... that’s my dad.” The pegasus said reluctantly. Vinyl’s mouth dropped.

“No way. You’re dad is Iron Strings?!” she asked, clearly awestruck. The stallion nodded. “Omigosh! He’s the best pony in the rock genre to date! I’ve met him and believe me, he’s amazing! I’ve never heard a pony shred like he could!” Vinyl cheered.

“Ow! Not so loud...” the pegasus said putting his hooves over his bandaged ears. “Yeah.. Iron Strings is my father. What of it?” He said coldly.

Vinyl had a confused look on her face. “Aren’t you proud? You’re dad’s a star! He’s famous!”

“Yeah. I know he’s famous. He’s only been around when I was colt, and once his career picked up, he left me and my brother to my mom.” The pegasus grumbled, slumping back in the hospital bed.

“So? Every musician travels a lot.”

“Yeah, I know. You’re Vinyl Scratch. You know musicians do that. But do you have a family that misses you?” He asked, and Vinyl’s eyes widened.

“Now that I think about it... I don’t. But that’s no reason to be upset with your dad.” she muttered.

“Yeah, well it get’s worse. When I got my cutie mark, I wrote a letter to him. He wrote back, and he was proud, supportive, the whole deal.” The pegasus began.

“So? That’s good!”

The pegasus glared at Vinyl. “But my younger brother got his cutie mark a short while later. And when Iron Strings heard about that, he personally canceled his tour to visit.”

“..and that’s bad how?”

The pegasus paused. “He wanted to take my brother into the music industry, not me. Just ‘cause of some cutie mark.”

Vinyl stopped and stared at him. “That’s pretty rough.”

“You don’t say. I came over to Ponyville so I could start over again. New job, new friends, and I-” The pegasus froze as he mentioned the word ‘friends’. “I shouldn’t have said that.” He muttered softly.

Vinyl raised an eyebrow. She looked at the next photograph in the saddlebag. Six ponies (including the gray pegasus), confident and jubilant. Two other stallions stood beside him, along with three mares. In total, the group consisted of two unicorns, two earth ponies, and two pegasi. The unicorn mare had a charming smile, with an orange and gold mane and a cream colored coat. She was standing very close to the grey pegasus, her head resting on his shoulder.

“Is that your...?” Vinyl asked, inspecting the picture. The stallion’s eyes widened, and he swiped the photo from Vinyl’s grasp.

“I appreciate your hospitality, but I think you’ve overstayed your welcome.” The pegasus scowled.

Vinyl slowly backed away from the bed and stepped out of the room. “I’m sorry. Get well soon...” Vinyl said.

“Please. Just go.” The stallion said coldly.

Vinyl shut the door, giving him his privacy.

“I didn’t even get his name. Does he hate me?” She wondered, half-heartedly walking down the hospital corridors.