"Somepony help him," Lyra screamed from above, "He's slipping!"
I felt her magic waver for a split second and I knew she couldn't hold me much longer. Ponies below were getting their friends away from the glass shards, but they were all looking at me. I'd blown it. For just a momentary taste of freedom I'd blown everything. Trying not to panic, I resorted to the strategy I'd used with Fluttershy: if I shut up everypony might think I was just a dumb animal, and the fallout would hopefully be less horrible. Still, that didn't matter for squat if I didn't live past the next few seconds. For a moment it seemed the crowd was too stunned to do anything but gawk at me.
The DJ was the first one to recover; she ran around her set to get onto the floor as quick as she could. Standing just outside the ring of broken glass she cast a spell at me that slowly began to turn me over so my feet were facing downward. "You 'eard the mare," she yelled as she rapidly looked to the ponies around her, "Give us a hoof 'ere!"
Lyra's magical grip wavered once again. From all around the room though a few horns lit up, and I saw that that their magic was creating a multi-layer platform for me to slowly ride down. The ankle Lyra had grabbed me by twinged, and I realized I was about to lose my balance all over again. Even as I prepared for the worst two pegasi ravers came to my aid, holding me up by my arms to give me support. Finally my feet touched the ground and I was safe at last, relatively speaking anyway. I gingerly leaned on my left foot: it turned out in her attempt to save me Lyra had bruised my right ankle. I drew in air through gritted teeth because of the pain, but tried my best to even out my breathing. The ponies around me could still startle, and I had to do my best to not in any way look hostile.
"Woah there," the DJ said to me in as soothing a tone she could muster, "Steady on." She looked me up and down, seemingly unafraid compared to the others around her, "Doesn' look like yer 'urt beyond the sprain," she looked up at me and gave a quick smile, "You'll be fine, champ."
I honestly wasn't sure if she was pretending like I could talk or somehow knew I could. Just to be certain I went along with my original plan: shut up and wait.
"Ms. Scratch," the bouncer yelled from above, which got the DJ's attention, and mine too. He had a very strong hold on Lyra's shoulder, who was still in shock by what had occurred. We locked eyes. No matter what we could do to correct what happened, we both knew the life we had tried to keep before was never coming back. She softly nodded at me. She knew what my plan was, and she was going to follow it too: shut up and wait. "What do you want me do to with this one," he finished.
"Bring 'er back around to my office," she yelled up to him, then lowered her head and sighed, "We can deal with this mess there." She then turned her attention back to the crowd and clicked her hooves together, "Apologies, fillies and gentlecolts, but due to obvious technical difficulties we will be closin' down early tonight. Once I get all this back up and runnin', we will be back in the 'party hard' business." The crowd began to murmur to itself, each pony wondering what would happen now. "Chop chop," Vinyl said with another click of her hooves, "It's time to go! You don' have ta go home, but you can't stay 'ere!" The ponies began to grumble but filed out of the club all the same, organized by the other bouncers.
"Now then," the DJ said as she turned back to me, "Let's get you back to yer owner: boy am I gonna hafta give 'er a racket." She stomped her right hoof against the floor and clicked her tongue at me as if I were a dog, and then turned and walked towards the stage. Embarrassed, but pretty well figuring I deserved some kind of punishment for what was about to happen, I obediently and silently followed her.
I didn't see it directly, but out of the corner of my eye I noticed an earth pony, a burly one too, staring directly at me, as if he were sizing me up somehow. He disappeared into the flood of ponies exiting the building; I currently had bigger problems to deal with beyond wondering about him.
The DJ entered a discrete metal doorway off to the side of the stage, which she walked through, and I followed. The hallway she led me through was dimly lit, but definitely didn't look like it should be connected to the room we had just walked out of: it was a creme colored hallway with a stripe of daisy themed wallpaper trailing along about pony neck height. I ducked down into it and followed the white unicorn to the last room on the left next to the emergency door that led outside. The bouncer was waiting for us.
"Take off for the night, Lancer," she said wearily, "I'll 'andle this one."
He nodded before he walked back the way we'd come from towards the employee lockers, "Alright."
The DJ stood outside for a minute, leaned from one set of hooves to the other. She then took in a quick breath, and opened the door. Lyra was sitting on a well used, but mostly abused, couch. A beanbag chair sat in the farthest corner near the couch, with a keyboard next to that. A guitar sat in its stand in the corner opposite her, with a mixing station near that. To my right and next to the doorway was an off-color fridge covered in half ripped off stickers. The floor was covered in a light brown ugly looking carpet.
The DJ looked straight at Lyra without saying a word. I'd seen this kind of stare before: it's the kind where you both want to intimidate a person and make them feel like the worse kind of human being on the planet. I expected it from an authority figure, but not from someone like this unicorn. Presumably just to make her point even more clear, she removed her glasses with her magic and set them down gently on her mixing desk. The stare continued, trying to make Lyra squirm: purple eyes to gold ones. Though she maintained eye contact she didn't even break a sweat.
"You know the front door's a great way to get inta places ya want ta go," the DJ declared as she walked in and sat herself down in the swivel chair in front of her desk, moving it so she was looking Lyra in the eyes once again, "Didja think you were betta than everypony else, Mintyfresh, that ya didn' have ta pay to get in?"
Lyra didn't budge, but I stepped into the room, remaining standing to avoid suspicion.
"I know yer type," the DJ said coldly, "the "Canterlot Princess", right: not lived a day withou' a silver spoon in ya mouth? Think because Mummy and Daddy are old money that you can waltz where you please, takin' your exotic pet with you all the way?"
Lyra didn't say a word, but it was getting harder for me to stay silent. This DJ might be good with music, but she was totally out of line!
"You're probably one of those Celestia Preppies, ain't ya," she continued on, "We'll I'm a strugglin' business owner, no thanks to yer offish pet, and I've got bills to pay. You let me know whoever yer parents are, and I'll get off your case, comprende Minty?"
"Look, back off, okay," I finally blurted at the DJ, "This wasn't here fault."
She looked up at me with widening eyes. Realizing what I'd done I swore: Lyra did too for good measure.
"For Celestia's sake I'd wish you'd keep your big mouth shut," she yelled at me.
"I couldn't just let her rip you apart and make up lies about you," I said defensively.
"I'm a big mare, Adam; I can handle my own issues. We could've been out of here quick, or maybe not have had this happen if you'd just listened to me!"
"But Lyra-"
"No buts," she blurted as she shoved her hoof in my direction, "I shouldn't have let you go as far as we did. You screwed up, and I screwed up by allowing you to do it."
"Well I'm a big man too," I said angrily, "so don't pretend like you're somehow responsible for me; you're not my mother!"
The next few seconds were spent with the both of us glaring at each other, each of us breathing a little heavily.
"Um," we heard a third voice exclaim. We both remembered simultaneously there was someone else in the room, and we both looked at our host with a mix of dying anger and rising worry. The DJ now looked at us back and forth, then pointed to me, "Did you say 'er name was 'Lyra'?"
"Yeah," I dumbly exclaimed.
"Lyra Heartstrings," she asked expectantly as her hoof moved toward the other mare in the room.
"Present," she declared numbly before she asked in confusion, "You know me?"
The DJ reached underneath her desk for a large cardboard box, which she lugged into view for us. Gently she flipped through her records before she finally came to the one she wanted, and lifted it up high. Lyra had a little gasp of shock. The sleeve was covered in artwork of a big urban industrial skyline, sunrise peeking up around the factories and skyscrapers. The title of the album was 'Trottingham's Soul'.
"Your composition is some of my favorite downtime music," she exclaimed, "Whenever I get 'omesick I put et on and just think about the streets I grew up on." Her eyes began to slightly sparkle with emotion, "You got wha' my city means."
To say this was a transition was an understatement; one second the mare was practically shaking Lyra down, and now she was gushing over her music. It was a weird but fortunate turn of events I'd say.
"Oh," Lyra exclaimed, a small blushing coming onto her face, "Well, I did spend quite a while there to get the feel right: five months if I remember correctly."
"You are an inspiration to me," the DJ continued, "One of my muses! If I could capture passion in wha' I create like you do, I would be a happy mare!"
"Well from what I heard you certainly have the natural talent for what you do," Lyra declared, which brought an embarrassed but happy laugh from the other mare, "I'm sorry, but I never asked your name."
"Vinyl," she blurted, "Vinyl Scratch, and it is such an honor to meet you!" She then gestured back in the direction of the dance floor, "Don't worry about the windows: insurance will cover it!"
"Why the big show then," I asked irritably, "If you were covered anyway?"
Vinyl looked at me, also remembering I was in the room now as well, "I've had to make a few too many claims over the past few months on account of my patrons." She nervously laughed a little as she looked back to Lyra, "If you had been a stallion, I'd of probably also guilted ya with some imaginary kids of mine."
I was visibly a little less than enthused by this, by Lyra waved her hoof, "Well, I'm sorry we had to meet like this. Adam just wanted to have a listen to your work. He was yelling right along with everypony else!" She looked at me expectantly and nodded her head gently.
Taking the hint, I sighed a little, "I'm sorry I busted your roof. Also, yes, your music is really, really good."
"All things considered, I suppose I should be alrigh'" she said as she rubbed the back of her head, "I can freelance to make up the bits, and I get to meet an idol and an E.T." She looked at me expectantly, "Tha' is what you are, right?"
I sighed, looked away a bit, and brought my hands up just enough to slap them back against my jeans, "I guess so."
"Tell you wha'" she exclaimed, "So there's no hard feelin's, how about I share somethin' special I've been cookin' up, eh?"
"Like what," Lyra asked.
"Oh, you could listen to it too," Vinyl asked with an ecstatic smile, "It's somethin' experimental I've been workin' on."
She turned around and switched on her audio board. Making sure all of her settings were attuned for her next performance, she took a record from out of a plain sleeve labeled "Mix #3: Testrun" and put it on a record player to the left of her table. She then found two sets of headphones in a nearby box of audio equipment and jacked them into her board.
"Right then," she said as she stood poised above her record player, "Put those on. When I give the signal I'll drop my needle." She shook her head a little and gave a giddy laugh, "Your minds are gonna be blown!"
"That's a pretty big claim," Lyra said with a smirk.
"Didn' you hear," Vinyl fired back, "I'd nevah leave you hangin'."
We put our headphones on, and all outside sound was cancelled out. We looked over and saw the DJ mouth her countdown. 3...2...1. At zero she dropped her needle.
At first there wasn't much too hear: just some scratching sounds coming from the record itself. Slowly I began to notice some sort of strange solo. It sounded like a woman singing a mantra, while in the background several other voices harmonized in almost a whisper. Suddenly a strange sense of euphoria came over me. In that moment I was happier than I'd ever been in all of my life. As i become conscious of it, while I was still indescribably happy, I felt a sense of almost vertigo. I looked over at Lyra: her eyes were half closed in surrender to the music, and tears were coming down her face. I felt like I belonged, but in a greater sense than I had with the music earlier. I felt great. I felt joyous. I felt...loved.
My hands flew up to my headphones, and I almost threw them away my hands were fumbling them so much. Vinyl nodded with a knowing smile on her face.
"What...What was that," i asked, my voice almost croaking. As I realized what I sounded like I brought a hand up to my face: I had been crying as well.
"Evah since I was a little filly I've wanted ta make others bettah through the power of music," Vinyl declared, "Eventually I decided the way I wanted ta help ponies most was through somethin' I want to call 'audiotherapy': enchantin' music and usin' it to help treat any issues they might have. The first track is called 'Sunshine at Midnight'. I want ta use it ta fight depression."
I heard Lyra take off her headphones behind me, and after a few moments collecting herself finally declared, "Wow."
Vinyl nodded with a smile and a laugh, "Right?"
"What other stuff have you tried," I asked almost breathlessly.
Vinyl shrugged, "Not much. It's been a struggle just stayin' afloat here, and this is a personal project at the moment. Besides, the hexwork needed for this kinda thing is really complicated. For now I've been tryin' out just the basic emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, fear. I've been workin' on apathy for what feels like forever, but I just can't care enough to finish it, ironically."
"Couldn't you see about getting funding from Canterlot University," Lyra asked, "They are quite generous with their funding if you can show progress."
Vinyl Scratch snorted a little to herself, "Do I look like an academic to you? Nah. No way in the heavens will I resort to that: too much oversight, and I'm not into authority figures."
Lyra nodded a little, "I probably should have expected that, but I just want you to be able to succeed. This is truly amazing stuff, and it deserves attention! Maybe you could talk with Canterlot Hospital and their mental health staff? It could do incredible work there I'd think."
Vinyl cocked her head a little as she thought, "I'll hafta look into that, but that sounds like a pretty good idea."
I took a glance at the clock on the wall above the mixing desk and realized with a shock we had been gone from the hotel for almost four hours. "Lyra," i exclaimed as I pointed to it, "We should probably get outta here."
She looked and her face flushed pale: we both knew we had been gone too long, and we had stayed here way past what we should have. "I'm sorry, but we've really got to be going," Lyra said in a rush, as she burst onto her hooves and tossed me my shroud, "It was nice to meet you Vinyl!"
"It was absolutely a privilege," Vinyl declared as she got to her hooves, "I'll be seeing you in concert in a few days!"
"Really," Lyra asked as she abruptly stopped and turned back toward her fan.
"Oh yeah," the DJ nodded enthusiastically, "I wouldn' miss it for the world! Later! Later, E.T.!"
"Seeya," I said with a small wave before I disappeared under my shroud and followed after Lyra.
Vinyl whistled appreciatively as she realized what had happened, "Neat."
Two bits slid into the coin slot of the payphone. The big earth pony brought the receiver to his ear and shifted the rotary dial. The waiting tone came through.
"Canterlot Telecommunications," the operator greeted, "How may I direct your call?"
"I need access to the following private line: 259. Authorization: Charlie-9-1-Sugar-5-Zebra."
"One moment." There was a pause as the operator verified the credentials, but she quickly came back on, "Authorization confirmed. Please hold."
The waiting tone returned for two consecutive tones.
"Hello," the voice started, but the earth pony interrupted, "Get me the Director immediately. We have a new contact."
The voice went silent. Another transfer. The phone picked up.
"Stock, I'm surprised," a deep voiced stallion greeted him, "It's not often I hear from my Quartermaster when he's off duty."
"Sir," Stock said with a pause, "We have a new contact."
He heard the small intake of breath over the line. "When and where," the Director asked.
"Canterlot middle terrace, night club on Bright Street, just five minutes ago."
"You personally witnessed it," he asked.
"Yeah, me and about fifty others; it fell through the club roof. It's probably long gone by now, but a pony either owns it or is collaborating with it."
"We'll keep tabs on that location, but for now I need you to come in for a full debrief."
"Yes, sir," Stock said, then hung up the payphone.