Pearl

by A Hoof-ful of Dust

Your Greatest Foe, You

The bright yellow neon sign over the door of The Cagey Bee flickered and buzzed, much like an angry bee itself. The curtains in the thin windows were thick, giving away noting about what kind of establishment this was. From elsewhere in this area of Canterlot came the throbbing sound of deep bass and occasional high notes of laughter and shouts from ponies in the streets, but this back alley was occupied only by dark storefronts, a single streetlamp, and The Cagey Bee.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Sweetie asked.

"Totally." Lyra, noting Sweetie eying the blinking sign, added: "Don't worry, it's meant to do that."

"Seriously?"

"I guess so, it's been like that every time I've come here. Come on, let's go down."

"Down?" But Lyra was already through the door.

When Lyra had told her 'real underground location', Sweetie hadn't thought she meant it literally. Right inside the doorway was a set of stairs that descended and banked around to lead to a level beneath the street. Hidden down there was a small nightclub, intimate and quiet, with barely enough room for its patrons to stand let alone dance. It felt suited to soft jazz or spoken poetry. It was the opposite of every Filly Explosion! show.

Sweetie loved it instantly.

She was too busy taking in the club to notice a pony approaching on her side. She turned at a tap on her shoulder, and found herself looking up at a pony she recognized. This pony had long since traded her heavy signature goggles for a pair of tinted spectacles that served much the same purpose of obscuring her eyes, but Sweetie couldn't help calling her by her stage name.

"DJ PON-3!" she gasped.

"And you must be the little pony Lyra was talking to me about."

Sweetie's jaw fell open. "You know Vinyl Scratch?" she asked Lyra. "Why didn't you tell me that?"

"'Cause I wanted it to be a surprise. Surprise. Vinyl dug your stuff too. Didn't'cha, Vinyl?"

"Sure did," Vinyl said, pushing up her glasses. "It's real authentic, and pretty darn clever, too. Sweet -- but real, not like that filler Stacks has you doing. I want to help you get your stuff out there; what would you say to laying down a collaboration, you do the singing, I fill in the beats, maybe Lyra sits in?"

Sweetie didn't even need time to consider it. "Yes! Totally! I mean... yes, that would be amazing. Where, when?"

Vinyl smiled, her eyes unreadable. "How 'bout right here, right now?"

"Really?" Sweetie said, suddenly not as sure as she had been seconds ago. "In... in front of all these ponies?" There must have been at most thirty ponies in the tiny club, including Sweetie, Lyra, and Vinyl, but somehow that seemed infinitely more daunting than a Filly Explosion! gig with a crowd of thousands. She hadn't written any of those songs, after all.

"I vouch for their taste," Vinyl said, holding up a hoof to swear solemnly. "They'll like you."

"This is the opportunity of a lifetime," Lyra chimed in. "Well... I dunno, you're pretty young, you've probably got a bunch of opportunities just as big as this lined up ahead of you, but still. Seize the day! Right?"

Sweetie nodded after a moment and gave a small but sure, "Okay."

-/-

The next fifteen minutes of setting up the stage went past in a blur. Sweetie found herself standing in front of the microphone, looking out into the expectant crowd. She turned back to Vinyl, thinking maybe it somehow wasn't her place to start the show even though she was the one out in front.

"It's all you, little bird," Vinyl said from behind her array of mixers and sample decks.

Sweetie swallowed and turned back to the microphone. "Okay, this one's called Introduction to All New Things," she said before she could lose her nerve, and counted the song in.

Vinyl's music came in two bars after she started singing, a long slow pulsing and a high accompanying melody that sounded like falling rain. Lyra joined on the chorus, expanding on the simple backing she had played on the demo. On the tape, the song had remained mostly at the same level, but with Vinyl filling up the empty spaces in the song it swelled like a crashing wave. Sweetie felt her voice growing stronger for the second verse, and even improvised a reprise of the chorus in a different key to close the number out. She flashed Lyra a grin. Performing with Filly Explosion! was like a brief jolt, a momentary burst of light; this was like being caught up in a thunderstorm.

The applause from the crowd was somehow both polite and enthusiastic. There was a special energy in the tiny club, something that could only come from being able to see the face of each pony in the crowd. Sweetie felt her face stretching with a grin as she thanked the audience and introduced the next song-- "This is a song about finding your place. It's called Your Greatest Foe, You." --and felt the beat for a few bars before beginning to sing.

Comments

[jszellmer]

Filly Explosion!

Can the filly explode? Can it explode twice?

It's called Your Greatest Foe, You

Like how you worked that in there.