The Subordinate Six: The Ensemble

by Legendary Emerald

The Ensemble (2/4)

Episode 1: The Ensemble

Part 2/4

by Legendary Emerald

“Riiiing, riiiing!”

As soon as the alarm sounded, it was followed by a loud 'clump' from the direction of the bedroom. Disheveled, Bon Bon stumbled out of the bedroom and over to one of her saddlebags, the source of the commotion. She unzipped it with her teeth and dug around inside with her hooves, pulling out two apples.

“I didn't put these in my bag!” she exclaimed. Nearby on the couch, Lyra yawned.

“Oh yeah, I was wondering where I packed those,” Lyra said with a sleepy smile, stretching her forehooves out wide. Bon Bon tossed the apples to the side unceremoniously and went back to searching the bag. She took out a wind-up alarm clock, which she simultaneously silenced. She sighed.

“I’m glad this thing is so loud. I completely forgot to unpack it,” Bon Bon said, shaking her head. “I wouldn't want to be late for my job interview.”

“Why are you being interviewed anyways? Didn't you say you already had the job?” Lyra asked, cracking her neck back and forth. Bon Bon shivered at the sound it made.

“Well in the letter, they said I was qualified enough, but they couldn't officially hire me until I showed up in person,” Bon Bon explained. “It's just a formality, really... I hope.”

“Because working at a diner is serious business,” Lyra said with a laugh, attempting to stand up. She squealed and clenched her teeth, doubling over. “Ow, ow, ow!”

"That's what you get for falling asleep in that awkward position of yours,” Bon Bon lectured, watching as Lyra forced her back straight in a motion that caused several loud creaks to erupt from her spine. Bon Bon looked away nonchalantly. “It's not like there isn't room in the bedroom for one more.”

“Sharing a bed with you?” Lyra's voice took on an affected accent. “Please, milady, I am nothing if not a gentle-mare.”

“Ha, ha,” Bon Bon pantomimed. She smiled. “Chivalry's not dead; it’s just changed sexes.”

“Quite right, quite right.” Lyra nodded modestly. “Now are we heading out or what?”

“Let me just get my purse,” Bon Bon said, ducking her head under the pink strap. Lyra took the opportunity to put on her backpack as well. “Alright, let's go.”

Bon Bon moved the chair from up against the doorknob, and opened the door. Her eyes shot wide open as she scrambled backwards.

“Good afternoon!” Bubbles greeted the two of them, smiling brightly.

“Afternoon, Bubbles !” Lyra said. Bon Bon's mouth hung open.

“Have... you been waiting out here this entire time?” Bon Bon asked in a quiet voice. Bubbles laughed.

“Of course not,” the pegasus said, grinning. “Just most of the time.”

“Oh, well in that case...” Bon Bon rolled her eyes.

“I brought muffins!” Bubbles exclaimed, lifting her right wing to show them the basket hanging from it. Three sizable blueberry muffins sat inside. “I figured you two haven't eaten much today, so you might wanna li'l nibble of somethin’”

“Wow, thanks! I'm starving!” Lyra said, licking her lips.

“That's very thoughtful of you,” Bon Bon said, smiling honestly.

“Are you two going out?” Bubbles asked suddenly, catching Bon Bon off guard. “If you are, I could show you around town!”

“Sounds great!” Lyra responded, jabbing a hoof backwards at Bon Bon. “Can you swing us by the Sweets Cart, though? Bon Bon has a job interview in an hour.”

“Sure can do!” Bubbles replied with a wink. “Just grab a muffin, stick close, and I'll show you all the wonders this city has to offer!”

---

“And that over there is tallest building in the city!” Bubbles said, pointing towards one particularly tall structure, and then another. “Ooh, no wait, that one!”

“Hah, see, Bon Bon? I told you!” Lyra bragged. Bon Bon groaned and took a bite out of her muffin.

The three were walking the same street that Bon Bon and Lyra had traveled through previously, now in the opposite direction. Bubbles had her muffin cupped in a wing, while Lyra hovered Bon Bon's and her own muffin in front of their respective mouths, thanks to the use of her magic.

“So, Bubbles , what are you doing in Las Pegasus?” Bon Bon asked.

“I don't know. I guess I needed a change of scenery after living in Ponyville for so long,” Bubbles explained. “Oh, and I guess it didn't hurt that I'd lost my job, either.”

“How did that happen?” Lyra asked.

“Well the official word was that I'd put too many letters in the wrong boxes, and I was a workplace hazard, with no sense of direction...” Bubbles paused to take a bite from her muffin. “But I think that the higher ups were just worried I was gonna take their jobs.”

“Yup. The old guard is always keeping the little pony down.” Lyra nodded solemnly.

“Eh, it turned out alright. At first I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get a job here doing the same thing, but they hired me right on the spot!” Bubbles said. “Turns out they'd just fired someone for licking every single stamp in the office. Heh, even I've only gotten through a few sheets before my tongue has gone dry.”

Bon Bon laughed uncomfortably, and stopped when she felt something soft and muffiny smash into her face. She backed up and sputtered.

“Lyra, watch what—” she cut herself off, seeing that not only had Lyra stopped, but so had almost every other pony on the street. A loud voice seemed to reverberate from not that far ahead, passing through the thick crowd that had somehow gathered without her notice.

“Come one, come all, and experience the Great and Powerful Trixie!” the voice proclaimed, as if amplified by a megaphone.

“Trixie? Hey, I remember her!” Lyra hopped up and down excitedly.

"Wasn't she responsible for nearly destroying all of Ponyville?” Bon Bon asked, brushing crumbs off her muzzle.

“No, silly, that was an Ursa Minor,” Bubbles said. “I'm preeetty sure Trixie is a pony.”

“That's not what I...” Bon Bon sighed. “Is there any way to get around this? Lyra?”

Bon Bon looked around and saw the edge of a green tail disappear into the crowd ahead of them. Her muzzle scrunched up in annoyance.

“C'mon, Bon Bon, let's get a better view!” Bubbles said, picking up the mare before she could protest. Bubbles flew up and above the crowd, crossed eyes scanning the ponies present. “Ooh, there’s Lyra..”

“Great, now put me dooooown!” Bon Bon's scream trailed behind her as Bubbles barreled into the crowd, causing several ponies to be knocked out of the way. They managed to touch down just next to Lyra, who noticed the two of them out of the corner of her eye as Bubbles set Bon Bon down.

“Oh, hey, you forgot your muffin,” Lyra said, before placing the squashed treat on top of Bon Bon's head. Bon Bon glared daggers as crumbs fell down her face, but her attention was quickly diverted as fireworks erupted from a few feet in front of them. Lyra's eyes lit up. “It's starting!”

In the middle of the street stood a large blue wooden platform which sat upon four wheels. A light blue sheet was held up by two poles on either side, serving as a backdrop for the performance. A chair sat vacant next to an oaken chest on the right side of stage, next to one of two spotlights that stood on opposite ends of the platform and illuminated the purple clad performer who stood in between them.

“For too long, you poor denizens of Las Pegasus have gone without witnessing the greatness that is Trixie,” the sky blue mare boasted, pulling her wizard hat over her face and horn. A wind began to blow from out of nowhere, sweeping out her star spangled cape and silver blue tail behind her dramatically. “Today, all of your wildest dreams come true!”

“My dream is to cross the bucking street! Move your act somewhere else, lady!” a stallion in a top-hat yelled from the crowd. Several other ponies voiced their assent.

“Well, Trixie is a showstopper. It only stands to reason that traffic should stop for her as well,” Trixie teased. She took out a magic wand from the folds of her cape and pointed it at the heckler. “Trixie thinks you need to 'cool' down a bit.”

Trixie's horn lit up as she twirled the wand for dramatic effect, and the stallion's hat burst into flames.

“Oops. That, uh...” Trixie cringed as she watched the pony start to scream and run around wildly. The crowd began to boo loudly. Trixie stammered, “Okay, that was less than perfect! B-but Trixie assures you, anything you can do, Trixie can do better! Any volunteers?”

“Ooh, ooh! Me, me!” Bubbles shouted, hovering above the ground and waving emphatically. Without waiting to be acknowledged, she flew forward and onto the stage, where she sat down with a happy look on her face.

“Oh, err...” Trixie muttered as she stared into Bubbles' unfocused eyes, their owner tilting her head to the side questioningly. Trixie cleared her throat. “Okay! Pegasus! Show Trixie what you are best at, so that she may prove her own superiority in front of this crowd!”

“Oh, uh, well, there is this one thing,” Bubbles said, standing up. She tensed her hooves in preparation, and then started to slowly walk around in a tight circle.

“What? What is that that you’re doing?” Trixie asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Trying to catch my tail,” Bubbles answered nonchalantly.

The crowd was completely silent while they watched in confusion as Bubbles continued to spin around and around. Beads of sweat began to fall down Trixie's face as she quickly glanced at the faces of her audience members.

“W-well, Trixie will show you how it's really done!” she finally blurted out. Trixie closed her eye, took a deep breath, and then started to rotate.

“This is a magic show?” Bon Bon scoffed, watching as the two grown mares made complete asses of themselves. The crowd broke out into uproarious laughter.

“S-stop laughing at Trixie!” Trixie demanded, halting her orbit. She fixed Bubbles with a glare, and the pegasus's tail was enveloped in a blue aura. With a look of triumph, Trixie ripped Bubbles from the ground and held her aloft by her tail. “There! Trixie has caught the tail!”

“Ow, ow, ow!” Bubbles cried, wincing in pain. The crowd of ponies resumed their hissing and booing.

“There she is, right there!” a voice called out. Trixie turned her head to see a pony with a singed hat pointing two police officers in her direction. The law enforcers reached into their uniforms and produced batons as they approached the podium.

“Uhm, this concludes Trixie's show for the evening!” Trixie sputtered, dumping Bubbles back onto the platform. “And now for the disappearing act!”

The entire stage began to glow and shake around Trixie. Bubbles got to her hooves and flung herself off the platform just as it began to collapse in on itself. The edges of the stage flipped upwards and then retracted inward with a series of clicks. When the transformation was complete, a solid oak box had formed around the performer.

“Rest easy, little ponies, for The Great and Powerful Trixie will return!” Trixie's voice resounded from inside the makeshift wagon. A second burst of magic was seen, and the entire contraption reared back on its hind wheels before racing away from the pursuing police, but not without leaving behind several fliers to flutter in the breeze. The crowd slowly began to disperse.

“Well, that was... interesting,” Bon Bon commented. "What in Equestria was she doing here?"

"I should find out. She might need a lovely assistant to help tie her act together," Lyra said, performing a little twirl.

"Lyra," Bon Bon chided.

"What? You told me to start job hunting," Lyra replied. Lyra's eyes were drawn upward by the sound of wings flapping, and she saw Bubbles coming in for a landing.

“Wow, did you see me?" Bubbles asked, setting down next to the pair. "I got to be on stage!”

“Are you okay? That looked like it hurt,” Lyra said, glancing at the pegasus's tail.

“Nah, not really. Just about as much as it would have if I'd actually caught my tail,” Bubbles waved away the comment. “Besides, did you hear everypony laughing when we were spinning around? Totally worth it!”

“If you say so.” Bon Bon shrugged, and then turned to Lyra. “What time is it?”

Lyra levitated a stopwatch from out of one of the pouches of her backpack and examined it.

“Twelve fifteen,” Lyra answered, putting the watch away.

“Twelve fifteen?!” Bubbles shouted. “Oh jeez, oh jeez, I was supposed to start work fifteen minutes ago! Sorry, but I'm going to have to cut the tour short.”

“Oh, that's too bad,” Bon Bon said, sounding slightly relieved. “You'd better hurry.”

“Right! Las Pegasus's number one mail-mare, away!” Bubbles proclaimed, taking to the sky with gusto. Bon Bon breathed a sigh of relief.

“She's a sweet mare, but I'm not sure she's got it all going upstairs,” Bon Bon said, making a circular motion around her ear with a hoof.

“Hey, isn't that the Sweets Cart right there?” Lyra asked, pointing towards a red and white candy striped building. Wheels were painted onto the front, and the name of the diner was displayed on a white sign above the entrance. “Aw, it looks cute!”

“Appearances are very important in this city,” Bon Bon said, rolling her head around to move her mane into place. She took a deep breath. “Twelve fifteen... well, it's a bit early but I guess I could go in now.”

Bon Bon walked over to the diner, Lyra following behind. When she reached the front door, Bon Bon stopped.

“Uhm, Lyra?” Bon Bon hesitated. “Remember what I said earlier about not being embarrassed to be seen with you?”

“Yeah.” Lyra said, looking at something over her shoulder.

“Well I don’t want to be hypocritical, but do you think you could—?” Bon Bon was cut off by a wave of Lyra's hoof.

“Hah, say no more. I don't want to say something wrong and blow your chances.” Lyra smiled. “I'm much more interested in seeing what's going on in this other store anyways.”

Lyra pointed towards a building painted entirely black, with the words 'The Spinning Record' painted over it in bold white brushstrokes. The windows showed a much brighter room inside, and the glass appeared to be jiggling ever so slightly.

“Thanks. And you should ask if they're hiring while you're there,” Bon Bon said, “I'll meet you back outside in... well, I don't know how long I'll be, but...”

“Go get 'em, Bon Bon,” Lyra said, clapping Bon Bon on the shoulder. Bon Bon smiled, and Lyra turned around and headed towards The Spinning Record.

“Okay Bon Bon, you can do this.” Bon Bon pepped herself up. She shook her head back and forth, and took a few shallow breaths. She stilled her shaking hooves and replaced her nervous expression with a mask of serenity. When she stepped through the front door, the only indicator of her discomfort was a single bead of sweat running down her forehead.

---

As soon as Lyra opened the door, a small bell jingled above her. Not that it could be heard over the cacophony of drumming coming from the back end of the room. Lyra glanced back at the throbbing windows, and then at the store she had dared to enter. The front end of the establishment was filled with racks of CDs and records, while the back end had various instruments stood up or hung on the walls. A white pegasus pony with a fluffy brown mane was ravaging a display drum-set, oblivious to Lyra's entrance, and the store's only employee seemed to be asleep at the checkout counter.

“We don't have it,” called the seemingly comatose store clerk.

“Excuse me?” Lyra asked, stepping towards the checkout.

“I said we don't have it,” the voice repeated, slightly slurred because its owner had her face laying sideways on the counter. A large pair of earmuffs covered the white unicorn's head, and a bright, two-toned blue shag of a mane obscured her face.

“I'm sorry, I can't...” Lyra pointed to her ears.

The white unicorn sighed and lifted her head, lazily opening a pair of piercing red eyes. She wordlessly took off her headset and focused her attention on the back end of the room as her horn began to glow. Lyra watched as the drumming pony had a drumstick snatched right out of her hoof, where it levitated in front of her before snapping in half, causing the mare to flinch.

“Decibel, you broke another stick,” the cashier said, jabbing a hoof towards the door. “Out.”

Grumbling something about 'poise' and 'anger', the mare did as she was told. The white unicorn turned her disinterested gaze back to Lyra.

“Now, where were we?” the cashier asked. “Oh, right. You were about to leave, because there’s nothing here.”

“Wow, I don't think I've ever been to a store that didn't want me to buy anything before,” Lyra replied, turning her head back and forth. “Are you sure? You seem to have pretty much everything here.”

The unicorn snorted.

“Yeah. Everything except good taste,” she said. “And I'm not about to sacrifice my integrity just so you can listen to some hip hop boppin' bullshi—”

The door labeled 'manager' next to the register suddenly creaked open, and an older looking gray stallion with a brownish-red mane popped his head out. He first looked over to the vacant drum set, and then to Lyra.

“Vinyl Scratch, you'd better not be tryin' ta ward off customers again,” he warned in a thick country accent. The pony known as Vinyl grumbled under her breath.

“No, Mr. Earp,” Vinyl said in an bored, sing-song tone. The manager nodded his approval, and retreated back into his office. Vinyl sighed and reached down below the counter, pulling out a pair of black rimmed glasses and putting them on.

“Vinyl Scratch?” Lyra spoke the name questioningly. “You know, you look kind of familiar. Have you ever been to—”

“No,” Vinyl cut her off immediately and firmly. “Now are you going to buy something or not?”

“I thought I wasn't allowed to buy any of this tasteless stuff,” Lyra said with a smirk.

“Pssh. I wash my hooves of your sins.” Vinyl waved her hooves as if she was drying them off. Lyra chuckled.

“Actually, I didn't come here for anything in particular. I'm just waiting for a friend to get done with her job interview,” Lyra admitted. “I just thought I'd take a look around in here, seeing as I'm a bit of a musician.”

“Isn't everyone?” Vinyl mocked under her breath.

“I play the lyre,” Lyra clarified.

“Fascinating,” Vinyl grunted.

“Oh, you wouldn't happen to have any amps here, would you?” Lyra asked suddenly. “My new apartment has electricity, and I was wondering what it'd be like to hook up my instrument.”

“Amps are in the... wait, what?” Vinyl asked, almost falling back in her chair. “You want an amp for a lyre?”

Lyra nodded.

“You want to play. An electric. Lyre,” Vinyl clarified, lowering her glasses and looking at Lyra above the rims.

“Yeah,” Lyra said, raising an eyebrow. “You know what a lyre is, right? I mean, you do work in a music store so...”

Vinyl Scratch suddenly burst out laughing, pounding the desk with one of her hooves. Mr. Earp stepped outside of his office again to see what was going on. He looked at Vinyl and then at Lyra, who just shrugged and smiled obliviously. The manager shook his head and slowly backed away into his office.

“Celestia's Sun, an electric lyre. That's great, just, wow,” Vinyl said, managing to catch her breath. She momentarily took her glasses off to wipe a tear from her eye. “Ya know, maybe I was wrong about you.”

“You were?” Lyra asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah. I mean, meeting somepony like you who still has an ounce of originality in her flank? That's something I don't see much these days,” Vinyl explained. “You must be new to town.”

“Yup. Just moved in this morning.” Lyra nodded.

“Awesome. So from now on, you and I are tight. Got that?” Vinyl asked. She didn't wait for an answer. “Now, this place isn't good enough to sell what you're looking for, but I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, you're probably looking to carve out a place for yourself in this city, aren't you?”

“I guess. Bon Bon's really been riding my flank about getting a real job for once,” Lyra said, turning red in the face. "Why, is this place hiring?"

“Hah! No. But I have a friend you need to meet,” Vinyl said, taking out a pen and paper and starting to write with the use of her telekinesis. “Octavia. Lives at this address... part of a classy band here in Las Pegasus. Not really my scene, but they've been needing a replacement harpist for a while now. You're a good enough lyrist to make do, right?”

“Well these marks on my flanks aren't just for show,” Lyra boasted, giving Vinyl a good view.

“Awesome,” Vinyl remarked, crumpling up the paper she'd been writing on. “You know what? Buck this hole, I'll take you there myself. Octy and I have been living together for the past few years. She can be a bit hostile around ponies she doesn't know.”

“Sounds good,” Lyra said, looking outside and seeing a familiar face. “Hey, Bon Bon's out there. She must have finished her interview.”

“Perfect timing. You got your instrument with you?” Vinyl asked.

“In my backpack,” Lyra said, nodding at her case over her shoulder.

“Let's roll,” Vinyl said, moving out from behind the counter and revealing her double eight-note cutie mark.

“What about your job?” Lyra asked, looking towards the manager's office.

“Ah, nopony ever comes in here anyways,” Vinyl answered, already halfway out the door. Lyra trotted after her, the door closing behind the two as the bell rang out.

Five seconds later, the office door opened a third time, and Mr. Earp looked out to see his entire store vacant. He sighed.

“Damn it, not again...”