//------------------------------// // Vinyl, Chapter 1: Award Shows Suck // Story: Never Miss A Beat // by TaleweaverTheUnicorn //------------------------------// Vinyl Scratch rolled up to the award party in the biggest carriage she could rent. Well, technically, it was the biggest one she could rent for less than one hundred bits. The owner, a bulky manehattan pegasus, dark green coat, swore it was reliable. By the time it had actually arrived at the place, though, it felt ready to fall apart, it was rattling so bad. But it was flashy and big, so who gave a crap about the groaning axles? The venue ruled. All smooth black glass and golden trims. Red carpet, uniformed staff, fancy dress-clad mares, the works! Vinyl tipped down her glasses to get a better look. Dang, filly. These ponies were rocking it. She spotted dresses and suits in all colors of the rainbow, matching, contrasting and accentuating the bright colors of manes and coats.  She hopped out a mite faster than she usually might, her hooves making an audible clack as they hit the pavement. She tugged at her blue tie, wrapped around the collar of her white suit, and shot a bright grin at a green pony looking sideways at her. Psh, looks like somepony has no taste. She adjusted her VIP badge smugly as she looked away, feeling her flank get a nice tan from the rage-heat of the other pony.  ‘Hey! Heyyyyy! PON3! Vinyl! Over here, look over here!” A voice cut through her intentional nettling. Vinyl turned towards it on instinct. It was far far too loud to ignore, even for a pony who made her living blasting loud noises right next to her ears. “Heya Pinks.” She trotted over towards the familiar mare, observing the increased volume of the frizzy mane. That spelled trouble for sure. Pinkie was posted up outside a service entrance, bouncing with anticipation. “Glad to see you here, now I know this party is gonna kick flank.” Vinyl gave her a signature wink. “It’s a Pinkie Pie party, how could it not?” Pinkie hopped up on her forehooves in a way that made Vinyl’s whole body ache. Urgh, how did a pony’s back even do that? Wasn’t natural. “I haven’t seen you since the Royal Wedding! Where have you been hiding?!” “On the front page of the paper, for one, Pinks.” Vinyl grinned wide. Pinkie slipped backwards, fell into a cartwheel, and almost collided with a large, legged box of . . . something apple branded. The box spoke in a pleasantly accented voice.   “And that's the last of ‘em, Pinkie. Where’d you want ‘em?” Another mare, orange. Cute, for sure, and ripped. Daaang! She emerged from under the massive crate, setting it down with a cacophony of clinks. Vinyl tipped down her glasses to get a better look, and her mind gently tapped on the shoulder of her memory. . . But nope, nothing doing. All it got back was a big old shrug. Familiar though, for sure. Maybe from the  wedding too? The mare interrupted her thoughts. “Well hey there, uh, DJ Pon-three. Good ta see ya.” “Yeah, you know it. . . filly” Vinyl stuck out a hoof. Rule #1, you know everypony, and definitely never forget a name. “Hey, that’s gotta be cider, right? Mind if I, uh-” “You can't drink that, silly” A prehensile pink hoof wrapped about her, tugging her away from the cider like an octopus. Or a deadly kraken. Vinyl wobbled and toppled, found herself looking up into Pinkie's eyes. “That’s because I made a very special drink for you!” She held up a short glass, balanced on a forehoof. The liquid within was bright blue, and glowed slightly in the dimming city light. Streaks of something white, whipped cream maybe, were shot through it. “Go on, try it, try it!”  Vinyl really wasn’t sure about this one, but there she was, in public. She couldn’t really turn it down, not without looking like a total foal. So, she snagged the drink with magic, swirled it for a moment, and tossed it back, slugging as much of the glass as she could. Sure enough, packed with sugar. It’s like chugging syrup. I can barely even taste the liquor. She considered the taste only for a hot second, and then it hit her like a runaway train. “Whoa.” She reached out, leaning against Pinkie for a moment. “Dang, filly. These are powerful. Feels like I got bucked by an Alicorn. Err, no offense to your friend." “That's just fine since Twilight can’t buck worth a barrel anyway.” Apple-whoever said with a grin, her ponytail swinging gently as she laughed. Cute. Vinyl straightened up, polishing off the drink with some difficulty. Oof, so sweet. Never again, for real this time. Apple-something continued. “If you want to grab a cider for the show, I won't be stopping you.” “Thanks for that, ladies.” Vinyl groaned internally. That resolution didn't last long. But again, image. She couldn't very well turn down booze. She took the proffered cider, which was thankfully less sweet. “If you need a last minute musician again. . . You know where to find me. Always happy to play for the princess.” And get those Royal Bits, baby. “We WILL find you.” With that ominous statement, Pinkie bounced back over to the boxes, and began hauling them inside, joined by Applejuice “Good luck with your award thingy Vinyl!!” She waved over her shoulder. “Just here for the party!” Vinyl called back, grinning. That much was true even before she’d known Pinkie was in charge of it. Now she was extra excited, though maybe not for those drinks. She turned sharply away from the service entrance, nearly face planting in the bushes as Equestria spun more than she expected. She flashed a grin at a pony watching her. A cute mare, gray coat, pink tie, with a very cute offended sniff as she turned and walked away. Heh, that part wasn’t bad either. Nice. She considered hi hoofing herself, and saw no reason not to, nearly falling over again as both her forehooves left ground. Vinyl headed inside, flashing her badge at the stuffy doormare. Or tried to, anyway. She quickly patted herself down with magic. She just had it. She quickly checked the rest of her suit pockets, balancing the cider on the doormare's head while she looked. Nothing, nothing. Aw, horseapples.  “You dropped it in the bushes, you- you nonsense pony.” The gray mare from before, holding the slightly crinkled badge in her teeth. “Do you not pay attention to these things?” “Oh, phew. Thanks for that. Wait, nonsense pony?” Vinyl ended up speaking to the flank, as the mare flashed both badges and walked away without a second glance, tossing Vinyl’s badge over her shoulder at her. What the heck was all that about? Aw, wait, maybe she’d seen Vinyl checking her out, and wasn’t about that life. Bummer. Well, whatever. Plenty of more open minded mares in the world.  More importantly, she could actually get inside now. She snagged the badge off the floor, pinning it back to her collar. The inside was even more coated in gold. It was like Celestia had sneezed all over it. Stellar Wind would get a kick out of that one. She chucked to herself again. Might be the only place in Equestria where you should wear sunglasses indoors.  Where was her manager anyway? She took a quick glance around, levitating herself slightly to see over the crowd. Stellar was nowhere to be seen. Huh, that was odd. She was usually around. Usually a little too much around, in all honesty. Vinyl had left home for a reason, and it certainly wasn’t ‘cause she needed a new mom. If Stellar was a hoof more overbearing, or a hair less good at making Vinyl bits, she’d be outta there. Well, whatever.  She took another belt of cider, which was really quite delicious. Hot orange powerhouse mare really knew her apples, though she supposed it didn’t take a genius to figure that out, what with the apples on the flank and all. It took some wriggling to make her way through the crowd, especially with all the poofy dresses and the ponies protective of them. She leapt over a far-too-long train in purples and whites, full on colliding with a besuited colt. She excused herself rapidly under his companion's furious gaze by wriggling past a couple of Canterlot unicorns, hiding behind their elongated forms. After snatching her cider back from an insane serving fellow trying to trash it, she finally managed to sneak into the theater ahead of the crowd. The actual theater itself was less glitzy than the lobby, which kinda weirded her out. It was decked up for the show of course, big old magic screen, lights, banners. the whole nine, but somehow more restrained. What the heck was even the point, then? Really making it seem like it’s not about the music at all. Oh wait, obviously not, it’s about making those bits ya’ll. As much of a money-grubber as she cheerfully admitted to being, it still made her a little grumpy. It did have cushioned seats, though. She hunted hers down, right on the end of a row, and settled in, lying flat. She imagined this must be what clouds felt like, sheesh, Pegasi must be living the life. She took a quick glance over the program tucked into the seat-back in front of her. Oh sweet Celestia there were so many speeches. Long ones. Why did all these ponies need to talk anyway? Just to fluff their own egos, probably. What a whole-plot waste of time. She immediately started having second thoughts. Maybe she could sneak out and back into the party once this was all over. But what if she really did win something? Awkward either way. Did she really even care that much? Maybe if it came with a cash prize. Did it? Doesn’t look like it. She felt herself yawning. Whatever Pinks had served her was really catching up with her. Maybe a nap was the perfect solution, now she thought about it. Not like she had anypony with her who’d be pissed off if she did. She’d skip over the boring speeches and get to the party. Her stomach rumbled at the thought. She was starving. No point buying food today when she could be stuffing herself on better, free-er food, right? Although, maybe that was a mistake, with the alcohol and all. Oh well. She turned up the noise damper and volume on her ‘phones, all the better for napping. Her thoughts filled with beautiful entrees, she wriggled a little deeper into the plush cushion and tumbled down into sleep.