Ponyville, a place Hikaru never wanted to return to for the rest of his life, and at the same time, wanted ever so much to come back.
Hikaru looked over the familiar landscape as the carriage passed the outer limits of Ponyville and slowly approached downtown.
The event was originally supposed to happen at the Starlight Den which was just on the border of downtown Ponyville. But due to the huge amount of tickets sold, and more publicity, the event needed a larger venue, so a giant tent was set up on the other side of town that could hold the large amount of individuals who would show up.
The carriage slowly approached the main street in the center of town and touched down lightly.
Hikaru took a deep breath. He was nervous about being recognized as he was sure he was a wanted pony. But with the hoodie that Sky had given him, he figured he would seem inconspicuous enough.
"Well...." started Zen softly. "Here we are."
"Yepsky." Replied Flash. "Hikaru? Sky? You both good?"
They both nodded and Flash opened the door.
Ponyville was much more busy than usual. It seemed that the event had brought many others into town to shop, get food, and tour around. Hundreds of ponies from all around equestria wandered the streets. Some speaking in strange accents that Hikaru had never heard before. 'Hmmm...' Thought Hikaru. 'Maybe being noticed isn't something I had to worry about after all. If anything, I should worry about remaining with the group!'
"Hikaru!" Sky woke him up from his daydreaming.
"Huh?"
"Are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna join us for dinner?"
"Oh! Yeah! Haha! Wow, Ok."
The group headed over to a large Denneighs restaurant to grab something to eat. Denneighs was known for having really mediocre food that was probably just microwaved upon order, but it was cheap, usually quick, and food that they didn't mind eating.
The place was pretty crowded and quite loud from the voices of many trying to talk over the noise. It seemed that this was more business than the staff were prepared for as everypony was running around trying to take orders, cook, and serve.
Luckily, the group got a table and quickly placed their order which arrived in about 10 minutes.
Hikaru chewed on his tofu burger which he could have sworn was made of cardboard covered in gravy, but it was enough to fill him.
Hikaru looked over at Sky who was staring at the contents of the glass in front of her. It was supposed to be lemonade but it seemed to be mostly water with hints of lemon flavor. Hikaru glanced over at Flash and noticed that he as well as Neko were looking at him. He quickly looked away and continued eating.
He saw Neko giggle out of the corner of his eye and saw her whisper something to Flash. Flash suddenly looked pleasantly surprised and whispered something back.
'What could they be talking about....' Hikaru thought to himself.
Flash suddenly cleared his throat.
"So.....Hikaru san........my bro.....dude...."
"Um....what?"
"So just sayin, you and Sky..."
'oh no'
"Have you told h-"
Hikaru grabbed a carrot from his dish and threw it at Flash's face.
"Ow! Aug Hikaru, my tooth sheesh!"
"Hikaru!" Yelled Sky. "Whats your issue with carrots! You're gonna seriously hurt somepony!"
"umm....." Hikaru thought quickly. "I HATE CARROTS! They were NEVER there for me growing up! Ponies were like OH WOW CARROTS MMMMMM GOTTA LOVE THOSE CARROTS, and....I...NEVER GOT ANY! yeah, NEVER! So I....hate them. I HATE THEM!"
Hikaru looked around and noticed that many ponies were all staring at him.
His face turned red and he sunk down into the booth.
"heh." Said Neko suddenly.
"Oh! so um...Sky...."
"Yeah?"
"About what we were talking about the other day, I just gotta say, you and Hikaru..."
'oh no'
"You both kinda-"
Sky threw a head of lettuce at Neko, but it missed and hit a unicorn mare in the back of the head across the room.
"OW!"
"Oh...oops...."
"You yell at me for throwing carrots and you throw a whole head of lettuce?" Questioned Hikaru.
The orange unicorn who got hit turned around and looked straight at another pony who was sitting behind her.
"So thats how its gonna be now huh? FINE! TAKE THIS YOU FOAL!" She threw a plate of spaghetti at the pony who ducked quickly to avoid the flying pasta. Unfortunately, it landed in the face of a grey earth pony mare. "Ugh! How dare you!"
"This won't turn out well...." Hikaru said aloud.
The entire restaurant suddenly erupted in a mad frenzy of flying food.
"Oh yeah FOOD FIGHT!" Screamed Flash as he dived out into the flurry of flying color. "Are you insane?!?!" Yelled Zen after him. "Wait what am I asking, sheesh."
A plate of pickled cabbage flew past Hikarus head. "Maybe...we should get under the table or something..."
"As long as we stay in this booth," Started Sky, "I think we should be o-"
CRASH!
A plate smashed through the window by their side sending glass raining down onto the floor. "UNDER THE TABLE!" Screamed Beam.
The frenzy lasted for 5 minutes longer until there was no more food to throw, and everypony left the restaurant muttering crude remarks.
Zen quickly left the bill at their table and the group exited the restaurant with haste.
"That...was...AWESOME!" Yelled Flash as he ran up to the group. "I'm gonna have dreams about that for weeks!"
"You're also gonna smell like teriyaki sauce for weeks..." Said Zen with a scowl.
"Only makes it better for you when you get all "Licky" when you're drunk." Said Flash with a smirk.
"FLASH!"
He laughed hysterically.
"I would cut you.....if you weren't so amazing..."
"So I guess we should start heading over there yeah?" Said Neko.
"Yeah! just follow the hundreds of others walking in that direction! So easy!" Said Flash enthusiastically. "YEAH YAH YOO!"
"Is he always this....enthusiastic?" Asked sky in a whisper to Hikaru. "You have been around him much more than me."
"He's an interesting colt isn't he." Laughed Hikaru watching as Flash started hardstyle shuffling for no reason.
"Cmon Flash not now...." Sighed Zen as they continued on.
They walked on for a good 10 minutes until they crested the top of a hill and saw the amazing sight before them.
A giant tent towered into the sky surrounded by large colorful searchlights that swung their light rays back and forth around the structure. A long line of hundreds of ponies were waiting at the door which was being guarded by 4 large stallions.
The vibrations of bass were resonating through the air and technicolor lights flashed from inside, creating a defused glow around the area.
"woah..." breathed Hikaru and Sky simultaneously.
The sight was mesmerizing to look at.
"This is amazing!" Yelled Flash enthusiastically.
Hikaru looked at the long line to get in to the event.
"Ugh... We'll be in that line forever..."
"oh really now?" Said Zen with a smirk. Remember those backstage passes that Vinyl gave us that one night? Well since Flash and I are super chill with her now, she gave us more backstage passes for the others. And these passes also allow us to skip the line, and go in through the back! No lines!
"NO WAY!" Yelled both Hikaru and Sky in unison.
"Oh yes way!" Said Flash jumping up on his back legs. "HAHAHAHAHA!"
"Oh calm down...."
------
Iris opened the door of her home and walked over to the bed in the corner and fell down into it's softness.
She let out a sigh and rolled onto her back to stare up at the ceiling.
'What am I going to do now?' She asked herself. 'I hope I can find some place else to work quickly. I can't help but feel I did something foolish back there. Yet, I know its what I should have done.'
Iris rolled out of bed and walked over to the small desk in the corner. A random assortment of magazines, advertisements, and letters were thrown about it's surface. 'I should really clean all this up.' She thought.
She started sorting out the random papers when one small flier caught her eye.
"Nocturnal Oasis." She read aloud. "The event everypony around here has been excited for..."
Iris put the flier down and walked over to the window. The sun was slowly starting to set. It would be getting dark pretty soon within the next hour or so.
'I wonder.....' She thought to herself. 'I am a bit curious about this thing....maybe....its been a while since I've gone out for some fun..'
Iris glanced back over at the flier. What did she have to lose? She wouldn't have to wake up early for work tomorrow, and for all the years of hard work, she did deserve to treat herself to a night of fun.
Iris looked out the window at the continuing setting sun started to dip into the horizon.
She let out a sigh and grabbed the flier.
"Im going."
=========
The group walked up to the back entrance of the tent. A large guard stallion was standing there. He looked dangerous and tough, exactly the kind of earth pony you would expect to be a security guard.
"Can I help you all?"
'Woah, he even sounds tough.' Thought Hikaru.
"We got the magic." Said Flash to the guard.
"Um...." The guard gave him a confused look.
"We got the magic. WE SHALL PASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Flash whipped out the backstage passes with a flourish and some strange backflip kind of jump.
"Its like he's already high...." Sighed Zen shaking her head as Neko put an arm around her.
The guard looked at Flash with his tickets in hoof and giant and somewhat creepy grin on his face.
"Don't over-do it on the drinks kid...." He sighed as he unclipped the rope to let the group in.
"YEEYAYOO!"
"Seriously bro.." Said Beam. "You're too excited."
Hikaru found himself entering into a busy area with ponies running around setting up sound equipment, computers, lights, and shouting orders through radios.
"Wow it sure is busy back here." Stated Sky as she jumped back from a young unicorn rushing by with a large roll of wire.
"Oh hey!" Yelled Zen. "There's Vinyl!"
The white DJ unicorn was sitting in front a mirror with another pony who seemed to be getting on her nerves.
The group walked over to her to see what was going on.
"UGH! I don't want that stuff ok! I'm not into all that trashy blush and whatever else you want to put on me you got that?"
"You need to look nice for the photos that the press will SURELY be taking!" Yelled a green unicorn with a white mane. "You can't just perform like THAT!"
"Oh forget you....haha, someponies around here are actually happy with how they look, and don't have to wear fake eyelashes that make it look like they have grass growing from their eyes!"
"WHA! How DARE you! These cost quite a bit you know! And they are quite difficult to come by."
"Yeah I bet they are." Laughed Vinyl. "I bet they only have one pony who buys them. Some pony who they know will buy anything they want them to buy, no matter how much it makes them look like a front lawn! HAHA! I gotta say, I do crack myself up sometime!"
"You are impossible.." Muttered the Green mare.
"Just answer me this." Began Vinyl. "How much did you pay for those?"
"Oh...well.....um..."
"How much Tea Spice!"
"Well........258 bits....."
Vinyl snickered, and then burst out laughing.
'HAHAHAHA! OH MY GOSH ARE YOU SERIOUS! OVER 250! HAHAHAHA! OH WOW! HAHAHA! YOU-YOU-HAHAHAHA!" Vinyl fell onto the floor.
"YOU ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO WORK WITH!" Screamed Tea Spice, and she turned around and quickly trotted away.
Vinyl stopped laughing and got up.
"Haha, works every time. About time she got out of my mane. Oh hey you guys!"
"VINYL!" Shouted Flash and Zen both giving her a hug. "Nice to see you again!"
"Yeah its been a bit hasn't it. Heheh....sorry you had to see that earlier. I just can't stand these crazy make up and stylist trying to get me all prettied up. I don't roll like that. Just mash in some gatsby mane rubber and Im good to go."
"I knew it." Said Hikaru. "Same stuff I use."
"Haha! I figured. If you haven't noticed by now, we have very similar mane styling."
Hikaru never noticed in fact, but now that he was up close to Vinyl, it was true. The color was different, but it did actually look quite similar.
"So why aren't you getting ready to go up?" Asked Sky. "I mean, its starting in 15 minutes and the crowd is starting to pour in from what I can hear around the curtains."
"Ah no worries!" Replied Vinyl grabbing a tapioca milk tea from the fridge. "I never really prepare. I just go up and let it flow. Its the way to go. HEY FERRY!"
Vinyl waved to a grey earth pony with an orange mane.
'Oh no way thats Ferry Coltsten!' Thought Hikaru feeling suddenly very star struck.
"So anyways." Said Vinyl taking a long sip from her milk tea, "Feel free to hang around. And remember Hikaru, Sky, if you two find any issues, if you think somepony might notice you, just come back here. No ponies except those with passes can get back here. Even authorities will have a wait to get back here. So no worries. I got your back!"
"thank you so much Vinyl." Said Sky. "This really means allot to the two of us."
"Ah no worries." Said Vinyl with a smile. "I like you all. Adventurous and crazy. My kind of ponyfolk!"
"Just another reason why we all love you Vinyl." Said Zen with a smile.
"Aw shut up." Laughed Vinyl throwing the empty cup into a trash can. "Oh by the way. Hikaru. I'm over at that hotel of your Dad's. No offense, but it that place fails hard. I mean, since when do Hotels not have TV's and soap? And no ice either! Now the stupid ice machine says that I have to pay 5 bits for ice? I have never been to a single hotel that did that. And why are you guys selling all the art from the rooms?
"Oh great..." Sighed Hikaru. "I guess he's really lost it. Worrying about money too much probably.....idiot..."
"Haha, so it is his doing." Laughed Vinyl. "You know, I have never met this guy, but from all you tell me, and from what I see. I would love to take a few good kicks in his face."
Hikaru laughed at the thought. As much as he felt that he would hate to see that happen, he couldn't help but think that he would enjoy seeing his father get beat down a bit.
'Ugh, I gotta get rid of this hatred some day.'
A black pegasus flew into the area.
"VINYL! Heads up! Spiral hooves is up first, and you are up right after in about 20 minutes. Got it?"
"Yeah yeah, don't worry about it!"
"Alright, be ready, and have a good show!"
"Hey," Said Vinyl turning to the group. "Wake me up in 15, k?"
"Hu-wait-wha-ah...."
"Please and thanks. Later!"
"Ill wake her up when its time." Said Cobalt. I am just curious how she looks....asleep...um...wait...oh wow..."
"Whatever you want ya creep!" Laughed Flash. "And know that I will never let you forget what you just said!"
"Oh great..."
"Well cmon guys!" Yelled Flash. "Its time to go absolutely freakin INSANE!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAA-"
"I WILL SLAP YOU SO HARD AGAIN IF YOU DONT STOP THAT!"
"heheh....sorry."
=============