//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: When Worlds Collide // by Decmaster //------------------------------// Chapter 3 The first thing that Twilight noticed as she and her friends approached the “party block” of Ponyville was how much she had missed it in her day to day travels. Since Twilight had never been much of a party pony herself, she found the district unfamiliar to her eyes. It did, however, seem rather typical for these kind of places, as far as her books told her. Flashing lights came zooming out of the tiny entrances, illuminating the backs of large guards standing next to the red carpet leading inside, who kept out unwanted riff-raff. The ground was visibly pounding with the obnoxiously loud bass pumping from inside all the clubs, one bass line conflicting with another until it became a melting pot of thumping, pounding, and wobbling. It was exactly like her books told her it should be. Pinkie energetically hopped towards one of the entrances. Her friends followed suit, except for Twilight, who stood steady. Noticing something amiss, Applejack turned back to face Twilight. “Whatsa matter, sugarcube?” Twilight looked down at herself in disgust. “Shouldn’t I be wearing something a little more, um, concealing?” Indeed, what Twilight was wearing was quite off from what she expected should be worn to a typical dance. The tight dress certainly wasn’t made to be concealing, having artful cuts in it wherever possible, as if it was a contest to see who could show the most fur. She did have to admit its color complimented her own, however. Rainbow looked at Twilight quizzically. “It’s not like we wear clothes normally, you know.” The others nodded in agreement. “Sure, but wouldn't something more similar to my Gala dress be more–“ “I’m going to cut you off right there, darling,” Rarity cut in. “This is a club, not a ballroom dance! You need to learn to give in a little, and try some modern styles every once in a while.” “But I–“ “No buts!” Pinkie interrupted Twilight once again. “You need to stop being a stucker-upper-boring pants and have some fun! That’s why we dragged you out here in the first place.” Realizing that it was pointless to argue, Twilight sighed. Sensing that she had given in, Pinkie Pie continued hopping towards her favorite club. Twilight reluctantly followed. The music. If it were even to be called music, that is. As soon as Twilight entered the club, noted “Redux” by the sign hanging over the door before entering, her ears were assaulted by a blaring noise at a level far too uncomfortable for her sensitive ears. The ground was shaking with the power of the bass in the song, only “enhancing” the music experience for her. She shuddered. How could this be fun? And this was only the beginning! At once, four of her five friends bolted off into the mass of churning bodies. Rainbow Dash flew off towards the DJ, obviously wanting to request a couple of songs. Or at least Twilight assumed, considering the books she’d read on the subject. Rarity immediately darted off to the left, probably hoping to find a group of stallions, knowing her. Twilight had no idea where Fluttershy went, and Pinkie Pie could be seen every so often, her frilly pink mane peaking over the heads of dancing ponies as she hopped off into the crowd. But she too soon disappeared into the masses. However, Applejack remained, looking back at Twilight. “Since yer new to this clubbing stuff, ‘ah figure ah’ll help ya out. Follah me.” Twilight smiled sheepishly. “Thanks, Applejack. You’ve been a real friend throughout all this.” “Ah figure ah might as well. But be wahrned, no books gunna prepare ya for this.” Twilight nodded as Applejack took off into the crowd. Not wanting to lose her to the mass of bodies, she hastily followed Applejack. When Twilight finally broke free of the shifting mass, she caught sight of Applejack standing in front of two counters, each one with many unrecognizable bottles lining the wall behind it. “Welcom’ to the refreshments.” She nodded towards one of the counters. “This is tha non-alcoholic counter, for tha ponies that don’t wanna get wasted. They make sure ta keep ‘em separate, for that reason. Stick ta this side, like me, and ya’ll be all right. Just remember ta pay tha bartender.” A light grey pony waved his hoof from behind the counter. Twilight nodded. “What about the other side?” “Stay ahway fram that ‘un. That’s the alcohol. That stuff’ll mess ya up real bad, real quick.” The bartender there gave Applejack a glare, as if daring her to say any more about his side of the business. Applejack took the hint. Twilight nodded again. “Noted.” “Well, ah guess that’s about all ah got ta’ teach ya. Real quick though, don’t worry about dancin’ all fancy. These ponies here don’t care about that. Just follah the crowd you’re in. That should get ya started. I have’ta go meeta couple other friends. Just remember what ah told ya.” “Alright, I will.” Twilight replied. With that, Applejack motioned to the bartender. “The usual,” she said casually. The bartender poured her a cup of some liquid from a bottle marked “Cider”. She dropped some bits on the counter, and chugged the cider. With that, she took off into the crowd. The bartender waved, bringing Twilight out of her mind. “You want anything?” Twilight shook her head. “I’m not thirsty. But maybe later.” The bartender simply turned away and tended to some other pony that walked up. Realizing that she had no place here anymore, she decided to do the next thing on her agenda: fix that Celestia-awful music. She set off on her self-assigned quest. Emerging from the crowd, Twilight found herself at her destination: the DJ table. The volume of the music was near unbearable, and that combined with the intolerability of the music under usual circumstances made Twilight want to rip her ears off. However, knowing that that would do no good, she continued on her mission. Twilight cleared her throat, trying to get the DJ’s attention. Noticing no change, she closed her eyes (for an added dramatic effect) and tried again, louder this time. Opening her eyes, she saw that the DJ had an earbud sticking out of one ear, rendering the DJ’s hearing useless. Waiting patiently, she stuck around until the DJ removed it, and then yelled “HEY!” at the opportune moment. It worked, and the DJ looked down at her. “Oh hey, you wanna request?” The DJ’s voice was a mish-mash of many different tones, masculine, feminine, and many more that Twilight couldn’t place. It had hints of a teenage vocabulary, and a sophisticated edge that Twilight couldn’t place. All this gave Twilight a hard time giving the DJ any sort of identity. In the moment that Twilight took to compose herself, she let herself have a good look at the DJ in question, remembering Rainbow Dash spewing compliments about her. A pair of purple shades, which contrasted quite astonishingly with her frizzy electric blue mane and tail, masked the white unicorn’s eyes. Noticing that staring would do no good, Twilight replied. “Yes, I was wondering if you could play some Beethooven, perhaps Symphony–“ The DJ cut her off by putting her shades over her horn and staring at Twilight with a rather amused look. Her magenta eyes bore into Twilight. “Is this some kind of joke? This is a club, you know, and I can’t go spinning a classical track, no matter how famous it is.” Twilight was shocked by the DJ’s words. “Are you kidding me? You think you know more about music and clubs than me? I’ve read every book in my library in the past week preparing for this event, and I’d think that I have a little more knowledge than you about this.” “Filly please, I’ve been doing this all my life, and I know for a fact that if I play anything from over ten years ago, I’ll get booed out of this club. And I’ll say, this one pays quite well…” The DJ trailed off, rambling on about something unintelligible, although Twilight could have sworn that she’d heard the word “bits” in there… A burst of magic snapped the DJ to attention as Twilight appeared right next to her on stage. Twilight looked the DJ in the eye and said, “Let me handle these for a while. Like I’ve said, I’ve read every book there is to be found on this subject, so I’ll know what I’m doing.” With those words, Twilight took a step towards the turntables, shoving the DJ out of the way. “Hey, what the hell are you doing? Get offa my stage!” The white unicorn shoved Twilight away and continued tending to the music, turning a knob. Twilight noticed an increase in the volume of the bass. The churning bodies below cheered wildly in response. Twilight moved a hoof towards the tables, but a flash of rainbow interrupted her movements. Rainbow Dash landed next to Twilight, a hoof on her foreleg, tugging her away from the stage. “Twilight, what do you think you’re doing?” Rainbow hissed through clenched teeth. It was lost through the noise of the bass. “What?” Twilight yelled. “I said, what do you think you’re doing?” Rainbow yelled. Her question was loud enough to reach the DJ’s ears, too. “Listen to your friend.” The DJ said, her tone a little less hostile. “Friend? Uh, more like, uh, acquaintance.” Rainbow replied with a nervous laugh. “Rainbow?” Twilight questioned, wondering why she was avoiding their friendship. “Twilight, why don’t you just apologize to DJ P0N-3 here and go get a drink or something.” Rainbow Dash giggled at the name a little. DJ pone three? What kind of a name is that? However, sensing that arguing over a name would get her nowhere, she gritted her teeth. “I’m sorry for what I did. I shouldn’t have challenged something that isn’t my profession.” “Nah man, it’s all cool. Just go have a drink and chill out. Have some fun.” The DJ looked at her sympathetically. With those big magenta eyes, Twilight found it hard to keep her grudge. Have fun. Ponies kept telling her that all night. Maybe she should just go and grab a cup of punch and relax a bit. After all, that’s what she was here for. With all the commotion, she had lost sight of her ultimate goal. “Alright, I will. Thanks.” Twilight replied, and gave a genuine smile. Before the DJ could reply, Rainbow broke in. “Alright, Twilight, let’s go.” She then turned to the DJ. “Big fan.” She smiled sheepishly, and then flew off, her flight slightly lopsided. Thinking nothing of it, Twilight thanked the DJ, stepped off the stage, and headed back into the crowd, off to find the bar. Looking out upon the ponies dancing to her music, the DJ readjusted her shades on her eyes and turned her attention back to the music. The ponies she met, sometimes… While searching for the bar, Twilight ran headfirst into a couple of stallions. Apologizing profusely, she attempted to back away, but the two stallions quickly ushered her into their dancing circle, trying to get her to dance, for whatever reason. As she apologized again, she did take note of the dancing going on, just like Applejack had said to. It was nothing like she had ever read before, it seemed that the ponies were just flailing to the music. There weren’t any real steps involved; it was just a free for all of limbs. Every so often, a pony that looked like they knew what they were doing would show up, and everypony else would try to copy them. It was in vain, though, and all ponies just ended up looking foolish. All in all, it was just a giant mess. Is that really all this is? Twilight asked herself. Knowing more than ever that she needed a drink, she set off once again towards the bar. Emerging from the mass of bodies once again, Twilight found herself at the bar. Perfect! However, a problem became apparent to her. She had forgotten which bar was non-alcoholic! And the many bottles lined up against the wall didn’t help, either; they all looked foreign to Twilight. Realizing that she wasn’t going to remember which side was which, she chose one randomly and made a bee-line for it. Twilight sat down on one of the many mahogany stools set up around the bar. The bartender walked up to her. “So, waddya want?” As much reading as she had done, Twilight was unprepared for that question. “Um…” She closed her eyes, and flailed her hoof around in front of her, eventually laying it to rest, pointing it at the back wall. She opened her eyes, and found her hoof pointing at an obscure bottle on the shelf; it’s murky contents glaring back at her, daring her to drink it. “You sure you want that one? It’s a bit strong, didn’t you–“ The bartender stopped himself. It wasn’t any of his business. Shaking his head a little, he turned around and fetched the bottle off the wall. He poured it into a small glass and put it onto the counter. “That’ll be ten bits.” Ten bits? Wasn’t that a bit much? The more she thought about it, the bar was only around to make a profit, so it’d make sense they’d knock it up a bit from what it would normally cost. Hesitantly, Twilight placed ten bits on the counter. The bartender handed Twilight her drink. A purple glow enveloped the glass and brought it to Twilight’s lips. She took a sip. The taste she received was not what she expected. As the liquid slid it’s way down Twilight’s throat, she quickly realized that something was off. The liquid burnt her throat on the way down, but not completely unwantedly. Catching her off-guard, she coughed violently, trying to clear her throat of the sensation. As the last of the burning died down and the liquid reached her stomach, she realized that it left her feeling a certain warmth that she enjoyed quite a lot. And, she felt better instantly. She quickly chugged the last of the liquid, savoring the burning sensation that she had already drawn quite accustomed to. She quickly slammed another ten bits on the table. “Another, please.” The bartender shook his head, like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Swiping the money off the counter, he refilled the glass, all the while muttering to himself about something. Twilight eagerly finished the glass, and hopped off the stool. “Thanks a bunch!” Twilight called back. The bartender nodded, a look of amazement still struck on his face. Her nerves feeling better already, Twilight marched off into the sea of bodies. ––––––––––––––––––––––– I feel like there are a lot of errors in this, so I apologize in advance. Also, I'm not sure if I have to ask or anything, but I'm now accepting pre-readers. Also, awkward dialogue is awkward.