//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Beauty of Bass // Story: My Little DJ // by iDash //------------------------------// My Little DJ Chapter 1: The Beauty of Bass By iDash Rejected. Again. The orange filly, Scootaloo had been ‘rejected’ several times by her idol, Rainbow Dash. But this time was different and she didn’t know why. She could still clearly remember the words from the cyan pegasus. ‘Get out of here, alright?!’ Rainbow Dash had shouted. ‘Can’t you go somewhere else for once? Why don’t you just get your parents to teach you to fly, kid?’ In the back of her mind, Scootaloo knew why it had hurt so much, but she refused to acknowledge it. The orange pegasus now wandered through the streets of Ponyville with her head low to the ground. She shivered in the crisp winter air. She had been like this for a while and lost track of where she was going. It didn’t matter, though. Scootaloo just wanted the entire day to go away so she could forget all about what had happened. At the same time, the white unicorn mare, Vinyl Scratch, was striding through the small town, heading for her job at the local night club as a DJ. That evening was especially beautiful as she watched the sun set below the horizon. She had decided to take a longer route in order to enjoy it. Despite the cold, Vinyl walked at a slow pace, taking in the scenery as beautiful shades of deep purple and warm orange clashed and painted the skies. Her shades rested atop her horn so as not to corrupt the image before her with their purple tint. As she walked, however, something caught her eye. She saw another pony walking alongside the same street, which struck her as odd, the reason being that this particular street was normally deserted at that hour. Vinyl turned to see who it could be. Across the street from her, sulking with her head low to the ground, was a familiar orange pegasus filly with a violet mane. Vinyl recognized her from around town. She was always buzzing around town on her scooter or causing trouble somewhere else with her friends that called themselves… the Cutie Mark Crusaders? She was always following and idolizing the cyan mare pegasus, Rainbow Dash. ‘Geez, I can’t even remember her name,’ Vinyl thought. ‘Let’s see. Something with an ‘S’… Sca… Scoo… Scooter?... Scootaloo!’ Vinyl silently patted herself on the back for remembering the name she had probably only heard once. The orange filly across the street, however, looked crestfallen, which took Vinyl by surprise. She had always seen Scootaloo with a smile on her face, having fun or doing something crazy, but Vinyl had never seen her in a state like this before. Curiosity got the best of the alabaster unicorn and she deviated from her path to begin walking towards the filly. “Hey, kid. What’s up?” Scootaloo hadn’t noticed her approaching and jumped up with a squeak when she spoke up. “What the-! Oh uh… hi.” After calming down from her startled condition, she administered her previous depressed expression. “Hey. Scootaloo, right? The name’s Vinyl. Nice to meet ya.” Vinyl smiled and held out her hoof. “Oh. Nice to meet you too,” Scootaloo said without looking up, refraining from tapping her hoof to Vinyl’s. They stood in silence for a moment. “Um, so… What’s wrong? I’ve never seen you look this sad before,” Vinyl said, trying to relieve the awkward atmosphere. Scootaloo glanced up at her, and then moved her eyes back towards the ground. “Um, it’s nothing. Just… tired.” “Mmmhmm,” Vinyl hummed sarcastically. “C’mon you can tell me. I hate to see a happy filly like you be sad like this.” Scootaloo looked up at her again and sighed. “Well, it’s about Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo started. “She kinda got mad and snapped at me… again.” Vinyl looked at the filly. “Ah, I see. So, she rejected you again, huh? I have a question, if you don’t mind. Why do you keep looking up to her if she just keeps looking down on you and rejects you?” She only took a moment to think about it. “It’s because every time I see somepony flying, they look so happy to be up high, like nothing can bother them or bring them down. I want to feel what they feel so much. But my wings are too small to even let me hover for more than a minute. So, I look up to Rainbow Dash and hope I can be like her someday… I guess.” She paused. “And she’s really fun, too. And the toughest pony ever!...” her voice trailed off. Vinyl was confused. “Well, that doesn’t explain why you’re so messed up over just one rejection. She was probably just blowin’ off steam, anyways.” Scootaloo nodded in understanding, but said, “I know, but this time was… different.” “Oh yeah? How so?” Scootaloo gave a pause and shook her head. “I-it’s nothing,” she stuttered frantically. She looked very troubled by something. Something more than what happened with Rainbow Dash. Noticing that she was crossing boundaries, Vinyl decided not to pry. But she couldn’t leave the normally happy filly just sulking by herself like this. She started back around to the path she was previously taking towards the night club, but not before turning to Scootaloo and saying, “Well, this just won’t do, now will it?” Scootaloo gave her a quizzical look. Vinyl just grinned. “C’mon, kid, follow me,” and she turned to keep walking, expecting the orange filly to follow her. Scootaloo, though still confused and uncertain, conformed and strung along behind the DJ. It wasn’t long before they reached their destination. It was the local night club, called Club Symphonic. It was the center of night life in Ponyville, which was surprising since it didn’t even have a bar. But if you ever went there, you’d see that ponies just went there to have a good time without alcohol or anything like that to ruin their night. It was also where Vinyl worked as a DJ. That was another reason why everypony loved it so much. Vinyl’s beats were on a whole other level than anypony else’s music. Standing at a distance, Scootaloo saw a huge line that she thought must’ve been over a block long. Everypony was waiting for DJ PON-3 to get things started. They approached the building that glowed with neon lights. “Wait here a sec,” Vinyl said, putting a hoof out in front of Scootaloo. She walked over to one of the bouncers and they talked for a moment, both of them glancing over to Scootaloo. When they were done the bouncer nodded and Vinyl came back over to Scootaloo with a smile on her face. “Alright, we’re good. You’re a little young, but everypony here knows I’m clean, so they won’t mind if you stay with me.” She grinned and motioned for Scootaloo to follow her again. They made their way past the ponies in line and weaved through the crowd. As the two entered, the filly sighed with relief at the warmth inside the building. The unicorn mare led Scootaloo up a short set of stairs and onto a small stage. At the front of the stage stood all of Vinyl’s sound equipment and everything she needed to drop her beats. Getting a closer look, Scootaloo realized that it was a lot more complex than she thought, various knobs, dials and switches riddled the board. Vinyl had adorned her shades for her performance, creating her persona, DJ PON-3. She did a quick check to make sure that none of the equipment was damaged or wasn’t working. When everything seemed to be in working order, she turned to the crowd and grabbed the microphone. “Hello Ponyville! You ready to get this thing started?!” she shouted. The crowd of ponies roared in response. “Alright! LET’S DO THIS!” Vinyl played her first track and the ponies on the dance floor began to move with the beat. The mass was perfectly synchronized with the music. Scootaloo stared in wonder as she saw every move that the dancers made was dominated by the beat of the song. The song ascended, reaching a climax, then it went silent and for that brief moment, the entire club froze. Scootaloo counted, 1… 2… 3… and the overwhelming bass dropped, shaking the entire room as the crowd shot back to life in that instant. The ponies went wild and danced to their hearts’ content as the song played on. As the song came to an end, Vinyl was grinning widely and preparing another record to spin. Scootaloo looked over to her and noticed a headset floating in front of her, surrounded by a purple aura. Vinyl smiled at her. “It can get a little loud in here. Try listening through these. It’ll sound a whole lot better, trust me.” Scootaloo nodded and grabbed the headset. The moment she put them on, all of the sounds from the outside ceased and silence washed over her. Even though she could still see what was going on, the roaring of the crowd, the bumping of bass, all of it became quiet. And then she heard it. Vinyl had begun to spin her new record and Scootaloo could hear it clearly through the headset. It began slowly with a smooth piano solo fading in. The solo was beautifully smooth and could make anypony feel as if they were drifting away on a soft, white cloud. A steady kick drum beat joined in without corrupting the beauty of the piano’s melody. Other electronic accompaniments blended in seamlessly. The song gradually grew with intensity, the piano being played with breathtaking passion. The music grew with a rapid crescendo, and then the bass dropped. It wasn’t an overwhelming rumble like the one from the previous song, however. This one was smooth as it reverberated throughout the room, playing in perfect harmony with the songs beautiful piano piece. As the pegasus filly listened to the song, she came to realize that, unlike other songs of its genre, this one was not one to cheer to or one to be played to a roaring, dancing crowd. It was a melody that one actually listened to without polluting it with other raucous noises. It was meant to be heard and truly enjoyed. It was beautiful. The ponies that were previously dancing realized this, too, and instead of going crazy with cheers and hollers, grabbed their partners and loved ones and began slowly circling the floor in an embrace. Scootaloo was in a trance. Without even noticing, she had begun to rock her head with the steady beat of the song. She glanced over to the white unicorn mare that had produced this beautiful symphony and saw that she was smiling down at her. Vinyl slowly lifted her head up as she closed her eyes. Scootaloo did the same and they drifted off into the music, forgetting all about her worries and troubles from earlier that day. A Couple Days Later Vinyl yawned into a scarf wrapped around her muzzle as she trotted through the dark and cold streets of Ponyville. It was late and she had just gotten through with another show at Club Symphonic. It was quite a party that particular night. ‘Man, that Pinkie Pie really knows how to party hard,’ Vinyl thought, giggling to herself. As she trotted home, she thought back to a couple nights ago, when she had let that orange filly into the club behind her set. Vinyl remembered how happy the filly had become after listening to her beats. She smiled at the thought, remembering back to when she was a filly listening to other ponies’ beats. Vinyl walked on, wrapping the scarf tighter around herself. She came to a corner and was about to continue across the road when she caught something out of the corner of her eye. It was a familiar orange shape. She quickly turned to get a better view and confirmed her suspicion. It was indeed Scootaloo that she had seen. She rounded a corner, though, and Vinyl quickly lost sight of her. She briskly trotted over to where the filly had been and peeked around the corner. There she was, just walking to who knows where. Vinyl normally would’ve said ‘hi’ to her newfound little friend, but she was just a little curious and decided to follow her instead. And so she did and the orange filly walked on in silence, thinking that she was alone. ‘What am I even doing? She’s probably just getting home late from a friend’s house or something. And I probably look like a freaking stalker right now,’ Vinyl thought to herself. But something was wrong. She couldn’t tell what, but there was something about this that gave her a bad feeling. So, she continued to stay on Scootaloo’s trail. Much to Vinyl’s dismay, it was a very long trail. All the way to Sweet Apple Acres, in fact. Scootaloo walked and Vinyl followed until they got to a far edge of the apple farm. She weaved through the trees, not stopping as she led the DJ pony into a small clearing with a big tree standing towards the middle of it. The unicorns gaze floated up from her hiding spot behind a tree. She saw a clubhouse sitting neatly atop the large tree’s branches. Her gaze shifted and she observed Scootaloo walking up the ramps that led to the treehouse’s entrance. Vinyl waited until she was inside before she followed. She went up the ramps as quietly as she could and crept over to the side of the small house to look through one of the small portals. She was a little more than shocked at what she saw. There in the middle of the hard, wooden floor of the treehouse sat a cold and shivering Scootaloo, wrapped up in a cape adorned with the CMC insignia. Vinyl didn’t know what to say, not that she was going to say anything, but she didn’t know what to think either. All she could think was, ‘Why?’ She watched as the filly in front of her whimpered in the cold as she curled herself in a tight ball in an attempt to keep warm. Vinyl was dismayed by the sight, her mouth hanging open in a gape. Just then, a horrible and unwanted thought involuntarily made its way into her mind. She had never seen Scootaloo with her parents. She was always with her friends. Never with any family. One of the things about living in a relatively small town is that you know everypony and everypony knows you. However, Scootaloo’s parents were two ponies that Vinyl had never even seen before. And this brought up the question: Do they even exist? Sure, she must talk about having family… but where are they? Dead. That word, that horrible word made its way into Vinyl’s thoughts. She tried to shake her head and erase it, but she couldn’t. She then began to consider that if it were true, then… ‘Then she’s alone.’ She saw the filly shudder once again and couldn’t stand it anymore. “Scootaloo,” she said. All in one movement, the orange filly squealed, jumped up and turned around, and backed up to the opposite wall to face the pony who had spoken her name. Scootaloo stared at Vinyl, gasping for breath after being so startled. Before she could say anything, Vinyl spoke up. “What are you doing in here?” she had a concerned expression on her face, her deep red eyes looking into Scootaloo’s own pale purple ones. “Vinyl! I-I-I… was just, um… thought I’d just stop by here… and…” Scootaloo stuttered. She couldn’t even find an excuse. “Scootaloo, why are you here?” This time, Vinyl said it with a more stern voice. Scootaloo recoiled at this, trying to back up further but just being held by the wall. Tears started to form in the corners of her. “Hey, now. Don’t cry, alright,” Vinyl said in her most comforting voice. She paused for a moment and sighed. “Alright. Come with me.” She began to walk towards the ramp. When Scootaloo didn’t follow, she turned back towards the entrance and said, “C’mon. We haven’t got all day.” The still disconcerted filly slowly rose to her feet and followed the unicorn down the ramps. The first moment that her hoof touched the ground, however, Scootaloo darted off in a direction in an attempt to run away. Vinyl, who was quite adept in her skill of using magic, simply grabbed the filly by the tail with a purple aura and set her back down on the ground next to her. “Don’t worry, kid. I’m not gonna try anything funny,” she smiled slightly. Scootaloo grumbled, realizing her defeat, and trailed beside Vinyl. The DJ used her magic to remove her own scarf and wrapped it around Scootaloo, recognizing how cold she must have been. “Thanks,” the filly mumbled. They walked for a little while in silence. Vinyl wanted to wait until they could relax to ask any questions. Scootaloo broke the long silence with huge yawn. Vinyl noticed that her eye lids had begun to droop and her pace was slowing. “Tired, huh?” the unicorn couldn’t help but smile as Scootaloo gave another loud yawn. “Here, how about this.” She lifted Scootaloo off of the ground with her magic and placed her on her back. The filly didn’t resist, or was just too tired to. “Thanks, Vinyl,” Scootaloo muttered as she rested her head on her ride’s electric blue mane. She remained like this as her breathing became rhythmic and Vinyl knew she was asleep. She smiled. ‘Huh, cute,’she thought. The rest of the way to the destination was short and she walked quietly and as smoothly as she could so as not to wake her passenger. Vinyl stopped as she arrived at their stop and unlocked the door to her home. After closing the door behind her, she quietly continued up the stairs to her guest bedroom. She made her way to the bed and set the sleeping filly down on it before using her magic to tuck her into the blankets. She didn’t wake up and instead just mumbled something in her sleep. When she was done, Vinyl smiled and left the room, silently sliding the door shut behind her and making her way to her own bed. She sprawled herself out on her bed, lying on her stomach. The distraught DJ went over the events that had just transpired in her mind. She sighed and drifted off to sleep, choosing to deal with it when the morning comes.