“Whoa…Ehh… I didn’t expect to see this…” a voice rang from my side. I just barely heard it because I was so dang tired. I grumbled lazily since I wasn’t in the mood to even think about it. I just wanted to keep resting here on the floor next to Soundwave…
Whoa hold up!
I shot my head up and looked straight ahead to see Octavia looking at me with a smirk. She seemed to be up because her mane wasn’t a mess and she was sipping a cup of orange juice. Her purple eyes looked at me for a while and then looked over at Soundwave. I turned my head to the left to see Soundwave slumped over, almost close to leaning on me. He must’ve moved in his sleep…or at least I hope he did.
Octavia laughed, still taking sips from her orange juice. I couldn’t do anything but groan and throw my hooves over my head.
“Well, it sure seems like your guest is getting extremely comfortable” she laughed with her classy manner. I took my hooves off the top of my head and looked up at my friend. I saw her taking a sip of the orange juice and after remembering what happened last night I took the opportunity to get back at Octavia.
“I drank out of the orange juice carton last night” I said plainly. Octavia stopped sipping her cup and looked at me wide eyed. I smirked because I knew Octavia always hated that.
She put the cup down in front of her and started to make a sour face. I began to laugh tiredly and got up from under the sleeping Soundwave. I had to almost crawl my way out just to make sure I didn’t bump into the robot.
“Why do you insist on drinking straight from the carton?” she shot and then began to flick out her tongue in disgust. I was still trying to make my way out from under Soundwave. I felt kind of like Daring Do except I wasn’t equipped for a situation like this.
Once I got out I stood up on my hind legs to stretch. My back let out a loud crack that stopped Octavia from nagging about the carton situation.
“Vinyl, I think you were better off sleeping on the couch” she told me with a hoof covering her mouth. I gave her a look.
“Yeah well when your friend steals your bed, you can practically sleep anywhere because nowhere is as comfortable as your bed…” I said sarcastically shaking my mane. Octavia blushed and gave me a guilty smile.
“Sorry Vinyl. I was just really tired” she pleaded scratching the back of her head with her hoof. I laughed at the fact that she was acting nervous. It was something Octavia rarely did.
“It’s okay Octavia…just sleep on the floor next time!” I exclaimed. Octavia narrowed her eyes at me and dogged me. I gave her a wink to know that I was messing around.
Octavia’s face went back to normal as she realized I was just joking and walked over to my side. I turned around with her to look back at a sleeping Soundwave. His glasses were dim again.
“You think we should wake him up?” I asked, wondering if I should wake him up. Octavia shook her head and neighed.
“After what your house guest did to my ear lobes yesterday?” Octavia shot from the side. I turned my head at Octavia to see her staring up at Soundwave, very mad. I guess she was still mad about Soundwave scratching the disc really loud. Eh, I don’t blame her. I’d be real angry too if he did that to me.
“So I guess we just…leave him here?” I asked, not really sure what to do with the sleeping robot. Octavia sighed and turned to me.
“Vinyl, what do you want to do today?” she asked, ignoring my previous question.
“Well, today Soundwave and I are going to practice on the turntables” I said, pointing over at the turntables behind us. Octavia sighed and shook her head. It was pretty obvious she didn’t want me to talk about Soundwave. In a way it was kind of mean to shrug off one of my closest friends for a new friend.
“Don’t you have any other plans for today?” she asked looking at me with sad eyes. Aww, now I felt really bad. It wasn’t cool to ignore her. I placed a hoof to my chin to think of any other plans I had for today. Octavia watched me in silence as I thought what I had planned for today and Soundwave still sat against the wall sleeping. I thought and thought but nothing came into my mind. Wow, I tended to be really lazy sometimes.
“Hmm, well what do you want to do today?” I asked her, giving up hope that I actually had anything planned for today. I stopped doing a lot of things after me and Octavia stopped talking long ago, so I usually ate, drank, partied and slept. That was really all I did on my free time.
Octavia placed a hoof to her chin to think about what I asked her. Finally, after about a minute, she placed her hoof back on the ground. “Well it’s been a long time since I’ve been here in Ponyville” she said. “I think it will be nice to go take a walk so I could get familiar with the area again”
I placed a hoof to my chin. Hmm, a walk doesn’t seem bad. It will be a good excuse to finally get out of the house. “Okay, that’s a good idea” I told Octavia. She smiled at me and clopped her hooves together.
“Really? Oh Vinyl, this is going to be just spectacular!” she exclaimed with happy eyes. It was adorable how she did that sometimes. It’s kind of good to know that the uptight, classy friend you have can actually be a bit adventurous at times.
She began to walk to the exit of the music room but I stopped her to tell her one more thing. “Hold on, I got to take a bath. I haven’t took one in two days…” I grunted. She made yet another sour face and nodded her head.
“Okay, you do that. But don’t take too long!” she remarked and walked out of the music room. I stared at the door way for a while just to make sure Octavia was not going to come back and say something else.
Silence.
Yes, I can finally take a shower and get comfortable. All I got to do is just turn around and walk into my…
AH BUCK!
Soundwave was sleeping in front of my bathroom door. As if that wasn’t part of my worries, what was I supposed to do with him while I was gone? I facehoofed myself repeatedly for forgetting about Soundwave so quickly. I think I was so tired I didn’t even realize where he was sleeping this whole time!
I stood there looking at Soundwave as he slept in front of my bathroom door. I could still remember everything that happened yesterday (actually I think it was this morning) and how he put me to sleep. I laughed nervously to myself at the remembrance of that particular moment. I hope that’s something Octavia never finds out about. She’ll never leave me be…
I sighed and thought what I was going to do with him? Well he can transform back into the cassette player (which was freaking awesome!) and I can take him around Ponyville with no problem. I’m sure Octavia won’t mind (I just don’t have to put on the headphones that’s all). I think the biggest problem though was going to be me waking him up. How did cybertronians react when someone woke up?
I decided to just take the risk and started walking over to the sleeping robot. Besides I was not going to walk around Ponyville looking all nappy. I knew all the ponies here (just not their names) and I wasn’t going to go out making myself look bad.
Hopefully, he won’t get scared and destroy my house in the process.
***
Ratatatata!
I dropped quickly behind the blockade, barely dodging the fleet of bullets that were intended to take my head off of my body. Giving my attackers a few nano clicks to empty their magazines, I waited in silence until I could hear the satisfying sound of reloading and swapping clips.
Instinctively I rose upwards with my weapon raised to finally lay waste to my enemies: three Autobot scouts, two equipped with energon pistols and the other reloading his pulse rifle. They made the illogical error of giving me the upper hand, for I raised my Concussion Blaster and aimed it directly at the scout in front of me.
Click
...SCRAP!
The three Autobots finally finished reloading and smirked at the sound that my weapon made. I quickly dropped down behind the blockade as they continued to bombard my cover with clip after clip. Scrap, my weapon had to jam on me right now…
“Go, go, go!” a Decepticon drone shouted opening the door to lead his fellow troops through. They all scurried through the door as one of the drones stood by to keep watch of the door. I watched from a distance from behind my barrier, still taking cover from an onslaught of live ammunition. Apparently the Autobots decided to give it all they-
BOOM!
A blast erupted from within the door, sending debris and dismantled parts of the Drones that just entered. The drone standing guard was flung back by the blast, soaring across the room only to stop as he crashed into the screen of a giant HUD terminal, frying him alive. My concentration from the area was cut short as I heard the sound of an object falling to my side. I quickly turned to the source of the sound and saw an EMP grenade.
Seizing the opportunity, I quickly grabbed it and flung it blindly, throwing my arm over the blockade and letting the blast radius of the EMP affect the scouts. Once I heard the charge go off followed by the sound of sizzling circuits I quickly jumped over the blockade and ran into a full sprint towards the immobilized Autobots.
Only there were three more scouts who were unaffected by the EMP posted along the sides of the scouts. Knowing it was too late to turn back, I switched into a full run, smashing directly into the first soldier who tried to cut me down with his energon blade. I grabbed his arm as he brought the blade down, stopping him from cutting me in two halves. Once I had him by the arm, I twisted his arm, causing his chassis to become dislocated. His partner seized the opportunity to come at me from the side because he thought I was occupied with the defeated soldier before me.
He greatly underestimated me.
As the second Autobot came at me with his blade, I shifted my position three paces. This caused me to be a safe distance away from his blade’s range. I couldn’t say the same for his partner though, for the blade pierced through his partner’s twisted arm, causing the arm to separate from the slowly dying Autobot’s frame. The Nano- clicks the soldier used to look at the ‘crime’ he committed, left him vulnerable enough for me to quickly bash the side of his head with the dismantled arm of his partner (which I still had in my grasp). Once the Autobot was stunned, I quickly seized the energon blade within his grasp and plunged it into his spark.
The last Autobot that was not immobilized by the EMP blast stood there with an angered expression locked on his face. With a cry of rage he came at me with two energon blades, both a vibrant blue; A commander it seemed.
I pulled the blade out of the deceased Autobot and also engaged in a sprint at the bot. As we both descended closer to one another I lifted the energon blade upwards as he brought his blades downward. The urge to end this Autobot was so strong I was soon overcome with an unbearable strength as I plunged the blade upwards through the Autobot.
That’s when I felt a burning sensation through my circuits as his blade seared through my chest…
...
“Soundwave!”
Systems Restabalizing
“Hey wake up!”
I instantly recovered my senses and shot myself upwards in defense. The abrupt act caused my arms to flail about though as I instantly stumbled back down from the sudden move my body processed.
My head spun around wildly, trying to seek out the Autobot who came so close to ending me. I instinctively glanced over at my side to see if my circuits were still intact after remembering the events that played out in my servos. Scrap I knew I shouldn’t have fell asleep.
“Umm…are you okay Soundwave?” a stunned voice asked. I turned away from my side to glance straight ahead at the owner of the voice. Vinyl stood in front of me, glancing at me with wide stunned optics. Her purple optics gleamed into my red visor as she just stood there motionless.
I did not respond to her due to my current state so I just sat there on the ground, still trying to process the events that unfurled in my servos not too long ago. I placed my palm over my head, trying to put my sensors at ease.
Vinyl stood there staring into my visors though, not uttering a word. What was it that she wanted?
“Yes, what is it?” I snapped dryly, still disturbed from the memory that played in my mind. Vinyl seemed to be taken back by my remark, for she quickly gave me a sour look. Well at least she wasn’t just standing there looking at me oddly.
“I want you to move so I can take a shower!” she snapped, her tone shifting as she began moving her arm outwards as if to motion me moving.
Shower? What the scrap was that?
Whatever this shower was, I didn’t care at the moment. I just wanted be out of this horse’s way right now. I did not feel like dealing with any particular issues after my state of recharge.
I quickly made my way off of the ground and swiftly moved past Vinyl, almost as if she wasn’t even there.
“Good morning to you too!” A voice shouted harshly from behind as I quickly made my way out of the music room. Along the way, as if to shield the force of the shout, I closed the door from behind, separating me from the music room. Vinyl’s words created a strange feeling in my circuits, but I couldn’t stop to ponder on what was causing that feeling. My servos were just burning rapidly as I tried to regain a sense of stability.
I clasped my palm over my head once again; trying to ponder on why my mind was replaying memories I wished to be no part of anymore. It seemed as if every time I slipped back into recharge, I was only greeted with my distant self; the one that loved the feeling of destruction and extortion. It was almost as if these dreams were trying to lure me back.
That feeling of an Autobot’s internal circuits frying in my palm; it was almost too satisfying, I felt a strange feeling run up the back of my circuits. It was as if I was secretly telling myself to abandon these ‘petty’ attempts to redeem myself, and slip back into the Decepticon I once was.
I released my hand from my face and began to descend down the hall that I was lead to by the exit of the music room. I couldn’t ponder on scrap like this anymore. The more I did so, the more I was only leading myself towards the path of Straxus.
“Vinyl, is everything al-”
I turned my head to the source of the voice only to see a grey horse looking back at me wide eyed. Octavia was her name I believe.
“Oh my” the horse muttered, looking straight at me as I stared back into her optics. She seemed to look at me in an analytical way though, not out of fear.
“Is Vinyl okay?” the horse asked, finally breaking the strange silence that followed with her gaze. “I heard her scream and then there was a loud noise.”
The horse continued to look at me, waiting for me to respond, but I did not mutter a word. I had nothing to say on the topic – or wished to say nothing on the topic.
Trying to take my mind off of the topic, I attempted to pass through the door the grey horse stood, which was the region Vinyl, Rivers, and I occupied not long ago. That was met with an obstacle though.
“Excuse me.” the horse shot, placing her frame in front of my path, “you haven’t answered my question.”
She gave me a stern expression, narrowing her already slanted optics at me as if to invest a great amount of damage just by looking at me. I have succumbed to worse threats before though, so her threat seemed like nothing more than a joke.
Still, this horse seems persistent, so the only course left to take was to answer her question.
“Negative” I responded coldly, and without another word, I lightly pushed her aside. I could not tell if she resisted for it felt so easy to move her out of my way.
“What is that supposed to mean?” the horse asked furiously from behind, possibly following after me.
Like I stated before, she seemed persistent, and it seems I was right.
“It is none of your concern” I retorted, wandering aimlessly around the house in hopes of losing the horse behind me. No sooner I said that though, I immediately felt something grab my arm. I was then instantly spun around, staring straight into the purple optics of the grey horse that was now standing on two legs. She seemed to be beyond furious at that moment.
“Listen you…you – callous prick” she snapped with such disgust. “When it comes to my friend it is my concern and you will do well to remember that.”
Her courage and ferocity was way beyond what I truly expected from her considering her…elegant, nature. She showed no sign of fear as she stared into my visor, an aspect I admired. But at that moment, I was far more concerned on my own aspects than any other creatures.
“So I’m going to ask” she continued, returning back to her normal stance. She then cleared her throat theatrically. “What happened to Vinyl?”
My servos began to race once again, wondering what it would take to rid of this horse. I was not going to tell her the true reason why I suddenly became frustrated with her. That would reveal a lot more about who I truly am – a thing I have done well to keep away from Vinyl and some others.
“I have my reasons” I simply said to Octavia who stared at me with an angered expression on her face.
“Because you have your reasons?” she repeated, stooping her head down at me with a strange expression. I nodded my head in reassurance.
Octavia then shook her head for a few seconds before glancing back up at me. “You know, Vinyl really seems to care about you. She has tried real hard to convince me and the others that you are not as heartless and bitter as you put yourself, and you repay her with disrespect. Even then though, I still see how you two bond, sharing music as a common hobby”
Octavia then let out a dry laugh, possibly filled with despair and anger. “The way I see it,” she continued “You’re no different that the ponies who bullied her in her younger years”
I know little of Vinyl’s younger years and have heard little from her direct conversation with Rivers. I also knew of bullying, which was a childish tactic only common to protoforms.
But to claim I would use childish tactics to harm Vinyl like these creatures that did so before seemed preposterous. I mean, I only did what I did today for I was in a state of deep thought. That was irrelevant to the entire subject.
Or was it?
Knock Knock Knock
The noise of something knocking crossed my auditory senses, quickly relieving my mind of all other thoughts. Scrap, someone’s here. I looked at Octavia who looked at me with wide eyes, just as…
I possess a term, but I do not wish to use it in my case.
Knock Knock Knock
Octavia, now frantically walking up and down in a consistent pattern, suddenly ran to my side, placing her hooves onto my chest.
“Go hide!” she hissed silently, looking back at the source of the knocking noise.
If only she knew the meaning of the term. I could not transform due to my unresponsive shell called my body, so where was I to hide in a place as small as this?
Then again, there may have been no need to hide. It could have possibly been one of those colorful horses or possibly rivers.
The grey horse, ever so persistent, gave me no time to think though for she continued to press against me, rearing me back into the music room I just left.
“Just stay here, okay?” she shot, and quickly closed the door, leaving me to strategize a stealthy position to hide.
***
Shockwave could not believe what he was hearing at that moment. ‘interesting’ he thought to himself, as he walked alongside the Changeling queen, passing through dark textured trees that gave the region an ominous feel.
“So you’re saying that you and your companions are capable of altering your molecular structures to suit an entirely different shape?” Shockwave asked Chrysalis, rendering her totally dumbfounded.
‘What?’ the queen thought to herself, displaying a fake wicked smile in the direction of the purple armored bot as if in understanding.
Carnivac, walking alongside Shockwave, knew otherwise.
“He basically asked if you guys actually can change shape” the pretender shot, piercing the queen’s eyes with his cold, stern optics. He then began to smile slightly, allowing the queen to display its jagged pointed ends.
The queen gave the creature a quizzical look, wondering what he was smiling about, but she was in no preference to discover why.
“Yes” Chrysalis responded, shaking her bedraggled mane to her left side and looking straight ahead, taking prideful strides. “My Changelings and I are capable of shape shifting into any object, given that they are strong and well fed”
She then began to glance around the legion of changelings by her side, showing a hint of worriedness in her expression.
“As of now though” she continued, “They are in no state to test their abilities”
Shockwave ignored the queen’s worried tone, merely admiring the ability of this new found species. ‘Given the right circumstances’ Shockwave began ‘these creatures can come in use when I abstract them for my experiments’
With those thoughts, Shockwave’s optic brightened, grabbing the attention of Carnivac quickly.
“That never ends well” Carnivac muttered under his breath, shaking his head to shake off the remains of dirt and other items. The four legged creature then looked to his right side to take a good glance at the three changelings he took as personal ‘companions’.
While each other Changeling was flying, creating a light buzzing noise in the air, these bunch were forced to walk, courtesy of Drift’s request. The group looked at the robotic canine with fear in their eyes, one of them quivering from the memory of their murdered companion – slain by the teeth that gave them all a devious smile.
“We’re almost by the nearest populated location” Drift informed, leading the legion of shape shifters to their assigned destination. The dark pigmented robot looked back at the army behind him, wondering how things would turn out once they reached the city. He was not worried though, for as long as there were signs of destruction, he had no problem with the main goal.
‘Whatever that goal was’, he noted to himself.
“Ah yes” Chrysalis said sensually, almost as if she harbored a great amount of love from some large creature. “We are vastly approaching the city Shockwave” she continued, letting a grin form across her face. Her gaze did not falter though and she did not glance away from the path ahead. Neither did Shockwave.
“Remember our deal Chrysalis” Shockwave informed, trudging through the trees and making out the view of a faint light far ahead. “I care not what you do with the inhabitants of this place. You deter your path away from ours, and we shall have no issues”
The queen, taking every word in, nodded her head in understanding. “I ask the same from you, Shockwave” Chrysalis responded, fluttering her degraded wings in satisfaction.
And with that, the group carried onwards, not uttering another word as they made their way into the land of Equestria
***
Ahhh, that shower was beyond refreshing. It’s what I really needed after my minor fit with Soundwave.
Again.
I sighed heavily, as I looked at my reflection in the mirror of the restroom. Water dripped down my hair which was now straight and hanging down the side of my head. I hated it when it went like that.
I grabbed the towel from around my waist and began to shake my hair, hoping to dry it as quickly as I could. Once I finished, I threw the towel in the sink in front of me, and looked back in the mirror to see my hair pop back into its usual style. I was in a tad bit of a hurry because I wanted to make sure I spent all the time I could with Octavia in the market square. Celestia knows how long I was in the shower. I must have lost track of time in the shower when I was…
Ughh.
“Stop thinking about him” I grumbled, looking at my reflection. I stared back at myself with my own purple eyes, which had a frustrated look.
But I couldn’t get Soundwave out of my head. He was just too much to hang with. I mean, I try to be nice to him, and at times he seems really chill. But then it’s like he flips 360, suddenly hating on everything, including me.
“I seriously need to let him hang out with Pinkie more” I said to myself, placing a hoof on my chin.
Wait a minute. That’s it!
I shot my hands up in excitement, realizing I discovered one of the greatest ideas ever! Well, besides Dubstep, but that’s something else…
I’ll take Soundwave with the both of us to Ponyville and I could drop him off with Pinkie Pie at Sugar Cube Corner. That’ll give me and Octavia time to hang out while Soundwave will be chilling out with Pinkie Pie. Hopefully that will be enough time to teach Soundwave to stop being such a buzzkill…
Damn Vinyl you’re a genius!
I began to clean up the restroom with such ecstatic behavior, Octavia would call it dancing (I don’t dance. I party!). Once I felt the entire bathroom was clean, I took one long heavy sigh and made my way to the restroom door. With a wide smile spread across my face and turned the knob and opened the door.
I was beyond eager at the moment. I was now positive that this day would turn out to be great and I knew nothing would ruin it. Not even-
“Princess Celestia!” I shouted, dropping my jaw as far as I could.
There before me was Princess Celestia, in my music room, with her marvelous mane flowing as if there was a draft. I stood there frozen, scared out of my mind for two reasons; what was she doing here, and has she seen Soundwave yet?
Wait…
Oh buck no!
“Oh, Vinyl Scratch” the princess began obviously hearing my loud mouth. “I’m sorry for intruding on such short notice.”
Very short notice, that’s for sure.
“It’s quite alright princess, right Vinyl?” a voice shot from the side. I quickly turned to see Octavia walking over to my side and I knew she was just as nervous as me. She then shrugged me lightly with her hoof.
“Wha…oh yeah sure you can kick it!” I agreed nervously, without thinking. The Princess gave me an odd look, but shrugged it when she grew back her smile.
“Thank you girls” she responded, looking around my music room admiring all my stuff. Or looking for something.
Seeing the princess was distracted, I quickly turned to Octavia to see what the hay was going on.
“She knocked on the door and asked for you” she whispered to me. “And you know I can’t leave the princess outside. She would see something strange.”
Honestly, leaving the princess may have been the best thing to do. Still, at least a heads up would’ve been nice!
“Where’s Soundwave?” I whispered back, looking around for any sign of the robot that was here not too long ago.
“I don’t know” Octavia said looking back at the princess who was still looking around the house. “All I know is that he’s here in the music room.”
Buck, that’s great. Like everyone warned me before, she was going to be aware of Soundwave’s presence. I never thought she was really going to come here and see him herself.
I could not see Soundwave anywhere in the music room though, so it was possible he may have transformed into a cassette player once again. That wouldn’t stop Princess Celestia for long though.
“Uh…Princess Celestia?” I called, interrupting her thoughts. She looked over in my direction with a nice royal smile on her face.
“Yes Vinyl?”
I needed to find a way to get her out of the music room before she noticed anything strange.
“Would you like something to eat?” I blurted out, hoping that would be enough to move her to the kitchen.
“No thank you Vinyl, I don’t mean…” Celestia began, but was quickly cut off by Octavia (Yes, Octavia).
“No, we insist!” Octavia added, with a wide smile, stunning the princess for a short while. She looked at both me and Octavia with a strange look, almost as if she was noticing something was going on, but instead, she gave her usual happy smile, saying the one thing I was hoping for.
“If you two insist…”
You have no idea princess.
***
“So, forgive me for asking but…”
I then started to clank my hooves together trying to find a way to hide my nervousness. “…what brings you over here Princess?” I asked, throwing my hooves upward with a nervous smile.
Celestia was enjoying a nice meal batched up by Octavia – A fruit salad – when I asked her that.
“There is no need to apologize Vinyl” Celestia began after swallowing the last mouthful of food. “It should be I that apologizes for coming on such short notice” she repeated, looking down at me and Octavia with a kind expression. Her wings looked extremely cramped in my small kitchen space, so I was thinking whether I should be the one to really be apologizing.
“It’s quite alright princess” Octavia said, taking a sip from the glass she held in her hooves. “Although, you did catch us a bit off guard” she muttered quietly, followed by her immediately taking a sip from her cup.
“Well I’m sorry for the minor inconvenience. To answer your question Vinyl, I was on my way to pay Twilight a surprise visit, until I passed by your house.”
“Until you…passed by my house?” I repeated nervously, wondering what the princess was getting at. I glanced at Octavia who had a worried expression on her face. I tried to hide mine behind my glass of water.
“Why yes” Celestia responded happily. “Only everypony has been talking about it and it seems you’re the main star behind all this talk”
My eyes quickly shot open as I tried to let out a nervous laugh, but because I was drinking my cup of water, the result was…
“Vinyl, are you okay?” Celestia asked worriedly as she watched me choke on my cup of water. I began to hack and cough as I tried to cough out the water that went down the wrong tube. Octavia was by my side whacking my back almost as if it would help rid of the specks of water lodged in my throat.
“She’s fine princess” Octavia assured to the princess, patting my back until I was finally able to catch my breath. I was breathing heavily, trying to breath in all the air I could. I think I may have been hyperventilating a bit as well.
Was the princess talking about Soundwave? Who was talking about him? Was it Rarity? Oh so help me, if it was that gossiping unicorn…
“Are you sure?” Celestia continued, her worries only growing as I remained panting.
“I’m good princess” I responded throwing my hooves up. I then began to clear my throat, and maybe let out a few coughs here and there. Octavia just stood by my side, giving me a worried expression as well.
“So” I said as coolly as I could. “What is this….thing…everypony has been talking about?” I continued with a fake smile.
Princess Celestia looked at me as if I was insane.
“About the Battle Royale of course” she answered with a sweet smile, looking at me as if I just caught a horrible fever.
My face grew stern, realizing I completely forgot about the Battle Royale for a couple minutes.
Trying to play it cool, I let out a ‘pffft’ and flung my hoof outward.
“Oh that thing” I said, forging a chuckle. “That’s nothing”
“Vinyl Scratch” Celestia said, catching my attention. “This is a once in a life time opportunity. Only the most skilled ponies with talent such as you are allowed to enter such an event. It can’t be referred to as nothing.”
…
“You think I’m talented?” I asked the princess whose stern expression shifted into a smile.
“Yes Vinyl, you are a talented pony” she laughed light heartedly.
Sweet.
“I’m sure Vinyl knows how important the contest will be Princess” Octavia said turning to me with a smile. A real one…I think. “Right Vinyl?”
“Of course I do!” I shot, throwing my hooves behind my head. “I’m sure it’ll be a real blast” I added, imagining how it would be to bring my Bass Cannon. Oh man, that would really be a blast….
“I’m glad you think that way Vinyl” the princess continued with a warm smile. Then after that, silence.
An uncomfortable one too. I think a minute passed by of happy smiles, sipping cups, eating food, until one of us said something.
“You want a refill Princess?” Octavia asked. Princess Celestia then shook her head.
“No thank you Octavia” the princess sighed, finally moving herself away from table. “I really think it’s time for me to go. I should let you two carry on with your day”
“Are you sure princess?” Octavia asked, but I kicked her leg underneath the table, which obviously meant ‘don’t’. She jolted upward and gave me an angry look in return.
“Yes I’m sure girls” the princess chuckled, glancing around the room.
In my mind I let out a deep sigh, grateful that I survived this. I was even more grateful that Soundwave survived this encounter.
The princess gave a nod of her head, almost like she was going to say good bye, but she quickly raised her head upward, this time with her smile gone.
I looked at Octavia wondering what was going on, but Octavia looked at me as if I knew what was going on.
So, Octavia and I watched the princess glance around as if she heard something strange…
Oh c’mon!
“Princess is everything alright?” Octavia asked, making the princess turn away from…wherever she was looking at. She remained quiet for a while but finally after a while, the princess spoke.
“I’m really sorry girls, but I have one favor to ask” Celestia said, giving me a major urge to face hoof.
“What is it princess?” I asked with false enthusiasm.
“If you don’t mind, I wish to take a look around your music room” the princess informed, looking in the direction of the music room.
Aww buck what do I do now?
Do I tell her no? Wait, I can’t she’s the princess. Damn!
Ughhh… I guess Imma have to BS my way through this one…
“Sure princess” Octavia assured, cutting off all my thoughts. I stared at her at with huge eyes, wondering why she would do that.
“Ms. Scratch?” the princess called, causing me to spin in her direction. “Is it okay with you?”
Oh why me?
I took a long deep sigh and looked down at the empty glass in front of me. I felt like I was just convicted of a crime.
Which will eventually come true.
“Yes, it’s fine” I sighed, feeling I just let down a friend.
Which I just did.
The Princess stared at me for a long while, wondering if my tone meant an invitation or a sign to leave. To make sure I meant the other way, I got up from my seat and made my way to the kitchen door which led to the music room. Octavia followed quickly by my side, with a worried expression on her face.
“It’s okay Vinyl, he could disguise himself yes?” she whispered in my ear, trying to be as sneaky as possible. She was right, but what she didn’t know was that the princess knew how to detect him (according to the others). Maybe they were wrong, but in this case I was praying they were wrong.
As I finally reached the door, I took another deep sigh, realizing this may be the last time I see Soundwave. What a bummer…This could’ve worked out well.
Awesome robot that helped me create music will eventually be gone for good. Sure he had his moments, but there was still so much I wanted to know about him (I’m wondering if I should call him ‘it’). Worst of all, the last memory I have of him is not the most awesome one.
Well, I guess that’s what some people mean when all good things come to an end.
Placing my hoof on the door knob, I instantly swung it open, realizing that it was eventually going to happen. I quickly walked into the room, followed by Octavia, but strangely enough, Celestia didn’t walk in for a couple of seconds.
I lifted an eyebrow, wondering what the heck could be keeping her up for this long, but when I looked in the door frame, she seemed to be waiting by the kitchen, doing the same thing she did not too long ago.
“Princess?” I called out to her, wondering if everything was okay.
The princess, hearing her name(?) turned in my direction quickly, a look of worry stuck on her face.
“Is everything okay?”
It took her a while to respond, for she looked lost in thought… or scared.
“Everything…everything is fine Vinyl” Celestia responded, but her voice didn’t seem to say that. I have never heard the princess stammer.
“Vinyl” the princess continued, looking off somewhere, well, she knows where. “I’m afraid…I have to go. I’m sorry for the inconvenience yet again.”
Something wasn’t right, but I had no way of knowing for sure.
“Are you okay Princess?” Octavia called from my side, wondering the same thing.
“Everything is fine girls” she said looking at the both of us with her usual smile. “I’m sorry for everything, but I must speak to Twilight immediately. I hope you both understand”.
“No need to explain princess” I remarked waving my hoof. “It’s fine with us”
The princess, now calmer than before, blinked her eyes a couple of times and nodded her head.
“Goodbye girls” the princess said, looking to each of the mares from afar. “And good luck Vinyl Scratch” she quickly added, not before taking off in such a hurry. Me and Octavia were speechless for a couple of seconds, trying to follow the path of the princess through the kitchen, to the living room, and finally to the front door, where we heard the sound of a door closing.
“Didn’t even offer to walk her out Vinyl?” Octavia shot, tossing me a disapproving look as she walked to my side.
“I don’t think I would’ve been able to keep up with her” I retorted, staring at the spot the princess once stood.
“She was acting rather peculiar today, wasn’t she?” Octavia assured, walking away from my side to venture somewhere else in the music room.
She was acting really weird. Seriously, I don’t even think she came by to wish me good luck. She kept on looking up, almost as if she was sensing something from space or somewhere…
Well, it’s all good. In the end, Soundwave is safe. Not saying Celestia would’ve hurt him or anything, but who knows what would’ve happened to him. Eh, it doesn’t really matter anymore, he’s okay and that’s that.
Where is he anyways?
“Vinyl?” Octavia called, causing me to turn around away from the door frame. I looked around for her until I saw that she was up on stage. What was she doing up there?
“What happened?” I asked, seeing that she was looking down at something in the middle of the stage.
“How many of these things did you buy?” she asked, looking at me confused.
“What?” I asked confused.
Buy?
I don’t know if I was tripping out, but I quickly ran up the side of the stage, passing through the set of stairs to see what exactly Octavia was looking at.
“How many of what did I buy?” I asked as I finally made my way up onto the stage. Octavia pointed down at the big black box in front of her.
“My Bass Cannon?” I said, lifting my eyebrow upwards shocked. “I never bought my Bass Cannon. I built it!” I told Octavia, who then gave me another confused look.
“Then…how many did you build?” Octavia questioned, placing her hoof on the Bass Cannon.
“I only built one, but why are you asking me these things Octavia?”
“Really?” Octavia shot, turning away from the Bass Cannon in front of her towards the turn table set standing frontwards from the position of the stage. She then stooped over and the sound of something screeching could be heard on the ground.
I was going to ask what she was doing, but before I even got a chance, she already answered my question.
There, beside the Bass Cannon and Octavia, was another Bass Cannon.
“Then why do you have two?” Octavia shot, raising a brow upward.
My eyes shot open and my mouth fell to the ground at the realization I had two Bass Cannons. How the hay was that even possible.
“But…I…how…did you…” I stammered, but I was just too confused to speak.
Suddenly, before either one of us began to wonder how this second one came here, the Bass Cannon in the center of the stage began to glow a vibrant purple around it’s edges. Then, without warning, the Bass Cannon lifted up its front compartment, showing the vibrant glow of the Bass’ speakers, except instead of the usual blue, they were a vibrant purple.
Octavia, who stood across from me, watched in shock, as the Bass Cannon began to shape shift and morph, turning each corner of the cannon into a robotic limb of some sort. I on the other hand, was speechless as I watched the Bass Cannon form into shoulders, then arms, then legs, then a chest, and then finally, a head.
I let my mouth stay open as I saw the Bass Cannon, take form of the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
“S-Soundwave?” I heard Octavia stutter as I looked at the robot that now stood a couple inches taller than me. His entire robot mode was different now.
He was now pure black and every other part of his body was either silver or had an awesome purple glow shooting out from some parts of his body. For some reason, he looked completely different, almost as if he was...smoother? His shoulders were now bulky, each one a speaker with a vibrant purple color covered by some black armored piece. His head was different as well...but this face was a bit more pudgier than his old face. His chest was a vibrant purple too, and his visors were slanted like before…except this time they were purple as well. His legs were similar to his old ones, except they looked a bit more bulky than before and had a purple hue coming from the side of the speakers.
In other words…
“YOU LOOK SO AWESOME!” I shouted, running to the new robot and giving him a giant hug.
Soundwave quickly noticed me running towards him and tried to move away but I was faster than him and I managed to get a grip of him.
Oh man, I was so lucky I didn’t let Celestia find him.
***
By Primus that process was beyond painful.
It was the only course of action left though.
After being stuck in this music room, I heard a faint voice, none like I’ve ever heard before, ask for Vinyl Scratch. I thought nothing of it first, for I believe that grey horse would not allow her to come in, but instead, she gains full access to this household.
So unfortunately, being trapped in a horrible scenario, I was forced to rearrange my infrastructure, which would result in my ability to transform to return, and my entire anatomy to alter, but the pain would make up for the benefit.
To Vinyl Scratch, it seems like a huge benefit.
“C’mon change again! It looks so cool!” the unicorn pleaded clapping her hooves together like a small protoform.
“No” I shot, causing her to pout and cross her arms.
“Man, even when you look cool, you’re still lame” she snapped but I ignored the comment. Her friend Octavia though, was eager to push my patience.
“Don’t mind him Vinyl leave him be” she assured to the white horse patting her back. “Let’s go make our way to Ponyville shall we?”
This horse seemed to carry a strange aspect with her when she referred to me in any way. Was it the term known as jealousy? No, it must be for the remark she made to me earlier.
Persistence is her specialty it seems, in the case of annoyance and grudges.
Vinyl Scratch quickly grew wide eyed and looked at me and her grey friend in unison.
“Yeah I’m so ready to go!” she yelled, an overbearing amount of excitement in her tone. I lifted up one side of my visor in curiosity, wondering what was going on in her servos.
Her friend Octavia had a smile as well, but it seemed to carry a flaw. It was apparent she was thinking in the same manner as I.
“You’re very eager to go Vinyl” the horse remarked watching as her white coated companion began to run to a door from the side of the music room. Upon opening it, she quickly pulled out a strange lift that carried small wheels underneath.
She then quickly ran back to the both of us, with a wide smile on her face. “Alright, I’m ready!”
“Vinyl what are you doing with such an item? I thought we were going to do some sightseeing, not go on a shopping spree.”
Then it hit me.
“That’s not why she has that” I said, attracting the attention of the grey horse.
“Well then why else would she have that?” the horse asked, pointing her hoof in the direction of the lift.
At that point, I lifted one side of my visor and tilted my head to the side, something a con known as Swindle used to do long ago.
And apparently, the horse knew exactly what it meant.
***
“Are you planning to take him with us Vinyl?” Octavia asked me, sounding almost disappointed. That tone sort of killed my mood for a while.
“Yeah I’m taking him with us, but he’s not going to be hanging out with us”
“I am in no interest to go, so let’s end this argument here” Soundwave responded, crossing his arms, which now looked like jagged spikes.
“No, Soundwave, C’mon!” I whined, hoping my plans won’t be ruined.
“No, Vinyl if he doesn’t wish to come, let him be” Octavia said, causing me to look in her direction.
“You don’t know when to quit do you?” Soundwave shot, making me turn back in his direction. He was talking to Octavia.
And then things got kind of out of hoof.
“What are you getting at?”
“You don’t let nothing slip past you do you?”
“I most certainly don’t, especially when my friends are involved!”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t care for your friends...”
“Enough!” I shouted, catching the attention of both Soundwave and Octavia who looked like they were going to tear each other’s throats. I lost my patience real quickly and I was in no position to hear the two bickering.
No one was going to ruin my plans!
“You” I shouted, pointing at Soundwave who stared at me with a nonchalant expression. “Hop on this thing and transform.”
He raised his visor at me, almost as if he thought I was joking.
“Are you serious?” he chuckled, driving my anger over the edge. Bad enough I was already enraged by him. I heard his remark about not caring about her friends. Which was me. After saving his flank from Celestia and actually caring he says that. If he was going to be like that, then that’s how it was going to be.
“Now” I snapped, rearing closer to Soundwave and standing on my hind legs. Soundwave’s expression slowly changed back to a stern expression, and without another word, he made his way onto the lift and transformed into the Bass Cannon.
His comment almost made me listen to Octavia, because why the buck should I worry about some robot that doesn’t care about me?
Still, like an idiot, I still believe Soundwave could change his attitude big time if he hanged with Pinkie.
One down, one to go.
“You” I said, pointing my hoof at Octavia who looked back at me wide eyed. “This is what’s going to happen. I’m going to leave Soundwave with Pinkie Pie. I don’t care what he has to say, he’s doing it!” I said, a little louder so Soundwave could hear what I was saying.
Octavia, whose eyes were still wide, nodded her head in understanding.
“Once we drop him off, me and you are going to have a damn good time, and nothing is going to stop that. It’s only going to be me and you and we’re going to have the best damn time together alright?” I continued, slowly raising my voice with each word in the sentence.
Octavia nodded her head in understanding, this time with a smile slowly growing across her face. I guess she thought I was messing around, but to be honest, I think I was losing it for a while. Still, she understood what I was saying and didn’t question it so that was good enough for me.
“Okay then” I smiled, still a bit jacked up in the head, but I was able to get by. “Let’s go to Ponyville!” I shouted, grabbing a hold of the lift that carried Soundwave and made my way out of the music room.
“Vinyl?” Octavia called from behind causing me to turn back for a short while.
“You going out with your shades again?” she asked, warning me that my eyes were vulnerable.
Strangely enough though, I didn’t go back and get them. Instead I just said the first thing that came to my mind.
“Ah, buck it” I said, smiling. Octavia didn’t give me any confused look after that though. Instead she let out a slight laugh and walked by my side.
“You really want nothing to bother you today do you?” Octavia asked, causing me to stop for a while.
“Well, I want to hang out with you for as long as I can. I mean you’re my best friend Octavia, and I want to kick it with you and make up for lost time” I answered, giving the cellist a friendly smile.
Octavia let out a small ‘aww’ and gave me a quick hug. “You still haven’t changed since your younger years Vinyl”
“Is that a good thing?” I asked, confused.
Octavia looked around for a while before answering my question.
“Damn straight” she giggled, almost as if it was her first time saying a swear word.
I let out a laugh, realizing that actually may have been her first time saying a bad word.
“Thanks Octavia” I said, and continued my way out the front door to enjoy a damn good time with my friend.
Hopefully Soundwave would lighten up too. His mood swings were becoming unbearable, so hopefully Pinkie Pie would be able to lighten his spirits.
Who knows maybe in the end, he would be able to truly learn the ideas of being fun.
***
She was acting really weird. Seriously, I don’t even think she came by to wish me good luck. She kept on looking up, almost as if she was sensing something from space or somewhere…
The scientist had no words to describe how he felt at that exact moment. His servos began to race as he began to ponder on the sight before him, wondering how such a course of evolution was possible.
‘Civilized horses’ he informed himself, glancing around the streets of the city they stumbled open, scanning over the eyes of petrified ponies who stared back at his single yellow optic. Each horse remained frozen, beyond petrified from the legion of changelings who waited at the border of the city.
Chrysalis walked alongside Shockwave, who was accompanied by Carnic and Drift. The queen soon began to feel revitalized, sensing love around the area she was banished from seep into her stomach, filling her up with an extravagant feast.
She would’ve licked her lips in satisfaction, but she did not want to display her barbaric manners in front of the cybertronians. Carnivac had no thought to hold back.
The canine drooled maliciously as he gazed at each and every horse, sensing a great hunt in the near future. His eyes grew ecstatic as he visualized the sight of tendons ripping from limbs and muscular fibers stretching beyond comprehension.
Drift was behind the entire group, traveling slowly with the three changelings of their choice, all of which, remained huddled and afraid.
Finally, seeing the mood was finally set, all treacherous figures came to a halt, making sure to position their plan directly in the heart of the city.
Shockwave, astonished from the sight of these creatures, had no way of expressing his thoughts on this dimension. Not that he needed to anyways. He was far more concerned with the plan in hand than the lowly species before him.
“Chrysalis” Shockwave remarked, glancing over to the vile, disfigured queen who portrayed a wicked smile on her face.
“Shockwave” she said, a hint of satisfaction in her tone.
Carnivac let out a shiver, finding her tone a little too satisfactory.
“We have done our part of the bargain” he noted, glancing at the ponies around him who watched in horror. “Now, it is time for us to part”
“Our deal is not yet over Shockwave” the queen retorted, grabbing the attention of the scientist who was glancing back at Drift. “But, you have my permission to part, for I know you grow tired of waiting for your revenge.”
Shockwave, with no way to display an expression, remained silent.
The queen paid no attention to his silence though. Instead, she merely waved him off with a hoof.
“You may go now” she commanded, glancing around at the ponies with hungry eyes.
Shockwave, glancing at his two comrades, nodded his head, informing them it was time to enact their plan. Drift followed Shockwave’s lead, the changelings following suit with their heads hung low, but Carnivac was hesitant. He did not wish to venture forth. He wanted to remain where he was posted, eager to tear through the horses that inhabited the region.
Shockwave would not allow it though.
“Carnivac” Shockwave shouted, causing the animal to rear his head. The scientist didn’t even need to utter a word. He knew defiance would lead to a fate far worse than death, so through gritted fangs, the robotic canine trudged past the queen over to his faction. Then without another word or gaze, they were gone.
Chrysalis eyed the cybertronians as they departed, noting to herself something was not right with that group. She knew Shockwave could not be trusted, thus, the decision to let him go was tough.
But she was far more intrigued with the reward before her. She could not wait to wreak havoc on the place she was casted from. All those days, planning and forging ideas of revenge…
She was sure she was going to give a memorable speech this day, one that will bury itself into the very bones of every pony. She could not wait any longer though. The hunger drove her, and she knew her Changelings were hungry as well. She knew all too well they were eager to feast.
“Changelings!” she shouted, with a wicked smile curling on each side of her face. That was all she needed to say to start a frenzy - in both the changelings and the citizens of Hoofington.
Driven by hunger, the Changelings instantly began to fly rampantly, spreading their acidic gunk all over the city, terrorizing each citizen as they fled to safety. Ponies tripped over one another, trying to flee from the horrifying substance that burned through households and asphalt.
Chrysalis laughed maniacally, finding their attempts to flee pathetic. She knew she had each and one of them underneath her hoof, and soon, she would have all of Equestria underneath it.
All she needed was time.
***
Shockwave watched from afar as the Changelings grew rampant, destroying everything within their path.
‘Animals’ he thought to himself as he saw a flame erupt, reflecting off his optic. ‘Only reason they need to be tamed and obedient’.
Carnivac watched in disgust, envy flourishing over his mind. He hoped that he was the one that would instill fear into these obsolete creatures, not a lower species.
Drift was only mesmerized by the destruction at hand, surprised to see these creatures were capable of such potential. He could do nothing but give the changelings beside him an ounce of respect.
But one question burned in Drift’s servos the entire time, and he was eager to discuss it with the scientist.
“Shockwave” Drift called, not catching the attention of the bot. Shockwave seemed to be mesmerized by the chaos unfurling before him. Drift continued onward though.
“Why strike a deal with these creatures?”
Shockwave’s connection with the destructive scene before him quickly broke, for he reared his head to the side, taking the assassin’s words into his servos.
“Do you not see what I see, Drift?” the scientist remarked, a hint of fascination in his tone.
Drift raised an eyebrow, trying to weigh Shockwave’s words.
“I see destruction” Drift answered, causing Carnivac to snort.
“Doesn’t take a genius to see that” Carnivac spat.
“I’m afraid you speak from hind sight then…” Shockwave snapped, turning around to face Drift.
“For you see, we see two things differently. You see destruction” Shockwave informed pointing his pulse cannon to the city becoming decimated, “Whereas I see a distraction.”
“What are you getting at?” Carnic snarled, curiosity creeping into his mind.
“We now have the element of surprise my comrades” Shockwave informed looking at both Decepticons before him, who had a puzzled look plastered across their face.
“With these creatures terrorizing this wretched place, our goal to find that lap dog becomes more unknown, for all these vile organisms will be too concerned with the threat before them”
“You are insane Shockwave” Drift remarked through crossed arms. This cybertronian was treacherous, and Drift knew that. He could never grasp onto the plans his diabolical mind created.
“A necessary aspect to achieve my goal” Shockwave noted, passing by Drift, who was now confused once again.
‘That was never the plan?’ he thought to himself.
“What is this goal you banter about?” Drift shot.
Shockwave let out a tired laugh, almost as if he was fed up of answering idiotic questions.
“All in time Drift” he answered placing a hand on his shoulder. “All in good time”
Suddenly, the sounds of shrieks could be heard from the side, causing the two bots to turn to their left side. There in the alley were a group of horses, trembling and grasping onto one another at the sight of the aliens before them.
Drift immediately looked to his side to watch Carnivac, whose mouth began to drool excessively. His tone grew from growling, to whining, to a mixture of both.
“Oh dear Celestia” one of the horses prayed, holding onto a yellow horse.
Drift knew what was racing through the animal’s mind, and he knew what would become of the group.
“Carnivac” Shockwave snapped, causing the creature to stir violently towards the scientist. His red optics pleaded for this opportunity to hunt.
To torture.
To kill.
Shockwave looked back at the group, trying to ponder on the consequences that would follow Carnivac’s frenzy, and he knew all too well there were too many. Carnivac’s blood lust would only lead to clues of their arrival, and he knew all too well that would leave skepticism in the minds of these creatures.
“No Carnivac” Shockwave stated, glancing at all the horses who were deciding whether to flee or remain still.
Sadly one of them could no longer bear with the tension. In a desperate attempt to flee, a grey earth pony began to run, instantly attracting the attention of Carnivac. The canine was so blind with rage though, he immediately went for the group, which now closed their eyes and screamed in fear, knowing they would meet their end.
Seconds passed by since the horses closed their eyes, and strangely enough, they did not feel any pain. No, instead they felt the mist of warm breath pressed against their skin, the sound of struggling and wailing, and the stench of something rotting.
The horse opened their eyes in confusion, only to see Carnivac before them, staring at them with furious optics as he tried to fight against a vibrant purple chain, restraining the creature from tearing them to shreds.
“If I were you” Drift said, as serious as can be, “I’d start running”
And that was all that needed to be said to send the horses screaming their heads off down to the end of the alley from which they came.
Drift glanced down at Carnivac who sniveled and growled with rage. He began to transform, in an attempt to break free from the restraints that held him but it was no use. The chain merely met the shape of his alt mode.
“Damn you Shockwave” Carnivac snarled, enraged beyond comprehension. Shockwave watched from a distance, enjoying the sight of Carnivac struggling from the restraints.
“You did not think I would create something as vicious as you and not find a way to tame it?” Shockwave spat, his visor turning into a dark red glow.
“You should’ve listened Carnivac, it would have made things easier” Drift remarked, trying to hold in a chuckle.
“Shut it Drift!” Carnivac snapped, still struggling to free himself.
“So, what now” Drift asked watching Carnivac fail continuously.
Shockwave watched Carnivac fail as well, until finally he grew tired of the show.
“We wait until he tires himself out” Shockwave responded. Then, lifting up his left arm, he began to turn a dial on his wrist, causing the glow of the restraints to increase.
‘He is a descendant of Unicron’ Drift remarked, shaking his head with a wide smirk.
***
“You can’t be serious Vinyl” Octavia said as we passed through the streets of Ponyville. Ponies looked at me strangely, obviously because I was carrying my large Bass Cannon on a lift. Yeah, I would’ve thought I was insane if I saw that myself.
“Yep, I totally fell off the stage” I assured her, feeling a bit embarrassed as well. I was telling her about this one time I went to an underground gig and well, one thing led to another. In short, I fell off stage. I was pretty gone at that party. You could ask Pinkie, she was there. Well, I don’t think she remembers it too well either.
Octavia let out a giggle and shook her head gently. “You’re too much Vinyl” she sighed playfully, walking calmly by as ponies continued to watch as we passed through. It was a nice sunny day although it did seem kind of cloudy. Maybe Rainbow Dash fell asleep on the job again but eh, I like cloudy days so screw it.
Some ponies even gave me props for my last gig, telling me it was possibly the best one they’ve been to in their entire life. Others asked how they were behaving because they couldn’t exactly remember what happened….
“Hey that was a tight performance Scratch” an orange pony shot, shooting a hoof upwards to give me props.
“Thanks bro!” I shouted back, throwing one of my hooves up in return. My other hoof was holding onto the lift, and I swear my hind legs were beginning to kill me. Damn, could Soundwave get any heavier!
Well I didn’t have to worry any longer. Sugar Cube Corner was…well just around the corner, so soon it’ll all pay off.
“So Octavia, where do you want to go after we drop of the Bass Cannon for Pinkie Pie” I said, giving a wink.
“Anywhere Vinyl” Octavia answered with a warm smile. “As long as we have a nice time to catch up”
Damn that pony. She always had a habit of making me all soft and stuff. I hated that.
“Alright then” I said giving her a warm smile in return.
See!
Finally we made it to Sugar Cube Corner which may have been the most glorious moment of the day (Umm…maybe not). Quickly I tapped Octavia on the shoulder and pointed at the door, hoping if she could knock on it for me. My hooves were a little full from holding onto the lift.
Knock Knock Knock
Now all was left was too…
“Hiya girls!” Pinkie boomed, opening the door so quickly I felt my hair move in the direction of the door.
“Hey Pinkie” I said, poking my head inside her small shop, trying to see if anypony was around. Gladly Nopony was around, so it seems my plan was going to work. Yes!
“Hello Pinkie” Octavia said as well, trying to be mannerly and all that.
“Watchu guys doing here!” She continued, bouncing up and down as if she hasn’t seen us in years.
Before I could tell her anything though, she grew wide eyed and her mouth opened in excitement, as she glanced down at the Bass Cannon.
“Are we going to have a party?” Pinkie exclaimed, clapping her hooves together happily. I looked away from Pinkie for a while and began to look around and see if any ponies were passing by.
Not a pony around luckily.
“Err, well…Pinkie” I said, scratching the back of my head with my hoof. “I was kind of wondering if…”
“Your Bass Cannon can talk too?” Pinkie asked, her eyebrow going high in confusion.
Well, that was easier than expected.
“Well, that’s the thing Pinkie” Octavia pitched in. “The Bass Cannon is…well…”
Suddenly Pinkie’s eyes got really huge, and began to look at the both of us, almost as if we did something wrong.
“What happened?” I asked.
“He sounds mad” Pinkie whispered, cupping her hooves around her mouth and then pointing down at the Bass Cannon.
Aww buck. I facehoofed myself and took a long deep sigh.
“Do you already know who it is Pinkie?” I asked through closed eyes. By Celestia, this guy wasn’t going to make it easy.
Pinkie stood quiet for a while, with a hoof on her chin, until she finally said something.
“Aww he sounds really grumpy” she said glumly, but with a hint of her Pinkie charisma. That’s how I knew the next thing she would say would be music to my ears.
“I think you two should leave him with me today!” Pinkie recommended, flashing her happy smile as if she came up with the idea herself. “I’m sure I’ll be able to cheer him up!”
“You think you can do that Pinkie?” I asked with false enthusiasm. It was a little mean, but it was funny at the moment.
Pinkie didn’t think anything of it though for she bolted Celestia knows where so quickly I could feel my hair being pulled by the force once again. Before I could look at Octavia or give a happy smile, Pinkie abruptly came back, dressed as a…
“Doctor Pinkie can help cheer him up!” She began with glee. “I majored in fun-ology!”
Fun-ology? I looked over at Octavia, hoping she could tell me if that was real or not, but she only gave me a shrug.
“I promise I’ll be able to cure his gloominess in no time!” she assured, pulling out a wacky instrument of some sort. It looked like a combination of every known instrument ever invented.
“Err… what is that strange…” Octavia began but was cut short from the sudden noise of multiple instruments playing at once. Pinkie’s cheeks began to grow big as she blew into a trumpet, her hooves moved quickly as they fiddled with strings, banged on triangles and bashed the sides of drums.
I could do nothing but laugh at the sight of Pinkie’s performance.
At that moment, I knew for sure Soundwave will not be so bitter at the end of the day.
“Oh man” I laughed, banging my hoof on the rails of the lift, “I’m sure he’ll be better off with you Pinkie”
I turned to Octavia, wondering if she found the performance as funny as I did. She was giggling when I saw her, so if Octavia was laughing, I was sure Soundwave would be…well as Pinkie put it, cured.
“I can promise he will be 110 percent better when you come back!” she assured her poufy hair bouncing around.
“Thanks Pinkie, you’re the best” I said, pushing the lift inside of the sweet, bright, pink store of hers. It was kind of messy, with chairs and tables scattered around. I think she was doing some rearranging.
“No problem Vinyl” Pinkie said, giving me a huge smile.
“So why’d you guys come anyways in the first place?” Pinkie continued, shaking her entire body as she invited Octavia into the shop.
Oh snap, I didn’t tell her it was because of that.
“Oh, well, you see…” I began but was cut short by Octavia.
“We were just walking by and we decided to pay you a visit, that’s all” Octavia told her, giving her a nice smile and looking over at me with eyes that told me ‘right Vinyl?’.
“Yeah, that’s right” I repeated, putting on a huge smile. My face was beginning to grow sore from all this smiling.
“Aww” Pinkie Pie said sweetly, “You guys are the best!”
She then ran to both me and Octavia and swept us into her arms, squeezing us tightly. The infamous Pinkie hug, is what I’m going to start calling it.
“Pinkie…” Octavia groaned. She was obviously not use to Pinkie’s hugs.
“Oh sorry” Pinkie apologized, releasing us both from her grasp.
“Well, we got to go now Pinkie” I sighed, catching my breath once again. Pinkie Pie pouted in response.
“Really?” she whined, looking at us with huge teary eyes.
“Yeah I’m sorry Pinkie. We’ll be back though” I told her, in hopes of making sure she didn’t cry.
Seeing that I fell for it, Pinkie quickly went back to her happy personality. “Yes!” she shouted, bouncing up and down in glee.
So after saying our goodbyes, Octavia and I made our way outside of Pinkie’s shop. After closing the door, Octavia’s smile disappeared pretty quickly.
“Are you sure leaving Soundwave with Pinkie is a good idea?” she whispered, glancing around to see if anypony heard her. To be honest, I was thinking the same thing.
But I had faith in Pinkie. After all she is one of the funniest ponies I know. If anyone can make Soundwave change, it would be her.
“Oh I’m sure she’ll be fine” I said with a wide smile. “Besides, now it’s time to kick it” I continued giving Octavia a light punch in the arm.
“Just because I have class Vinyl does not mean I won’t get you back” she snapped with a devious smile.
***
This.
Is.
Torture.
I have completely lost hold of myself. Why do I continue to stick around? I am being forced to do things against my will by horses. Horses!
Ughh. Just get it together you lumbering rust bucket. You’re not mad at any of them. Well, yes, I am actually. My patience for these horses is just worn thin by the constant memories looping in my mind. I need to ignore them if I want to last out here in this damn world. And survive this encounter with…
“C’mon Soundwave!”
My shoulders cringed as the pink horses ecstatic behavior burns into my neurosensors. It seems my group has abandoned me with the horse known as Pinkie Pie…
“Look it Soundwave! Look!” the horse pleaded, causing me to look in her direction for a short while. She seemed to have brought out a bright shiny ball from the top of her ceiling and she seemed to be displaying strange ridiculous moves I found childish.
Seeing that her behavior provides no use to me, I turn away, and ignore her odd routine.
Suddenly, a loud screech came out of nowhere and the lights shining around the room suddenly disappeared from view. I began to look around, seeing the room turned back to its usual setting, but for some odd reason, Pinkie was nowhere in sigh-
“You’re one tough patient” A voice called from the side, causing me to turn my entire attention to the front. There before me was Pinkie Pie looking straight into my visor.
Had I not caught myself before, I would’ve smashed the horses head. If it was that easy...
I could recall the agility this horse had. It was beyond achievable.
The horse continued to stare into my visors, almost as if she was trying-
“You talk to yourself a lot”
Well, she was a mind reader.
“You’re still doing it”
Now I can’t even-
“Are you talking to someone else?”
By Primus…
“Look” I told the pink horse in front of me. “Could you stop that for a while?”
“Stop what?” she asked puzzled. I was just about to pull another sentence from my servos until I actually took in her words.
Hmm. Does she ever think about what she does?
“Soundwave” the horse called, causing me to lose my train of thought. She looked at me with a more serious expression, much unlike her usual happy self.
“I think I know what’s wrong with you” she continued, taking a seat next to me.
I lifted one side of my visor, puzzled by her words.
“There’s nothing wrong with me” I shot, trying to ridicule her for such a ridiculous claim. But I knew otherwise.
“You just said you knew otherwise” Pinkie retorted, shutting me up.
“Look, you don’t know who I am” I snapped, facing the direction of the pink horse. “You don’t know of my past, my sins, nor do you know where I come from” saying a little more than I should have.
The horse giggled (yes, giggled) at the sight of my frustration. That was really beginning to short circuit my servos, but the horse said something after her laugh.
“Of course I know who you are” she giggled, her happy personality coming back.
She did?
“You’re Vinyl Scratch’s friend” she continued with a big eager smile.
At that moment, my body froze. Vinyl’s friend?
Okay, maybe yesterday I may have let a thought like that slip my mind but I cannot fool myself. I have no friends. That is because I am in no need of friends-
“That’s your problem” the horse snapped pointing her hoof at me.
“What?”
“Your problem is that you think TOO much” Pinkie explained, throwing her hooves up in the air.
Think too much? Of course I think too much. I’m a communications expert, I must know how to analyze every bit and see it fit to my benefit…
But then again, I am in no need to extort information anymore. I resigned myself from the broken faction I was part of long ago, ever since I made my way here…
…
She’s right…
“I told you!” the pink horse exclaimed, reading my thoughts once again.
“Will you stop doing that?” I ordered once again, causing Pinkie to put on an odd expression.
“Stop doing what?” she asked, with a huge amount of innocence.
Uhh why did she keep saying that?
Wait. She keeps saying that because…
She doesn’t think about it. She just goes on as if nothing has happened. Her innocence was no coincidence.
She didn’t give a damn, and because of that she never dealt with an issue.
“Exac-“
I gave the pink horse a cold stare, for that was surely driving my servos insane.
The pink horse wilted momentarily, but then she gave me a warm smile.
“Sorry” she apologized giggling. “But you finally got the point!”
She then began to prance around in a joyous manner.
“Yes, we’re already making progress!” she announced, twirling in circles. Her innocence was beyond the limits of any other organism I’ve seen. It was almost enough to bring a smile under my face plate.
But instead it brought out a short chuckle.
Pinkie Pie stopped twirling for she heard the sound of my chuckle. Scrap, that was not good.
The pink horse turned around and looked at me with wide eyes and an open mouth.
“You…you just…” she stammered, trying to intake the weight of my act.
“Yes, Pinkie” I sighed, knowing there would be no way to deny what I did. It seems I finally met my match and it’s strange that someone who possesses the ability to extort one’s thoughts can be so pure and unbroken.
“I laughed” I admitted, shaking my head. I can’t believe I just did that.
All of a sudden, a large pink cloud of some sort began to slowly pop up with a smiling horse underneath the giant cloud.
“This calls for a celebration!” she shrieked, pulling out a plate of pink squishy objects.
“They’re cupcakes silly, try one!” she continued pestering me to try one. I knew I could not eat this though for my body would not be able to digest such a substance.
Still, the pink horse being ever so persistent forced me to shove one of these vile items down my mouth, removing my face plate from my face for a short while.
Pinkie Pie watched in amazement as I ate the strange item that had no flavor, and continued to watch as I hacked out bits of the pink squishy item.
“No cupcakes for you I guess?” Pinkie remarked as a question as I continued to cough and choke on the disgusting item.
“How could you not like Cupcakes?” she asked, almost beyond petrified. “Everypony likes cupcake!”
Yeah…EveryPONY…
“Well, then what do you eat?” she asked almost confused.
I was going to tell her my food source is not found here until I remembered that chemical substance that purple unicorn Twilight gave me.
As charismatic as I could and finding enough courage not to relieve my intestines of energon, I decided to test my luck.
“I know where to get it…but we need to leave to find it” I informed.
Pinkie Pie placed a hoof on her chin. “Oh I don’t know…” she said, lost in thought.
“Please?” I grumbled, almost on the verge of letting my cavity drop. I never thought I would need to say that term in my life.
“Well, okay but only because you said please!” she exclaimed gleefully, tidying up the rest of her shop to get ready.
Yes, a fresh batch of energon would help this entire time with Pinkie go by real quickly. Maybe a bit more energon will at least loosen me up so I could become a little more…
What is the term I could use…?
Un- melancholy?
***
“Are you prepared for your performance Vinyl Scratch?” Octavia asked as she handed the stallion behind the counter a couple of bits. I thought maybe a nice round of coffee would be nice for the both of us. Kind of…I sort of asked the guy if he could ‘loosen’ my coffee a bit. Yeah it was a little early, but we’ve been kind of covering up about my past for a while and...yeah.
We then walked back to a table with an umbrella perched up on the top. The sun seemed to be dimming but I didn’t think much of it. Me and Octavia were walking around for quite some time.
“Me?” I asked, trying to play it off cool. “I’m beyond prepared! I’m going to run the others into dirt when I’m done.”
I then let out a nervous laugh and took a sip from my coffee. Just don’t go overboard Vinyl. Just don’t overdo it.
“You seem really confident” Octavia smiled. She then took a sip of her coffee, and looked to the side.
“Is something on your mind Phil?” I joked, teasing on her last name. Octavia turned to me with a cold stare, the ones that tell you shut up or else.
“Well, I’ve just been wondering Vinyl…” Octavia sighed, tapping her hooves together.
“Yeah?” I asked, becoming more interested in the topic.
“…What if you don’t win?” she asked, seeming almost worried.
“Well, that would suck” I said, then letting out a weak laugh, but I was really thinking about her question.
What if I didn’t win? Sure everything will be the same, but considering my rivals are my old bullies, the loss would be pretty painful.
“Honestly Octavia” I said, looking to the side, “I don’t think I am going to lose”
Octavia’s worried expression changed shortly after, possibly because she saw I was looking at things positively.
“I’m glad you’re thinking that way Vinyl” Octavia smiled, taking another sip from her coffee. Her classy eyes were like that of a cat. I was always jealous of her eyes.
“Mmm” Octavia grumbled, reaching her hoof out towards my coffee. “Mind if I try it?” she asked, with her hoof still outwards.
Uh oh.
“Ehh…I got Black coffee” I lied, causing Octavia to raise a brow in confusion.
“Vinyl you hate black coffee”
…
“Hey” I laughed nervously, “Just want to try new things” I shrugged.
Octavia gave me a puzzled look for a long while, before finally giving up on the coffee.
“So” I began taking a sip from my coffee. “How do you feel about your upcoming performance?”
I felt like a jerk for not asking about her performance since she arrived, so I figured it would be great to discuss about that.
“Oh Vinyl” Octavia cooed. “It feels great to know I’ll be playing alongside some of the most talented ponies in Equestria”
Her voice sounded dreamy, almost as if she was lost in her mind.
“Really?” I asked surprised. I always found it surprising how she found music like that to be interesting or entertaining. Maybe it’s because of the way she could relate to it but I don’t know.
“Yes. Hans Zimmermane is a talented stallion, and his take on symphonies is something maybe you would enjoy Vinyl” she answered, speaking in her faint, lost tone.
Hmm, well I am going to go to her performance, so I’ll be the judge of that.
Speaking of music, I thought of a plan that would involve a little more walking.
“Are you tired Octavia?” I asked, watching as she continued to move around in her thoughts.
“Mmm…no, why?” she answered, slowly breaking away from her mind.
After that, I quickly downed my coffee (the liquor provided a foul taste in the back of my throat” and went over to Octavia’s side.
“How about we pay a musician a surprise visit?” I smirked, casting a wink to Octavia who was a bit clueless.
She won’t be for long though.
***
“You can’t be serious” Octavia pleaded, looking up at the infamous hill that led to River’s home.
Buck yeah I was serious!
“It isn’t as bad as it looks” I lied, slowly panting for I was already tired from the other hills before this massive monster.
“I have the feeling that you’re not being completely honest with yourself…” she shot, panting as well.
“Well let’s not waste our breath talking” I shot, finally taking the first few steps up on the hill. Octavia took one long huge sigh and began to follow after me.
This steep hill brought back memories from the first time I ventured to Rivers’ home. Although it had its share of embarrassing moments and the events afterword resulted in a broken door, the events in the middle seemed to be alright.
“By Celestia” I heard from behind, causing me to spin my turn my head around my shoulder. Octavia seemed to be struggling behind me, and she seemed really close to toppling over.
“It’s okay Octavia, we’re…almost…there…” I panted, fatigue beginning to hit my body.
So we both continued onward, trying to fight the tiredness eating away at our muscles. Octavia almost fell a couple of times but luckily I was quick enough to catch her each time.
Finally, as we made our way to the top of the hill, the sound of stranger noises could be heard from afar but Octavia wasn’t paying attention to the noise.
“Oh my, this…is where…Rivers lives?” Octavia asked, panting heavily, completely mesmerized by the house.
“I know…right?” I remarked, still a little surprised by his nice house and tired from the journey. The view up on the hillside was awesome as well, making the place ten times better than it already was…
Speaking of which…
“Wait until you see the inside…though” I panted slowly walking towards the entrance of the house. Rivers’ door was wide open though. And behind that, his music door was open as well.
And in the middle of the music room, stood Rivers, standing on his hind legs fiddling with a mic.
“What is...he doing?” Octavia asked, thinking the exact same thing as me. The sounds of strings playing and drums beating in practice suddenly made me realize what was going on.
“Octavia” I said tiredly, turning to my classy friend. “Let’s enjoy the concert” I smiled.
“Concert?” Octavia repeated, not catching my drift.
So I place myself down on the soft grass, and sprawled myself outwards. “Just relax and trust me on this one” I sighed, closing my eyes and taking my own advice. Rivers said he was in a band, and I never got to see him action. I knew this would be cool.
I heard Octavia sigh, but I knew she listened to me for I heard the sound of grass crunching beneath her weight. Not that she was fat or anything.
Suddenly, the sound of strings strumming in a rhythmic fashion instantly caught my attention, which was soon followed by the light beats of the drum. It seemed peaceful and calm, and almost made me sigh in relief. That was until I heard a soft voice sing the first verses of the song.
Lost again
Broken and weary
Unable to
Find my way
I quickly got up from the grass region eager to find whose voice that was. It took only a quick second to see who it was.
Tail in hand
Dizzy and clearly unable to
Just, let this go
It was Rivers. He had his eyes closed, almost as if entranced in the beat and flow of the song.
I am surrendering
To gravity and the unknown
Catch me
Heal me
Lift me back unto the sun
I choose to live
I looked on in shock as Rivers, the horse I barely knew, carried the most mesmerizing voice I’ve ever heard in my life. I mean there was no way to comprehend his voice.
With eyes closed, he began to repeat the previous verses before leaving off with a slow, eerie, yet gentle(?) combination of chords.
I looked at Octavia who looked at me with an open mouth, almost shocked as me. It did not last long though for I instantly returned my gaze back to Rivers once he began to continue.
Calm these hands, before they
Snare another pill, and
Drive another nail down
Another needy hole
Please, release me
My mouth slowly opened at the sheer power of those lyrics. I didn’t understand it though. What did it mean? My thoughts were interrupted as soon as he continued on with the song.
I am
Surrendering to gravity and
The unknown
Catch me
Lift me back up to the sun
I choose to live
I choose to live…
…
With that, Rivers let go of the mic, eyes still closed as the drummer and guitarist carried the flow of the songs gorgeous essence.
I was speechless. Literally, I had nothing to say.
All I could do was look at Octavia who looked at me with shocked eyes. They looked glassy, almost as if she was on the verge of tears.
“Was his song that cool?” I asked, finding no other reason why she would be crying.
Octavia shook her head though.
“No” Octavia sniffed, wiping the tears that began to form on her eyes.
“No?” I asked confused. How could anyone not think that song was awesome? No, it was beyond that!
“Vinyl, did you not hear those lyrics? Did you not see the way Rivers was acting?” she asked, causing me to think.
“Well, the lyrics were deep and all, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“Lyrics are a gateway to a message” Octavia told me, wiping her eyes once again. “It was no coincidence Rivers did that song perfectly. He could relate to it!”
My ears began to burn and I began to feel like a total jerk wad. I didn’t think of it like that…
But what could’ve been bothering Rivers? He never seemed to have any issues. He was always a happy pony, with insane charisma.
“What…is he relating to?” I asked, curious as to what Octavia heard from the song.
My friend, now positioned where she stood on her behind and hind legs outward, took one long sigh.
“Vinyl… Rivers was an addict before” she said worriedly, looking at me with hollow eyes.
A prickly feeling began to cover my face giving me a horrible case of heat flash, but I was not thinking about that. What I was thinking about more was Rivers.
It couldn’t be true could it? Rivers doing drugs? He didn’t seem like the pony who would do drugs…
He was too cool for drugs…well, that doesn’t make any sense at all but…
I just couldn’t think of anything. Stunned, I stared into the music room, only to see Rivers, still standing there with closed eyes. He seemed to be muttering something under his breath.
“So…what now?” I asked, finding the mood to greet Rivers was ruined for good.
Octavia though, said otherwise. “We congratulate him on the performance of course” she said gently, but with a warm smile slowly spreading on her face.
I don’t know why, but it was almost as if she knew I needed that smile at that exact moment.
“Are you sure?” I asked, still not sure of we should go.
“Of course, it would be rude not to!” she exclaimed pointing her hoof in the direction of the house. She must have seen how I was feeling though so she came closer to place a hoof on my shoulder.
“Look Vinyl” she began, “I’m sorry for telling you that. I didn’t think you were going to be this hurt about it. But look at the bright side now” she continued, pointing at the music room once again.
This time, instead of Rivers’ head bent down, he was surrounded by his band members and they all seemed to be laughing and smiling. Including Rivers.
“Rivers is happy now. He has great friends” she trudged on, patting my shoulder and giving me a warm smile. She then said her usual life lesson to me afterword.
“Don’t let someone’s past change the way you look at them now. You should know this Vinyl”
And she was right. She was so right.
With a big smile growing across my face, I immediately tackled the grey pony who has been there for me since I was younger. The mare who stuck with me through tooth and nail.
I grabbed her in a tight hug, so glad that I had her as a friend. She was possibly the greatest pony alive. And honestly I didn’t know what I would be able to do without her.
“Vinyl that’s enough!” Octavia laughed, as I rolled in the grass with her tightly around my arms.
“No, I’m not letting go!” I shouted playfully attracting the attention of an unwanted audience.
“Two mares getting freaky on your hill, eh Rivers?” a voice snickered, causing me to shoot open my eyes and release my hold of Octavia.
I quickly stood up from the floor and looked at Octavia who was dusting off the fragments of grass on her coat. She then cleared her throat as if to undo the mess I did to her, but with bedraggled hair and a frizzy coat, the damage was already done. I could just imagine how I looked at that moment.
When I looked forward I saw three ponies standing in front of me and Octavia.
One of them was a dark green, with bright yellow eyes with hair slicked to one side. The other was a black coated stallion, sort of bulky. The last one, standing in the middle was Rivers who looked at the two of us with wide eyes.
“Nah, they’re just friends” Rivers chuckled glancing at both and me with a strange look. “Am I right?” he chuckled, but it seemed like he actually didn’t believe himself.
“I’ll have you know” Octavia snapped with her classy attitude. “Vinyl Scratch and I are just friends!”
Both ponies to the side of Rivers immediately stopped smiling and there face suddenly went flat.
“Wait” the dark green one shot pointing a hoof at me. “You’re Vinyl Scratch. Like, thee Vinyl Scratch?”
I looked at both ponies confused, wondering if they were joking or serious. The black coated horse seemed to have a more stern face than the green one.
“Umm…yeah?” I answered unsurely, raising a brow in confusion. Rivers let out a smile as he looked at the each of his band members.
“Yes fellas, this is the infamous Vinyl Scratch who created Dubstep” he announced pointing his hoof at me as if displaying a trophy.
“Wow” the green one said, looking at me with an open mouth. “Hey, can you teach us to rock the tables just like you?” he asked, almost too eager to hear me play.
Oh snap.
I gave a look at Rivers hoping he would understand that I can’t play the music without Soundwave. Instead, he shot another question in my direction.
“How long were you guys out here?” he asked, glancing at the both of us with a smirk on his face.
The memory of Rivers’ song looped through my head, but instead of the lyrics, I began to think about what Octavia told me. Thank Celestia she told me that for if she hadn’t, this conversation would’ve went down a different route.
“Long enough to hear you wonderful song” Octavia answered bowing her head in respect. Typical Octavia.
I nodded my head as well, telling the truth the entire way. “That song was off the hook!” I exclaimed, bobbing my head up and down, letting my spiky mane flare around.
“It seems like you got a couple of fans already Rivers” the green pony chuckled patting the grey horse on the back. Rivers had a slight smile on his face, but something didn’t feel right. Maybe it was because it was a personal song, but I didn’t want to say anything that may have disturbed him.
“Well, I guess I do” Rivers chuckled, finally changing the expression on his face to a more happy one.
“Let’s invite these pretty mares inside, Rivers?” the black coated horse mentioned charismatically, almost in a flirtatious manner. He seemed to be eyeing Octavia with intense interest too.
He better watch himself.
“Well, it is getting kind of late” Rivers informed, looking off into the sunset. “But I think these ladies have a pet to feed” he continued giving us a wink.
Pet? We don’t have any…
Oh.
“Don’t worry about our pet” I shot, waving my hoof in the air. “We found him a babysitter” I continued giving Rivers a devious smile.
Rivers shook his head in disapproval but his smile seemed to be saying something else.
“Okay fine, you ladies can come inside” Rivers sighed, knowing we got him to give in.
“But” Rivers emphasized, waving his hoof in the air.
“You’re going to have to show us a bit of your Dubstep”
Oh buck.
“Umm… let us go inside” Octavia said sweetly, causing me to turn to the side. She seemed to be blushing and fluttering her eyes a lot and when I turned to see where she was doing it, she was facing in the direction of the Black coated stallion who gave her a charming smile.
I don’t know. I didn’t trust him a whole lot.
“Come inside, you seem like you’re going to freeze” Rivers informed, coming over to me and patting me on the back. I was still looking in the direction of the black coated stallion though.
“Do you remember him?” Rivers asked, almost amused.
“No” I said sternly. Not that I needed to know him to hurt him if he tried to hurt my friend. Wow, that was hard to say…
“Well, trust me, you will” Rivers chuckled, giving me a charming wink.
“What do you mean?” I asked, rather confused.
“Let’s just say the past catches up with us real often” Rivers remarked, pausing for a short while before taking me into the inside of his house.
All that time I kept wondering what he was trying to say. Or what he was trying to get at.
***
So, to my luck, the purple horse was not there.
After minutes of Pinkie Pie banging on her door, calling her companion in as many different languages as possible and even attempting to break in through her household, the door did not open.
Now, I’m back at this small area where the pink horse resides and she wishes for me to try something called dancing which was the act of these creatures having some sort of movement behind msic.
“C’mon Soundwave, it isn’t hard!” she exclaimed, moving her legs back and forth as if she was stomping small rodents. She waved her arms back and forth, almost as if stirring an invisible substance.
“If you believe I’m going to do such ridiculous movement…” I began but was cut short by a ‘dancing’ Pinkie who danced her way in my direction.
“Quit being such a grumpy robot” she whined, now changing her movements where it seemed like she was holstering her weapon and then upholstering it, pointing her arm up in the air.
I groaned, realizing she would not leave me be if I remain immobile. So, with ever sensor in my body, I fought my way off of the small lift, and tried to follow the same movements of the pink horse.
“Yeah, that’s it” she assured watching me as I tried to follow her every move.
At first it all seemed ridiculous, finding the whole thing unnecessary and foolish. But as I continued to follow the movements of Pinkie, I then began to notice that my body was getting a hang of these strange movements.
“Woo, you’re getting it!” she squealed, dancing with more ferocity. And my body followed lead.
First she began to do some strange thrust from the pelvic region, which she would then switch over to some strange move where the hands began to cross over to each end of the knee while the knees began to wobble side to side. Then she began to do some strange foot movement where she would click her feet (hooves) and then position them outward almost as if she was hopping, followed by a strange move which resulted in her hopping on two legs and twirling her arm above her head. And the whole time I followed her lead.
“Go Soundwave!” she shouted, leaving me to follow my own lead. My body did not falter though. No, instead my servos began to alter moves I learned from circuit-su into dance moves.
I dropped down on the ground and began to twirl my leg around my body in a 360 fashion, keeping my body up the entire way. Then, when I was finished, I instantly rolled onto my head, and began to twirl around on my backside, letting my legs flail about as I spun in a circle continuously. After finding the need to change up my move, I decided to take the weight of that twirl and place it on my head. My servos began to spin frantically as I twirled my entire frame on my head.
There was only one problem.
“Uh, Soundwave?” I could hear Pinkie mutter, but I could not see her. That was because I could not find a way to stop myself.
Scrap!
“Soundwave…”
I began to hear a winding noise and I began to feel my head slide across the pavement of the floor, which obviously did not mean anything good.
“Soundwave” Pinkie groaned, this time louder.
At this point I think I was moving too fast.
“Soundwave!”
KSHHH
I felt my body instantly crash into something hard, instantly sending my entire body into shock and causing me to knock out cold.
***
“C’mon DJ Pon-3, no pressure” Rivers informed me as he stood around his band members and Octavia.
He obviously said that to add pressure.
“Hey, if you want a show I’d stay quiet” I shouted back from the top of the stage, fiddling with the Rivers’ computer.
That was enough to anger his friends, who immediately hit him and told him to stay quiet.
I let out a smile at the sight of Rivers getting hit. Payback.
Now that I had quiet to look for great tracks to work with, I began to focus on the knobs and dials on the control panel, wondering if everything seemed to be in place. Everything seemed to be alright, but without Soundwave, it seemed to be a bit discomforting.
Wait. Soundwave…
Quickly, I turned back to the audio files on the computer for I remembered Rivers had audio tracks from the alternate Soundwave from long ago. As I rummaged through the files though, I began to feel guilt build up in my gut.
I couldn’t just take these audio files without Rivers’ permission. And after hearing what happened to his Soundwave, it would be horrible to just use the sounds in front of Rivers.
Buck it, I guess I’m just going to have to wing it.
“You ready Vinyl?” Octavia shouted from below cupping her hooves around her mouth. I looked at the entire group of ponies with a discomforting look. It was strange. I never felt nervous when I performed in front of a crowd, but with four people…
Get a hold of yourself Vinyl. If you want to win that Battle Royale, you got to be ruthless. Fearless.
You got to be on top of the food chain!
“Uh, Vinyl are you ready?” the green horse asked, catching me at the wrong moment.
“Buck yeah!” I shouted, saying my self-motivational speech a little too loud. All the ponies in the room looked at each other quizzedly and shrugged.
Stupid Vinyl. Stupid!
“I guess that’s a yes?” the black coated pony chuckled. After a couple seconds of beating myself up I finally nodded my head in agreement.
Altight Vinyl, here it goes.
Turning on the speakers, and setting all the knobs on the control panel to default, I took one long deep sigh, trying to let the mood sink into my mind.
Then, when I finally let the mood shift, I began to play the track.
The sound of a slot machine began to ring through the air as I let the sound of a symbol clash play along with beat for a short while. I knew that this was only the beginning though.
When I felt the time was right, I quickly switched the symbol for the sound of a heavy drop, one that rang with the noise of something buzzing heavily. The room instantly began to vibrate due to the weight of the bass, casuing the stage beneath me to shake.
I looked at the four ponies below, each of them watching with studious expressions none of them seem to be exactly excited about the beat of the song though.
Alright then time to take things to a new level.
I decided to throw in the noise of the symbols once again and I increased the Bass, increasing the weight of the drop.
That was even enough to fit my needs though. Nope, because shortly after that I began to quicken the pace of the beat which then began to move at the exact same pace as my heart beat.
I tossed in the sound of a whirring noise to fit the sound of the beat’s heavy thud as it faded in and out, which was now beginning to set the mood for me. I began to feel the beat shift its way into my body, almost as if it was guiding me to move with the music.
I looked at the three band members once again, who still had the same studious look. They seemed to show no sign of actually enjoying the music.
That’s it.
Eagerly, I increased the flow of the beat once again, this time with the sound of a drop present.
Then the final touch - the sound of something locking into place.
Now to line them all up for the shot…
The beat dropped heavily, catching even me off guard but I did not stop. I continued to fiddle with the dials and the turn tables, letting the music possess my very movements. By Celestia this drop was far beyond what I even expected. The music continued to let the beat drop in and out, the bass increasing with each cycle. The whirring noise turned into a sudden ray of some sort, creating an alien noise I’ve never heard before in my life.
To keep the ponies before wanting me, I began to tone down the pace of the music but I refused to lower the bass and beat of the song. That was the heart and soul of the song. I felt my breathing begin to grow heavy, and my mind began to slow down along with the beat, but I was far from done.
Once again, feeling the urge to give it all, I began to raise the pace of the song, fiddling through the console to toss another audio track into the song. It needed something extreme, something that would give it that extra kick.
Raising the beat once again, I decided to hold it off until I inserted that one bit which totally added to the mood.
Covered by the flow of the beat and the crash of the symbol, I unleashed the audio clip that I needed to send that kick.
“They’re breaking through the walls!”
Bingo.
The beat dropped once again, sending the feel of chills to run up my spine. It was so perfectly planned, I wished to give myself a high five. I knew I had no time to do that though for I needed to end this wonderful creation.
Furiously searching through the audio clips once again, and finding nothing worth using, I decided there was nothing better but the sound of the bass dropping real nice and loud.
So that’s what I used.
Although the sound of the beat still continued to ring in my ear, I knew I was panting really loud. My heart was still racing quickly.
Well, maybe a bit too quickly for at the end of it all, I remember falling straight to the ground and knocking out.
***
“Hey is she alright?”
“She seems to be waking up”
“She could be moaning”
“Why would she moan you idiot?”
“I don’t know what she’s dreaming about-”
SMACK
“Ow!”
Uhhh, my head.
I began to slowly stir my head, trying to regain all my thoughts. What just happened? I slowly began to open my eyes, trying to see where I was but I was immediately blinded by the bright light above.
Am I dead?
“Hey slow down their” a stern voice ordered, causing me to open my eyes wider. Although the bright light hurt my eyes, I was able to make out the black horse standing by my side who was next to the green horse.
“What…what happened?” I groaned, slowly placing my hoof on my head as I felt my head throb.
“Well, you passed out” the black stallion told me, flashing me his usual smile.
What, why?
“I passed out?” I asked confused. “Why?”
“Well” a voice said from the side, causing me to turn to my right side. There I saw Octavia and Rivers look at me with worried eyes. Rivers seemed to be the one talking.
“Judging by the way you got into the music, I’m surprised you didn’t get a nose bleed” He joked, putting on a smile. For some reason though, the look in his eyes showed he was worried.
“Wow, was I that into it?” I asked tiredly, looking at all the four horses who looked at each other with mixed expressions. There was a short silence as they looked at each other, deciding who should say something first.
“I thought you were going to hit your head on the console” the black pony chuckled, looking at everypony around him for approval. Instead they all scolded him, causing his smile to disappear.
Great, I looked like an idiot and I fainted. In front of Rivers and his friends…
“Other than that though” the green horse said, looking at each and every one of us, “that song was awesome!”
My spirits were lifted at the sound of his excitement.
“Really?” I asked the green horse, who quickly nodded his head in approval.
“For real, I thought this place was literally going to crack” he said, smacking his hooves together. He then lifted his hoof out towards me with a smile spread on his face.
“Respect” he laughed, waiting for me to give him a brohoof. Lifting my hoof up slowly, I gave the green horse what he wanted, giving the both of us a great feeling.
I looked around at the other ponies that looked at me with generous smiles. I was waiting for the feedback on my music from each and every one of them.
“Well, although I’m not very fond of such music” Octavia said flashing a weak smile, “I think it was really…organized”
It was obvious Octavia didn’t know how to explain the music but her words still gave me a nice happy feeling.
“Thanks Phil” I teased, instantly causing the mare to shake her head in frustration. With a laugh, I turned to face the black pony, who looked at me with an uncertain grin.
“To be honest” he began, “It seems to be risky. It being a new genre and all, I don’t know what to think on it…”
Well he sure knew how to kill my mood.
“But I think I’ll grow fond of it” he continued raising my spirits. “After all, those beats were not bad at all. It just needs more lyrics, that’s all”.
Again, he gave me a nice smile.
With my hopes high, I turned to Rivers who looked at me shaking his head in disapproval.
Out of the ponies, Rivers was shaking his head? What the buck?
“What’s wrong with the song?” I asked, completely worried that I screwed.
“Nothing’s wrong with the song” River sighed, still shaking his head. “It’s actually pretty good for a song created in a short time span” he continued, but I knew what he meant.
He was saying it was good for a song that didn’t have Soundwave.
“Then why are you shaking your head?” I asked, throwing my hoof in his direction.
Rivers then let out a small laugh and clicked his hooves together. “Because you’re gonna’ go far, kid!” he exclaimed, reaching over to shake my hair with his hoof.
And that was enough to lift my spirits really high. Almost a little too high, for I tried to get up and jump around in excitement, but I barely got off the ground for the throbbing pain in my head quickly brought me back down to the ground.
“Whoa, hold on their mustang” Rivers said, causing me to open my eyes in confusion.
“Mustang?” I repeated, feeling a bit weirded out by that word.
“Never mind that” Rivers warned, waving his hoof in dismissal. “How’s your head?”
“It’s been better...”
“Just take it easy and rest. You’re going to need to get your rest” the black pony told me, patting my forehead with a wet rag.
“How long was I out anyways?” I asked, closing my eyes to let the rag do its job of soothing my pain. And oh man did it feel good.
“Oh I don’t know, maybe three hours…”
Ohhh, that feels good. Hmm, three hours isn’t that-
“THREE HOURS!” I shouted, quickly getting up from the floor, extremely paranoid.
“Whoa hey what are you doing?” one of the band members called but I could not hear for I was more concerned about Soundwave and Pinkie. I completely forgot about them, and I needed to get Soundwave now!
“I have to go somewhere!” I shouted, instantly grabbing the attention of Octavia who knew what I was getting at. She quickly came over to my side, knowing we had to leave quickly.
“You can’t go anywhere though Vinyl” Rivers warned me, trying to follow me as I tried to make my way out the door.
I wasn’t listening though. I needed to get Soundwave.
This headache was not helping though. It was just really bad.
No Vinyl just keep going its nothing just-
“Gahh!”
A sharp pain spread across my head, making me scream out in pain.
“Vinyl Scratch!” Octavia shouted as I collapsed to the ground. I could hear the sounds of hooves quickly coming over to help me out.
“I’m okay” I groaned, as I slowly rolled on the ground, breathing heavily.
“No, you’re not” a voice said sternly. It sounded Like Rivers’.
“You’re going to have to stay here and rest” another voice pitched in, only causing my head to hurt more.
“No I need…to go…go get…” I grumbled, trying to plead but that did not happen.
I knew I would have no choice but to stay. I guess my head must have been hurting real bad from music, but I mean really? Why now? This never happened to me before.
“Joel” Rivers remarked, quickly grabbing my attention. “Do you think you can take her into my room?”
Wait I know that name…
There is only one pony I know in the entire world with a name like that.
“Wait” Octavia ordered causing me to finally open my eyes and see what was going on. She was laying down right beside me, holding my head up from the floor. With worried eyes, she began to slowly lift me up from the ground and brought me back on my four legs.
“Looks like she don’t need it” the black pony known as Joel said. How do I know that was his name? Because I knew who he was, that’s why!
“Especially from you” I snapped, getting a bit angry at the moment. Octavia let out a small gasp.
“Vinyl!” she whispered, as if trying to hush me, but I was a bit furious. After all, I don’t think I would be very fond of one of the ponies who hanged out with the ponies that ruined my high school years.
“Okay, okay calm down everyone” the green horse demanded, walking in between me and Joel. Oh Buck it, I’m going to call him Deadmau5 because that’s how I remember him!
“I’m calm” I lied, breathing heavily from both the pain in my head and the anger in my mind.
Rivers, who was watching from afar, finally began to walk closer to me. He had a stern expression fixated on his face. As he came closer to me, he placed his head next to my ear and began to whisper.
“Octavia told me where Soundwave is when you were knocked out. I called Pinkie and she said he’s fine. Now you don’t have to worry about it Vinyl okay?”
He then moved away from my ear and gave me a warm smile.
“Oh yeah” he whispered, glancing from side to side. “In case you haven’t noticed, that black horse over there is…”
“Deadmau5” I said coldly, not even bothering to whisper.
Rivers bit his lip for and stared at me for a couple of seconds. “The name gave it away didn’t it?” he groaned, which I responded with “A little”.
“Well, that leaves more room for you two to talk” Rivers said smiling, catching me off guard.
“What? Why do I have to sleep with him? Why not Octavia?” I whined, once again a little too loud.
“Uhh, just to be clear, I could hear you” Deadmau5 shot, raising his hoof to show he was present.
“Stay out of it man” Rivers shot, not looking away from me.
“Look, I know you two have a rough past. But look, he’s the closest thing to a doctor and he needs to keep a good eye on you”
“But I don’t want him to care for me!” I snapped, finding this was the wrong time to worry about such things. For Celestia’s sake I have a hammer smacking against my skull(not literally).
“Well, the only other place is the couch and I’m sleeping on there” Rivers winked, causing me to look at Octavia quickly.
“No, no, no!” Rivers said quickly shaking his head with wide eyes. “I’m sleeping with Jack over there” he explained, pointing his hoof over at the green pony who looked around as if he was completely lost.
Damn Vinyl, you know how to get on a pony’s good side.
“What’s going on?” Octavia asked looking at the two of us, wondering why I looked at her with big eyes.
“Nothing Octavia” Rivers assured gently. MY friend looked at us oddly for a couple of seconds until she realized there was no point in staring.
“So what do you say?” Rivers asked, causing me to consider his couch option. I mean, there couldn’t be anything wrong with that right?
“Can I just sleep with you?” I whined, not willing to face my demons at the moment. I didn’t want to deal with Deadmau5 right now, I just wanted to rest.
“Sure” Rivers said with a smile, giving me a wink
Oh sweet Celestia. Hopefully nothing crazy would go down-
“…But I’m not sleeping right now, unlike you who needs to get her rest, so off to the bedroom for you” Rivers quickly added with an evil smile.
Oh that prick.
***
Lying in Rivers’ bed, I could think about nothing but the charcoaled horse who continued to watch me with wide open eyes. The worst part is this bed is so damn comfortable and I can’t enjoy it.
And it’s been completely silent for ten minutes. Octavia and the others are in the music room, laughing and joking about Celestia knows what while I’m stuck here forced to stay in the bed next to a pony who hanged out with assholes.
I remember my dream, which showed Deadmau5 walking away from them, but that doesn’t mean anything though because he just walked away and didn’t say anything! He just let them punk on me, and that was not cool at all.
Damn, why can’t I just fall asleep already…?
“How’re you feeling?” Deadmau5 asked, causing me to flinch. Why didn’t he just remain quiet?
“I’m better…” I answered, trying my best to avoid conversation with him. I only continued to stare up at the celling, trying to think of a way to fall asleep faster…
“Do you want a cup of water or anything?” Deadmau5 continued, interrupting my thoughts.
“…No thank you” I grumbled, starting to pull the blanket over my face, hoping the darkness would help put me to sleep.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything. Maybe another blanket…”
“I would really like to get some sleep” I snapped, turning over to face the black pony who seemed to jump. He looked at me embarrassed, scratching the back of his head with his hoof.
“Okay then” he muttered. After that he did not say anything. Instead he just began to glance around the room, but not back at me.
That didn’t last long though.
“So…you seem ready for the Battle Royale” he mentioned, causing me to clasp my hooves over my face. I knew I wasn’t going to get any rest so I decided to do what he wanted.
“Okay, okay, fine, I’m listening, what do you want?” I hissed, rubbing my hoof on my forehead.
Deadmau5 looked down at the ground for a short while and took a deep sigh. He then looked back at me, with his usual expression.
“Look I’m going to go straight to the point” Deadmau5 shot. “I want to tell you I’m sorry-“
“Apology accepted” I said quickly, leaning back down on the bed. “Now goodnight”
“Hold on I ain’t finished” Deadmau5 snapped, catching my attention. “You know, I don’t even have to be doing this. I could walk out of here and just hang out with my friends and not giving a flying rat’s ass-”
“Then why don’t you?” I retorted, getting up from the bed once again. “You had no problem doing that when your buddies use to punk on me in the halls, so why not just do it now?”
“Because now I feel I have the right to say I’m sorry” Deadmau5 explained, pressing his hoof on his chest with force. “How could I say it back then? Tell you sorry and let them pick on you more?”
“You did let them pick on me” I barked, becoming angrier as this conversation continued. “You just walked away and left me to be their damn chew toy!”
Deadmau5 seemed to be growing frustrated as well.
“So why did they stop bullying you then?” he asked, staring at me with a judgmental stare.
He was in no position to judge though.
“Rivers was the reason” I answered, causing the dark pony to widen his eyes.
“If you knew that” he remarked, pressing his hoof on his chest again, “then you would know that I was there with him to teach those ponies a lesson”
My eyes widened and my entire body froze as I heard that sentence come from Deadmau5. Was he serious?
“That’s right Vinyl” Deadmau5 continued, lifting himself off the bed, “the pony you treated as an enemy was actually the one who helped you”
“..Wait” I began, trying to stop him to know more but I was cut short.
“Nah, forget it. I’ve said what I wanted to say” he shot giving me an icy cold stare.
“No, Deadmau5 I’m sorry…” I pleaded, begging him to stay. I really screwed up this time. I really did.
“You shouldn’t be apologizing” he snapped, causing me to jump. “You just shouldn’t say anything”
I tried to mutter something, anything, as the dark pony made his way to the door of the room. He looked back at me for a short while, giving me a disappointed look, and quickly shut the door behind him, leaving me in the room alone.
Silence.
Nothing but the sound of my breathing.
And my thoughts.
And eventually…
My eyes began to water up lightly, realizing that I should’ve just never said anything. I should’ve just left the past behind me, like what Octavia told me, but I didn’t listen. No instead I tried to be tough, picking on anything that reminded me of my past but that only screwed me over in the end.
Why couldn’t I learn to just keep my big mouth shut? Why did I always have to say the first thing to come into my mind? Stupid Vinyl, stupid brain, stupid everything…
The sound of the door creaking slowly caused me to wipe my eyes with my hooves, hoping to hide any evidence of me going soft.
“Vinyl?” a voice called from behind the door. Before I could decide who it was, Rivers poked his head out the door and looked at me with a worried expression.
“Are you okay?” he asked, slowly coming into the room and closing his door gently. I looked at Rivers with a fake smile, trying to make everything seem as if it was all okay, but when I tried to reply, my voice croaked.
Rivers’ muzzle turned into a frown as he heard my voice croak, and I knew I couldn’t lie to him.
I knew I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. Through frustration, I put my hooves over my face, and I began to do something I haven’t done since I was a philly. I began to sob. And sob, and sob…
“It’s okay” I heard Rivers assure as he came to the side of the bed and held me in his arms. I began to shake my head though.
“No…everything… Isn’t okay…” I sobbed, trying to steady my breathing but I couldn’t. My mind was just racing about so many things.
“Don’t stress about these little things” he said, patting my mane softly. “It will all work out..”
“But..but…” I sniffled, trying to hide the remnants of my meltdown. “I just can’t deal with anything anymore. I just hate everything right now!”
I couldn’t stand anything. Everything frustrated me, almost as if everything was out to get me.
“Vinyl” Rivers said, placing his hoof under my chin and tilting it in his direction. “I know how you feel. I’ve had that feeling before…”
“What…what do you mean?” I asked as he began to wipe dry tears from my face with his hoof.
“You’ve heard the song Vinyl” Rivers recalled, giving a weak smile. “I think you’re smart enough to know what it means.”
I looked at Rivers, imagining how he would’ve been in his old state. When he was jacked up on drugs. When he was lost.
“Life isn’t easy Vinyl” Rivers continued, gripping me tighter into his arms. “It’s full of misery and loss” he continued, stroking my mane gently. “But that’s because we tend to create our own problems”
“You think so?” I asked puzzled as to what Rivers was talking about.
“Well of course” he agreed, giving a dry laugh. “We have the ability to create our own problems. Just like we have the ability to create our own solutions”
Rivers glared at me with the last words for a long while, staring into my eyes for what felt like minutes.
“And we also have the ability to find those who’ll be able to pull us out of the holes we dig ourselves” he continued, rearing his head closer to mine.
I didn’t know whether to give in or not, but Rivers was not like any other pony I knew. His dark past seemed to say a lot about him, but the way he described problems…it was just too terribly true.
Soon, I was no longer hesitant and gave into the stallion’s call.
We let ourselves embrace each other slowly, holding onto each other and slowly grooming each other’s mane. I was not going to let this night escalate further than how it was going, but that was not on my mind for long. We ended the kiss shortly after, only to remain in the bed to enjoy each other’s company.
“I want you to know Vinyl” Rivers told me as he continued to pet my mane. “Sometimes trying to run from the past doesn’t always work out. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to face it eventually”
And he was right.
Rivers and Octavia were both right. This entire day, I’ve been trying to block out the past and ignore the inevitable. That only led to trouble though, so that meant something was wrong.
“Thank you Rivers” I sighed (much similar to the way Octavia usually did), and began to scoot closer to the stallion’s warm frame.
Questions still burned in my mind though and I wondered if I should ask them to Rivers…
No.
Just don’t ask anything Vinyl. Just leave it alone. I don’t want to ruin this moment with Rivers.
I began to grow cozy, finally letting fatigue creep into my mind which was no longer throbbing with pain.
But before I knocked out, I let my mind think about everything that happened the entire day, replacing the questions in my mind.
It was a really strange day, and even through it all I kept telling myself nothing was going to ruin it.
And although some things managed to get to me, in the end, I had a really good day, thanks to Octavia and Rivers.
…
Hmm.
I wonder how Soundwave handled his day with Pinkie Pie.
***
Pinkie Pie looked around her shop as she finally managed to tidy up everything after Soundwave’s destructive dancing spree. The pink mare, dirty from fragments of dust and food, took one long sigh as she finally stood proud in the middle of the shop.
“There!” she said to herself with excitement admiring the work around her. “How does it look Soundwave?” she asked, looking to her far left for the approval of the cybertronian. She never received on though for the cybertronian was still knocked out cold from his previous set of moves that immobilized him.
He was seated on a large chair of some sort, slumped over unconscious, staring downwards with a bank visor.
“Huh, guess he’s still asleep” she noted to herself, putting all her cleaning equipment away in a flash. Upon quickly returning, she began to trot over to the robot that was sound asleep, seeing he would not be aware of any strange movement happening before him.
Pinkie Pie was always fascinated by Soundwave, but considering he was an angry individual, she was never fond of getting too close to him.
Now it was a different story.
As Pinkie edged herself closer to the sleeping bot, she began to examine him from head to toe, trying to find any cool trinkets she could use while he was asleep. After scavenging for a long while though, she found nothing of interest.
“Aww” she whispered in disappointment, pouting in a childish manner. Suddenly the sight of something shining caught the attention of her eye, and when she turned to face it, she could see what it was.
It was a small button, directly above Soundwave’s chest. Pinkie Pie looked at the button with such interest. If there was anything Pinkie loved, it was buttons.
She liked pushing buttons even more.
As quickly as she could, she began to move her way to the top of Soundwave’s chest, who surprisingly did not react to the pony’s presence.
So, seeing that she was in the clear, Pinkamena placed her hoof over the button, causing a loud clicking noise to be heard. Pinkie cowered back momentarily, believing that she just woke up the huge robot, but that was not the case.
She saw that as well, for when she glanced up at the robot, she saw a large space in the robot’s cavity, causing the pink pony’s smile to grow wide as an idea popped in her head.
“Who’s saying that?” Pinkie said, looking up around her-
“No really, who’s saying that?”
…Uhhh…