//------------------------------// // Sparkle and Shine // Story: Guardian Angel // by The Mysterious N //------------------------------// Guardian Angel Chapter 9: Sparkle and Shine Twilight found herself in an interesting situation. She was at the last location she expected to find herself in: a nightclub. Twilight wasn't here to relax-the visit was strictly business. So here she was, sitting at a table in an empty nightclub in the middle of the day. Pinkie had arranged a meeting between her and the owner, a unicorn by the name of Vinyl Scratch. From what Twilight gathered, she and Pinkie went a ways back. Twilight noticed movement over by the DJ booth and cleared her throat. A white shape, realizing that Twilight was there, looked up in surprise accidentally hitting it's head on the table above it. Twilight panicked before rushing over to check on the shape. Climbing up the small staircase, she came upon an interesting sight. There sat a unicorn, rubbing her head with a hoof. A large blue mane framed her face, disheveled beyond belief. Purple tinted glasses covered her eyes, shrouding her in mystery. "Oh I'm so sorry for startling you, I didn't mean to! Are you alright?" Twilight blurted out. The unfamiliarity of the location and the situation had turned her into a bundle of nerves. 'Was this what Fluttershy felt like all the time?' Twilight mused. The white unicorn had stopped groaning, and now had her head cocked in a confused way, still a bit dazed. "Ye-yeah. I'm fine, just gimme a minute to clear my head," she replied, standing up. "Grab a seat, I'll join you in a second." With that Twilight returned to the table she was at earlier. The white unicorn finished her task quickly-she had a guest to entertain after all. Twilight watched the other unicorn saunter over, an aura of command surrounding her. Sitting down opposite from Twilight, the unicorn chirped. "So what do you need? I've got somepony important to meet later." "I'm Twilight Sparkle, my friend Pinkie Pie said she had set up a meeting for me and a Vinyl Scratch. Do you know if she's around here?" she explained. The white unicorn burst into laughter, perplexing Twilight. What was so funny? Calming down, the unicorn introduced herself. "The name's Vinyl Scratch or DJ Pon-3, sound engineer extraordinaire. Call me Vinyl." she finished, sticking out a hoof to shake. Twilight returned the gesture, and Vinyl jumped right to business. "Now I hear Pinkies planning a gig for Nightmare Night, she said a couple of ponies would be heading the show, but they needed some help. I'm guessing you're one of them." Twilight was taken back-for somepony who acted so carefree Vinyl was sharp. "Yes, I'm going to be doing lead vocals." Twilight clarified, a bit of pride sneaking into her voice. She sat there feeling like Vinyl was scrutinizing her every move, hidden behind those purple shades. Getting up, Vinyl gestured for Twilight to follow. "If I'm gonna help you out, I'll first need to see what you're made of." The two quickly arrived at a locked door; a sign hung on it reading "Employees Only". Opening the door with a swish of her horn, Vinyl led Twilight inside. The room was pretty simple. A large glass wall divided the room into two. On one side of the transparent barrier lay a large console; hundreds of buttons and sliders dotted the surface, all glowing in a rainbow of color. Several pairs of headphones hung from along the wall. A small fridge rested in the corner. Looking to the other side, Twilight noticed the other room was occupied. A gray mare sat there, a cello clutched in her hooves. Jet black hair was styled elegantly, a small pink bow tie decorated her neck. To Twilight she looked like the embodiment of grace, making rhythmic movements with her hoof, a bow clutched in her fetlock. Until Vinyl tapped on the glass, knocking her out of her reverie. The gray mare looked over in annoyance. Vinyl simply gestured to Twilight, then pointed to her hoof where a watch would be. The earth pony recognized the gestures and packed up quickly. In the meantime Vinyl turned to Twilight. "That's Octy, she's my roomie." she mentioned, seeing Twilight's confusion. Stepping out of the room, Octavia turned to Vinyl. "I'd prefer to introduce myself, thank you." She then shifted her attention to Twilight. "I'm Octavia, pleasure to meet you Miss Sparkle." Octavia greeted. She'd recognized the Princess' protegé instantly, having seen her several times in Canterlot over the years. "I apologize for the brevity of our introduction, but I have duties that need attention, good day. Oh and Vinyl, please do try and restrain yourself around our guest. I don't think her eardrums can take the punishment." She joked. Vinyl snickered and Twilight was confused even more. 'Punishment? Eardrums?What the hay did that mean?' She thought, nervously pressing a hoof against one of her ears. Octavia chuckled before stepping out, leaving Twilight and Vinyl alone. "Okay then, hop on in and wait for my signal."Vinyl said, gesturing to the vacated room. Twilight moved to enter the room, before asking, "What will this signal be?" "You'll know it when you see it. Now I'm going to play a few test records. You just have to repeat the parts back when prompted." Vinyl explained. Twilight nodded, and entered the room. It was completely sound proof, a couple of small speakers embedded in the wall. Vinyl's voice came over the intercom, "Good luck Sparkles." Twilight blinked, not expecting a nickname. 'It's just like another test Twilight. You can do this' she thought, before focusing her attention on the music that had started playing. Vinyl sat and watched the unicorn vocalize; they'd been doing this for about an hour. Twilight had shown no difficulty hitting the higher notes-those came easy. The real difficulty she experienced was the low notes. The more growly "metal" songs were strange to Twilight and she had shown it in her singing. Vinyl knew she'd have to discuss this, Pinkie had already explained the theme. It was a dark theme and Vinyl already had a lineup of songs ready to go. Another thing Vinyl noticed was that Twilight was reluctant to show any body language. While singing alone it was fine, in a situation with a crowd this was bad. To keep your crowd interested you had to interact, tease them, even rile them up sometimes. Glancing over Vinyl noticed the record had reached it's end. Shutting the player off, she then knocked on the glass signaling Twilight that she was done. Twilight eagerly stepped out, rubbing her throat with a hoof. Vinyl glanced over and pointed to the fridge. Twilight nodded in thanks and opened the door, rummaging through the beverages. Settling on a bottle of water Twilight closed the door and turned to Vinyl expectantly. She relaxed seeing the reassuring smile on Vinyl's face, and she followed her back out to the main room of the club. Sitting down once again at the familiar table Twilight looked at Vinyl, eager to know the results. She hadn't noticed any change in the white unicorn's mood or posture, so it couldn't be that bad. Realizing she hadn't taken a sip from her water Twilight began to gulp it down earnestly. The last hour had been taxing; she'd experienced so many different singing styles, from upbeat pop songs to rock and roll(which she found she really enjoyed!) and even heavy metal. By the end of it her throat was sore, not used to being exerted so strenuously. Vinyl placed her hooves together on the table, leaning forward slightly. She was ready to give her 'report', "Okay Sparkles, here's the breakdown. You've got a great voice. You can hit the high notes no problem. Pop and Hip-hop didn't seem too hard for you. Rock and Roll you really shone, lucky for us." Twilight beamed, not expecting as much praise. Vinyl continued on, "Some things we'll need to address are the lower tones. While you did alright I noticed the metal songs definitely gave you some trouble." She finished, adding a growl to her words to emphasize her point. Twilight nodded-it was a valid point. "One more thing, while this topic is not related to the singing aspect it's just as important. Your body language, for lack of a better word, is terrible. It's timid, too reserved. You need to excite the crowd. Draw them in. Tease them." Vinyl added with less force, hoping she didn't discourage the lavender unicorn too much. Vinyl was never good at subtlety, always preferring her blunt ways. Twilight sat there, contemplating Vinyl's words. She knew Vinyl had a point, but Rainbow was counting on her. Twilight's face held an intense gaze; she looked Vinyl right in the eyes, "Then teach me. I want to learn, I need this." Vinyl lifted a hoof to her face, sliding the glasses up to her forehead. Crimson eyes met violet, Twilight keeping Vinyl's gaze unflinchingly. Vinyl's mouth twisted into a grin. This filly had guts. "You've got a spark, you just need to learn to harness it." Vinyl reiterated. Twilight brightened up at this. Vinyl continued on, "Your singing ability can be improved with practice, that should be simple enough. As for the body language, that's something you have to learn for yourself. It can't be taught in a traditional way. While books can only give you tips, they can't show you how. But I can try and show you my way." Vinyl finished, confident in her idea. Twilight smiled, happy to learn and improve. More importantly, she wouldn't let her down. Vinyl sat at a table, a glass of cider clutched in her hoof. For the past two weeks Vinyl had taught Twilight Sparkle on how to express herself with her body language. Two weeks ago the filly wouldn't have had the guts to lead a crowd. Thanks to Vinyl that was a thing of the past. Twilight was more confident in herself now. The mare in question was now up in Vinyl's DJ booth, leading the crowd on through a set of songs. While teaching Twilight on how to express herself, they had quickly found that the normally reserved unicorn could really get crazy sometimes. She seemed to have this innate mania hidden away. When Vinyl asked about it all she got was a short clipped reply, mentioning a "smarty pants incident,", whatever that was. Vinyl had helped Twilight focus her inner crazy and control it. Vinyl smiled, the hard part was over. The only preparations left for the concert was the rehearsals. They still had a week and a half before the event, plenty of time in Vinyl's opinion. Twilight had explained the situation with their guitarist. It was a bit complicated but there was no way their guitarist was missing this. If only Vinyl knew who it was. Downing the last of her cider, Vinyl moved to take over. Twilight deserved a break-she had been deejaying non-stop for the last two and a half hours after all. She'd need the energy for the coming week...