I do not own anything in this story but the story line, and Baton. I'm saving up to buy Fluttershy though.
:: Baton ::
Baton turned the corner, which lead to the back of the Carousel Boutique, and stopped. There was a stage there! He had passed by this store once, the day before, and none of this was here.
“Yah, Rarity sure knows how to put a show together.” Commented Twilight as she stopped next to him, chuckling at his surprised expression. At that time, Spike rushed forward and into the large crowd that gathered around a runway.
“Bye Twilight! Gonna go find Rarity!” He shouted as he ran behind the curtain that cut off the entrance to the Boutique.
What an interesting little dragon, obviously in love with this “Rarity”. Now where is… Ah! At that moment, Baton saw a mane of pink that he knew belonged to a butterscotch pony that he desired to see. There is the pony I came here for. She hasn’t seen me yet… hmmmm, I have a plan. With that thought Baton turned to Twilight and put his hoof to his lips, shushing her, and proceeded to slowly and quietly walk up behind Fluttershy. He leaned in right next to Fluttershy’s ear and whispered, “I'm glad I get to see you again.”
Fluttershy let out an “Eeeep!” and turned bright red. Struggling to catch her breather, she responded, “h-h-h-hi…”
Baton let out a chuckle, “I’m sorry about that Fluttershy but you are just too cute too pass up.” Twilight walked up giggling as well. Fluttershy looked down, smiling, and kicked at the dirt embarrassed, and flattered.
Twilight turned to Fluttershy, “Hey, where is Rainbow Dash?”
“Oh, she decided to go home. She wasn’t in the mood for a fashion show. But when is she?” Twilight laughed, acknowledging that this wasn’t the usual scene for their tom-colt friend.
“Now I must find this ‘Vinyl Scratch’ you told me about. She seems very familiar…” Baton stated, craning his neck to see if he could see the DJ turn tables.
Twilight smiled, “Oh, well she would be…… ooooh! Its starting!”
:: Fluttershy ::
The dresses being premiered were, as expected from Rarity, beautiful! Yet one pony wasn’t paying attention to the show. Fluttershy stood, lost in her thoughts.
Why does he need to see that other pony… oh, I hope he doesn’t like her more than me. What if it’s his mare-friend!? Oh… he doesn’t like me. Now Fluttershy we don’t know that. But why didn’t he stay with me that night… oh why am I freaking out about this… oh I'm just a joke… No! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It wasn’t until the roar of applause that Fluttershy remembered where she was. She saw Rarity take her bow and the crowd began to disperse.
Twilight started toward the back of the stage, “C’mon! I’ll show you Vinyl Scratch!”
Baton followed Twilight, though throwing a glance back to Fluttershy, as if to say ‘Hurry silly! I don’t want to lose you.’
Oh no… here it goes.
The three ponies approach the turn tables where a blue haired unicorn was packing the equipment, her back to the new ponies. A pair of eye shades rested on a still slowly revolving turn table. “Hey Vinyl, great show!”
“Hey, thanks Twilight! What can I say? I love...” Vinyl Scratch turned as she spoke, her last sentence stopping dead as she saw Baton. Red eyes looked into blue and Her face changed into shock, then surprise, there was a hint of something else, like she was caught. “…Baton”.
Did she just say she loved Baton? Oh Fluttershy you foal… Fluttershy looked to Baton and saw him as shocked as the red eyed mare… until he started to laugh. He laughed like he hadn’t since he got to Ponyville, his baritone chuckle bounced off every wall and reverberated through the air. Fluttershy looked to Vinyl Scratch, who was getting steadily more agitated by the second.
“Shut up Baton! And yeah, it’s nice to see you too…” she snapped. Slowly Baton got control over himself and responded.
“I do apologize, but really… I did miss you too ‘Vinyl Scratch’” he said, whipping a tear from his eye. Twilight and Fluttershy watched on, confused.
I…. I don’t understand, Baton acts like that isn’t her name… well is it? Is she really Vinyl Scratch?
“Yes! Vinyl Scratch! That’s it! Just Vinyl Scratch!” The blue haired pony bit back. Baton only snickered, trying to contain himself.
Twilight finally spoke up, “oooook…. I'm lost… Vinyl, how do you know Baton? And WHY is he laughing?”
But before she could respond, Baton butted in, “Oh come now! Can I tell them please? They won’t tell any pony!”
Vinyl Scratch eyed both ponies, “You promise?” The butterscotch and violet ponies nodded. “No, you need to ‘Pinkie Pie Promise’!”
Baton tilted his head confused, “A what?”
Twilight, naturally, was the first to respond, “It’s a promise that if you break it, you will lose that ponies trust and friendship forever.”
At that exact moment Pinkie Pie burst from a small case of equipment
“FOREVER!” she shouted.
She locked eyes with each pony before slowly sinking back into the case, closing the lid.
Baton looked at the case, mouth agape. “I… I don’t even…”
At the same time, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Vinyl Scratch each said, “Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.” Both Fluttershy and Twilight performed the appropriate movements while reciting the promise.
Vinyl scowled. “Fine, you can tell them.”
Baton lit up at this. “Vinyl Scratch isn’t actually her name. Her REAL name is Orchestra! She was an amazing composer of music! She could write a piece that could capture the feeling of hard rock and smooth jazz at the same time. I guess I can see why you’d be good at DJ-ing. But she will always be Orchy to me and our friends!”
Vinyl growled at this, “Don’t call me that! Gah! I should have known you would find me Bee.”
Twilight stood shocked. “Wait… this is your friend you mentioned to me when we first met?”
Baton nodded but Vinyl Scratch tilted her head, “Mentioned?”
“Oh yes, Twilight said she never took our branch of magic seriously.”
Vinyl slowly turned to Twilight, a maniacal grin on her face. “Oh reeeeeaaaallllyyyy????”
“Yes, BUT! She was nice, I showed her what our magic is about and now she is going to pursue some knowledge of our field.” said Baton.
Twilight swallowed and stepped back nervously.
Oh I hope there isn’t any fighting… If there is I could take Vinyl Scratch... Oh! Why did I think that? I don’t want to hurt anypony… maybe I should go clear my head. “Um… I…I should get going…” At Fluttershy's words, all the happiness from finding a lost friend vanished from Batons face and was replaced with worry and sadness. Oh… I don’t want him to think I'm leaving because of him! “I…um… that is… I need to go feed the animals before it gets too late… I mean… if that’s ok…”
Baton smiled understandably, “Of course Fluttershy… I await our next… interaction.”
Fluttershy let out a squeak and blushed red. It seemed more often that she was turning this color in the presence of the white stallion.
Twilight, hoping to save her, spoke up. “I should also get going. I need to find Spike before he does something stupid, like propose to Rarity… again.” With that both ponies turned and left. Baton’s eyes followed the butterscotch pony until she was out of view.
“Aaaaawww….. little bumble-bee got a crush?”
“……… Shut up Orchy….”