This is it. Tonight is the night of Vinyl's party, or she would call herself on stage, DJ-PON3. Octavia wanted for Vinyl's party to be a success, for it to be perfect. Obviously, she had no clue how her DJ friend's party was like at all. Sure, she heard from Vinyl herself how her party was going to be like, but Octavia did not know how to behave in said party. The only parties she had attended were balls, the Grand Galloping Gala once, special celebrations and so on. This was a new experience for her altogether.
Glancing at a photograph on her desk, Octavia saw Vinyl and herself in their younger years, having fun together at the amusement park on one of the rides, 'The Speeding Wonderbolts' if she recalled correctly. Octavia smiled at the photograph, remembering all of the good times she had with Vinyl, even if the excitable unicorn got out of hoof at times. Vinyl was without a doubt an excellent friend. This also scared Octavia, for if the party was a disaster, Vinyl will get upset at what had happened. And Octavia was afraid of losing her foalhood friend.
But Octavia wasn't going to let that stop her. After all, she has her friends to help her through this. She knew that she could count on them.
A soft knock on her door interrupted het thoughts.
"Octavia, are you ready?"
"Yes Twilight, I'll be right out." Octavia said to the unicorn behind the door. "'Time waits for no mare'. I should get going..."
And with that, Octavia walked out of her room to join up with Twilight and her friends at the Boom Room club, hoping for the best tonight.
On their way to the Boom Room, Twilight, Octavia and Spike have already picked up Daring, Trixie, Blossomforth and Sherbet Orange along with her husband Mosley Orange. Their daughter Tangerine could not come, for she had to focus on her homework from school, with the help of her cousin Babs.
Twilight had told her friends what was going on with Octavia, and they all agreed that they should do anything to help her when they can.
Meanwhile, Spike, who was riding on Twilight's back, kept looking back to Blossomforth constantly, as if she would suddenly attack him at any second. This did not go unnoticed by the others.
"Uh, Spike? Are you ok?" Daring asked the dragon in concern.
"Uh yeah! I'm fine!" he laughed nervously. "Just peachy! Just looking around the city, that's all!"
"Okay...?" Daring could tell that he was fibbing, but decided not to push it. Twilight however, had different thoughts in her mind.
"Spike...is this about yesterday?" she questioned him.
"I'm sorry, but I can't help it!" Spike whispered to her. "Blossom was downright crazy! Once you see her scary eyes, you will always remember what they look like!"
"Don't worry Spike, I'm sure Blossomforth will get over on what happened."
"Maybe that's what she wants me to think!" Spike shivered. "I can already see it! She gives me a gem as a way to say that she forgives me. Then after I eat the gem, I fall asleep locked and tied to a table in her basement. Then, she cuts me to itty-bitty sized pieces and turns me into a flower to put on her garden! The most evil plan ever!"
"Spike, don't be ridiculous. Blossomforth would never do something like that." Twilight rolled her eyes. "All we have to do is explain that what happened was an accident, and then everything will be fine."
Spike didn't answer back. He just clung tighter on the unicorn's mane, looking extremely worried for himself.
"Say, Auntie..." Blossomforth began. "I'm pretty surprised that you and Uncle are coming with us. Do you happen to know a lot about Vinyl's kind of parties?"
"Only a little bit." Sherbet answered.
"Oh? So you are somewhat familiar to what Vinyl hosts?" Octavia surmised.
"I suppose so." Mosley nodded. "You see, we have our own special room at the hotel for where some of the more outgoing ponies can 'rock out' as your friend Vinyl would say. So while we're not experts at this sort of festivity, we're not complete strangers to it either."
"I see..." Octavia was hoping to get more insight from her friends later on how Viny's parties were like.
"There it is!" Trixie exclaimed with an outstretched hoof, pointing to their destination. "The Boom Room club!"
"We know Trixie, you don't have to shout it." Spike muttered.
"Good! Now is the time for everypony to initiate a great and powerful entrance! Prepare yourselves!" Trixie's horn began to glow.
"Trixie, wait!" Twilight shouted at her.
Too late, for the blue unicorn had already cast her smokescreen spell, leaving everyone caught in it coughing.
"Why does she always keep doing that?" Twilight said in annoyance, recovering from her coughs.
"Wait, where is she?" Sherbet wondered. "She's not at the entrance to the club..."
Looking to the other end of the street, they saw Trixie galloping away from them.
"Trixie, stop! You're going the wrong way!" Blossomforth called to her, to no avail it seemed.
"Shouldn't we stop her?" Twilight asked.
"'Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes'." Octavia explained. "Trixie will realize her mistake and return."
"Exactly." Daring nodded. "She should be coming back in three...two...one..."
As if on cue, a blue blur immediately zipped back, revealing an out of breath Trixie, sweating and panting from all the running. She narrowed her eyes at everyone surrounding her. "This. Never. Happened." And without another word, she quickly entered the Boom Room, not even bothering to try and 'enter fashionably' this time. Spike couldn't help but snicker at Trixie's screw-up.
"By the way, Spike..."
The dragon froze upon hearing Blossomforth's voice, the cream colored pony staring right at him. Spike looked ready to run off again but Twilight gave him a reassuring glance, promising that nothing will happen.
"I've been thinking..." the pegasus continued. "Even though you did burn almost all of my flowers yesterday, I've been thinking that I overreacted for chasing you with a broomstick. So, can we just forget about what happened?"
"Y-Yeah, sure!" Spike agreed in relief. "Man, I really thought that you were gonna-"
"But!" Blossomforth interrupted firmly, making him gulp. Even Twilight looked a bit nervous now. "Don't burn my flowers again. Because if my poor plants are turned to ashes again...Oh no! I promised Vinyl I'd give her this mint chocolate gelato I got from Freezy's Ice Parlor! I have to hurry, before it melts!"
Blossomforth sped away to the club with gelato in hoof, leaving Twilight and Spike behind. After a brief moment of silence, Twilight chuckled nervously from the other side of Blossomforth she never expected to see. "Well...that wasn't so bad, right?"
"Not that bad? Didn't you listen to her threatening me? Personally, I'm glad she didn't finish what she was gonna say, because I don't want to find out." Spike dryly replied.
Not wanting to carry this conversation any further, Twilight changed the subject and suggested joining the others inside the club.
They had seen that the only pony to yet enter the club was Octavia, looking hesitant to open the door. Twilight could sympathize with Octavia, for she also had little knowledge on parties like these. She had wanted to come prepared to help the cellist, reading a copy of 'Partying 101' from her library to get an idea of how these sort of parties work, but she was still confused on many aspects of Vinyl's party theme. At least they would face it together, along with their friends.
The purple unicorn placed a hoof on Octavia's shoulder, catching her attention. "Well, are you ready?" she asked.
Octavia nodded wordlessly, and both ponies opened the front doors to the club.
They cringed at the loud, booming noise in there along with some other techno sounds. Both Twilight and Octavia instinctively pressed their forehooves to their ears to try and drown out the noise, resulting in Spike falling off of Twilight's back with a yelp.
Twilight could only make out what some parts of the club looked like because of the dim lights from the mirror ball on the ceiling, along with the occasional colorful light flashes onstage, where the turntable and sound boxes were, along with a blue earth pony with music notes for a cutie mark operating the music. And the ponies inside were having loads of fun, from many of them dancing on the blinking light dance floor whether alone or in groups, others enjoying drinks at a bar on the corner (one of the few places decently lit), some at tables, chairs and couches talking and laughing with one another, while a few were looking a bit tipsy from drinking a little too much Sweet Apple Cider, from what Twilight could see on the labels on the bottles.
It was hard to find their friends among a crowd this big. She could only spot Sherbet and her husband talking with one another at one of the tables striking a conversation with a green pegasus with a darker green mane and a raining cloud on her flank. It would probably take a while to find the others.
"Wow, quite the party in here, huh?" Twilight shouted over the loud music.
"What?" Spike shouted back. "I can't hear you! The music's too loud!"
"I said that this is some party we're having in here!"
"I still can't hear you!"
Apparently knowing a solution to this problem Twilight's horn began to glow, casting a small barrier inside the three of them, muffling the noise from the club. A very useful spell she had learned from her brother for when she wanted to study in peace and quiet.
"There, that should do it." she sighed in relief. "Now here's what we do: first, we'll need to look for the others around here and stick close to them. It should be easier for us to face this club together, so I think it's best for us to not split up. Once we find Vinyl, we should just do as she says, and the party should run smoothly for everypony to enjoy. And Spike..." she turned to her assistant. "I don't want you drinking anything from that bar other than fresh water. I don't really trust these kind of places with drinks."
"Don't worry Twilight, I know how to take care of myself." he assured.
"Good to hear. Now, any questions?"
"I happen to have one in mind." Octavia spoke up. "Where is Vinyl? Isn't she supposed to be hosting her own party onstage?"
Coming from Octavia, it was an understanding question since she didn't know a thing about Vinyl's parties. Twilight wasn't so sure herself, but she guessed that Vinyl probably needed some time to herself before performing onstage.
"All right. I'll let the barrier down now." she warned Octavia and Spike. The two nodded, getting ready for the musical onslaught as Twilight ceased her magical barrier.
They waited for a moment or so to let their ears get used to the music. Octavia, on the other hoof, was having a hard time doing so. Yes, she had heard her friend's loud music many times, but not at a volume this high. And her ears began to hurt from all the thumping and pounding coming from the music boxes. If this keeps up, she could get a migraine. She shook her discomfort away and did her best to compose herself, remembering that she was doing this for Vinyl.
"Octavia? You're not looking too good." Twilight noted. "Do you need some time outside?"
Octavia shook her head. "I appreciate your concern, but I should be fine. I know my limits."
And so the two ponies and dragon walked around the active club, looking for their friends. Once they had reached a dance line full of ponies, it proved very difficult to get through. Gently nudging them out of the way didn't work, they were having too much fun dancing and listening to the music to talk to them and Twilight chose to not push them out of the way with her magic, fearing she might cause a commotion if she did so.
"Great. This is just wonderful." Twilight groaned. "Now what?"
"We could go around without any difficulties." Octavia suggested.
"True, but our friends could be dancing somewhere in this line, and we have to check to make sure if they're there or not! But just how are we supposed to pass through this line?"
"Hey, I have an idea! Maybe we could dance through!" Spike piped up, catching the attention of the two confused mares.
"What? Dance through? What gave you that idea?" Twilight questioned.
"Think about it, it makes perfect sense! We couldn't get through earlier because we were doing it wrong! But if we dance through the crowd, it'll be easy as gem-cake!"
"Spike, that's just silly. Just because it's a dance line doesn't mean that you have to dance through."
"At least let me try! It could actually work!" the dragon insisted.
Twilight sighed, giving in. "All right, I suppose you can try. But I still don't think it's going to work."
Excited and eager, Spike went up to the dancing crowd, moving his feet and swinging his arms along with the music. As if he were immune to a magical barrier, he was effortlessly dancing through the crowd, much to Twilight disbelief and Octavia's surprise.
"I don't believe it! How is he doing that?" Twilight gaped, her jaw nearly touching the floor.
"'An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the situation that rubs against it'. The current situation seemed to favor Spike's thoughts." Octavia surmised.
Even though Twilight was not able to comprehend how Spike's plan actually worked, she decided to question it later and go along with it for now. Octavia opted to go next, although she looked nervous. She was debating on how to dance through the crowd of dancing ponies without making a fool of herself. She did not know how to dance at an event like this, and she knew that imitating somepony else's dancing from the crowd wouldn't work. The only kind of dances she knew were waltzes, tangos, some country dancing she had seen at the Apple Family Reunion and foxtrots to name a few. Sighing to herself, Octavia knew what she had to do: improvise.
Octavia slowly moves toward the crowd, her steps gracefully gliding across the floor, her head flowing smoothly through the crowd, imagining a harmonious song in her head to dance through. She wasn't making any rough movements with her body or jumping around like the ponies around her, she just did what she did best. Even though Twilight and Spike were at opposite sides from the dance line, the unicorn grinned as she could clearly see the dragon fawning at Octavia dancing among the crowd.
Some seconds later, Octavia joined the still-fawning Spike on the other side. Even after making it through, Octavia did not feel pleased with herself, feeling that she was out of place with her dance style compared to the other ponies' dancing. She really thought that she could have done better than that.
Now it was Twilight's turn to pass through the crowd. Although not as nervous as Octavia, she still felt unsure on how to proceed through this. After all, she didn't read anything about this on 'Partying 101'. She had to come up with something new.
'Well, here goes...' Twilight thought.
And then Twilight danced. Or rather, what she would call dancing. Every pony dancing stopped to turn towards the purple unicorn whopping, sticking her tongue out, wildly shaking her forelegs, bopping her head up and down and shouting "Oh yeah! Yow! Ow! Get down! Let's boogie!"
Everypony slowly backed away from the unicorn's awkward dancing. Octavia stifled her giggles to herself, wanting to remain polite while Spike was laughing his head off at what was happening.
Sensing that something was wrong, Twilight stopped dancing to see that she was the only pony on the dance floor.
"Um, I guess I overdid it, didn't I?" she asked, blushing from embarrassment.
"I guess that's another way to get through a dance line!" Spike continued to laugh. Although Octavia felt bad for Twilight, she felt relieved knowing that she could have done worse.
Although Orange Sherbet and her husband do enjoy parties, this is not the kind of party where they'd dance at. Country music and classical dances were more her type of music anyway. Instead, the two earth ponies were having drinks while talking with the pegasus they have met at one of the tables, Medley.
Sherbet had heard about Medley from Blossomforth, since she was also in the weather duty like the Element of Loyalty. Although the pegasus was a serious mare when working, she was completely different when off-duty. Medley was pretty friendly, talking about the return of Princess Luna, the next Grand Galloping Gala coming up soon at Canterlot and the recent Ursa Major (which Sherbet corrected to Minor). Yes, she was very talkative, but she always made her conversations interesting, so the earth pony couple listened to everything she had to say.
"...and believe it or not, she's friends with the Wonderbolts!" Medley exclaimed with a smirk. "She's so lucky! Speaking of which, I've heard that they're coming here soon! I'll definitely be watching them!"
"The Wonderbolts, huh?" Sherbet smiled in interest. "I wonder how Captain Spitfire is handling the new recruits..."
"Knowing her, she's probably whipping the poor cadets into shape." Mosley guessed, making everyone around the table chuckle.
Medley reached for her cup for another sip of grape juice, but frowned when she felt it empty. "Aw, already gone? I'm thinking that these cups are to small..."
"Not to worry dear, I'll get some more for you." Sherbet said, taking the pegasus' cup. "I'll be right back, you two."
Sherbet Orange walked towards the tables where they kept the scrumptious appetizers and drinks, taking caution to not bump into anyone on her way. Reaching the pitcher with the half-full grape juice, she took the handle in one hoof and was about to pour it into Medley's cup until someone accidentally bumped into her, making her drop the pitcher.
Instead of hearing broken glass like Sherbet feared, the pitcher bounced right back up into her hooves. She stood perplexed at what had happened. "The pitcher...bounced...?" Cautiously, she dropped the pitcher again, and it bounced back to her. Sherbet let it drop a few more times as if it was a ball, amazed that such a thing existed. "This is incredible! It makes me wonder what this pitcher is made out of!"
Sherbet looked to the assorted glasses neatly organized on the table, wondering if they also bounced. Now curious, she took one of the glasses and let it drop to the ground.
She widened her eyes at the sight of broken glass.
Sherbet slowly looked around to see if anyone saw that. Hoping that they didn't, she slowly pushed the broken pieces under the covers of the table. 'What was I thinking? Of course the glasses wouldn't bounce!'
Doing her best to remain unknowing of what happened, she filled Medley's cup and went to walk back to her table.
"Excuse me, miss?"
Sherbet froze, thinking that she had been caught breaking the glass.
"Y-Yes?" she replied, turning to face who called her.
It was a black unicorn stallion with a gray mane and a charming smile on his face. Sherbet's fear changed to annoyance, knowing where this was going.
"I couldn't help but notice that you're a bit jumpy in your steps. Why?" he said. "Is it because you're really enjoying the party? Well, if it is, no pretty mare like you has to enjoy it alone."
"No thank you. I'm quite fine." Sherbet politely declined, though she secretly wanted to punch the shameless flirt in the face. "In fact, I was about to..."
"Aw c'mon, you don't need to be like that. We could have some fun dancing together. Heck, I could even introduce you to my friends. I'm sure that we'll all-"
"Excuse me, young stallion?"
"What? Can't you see I'm..."
The stallion stopped talking when he faced Mosley, who was staring right at him with a frown. The unicorn shrunk back as the stallion was taller than him.
"I couldn't help but notice that you were talking to my wife here." Mosley spoke calmly, which actually made him sound intimidating. "May I ask what it is you were telling her?"
"Y-Your wife?" the unicorn stuttered. "Oh, you know! Just...how she was doing and how the weather's like and how the party's like and...I'll be on my way, haveagreatnight!" He sped away, the table cloths flowing from the stallion's quick getaway.
The male earth pony smirked in satisfaction. Mosley then turned to face his wife. "Are you all right, dear? He didn't try anything, did he?"
"Just the usual corny pick-up lines." Sherbet answered. "I'm rather surprised that you didn't strike at him. Celestia knows I wanted to."
"I was tempted to. Now let's get back to our table and rejoin Medley, shall we?"
Sherbet nodded and walked back with her husband, hoping to not meet anymore shameless stallions around the club.
"Oh, where do I find Vinyl around here? Is she backstage?"
Blossomforth kept searching around the Boom Room looking to bring the gelato she was carrying for her DJ idol. It proved to be a difficult feat for the club was bigger than it looked.
'Maybe I can ask someone around here...' she thought.
The pegasus then spotted someone who looked as if she worked here. The blue earth pony didn't look too friendly, but Blossomforth had to go with what she had if she wanted to find Vinyl.
"Um, excuse me?" Blossomforth called to her over the music.
"Yeah, what do you want?" the mare frowned, already irritated by the pegasus. Blossomforth read from the name tag that she was Palm Spring.
"Sorry to be a bother, but I was wondering if you could tell me if you happen to know where Vinyl...er, I mean...DJ-PON3 is?"
"I don't know. Besides, even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
"Wh-why not?" Blossomforth asked, hurt by the Palm's tone of voice.
"What are you, stupid?" she snapped. "I can't just tell everypony where the DJ is! The crazy fans will just keep flocking over her and she won't be able to play right onstage!"
"But you don't understand, this is important!" Blossomforth persisted to the rude mare. "I have this important delivery to-"
"I don't care! Now bug off and quit bothering me!"
The earth pony marched away muttering some choice words under her breath. Blossomforth sighed and lowered her head, not even one step closer to discovering the whereabouts of Vinyl. She set the bowl of mint chocolate gelato on a table to rest her tired hooves from all the walking. Maybe she could take a quick break for a while. She could get something to satisfy her parched throat from the-
"Oh come on, who put this here!?"
The cream pegasus saw the same earth pony looking annoyed at a potted plant.
"Whose bright idea was it to put this stupid plant here!? It's ugly! Well I can take care of that..."
She walked up to the plant, grabbed it with her teeth and pulled it out.
"There. Now to throw this out somewhere-"
Palm didn't get to finish what she was going to say, for she found herself face-to-face with Blossomforth glaring daggers at her.
"Oh, what do you want now!?" Palm snapped at her.
"Put that plant back now." Blossomforth growled.
"Why should I!? Did you not take a look at this!? This is absolutely-"
"I said put it back!" the pegasus snapped back, now intimidating the earth pony. "Do it before I do something you'll regret."
"Don't you mean something you'll regret?" Palm gulped, now sweating a bit.
"No. I don't."
Taking the hint, she quickly put the plant back in the pot. "There, it's done! We're good now, right?"
"Don't do it again." Blossomforth warned her, poking her chest.
"Yeah, sure! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my OW!"
Palm had made some motion with her hooves before poking herself in the eye, confusing the flower-loving pegasus on what that was all about. Shrugging it off, she walked back to the table to where she had set the gelato.
She kept walking and walking until she slowed to a stop...
"Where did I put the gelato!?"
Unknown to the panicked pegasus who searched throughout the club for the missing treat, she had actually put the gelato on top of a music box onstage. The gelato slowly began to melt away...
Graphite stopped to catch his breath from running away from the mare's husband. He felt pretty embarrassed flirting with a married mare, and reminded himself to keep a good distance away from her as to not suffer her husband's wrath. Next time, he should check to see if the mares he talk to are either married or dating.
Walking around for a while, he spotted two mares sitting around a table eating some appetizers. Fixing his mane, he put on a charming smile as he approached them.
"Man, these tables around here are too tall." Spike complained as he tried to reach for the appetizers on the table. "Can't they at least give out some taller chairs?"
"Sorry Spike. I think that this is all they have." Twilight apologized to him.
"I'm afraid that we'll have to do with what we have." Octavia said.
"I know, I know..." Spike sighed. "But it still sucks."
After the unicorn's embarrassing dance earlier, the three decided to fill their stomachs before continuing to search for the others. As soon as they were about to finish, Graphite smoothly walked up to greet them.
"Why hello ladies. Great night we're having, right?" Graphite said.
"Uh, yeah, I guess so." the purple unicorn replied.
"Good, I'm happy you agree. So I've been wondering, do you two beauties happen to have any coltfriends?"
"No, none of us are in a relationship..." Octavia answered, feeling uncomfortable around this stallion's flirtatious approach. She was unsure of how she should speak with this stallion, never having this type of conversation in what she was usually familiar with. Spike, who Graphite didn't notice due to the size of the table, was scowling at the stallion.
"Really? Two beautiful mares and none of you have any coltfriends?" Graphite went on, relieved that he can keep going, or so he thought. "Ah forgive me, I forgot to ask for your names. I'll start: I'm Graphite. And you two?"
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, the librarian in Manehattan."
"I'm Octavia Melody, a cellist for the orchestra."
"A librarian and a cellist, huh?" Graphite smiled. "You two have really amazing jobs, you know that?"
Spike growled at the advances Graphite made towards the two mares. Twilight, he didn't mind too much, but he wants the unicorn stallion to get his hooves away from Octavia. Suddenly, Spike smirked as he came up with an idea to get rid of him.
The dragon crawled under the table, the sheets covering his presence, walked up to where Twilight was sitting and tapped her on her cutie mark twice.
Twilight's eyes widened before narrowing them at Graphite, thinking he had done something no stallion should do to a mare.
"Twilight? Is something the matter?" Octavia asked, noting her friend's glare at the black stallion.
Turning his head to look at Twilight, he was meet with a purple hoof to his face. He staggered out of his seat with derped eyes and a silly smile.
"Thank you very much, please come again..." he muttered before passing out on the floor.
Octavia was taken aback at what Twilight had done. "Twilight, why did-"
"I don't want to talk about it." the unicorn interjected, getting up from her seat. "Let's get back to finding the others."
Without waiting for an answer, Twilight walked off with Octavia following. Spike lifted the covers from under the table, also surprised at Twilight punching Graphite.
"Yikes. I didn't think that she'd take it that far..." he muttered to himself, now feeling sorry for Graphite, before running to catch up to Twilight and Octavia.
"Trixie, what are we doing up here!?"
Daring knew that the blue unicorn could be get out of hoof at times despite having good intentions, but what Trixie was doing right now was downright crazy. Both mares were on the roof of the club, thanks to Trixie picking the backstage lock and climbing the stairs to the roof. Daring followed only to make sure that she wouldn't get caught, although she wondered why she hadn't already called for security to stop her.
"We are up here to assist Octavia's friend, Vinyl Scratch or DJ-PON3, whichever one you want to call her, on her performance for when she appears onstage!" Trixie explained, looking down at the party from a part of the roof that was made from glass. "Trixie is certain that she will appreciate our help, Daring Do."
"I told you not to call me that in public!" Daring snapped. "Besides, don't you think we should ask for Vinyl's permission first before doing something like this?
"First off, nopony's around us, so your identity is safe here. Secondly, one of the best performances is a surprise! Not only will Vinyl Scratch approve of it, but it shall also wow her audience, resulting in a stellar performance!"
"I still think this is nuts."
"Trust The Great and Powerful Trixie, o' ye of little faith, for Trixie knows what she is doing." Trixie grinned. Walking alongside the glass, the showmare noticed a bird's nest perched on top of the glass. "Hmm, this is no place for a bird to rest. Trixie shall put it in a better place."
"Trixie, I wouldn't be doing that. Birds tend to be very sensitive about their nests." Daring warned as the unicorn levitated the nest to someplace else.
"Nonsense, the bird shall be thanking Trixie for moving her home away from the lights and sounds. Now then, all that's left for us to do is wait..."
Daring sighed, reluctantly joining Trixie's side. 'I got a bad feeling about this...'
Twilight, Octavia and Spike had rejoined Sherbet, Mosley and Blossomforth (who they had found running around frantically) to find Trixie and Daring, deciding that it would be easier to search through the club in a group.
"I still can't believe I lost it..." Blossomforth lamented, upset losing the gelato.
"It's all right Blossomforth, I'm sure Miss Scratch won't be mad at you." Mosley comforted her. "She seems to be an understanding pony. After all, we can always get her gelato some other day, it's nothing to worry about."
The earth pony's comforting words worked, as Blossomforth managed to smile. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, uncle."
"Man, where are we going to find the others in this place? It's freaking huge!" Spike exclaimed, waving his arms in an arc to prove his point. "It could take forever to find them!"
"It's not that big, Spike. But I do agree that this club is bigger than it looks..." Twilight said.
"And I still wonder where Vinyl is in here..." Octavia frowned, hoping to see the white unicorn.
"Perhaps we could ask the employees of the club." Sherbet suggested. "They should know where-"
"Psst! Hey! Over here!"
Looking to who was calling them, they saw an open door showing a smiling Vinyl Scratch motioning them to come in.
"Huh. That was easy." Spike commented.
"Quick! Get in before the crowd sees me!" Vinyl called them. Everyone complied, coming in and making sure no one else was watching.
The excited DJ pony led them backstage through employees and props to her room. Her room definitely described that a DJ was in here. One could tell from the records on the table, music magazines, a red guitar on the corner, the oddly shaped chairs, the ruffled bed and the slightly messy room.
"I'm glad you guys could make it to my show!" Vinyl smirked. "I just know that you're all gonna love it!"
"Vinyl, why did you bring us backstage with you?" Octavia asked her longtime friend.
"So you can enjoy me putting on the beats without anypony messing with ya, since the crowd can get pretty wild at times."
"But we haven't found Honey and Trixie yet! Who knows where they could be!" Twilight protested.
"Don't worry egghead, I'm sure they'll turn up sometime soon." Vinyl assured the purple unicorn, although Twilight frowned at being called egghead.
"Um, Vinyl..." Blossomforth began nervously.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"About that gelato you wanted...I did bring it with me, but I ended up losing it somewhere around here. I'm so sorry..."
Vinyl shook her head smiling, patting the pegasus on the back. "Hey, don't sweat it girl. It's just an ice cream. We can always get some more some other time."
Blossomforth smiled. "Oh, okay. Thanks, Vinyl."
"Sure, anytime. Anyway..." Vinyl trailed, turning to Octavia. "How are you digging the party so far, Octi? Is it awesome or what?"
Octavia was not sure how to answer that. Truthfully, she wasn't enjoying the party very much, what with the lights constantly flashing in her eyes, the loud music ringing in her ears, the kind of crowd she has to deal with, it was all very difficult for her to tolerate. But she didn't want to say that to her friend. Yet Octavia also felt that it was wrong to lie to Vinyl. She had to come up with a different type of answer.
"We'll, it certainly is...unique." Octavia said.
"You got that right!" Vinyl chuckled. "After all, there ain't no party like a DJ-PON3 Party!"
There was a knock on the door, and then it opened to show one of the employees of the club. "DJ-PON3, you're up in five minutes."
"Gotcha, I'll be right there." Vinyl nodded. "C'mon guys, you can all some of the best seats in the house. Just follow me!"
Vinyl brought Octavia and her friends to some seats behind the curtains to watch Vinyl play the turntable.
"You know Twilight, we never really did see how these parties go like, right?" Spike asked her. "Maybe we could find out now and have some fun with it! Who knows, maybe we could get a record to listen to it in the library!"
"Spike, as much as I enjoy new experiences, Vinyl's kind of music is not the type that would help me in my studies, nor would it fit in for the library." Twilight disagreed.
Spike was about to say more, but the voice from the current DJ onstage interrupted him.
"Hello everypony, this is Noteworthy speaking, and thank you for hanging out at the Boom Room tonight! I'm sure we've all had loads of fun listening to what I had to show to such a great audience, but now we're going to take things up to the next level! Introducing, the self-proclaimed Wubmaster..."
"Here I go. Hope you guys enjoy the show." Vinyl said, walking towards the stage.
"The mare with the beats..."
Octavia was trying to convince herself to be calm, hoping for everything to turn out all right.
"She'll knock your horseshoes off..."
Vinyl adjusted her glasses, ready to go.
"Let's give it up for DJ-PON3!!"
The crowd cheered as Vinyl literally somersaulted onstage in front of the turntables.
"Yo everypony, are you ready to rock!?"
Cheers of approval roared from the audience.
"Then let's get this started!"
Vinyl, now DJ-PON3 onstage, cranked up the volume and played the turntable, with all ponies in the audience dancing and jumping along with the beat. Vinyl also joined in the music, shaking her head up and down with the rhythm she made.
Octavia looked upon the crowd and saw that they enjoyed what they were hearing. In a way, Octavia sort of envied them. She didn't want to lie to Vinyl, she truly did want to directly tell her that she does enjoy the music, but that wouldn't be the truth. 'Well, at least the party is going along well..."
Although the view from backstage was good, one could say that the view from the rooftop was even better, being able to see just about everything onstage.
Trixie and Daring could see why Vinyl gained such a reputation. She didn't just play at the turntable, she sang along with the music, she also mingled with the crowd, got off her turntable to dance a bit at times; she even began to spin on top of her turntable on her head, much to the crowd's excitement.
"Trixie must say that Vinyl Scratch is a good performer." Trixie complimented. "Although she can be quite a showoff, and ponies might get the wrong impression."
Daring gave a deadpan stare at the showmare. "Trixie, do you even realize what you just said?"
"Of course, that Vinyl Scratch could be a showoff, why?"
"Never mind..." Daring sighed, seeing that Trixie did not get the hint. "So how exactly are you going to make Vinyl's performance better? The audience seems to like it as it is."
"It never hurts to put a little more into what is already great!" Trixie explained. "As for how, Trixie shall just use some of her magician's tricks onstage to wow the crowd even more. Now Trixie shall assist discreetly in Vinyl Scratch's performance!"
Lighting her horn, Trixie focused her magic onstage, where some sparks began flying off. Few seconds later, the sparks turned into flames that rose like a pillar before rising down, exciting the crowd even more. Vinyl was surprised by what happened, but smirked upon seeing the approval of her audience and went along with it.
"Well what do you know? It worked after all?" Daring admitted.
"But of course!" Trixie smirked. "Was there ever any doubt?"
"Yeah, at first I was..."
"But I digress, for this is not Trixie's show! It is Vinyl Scratch's! And now Trixie shall..."
A loud caw interrupted her, followed by another.
Trixie paused at the interruption. "Just what in Equestria was thaAARGHH!!!"
Two bird flew at the unicorn and pegasus and attacked them, pecking them on their heads.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Why are these birds attacking us!?" Trixie yelled.
"The parents are OW! pretty mad that you moved OW! their nest!" Daring answered, trying to avoid the bird that was attacking her. "Speaking of which, why are they attacking me!? I didn't even do anything!"
"Never mind that, we have to escape!"
Daring couldn't agree more with that idea. Both mares ran to the door that led them to the roof, trying to run from the angry birds. They opened the door and quickly shut it before they could get in.
"Ha! Take that birds!" Trixie said triumphantly. "We have outwitted you!"
Unfortunately, Trixie spoke too soon for the birds entered through the small window above the door.
"You just had to jinx it, didn't you!?" Daring snapped at the unicorn.
Trixie could not answer back, for the birds have resumed pecking at them. They ran away screaming with the birds in pursuit.
Everyone watched as Vinyl kept playing the turntable and finished the music with a back-flip and a loud boom that slightly shook the room. Everyone cheered loudly at the unicorn DJ's performance.
"You see, Octavia?" Twilight whispered to the cellist. "I told you that everything would be all right."
Octavia couldn't agree more. She was feeling more at ease as Vinyl kept playing and performing, and now with the show almost over, it looked like as if things were going to be just fine this time.
Soon after she thought that, two screams came from the side, and out ran Daring and Trixie from the door with two birds pecking at their heads, and everyone turned their heads at the commotion.
"Is that Trixie and Honey over there?" Mosley asked in surprise.
"What were they doing that got birds chasing after them?" Spike wondered.
Trixie and Daring continued to run around while the pegasus used her wings to try and fly away from her attacker.
"Argh! Somepony get this bird off me!" Daring yelled, flying away from the bird.
"Get off, get off! Trixie demands you to get off!" Trixie shouted, waving her hooves around.
Out of instinct, she shot a burst of magic to try and scare the bird away. Not only did it miss, the magical projectile also hit the turntable where Vinyl was at. The magical surge coursed through the turntable and literally shocked Vinyl, her yelps of pain vibrated from the shock, until the turntable exploded, leaving a charred Vinyl on the ground with her mane stretched from the electrocution.
Octavia gasped, putting her hooves over her mouth in shock. "Oh my...VINYL!!" The earth pony got out of her seat to help her friend, however she failed to notice some cables on the ground and tripped over them, getting tangled in the process. One sound box also tumbled over to the floor and broke. Octavia struggled against the binds with little success. "Ugh...gah...I'm stuck!"
"Not to worry, my lady!" Spike said smiling, walking up to help her. "I'll get you out of this in a flash!" he reached his claw at the cables to cut them loose...
"Spike, wait! You shouldn't-"
Sherbet could not finish her warning as the dragon had already cut Octavia free. Now, the headlights began to constantly flash in and out, blinding anyone that looked at them. Some headlights even broke their glasses, the startled ponies below falling back to avoid the shards.
Spike's face paled when he realized his mistake. "Ohh...oops..."
As Daring was flying away from the bird attacking her, one of the malfunctioning lights had shined on her eyes.
"AGH! I can't see! What happened!?" she cried.
Now flying blind, Daring could not see where she was going and crashed into the mirror ball, sending her and the ball on the floor with the ball rolling around. Everyone ran away screaming from the big mirror ball as it crushed tables and chairs in its path.The only object that had survived was the bouncing pitcher.
'Now I'm beginning to wish that the glasses could also bounce so that they wouldn't break...' Sherbet thought.
"Oh no...this wasn't supposed to happen!" Octavia cried. This was the complete opposite of what should've happened! There wasn't supposed to be broken mechanisms and lights, a frightened crowd running for the exit, overturned tables and chairs and her friend hurt on the ground! The very thing that Octavia feared of is truly happening!
"Hey..." spoke a dazed Vinyl from the ground. "What's that noise? I know it's not coming from me..."
Looking for the sizzling noise, they saw some green liquid covering the remaining sound, sparks flowing from it.
"Hey wait a minute..." Blossomforth trailed for a bit before widening her eyes. "That was the gelato I bought!"
The melted gelato caused more sparks to fly from the music box until a very loud boom sounded from it, making everyone cover their ears from the loud noise. Then it blew up, actually in flames. The smokes from the sound box caused the sprinkler alarms to go off, getting everyone inside the club soaked to the bone.
Lifting herself from the floor, Vinyl looked around the destroyed club in shock.
"No..." she whispered. That one word hurt Octavia more than anything else. She knew that she had failed.
With the mess inside the club, security had to escort everyone outside of the Boom Room. It could take weeks or months to repair all the damage done to the club. While some ponies were leaving for home after a disastrous night, a few had remained behind outside.
Spike was bandaging Trixie and Daring's heads from the birds' pecking while Twilight scolded the unicorn and pegasus for going to the roof of the club, Orange Sherbet and Mosley Orange comforted a distraught Blossomforth who blamed herself for the accident and Vinyl and Octavia sat alongside one another on a bench, both mares upset at what happened.
Octavia felt like the worst friend in Equestria now. Her foalhood friend had generously invited her and her friends to come to her party, and it all ended in a disaster because of her. Sure, some of her friends did unintentionally cause the incident at the club, but Octavia still felt responsible for what happened, thinking that she could have kept a closer eye on her friends so that they would not wander. If she had not tripped over the cables, she could have helped her friend without causing any mayhem. If she had noticed the melted gelato from earlier, she could have stopped it from malfunctioning the sound box it was on. She wouldn't blame Vinyl if the DJ was mad at her for what happened. She could already her her friend's angry words in her head. Tears threatened to burst from her eyes. Still, she owed her an apology for everything that happened.
"Vinyl?" Octavia said. The unicorn didn't respond. Octavia kept talking anyway. "I am so sorry for what happened to you and your party. It shouldn't have ended like this. It should have been the perfect night for you, with your audience cheering for you and asking for an encore. I should have made things better for you, but I only made them worse. If I could go back in time to fix everything that happened, I would do it without a second thought. But I know that's impossible. I cannot change the past. We all have to live with our mistakes..." This time, the tears flower from her eyes. "But I didn't want this to be one of my mistakes...I only wanted to help and support you...and look what happened...now I'll have to live with it forever..."
Octavia spent the next few seconds softly weeping to herself. Now she was expecting the harsh words to come from Vinyl's mouth.
"Hey...Octi...?"
What she didn't expect was the soft, calm voice of Vinyl.
"Could you look at me? Please?"
Octavia complied, staring at the white unicorn's cerise eyes.
"I'll admit it...I'm pretty bummed at the crash that happened back there. And I'll also admit that I'm kinda ticked that you and your friends were sort of responsible for what happened at the club." Octavia cringed at that. "And I'd be lying if I said that this was one of my best shows ever, because we both know it wasn't. And you know what...?"
Octavia braced herself for the words that would end their friendship once and for all.
"I don't really care about any of that."
...
'D-Did I just hear her correctly...?' Octavia thought in disbelief. Looking clearly at Vinyl's face, she saw the her friend was smiling. It was weak, but a smile nonetheless.
"Do you know why I don't care about what happened? Because you were here, that's why."
"B-But because of me-"
"Forget about it. I already said that I don't care." Vinyl interrupted her.
"But why...?" Octavia asked.
"Oh Octi...despite turning from a jerk to a nice filly, you still haven't changed a bit..." Vinyl chuckled. "You always think that it's about the music, the performance and the instrument when onstage, but you got it all backwards. It's not the music that makes the party; it's the ponies that are there to watch you and cheer for you. So you see, I don't care about what happened, you were here for me and that's good enough."
Although tears were still falling from her eyes, Octavia was now smiling. "Oh Vinyl, I thought you were going to..."
"What? Cut you loose? Octi, I was the one who wanted to be friends with you, why would I want for us to stop being friends?" Vinyl questioned her. "...so Octi. Ya think we can do something else tomorrow? No parties or anything, just hang out, ya know?"
Octavia nodded smiling. "Of course, sounds like a splendid idea." the earth put her hooves around Vinyl for a hug with her returning it. "Thank you, Vinyl. For everything."
"Sure, don't mention it." Vinyl answered.
From some distance away, Twilight was listening in on their conversation after patching up Daring and Trixie. Twilight was relieved and happy for Octavia and Vinyl, glad to see that they're still friends despite what happened.
'Speaking of friends...'
"Spike, take a letter." Twilight told her assistant.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I'm happy to inform that I have learned another lesson on friendship. Being a friend doesn't mean that you have to force yourself to do things that you are not used to to please others, showing your support and help is enough to demonstrate how much you value your friendship with one another. It's not always the action, but the thought that counts, for it doesn't matter how little something is worth; what is important is the feeling or thoughtfulness that you are expressing. And once you're a very dear friend to somepony, that friendship will last a lifetime. Whether they be showing you the error of your ways or cheering you up through an unfortunate event, your friend will stand by your side through thick and thin. And that is one of the most wonderful gifts friendship can offer.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle