//------------------------------//
// Track 1: Have You Met Miss Scratch? 
// Story: Swing When You're Vinyl 
// by River Road 
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Fancypants watched the light shimmer through the last drops of his merlot as he slowly swirled it around in the glass. He quite enjoyed the evenings in the little bar named 'C Minor' (after the proprietor, not potentially underage patrons), at the outskirts of Canterlot. They had good, if simple wine and a friendly atmosphere. What was the best thing he had found about the bar, however, was that none of the upper-class ponies ever came here. Not that he tried to avoid them, but they could just be so… tiring, at times.

He took a last look around the bar, taking in the patrons. None of them were paying him any attention, be it because they were already used to his occasional visits, or because they were just too drunk to care. A few groups of young stallions and mares chatted and drank, a lone mare was sitting at the bar and drowning her thoughts in cider and the waitresses were carrying drinks and friendly smiles. The only notable difference from any other evening in a bar like this, was that the stage with the karaoke machine had been empty the whole evening.

One of the waitresses came to his table to take the couple of Bits he had laid out for his tab. He gave her a friendly smile, gesturing to the stage. “It’s not usually this quiet here… Is the karaoke machine broken?”

The waitress gave a small laugh. “Something like that, yes. We got a drawer stuck, the one where all the different music disks are in. Our new bartender is a nice and hard-working boy, but you can’t let him even get close to keys and locks.” She gestured over to the bar, where a green earth pony with a blonde mane and some sort of geometry cutie mark was grinning sheepishly, giving a small wave. The waitress waved back, then turned back to Fancypants and shrugged. “So the only songs we have right now are the ones on the disk that’s in the machine already. I’d say in one or two days we’ll get it unstuck and the singing is going to pick up again.”

Fancypants chuckled.  “Well, I guess it was nice without the drunken Sapphire Shores wannabes.” Just as he stood up to leave, however, the drunken mare trotted up onto the stage, stumbling a little as she stepped up to the microphone. Fancypants watched her with an amused expression. “Oh, would you look at that… I suppose I brought that on myself.”

The grey mare stared down at the microphone for a moment, then turned to the karaoke machine to select a song. She picked up the mic and rose to her hind legs, standing on two hooves as the music began to play. Fancypants had expected her to fall over in less than five seconds, but the mare was surprisingly steady in her stance. The next surprise came when the mare opened her mouth, starting into the song with a clear and smooth voice, not the least bit slurred.

Have you met Miss Scratch
Someone said as she bumped my hoof
She was just “That DJ” to me 

Then she said, “Tavi
“Tavi you’ve got to understand
“Music wants to be wild and free.”

And all at once I lost my beat
And all at once she drowned me deep
Under her bass that shakes the earth and sky

Now I met Miss Scratch 
And we’ll keep on meeting till we die
Miss Scratch and I

The mare stood there, swaying slightly with the microphone in her hoof and drunkenly staring into the distance as the machine played through the bridge of the song. As soon as the song continued, though, she got back into it without missing a beat.

And all at once I lost my beat
And all at once she drowned me deep
Under her bass that shakes the earth and sky

Now I met Miss Scratch
And well keep on meeting till we die
Miss Scratch and I
Miss Scratch and I

Miss Scratch and I

The mare stood there for a few more seconds, panting lightly. She shook her head and looked around, then blushed and quickly trotted off the stage, throwing a few Bits on the counter before she left the bar in a hurry.

Fancypants watched her leave, a small smile on his face as he picked up his coat and prepared to go home for the evening as well. “Well, that certainly was… interesting. Maybe I should come here more often.”