//------------------------------// // Practice for Comback! // Story: Vinyl Scratch, Mentoring is AWESOME! // by SciWriter //------------------------------// It didn’t take long after her hospital release for Lightning and Dusk to become full-fledged members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders which… I’m not sure what to think about that, good or bad. With her injury the former trio were having to slow down a few of their antics, but when they kept talking about how eager they were to get back to things like, artillery testing… I started to wonder if I was developing a mother’s worrying tendency. A week and a half went by and finally I had developed what I believed would suffice as a lesson plan for teaching a foal to DJ. I would start by having her just listen to different music and see if she could sense how to move with it. This was different from dancing, as a DJ you have to add to a song, not just react to it. You have to respect a song and figure out where to add your special touch, without ruining the original product. Writing your own music was of course an advanced form of DJing and I wasn’t sure if Lightning even wanted to do that yet, so I wasn’t planning on going into it. I decided I would concentrate mostly on teaching her how to perform as a DJ and appeal to a crowd rather than write music. She wanted to incorporate dance, which would mean less song writing and more doing shows. A DJ has to move around a lot and tell a crowd what they’re supposed to be doing… hence why it’s not easy to figure out what to do when you’re mute, but that’s off subject. Most DJs do a little dancing when on stage, so I’m not sure what she meant about incorporating dance and saying not many DJs dance. Course after a while dancing and DJing become different things, as you can’t change the records and keep your feet moving the whole time. Course, Lightning was eight, so there could be many misconceptions in her young mind about the art she wanted to pursue. As I got a feel for how she reacted to music, I would start trying to get her a small audience to see how she wanted to work with a crowd. I would eventually get to the technicals of everything, how to read music, what everything is called, that kind of thing. Actually I was planning on just incorporating some of that naturally into other lessons as I went along. For me, long vocabulary lists were boring and learning to read music sheets was the hardest and least fun thing about my job. Even as much as I incorporated the technicals, I knew eventually I would have to sit down and make sure Lightning actually understood them. For that… I wondered if Twilight was still hosting those foal teaching classes. She used to teach the CMC after all… did she still? Twilight loved technicals, but I was hesitant to ask her for favors, seeing as she was a princess after all. There was an added angle to all of this though. After Lightning’s first therapy visit, I was assigned to try to use my lessons to try to instill in the filly an interest that drove her away from obsessing over protecting her brother. Killy Filly (gotta love that name for a therapist) made it clear Dusk had to be somewhere else when she was learning. In another room, across town, anywhere that made him not visible to Lightning. Anyway, so Tuesday came, the first lesson’s day. Was I waiting to hear a knock… hey, who’s supposed to be who’s fan here? I was rocking out to Atreyu and some other heavy metal albums trying to get into a groove for making some new songs of my own. ‘Like a whisper to the dusk, an oath against the shadows denying the dark!’ Why yes, I was writing to no one while listening to music. What, you don’t sing to no one? “Knock, knock, knock,” on the door. ‘Like medals of hope, like medals of hope’. Finally Octy had to tap me on the shoulder and show me that Lightning was there with her brother. Lightning was of course flying while her brother was just sitting on the floor. Personally my head was still rocking but I slowly started putting things away. I switched my CD to something more quiet. Evanescence oughtta do. I levitated Dusk over to Octavia. ‘Can you keep him in here, I think he could use some practice of his own.’ Octy looked at me cross eyed. ‘Well of course, if you can’t handle making a tap dancing melody, I’m sure there is a better celloist out there…’ “First off Vinyl, it’s spelled c e l l i s t. Second… how good is he?” ‘He tap danced to Itolabrothers. He makes it up pretty much as he goes.’ “So… that’s interesting.” She looked down at the colt. “Think you could stand doing something more formal?” “Um… maybe?” Dusk asked. Octavia nodded and shrugged, waving with her hoof for Dusk to come to her side of the room. “Oh cool can I watch?” Lightning asked. ‘Nope.’ I walked out, levitating the startled fully capable of flying filly alongside me. I went around back pulling the filly behind me, not hard as she probably weighed a grand total of fifty pounds. I walked over to a small mix track set I had set up in the back yard of mine and Octavia’s house. “But… Dusk…” Lightning started when I set her down on the ground on the opposite side of the record set. I remembered the therapist’s recommendation not to scare her. ‘He’s just inside my house, Octavia is watching him.’ “Is she powerful?” ‘She has a black belt.’ She did actually. As I said that I remembered all the times little sis Vinyl decided to be helpful in that pursuit and ended up on the floor in pain. “Is that good?” ‘Yes. It’s very good.’ Had to remember this kid was only eight. ‘She can beat anyone up.’ “She won’t hurt Dusk, right? He’s not very tough.” ‘If she does, I will hurt her. And she knows that.’ Lightning still looked worried. I took my headset off and listened… there is was, tapping hooves. ‘Hear that? He’s happy, he’s dancing.’ Lightning listened and slowly started to smile. “He likes dancing.” I nodded. ‘Now to this business I worked out with your father, something about teaching you to DJ… you wouldn’t happen to like that idea would you?’ Lightning’s eyes lit up. “The most awesome DJ in Equestria teach me? YES!” Wow, this filly was a trip, my ego was approaching cloud nine. I cast my audio sharing spell and put my headphones back on. Lightning hesitantly looked at the house. ‘He’s fine.' I noted. She nodded, looking wide eyed at me. It was a looked that said, “That’s my brother in there… I’m trusting you…” all by itself. This filly sure knew how to tug at a pony’s heart strings. ‘Now, I need to see how good you are at gaging music, following a beat.’ I switched CDs again. Icon for Hire seemed like a good choice. Something more subtle might be a little difficult for her to get a feel for. ‘I’m gonna play a song and I want you to do just whatever comes natural. Do whatever you feel like, move with the music.’ “Can I sing along?” ‘If you want.’ “Can I dance?” ‘Kid, this is me you’re talking to. Go crazy. Actually…’ I thought for a moment. ‘Consider this a warm up. Cut loose a little.’ Lightning smiled. The music started. Lightning just stood there, closing her eyes. She seemed a little like her brother in this. When the main singer came in, suddenly so did she. She spun around and started to pretend she was singing to a crowd. “Cause everyone so scared, we don’t wanna go there, we don’t wanna make a move!” As she kept singing, yelling the lyrics, I’m sure others could hear. Lightning was your typical kid in that regard. She could barely hear herself over the music so she started to belt out the lyrics… it was good for what it was. The CMC must have heard her, and being the supportive friends they tended to be, they actually ran around the house and suddenly were there in front of us. They looked rather confused, Apple Bloom chuckling, so I decided to start playing the song on my mix track along with the appropriate accompaniment. Not an easy feat… well unless you used to do it for a living. Scootaloo started to rock her body with the beat, apparently loving it, Sweetie just smiling. As for herself, Apple Bloom just sat there. She rolled her eyes, but stuck around. Lightning must have opened her eyes because she suddenly stopped singing during the second verse. Sweetie nodded her head however, doing her best to encourage. I started revving up for the chorus. Lighting started to fly, electric bolts surrounding her in the air. She began singing again. “Somepony make a move!” BOOM! A powerful bolt shot out from one of her wings. The three filly audience jumped, Sweetie Belle shooting behind her braver friends. Another lightning bolt shot out, the sound shaking the ground. True to Lightning’s title for her as the “bravest filly alive” Scootaloo actually walked towards Lightning, grinning and watching as weaker lightning bolts came off of the flying filly in near perfect time with the beat. As the song climax hit, I hit on an idea. I cast an audio amplification spell, one I often use at clubs. It’s a spell I use to draw a crowd, or get them off their flanks and on their feet. “Pointing my finger the problems still linger!” Lightning pointed her hoof at the CMC members a bolt of energy flying over them. It missed them by a mile but still startled Sweetie. In seconds Rainbow Dash had a cloud set up over the group, a big grin on her face as she watched what was happening. I had to agree, this was something to see. On the one hoof, it was hilarious to hear the filly’ singing so out of sync with the music, on the other she was so into it, and her bolts were so well timed it would have been worth an admission fee just to see it. Lighting sent out two more bolts as she screamed “Somepony make a move!” She then shot down to the ground and three bolts shot out from her front hoof as she touched down. The ground shook and every pony there jumped, including Rainbow Dash on her cloud. I nearly fell off my feet behind the mix tracks. I think I was supposed to be teaching a music lesson, but that got derailed somewhere. By the way, Rarity showed up too. It’s always fun to see the resident fashionista dance, as she is amazing at that! The slow down hit and I quickly made the mix track silent, punctuating the song’s statement. Then I slowly started to build the sound up again. Honestly by this point, I was getting into the song myself and kinda reminiscing about DJing parties. As the chorus hit again, I ramped up the volume, not failing to notice Pinkie had showed up, along with Derpy and her daughter Dinky, the two having chocolate shakes. Lightning’s electric shocks got weaker and weaker so they weren’t completely drowning out the music, or at least I suspect that was the reason. However at the end of the song, “We all know what’s going on!” BOOM! As Lightning hit the ground a huge bolt was sent into the sky and the ground shook, the sound almost making me deaf as well as mute. I had closed my eyes for a few seconds, hearing the cheers of our small audience. And then of course I heard “What the heck was that?!” from a certain purple alicorn. I looked at Twilight, producing my note pad. ‘Cool right?’ “Cool?! There was lightning shooting out of your back yard!” ‘Did it hit anypony?’ “If it did I would have been here a lot quicker.” Rainbow Dash flew down next to her. “Calm down Twi, I think this was a practice for Vinyl’s come back concert… right?” I was about to write down that no such thing was in the works… but oh boy was I caught here. Was I supposed to say I just wasn’t paying attention and allowed a filly with dangerous powers to just spontaneously start using them, especially with the CMC around? Honestly I wasn’t thinking of the potential consequences of my actions until just now. I had gotten used to Lightning’s abilities to an extent. However I was going to have to make sure Lightning was being careful in the future… odd how she never hit anyone I might note. I nodded. Twilight looked down. “I… were you going to invite me?” ‘When I know the date.’ “Can’t wait!” Twilight shouted. I’m not sure if she actually was a big fan, or if she was just being supportive. “However… your back yard is not a place to start practicing a pyrotechnics display.” I grinned sheepishly. “You scared a lot of ponies… and you made a certain colt very upset that he couldn’t come and watch.” ‘Dusk? There’s an issue there. I’ll explain later if you’d like.’ “Actually Button Masher.” Twilight said with a chuckle. “His mother was afraid for his safety, but he so wanted to see what was happening back here.” Twilight sighed. “Look, I don’t want to look like a party killer, but you’re going to have to move this out to a field or something. Given how many ponies you made happy,” she waved at my growing audience, “And how excited everypony will be to know,” she turned around and shouted, “DJpon3 is back everypony!” Yells and cheers began from just that small audience. Twilight turned back to me. “I’ll let you off with a warning. Next time however, I’m gonna have to fine you for disturbing the peace.” I sighed and nodded. She was right of course. Twilight flew away. I smiled, beaming at Lightning Strike. “What?” she asked. ‘I love you kid!’ “Huh?” I learned a couple things that day. First, I seriously need to get some advice from a real music teacher because dear Celestia did I get off track. Second, my student was becoming a bit of a… I don’t know what. She inadvertently lifted me out a slump and now she had somehow forced me into my own comeback concert. Not even knowing what she was doing, Lightning was bringing back my career.