The house was packed again, a group of ponies walking in each minute, all with bright smiles and bright eyes. Fancy Pants had sent out invites to a large group of lower class locals who failed to attend the last party, giving the event a whole new face compared to the last one, where almost everypony was gussied up in some way or another. Today, however, most ponies settled to attend in the nude, or with a single hat, some had a necklace or small tie, but nothing too crazy. Fancy Pants stood looking over the set on stage, his hooves tapping eagerly on the polished wood and his eyes wandering over the bundles of wires that were strewn across the stage.
"Miss Scratch," Fancy began as he looked back to see the unicorn fiddling about behind a large black chest holding her "set" as she called it. Vinyl lifted her head to regard the other unicorn.
"Uh... yeah?" Vinyl muttered half interested.
"How long, exactly, is it going to take you to set this up?"
"I don't know, shouldn't be longer than a few minutes..."
"Well, I don't want to rush you, but I think you should get it up quickly before the masses get all in. I mean, I wouldn't want you to be up here setting up in front of all those expecting guests."
"I guess..." Vinyl just continued at her pace, her hooves aimlessly bumbling about the box until her hoof touched a familiar rustic rope. The twine material feeling almost foreign to her now. Vinyl sighed as she pulled it out to find a little stone attached to the end. Her necklace had gone ignored for so long, and rightfully so. There was no point in keeping it around anymore. It reminded her too much of that lovely grey mare she had hurt. "I should have just... stayed..." Vinyl mumbled to herself halfheartedly, knowing now more than ever before, that her choice was indeed selfish. But it was likely too late for that now.
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Octavia walked slowly behind her friends, their excitement beginning to wane at the not so enthused cellist that dragged along as if she were mucking through tar.
"Come one, Octavia," Beauty began with a roll of her eyes, "I know it was rough, but I mean, you can always just find another pony here to spend time with? Vinyl wasn't that special, was she?"
"Perhaps," Harpo began with a smile, "you could find a stallion to pass the time with?" Harpoon gave a sharp laugh as he saw the disgruntled look on Fredric's face. His muzzle had scrunched into a satisfying twist and his eyes narrowed in what was supposed to be intimidation, but fell very flat. Octavia ignored her friends words and trudged along with a sigh.
"Do you think she'll be there? I mean, she is a DJ?" Octavia mused sadly. Beauty shrugged, despite her worry she seemed flippant, and simply continued their short walk down to the large rustic and appealing home of the rich and ever famous Fancy Pants.
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The set was complete, the crowd happy and drinking, enjoying their time there, sure to try and remember this night to tell their friends, bragging about being able to attend the party featuring the ever famous DJ-P0N3. However, the DJ didn't quite seem herself. The loud and happy stage pony seemed more somber. Vinyl knew they were waiting for her shout and put on the face, the face that ponies paid hundreds to see, ponies that would wrap around buildings in long lines to get into any venue that featured her name, regardless of the event.
Instead, Vinyl stood on the short stage before her crowd, a shadow seemingly over her face and hiding her eyes more than any shades could. She raised her hoof and hit play on the set, a CD already placed in the tray and a playlist ready to be mixed on the fly. As the beat kicked in, Spitfire walked up the stage with a smile, a microphone in hoof.
"Ladies and gentlecolts!" She began in a slightly commanding voice, hoping that the confused ponies would perk up a bit with the change in mood, "We have a special event tonight! The legend DJ-P0N3 will be playing a special set for you! Instead of playing her pre rehearsed chart toppers, she'll be playing a live, freestyle remix!" The crowd cheered in excitement. Not only had they been able to attend the party that most would kill to be within five feet of, they were privileged to watch a freestyle remix performance, something very few have seen the DJ do.
Vinyl started the songs, the simple beat fading into a melody, and the bass melting in with the crowd, falling onto them like waves and rocking their bodies. Spitfire placed the microphone down with a grin and trotted off stage to mingle with anypony that had managed to not be hypnotized by the rhythmic beats of the DJ's music.
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Beauty trotted in, her hooves began to mindlessly move to the beat, her walking following the rhythm of the music being played, she swayed like the ponies in the crowd as a melody kicked in heavier than before, and a lighter synth came into fruition. Octavia had hardly noticed her friends growing increasingly more and more entranced by the music until a sudden rumble shook the home, the ground below her vibrating from the immense bass being sent through it.
"Beauty, do you notice something..." before Octavia could finish, she noticed her friends all swaying and moving to the beats, the synths moving their heads and rhythm moving their hooves, as if the music had chained them down. With a fluttering blink, Octavia looked over the crowd and noticed they had all been doing the same thing, all of them moving and dancing in eerie synchronization, as if all feeling the same beat at once, wanting to move to it the same way, at the same time. Looking around more, Octavia noticed the bartender, the host, Fancy Pants, and even the muscle bound pony from the last party, all swaying like zombies.
"This party is hella dead! Well... living dead, amiright?" a familiar voice said accented with a firm pat on Octavia's back. Octavia turned to see that the pony that had snapped her out of her curious stare was Frolic, the strange brown earth mare from the club. One of Vinyl's dear friends. She had her signature red shades and black collared vest, however, she held on her back a large familiar case, balancing ever so carefully as if she had been doing so for years. However, the large case was not the first thing that was on the grey mare's mind.
"What's going on? Are they under a spell?" Octavia asked with a shudder. Frolic simply shook her head with a laugh so loud, another dancing pony turned and shushed her, then turned to resume his swaying.
"Nah, they're feeling Vinyl, and her music. Through her music."
"What do you mean?"
"You ever play a piece that made your heart sink in sadness, or fly with a happy flutter?" Frolic asked with a small smile.
"Well, yes, bu-"
"Ah-ah-ah" the brown earth mare interrupted with a wave of her hoof, "There's no sure way to explain it, but there is a sure way to tell why."
"Then why?"
"She's hurting... for you."
Octavia turned to see Vinyl still up on the shallow stage, although it seemed like she was further away, shrouded in darkness, eating away at herself with guilt.
"What should I say to her?" Frolic just handed her the large case she had on her back and smiled, backing up a bit to let the grey mare look over the item in hoof. Octavia looked it over and turned back to see Frolic had once again vanished into the crowd. But seemingly not well enough as Octavia saw the mysterious mare tip hoof slowly and carefully to the bar, waving for a drink as the swaying pony poured and served her. Octavia looked at the mare and gave her a confused look, only to be given a mouthed "shoo" and a dismissive wave. Octavia simply turned and looked at the sullen DJ who had since mixed a new track, but left the crowd in a similar state, swaying in time, heads down, eyes closed, and hooves moving to the beat.
Dragging the case close behind, and leaving in her wake a herd of disapproving dancers, Octavia managed to make it to the stage and stand near the pony in charge of the rhythmic and organized chaos. Vinyl was sitting there, focused on her music and her hooves moving almost mechanically, her eyes glazed over from what she could see, and her head swaying as she poured what seemed to be left of her soul and consciousness into the track. Octavia looked on, as the pony she cared for, the pony that made her feel less silent, played a song so void of energy, and moved a whole crowd.
"Vinyl-" Octavia began, only to notice her words did not reach the DJ. Instead, Vinyl played on, her eyes watering now. "Vinyl, please... I need to-" Vinyl only turned up the volume a bit and brought in a more aggressive bass. "Vinyl, I mean it I need to talk-" Louder faster bass, the movements of the ponies grew faster and more aggressive with the music. Octavia looked over the crowd as she watched them head bang and shout their frustrations. "Vinyl, stop this at once! We need to talk!" Again, the alabaster unicorn ignored her words and instead responded with a pitched synth upwards scale and a suspension that left the ponies breathless and the atmosphere without air to breath, Octavia's heart fluttered and with instinct reached for the case flinging it open with a single motion, and in her arms did she manage the large worn cello that had lay inside it, the bow entwined with the strings and falling effortlessly into her hoof. Vinyl dropped a bass so heavy and a beat so savage the the floor shook harder than before, leaving the ponies in a primal state of lust and frustration, and creating mosh pits in every corner. Even Frolic had succumb to the immense music, tearing off her jacket and dancing on the bar top, her glasses chipped and her body dancing and writing in primal pleasure known only as the release of emotions through dance.
Octavia only responded with a heavy pull of the bow over her strings, the screeching noise didn't seem far out of place for the genre, and she continued with a combating piece she had never read, or even played. Instead, she played from her chest, whatever feeling she had, it came out through the bow. It was uneven, it was nasty, but most of all, it felt good. Octavia's bow began to shred as she ravaged the cello with it, Vinyl combating with her, until soon their music became one, and the beats and flurries became a heated mess of high and lows, the music was no longer combat, it was ardent, passionate, but mostly, and likely to leave a blush on the face of a certain grey cellist, concupiscence. Vinyl's brow held bead of sweat that threatened to trickle into her eyes, her heart beating harder and harder as she tried to fight the music Octavia had provided her, but she couldn't, in a last ditch effort, Vinyl cranked up the base higher, pushed the beat faster, and growled her frustrations as she lead up to another up scaling synth that had lingered a tad too long, leaving the ponies a second to break free of their grasp, and see the two, sweating, blushing musicians that had been playing, only to be violently thrust back into a frenzy again by the drop, their bodies taking control, and their minds a blacked out blur, before the cello picked up and tamed the ravaged track.
Vinyl closed her eyes trying to escape the inevitable, her music was slowly falling back into rhythm with the cello, a pleading, crying cello, that Vinyl had no choice but to surrender to. As the cello calmed, and its music slowed, so did the beat, Vinyl finally stopping it completely, and falling into a heap on the ground, the ponies in the audience slowly coming back from their daze. Dropping the cello and rushing to the fallen unicorn, the grey cellist wrapped her hooves around her fallen DJ and brushed her mane aside.
"You alright, Vinyl?" she asked, her eyes looking over the mare before her. Vinyl simply smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, babe, I'm better than fine."
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"What the actual HELL do you think you were doing?!" Fancy had a mess of a mane, his tux was ruined, and he was covered in sweat (whether it was his own or another pony's was a curious question), hie eyes were wide as he looked around his home frantically, ponies hindering him as they lay haphazardly across his filthy floors, blocking broken doors, and some having smashed themselves out of windows, their bodies hanging out, and the bar covered in vomit, booze, and other mysterious liquids. Most ponies were bruised or scratched, others were badly beaten with black eyes and lumps, bits of mane pulled and bloody snouts, and while quite a few were passed out from either double hoofing their drinks to bar fights, to mosh pits gone awry, other were staggering out of the disheveled and disgusting home. "My home is a WRECK! I sure hope you weren't planning on leaving any day soon!"
Vinyl stood with a sheepish grin and shrugged as she heard the stallion yell at her.
"I don't think she meant for all this to happen, sir," Octavia butted in quickly. Fancy only scrunched his nose and shook his head.
"No, of course not, but it was not only her wrong doing that caused this mess to occur," Fancy began with a snarl, "Oh no, Miss Octavia, you get a nice dose of punishment as well, the two of you will be fixing this place up until it's done! No leaving the town! I will let the local guard to keep you within city bounds until you've finished, and I want no back talk about it!" Fancy stormed off to his bathroom on the second floor, his hoof steps echoing as the creaky floor boards screamed in painful sore agony as he marched along them.
"Oh Vinyl, I'm so sorry, you have to stay here, I know how badly you wanted to leave..." Octavia began with a small sniffle. If there was anything Octavia wanted at this point, it was for Vinyl to be happy. Surely even after that "argument" they had earlier, Vinyl didn't want to stay with her in Ponyville for long.
"What do you mean? This is great!" Vinyl said with a smile. Octavia looked up shocked at the response.
"What? What about the touring? Your future?"
"Can all wait, if I have a reason to stay here, I'm sure my fans can handle a few weeks without me."
"With a mess like this, it might take months..."
"Or even years," Vinyl's grin widened as she looked at the mare beside her, a grin just as big and goofy adoring her face. With a sudden leap, Octavia clasped her arms around Vinyl, squeezing her tightly as they stood amidst a scene of utter chaos and destruction so vile and intense, Discord himself would flee in fear.
Sadly enough, the homeowner was not having as sweet a moment as the two musical mares, as his bathtub gave way, his body falling down with it through the floor boards and to the first floor near a few still hungover ponies who groaned at the load noise, his face growing ever red as he watched as the two happy mares trotted off into the sunset.
~~~tetelestai~~~