Modulation

by ProBrony

Chapter 15 — Circuition

— Chapter 15 : Circuition —

Lyra wandered Canterlot for some time. She was in a daze, walking until her sadness would momentarily catch up to her and she’d flinch from the memory of earlier that afternoon, of Octavia shrieking at her. She’d lean up against a wall and shuddered as if the Windigos themselves were blowing upon her until the sensation abated just enough for her to slouch away from the begin her aimless journey again.

She searched for a familiar face as she stumbled through the city, hoping to find someone in the city who was, in any way, on her side. She wandered Canterlot Castle’s grounds. She couldn’t find Dr. Haydon, learning he was out of town making a speech at some faraway university. She tried to find Cheerilee in the dorm, but halfway through speaking with an annoyingly cheerful Resident Assistant, Lyra remembered Cheerilee had left town already, having found her book and having no desire to stay longer. She apologized for troubling the RA, and wandered off the campus and into rush hour, where she was lost again.

Going back to the city, she swallowed her pride and walked to the house of an old friend. The front door of the large dwelling had a ukulele displayed above. The sight of the building comforted her, but when she knocked, no one answered. Her heart plummeted when she realized that in her attempt to keep her eviction a secret, she neglected to tell Meadow Chaser or any her other Canterlot friends she was back. Who knows if she was around. Lyra’s slunk more, feeling guilty she didn’t think to do so until now, at her lowest. Slowly rising, she left the porch, and wandered back aimlessly into the city.

Eventually the streets emptied and night fell. Eight tremendous bell tones rang one after another. She looked up to find she was back under the clocktower, back near Caelum Square in the heart of Canterlot. She had a moment of vertigo trying to remember where she had been, but the thought glanced painfully off of the events from earlier in the day, what she’d spent all afternoon trying to force out of her heart.

However, in that brief moment she let herself feel something. Her body decided to let her feel that her stomach was rumbling. Being by Caelum Square meant she was only a few blocks from the eatery her and Cheerilee ate together the other night. Remembering the delicious food, she shuffled in that direction, the dark streets around her nearly deserted.

***

Just this morning she was sure she’d be out of Canterlot in a matter of months, and now she found herself trying not to cry at her table. The pay and prestige she’d have while playing the Canterlot Philharmonic, she’d probably be able to visit Ponyville while still working up her bits, but now she had closed off pretty much the sole huge money maker job to a musician like her in the city. She could do her own shows, and she probably would, but she’d make no more than if she was a fry cook or a janitor. She’d never be let back into the CPO, at the very least as long as Octavia and her mentor Gentle Chimes existed within the organization. Their silhouettes hung menacingly over Lyra’s shoulders. She shut her eyes.

Hoofsteps approached Lyra’s table. A familiar voice spoke. “Hello ma’am, how can I help you? Oh, it’s you, welcome back! I have some cool news for—” Lyra looked up at him, and his words stopped dead in their tracks. “Are you okay ma’am? Ma’am?”

Lyra tried to speak and croaked. She realize she hadn’t said a word since Octavia left her alone. She wiped her eyes, nodded, and tried again “Y-yeah. Actually, no, but I have to be.” Her voice sounded ragged.

The waiter clearly was out of his element, and couldn’t think what to say to comfort the mare. He stood there, awkwardly waiting for something to happen. Lyra moved to remove her bit bag, and hoofed through the few coins she had left. Having exactly the amount she knew she’d be charged plus a meager tip, she sighed and ordered. “Just, bring me a slice of that cake I ate yesterday.” Her voice was ragged.

At this, the waiter spoke up. “Oh yeah, as I was saying, you have a free meal coming to you, courtesy of your guest from the day before. Are you sure you just want the cake?”

“Right now, yeah, I need that cake.”

“Alrighty, hold your bits and I’ll be right back!”

Lyra blinked, but didn’t question her good fortune. She quickly returned her bits back into her bag, a quiet thanks in the back of her throat. She knew Cheerilee was the one truly deserving of the cake, but how could she say no now? It wasn't long until the waiter was sliding a slice of cheesecake in front of her. Also on the plate was an envelope. The waiter offered no explanation, and was gone before Lyra could ask about it. She obeyed her stomach and wolfed down a bite from the cake before opening the letter.

“Hey, Lyre Lyra, what’s up? Sorry about leaving you with the bill, so have something from me on the house. I was serious about coming to my show. The password is ‘perfect eight.’”

Maybe she did have a friend in town after all? Or, at least someone who cared, of which she was immensely thankful. She started to sniff, wiping her eyes. She was sure she making a scene, but she didn’t care. The warmth felt by the gesture was intoxicating, filling a hole she felt not just since she arrived in Canterlot, but from the night her ultimatum had been dealt. Of course, Cheerilee had been a source of warmth, but Lyra decided to be irrational in her grief. She took another bite of cheesecake savoring its friendship.

She looked over at the shimmering poster again. Vinyl’s grin subtly shifted on the enchanted advertisement, her eyes hidden behind the purple shades, music notes wiggling around her. The wording underneath stated the party was tonight.

Tonight? Lyra laughed, and wondered how the pony knew she’d be back so soon. Or maybe she didn’t, and things just worked out for her that way?

It was then where it all clicked. She knew Vinyl. Well, knew wasn’t the right word, but the pale unicorn had been the DJ to at least one party Lyra had been to in Ponyville. It was odd that such a seemingly prolific DJ would go to Ponyville for some party, but there wasn’t any doubt in her mind. She also knew without doubt that Vinyl had no idea who she was, but she was okay with that. Lyra wondered if the warmth she felt had been from this hidden familiarity. Either way, the pony had touched her, and she was going to reach back out. When the waiter came back, she asked for directions.

“Whoa, DJ Pon3 bought your food and invited you to her secret show? I’m so jealous!”

Lyra silently looked between the waiter and the large poster advertising the “secret” show, and simply laughed. He explained where she had to go, and after a few more bites the cake was in her belly and she was out the door, a generous tip left on the table.

***

The directions took her back to Caelum Square. The instructions insisted she descended down the steps, and she obliged, thought she knew the steps only lead to the Grand Stable. She came to the same landing she stopped at on her way into the city, the one that lead to the pony-watching balcony. The instructions indicated to make for her left, but Lyra was confused. She’d traversed these same set of stairs several times as her parents took her places, and she had always known it as one long descent. Her face wrinkled, and she shoved the thought of her parents from her mind.

She squinted around the landing— for it was technically a dimly lit cave at this point in the stairs— walking along the wall trying to find something, whatever the instructions could be referring to. From the entrances to the landing, it seemed like it was one smooth dome, however when she happened upon it, what she was looking for became abundantly clear, noticing something that had eluded her her whole life. There was a slim hole in the wall, it’s entrance at a hard angle making it appear flush and invisible from regular traffic. Lyra had never noticed the fissure before, and was amused how it hid in plain sight. However, her confusion did not include hesitation, and she went blindly into it and down the stairs it hid. The tunnel eased into a much wider one, going on far longer than she expected, much deeper than the steps to the Grand Stable. It started to curve, and Lyra realized the steps were now spiraling down. It got gently brighter, and as she stepped down to the last stair her eyes lit up.

The tunnel opened up to a street flanked on both sides with buildings easily as large as the ones that resided above in the Canterlot she was from. Way out in front of her, she could see a square, and beyond that what looked like a wall formed of deep hues of purple and orange. As she neared the square, what she was looking at became apparent. There were barely any ponies around, and the ones she saw were in little hurry.

She stepped out looking around. The place she was in felt just like the Canterlot above, except a couple of notable notches down the luxury ladder— her father would never approve of her being down here as a foal, maybe not even now. She then looked up, and came to a stop in awe.

Above her it looked like the inside of a massive cave, or at least half of the enclosure did. In front of her, the ceiling looked almost smooth, but definitely had some cracks and damage that had been smoothed over with time. As her eyes traveled back she started noticing the stalactites that hung from the ceiling, starting with tiny ones she could barely make out at that distance, to others that were larger than some of the buildings surrounding her. At the end of some of them were huge carvings of what Lyra assumed were stars dotting the “sky” of the cave.

As Lyra kept looking, she turned around and realized that the tunnel she came out of was itself a huge stalactite that had merged with it’s stalagmite. It was a wide, giant column, sprouting out from the ceiling and spilling out on the floor. Its outer walls had even more carvings. Lyra walked around, and sucked in her breath.

Off center from the ceiling, there was a moon carving. This one was painted, and subtly glowing, and it’s image made Lyra tense. The Mare in the Moon stared down at her, and she flinched instinctively. Looking at it again, she realized it wasn’t an image of the fanatical tyrant, but of the loving-yet-awkward princess of the night, Luna. Being a composite image made up of dark circles, the imagery was easy to confuse, but once understood Lyra appreciated the space even more.

It dawned on her that there was something off about the multi-colored wall she saw earlier. Immediately she began trotting up to the strange wall. The ground beneath her hooves were cobbled. As she neared the square, she paused. In the square was a plain fountain, and in the middle sat a tall and mighty larger-than-life statue of Luna. Her wings were open, and she stood tall with a mother’s love in her eyes, not the starved love of Aria’s thought Lyra. She looked much happier here than on her stained glass display on the Lunaris.

Taking her eyes off it, Lyra walked past the statue and finally to the “wall” she saw, and gaped as she neared. Instead of some enchanted magical wall, there was no wall at all, just a short stone railing to make sure nopony went toppling over the edge. The “wall” she saw was instead the front of the cavern opened up to the entirety of Equestria, lit up by the glow of the setting sun in the far distance. Lyra was standing underneath Canterlot, on a hidden terrace unable to be viewed from the ground, looking out to the open space around the mountain. Looking back, she saw the cut in the mountain covered almost the entire length of the City above. The amount of buildings down below likely doubled the total population she thought the city had, explaining what she’d wonder for years.

Lyra was amazed, never being here before. She looked out, and it became apparent why you couldn’t see the lower terrace from below. She couldn’t see the train tracks anyways, and she couldn’t see Ponyville unless she really leaned over the wall, which she could only bring herself to do for a moment before quickly retreating from the vertigo. She wiped her eyes dry, and only distantly could she spot Cloudsdale, slowly drifting north. This part of Canterlot was hidden flush along its bottom, half encased in the mountain, unable to be seen by those below.

The sound of high laughter brought her back to reality, reminding her why she ventured down to this hidden terrace. Reluctantly she pulled her eyes from the view. The cobbled square was still deserted, with lamps flickering to life to light the streets. For a moment she fretted, concerned that there was a place in Canterlot, so close to the Princesses, that wasn’t safe, hidden from their protection. She looked at the statue of Luna for reassurance, and the notion passed. The quietly pleased look of Luna’s statue cemented her relief.

Soon she left the square in the direction of the laughter she heard. The nights in Canterlot can be a solemn place for those out late, but being underneath the city added a layer of magic and excitement to tonight’s adventure. The laughter continued to bounce off of corners, always hidden out of view. Lyra began to feel like she was the only pony on the streets tonight.

She came around a corner, and that’s when she first felt it. A pulse under her hooves, inside the street. After some time, she felt another. Then another. She could still hear the laughter, and so she walked on, and over time she realized that the pulses came in expected intervals. Over time, she realized she was feeling the pulse of music.

Eventually, she came to a nondescript alley off of a forgettable street. A couple ponies hung out at the mouth of the alley, watching her. As she stood at the entrance, she was sure the source of the vibrations came from the wall at the end of the dead end beyond the watching ponies. She stepped beyond them, and they didn’t move or speak up, their faces unreadable.

As she neared, Lyra was sure the source was beyond the wall, if her ears weren’t playing tricks on her. However, one can’t enter a wall, so she back tracked and walked around the building, figuring the entrance in the back. As she came all the way around, she realized the building had no entrance at all. She huffed in annoyance, and looked over her shoulder back to the street. One of the ponies across the street was looking at her. She flinched, but the pony lifted a hoof and pretended to press an invisible button. He then nodded back at Lyra, then tilted his head to the wall.

Lyra turned back, and did as she was told. Pressing the hoof against the wall, she found it sunk in. The wall rippled around her hoof, and as she could feel it penetrate to the other side, she could feel vibrations all along her foreleg. Lyra tilted her head, and walked through the fake wall. As soon as she completely crossed the threshold, she immediately sensed the pressure of the air all over her. She had entered into a roomful of noise.

It was so intense, the for a moment all she could do was simply hear, her other senses taking a lapse in transmitting her surroundings. When she remembered she had eyes, she looked around the room.

The room was square, and dim, with high ceilings that faded into a solid black as if it had no roof, a feat Lyra was sure was enchanted like the entrance must be. Posters adorned the walls, declaring the variety of music acts that had played the hidden venue, names Lyra didn’t know at all, despite dates showing they occurred while she lived in Canterlot.

There was a bar in the back corner, the bartender cleaning a glass like there wasn’t a deafeningly loud concert going on. There was a stage at the front of the building. Most of the space was occupied for a dance floor spread wall to wall with only a few tables near in the back near the bar. Only no one was dancing, just standing in a circle. Lyra couldn’t see into the middle of it. Oddly, it sounded like the oppressive music came from the center of the floor, but Lyra couldn’t see any speakers on the dance floor.

Wanting to get away from the sound, she glanced along the walls again for company. Around the dark corners of the room, Lyra noticed a handful of pockets of ponies pressed up against the wall. She caught a bewildered look from one of the ponies, and made for their group.

After a few steps, Lyra stopped in shock. Impossibly, the music had gotten even louder despite moving away from its source. Glancing around, she still couldn’t find a speaker, and volume was driving her mad. She looked back to the pony watching her. The pony was vaguely familiar, and signaled her to keep walking. Lyra had to grit her teeth, moving one step at a time as the music became almost painful.

Then, when she was but a few yards away from the wall of the room, the music fell away abruptly, and became an incredibly hushed rumble, Lyra looked back over her shoulder, confused.

“I can’t stand how she does that. She plays her music so loud that you pretty much have to be on top of her to actually enjoy it and not be crushed by it She does it to keep people on the dance floor.” Lyra looked back to the voice, and the familiar unicorn was staring at her with a smile. “Are you going to join us Lyra, or are you just going to stand there?”

Familiarity hit Lyra like a flying mail carriage. She took a few rushed steps, and made a quick glance at the pink mare’s cutie mark, just to make sure. It was a ukulele, just as she remembered.

Lyra smiled deeply. “Meadow Chaser,” she said warmly, her eyes shimmering. Her voice had a haggard quality to it she hoped her friend wouldn’t notice. “How have you been?”

Meadow Chaser walked around her table and reached a foreleg around Lyra neck, and nuzzled her deeply. When she pulled away, she looked Lyra up and down. “From the looks of it, better than you.”

“Oh.” Lyra rubbed her eyes, but she couldn’t get rid of the redness. “It’s nothing.”

Meadow Chaser sighed. “Right, “nothing”. Always the same, then, Lyra. Let me switch subjects so you don’t have to”. Lyra opened her mouth to object but Meadow Chaser kept on. “I’m here with these two tonight, waiting for the actual dancing to begin after this pre-game show. This is Shining Star and Cut Curtains.“

A silver pegasus mare waved at her, and a brown earth stallion took an exaggerated bow. Lyra exchanged pleasantries.

“So,” said Lyra, “Have you known Meadow Chaser long?”

Shining Star spoke up. “Long enough to be clubbing buddies.”

“I didn’t know Lyra had these kind of clubs. Do you go here often?”

“I just found out about them myself,” offered Shining Star, “never knew these were here.”

“Exactly,” said Lyra. “I was born in this city but I can’t remember hearing about dance parties in the hidden underbelly of Canterlot. Are you from here too?”

Shining Star nodded. “I am, but Cut Curtains is from Ponyville.”

Lyra turned to the earth pony. “Really?”

“Yeah,” said Cut Curtains, finally speaking up. “And you can call me Curt for short. I think I’ve seen you around. You know the candy mare, right?” His voice was lighter than Lyra expected.

“What brings you to Canterlot, Curt?” asked Lyra.

Meadow Chaser shook her head outside of Lyra’s field of view. Cut Curtains faltered, but resumed. “Well, for one, there’s a big gaping hole in my house.”

Lyra didn’t immediately respond, her smile frozen in place.

Shining Star took Lyra’s silence as an invitation. “Yeah, he’s staying with me in the meantime while his home is rebuilt. But you know, typical monster stuff from Ponyville from what I’ve heard of the place.”

“And I figured if I’m inviting my good friend Shining Star, then I can invite Curt too while he’s around,” added Meadow Chaser.

Shining Star nodded cheerfully, but Cut Curtains took a sip of his water. “Actually, I may not go back. You say ‘typical’, but this time it was terrible.”

All eyes turned to Cut Curtains. Lyra spoke first. “What happened?”

Cut Curtain took another swig before continuing. “I was working in the fabric store, and I felt rumbling. I saw ponies run by our storefront, and then a giant foot planted for a few moments before vaulting off. I looked outside to get a better look, and bam—” he hit one hoof into the other— “a huge beast is fighting— you know Applejack, right? Her and her brother. It was a long fight, and a lot of houses were destroyed in its wake. Even the beast’s blows were strong enough to shatter windows down the block. The beast ran through most of houses without even noticing it was tearing through a building.”

Lyra gulped hard. “Was it an Ursa Major?”

“ No, it was something new. It was ugly. It was like, like pony with several lesions on its neck, except each lesion had an arm with a crooked claw at the end. There must’ve been seven or eight arms all together, and it was using all of them to grab. And claw. And attack!”

At the word claw, Lyra’s heart tightened. She involuntarily looked away, trying her best not to think about the events of the day.

“Hey, easy Curt. It was defeated, right?” asked Meadow Chaser. Lyra’s eyes snapped back to Cut Curtains.

“Yeah, by the funniest thing.” He looked at Lyra. “You know Derpy Hooves, right? The mailmare.”

Lyra answered, unsurprised to find her mouth dry. “I know of her. Is she alright?”

To her relief, Cut Curtains chuckled. “Yes, completely. See, Applejack and, what’s his name, Big Macintosh were going hoof to hoof with this thing, and they were losing until some palace guards showed up. Not the regular golden clad ones, these had to have been Luna’s guards, and these guys meant business. Derpy was delivering the mail, but hanging over the city due to the attack while carrying a giant mail carriage. The leader of the guards flew up to her, exchanged some words…”

Lyra felt her cheeks redden. “No way…”

Cut Curtains had a mad grin as his story reached crescendo “Yes! The next thing I know, the carriage is hurtling down at the beast. At the last moment of her dive, Derpy unlatched her restraints and pulled away, and dropped a full mail carriage on the beast!”

“What happened next?” asked Shining star.

“Did that even hurt it?” asked Meadow Chaser.

Lyra’s gut was tight. “And that was enough?””

“Was it ever! The impact was tremendous, it shook all of town, and it left a huge crater in the square. It was like a meteor, almost like as if Derpy’s penchant for bad luck exacerbated the impact. The sound was massive and trust me, that beast was kaput. Also,k so was pretty much every letter in the mail that day, but I’ll take the end of a rampaging beast than my letters.”

And like a light bulb turning on, Lyra felt her cheeks redden at the thought of her earlier letter. “Oh. That’s what happened.”

Meadow Chaser nodded in awe. “Wow, that kind of calamity kind of makes my problems seem like less of a big deal.”

Shining Star nodded in agreement. Lyra stood, every muscle strained and her stomach swimming.

“D-do you know if Sweetie Drops Confectionery was damaged?” Lyra’s voice was small and shaky.

“Do you mean the one run by the cream colored mare? Yeah, there was a little damage. Its windows were busted out, but that’s about it. Crazy thing, I heard she actually fought the monster at the beginning, and she managed to hold her own. I never would’ve guess she’d have a talent for wrangling monsters.”

Lyra jolted up. “But is she alright?” she demanded, her hooves digging into the table.

The ponies at the table looked at each other. Meadow Chase broke the silence. “Lyra, are you okay?”

Lyra didn’t look away from Cut Curtains. “That depends. Is she okay? Is she alright?”

“Yes, yes, she’s fine, now,” Cut Curtains answered swiftly once he saw Lyra’s discomfort. “The beast walloped her, but the professionals shortly came by and drew the monster away her. She was retrieved and taken to the hospital, but she’ll be fine. There were a few injuries, but no casualties, nothing lasting.”

There was silent around the table, and all eyes were on Lyra, and hers were burning holes into Cut Curtains, clearly watering up. She finally laughed, a choked and fake laugh, incredibly relieved.

“That does sound like her, especially if her shop is involved.” She laughed alone. The rest of the ponies were still staring at her from across the table.

“Lyra, are you okay?” Began Meadow Chaser. “We can talk—”

“—I…,” Lyra interjected. No one else at the table spoke. She swallowed before continuing. “We don't have to talk about me. It's just been a very long day, and I'm still not through it. But seeing you, Meadow Chaser, has made it so much better. You guys too. I honestly didn't think I had a single friend in Canterlot.”

Meadow Chaser smiled and rubbed Lyra’s shoulder. “Of course you do, I live here silly. I’m curious though, if you supposedly don't have a friend, how did you get here? There's only one way to get into this venue, and that's to be invited. Literally. I mean, we’re friends, but obviously I’m not the one who got you in here.”

“What do you mean?” asked Lyra. “I saw posters for this. Wasn’t this event advertised?”

Shining Star spoke up. “Yeah, the posters tell you about it, but not where it is. Even then, you still have to get an invite.”

“As you probably guessed by the wall you walked through, not just anyone can get in here,” said Meadow Chaser.

“I thought that was just for the sound,” said Lyra.

Shining Star shook her head. “You’ve got to speak to someone who’s already invited to the event. There’s a password, too, but personal invitations can be granted. Who can do the inviting is determined by the organizer, the one who cast the spell. Using a password is useful when the organizer is busy. You don’t even have to say it aloud, just simply know what it is. Despite that they still need a street team to get the word out, but chances are with this event only the organizer was permitted to give out personal invitations. I mean, you know who’s show this is.”

Meadow Chaser and Cut Curtains looked at Shining Star, then to Lyra eagerly. Lyra disappointed them. “I think I got an invitation.”

Meadow Chaser huffed, but couldn’t hold the question any longer. “Who told you to come?”

“Vinyl Scratch did,” said Lyra simply.

The reaction wasn’t what she expected. Meadow Chaser and Cut Curtains look at each other in confusion, then to Shining Star who was looking thoroughly confused.

“Who is Vinyl Scratch?”

“Yeah, I’ve never heard of that name before.”

Lyra laughed. “Isn’t she the headliner? The ice white unicorn mare with purple glasses. Electric blue mane? Terrible manners?”

The ponies at the table stared at each other before laughing in return. Lyra sat in silence, searching their faces for an explanation.

Shining Star answered. “That’ definitely DJ Pon-3.”

As she calmed down, Meadow Chaser managed to ask, “Where did you even get Vinyl Scratch from? That’s way too silly and trite of a name for a DJ.”

Lyra stomped her hoof under the table. “She told me herself! DJ Pon-3 has to be her stage name.”

More giggles came from her company.

“Duh, it’s her stage name,” said Meadow Chaser, “but nobody knows her real name. She hasn’t told anyone. No one’s even seen her without her glasses. And trust me, there are some hardcore fans out there would love to know.”

Lyra shook her head. “She told me, as I just said! I was eating cheesecake, and she came over and started eating mine, and gave me and my friend a hard time. I almost clocked her one.”

“Wait, DJ Pon3 ate your cheesecake?” Meadow Chaser was trying to keep a straight face but snickered at that. “DJ Pon3 doesn’t take much interest in others, much less their cheesecake. I guess she’s a tiny bit rude—”

“—A TINY bit?!”

“—but to ponies who are popular, are worth knowing. On top of that, she’s extremely aloof, spacey in a way. Well, she’s grounded, but she’s grounded on the moon. She’s very anti-personal with her fans. Was anyone even there to see it?”

Lyra made a face. “Yeah, of course. It was in the middle of a diner. They’re probably here for the show, hold on.” Lyra scans the crowd, and sees that none of the fans she saw at the cheesecake shop was present. Even in the darkness, she couldn’t pick out any coats that matched who she could remember from that fateful dinner. “That can’t be right, they should all be here. You should’ve seen the way they fawned over her, there’s no way those fans would’ve missed a show from Vinyl.”

They snickered over the name once more. “Everyone fawns over DJ Pon3, but not everyone is allowed to see her perform,” explained.

“Allowed?” asked Lyra indignantly.

Curt Curtains finally spoke up again. “That story was ridiculous, Lyra, but it was funny. Let me buy you a drink. To humor, and to new beginnings, too!”

The group laughed, got up, and walked to the bar, leaving Lyra ever so bewildered, but without any more fight. She couldn’t believe no one else had ever heard Vinyl’s real name. However, as she watched the group order drinks and bring them back, was secretly thankful they found it funny, as she was fresh out of bits and full of thirst.

As they came back to the table, the trio downed their drinks. Lyra joined in without further ado, and immediately coughed. It kicked a bit, burned a little. “What kind of cider is this?!” The company laughed her, but before anyone could explain the lights dimmed and the music pulsed louder. A moment later, she started to feel like the drink itself, liquid and smooth. Lyra tried the cider again, and found she liked it the more she sipped.

The dense circle of ponies in the center of the room was still illuminated. Slowly, the crowd dispersed and the spotlight narrowed towards the centered. A small, slender unicorn walked out out of the center, towards the stage, the spotlight following her.

She leaped up, and turns, and Lyra recognized the rude mare from the restaurant, DJ Pon3, or Vinyl Scratch, or whoever she really was. The performer’s horn flashed magenta, and objects from both sides of the stage were slowly dragged to the center. As they came under the spotlight, Lyra was wowed. Both were tables covered with a long tablecloth, and both had what appeared to be record players, but without the speaker horn she is accustomed to seeing. Vinyl bent down behind them, came back up with a record in each hoof. She slammed them on the turntables. She cracked her neck to the right, stretch both forelegs above her head, then slammed her hoof again.

Immediately Lyra’s world became sound.

Her world was swimming, her eyes shaking. Bass filled the room, expanding the barrier of sound ever so closer to her table, and she could see everyone on the dance floor cheering. Lyra felt it. She needed it.

Deep in her heart, Granite and Octavia swam around poisoning her, forming one hateful, ever-unsatisfied individual that scorned Lyra in the worst way, but this musical assault pushed them from her mind. She tried to resist, tried to stay at the table with her friends and keep nursing her unfinished mysterious cider, but the air was so thick of music she could swim in it. Being who she was, unable to ignore the call of a tune, she couldn’t stand it any longer. So she took one final, deep swig, emptying the mug, and stepped onto the dance floor, lost to the groove.

***

Later rather than sooner, Lyra was panting. The bass of this song was massaging her body, making her very being vibrate. Suddenly, she was illuminated in light. Then, booming over the sound, she heard a voice.

“Look at that mare, getting down! Your drinks are gonna be free tonight, babe, and this next one's for you. To the lyre-slinging mare who bought me a cheesecake!” The words reverberated through her skeleton, and vibrated her at a frequency she found more than comforting. She loved hearing that voice, feeling that voice; even if its words were without substance.

The crowd around her cheered, and Lyra laughed. She felt like she hadn’t done anything special. If she was honest with herself, she was still kind of mad at Vinyl for all she’d done; with her words to Cheerilee, the dining and dashing, her ugly persona, but the adoration didn’t stop. Lyra stole a glance to the ponies she was hanging with earlier, and couldn’t help but chuckle at their stunned faces. She grinned and winked, and let the music take her back.

A few songs later, when she finally came out of her dancing, drunken stupor, she found she had obtained a dance partner. A tall, maroon stallion was matching her wild moves had slipped over to her and was matching her rhythm step for step, as if he floated above the ground instead of walked. Lyra smiled, and danced crazier in response. It was no challenge to the stallion, who was still keeping pace. She looked at his cutie mark. It was a record player. He noticed him eying hers and gave a smug smile.

As if a response to their dance, the music grew harder. More abrasive. Lyra thought she lost the groove for a moment, and had a couple of choked steps as her senses searched for the start of the beat, but shortly she was back in the cut, dancing at the quickened tempo. She was tickled. Vinyl was spinning something strange, and the time has switched to the odd meter of seven counts per phrase, one less or three more than regular dance music. Lyra took it in stride, and the dancing stallion still kept pace. She caught a quick sweep of the room, and saw a few ponies who were no longer dancing, who had lost the beat and were clearing the floor, and Lyra felt pride. She danced even wilder, her and the stallion occupying the space left with grand vaults and jumps in their dance.

Slowly over time, the tempo dropped, and the music decrescendoed into a deep, throbbing bass. Lyra matched the ritardando, coming to a slow, wobbling existence in time with the music. Her head felt like it was underwater, but she felt like a queen. The cider still sloshed inside her.

She heard cheering around her, and looked up to see Vinyl, or DJ Pon3, descending the steps. Her fans swarmed her, but she was trying to look out into the crowd. It was then Lyra noticed she was a little shorter than most, and smiled to herself. Such spunk from such a cute pony, she caught herself thinking.

Her and Vinyl’s eyes met, or so Lyra guessed, and Vinyl set out for her, shoving fawning groupies out of the way.

“Why don’t you come with me after this party?” Her dance partner finally spoke. “You must be a mare of talent to have Pon3’s eyes on you.”

Lyra turned, curious. “What do you mean by that?”

“Whatever you’re here for in the city, if you sing, if you play—” he pointed at her cutie mark— “whatever that is, let it be me to bring you to fame. And maybe…” He stepped in close, and leaned in. “Maybe more, if you’re my kind of mare. Whatever you want.” He nuzzled Lyra again as he delivered the last line. Lyra shivered, unnerved by the unexpected invasion of personal space… but also not disliking it. Then, as quickly as he drew in, he backed away, flashing a smirk.

Lyra fought her mind for words. He was so close, and so friendly. He spoke quickly, direct to the point with a sense of urgency that made her excited but she didn’t know why. Before she could speak, Vinyl reached them. The Stallion next to her spoke. “Hello DJ—”

“—Step away.”

Vinyl’s voice was like an ice bucket to Lyra. For a moment the swirl of the room subsided, and she became intently focused on the two ponies, for all the levity that was in the stallion’s voice, Vinyl was irritated. The stallion’s eyes squinted, but his smile and tone remained the same. “Really? Sorry, I didn’t think she’d be interesting enough for you.”

Lyra wanted to be insulted, but had a hard time caring through the pulse and the cider.

“I won’t ask again. Buck. Off.”

The suave facade of the stallion dropped, and his face fell. “Y’know, I’m sick of the way you think you have the underground in your hoof. It’s a community. We’re in this together. You should share sometimes. You can’t always get the good ones.”

Vinyl narrowed her eyes and sucked her teeth. “It’s my party,” was all Vinyl said, and then the music faded. The stallion didn’t bother with a response, and instead to finally show his open contempt with a scowl. It only made Vinyl angrier. “It’s. My. Party.” With each word, her voice grew.

And then, Lyra heard something strange. Or did she? It started barely above a mumble.

“Get out.” With that, the volume of the sound jumped several decibels. It started as what Lyra would flatly called the worst song she ever heard. It had begun as a mumble, but now she could hear it. The sounds were alien, unlike any instrument she’d heard before. For some reason, a buzzing began in her skull. Lyra was confused what was happening, and looked back to the stallion. She gasped. The stallion was laid out on the floor, his eyes wide and twitching, his entire body was shuddering as if fighting with itself.

“GET OUT!” Vinyl’s voice jumped again, and it was louder than Lyra thought possible, matching the intensity of all the bass heavy music that came before. However, whatever she thought it sounded like, by the way the stallion was crumpling to the floor she could tell he was getting a much more concentrated blast of “it”; whatever it was. Vinyl advanced on him, leaning over him with as much menace as she could exude.

She panicked. “V-Vinyl?” Lyra set a hoof on Vinyl’s shoulder, and instantly she stood back straight. The strange music started to make sense again and fell back to a regular volume, and the deep pulsing continued as if her set hadn’t missed a beat. Vinyl’s head snapped to look at who touched her. The snarl in her mouth told Lyra the pony was furious, even if her eyes were hidden behind her shades. Vinyl breathed deeply under Lyra’s hoof, and brushed it away before turning back to the stallion.

The stallion stood up like he had been hit by a carriage, and tried to leave the party with as much dignity as he could muster up. All eyes followed him out. Each step was full of tremors, as if something had scarred him. When he came to the entrance to the club, Lyra noticed Vinyl’s horn flared briefly. The stallion hit his nose on the brick and staggered back, and glared at Vinyl. She laughed, and quickly the rest of the crowd laughed to match her.

“Try it again bozo,” she called after him. She sounded like a kid, like a schoolyard bully.

The pony snorted. He turned, and this time the stallion phased through the wall and disappeared into the night.

The laughter died, and no one spoke, as if waiting for instructions. Lyra looked back at Vinyl, who was still staring at the wall where the pony left. Her mouth was a sneer, and her teeth were clenched. She looked fierce, as much as her obfuscating shades would allow.

As she was working through her drink for something to say, a fan spoke up first. “Wow, DJ Pon-3, you showed him.”

Vinyl let go the sigh that was living in her shoulder. “Yeah, what a creep.”

“Why did he even come anyways?,” someone in the crowd said. “I don’t think anyone actually likes that guy.”

Voices in the crowd offered their approval of Vinyl’s actions. Slowly, her facial expression faded to her usual blank slate. She breathed deeply and, with another bit of magic, the music bumped back into life with another dance song, and the crowd began to dance again.

As if coming out of a trance, Vinyl ignored the crowd around them and turned quickly to Lyra. “Hey, did you like my opening set?” Lyra saw Vinyl’s mouth move, but it didn’t feel like her voice was coming from her mouth. It felt like everything was being swallowed by the bass. She said as much.

“Come, let’s cross my threshold and get a drink.”

“Another one?” Lyra said with mild panic, which also fell on deaf ears, as Vinyl didn’t respond and lead Lyra back to the bar. As they neared it the throb of the music subsided into something tiny again, having crossed the invisible edge of the dance floor.

Lyra finally worked out something to say. “How is that possible?”

“How’s what possible?” It wasn’t a tone that invited discussion, but Lyra ignored Vinyl’s stubbornness.

“The sound here,” Lyra continued. “It behaves unlike any venue I’ve been to. It’s contained[i/]”

They made it to the bar, and a couple of golden drinks awaited them. Vinyl winked at the bartender, downed hers in a flash, and looked at Lyra expectantly. Lyra hesitated, but eventually the drink was had. The sound felt like an ocean now, and she could feel the ground tilting beneath her.

Vinyl tsked. “Well, the sound has to do with my cutie mark.”

Even in the stupor from the drink and dancing, Vinyl’s words caught Lyra’s attention. “Whoa. You. Mentioning cutie marks— of all ponies?”

“And that’s all I’m saying. If you say anything about it again, I’ll kick you out. It is my party,” she said, her voice suddenly dark and threatening, “and I can do what I want to.”

Lyra wasn’t sure how to take that, so she decided to laugh. Still, she looked for clues in Vinyls face. From the distance and the darkness, she couldn’t get a peek behind her shades. However, she noticed her mouth was in a gentle sneer, so she laughed some more. Then, she realized; shades at night? And Lyra laughed even harder, tearing up from the combo, from the complete opposite she was feeling now compared to the rest of the day. From then, Vinyl’s smile widened fully, and Lyra knew that the mare was both serious, and doing her best to be funny.

“I’m glad that’s over. Now, come here.” Vinyl dragged Lyra to a booth in a corner. Following her, Lyra noticed something. Her movements, her step, was to the music. The whole time, she didn’t miss a beat.

The booth was the farthest away from the dance floor, away from the all the lights in the room. It likely was the quietest spot in the building, which still didn’t say too much. The ponies still had to try to make their voices heard.

Despite Vinyl being the one who brought her over there, she wasn’t saying anything. She just sort of stared at Lyra, her lips still in her grin from earlier. Lyra spoke up instead. “You know, Vinyl, no one knows your name. For being the “Queen of the Underground”, you sure are an enigma.”

“But you know my name.” As she spoke, Vinyl kept glancing over to the dance floor, her horn subtly shimmering and the music slowly evolving in time.

“Yeah, cause you told it to me. You ever introduce yourself to anyone else?”

Vinyl sharply sucked in her breath. Lyra was just able to notice it.

“No, I don’t have to. Everyone is my fan. Everyone knows who I am.”

Lyra shook her head and chuckled. She felt she was laughing way too much that evening, but the longer it went on, the more she was determined to let every issue bounce off of her.

Lyra, sitting upright, leaned back into the soft cushion of the chair. “How long have you been in the scene?”

“Long enough that it’s mine,” Vinyl said vacantly.

“Cool,” said Lyra. And for a time, neither said anything, just listening to the throb of the beats. Vinyl’s mind was elsewhere, or she was just being herself. Either way, Lyra was enjoying the music and drink too much to be concerned with the stubborn mare.

“You know, I’ve been practicing how you sit,” Vinyl said suddenly. She arched up, putting her back against the back of the seat, just as Lyra was sitting, hooves on the table. “I can see why you like to sit like this. It’s totally uncomfortable.”

“Heh, what? Lyra asked, everything feeling funny now. “That sounds like the perfect reason to dislike it.”

Then Vinyl moved, quickly sliding over to Lyra, closing the gap. Vinyl leaned forward, in front of Lyra, and touched a hoof delicately on Lyra’s chest.

“But that’s my thing.” Her hoof pressed a little harder. “I like uncomfortable.”

Lyra swallowed. She could smell her mane. It smelled in a way Lyra could describe as “earthy”, like the smell of a bunch of wooden instruments in a practice room. However, the aroma was tinged with sweat. Not surprising with the effort the mare put into her shows. Lyra tried again to look past the deep purple of Vinyl’s glasses, but she still couldn’t see anything, couldn’t read anything. She opened her mouth to ask where she even heard that phrase. The mare was such her own thing, so unpredictable, that when Vinyl pressed her lips against hers, it was a complete surprise.

Their connection came with a spark, almost as if whatever spell Vinyl was using to amplify her music transferred to her for a moment. Lyra tensed; it was a surprise, but it didn’t frighten. It felt right. For the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel alone, and more importantly she felt wanted. She sighed into Vinyl.

Her thoughts swam briefly by the face of a mare. It was foggy in her mind, from somewhere long ago, of a cream colored mare with pink and blue hair. It made her feel initially remorseful, but then Vinyl bit her lip, snatching her mind right back to the present, right back to the DJ. The face passed from her mind, taking away a bit of pain with its departure.

And with that, Vinyl had her. She decided that the shock had felt good. With Vinyl pressed against her, she felt for the first time a long time like she wasn’t alone. That she was wanted. She shuddered, and allowed Vinyl’s hoof to push her back further into the cushions of the booth. Each time Vinyl pushed a little more, a wave washed over Lyra, one of both longing and contentment. Her eyes fluttered closed, shutting down one of her senses in a desperate attempt to amplify her others, to enjoy it more than she could.

Behind her specs, outside of Lyra’s perception, Vinyl didn’t blink. Her eyes remained wide and hungry, drinking in Lyra’s reactions.

In the middle of a wave, Vinyl suddenly drew back, leaving Lyra jerking forward to where the mare was just seconds before. Lyra struggled to raise her eyelids.

Vinyl turned her head away slightly. Vinyl spoke first. “That was as good as I expected.”

Lyra wanted to say something, say, ‘Tell me you’re on my side,’ but it came out garbled. Whatever it was it made Vinyl laugh, and Lyra smiled and nuzzled her. VInyl tensed, but didn’t push her away, enjoying the moment. However, as Lyra’s wits came back to her, she realized yet again they had an audience. Down towards the bar, the friends from before were laughing. Meadow Chaser’s face was wide with shock.

She should have known the party always followed Vinyl, the source of the soul and lifeline of the event. She also realized Vinyl was practically on top of her, too. Lyra tensed, but before she could move, Vinyl was off of her, sliding away, and pulling Lyra along by the hoof.

“Come on. I have a song to dedicate to you, and we have have more dancing to do.”

Lyra followed her to the center of the dance floor. Vinyl momentarily left her to switch out the vinyls on the turntables, but jumped down the stage to return her. Lyra found the action daring, and laughed.

“This one's for you. Try not to cramp my style.”

A lightning bolt hit Lyra. “What did you say?” But the venue fill with bass and strings, and the most delicate fluttering harp she had ever heard, and Vinyl didn’t hear her. She got close to Vinyl, wanting to ask again, but Vinyl swept her away before she could speak and they danced against each other, danced until Lyra’s world became a swirl of light and sound with Vinyl’s face in the middle.

***

The bump on the head jolted Lyra awake. Her hooves caressed the lump she was sure was going to form.

“Ow ow ow ow ow, what’s going on? Where am I?” Lyra moaned.

“I’m taking you home.”

Immediately the walls closed in and her stomach chilled. “No, I can’t go home. Don’t take me home!” She flared, and ended up kicking Vinyl in the side.

“Ouch, whoa, chillax yo! We’re going to my home, and you’re definitely can go there,” said Vinyl. She rubbed her side for a moment. “But just so you know, that’s genuinely freaky. Your reaction? You might wanna get that checked out.”

Lyra stopped struggling, and went limp again. When her vision still moved, she looked around herself and realized her view was shimmering, bathed in magenta. Vinyl was carrying her up the stairs in her magic’s aurora.

“Hey, let go of me!” Lyra struggled again. Vinyl half shrugged, and released the magic, and Lyra fell hard on the stairs.

“Ow,” she cried. “Sweet Celestia, why’d you do that?”

“I did what you asked.”

Lyra waved a hoof vaguely in the direction of Vinyl’s voice. “Go away.”

“Please. You need me. You’d be helpless otherwise. Still at the venue, still slouched in the booth I found you in.”

Lyra had no reply for that. She looked around. They were near the top of those hidden stairs she took down to the party. They were near the entrance to Caelum Square. Vinyl had carried quite a ways up the steps behind them. Lyra stood but quickly lost her balance, and Vinyl swiftly ended under her, supporting her weight. While stunned, Vinyl gave her a quick nuzzle.

“I appreciate a lot of what you’ve done, but it’s not like all of a sudden we’re…” Lyra stopped.

Vinyl turned with a grin. “What, together?”

The night’s events started to come back.

“Oh geeze. Oh man oh geeze I messed it up Vinyl, I’ve messed up everything.”

“Things will be fine.” Her voice was lofty, carefree. “They always are fine. That’s why I’m taking you home, to avoid, say, an unfortunate run-in with a guard. To keep things fine. And now, it seems to save you from your own home.”

At her words, Lyra went limp in her hooves. “I… I’ve messed it all up.” As she spoke, her voice rose. “I had a chance, a second chance and I still threw it off Canterlot mountain!”

The ponies stopped to take a break. Vinyl set down Lyra off to the side and leaned up against the wall. “I messed up,” she called behind her. “Those stairs were a pain.”

Lyra laid motionless on the ground and moaned. “Stairs?”

“Well this sounds like someone’s first time with Sweet Apple Acres’ Hard Cider. The stairs I just dragged you up. We were just talking about them”

“Hard Cider?”

“Yeah, Hard Cider.”

Lyra rolled over onto her back. “Okay, I’m from Ponyville, where they make the stuff, and I’ve never heard of Hard Cider.”

Vinyl leaned up against the wall. “That’s cause they ship it out to the city instead of keeping it locally. Ponyville is way too quiet to have Hard Cider. It’s probably a law or something.”

Lyra didn’t respond. She struggled up the rest of the steps and they resumed. Vinyl did not once offer to help her again. They reached the street, rising to Caelum Square felt like a breath of fresh air for Lyra. She briefly glanced up. Despite finding the artificial stars in the dome below pretty, she was used to and thankful to see the real stars above. Vinyl walked past her to a waiting carriage, and she followed.

“Good evening Ms. Pon3,” said the excited young cabbie as he opened the door to the rear compartment. As they got in, Vinyl immediately drew up the privacy shutters, shutting out the starstruck fan. Vinyl lit up her horn, and Lyra heard the outside world fade away. Lyra was vaguely aware they were moving, but was too inebriated to wonder how Vinyl was so lucky at this time of night. Eventually all she could tell that they were moving was the small, dull thuds coming from the wheel. It was eerie.

“I think I actually like you more when you’re sober,” said Vinyl as she looked out the window. “Which is a surprise. Most ponies are annoying when they’re sober, too uptight, too constrained.” She turned back to Lyra, confusion displayed clearly on her face despite her spectacles. “This stuff should’ve worn off by now. Is this your first time?”

Lyra grinned at nothing. “First time kissing a mare?”

Vinyl laughed, nodding to herself. She went back to looking out the window. They traveled a few blocks in silence, before Lyra broke it. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

“I meant the cider. It can do that to newbies.”

“Oh Celestia, I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

Vinyl’s voice was clearly agitated at this point. “Jeez, no need to make me feel bad. Besides, trust me, I kissed you. You were good though, to be fair.”

“Aren’t I older than you?” She actually wasn’t sure, but that kiss implied one was more experienced than the other.

Vinyl swishes a dismissing hoof in the air. “Again, details.” That was Lyra’s clue to drop it.

Lyra fought to sit up straight in the cab, and ended up leaning against the door instead. “I just think that, this will make somepony I care about angry.”

“Oh please, they can chill out. It was between friends.”

“Friends?” The word sloshed out. Lyra wiped her mouth. “That’s one of the best kisses I’ve ever had.”

Vinyl grinned wide. “I’m going to remember that. And I would hope so.”

“Why?”

Suddenly all the play dropped from Vinyl’s voice. “I just like to make out with friends. So what? This conversation is getting old. I already deal with this, and it’s insufferable. She’s insufferable about it. About me.”

A silence descended over the carriage, amplified by the noise canceling spell Lyra was sure Vinyl had cast. Lyra felt bad, and really wanted to ask Vinyl what she meant, but rolling along the cobbled was already doing a number on her addled brain, and she accepted Vinyls order to drop the subject. She didn’t want to upset her host, after all.

It wasn’t long until the carriage pulled up to a tall apartment building. Vinyl hopped out without a look back. Lyra slowly edged out of the carriage, however the pony pulling it never did say anything about the unpaid fair, and only signed in clear admiration. When she was standing on the pavement, it pulled away without a word.

Lyra felt a gentle nudge, and noticed blue magic was pushing her. She looked over to an impatient Vinyl tapping her hoof. Lyra followed Vinyl through the tall iron gate, and found herself in a nicely trimmed yard. The path from the gate to the doorway of the building was straight with grass on both sides. To their right resided a small playground.

She smiled, and without a word stepped off the path and headed for the jungle gym. Despite Vinyl’s audible disdain, she quickly scaled the structure managing to stay on four hooves. The hard cider made her feel weightless, and her world spun as she ascended, but as she stood atop the structure with the first hint of autumn’s wind blowing through her mane she felt— well she wasn’t sure what, but she was certainly dizzy. Dizzy and pleased. As her world finally stopped spinning, she remembered herself. She turned to see Vinyl paying her no mind while sitting on the nearby carousel, slowly spinning. She finally noticed Lyra looking down at her.

“No, go ahead wonder mare, I didn’t want to interrupt. I have a bet with myself, to see how long it’ll be before I’m picking you up off the ground again.” Vinyl laughed, but Lyra looked solemnly down from her temporary throne.

“Vinyl. So… Are we friends?”

Vinyl’s laughter continued.

Geeze, what’s so funny to this pony?

Finally, she answered. “Friends buy friends cheesecake.” And she was laughing again, unable to hold it.

“Well, no friend of mine dines and dashes! I have higher standards,” she yelled from her perch.

“Give me a break,” said Vinyl. She stood from the carousel and approached Lyra. “I know you got the food I paid for. You wouldn’t be hanging with me tonight if you hadn't.”

Lyra wanted to shout that it didn’t count, but held back. Even as Vinyl climbed up the jungle gym and sat beside her, she was fuming. Vinyl leaned up against her, and stared into Lyra’s eyes. Lyra returned the stare, unsure of herself, until Vinyl leaned in some more. She drew away.

“I… I already have… a...” she mumbled.

Vinyl held up a hoof, and shook her head. “Hold up. I wasn’t joking when I said it was between friends. I wanted to, so I did. There’s nothing behind it. If I’d have known you’d be touchy about it, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

Vinyl stood up and walked to the other side of the jungle gym. Her frustration was palpable and, despite not wanting any more intimacy with her, Lyra regretted her leaving. She was suddenly cold, and shivered against the night. They sat in silence for some time. She was expecting Vinyl to get fed up and walk inside, leaving her out there, but she never did.

“I know about that, though,” Lyra began. “My… I have a... she’s insufferable. So many rules. So uptight. Working all the time, so concerned about, I don’t know, legacy I guess? I just want her to live a little, to live with me a little, but it’s business so much with her, an impossible mountain she’s climbing. As soon as she gets near the top, she sets her goals higher.”

“Heh, she sounds familiar. We may have the same taste in mares.” Lyra shot Vinyl a cold look, but Vinyl wasn’t looking.

“Who is she?”, asked Vinyl.

“She is…” Lyra shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “She is a friend, too.”

“Hmm, something like that. Ha, what good are friends right? You’ll be there for them, do everything you can and try not to mess things up, but they are too self-absorbed and they throw you out. Well, not literally out, but no matter what you do, there’s always this distance.”

“I’m not sure about all of that, but right now?” She drew up into herself, and rested her chin on her forelegs. “Yeah, what good are they?”

Vinyl was laughing again, but this time Lyra could tell it was exaggerated. She sat quietly while Vinyl got her fill. She laughed long, with abandon. Lyra hoped she could laugh like that one day again. In that it felt like she wouldn’t, ever.

When she finally quieted down, Lyra spoke up again. “Vinyl, please. I want to know. Are you on my side?”

She heard Vinyl’s footsteps approach, and Lyra shut her eyes, afraid of the answer. When she reached her, Vinyl simply stood without saying a word. A quite low, quiet drone whistled far away, wind scraping against the ancient stone. Canterlot was incredibly still at this time of night, and nothing but the high winds of the mountain made any sort of noise.

“Come inside, you square.”

***

The pair entered the apartment and climbed the stairs, with much effort. For Lyra, who was still feeling her hard cider, the steps passed in a painful blur. Vinyl was beginning to show irritation with a frown, but she never chased her for their slow progress. Unfortunately for the both of them, Vinyl lived on the top floor Of course, Lyra grumbled.

Finally getting to the top, they stepped out into a small landing, with a single door left of the stairs. Their footsteps were muted on the soft carpet as they approached the door. Vinyl’s horn flared with magic, and the door opened. Four more steps, and they were inside.

“Whelp,” Vinyl said with genuine cheer, “this is home!”

The apartment was gorgeous and hideous. It was nearly spotless, but every so often, along the counters and on the floor, were piles of things. At first, Lyra thought things like records, albums, and parchment comprised most of the piles, which was understandable given what she knew about Vinyl, however as she kept looking things got worse. She saw broken strings, piles of cables, and, she gulped, empty boxes of take out everywhere. However, around these piles, it was spotless, with all grime and dirt cleared away. It looked like someone put all the mess into piles and cleaned around them.

Despite the contents of the room Lyra was able to see just how grand it was beyond it. The ceilings were tall, and the furniture were from stores her parents shopped at. The walls were adorned with framed albums and a trophy case contained various awards in the shape of various musical notes.

They had entered on the corner of the room. To their immediate right lay a dining room table stretching almost the length of the apartment. The table was set, awaiting guests, but it too had piles of junk on top of it. As Lyra walked up to it, she noticed it was made out of the same rare wood as the one she smashed earlier that day, and whistled quietly. She turned away from the table and found herself in the kitchen.

It was open; the entire apartment was. It sat in the exact center of the apartment. The kitchen has tiled floor and marble counters, including an island. It had a bowl of fruit, some of which had dark splotches on it.

Turning around, from the kitchen, Lyra noticed the stairs.

“Whoa, Stairs? This apartment is two stories?”

Vinyl walked past her into the kitchen. She slid a plate from under a pile of junk, and went to the fridge. “Yup.” She began to pile some ingredients onto it.

Lyra may have been born into luxury, but she never expected to see such the DJ have such lavish dwellings, especially in an apartment. “What’s upstairs?”

Vinyl walked out further into the apartment sitting down on a couch in the living room. She moved everything off the coffee table in front of it, moving even more piles of stuff before setting her plate down with a sandwich on top. She looked up and winked at Lyra. “Why you ask? Do you really want to visit my bedroom? I thought you didn’t want that?”

Lyra went red. “Don’t be coy! I didn’t think about what could be up there” She followed Vinyl into the living room, and flopped on another couch, opposite from Vinyl’s. The floor was carpet again, just as soft as the one outside. “This is cool though. So, so, so roomy.”

Lyra got up to peer out the nearest window. “Wow, you can easily see the Lunaris from here,” said Lyra. It was half enthusiastic, half strained as she remembered how long today was. “What a day.”

Vinyl didn’t reply, her mouth full of food.

Her eyes drifted along the room. Indeed, floor-to-ceiling windows looked out into the surrounding art district on every side of the apartment. She could see the slight glow of the place. She realized that’s where the very soft lighting was coming from. Every window had its curtains drawn, and the soft glow of the district seeped into the room. The only light on in the apartment was the kitchen light above the stove.

And then Lyra gasped. In the corner, she saw a baby grand piano. She dashed over, looking it up and down.

“How did you fit a piano up here?”

“We just used a bit of magic, doofus.”

Lyra rolled her eyes. Vinyl remark wouldn’t derail her enthusiasm.

“She’s beautiful. It’s in such great shape for being so old. You can tell by the wood, this beauty must have had many hooves on her over the years. This wood, it looks all original too, it’s absolutely gorgeous!”

Vinyl still laid on the couch. “Yup, that it is.”

Lyra opened the piano. She stepped on the damper pedal, and lightly pressed a key. A beautiful, full E flat sounded, and Lyra almost melted at the sound. “It sounds gorgeous too!”

Suddenly Vinyl was beside her, closing the piano. “Hey, let’s not break this toy. Come here, I have something better, anyways.”

Lyra pouted at Vinyl, but she obliged and followed Vinyl to the other side of the living room, where a weird desk surrounded by cabinets was positioned in a corner of the apartment. Vinyl swung around the back, and Lyra followed. Immediately her eyes lit up. Vinyl noticed, and grinned. “This is where my magic happens.”

The desk was multi-tiered, with many devices and gadgets lit up and wired together. In the center was a keyboard, and what looked like a drum pads, but all around was technology featuring lots of dials and knobs. At her feet, there were boxes with knobs and switches faced up. Next to the row of boxes was what looked like a kick drum pedal, but with no drum. Vinyl followed Lyra’s eyes, and pressed down on the pedal. From seemingly nowhere, a low, thunderous kick sounded, just like the ones from her music earlier. Lyra practically jumped, and didn’t realize that the “cabinets” lining the nearby walls were actually speakers.

“What does all of this stuff do?”

“Well you got my synthesizer, then my portable effects— they modify the sounds that come out— drum machine, sequencer, lots of crazy stuff I’ve had to spend a lot of bits on and maybe learn a spell or two to get them to play nicely.”

Vinyl flicked a few switches, and the status lights on the devices flashed. She twisted some knobs and tapped a few buttons. When it looked like she was content, she gave the foot pedal eight solid taps, producing eight kick drum hits. After the eight one, she hit a button and the hits continued to sound without her input. She then pressed her hoof onto a small, shiny flat surface on another device. In response, impossibly low bass bumped in time with the kicks, and as she moved her hoof across the surface the timbre of the bass melted and hardened and became alive. Another press, and it too was locked in a loop. Vinyl stole a glance at Lyra from her work. Lyra was smiling like it was her birthday, and Vinyl turned back to her desk with glee. Lyra, however, noticed the hint of self-doubt from the musical mare. This was a special performance for Vinyl, for reasons she didn’t know.

Vinyl took to the keyboard, creating two note chords that swelled up and down. Locking them in place, she took to another device and messed around with it, yielding a very rhythmic but flowing melody. Once it was in place, Vinyl turned on and off the various boxes at her feet. Each one added a new color to the song, spinning it out of control with stuttering, and throbbing, and rising noise.

It was too much for Lyra. In her stupor, in her sadness, she was astounded by Vinyl’s creativity and workflow. She laughed, but her voice was drowned out by the sound, which was so loud. Too loud.

“Quiet!” a voice shouted from atop the stairs, full of anger.

Vinyl scrambled for a knob and twisted it quickly, bringing the volume down to a more reasonable but still too loud level for that time at night. Vinyl grinned a stupid grin at Lyra, as if caught with her hooves in a cookie jar, shrugging her shoulders at Lyra. However, Lyra was pale, or would’ve been if her coat could turn colors. She felt ill, and she sat down hard on the floor. She knew that voice. It was the same one that told her off hours before.

“Vinyl, if you’ve brought home another one of your mare-friends…” the voice called down.

They heard steps descend the spiral staircase. “Look, fine, we’ll talk about it in the morning, but could you please keep it down, it’s literally 3 in the—YOU!”

Lyra was spotted. Octavia’s face jumped from aggravated to furious. Her teeth were bared, and if she could she surely would’ve struck Lyra down with magic as soon as she saw her. Lyra gulped as she felt like a child in the glaring spotlight that was Octavia’s eyes. They burned. Vinyl looked between the two, her eyebrows raised but her mouth shut.

The rest of Octavia’s descent was ungraceful. She nearly stumbled down the stairs in a hurry. She reached the bottom and stomped across the apartment.

“You! You, you, you, you!” She screamed louder with every step, every word. She stopped in front of Lyra, leaning over her, mirroring her stance from earlier. “Why are you here, in my apartment?”

Before Lyra could reply, Vinyl was at Octavia’s side, a hoof on her shoulder. Her voice was tender. “What’s wrong, Tavi?” The care in her voice was one of the most sincere things the pony had said all night. That fact made Lyra even more afraid.

“I… I didn’t know you lived here,” she tried to explain.

“You made a fool out of me!” screamed Octavia. “How dare you come to my home?”

“What did you do, Lyra?” Vinyl Scratched turned to Lyra. The shades may have blocked her expression, but the tone chilled Lyra nonetheless. It was the tone she used with the stallion from before.

“Octavia,” Lyra begged, “it wasn’t on purpose! It was out of my control!”

“Get out! Get out of my house!”

Lyra’s eyes were tearing up. “I… But…”

“Get out!”

Vinyl stepped in front of Octavia, shielding her from Lyra. At this point tears adorned both Lyra’s face and Octavia’s. Vinyl turned to Lyra, and her face changed. There was no hint of the fun mare she got to know all night, in its place was a terrible coldness, far removed from any semblance of friendliness. She regarded Lyra the way a fruit bat would an apple, a momentary thing that would be soon devoured.

“How dare you? Suffer,” commanded Vinyl.

Vinyl’s horn flared, and Lyra’s eyes and ears exploded. Her muscles gave out, and she collapsed. It sounded like every sound under the sun was playing at once deep in her ears, rattling her brain with all the abrasive sounds imaginable. Her vision was filled with a swirling purple light, hypnotizing her and locking her down,unable to shield her ears from the cacophony that engulfed. Even then, she knew if she managed to get her hooves on her ears, the sound wouldn't stop. It was inside her, writhing under her skin and digging into her bones, shaking every bit of her, pressing tighter on her being. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t breath.

And suddenly, it was gone, she fell on the floor as the world started to fade in.

“...stop, Vinyl, don’t hurt her!”

As she came to, she saw Octavia now standing over Vinyl, who was also on the ground. Octavia was panting while standing over her, her anger still present. Between her legs, Vinyl looked away. Her shades rested beside her. Vinyl’s horn flared and the shades glowed and returned to her face, but not before Lyra saw her eyes. They unnerved her; they were a deep, blood red.

“She hurt you, Octavia,” Vinyl said. The lack of feeling in her voice chilled Lyra. “She can’t do that.”

“I don’t care. You can’t do that to ponies, Vinyl!”

Vinyl didn’t reply, but kept looking away. The room was quiet. All Lyra could hear was a terrible ringing in her ears, and Octavia’s deep, frustrated breaths. Finally, Vinyl spoke up.

“I’m sorry, Octavia.” With that, Octavia got from over her. Vinyl casually got up and walked to the stairs with a slight limp, her side noticeably in pain. Octavia loudly cleared her throat, which gave her pause. Without looking over, Vinyl spoke. “I’m sorry too, Lyra.” She walked upstairs without saying anything else.

Octavia approached Lyra, who realized she was still on the floor, she struggled to her feet.

“That lunch meant so much to me,” started Lyra, “I promise you it wasn—”

“Go home, Lyra.” The quietness in Octavia’s voice startled Lyra. Her ire was still there, but it was much more controlled. Muted. Octavia was finally under control again.

Lyra stared back Octavia. Tears streamed down her face. Eventually, words bubbled up. “I don’t have a home.”

Octavia gave her a look of disdain. “This is far from the appropriate time to lie to me.”

“No, that’s why I was late,” sobbed Lyra. “I had a falling out with my family and, and I can’t go back, even if I wanted. I don’t have anywhere to go. Everyone who I know, they’re out of town or unavailable or, something..”

Lyra waited, watching Octavia turn to sit on the couch. She put a hoof to her head, and sighed. Lyra could see the emotions playing across her face. It was unsettling to watch. Octavia was always so put-together, and to see her get worked up like this, twice in one day, was didn’t sit well with Lyra at all.

“I want you gone by the time I get home from work tomorrow,” said Octavia, standing. “You can sleep on the couch.”

Lyra watch her walk to the stairs. She wiped away her tears. “Th-thank you, Octavia,” she stuttered. The echoes of Vinyl’s spell still bounced around her mind.

“In a way, you should be thankful,” Octavia said. The malice in her line matched her rage from before. “I doubt Vinyl wants to play with you anymore.”

Without further explanation, Octavia ascended the steps and was gone. Lyra managed to get herself to the couch, and after some time managed to fall asleep through silent tears, looking out the window into Canterlot’s illuminated night.

Author's Note:

Sorry, unemployment hit me hard. This is to likely be the final chapter posted before I wrap up the story in an epilogue. Thanks for riding with me for these 7 years.