But Wait...There's More!

by McPoodle

3: My Little Pony: Explosions Are Awesome

But Wait...There’s More!

- 3: My Little Pony: Explosions Are Awesome -

---

From Canterlot Station, Rarity led the ponies to the penthouse apartment she used when entertaining guests. It had been a long day for Twilight and Rainbow Dash, and so they excused themselves for some well-earned shut-eye.

It was nearly midnight, and the two white unicorns, Rarity and Vinyl Scratch, stood outside the door of the apartment complex for a moment. Rarity’s saddlebag was full of sewing supplies, while Vinyl was hitched to a cart full of her audio equipment.

“There’s a client that needs a fitting,” the designer told the DJ, “and now is a good a time to do it as any. I seem to do my best work at night.”

“What a coincidence,” said Vinyl with a smirk. “So do I.”

As their paths were initially in the same direction, they walked together for a few blocks, reminding each other along the way of some of their adventures when they were fillies together in Ponyville.

“It was such a small basket,” Rarity recounted during one of these stories. “I don’t see how Big Macintosh could possibly have...oh you’ve got to be kidding me!”

“What is it?” asked Vinyl, backtracking to where Rarity had frozen in place.

Rarity responded by tearing a poster off of the wall and stuffing it into a trash bin. “If Twilight had seen this, it would have turned our trip into the worst excursion ever!”

“What was on it that could have such a bad effect on Twilight?” Vinyl asked. “Did the letterer split an infinitive?”

“Oh, grammar humor! Very funny. As a matter of fact, this poster advertised the upcoming season finale of the Risking It All Team program!”

“You mean My Little Pony: Explosions Are Awesome?” Vinyl replied with a smirk, using one of the less-reverent fan names of the show. “You did know that the season finale was airing this Monday, right? I don’t see why that would be such a big deal. After all, RIAT’s just an Etheric show...whose main character of Shrinking Violet is a blatant rip-off of Twilight Sparkle. I know Twilight said she never listens to the etheric, but surely she knows about the most popular series in the history of CEN. If she had a problem with it, she would have gotten it shut down a long time ago. Unless...”

“I’ve been conducting a massive conspiracy to keep Twilight Sparkle ignorant of my favorite Etheric show!” Rarity suddenly and loudly confessed to the universe at large.

Vinyl Scratch pointed her head at her friend and waited several seconds for Rarity’s hyperventilating to correct itself. “Is that all?” she said finally, with as much sarcasm as she could muster. “You could save yourself a lot of trouble and tell her—”

“NO!”

“—or you can decide to maintain this charade. Very well, all we have to do is tear down every poster we find, steer her away from anypony who wants to ask her what she thinks will happen in the finale, and start singing random show tunes at the top of our lungs to drown out any pony who starts singing the show’s incredibly-addictive theme song. All without making the most paranoid pony in all of Equestria suspicious. You know how this is going to end, don’t you? Griffish Inquisition.”

Rarity forced out an insincere laugh. “That old game? You exaggerate! Twilight will handle the news calmly and rationally.”

“Then why don’t you tell...”

“NO!”

“Yup,” Vinyl concluded, “Griffish Inquisition, mark my words. And when Twilight Sparkle backs you into her imaginary witness stand and begins her interrogation, I’ll sit back in the spectator’s seats, and eat my popcorn.”

“It won’t come to that,” Rarity insisted. “One little weekend to get her back to Ponyville, and then I’ll explain everything. It’ll be easy!”

“Easy as p-p...something Pinkie would bake?”

Rarity laughed. “And you call Twilight paranoid! Do you honestly think that Pinkie P...Pinkie magically appears every time you say her last name? Even when you’re in an entirely different city than her?”

“I noticed you avoided saying her last name just now.”

“Force of habit,” Rarity admitted under her breath.

~ ~ ~

Back at Canterlot Station, a new arrival read the large type on a sign very, very carefully.

“Welcome to Canterlot!” Pinkie Pie read out loud. “See, ponies! I told you I’d get us there eventually! RIAT season finale, here we come!”

---

After splitting ways, Vinyl Scratch, or rather her alter ego of DJ Pon-3, set out to begin a long evening of entertaining the masses with her invention.

Or so she thought.

The DJ’s engagement was to take turns with the Octavia Ensemble playing for an exclusive upscale soirée. The piano quartet had already been playing from 7 pm, and Vinyl was now coming in for her turn. The requirement was for something down-tempo, which wasn’t her preference, but it did have the advantage of showing off the sonic advantages of CDs over vinyl records.

As she approached the lavish home being used for the occasion, Vinyl picked out the sound of a lone instrument competing with the voices of conversing ponies to be heard. It was Octavia, and as she often did during her breaks, she was taking some silly song that everypony knew and converting it into a thing of beauty.

As she was carefully skirting the crowd to reach the servant’s entrance (for in the end, that’s all a DJ or any other artist was in this society), Vinyl heard the music stop, followed by a pony’s hooves making a beeline straight for her. Vinyl stopped and waited patiently for the pony to reach her.

“So, Tavi, am I late?”

“Well, that depends,” said Octavia. “What’s in the cart?”

“Woofers, tweeters, equalizers, mixers, pedals, mics, stands, keyboards, and music. All the rest, ze magicks as it were, are in here.” And with this Vinyl lightly tapped the side of her head with one hoof.

Octavia sighed. “Yes, but is that music being played on records, or CDs? Please tell me you brought your record player?”

Vinyl raised her head. “I have a reputation to defend, Octavia. It’s CDs, or nothing.”

“Yes, I expected as much,” said Octavia. “They won’t have CDs playing at this function under any circumstances. If that is your position, then you are discharged.”

Vinyl slowly closed her gaping jaw. “You’re firing me, Tavi?”

“Trust me, Vinyl, I’m doing a lot better job than the butler would have done. Those lords and ladies lack the second stomachs for doing this sort of thing face-to-face.”

The DJ thought for a few seconds. “But if I go, who covers the rest of the party?”

“My group will.”

“Oh, I couldn’t do that to you! Look, I can play the keyboards, do the whole thing live...”

Octavia gently put a hoof up to Vinyl’s muzzle. “Friend, if you do that, then you will compromise your cause. The press will surely report that you fell in lockstep with your employers in ‘abandoning the hated technology’. Be strong. I know you can pull through this. Now I have to get back to the others. Will you be alright?”

Vinyl nodded. “I’m not licked yet—you’ll see.”

“Good girl. Get some sleep. I get my best ideas when I sleep.”

Comments

[djthomp]

“I’ve been conducting a massive conspiracy to keep Twilight Sparkle ignorant of my favorite Etheric show!”

There is no possible way this won't end badly.

[LittleSallyDigby]

After all, RIAT’s just an Etheric show...whose main character of Shrinking Violet is a blatant rip-off of Twilight Sparkle.

main character of Shrinking Violet

Shrinking Violet

Well, I feel honored.

I mean, I know it's not a deliberate reference or anything, least of all to me, but... Google "Salu Digby" and you'll see what I mean.

[McPoodle]

1388219

Wow, I wish I was that clever, but no, I was just going with the notion of the seemingly-withdrawn student who is secretly a world-class heroine, plus of course a reference to Twilight's coat color.