This story is a sequel to Knight of Equestria II: Discordant Harmony
Pizzicato and Changelings (for a Pegasus Heart)
Vinyl Scratch lands a gig for DJ Flopsy Mopsy: the public party for the royal Canterlot Wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor—in a stadium-sized venue. Handling this taxes her fledgling DJ abilities, but, when she thinks she owns all the hooves, all Tartarus beaks loose. Then she'll need the abilities she learned from Princess Nightmare Moon.
Fourteen chapters, updating Tuesday/Thursday or when increments of 50 likes are registered. Vote and comment.
This story contains British Trottingham dialect; these bits are not grammar errors, though I do use AmEng spellings. Pizzicato was written to be standalone, specifically as an exercise in writing stories in a series such that no story requires the reader to have read any previous story first. In fact, reading the Knight of Equestria stories in the opposite order of publication will prove very interesting. (#2 was written after #4 and the current #3, and yes there is a finished sequel!)
Flopsy Mopsy is a DJ becoming a musician, so, as you might imagine, music is important to her, and the story! The author notes contain links to dance music that is relevant and ponified in the story. You fun will be doubled if you listen first, or click the YouTube links found in the text.
A big thank you to my pre-readers, DoContra and Loganberry.
A little extra from a future Songbird Serenade...
Music Biz's Wicked Tongue: So, Miss Serenade... World renown DJ, songwriter, records topping the charts, fans cry "Songbird" at you, Friendship Festival headliner... What's the scoop with the serialized stories The Strand is launching? Self-aggrandizing fiction?
Songbird Serenade: Self-aggrandizing? (She shuffles some pages on the table before her and takes a deep breath.) On the evening of the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration, a blank-flank teenager was expecting to scrub and dust, helping her immigrant parents clean Town Hall overnight. She was... okay with that. Her family was glad for any opportunity. Her Trottingham accent worried her—
WT: Your accent—
SS: Might her classmates discover she was a peasant who cleaned up after other ponies and always would? She jammed with a nascent DJ named Vinyl Scratch, but, with her sorry excuse for being a DJ next to her only friend, she had no dreams of a musical future.
(Her blue eyes catch mine for an instant.) Little did I know at the dawn of the Age of Harmony, I would meet its first monster.
The filly made it to her next sunrise, but would be piecing herself together for the rest of her life. Ultimately, without Princess Nightmare Moon there would be no Songbird Serenade. This is one of those stories.
WT: Are you saying the stories are autobiographical?
SS: (She covers her face with her mop of bangs after I see incipient tears.) It's a confession. She dislikes the filly she was. As for the mare she became... (Shudders)
More Dame Flopsy. This is sure to be good. Looking forward to seeing how she deals with the swarm.
I like where this is going. I wonder how she will deal with changelings about to destroy her work and guests. Also DJ FM works, far better than DJ Flopsy Mopsy.
... I'll show myself out.
And good that she lets Helping Hoof lend a helping hoof. ...
About that...
In any case, magnificent to see Flopsy in action with insubordinate subordinates. I can only imagine her reaction to the party crashers after working to make everything perfect.
PS: If you read this chapter in the first half-hour of its publication (4:15-4:45PM PDT), you were reading an earlier version of the chapter. Somehow I’d copied that earlier version of the manuscript from Pages, and I cannot figure out how. Very strange!
I’m sorry about that. I don’t think any of the story plot actually changed, but it does change Flopsy Mopsy’s statement of breaking the DJ glass ceiling, making it a little more feminist, as it was meant to be.
Well, she just doomed herself.
I get the distinct feeling that FM's going to have to buck several copies of Ghost Zapper in the face. This is going to be rough for her.
On the bright side, we may learn what Luna was up to during the invasion.
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Much will happen, Ghost Zapper will be important, and Luna may appear. I’m glad you’re enjoying so far!
Didn't this story used to be complete?
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This is the third in a series of related stories, seeing its original 14 chapter publication now. I've completed writing this one and the fourth story; not the same as marking it complete on FimFiction, though.
Maybe the covert art confused you? If you look at the cover, you'll see the labeling is different on each of the stories. For example, the 107 is significant to this story.
Exacting a monstrous toll, yes, but to great benefit. But not everyone is as strong as Flopsy. Here's hoping that particular lesson doesn't come with an even greater cost.
Balancing hard choices against the greater good. Can't say I envy Flopsy's fate. And that's one heck of a cliffhanger to end on. Eagerly looking forward to more.
This is almost literally a cliffhanger, granted she is not hanging but lying (on account of being a pegasus) and it's not a cliff but a house, but close enough.
I love your reimagining of the shows events from Flopsys perspective. Even though I know how the event ends it's still interesting to read as Flopsy doesn't have the same level of plot armor as the mane6 do.
There may have only been the one train, but that's a lot of trolley problems. Still, pragmatism should not be mistaken for evil. Evil is banishing the sun for the sake of your own ego, turning living creatures into your playthings, or, you know, terrorizing the populace. Pragmatism is doing the greatest good you can without falling into that unique strain of stupidity known as heroism.
Of course, the love wave may have its own thoughts to offer on that matter...
C'mon, you can't end every chapter with a cliffhanger.
Like the story anyways. Keep up the good work.
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is yet to come
Yes, I can. And the best one
It's funny. I've seen several instances of short Twilight Sparkles, but this may be the first time I've seen a Shining Armor below the norm. I suppose that whole family trades size for unfathomable arcane power.
In any case, I suspect that Flopsy's about to have a reunion with her liege.
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Twilight Sparkle as a runt is a recurring theme in my cycles of stories as I find it advantageous to portray her as being born into humble and poor circumstances, to make her appear meeker than she is. And to emphasize how she's grown. That flavoring is strong in Sisters in All but Blood*. And you can see Sunset Shimmer forming her bad judgements of the "runt" pre-mirror in The Enforcer and Her Blackmailers. It will come up as a minor point in the fourth installment of the Knight if Equestria series. Shiny's stature just follows. It's amazing how tall many short people seem until you see a group picture and then you think, whoa...
*Where I portray Fluttershy as a leggy statuesque model-material who is taller than her friends but oblivious of her good looks and her affect of pony and beast.
"I'm going to poke your soul. Tell me how it feels."
"Wait, whaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
In all seriousness, magnificently trippy sequence. Now to see what comes of that crystal.
Kind of abrupt. I have as many questions as Flopsy, but I suppose she's in no mood to actually listen. Still, it'd be nice if someone explained PCD. Though if I had to guess, I suspect there are at least six more cases in Ponyville alone.
Ah, panini therapy. Hopefully it will help with having to deal with a pony who's convinced that Mop's a hero. (She is, of course, but good luck telling her that.)
Ooh, Octavia's going to bring in the rest of the Gala quartet. Still, I do hope somepony less easily distracted by music talks to Flopsy about this. Possibly in her dreams.
Here's a song for the
Heroine
Nami Tamaki - Heroine
Sory it's not in English, but it's still a really good song.
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Thanks. I know a little Japanese but when it's sung it's a bit more than I can understand. I can see FM singing that, esp. the wings part of the video.
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I don't understand any of it either, but the visuals kind of give me an idea of what's being sung about.
Well, that was daring. Just imagine what will happen if she picked the wrong princess...
Also, the origin of Flopsy's stage name and the continuing erosion of her stage fright. Every step is a part of the journey.
I have so many questions.
Brilliant work. Hopefully hearing it straight from the queen-horse's mouth will get Flopsy to internalize the truth of the matter. For now, there's an epilogue to get through.
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I have answers: That's To Bring Light to Eternal Darkness in a nutshell. Glad you're still enjoying the story! Tell all your friends.
A genuinely happy ending. Wonderful to see. Though that next story...
I'm not sure what's going on there, but I look forward to finding out. Not all acts of heroism are mistakable for monstrosity.
This whole scene reminds me a bit of videos I've seen of brain surgery. The kind where the patient has to be awake to relay what goes on in their head while there is poking, prodding and stimulation going on.
I am fascinated with how you handle cutie marks, especially the way Starlight sees them in Enforcer