Bang! Ta-Dah!
Elsewhere, at roughly the same time…
After an extraordinary lunch with two of her best friends in the whole world (actually, every friend she had she considered to be her best friend in the whole wide world, but Rarity and Fluttershy were even more of her best friends!), Pinkie Pie parted ways with them. It wasn’t that she wouldn’t have enjoyed going to the spa with them. The fact was that the atmosphere of the place was just too, calm and mellow for her. Pinkie Pie would much rather spend her afternoon at someplace the exact opposite.
Someplace such as DJ Pon3’s dance club. Now this was more of her style. Loud, energetic music, plenty of people full of life and movement, an entire aura of good times and fun, places like that seemed like they were just made for Pinkie. So, who was she to deny herself from a place where she so clearly belonged?
It took Pinkie around ten more minutes to reach her destination than it did for her friends, since the club was on the other side of town. It had to be a certain distance away from any residential building, commercial building, government building, public building, or just about any building that people resided in due to the constant loud music it played. Loud, earth shaking, heart thumping music that was almost exclusively played by the club’s owner and DJ, Vinyl Scratch, more commonly known by her stage name of DJ Pon3.
The club held the outward appearance of being made from some sort of sleek, blue, futuristic metal. In reality, however, it was simply bricks painted over to look glossy. Above the while double doors with music shaped windows, tinted so much that they could not hope to serve their purpose, was a neon sign that read DJ PON3 in bright blue letters.
Even a few feet from the building, Pinkie Pie could hear the music blasting from within. She could feel the vibrations as soon as she walked up the steps and approached the entrance. When she opened the door, the full force of the ear deafening music blasted Pinkie in the face. With an ecstatic grin on her face, Pinkie entered the building, already bouncing up and down to the beat of the music.
As one would expect, the majority of a dance club’s patrons only came in during the evening. However, that didn’t stop Vinyl from keeping this place open all day long. She would keep on blasting her music and DJing even if there wasn’t a single customer that came to the place for weeks. While the revenue the patrons of the club brought in were a great benefit, playing music was her passion and the real reason why she had the club. To Vinyl, playing music was her voice.
Since they were such close friends, and that she resonated with the DJ on many levels, Vinyl felt comfortable with discussing her disability to Pinkie. By all accounts, she SHOULD be able to talk. There was nothing wrong with her vocal cords. But, it was something with her brain. She could move her mouth and she could vibrate her cords. But, when it came to doing the two at the same time, there was just something that didn’t compute in Vinyl’s brain.
This left Vinyl unable to talk at all. Vinyl lived her life entirely without a voice. Not having a voice made her feel alienated from everyone around her who could easily talk and get their point across. She on the other hand, was always forced to either write down or pantomime what she needed to say.
That’s why Vinyl turned to music. With her music, she could transmit her feelings to people without the need of a voice. When she was standing up there at her DJ booth, blasting her music to the entire club, it felt like she was actually talking to all of them. Music was her voice.
These were all feelings the DJ normally kept to herself, as she tended to be very stubborn. But there was something about Pinkie that just, clicked with Vinyl. She certainly didn’t understand her struggle - if anything, she ran her mouth more than everyone else in the world combined - it was her attitude that struck a chord with Vinyl. The way she lived life each day, only caring about having fun and making other people happy. Vinyl had told Pinkie this is why she was someone who she could trust.
Pinkie found her trusted friend where she normally was, across the room from the entrance, standing at her complex setup and constantly making minor adjustments to make everything just perfect for the patrons. There were about ten club goers standing on the dance floor, which was indented into the ground. Lights of all colors flashed on and off in time with the beat of the music that was currently filling the air of the club.
For a few minutes, Pinkie Pie just simply joined the dancers in swaying her body to the music. She enjoyed herself and had a good time, not caring exactly what she was doing or who was around her. She just danced wherever the music took her, moving from spot to spot, occasionally joining in with another person before they both took the solo again. It wasn’t until Pinkie spun around to look up at the DJ booth that she noticed Vinyl was looking right at her.
It was hard to tell this, due to the dark purple sunglasses she always wore over her eyes. But it was clear that Vinyl was looking at Pinkie. The way her head slightly moved as she operated her equipment was a clear indication that it was tracking Pinkie as she danced across the floor. As soon as Vinyl noticed that Pinkie had caught on, she ushered for her guest to come up to the stand. Pinkie nodded and Vinyl let the music go on auto play.
Vinyl held up five fingers to the patrons that were looking her way; her way of indicating that she was taking a break. She walked away from her equipment and entered the door behind it, which led to her own personal break room, where she ducked in to eat her meals at work. She also used it if she needed a place to be by herself.
The room itself was rather small and bland. The walls were plain white drywall, save for a few band and concert posters hanging up around. There was a coffee table with couches on either side of it. Bowls of snacks sat on top of the table with some of their contents scattered across it. On the wall opposite the door was a counter with a microwave and a minifridge to heat and store her meals, since she tended to stay here all day.
Vinyl sat on the couch to the left of the table while Pinkie sat on the one to the right. In her mind, Pinkie prepared herself for the fun times she was about to have deciphering what Vinyl was going to try and say to her. Charades was always one of her favorite games, and it was pretty much the only way to talk to Vinyl. She closed her eyes and prepared herself in her mind for all of the common things Vinyl did to try and get her message across.
For the most part, Pinkie would be the one leading. She would have to start asking or implying things that she thought the conversation would be about. From there, body language was the name of the game. Instead of simply just nodding, Vinyl would straighten her glasses with her index finger if Pinkie was on the right track, but shake it back and forth if she was getting cold. Rolling her fingers on the desk meant that Vinyl wanted Pinkie to drop whatever train of thought she was on, because it couldn’t be further from what she wanted it to be.
There were also small, subtle things Vinyl did that Pinkie had picked up on over the long period of their friendship. If Pinkie was on the wrong track, but Vinyl found it amusing nonetheless, the edges of her lips would curl upwards ever so slightly. Smiling with teeth usually meant that Pinkie was spot on and practically reading her mind. Clenching her fist meant the same thing, but for something that Vinyl was not happy that Pinkie had figured out. This had only happened once, but Pinkie made a permanent note of it to know when she was going too far.
“I was wondering when you would show up,” Vinyl said as Pinkie started to finish up her preparations.
“Well of course,” Pinkie replied, still deep in her thoughts and collecting any final thoughts she needed to know. “I always come in the afternoon on…” Slowly, Pinkie’s gears began to grind to process what had just happened. “Um, who said that?” She looked across the table at Vinyl, the only other person in the room as far as Pinkie knew.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Now that Pinkie was looking right at her, there was little doubt that the source of the voice was Vinyl. It was clearly originating from where she was sitting. The only problem was, her lips weren’t moving at all. Twilight said that there is an advanced form of magic that would let you think in other people’s heads. Telephony? She couldn’t remember the name, but Pinkie did remember Twilight saying it was difficult, if not impossible to learn if you weren’t as good as magic as she was.
“You’re probably thinking that this isn’t right.” Vinyl’s voice rang through the room, still unclear of where the source was. “Vinyl isn’t supposed to talk. She isn’t supposed to have a voice. That’s not the way the world works. Well guess what. Screw the world! I’m going my own way! And I say it’s time for Vinyl Scratch to finally have a voice!”
“But,” Vinyl’s voice of unknown origin went on. “You don’t want that. You and your friend, Princess Twilight. You want the world to always stay as how it’s supposed to be. That means, you’re here to take away my voice!”
“What are you talking about, Vinyl?” Pinkie asked, not sure if there was even a word for how confused she was at the moment. “I think it’s great that you can finally talk! How’d you do it? Some kind of magic?”
For a moment, Vinyl just said nothing. Eyes told a great deal of the story your face wrote. Since Vinyl’s were always hidden by dark shades, reading that story was a hard time for Pinkie. Her mouth was clearly frowning.
“You know, for a second there, I almost believed you.” Vinyl’s voice sounded like it was chuckling a little. “But, it’s just a lie. If you’re going to try and take my voice away, the least you could do is be honest about it.”
Nonchalantly, Vinyl reached into her pocket and pulled out her MP3 player. With the opposite hand, she made a fist and put it sideways to her neck. She pulled her hand back, as if she tore something from there, and then plugged that something into the headphone port of her music device. Casually, her thumb scrolled over the wheel until the song that she wanted was highlighted. With a small grin, Vinyl hit the play button.
That was all the time Pinkie had to comprehend what was happening before she was blasted off of her seat. To be more precise, the seat she was on was blasted off the ground with her in it. The entire sofa, along with the coffee table between Pinkie and Vinyl, collided with the wall. Fortunately for Pinkie, the couch had flipped over so that it shielded her from being struck by the table. Unfortunately for Pinkie, this meant she herself collided with the wall.
Groaning and with her head spinning, Pinkie crawled out from under the couch. Her ears were ringing as she tried to straighten herself out and get reoriented. As soon as the room stopped spinning, she was able to think clearly for a second and realize what the source of the heavy blast was. It was a song; one she recognized. It was a song that Vinyl herself had composed in fact. It had been played at such a high volume that everything in front of the DJ acted as if it were in a wind tunnel. But where was the source? Surely it wasn’t her MP3 player!
“Vinyl...” Pinkie groaned, propping herself against the overturned couch for support as she tried desperately to keep the lunch she had with her friends earlier from coming back up. “I don’t…I don’t understand. You know I’ve been one of the people who's been trying the most to help you find a voice, don’t you remember? Why would I want to take it away from you now that you finally have one?”
A smile was on Pinkie’s face. It was probably the most genuine one she could muster while letting the least amount of fear seep into it. Though it was clear from reading her face that there was plenty of fear and confusion inside of her. Just like Pinkie could see the edges of Vinyl’s mouth curl downward. She said nothing in her voice of an unknown source and simply hit the play button on her MP3 player again.
More extremely loud music from sources unknown roared at Pinkie, again knocking her off of her feet and pressing her against the wall. Despite how loud the music was, Vinyl didn’t seem to even flinch at it at all. Was it because she so used to playing loud music all day? Or was it because she was somehow immune to its effects? The music was playing loudly in the club outside, so no one else could notice what was going on. Pinkie on the other hand, in addition to having her eardrums feel like they were about to rupture, was being pressed up against the wall by nothing but pure sound.
If she endured this symphonic assault for any longer, Pinkie feared that she either be crushed against the wall, or painfully go deaf. Neither one of those outcomes were ones she wanted to happen. Thankfully, she actually had a little experience this sort of situation; and a good idea of how she could get out of it.
Being a connoisseur of all things considered fun, Pinkie had done many different strange and outlandish activities. One of these activities was being in a wind tunnel. During this session, she discovered that if she got pressed up against the wall by the extreme winds, she could easily get out of it by forcing herself sideways and downwards. Whatever the source of Vinyl’s sound attack was, it seemed to be similar to a giant fan and only pointed in one direction.
Using this knowledge, Pinkie struggled to lift her knees so that the souls of her shoes were planted on the wall. While she gritted her teeth from the high amount of effort this was taking, in addition to the sheer amounts of pain that she was under due to the music, Pinkie pushed off against the wall and angled her body so that she fell out of the sound blast and onto the ground.
A symphony of a thousand bells was ringing in Pinkie’s ears as she stumbled to get up. She was so disoriented and confused that she couldn’t even walk a straight line. Still, Pinkie accomplished her goal of walking making her way towards the door and pulling the fire alarm that was right next to it.
In addition to causing the loud wailing alarm bell to resonate throughout the building - a sensation that Pinkie’s ears did not appreciate in their current state - the fire alarm had two additional effects as ordered by the Fire Safety Bureau. Firstly, all the music over the speakers would be shut off so everyone inside of the club would immediately be alerted and able to hear the alarm. Secondly, the sprinkler system would go off. This would result in a group of wet, fearful patrons running from the club. While Pinkie did feel bad about ruining their fun time, it was more important that there was no chance that they would be hurt by whatever it was that Vinyl was doing.
Once she heard the ringing in the outside room, as well as the loud vibrations of the music cease, Pinkie stumbled outside, still in a dazed and unbalanced state. The dance floor was still active despite the music being shut off, the lights mingling with the slight mist caused by the sprinkler system. Pinkie’s own senses, however, were barely able to make out any of this. Instead, all Pinkie could see was a mass of colors and strange wisps, as though she’d viewed the room through a kaleidoscope.
Another burst of music came from behind Pinkie, causing the mare to turn around. Her damaged hearing barely made it out before she felt the sound waves crashing into her, sending her body flying across the room. Pinkie let out a cry of surprise as the distorted music sent her soaring across the room, only for her to slam into the barstools of the club’s refreshment center. A shot of searing pain went up her spine as she slammed painfully into them, causing the mare to let out a shriek before collapsing onto the wet floor.
For several moments, Pinkie didn’t move. Everything was hurting; her back was on fire from her sudden trip across the dance floor, her ears were still painfully ringing, and her vision was clouded from all the pain from other parts on her body. It hurt just to move her finger, let alone try to get up. Yet when her vision cleared up for a brief moment, what she saw didn’t exactly make her day any better.
Vinyl stood in the midst of the dance floor, her arms at her sides and her fists curled up in anger. Her glasses dripped with water as the sprinkler systems continued to go off, causing her tank top to stick to her skin. Despite how far away they were, the grin that Vinyl held was palpable, and Pinkie could only shiver at the knowledge that apparently, her getting thrown across the floor was the point that Vinyl wanted to make.
“All you do… all you do is run your mouth, Pinkie…” Vinyl’s fists slightly unclenched, “Do you know what it’d be like if suddenly you realized you couldn't talk? That everything for you to do it is there, but it just doesn't work?” Vinyl reached up and touched her throat, “It’d be like you finding out your parties have all the food, all the entertainment, but when you try to put them together it devolves into chaos… not that I expect you to understand…”
“I finally found a way to speak…” Vinyl’s fist clenched up. “I finally found a way to bypass using my mouth. I can talk now! I can stop with all the stupid hand gestures and wiggling my fingers just so people know whether or not they’re right! People are stupid! I can try to lead them in the direction and they’ll fight me all the way!” Vinyl turned her head away, “I thought you were different, Pinkie Pie. You would be try everything you could and I almost never had issues with talking to you… but you’re just like the rest of them!”
With that said, Vinyl hit the play button on her MP3 player. Despite how injured she was, Pinkie’s body flooded with adrenaline, causing her to move on instinct alone. The mare gripped the furthest barstool and pulled herself away from the sound waves, her right shoe getting torn off her foot from the force of it. A second later she heard another blast coming her way, and she quickly dragged herself behind the counter where the barstools stood to avoid it.
“I have a voice! I have it now!!” Vinyl shouted hard as a loud burst of noise shook the counter where Pinkie hid behind, “You can’t take it from me! You can’t silence me! I’LL SILENCE YOU!”
Pinkie curled up into a ball as she heard the noises blaring against the counter. Various drinks on the countertop slid off and shattered against the wall, causing the mare to duck away. Something wet ran down the side of her head; upon inspection, Pinkie found her left ear was bleeding. The sheer force of sound had torn the inside of her ear. Pinkie looked around the floor, seeing various napkins and drink coasters. The mare quickly stuffed as many napkins as she could safely fit into her ears, though it helped very little with the sound.
Vinyl wasn’t letting up on her assault, far from it. Instead, Vinyl decided to simply blast the entire counter apart to get to Pinkie. After a full minute of sound, both mares heard the noise of the wood creaking and snapping apart. The side of Vinyl’s lip curled up as she said nothing, wanting Pinkie to savor the sound of her only refuge in this place being destroyed.
Pinkie’s body curled up in fear as she felt the counter behind her neck starting to bend inward. She didn’t want to be here, she wanted to go home. She didn’t know what had gotten into Vinyl, nor why she wanted to hurt her so badly. Her body was screaming in pain and her ears were bleeding. Slowly, Pinkie opened her eyes, looking towards the exit to the building. If only she could get there, she could run out and go get Twilight for help…
And then, she was there.
Pinkie’s eyes widened as she saw the counter break, flying towards the wall and shattering the various cabinets and hanging drinks that hadn’t been blasted off already. But what was strange about it was the fact that Pinkie was looking at it. She wasn’t there. Instead, when she looked behind her, she saw the exit door.
Vinyl’s lips had devolved into a devilish smirk as she watched the counter be blown apart. However, just like Pinkie, she realized that Pinkie wasn’t there. The mare whipped around, her sunglasses concealing her eyes, before her face was pointed at the new position of Pinkie.
“H-How the?! How’d you get over there?!” Vinyl shouted, looking around the room to see how Pinkie had done it, “You were, I was!!”
Pinkie didn’t know herself, but she had the wherewithal to act on it. Pinkie quickly untangled her curled up form, reaching up to grab at door handle. Just as she felt the cold steel in her hands, through the napkins she could hear another noise coming straight towards her. Pinkie knew what it meant and she reflexively let go of the handle, feinting to the left. The noise hit the doors but didn’t blast them open, though they both shook and rattled as though they were about to.
“It… It doesn’t…” Gripping her soggy pants, Vinyl shook her head, “It doesn’t matter… I’m still going to stop you before you get back to Twilight and have her take my voice away!” With that said, Vinyl turned to face Pinkie’s current position.
In the few seconds it took Vinyl to reposition herself, Pinkie had managed to scramble her way over to the tables for patrons to sit and rest from dancing. Many of them were still upright, and Pinkie quickly rectified that. The anxious marel kicked down two of them, dragging them together just in time to receive the brunt of another assault.
While the DJ scrambled to figure out just what had happened to make Pinkie seemingly teleport, the pink haired mare was in the same boat. Pinkie was racking her brain for any explanation as to why she’d done what she had, and she could hardly make out what it was. It was just as strange as the pink figure that was standing inside of a puddle at her knees.
Wait, pink figure? When Pinkie turned her head, she could see the same figure standing behind her. The entity was a few inches taller than she was, but was thinner and smaller in both the arms and legs. The figure resembled a tall ninja, wearing a pink, skin tight bodysuit. The figure’s outfit was lined with white trim, starting at the feet and going up the legs, waist, sleeves, sides, neck and ending at the eye slits. Yet upon closer inspection, the figure had no skin behind the eye slits; instead it was simply darkness. Emblazoned on it’s right upper arm were three balloons: a yellow one stuck between two baby blue ones, with the strings tangled together. In fact, it resembled her cutie mark!
“What, who are you?!” Pinkie pointed a finger at the figure, “When did you get in here?! Don’t you hear the alarm, if you don’t leave now you’re going to get super hurt!”
The figure didn’t say anything, instead it simply looked down to stare at Pinkie. The mare looked between it and over the edge of the tables, only to have to duck down from another blast of sound.
“Look, I don’t know if you can hear me but, you need to get out, right now!!” Pinkie gasped, “Vinyl’s gone super duper crazy and she’ll probably hurt you too!”
When Pinkie gave the order “Get out”, the figure seemed to react. Before, it was soullessly staring at Pinkie; her words seemingly going right through it. But as soon as she gave it an order, it reacted. It took Pinkie by the arm, bent its legs as if it were about to break out into a sprint, and then suddenly, the two of them were in a completely different location. Right in front of the door again.
This solved one of Pinkie’s questions, but raised a whole lot more. She didn’t know who this person was. But whoever they were, they were the source of the teleportation she had accomplished earlier. They also seemed to follow her orders. Though many an-out-of-control party told Pinkie it was much better to figure out why something was happening after all the immediate problems were fixed. The immediate problem in this case being Vinyl’s rampage.
“There you are!” The devil herself shouted as her name was thought of. Pinkie twisted her body to face Vinyl, and the floating pink ninja did the same. This time, when she looked over at Vinyl, Pinkie could see the source of her newly obtained voice.
Now there was a second figure standing behind Vinyl. Or more likely, as Pinkie deduced, that figure was there all along. She just wasn’t able to see it until now for some reason. This figure was about as tall as the pink ninja that had suddenly appeared to Pinkie. Its limbs were a light shade of blue while it’s torso and shoulder mountings were a dark purple. The entire torso seemed to be some sort of vest or armor plating judging from how it jutted out from the rest of its body. On the shoulders of its torso plate were two large stereo speakers, along with one on its chest. On its arms were what looked like two vinyl records.
Pultruding from the humanoid’s body were two cables. One of which went to Vinyl’s neck, while the other was plugged into the headphone jack of her MP3 player. Despite the fact that there was clearly something puncturing her neck, no blood was leaking out. When Vinyl moved her body to face Pinkie, she didn’t show the slightest hint of pain or discomfort. It looked as though she wasn’t feeling the cord in her neck at all.
“What is that?!” When Vinyl “shouted”, the stereos on the creature behind her vibrated. Now that she could see it, it was clear that those speakers were the source of her new voice. Vinyl wasn’t talking. This creature was doing the talking for her. Had it possessed her? “Is that? A Stand?!” A low growl came from the speakers. “I should have known. You have a Stand too, just like my Bangarang!”
Before any questions like “What’s a Stand?” or “Do you know what these things are?” could be asked, Vinyl hit the play button on her MP3 player again. This time she chose a song with particularly heavy bass to it. Bangarang’s speakers pulsed as the song -which would have shook the whole club even if it were played normally- erupted from them.
There was a split second between when Vinyl hit play and the sound was discharged from Bangarang. During that second, a million thoughts went through Pinkie’s mind. All of them shouted “Get behind it! Get behind it!” as the sound waves would not be able to hit her from that position. After the second had past, Pinkie found that she was exactly where she had so desperately hoped she would be.
The switch had happened so fast that her mind wasn’t even able to comprehend it. Just like before, one second Pinkie was in one location, wishing she would be able to outrun the speed of sound and get out of harm’s way. The next, she was in a completely different spot. She didn’t even feel herself move. She was just there.
By now, Pinkie had put two and two together that this pink ninja was the source of this teleportation. She had also deduced that this thing followed her commands, whether or not they were verbal. It could somehow read her thoughts and know when she wanted to do something. She didn’t seem to necessarily have to know exactly how it was done, she just needed to want it to be done.
There was another odd thing that Pinkie began noticing as well. For some reason, she had begun to notice that she could tell exactly what Vinyl could and couldn’t see. Obviously, she knew that since she was behind Vinyl, she couldn’t be seen by her. But she was able to somehow know the exact point at which she would enter her line of sight again. Just darting her eyes around the room made Pinkie take note of the overturned tables and debris. She instantly knew which ones she could hide behind if she didn’t want Vinyl to see her.
But Pinkie didn’t have much time to ponder why she was suddenly so much more observant and knowledgeable than she was used to, as Vinyl suddenly rotated 180 degrees. Bangarang mimicked her, and emitted another sound blast while doing so. If she didn’t have the time to think about it, Pinkie decided to go with her usual strategy of just doing. In this case, she teleported behind a flipped table that would be just out of Vinyl’s sight once she had completed her rotation.
Unfortunately for Pinkie, previous attacks had destroyed the front entrance. Now there was nothing but an impassible pile of rubble in its stead. Now Pinkie Pie was trapped inside of the club with no way of getting out. This meant that fleeing Vinyl was no longer an option and the only one that she was left with was to try and subdue her somehow.
Currently, Pinkie’s location was still unknown to Vinyl. This gave her some leeway, for now. She had spent enough time with Vinyl to know how the DJ ticked. She would try things the simple way first, probably calling out her name and searching around for a bit. But, when that ultimately doesn’t work, she’ll get frustrated and take a more extreme approach. That’s just how Vinyl was, very quick to frustration if she can’t do something right the first time.
Pinkie remember specifically a time when they were trying to plug in an old stereo the two of them had bought together at a garage sale. I looked like it worked great at the time of purchase. When they got home and tried it out, however, they discovered why it had been so cheap. Something was wrong with the power cord. The third prong on it, the grounding prong, was bent in a weird way that the two of them didn’t even think possible. It would not go into the outlet. After five minutes of trying to bend it into place, Vinyl’s brow furrowed and she attempted to slam it into the socket as hard as she could a few times. Before Pinkie could warn her of what a hazard this was, Vinyl had hit her last straw and just tore the grounding prong off with her bare hands.
Most likely Vinyl was about to take a similar turn of events in her search for her perceived enemy. After a daring peak from behind the table, she saw that Vinyl was on the other side of the room, and the edge of her mouth was beginning to twitch. Whether it be for her or Vinyl, twitching was never good. Pinkie judged that it would only be a minute before Vinyl went to the anger phase. There, she would most likely do something rash like attack the entire room in a manner that Pinkie could not hope to dodge. She would need to incapacitate Vinyl before that happened. But how?
The pink ninja, which was apparently Pinkie’s “Stand”, was crouched into a ball right next to her so it would be obscured by the table as well. It could teleport Pinkie. Could it, teleport on its own as well? Maybe, she could get it to a position where it would be perfect for a sneak attack?
But then what? After a single sneak attack, Vinyl would most likely not fall for the same tactic again. With how her Stand attacked, a frontal assault would be suicide. If Pinkie were to launch an attack, it would need to be a single, decisive one.
Could Pinkie launch an attack though? She understood that there were sometimes where there was just no other choice but violence, and she has even been forced into those times before, but that was on some heartless monster or hivemind insect. Vinyl was none of those things. Vinyl was Pinkie’s best friend. Attacking her is completely out of the question, even if she is trying to kill her.
No, Vinyl wasn’t trying to kill her. Pinkie affirmed that with conviction in her mind. Vinyl was her friend, and something was making her do this. Even if what she was claiming Pinkie would do was true, there was no way Vinyl would resort to violence first. Something was making her friend attack her. That something, Pinkie concluded, was probably this Stand thing. So, she wouldn’t attack Vinyl. She would attack Bangarang.
“You know Pinkie,” As Bangarang broadcasted Vinyl’s voice throughout the club, Pinkie had her Stand jump to the corner on the other side of the room. “The least you could do is stop hiding and do this with some dignity. Come on and face the music. I know you want to take Bangarang away. Well guess what? I’m not giving it out without a fight!”
With a grunt, Vinyl hit play and had Bangarang resume its song of eardrum destruction. Thankfully, the blast of rising cords was three feet shy of where she was hiding. Double thankfully, Bangarang moved the blast in the opposite direction. The walls around her shook. More debris fell from the ceiling as a result. A twitch in her rump told Pinkie that she needed to move or be crushed. She had her Stand teleport atop a dangling rafter, and Pinkie rolled out into the open just before a flood light fell on her.
“There you are,” Vinyl was staring right at Pinkie. Bangarang had its arms bent, ready to blast Pinkie from where she stood without a moment’s hesitation. But there was hesitation from Vinyl. “You’re a slippery bitch, you know that? Every time I try to wub you away, you just slip out of my grasp. Well that’s because my setup sucks. It’s time to crank up the tunes, know what I’m saying?”
Pinkie did not like the look on Vinyl’s face. It was not a good look. The irrational anger was definitely there, no doubt about that, but there was also something else. It reminded Pinkie of, joy, some sort of twisted joy. Then Pinkie realized she recognized this look.
There was a point when Vinyl had first opened her club that she was trying to be as loud and daring as possible. It got to the point where she had hooked up at least twenty large stereos around the club. Not only that, but they were hooked up to a laser light and pyrotechnic show. There was a look on her face at that time. A look that said that she knew that she was doing something reckless and crazy, but she couldn’t have been more excited for it.
That was the same look that Vinyl had now. Vinyl looked as though, she was going to do something so reckless but she couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of excitement. Instead having Bangarang attack Pinkie, Vinyl turned and walked in the opposite direction. She walked right towards her DJ equipment, which had been spared destruction by falling debris.
“It’s probably pretty freaking obvious by now,” Vinyl stood behind her equipment, like she normally did when she was DJing. Bangarang stood behind her. Pinkie’s Stand leapt to another rafter behind the two of them. “But my Bangarang amplifies vibrations from whatever it’s plugged into by a lot. And I mean whatever it’s plugged into.” Vinyl gave a tug on the cord attached to her neck.
“I could never move my mouth right. I just, I tried everything Pinkie. Therapy, negative reinforcement, studying how lip movements work. But, no matter what, I can’t move my mouth to talk like a normal person. But now, I don’t have to! Bangarang just amplifies my vocal cords! And you want to take it away from me?” Vinyl slammed her hands down onto the equipment as hard as she could.
“Well I won’t have it! I’m not going to let you!” Her angry expression went back to one that was building up excitement. She took her MP3 player, tore the second cord out from it, and threw it away like an empty soda can. In a motion that might have well been a punch, she plugged it into her equipment.
And that’s when Pinkie realized what Vinyl intended to do. The look on her face said it all. She was going turn up her sound system as loud as possible and have Bangarang blast it. Most likely, she would play something right when it hit the bass drop, when the vibrations would be the strongest. With how much damage the club had taken already, Pinkie could only guess that it would bring the entire building down on top of them.
Looking at Vinyl’s face, there was no doubt that’s what she intended to do. There were no signs of regret that Pinkie could recognize. Only resolve and conviction. This was the expression Vinyl’s face held when she was dead set on doing something. Nothing would stop her.
However, there was another subtle detail in Vinyl’s face that Pinkie picked up on from where she was standing. A slight bulge in her cheek. She was lightly biting her tongue. That meant that excitement was building inside of her. But, not just any kind of excitement, excitement related to music. Specifically, she was thinking about how great the buildup would be before the bass drop. Because Vinyl always emphasized that the base drop by itself was not what made the climax of dubstep.
“It’s like climbing up a ladder to a diving board,” Vinyl had written in a guide she drafted for how she composed her music. Nothing ever came of it, but Pinkie was more than happy to look it over for the brief time she was writing it. “And the bass drop is like diving into the pool. If you just jump in from the side, it’s pretty lame. You gotta get up high before you do that sweet dive. So, if you want to make the dive better, you have to climb up the ladder.”
Pinkie was sure of it. Even if she wasn’t acting like herself; even if she was driven with murderous intent; there was no way that Vinyl would violate her principals of music playing. She would start the song right when it started building up. Even if she didn’t know how loud Bangarang would make it, Pinkie knew she had thirty seconds before the bass drop hit. That would be her window. That would be when she would use her Stand and ambush Vinyl’s.
“It’s time to freaking end this!” Vinyl put her fingers on all of the volume sliders and turned them up as loud as possible. She slid the time bar on the touch screen display in the center of her equipment to the exact position she wanted to start at. Just as Pinkie predicted, she started right at the buildup. That’s when Pinkie took a deep breath, and started in a slow walk towards the podium. Steadily, her steps increased speed until she broke out into a full-on sprint.
The DJ equipment had much higher sound volume than Vinyl’s MP3 player. That much was certain from the fact that the whole building felt like it was quaking in tune to the beat of the music. All of Pinkie’s insides felt like they were being thrown through a washing machine. Still she pressed on. She continued her charge.
The closer she got to the epicenter of the sound hurricane, Bangarang, the stronger the vibrations coursing through her body became. But Pinkie kept her eyes locked onto Vinyl. Even if those eyes felt like they would be shaken out of her head at any second. Inside her mind, Pinkie made a counter based on the position of the song. When that timer hit zero, then the bass would drop. If her surprise attack were to be successful, she would need to launch as soon as it hit one.
Currently the song was at five. Pinkie was at the foot of the podium. Her eyes were locked straight on Vinyl’s. Even if she couldn’t see them behind the dark sunglass, Pinkie could read enough on Vinyl’s face to know exactly what the DJ’s eyes were saying. They were meeting Pinkie’s gaze, as if locked in a contest of staring. Pinkie kept their stares locked, not even looking upward at her Stand to make sure it was still in position, as that would give her plan away.
Down to three. Pinkie had hopped up onto the podium. It felt like she was trying to push a brick wall back at this point. The sounds were so strong Pinkie was sure that her ears were bleeding. But that was the least of her concerns now. It was life or death, do or die. If she backed down now, it would be death.
Two. Vinyl was still grinning, her lips was quivering. It was a quiver of pure irrational excitement, of pure bliss. Pinkie’s expression, however, remained determined. But her body was shaking, she could feel her skin being yanked back on her bones. Everything hurt. Her ears were still bleeding, soaking the napkins that had somehow stayed in all this time.
One. There was no mistaking it. Vinyl’s expression shifted to where she was at the point of no return. Absolutely nothing would distract her from watching Pinkie suffer. Her gaze was laser focused and unbreakable. Pinkie knew this well. If that was the case then she certainly wouldn’t see…
“TA-DAH!”
“Wha…” In an instant, Pinkie’s Stand was between Vinyl and Bangarang. In that same instant, the pink ninja launched both of its fists to either side of it, making contact to both of the aggressors. The force of the blow caused both of them to be launched in their respective directions. Both of the cords coming from Bangarang, the one in the stereo and the one inside of Vinyl’s throat, were disconnected.
Zero. The bass dropped. The song reached its base drop and played it at its normal volume through the normal speakers of the club. Admittedly, this was still too loud for Pinkie’s ears at the moment. But the club was still standing and she was still alive. That was what was important. She hated that she had to hurt Vinyl, but this was to save her.
Pinkie turned her attention towards Bangarang. This was what was causing Vinyl to act like this. All she had to do was destroy it, and Vinyl would be saved. With this resolve dead set in her head, Pinkie and her Stand both turned toward Bangarang. The ninja appeared behind the walking stereo. Pinkie willed all of her will, all of her anger, all of her desperation into it. The Stand reacted accordingly.
Accordingly meaning that it started to launch a series of well-coordinated punches and kicks directly at Bangarang. Each blow connected in such a way that Bangarang was knocked in a different direction each time. The entire time, the Stand let out a cry from deep within its throat.
“TA-DAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAH!!! TA-DAH!”
Resorting to violence was wrong, Pinkie knew that. Given the chance, almost anyone could be reasoned with and made happy somehow. But, this Stand thing wasn’t a someone. It was something that was influencing her best friend in negative ways. She just couldn’t forgive that. Her rage translated into extending the fury of blows from her own Stand. Pinkie had decided to name the Stand after the sound it was making, and the general feeling it’s power gave her.
Ta-Dah!
Just looking at the assault caused a wave of exhaustion to wash over Pinkie. She decided that should be enough and willed Ta-Dah to stop. She started to pant as Bangarang crashed onto the ground and suddenly disappeared. Pinkie was filled with relief. It was over, Vinyl would be ok now…
But when she looked over to her friend, she saw her laying on the ground. Instantly Pinkie ran over to her aid. The DJ’s body was covered in bruises. One of her teeth was missing and it looked like an arm was broken. This is not at all what Pinkie had intended to happen. She intended for everything to get better! But it was turning worse.
As the song she had set up drew to a close, Vinyl could feel herself fading from consciousness. She saw Pinkie’s concerned face through her cracked sunglasses. For the first time in she didn’t know how long, Vinyl didn’t feel anger or fear towards it. She remembered it for what it truly was. That was the face of her friend. She reached out for Pinkie as her eyes struggled to stay open. Right before she faded from consciousness, Vinyl swore she saw a golden bracelet on her wrist shatter.
~~~
Talking, shouting, singing. These were all things Vinyl was born without the ability to do. It frustrated her to no end. It seemed to be the most basic of skills that everyone else didn’t even need to be taught how to do. They could all just learn it when they were dumb babies. But not Vinyl. It was impossible for her to learn.
She felt alone. She felt like she didn’t belong anywhere. If she had a thought she wanted to communicate, it would take her a greater amount of effort than it should have. She refused to learn sign language because it would have made her feel like even more of an outsider. Vinyl was in a bubble, completely isolated from the rest of the world. She could not venture outside this bubble to make contact with any of the outsiders. No, instead, they must make the active effort to come inside. Few ever came inside.
Communication was an aspect of her life she had little to no control over. Instead she almost exclusively had to rely on others for that part. It was a vital part of her life that she could not ever hope to command. Though she put on the most carefree face she could muster, Vinyl always longed to come out of her bubble. To be a normal person and use the voice that had been robbed from her at birth by the cruel hands of fate.
The details were extremely hazy, but recently she had been handed just that. Bangarang. It was hers. It was her new voice. She knew a friend gave it to her. That very same friend had warned her that Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends would come to take it away when they got the chance. He was her friend. He wouldn’t lie to her.
So when Pinkie Pie came walking into her club…
~~~
Every part of Vinyl’s body ached as she regained consciousness. Her eyes slowly opened, only to be greeted with a bright light. Her ears registered the constant beeping coming from a source near her. Once her eyes had adjusted, the DJ was able to see that she was in a hospital room. She tried to reach out, but found her arm restricted. When she looked down, she saw that it was in a sling.
Panic started to seep into her mind as Vinyl remembered what had happened before she passed out. The first thing she did was will Bangarang to appear.
To her relief, it did. Her Stand appeared just as suddenly as it always did. It’s large, hulking form stood at the foot of Vinyl’s bed, looking down at her and awaiting orders. Her voice, hadn’t been taken away. Pinkie Pie had beaten her, and yet she still had her voice.
Pinkie Pie! Where was she? Was she ok? Was she in a hospital room too? Had Vinyl hurt her badly, or worse? With a groan, she tore the pulse monitors and IV’s from her body, causing numerous loud, digital noises to shriek through the room. Her whole body was stiff, and it hurt to move. But, she needed to find Pinkie Pie. She needed to make sure she was alright.
Just as she was forcing her good arm to grab the doorknob, the door opened from the other side and Vinyl found herself staring face to face with Princess Twilight Sparkle. But rather than her friendly smile, her lips were pursed into a pensive frown.
“We need to talk,” She announced.
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You know, when I realized that this is going to be Pinkie's chapter I was hoping that she would do "Yare, Yare Deze" at some point.
Although I understand that she was confused and she was fighting her friend, so it would make no sense for her to break the Fourth Wall like that.
Oh well, there's always a next time.
She should be shooting party poppers I tell you!
Pinkie Pie Stand is very fitting. Vinyl is pretty awesome.
Has Twilight the common sence to warn Celestia of all the Assasination attempted on the mane six so far?