Chapter 17: Make Me Sway
“Why’s he gotta burn me like that? Suede Shoes’ got his feathers all in a bunch!” Sauna Summers yelled at the top of her lungs as she tore a newspaper into shreds. There was a stomping of hooves for good measure as the angry singer vented her frustration on the remnants of the day’s headlines.
“Unicorns don't have feathers, Summers,” Sunny reminded her friend coolly.
“Not helping, Sunny. Why’s that stud gotta be trippin all the time? I never said two words to him, you know?”
“Summers, I know he’s been a real jerk in the press, but you shouldn’t worry so much about him. What is it that they say about publicity?”
“That’s it! I’ll call his sorry flank out!” she spat with a snort. “Don’t care what that stallion is jiving, I’ll send that horned hunk flying into next Thursday!”
“Flying, Jiving… we could use that—” There was a shifting of beads from a beanbag chair as Sunny squeaked in surprise.
“Forget the song, shug! C’mon. Let’s knock whatever sense that jive turkey’s got left in that fat melon of his!”
“No, let’s not,” Sunny replied patiently. Grunts and half-started arguments started as Summers struggled to find a suitable way to rouse Sunny, but the rustling of a distant beanbag chair signaled the embittered mare had lost the battle before it could start. “Exactly. Now, just relax. We are in the middle of a session, and I’m not about to let you just fly off the handle at a stallion that’s clearly not worth your time.”
“I-I can’t just blow it off.” Another rustling of beans and the shifting of somepony’s weight rattled over the recording. Vinyl could picture the less-than-summery mare curling up and laying on her own hooves.
“Summers,” Sunny whined. After a moment, she sighed and put the paper and pencil down on a nearby surface. “This is about more than that nasty article, isn’t it?”
After a long pause, Summers finally spoke up. “When I was still working the spa, I sang a lot, you know? And the princess, when she said my singing was the bomb, I thought ‘Far out mare, The princess likes my voice! So, maybe others would too,' can you dig it?”
Though Vinyl highly doubted that Princess Celestia phrased it that way, she could picture the princess complimenting Summers’ pleasant singing all the same. The spa pony clearly had a talent for singing, even without a musical cutie mark.
There was another pause, leaving the DJ to assume Sunny was nodding, thinking, or giving some other infuriatingly common nonverbal cue. Despite her name, the mare shined about as brightly as a total solar eclipse. There were several times that she’d almost stopped listening, just for somepony to respond to what Sunny said in silence. When it was more than just the two of them, she became almost impossible to track.
“But Suede says I’m just a bunch’a bunk!”
“So, take the princess’ word for it instead. Who cares what one stallion thinks in the face of royalty?”
“Cause I’ve always liked his style, sunshine! Suede may be half-stuck in the swinging past with all those other grueler crooners, but his other stuff was solid, you know? I used to sing ‘Sway’ all the time, but now, Suede thinks I’m…” There was a harsh slam of fabric before Summers screamed a muffled, “I hate it!”
Sunny took a calming breath. “You know what I think?”
“What?” Summers asked with a sad sniff.
“He’s jealous.”
“Wha…? Jealous?” Summers quickly shifted in her seat and Vinyl could hear the flare of a large wingspan. “Now you’re trippin.”
“Tripping? But I’ve never done any unusual substances.”
There was another pause. “Uhh, Sunny, Trippin ain’t always about trippin on something, you feel me?”
Sunny tittered nervously. “So, your ‘lingo’ sometimes confuses me. Some of us aren’t ‘hip to the groove’ like you are, Summers.”
“Musta been sheltered something fierce to come out such a shick square, shug,” Summers noted with a chuckle.
“I’m not sure if that is a compliment or not.”
Summers snickered again. “Both.”
“Look, the point is, your music is the ‘cat’s meow’ and he’s just ‘flipping his lid’ and ‘giving you the royal shaft’ because your career is ‘cooking with gas’ now!” Vinyl didn’t have to understand what Sunny said to appreciate how awkwardly the mare had said it.
Summers must’ve agreed. The barely suppressed snickers the famous singer was trying to hold back matched Vinyl’s own giggles in the face of Sunny’s awkward silence. If Vinyl didn’t know better, she would’ve assumed Sunny was floundering on purpose. This wasn’t the first time Sunny had tripped over her words, and her well-meaning gaffs never seemed to get old.
“What?” Sunny asked innocently.
The dam burst as both mares split their sides in laughter. The DJ had to interrupt her spellwork to make sure she wouldn’t imprint her own voice patterns into the crystal on accident. After Vinyl had worked it out of her system, she fired up the recording again to let Summers calm down as well.
“S-smooth moves, shug,” Summers stammered out between peals of laughter.
“I feel like ‘smooth’ should be a good thing, but your tone suggests otherwise.” Vinyl swore she could somehow hear Sunny puff out her cheeks. There was another pause. “And now you’re smiling. Why are you smiling like that?” And then Summers redoubled her laughing. A thud sounded as either Sunny stood up in aggravation, or more likely, Summers had fallen out of her chair.
“Tell me—tell me we got Sunny Spaz on mic!” Summers called to nopony as she fluttered to the recording equipment. “Right on!” she practically screamed, peaking the mic as she failed to contain herself.
“Wait, wait! I don’t understand! What’s ‘right?’” Every word seemed to spark more melodious laughter from Summers to the point she started hiccuping. “Summers!”
After failing to contain his own mirth, Steeplechase coughed nervously into his hoof under the scrutinizing gaze of several of his library’s patrons. He wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of heated shushes, and Vinyl savored every schadenfreudian moment.
Resuming his station as both head librarian and historian, he considered the quote on the crystal. After a moment he shook his head. “I’m sorry, Vinyl, but I don’t think her name is ‘Sunny Spaz.’” A suppressed giggle cracked his face after saying the name again.
Vinyl groaned as she fell back into her seat. She had skimmed the collection for hours trying to find something, anything, that had Sunny’s full name on it. For a while, she thought it might be the redundant “Sunny Sunshine”, but then there were times Sauna Summers would call others “sunshine” without any signs of said mare being there. That was when the DJ stumbled upon this heart-to-heart conversation. She’d never heard the word “spaz” before, and while it didn’t sound like a good thing, she’d run into a few unkind pony names in her life. One bungled delivery from the Pony Express came to mind with an unfortunately named pegasus. How that mare had shattered an entire shipment of sapphires was beyond ridiculous.
“‘Spaz’ was a more frequently used insult for a clumsy or awkward pony back then. While I admit that Sunny’s a bit strange, this isn’t enough to confirm a name. The time frame doesn’t fit either. Unless I am mistaken, ‘spaz’ wouldn’t have had enough time to work through the generational lexicon to become a name component for one of Summers’ contemporaries. She would’ve had to purposely rename herself after getting her cutie mark, and I’m not sure ponies are lining up at court to call themselves a spaz. It’s a pretty rude word these days.”
Vinyl suppressed rolling her eyes at the bookish stallion's needlessly detailed explanation. A simple no would have been enough for her. “It was a long shot, but it was all I got.” Vinyl leaned on the table and drummed her hooves to a tune in her head. “So, what am I supposed to do now? I’ve got everything here but her name.”
“Good question! In such events, we either label it a nickname and use single quotes around it, or borrow a trick from lexicography and put a tilde in front or behind the known name components.” Steeplechase wrote both forms next to each other for Vinyl to compare. “In this instance, I feel it’s safe to say her real name is Sunny something, so I’d be comfortable with either, but favor the tilde approach.”
Vinyl nibbled the tip of her pen before writing “Sunny~” to credit the mysterious mare for the title lyrics of “Door to my Desire”. She refracted her magic into the crystal, causing it to scan the last page of the paperwork. She ensured the runes were stable within the memory crystals and cast a minor ward for safety around the imprinted information. With the work properly finalized, Steeplechase stamped it with approval and beamed as he gathered the fruits of Vinyl’s labor with glee.
“And with that, you’ve made your very first contributions from the elusive Summers-Suede Collection to the Society’s archives. It’s an amazing one, too!” Steeplechase hugged the treasures close to his chest and looked at his mentee with a glint in his eyes. “I’m so proud of you, Vinyl! I knew you had the soul of an archivist when I heard your proposal on using Cacophony’s theories for magical storage.”
“T-thanks, I guess? I really just wanted to sample more sounds without dragging a dragon horde’s worth of crystals behind me.”
“Different paths that will arrive at the same destination, as far as I’m concerned.” Steeplechase put the crystals in a small box and closed it for future filing. “Still, what a marvelous discovery! To think Sauna Summers overshadowed her colleagues to such an extent.”
“‘Overshadowed?’” Vinyl curled an eyebrow at the stallion.
“Yes. It’s no secret that Sauna was quite the glory hog in her day. Until this, nopony had any proof of a different lyricist for the mare’s music.”
“G-glory hog?” The DJ frowned indignantly at the phrasing. “Who the hay told you that?”
“Our records did; or rather, our lack thereof. The disco queen was constantly surrounded by ponies, but we know very little about them.” Steeplechase grabbed a nearby copy of Summers’ biography and began flipping through the pages. Finding his mark, he flipped the book around to Vinyl.
The center of the biography had devoted a whole chapter to showcasing famous portraits, posters, and magazine photos from Sauna Summers’ illustrious career. Vinyl had stumbled across it before while scanning for Sunny’s name, but it didn’t help. Each picture had a footnote listing the details of the image on display. Page after page showed Sauna Summers center stage, while sidelining the other ponies in the picture or simply standing alone as the Queen of Disco. The only names that cropped up under them were producers or other famous performers like Suede Shoes.
“Unfortunately, whether she meant to or not, nopony could crawl out from under the queen’s shadow,” Steeplechase said as he turned the book back around to himself. “To be fair to her, Groovecasters wasn’t the biggest label around, so when they found their lightning in a bottle, they likely weren’t interested in spotlighting anypony else at the risk of losing momentum. Still, it wasn’t like their identities became known after Summers went independent with Suede. Either the ponies in her life didn’t care about getting credit, or Summers was actively against crediting them.”
“But—” Vinyl started before standing up and slamming her hooves on the table, “—but that’s impossible! Sauna Summers was kind, sweet, caring, and always supporting everypony around her. She was constantly lifting everypony up with her wings, I can’t imagine she’d do something like overshadow somepony on purpose!”
“It will be up to you to correct the record on that one, Vinyl.” Steeplechase waved a calming hoof to urge his friend to sit down before making another scene in the library. “Still, try not to get too attached to your subject matter. You’ll risk losing your objectivity. Fame, even when well-deserved, tends to get to a pony’s head. I’ve read time and again about a meteoric rise like hers leading to a tragic fall, spearheaded by hubris. That said, I’d welcome being proven wrong in this case.”
Vinyl fell back in her seat, her stomach churning from a pit forming within it. In her quest for Sunny’s name, she had madly rushed through the records, skipping over songs and jam sessions to find the times the microphones had been left on during less musical moments. Every time she stumbled across one, she always found Sauna Summers to be just as delightful as the last. She wasn’t some rich elite, she was a simple pony who wanted to share her music with the world.
It had to be a mistake, it just had to be. If Summers somehow turned out to be an egomaniacal manipulator before the end, then what would that make Fancy Pants? A creeping chill slowly coursed through her veins like a swarm of spiders skittering under her skin. He respected his late mother so much. If she really was a monster though…
Vinyl forced her focus back to her archiving mentor across the table. The stallion was preoccupied with flipping through Summers’ biography and hadn’t noticed her unsteady breathing.
“Just comparing the recordings you showed me today with what I recall of Summers’ life story, she hasn’t hit her stride yet. You can tell, not just by the fact they’re both working on ‘A Mare to Love,' but from Suede’s hostile behavior on the last recording.”
“Y-you mean that lousy hit piece she tore up?” Vinyl clenched her teeth, knowing full well what the heartless news media was capable of doing to somepony. Imagining anypony else having to go through what she did or worse made her blood boil. The hatred helped calm her down, or at least overwhelmed her anxiety.
“Correct. Suede Shoes was part of the old guard of what I ‘lovingly’ refer to as ‘proper Canterlot entertainment,’” the historian remarked with dripping sarcasm. “Swing music was the furthest they allowed in the old Canterlot Musical Society, thanks to their stringent regulations on what constituted ‘proper instrumentation’ as they called it. I believe the article they mentioned on the last recording was very critical of the young Sauna Summers, to put it lightly. At the time, she was seen as an upstart commoner from Cloudsdale with no business being out of a steam room.”
“And after being put through all of that, she wound up marrying him?” Vinyl gritted her teeth, but forced herself to suppress her building tirade. “What the hay, Sauna? You could do better than that scumbag.”
“If you listened closely, despite Summers’ anger, she still called Suede both a ‘stud’ and a ‘hunk.’ The queen was clearly an admirer of his, and by the sound of it, was heartbroken by his attacks. Speaking of the stallion, have you listened to any of Suede’s records?”
“I heard it at—” Her eyes widened as the words started leaving her mouth. Vinyl shut down her stupid mouth by biting down on her tongue before she could leak the existence of the Moondance album. She was already on thin ice with Fancy Pants after exploding at him the other day, and she couldn’t risk making it any worse by mentioning the forbidden work.
Steeplechase grimaced with a sharp breath at Vinyl’s pain. “I hate it when that happens, though mine’s usually far worse,” he said with a knowing smile and running his tongue across his fruit-tearing fangs. “But, you were saying?”
“No, I haven’t. I’ve heard some of his stuff at Fleur’s place before, but I haven’t touched his stuff since I started trying to find Sunny’s name,” she corrected carefully, hoping he’d leave it at that.
“Why would Fleur…” The librarian paused as he mouthed an “oh” in realization. He looked around to ensure nopony was listening and lowered his voice to a whisper. “It’s that little ‘secret’ kept by he-with-too-much-nothing-to-hide, eh? Honestly, I don’t understand his apprehension. Even if word got out, Nopony would care. It’d probably elevate Fleur de Lis in certain social circles. Honestly, Suede’s overall impact is just so small when compared to Fancy’s.”
“Wasn’t Suede Shoes a famous singer though?”
“I suppose in his day, yes. In terms of raw musical talent, Suede was incredibly gifted. He simply arrived too late on the crooning scene as the genre was falling out of style. Suede stood on the shoulders of his mentors as the swan song of a dying breed. It would’ve only gotten worse for them as Summers rose to prominence within the industry. He’s still popular around here since the ESPA would still be the CMS without their musical coup d'etat. But outside of that, he’s been quietly forgotten, trapped beneath the shadow of his more popular wife.”
While Vinyl had primed herself against the stallion, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity for him. It was no excuse, but she knew what it was like to struggle in a niche. DJ Pon-3 did well in the club scene, but off the Drive, nopony was listening. “What about his music? I thought it was pretty good when I heard it.”
“It most certainly is! Suede Shoes was a brilliant performer, tackling almost any genre flawlessly. For example, his cover of ‘Sway’ that Summers brought up was one of his finest early works. She definitely had good taste.” The nocturne stopped himself as he considered the young mare in front of him. “You know, both swing and disco were popular club genres in their respective cultural eras. In a way, these two are your musical ancestors. You may find yourself having more in common with them than you thought.”
Admittedly, the idea of being compared to Sauna Summers excited her, despite not totally enjoying her music. The cost of being lumped in with Suede Shoes as well spoiled the notion a bit, but as long as he wasn’t absolutely unbearable, she could separate the stallion from his songs.
“Putting the music aside a moment,” Steeplechase started as he lifted the last crystal they listened to together, “you might’ve missed it since you were so focused on finding Sunny Something’s name, but there was a second, and very important revelation that you unintentionally provided here outside of your entry. At least, it is if Summers’s claim can be taken at face value.”
The nocturne smiled in anticipation. Not in the mood for guessing games, Vinyl silently rolled her hoof to make him get on with it.
“You’re no fun sometimes.” Steeplechase shrugged his disappointment away. “If she’s telling the truth, Princess Celestia herself was a fan of the Queen of Disco. They not only met at the spa Summers worked at, but the princess was responsible for inspiring her to get into the music industry in the first place. I doubt they even knew that when they put the piece in the paper.”
“With or without a princess, it sounds like he and his buddies got what they deserved for running Summers through the mud.” Vinyl leaned back in her seat and crossed her forelegs in a huff. “Just because somepony is popular, you just get to do them dirty? I can’t believe Summers even gave Suede a chance after that!”
“Again, ponies change, Vinyl. Whether the change was for better or worse will be up to you to decide,” Steeplechase advised as he closed the biography and passed it back to Vinyl. After the moment of sage counsel had passed, he once again flashed a goofy, toothy grin. “Guess you’ll just have to keep going to find out when the tides change in their relationship! The heat should really turn up during the making of the Endless Summers album, if I’m not mistaken,” He whispered with a waggle of his eyebrows.
Vinyl moaned as she slunked over the desk. “You’re making it sound like I’m about to read a trashy romance novel.”
“Oh, but you are!” To her growing dread, the nocturne bubbled with enthusiasm as he clopped his hooves together and shook excitedly in his seat. “Can’t say I’m not jealous. You’ll have quite the unique perspective with both the book here and Summers’ story straight from the pony’s mouth if there’s any more beauties like these stashed away in the collection,” he added while patting the crystals.
An exasperated sigh escaped Vinyl’s lips as she pulled at her face in dismay. If she had one thing to complain about when it came to the Queen of Disco, it was the performer’s fixation on the L-word. If she were still alive, Summers would get along swimmingly with Princess Cadance considering the new imperial princess’ title. The DJ hoped Suede Shoes’ albums wouldn’t rely so heavily on the subject so she could have a palate cleanser before diving back into the deep end with Summers’ side of the collection.
Luckily, she did have an idea of what to listen to next.
Vinyl peeked around the mansion’s hallway from the safety of the recording studio. She thought she heard the sound of ruffling feathers, but looking up and down the hall confirmed that she was alone. The DJ dashed out and hovered the Suede Shoes’ Sway album closely behind her as she darted for the safety of her—the guest room she was using.
Fortunately, a few days had passed since she’d upset her employer, and Fancy still hadn’t confronted her about it. She didn’t know if it was a good sign or not, but she wasn’t going to take any chances. Nopony aside from her and Fluffer Duster usually came back this way after lunch anyway, so she felt as safe as she could in her little hideaway hallways in the waning afternoon.
She’d taken a liking to sneaking out the backdoor. If anything, it was safer trekking through half-frozen canals than constantly checking over her shoulder in the streets around the Castle District. It also lowered the risk of running into Fancy Pants on her way out of the mansion. It was a small mercy he had leaked the secret escape route to her, even if she wasn’t using the hidden tunnel to get away.
To the stallion’s credit, he hadn’t been lying about their utility either. She’d lightly explored the canals before when taking a less-than-legal popup rave job in the old waterworks, but she hadn’t appreciated how easy the paths were to navigate at the time. Suede and Summers could leave the estate without being seen by anypony back in the day, and Vinyl planned to follow their example. She’d just have to learn a few freshening spells if she planned on using them long-term. While they were kept remarkably clean with purifying enchantments to protect the waters of the Whitetail River, she was still traversing a sewer system to get around town.
As she ducked into the guest room, Vinyl was met with the sight of her fake Hearth’s Warming presents still wrapped up and containing most of her DJing equipment. Outside of the sample crystals she used in her Cantrips sets, she hadn’t bothered unpacking any of it. She’d taken to utilizing other DJ’s rigs at Cantrips since there was no way she was sneaking her busted Aquarius out of the mansion without being spotted. The canal paths weren’t wide or safe enough to lug anything bulky through them, and she was not about to put the “aqua” part of her sound system to the test by sailing on it to the Drive. However, she was perfectly fine with using it as a record player.
“Let’s see here,” she mumbled to herself while scanning the back of the album cover. “‘Somepony Who Needs Me,’ ‘Peroxide Pony,’ ‘Everypony Wants to be in Canterlot’—Here we are! Song number four, ‘Sway.’”
She unwrapped the biggest present in the room, magically shredding the paper to pieces and tossing the scraps towards the fireplace. If she was stuck in the lap of luxury, she might as well enjoy it. Right now, nothing sounded better to her than slipping into some comfortable winter clothes, curling up on the bed, and listening to a record while watching the fireplace. The only thing missing would be a cup of hot cocoa, but that would mean going to the kitchen and risking an encounter. She wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t ready to speak to anypony in the mansion. The mere idea filled her with dread. All the more reason to drown her misgivings out with music.
After a few snugly preparations, Vinyl began readying herself for the rest of her night. She clicked the deadbolt on the door and sparked them and the fireplace to life. Turning back towards the bed, she caught her reflection briefly in the aptly named vanity dresser as she put her shades down. The mare looking back at her didn’t exactly look rad, but she never did when she went into comfy mode. Vinyl would rock a messily tied back ponytail; a triple-x large, multi-patterned San Palomino sweater; and ill-matching striped black and violet socks any day if she didn’t have a electrifying image to maintain.
She climbed onto the bed and dropped the needle on the record player with her magic. The aged vinyl as it popped and crackled to life. She took her notepad and pencil in her magic, just in case anything sprang to mind while she listened. She wasn’t archiving, but it’d be better safe than sorry if something sparked her curiosity.
“Alright, Suede. Let’s see what made you so special to Summers.”
The first song jumped right out the gate with its big band kicking into full swing. The brass and woodwinds bounced between each other amid a steady percussive beat. The style carried a smooth sense of Canterlotian classiness that somehow didn’t grate on her nerves. More and more instruments were added to the mix, the string section and piano rounding it out to meet the CMS standards Steeplechase had mentioned before. Despite her almost instinctive resistance to all things deemed “high class” she felt her rear hoof start tapping along to the swinging beat.
That was, until Suede started singing.
It only took a moment for the mare to pop up from her complacency and take notice of the stark difference in the stallion’s tone between this and the Moondance album. Suede’s pipes in his prime were deep, but vigorous. Youthful with a velvety richness as slick as melty butter. When comparing his performance to Summers,' he was notably better than she was at the same point in her career.
“Oh wait, no. He was trained, so of course he’d be better than some spa pony at the start.” Vinyl made a note of the difference in their skills, unsure if her opinion would matter much. “Still, he might be a jerk, but the guy’s got a killer voice.”
As she listened to the song, she started noticing the lyrics. While the music was enjoyable, the message didn’t mesh with her mood. Even if it was just how the song went, Suede had somepony that made him feel strong, kept him warm, helped his dreams come true, and made him feel needed.
“O-okay, maybe I’ll just skip to ‘Sway.’”
Vinyl dropped her notes on the bed and magically flicked the needle off the record. She hopped down to the record’s side and scanned the grooves on its surface for the fourth large ring. After placing the needle on her mark, the cozy mare returned to her spot on the bed. With any luck, Summers’ recommendation wouldn’t reflect the performer’s favorite subject matter so prevalent in all of her songs.
It took a second to find the maximally snuggly spot again on the bed. As she settled in, the big band kicked up once again, but this time with much different instrumentation. Just like her overflowing sweater, it bore a Palomino flair with saucy piano chords, a marimba, and a strangely fitting cowbell. Just as the song title suggested, Vinyl couldn’t help but sway her shoulders back and forth as she listened to the spicy beat.
Suede’s seamless voice danced with an impeccable swagger around the instruments as he serenaded a nameless partner. She wondered if there was anypony else in his life before Sauna Summers took center stage in it. Whatever the case was, the mare’s recommendation from beyond the grave had been welcome. The song was pretty good, and as an added bonus, it hadn't used the word “love” once. All in all, it met her expectations of what she knew from his work on the Moondance album.
And then the key change occurred.
Vinyl nearly broke her pencil on the page as the crooner blew her away with the raw energy of his amazing range. He effortlessly jumped into a passionate, almost magical tenor as his voice caressed anypony lucky enough to be listening to him. Vinyl’s heart started to beat as she could feel the rhythm that Suede spun around the record. Despite her fondness for Sauna Summers as a pony, Vinyl couldn’t help but wonder how the jerk had lost to Sauna Summers? Suede Shoes was phenomenal!
Maybe it was a change in musical taste at the time, but even if his music was from decades ago, it was so fresh to her. Just as she was getting into it, the song came to an abrupt, percussive close with a strike of staccato to end the dance. She nearly leapt out of her sweater to reset the record and listen to the song again. Laying the needle on the fourth groove, she fired a repeating spell at the record and listened closely. After her fourth time listening to the track, she felt something stir within her.
She could use this.
“Vinyl? What are you doing back here so late?” Steeplechase asked after spotting the DJ from the upper stacks. “I mean, it’s early for me, but you don’t exactly live close by.”
“Looking for the right sound,” she answered while perusing the ESPA’s sound library. Choosing a double-bass, she hefted the heavy crystal from its slot in the shelf with her magic.
Most artists on the Drive used simple synthetic sample patterns that could be stored in small crystals easily. However, Vinyl needed to match the genre she was working with, which meant high quality samples from imprinted instruments. The only ponies crazy enough to make those were the ESPA archivists. Capturing the full range of their sound required hundreds of runes linked together within massive crystals about the size of a full-grown stallion’s leg.
Levitating their weight wasn’t too difficult, but channeling their sound properly at the same time was giving the DJ a headache. Sure, she could spare herself by taking the crystals to the nodes at the end caps to test them properly, but that would mean lugging them one at a time, back and forth. Either approach would give her a migraine, but at least her way was faster. Plus, she was one of the few that could do it, and it was good practice.
If only she could just solve her little Cacophony storage conundrum, the musician would be able to put the irritating size limitation behind her, along with an entire symphony in her saddlebag.
“Going for a more traditional sound this time?” he probed, noticing the DJ was browsing the more standard strings rather than her usual electronica samples.
“Not exactly. I’m remixing something that might need a more classic sound for what I was thinking. Maybe I’ll add a bit more percussion to really feel the beat.”
“Remixing?” Steeplechase asked in pleasant surprise as he fluttered excitedly in the air. “Is it from Sauna Summers, Suede Shoes, or both?”
The DJ lifted the crystalline double-bass to her ear and softly channeled her magic through the lattices to play a simple chromatic scale. While their quality was unrivaled, it still didn’t match the real deal. Imprinted instruments always sounded worse than the real thing and the difference was far too noticeable for her tastes. Vinyl returned the cumbersome crystal back to its slot on the shelf and brushed away the sweat building at the base of her horn.
“Suede. Got an idea for ‘Sway’ that I want to try out. It felt like it was missing something.” Vinyl glanced between the other deep strings until she saw the various violins. Perhaps a lighter string might be a better choice to match with a different baseline.
“You sound like Tavi when she’s doing her arrangements. She’d be so proud! A mare after her own heart.” The nocturne pinned his mane back and hooked his tail around the rafters above her head and matched her gaze. “Can I help you find anything specific?”
Vinyl glanced up, careful to not bump her horn on the nocturne’s nose. “Can I play the crystals from their shelves so I don’t have to keep lifting them up to my ear?”
“Vinyl, this is a library. You’re lucky I let you do that at all instead of using headphones like everypony else.”
“Then, can I lug about twenty crystals to that node for me over there at the same time so I don’t keep having to go back and forth?”
He stuttered aghast at the suggestion and shuffled down the rafter so he could meet Vinyl’s eyes. “You can’t just leave these crystals sitting out in the open! What if one of them rolls down the stairs or somepony trips over it? Capturing the full breadth of sound for an instrument’s imprint isn't cheap, Vinyl!”
“Okay. What if you hold the crystals up so I don’t have to keep levitating them?”
“Vinyl, I’m a librarian. Not exactly rodeo-ready material over here,” he complained as the lanky bat pony waved his noodly arms. Seeing his poor excuse for a flex, she’d probably beat him easily in a hoof wrestle, but Vinyl wasn’t about to let reality get in the way of being lazy.
“So? A stack of books can get pretty heavy. Besides, don’t you want to impress Octavia?” She hinted with a sly smirk.
“How flattering.” Steeplechase rolled his eyes as he regarded the DJ flatly. “I think you and I both know who does the heavy lifting between a bookworm like me and somepony who can swing a cello around like a greatsword.”
“Fine. Just forget it,” she scoffed as she returned to her work. The overtaxed DJ grunted as she pulled the classical violin crystal out of the shelf and played another scale on it.
“Alright already! Don’t twist my leg about it. While I don’t want you making noise, it’d be worse if you wound up exhausting your mana reserves while dual-casting and dropped one of them.” The nocturne sighed as he leaned over to Vinyl’s ear in a low voice. “You can channel the sound from the shelves. Just do it quietly! If Woody catches wind of this, I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear anything.”
She felt like it was pressing her luck, but then she’d be wasting a golden snark opportunity. “Aren’t nocturnes pretty famous for having amazing hearing?”
“I can pretend very well,” he stated firmly, stressing his point by shrinking his predatory pupils and sending a slight chill down Vinyl’s spine. He might be a string bean of a stallion, but he could be scary when necessary.
“Have I told you recently that you're the best, Steeplechase?”
The nocturne pursed his lips as he considered the question. “No. In fact, I don’t remember you ever calling me that.”
“Well, you’re the best!” Vinyl shouted with a big grin.
“Thanks! And don’t make me regret this. Please?” he begged as he looked towards the door of the library. “Also, shush.”
With that, the stallion unhooked his tail from the rafters, flipped in the air, and flew up to the stacks overhead, putting as much distance between them as possible for some plausible deniability. With that little bit of negotiation out of the way, she felt like she could get some proper work done before it got too late at night. She took her notes out of her saddlebag and started noting the additions she wanted to make to ‘Sway.’ She also had an idea just starting to form for ‘Everypony Wants to be in Canterlot,' but that one would have to wait.
The more she thought about Suede’s music, the more inspired she was to make something using it. While she preferred Summers’ personality, Suede’s music was calling to her to create. Disco was okay, but swing somehow felt newer despite its age. Her brain was brimming with ideas and she could feel her cutie mark sparking with inspiration. If it worked out, despite it being a rather large departure from her usual musical fare, she’d have an electrifyingly fresh concept for the upcoming ESPA Showcase.
Now all she needed was to come up with a name for it.
If you find a simple mistake in the GSP (Grammar, Spelling, or Punctuation), please let me know through a private message rather than leaving it in the comment section. Leave the discussions to discussions. Thank you for reading.
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The premise isn't my thing, but that short synopsis that pops up on the story preview is very well written and tailored perfectly to the story.
Amused me quite a bit.
11117317
Thanks for your kind words. I'll admit, looking at your profile picture and stories, I think our tastes are polar opposites!
Again, thank you for popping in just to say that. We aren't getting dark and scary around here anytime soon.
11117368
I'm not adverse to the notion of romance.
I do in fact have one planned for the future, but it will have to wait until I finish up what I'm currently writing.
However it's the cross (and what feels more like a crack-ship) of Vinyl and Fancy Pants that doesn't strike quite right for me. They're not two characters I would imagine getting together, although I suppose the idea of 'opposites attract' is in play, I suspect you're going more along the tangent of Vinyl having come into a world of richness she doesn't quite fathom, and with Fancy Pants being the stand-up genlecolt he is coming to assist her; focusing on rapport they build during the onslaught of endless noble squabbling.
11117380
Well, there's definitely that last one. Elites are a pain.
More importantly, If it gives off a crack ship impression, that might explain the readership for this has been lower than expected. Thanks for the feedback!
11117392
Don't worry, I have the same issue with many of my stories. I don't write what people generally want to read.
11117380 11117392
Really, I think that the issue is a misinterpretation of what the story is really about (I made this mistake to), because they story is not really about romance; it's about legacy. And I'm serious about this spoiler block, I am making sweeping predictions about the plot:
Everything, absolutely everything that Vinyl and Fancy have gone through and will go through is because of legacy. Fancy is doing everything that he can to make sure that his legacy is like his father's. Vinyl is doing everything that she can to make sure that her legacy is nothing like her mother's. What we are seeing is them walking uncertainly along their paths, and what will ultimately bring those paths together, in my opinion, is their mutual feeling of inadequacy; terrified either that they won't live up to the legacy that has been laid before them, or that they can't live up to the legacy they have created for themselves. Appropriately, this is also why they struggle to get along with each other, and ironically, why they can't get by without each other.
I only just realized in this moment that this dynamic I've just described is exactly the dynamic that existed initially between Suede Shoes and Sauna Summers, after a fashion; one struggling to fit into his place in society, and the other struggling to find hers.
11117792
It's always a pleasure seeing guesses to where the story is going. Thanks for keeping the theory-crafting blacked out as well for other readers.
Damn! “Sway” is a certified hood classic. Great choice!
11118783
....wow. You are entirely correct. If that isn't an intentionally strange act, I will acquire and consume a hat. It's clearly been too long since I've rewatched some of the show. I'd even forgotten how annoyingly canonical the average attitude of the Canterlot elite is.
Ok, so first off, this song is incredible. Never had the opportunity to hear anything quite like it before, so thanks for showing what the music in question in the story right now actually sounds like!
Second, from a writing perspective, this is a really clever way of introducing new characters. We're meeting characters related to the present directly through their children through the indirect method of their recordings. Seriously, this is an elegant solution. Also, whether she's doing it intentionally or not, Sunny Side-character is hilarious.
After last chapter's heavy Fancy focus, seeing some of Vinyl's perspective is a fine switch. It's fitting that we go from Fancy fretting over his problems to Vinyl pretty much actively avoiding hers.
As for theory-crafting, because that seems to be the theme of this chapter's comments: Honestly, I hadn't even considered a Fancy/Vinyl ship while I was reading this. I can see some support for it, now that's it been mentioned, but while I was reading this I actually forgot there was a romance tag most of the time. When I remembered, it was something I thought would be between a focal character and a side character, not the two focal characters. Probably Fancy and Éclair, but perhaps we'll be regaled with the story of Suede and Sauna's romance instead or as well? Either way, I'm not predicting a Fancy/Vinyl ship. I won't flip a table and storm out if it happens, but I will be pretty surprised, at least with my current dataset. I agree with Phyco that there seems to be a strong theme of legacy in this story, and though I think our focal characters will find a solution for it through it, I still currently doubt the ship. Of course, I'll be sure to mention if my prediction changes. It's entirely possible I'm just being dense and am completely wrong. I'm eager to find out.
What an absolutely wonderful chapter Rego! We're navigating through the main storyline full steam ahead at this point. It'll be fun seeing what Vinyl created in the following chapters and how both Fancy Pants and Canterlot society react as a whole.
Ah don't worry about it Sunny, I too, had to google Summer's slang to understand it. What gets me is how you managed to portray it so well Rego, between this, Fancy's speech, Luna's and Fleur's? That's quite a load of accents!
Mmm...hmm...I don't doubt that Summers appears nice and must've been a nice mare overall if she garnered so much respect from her family. There's the obvious option that maybe she had one major flaw and she let those around her behind. Or maybe its more noble and the ponies that were with her mostly moved on. There is a third option that Steeple didn't consider though; What if the ponies who were on her ensemble, some of them, Sunny in particular, didn't want to be found.
Part of me has a nagging sensation that Sunny is some obscure infiltration job by Celestia to try to help Summers or that she was related to somepony in the modern time. I was half-hoping I remembered Upper Crusts' warning to Fancy but it's too big a stretch and unrelated; UC wouldn't hate Vinyl if her mother was this obscure Sunny character. I had to go all the way back to Ch. 11 to see if my brain was playing tricks on me
UC- Ch. 11
So yeah, I still don't know what she was on about, but I would like to ask how UC and Vinyl compare to age-wise?
And finally
Oh man oh man
11155713
Me too. If I was still in the states, I woulda asked my parents about the slang.
Throw a bunch of slang, then read it a few times to see if it feels accurate or cringey, and finally hope for the best / wait to see if there's a 60 or 70-year-old brony out there that would correct me on getting the lingo wrong. The fun part was trying to cross-reference slang terms so I wasn't using the geeky ones. I actually took a 70's quiz at one point trying to get some answers. Summers is a trendsetter, so she gets only the grooviest of lingo, can ya dig it?
11125139
I missed replying to this comment after I liked it. Must've been at work at the time.
First time I heard it was on a radio station for an MMO that played on Fridays. Back in the 2000's a few Ventrilo servers would broadcast their chats live and load up music and DJ events. It was an interesting time. I guess it makes sense seeing the song was apparently in Spider-man 2 and the MMO I was playing was City of Heroes.
I'm glad you think so. The hardest part of this is translating the descriptions to audio only. I got to have a bit more freedom with this one versus the first one since I wanted to let the fact Vinyl was listening in on the conversation be a reveal when she suddenly includes herself. This time, I was able to let her color the description with some guesswork through audio cues.
Ah. I think I may have figured out "Sunny's" identity. Curious.
11300375 Damn, thought I was the first.
11318892
Sorry, I was actually first.