The First Twilight

by darkforce95

8 - The Concert

Pleasure shot threw Twilight's body and she looked down to see Star Dusk kissing her midriff, slowly moving lower.

"Oh so I'm continuing this dream huh?" she said aloud. "First dream I've been aware of in a while."

"What makes you think it's a dream, sunshine?" asked Star Dusk playfully.

"That right there. I don't even know if you like me or Princess Luna or-"

Her words were cut short....

---

Twilight popped awake with a start. Her heart was in her throat, beating at a million miles per hour. How she wished it was due to the pleasure being too much.

I have a book on dreams! Maybe it was just symbolic!! Yeah I'm sure Star Dusk wouldn't do those things... yeah.

She hopped out of bed, changed, and searched for the book in question.

There's no way he would start choking me like that... and what he did to the Princesses....

Her thoughts and search was cut short, much like her words in the dream and the dream itself.

"No, No, No!!!" cried Vinyl running in.

"C'mon, you promised if I could make a song like that you would sing it!" pressed Star Dusk.

"No, no, no. I refuse to sing anything!"

"What's going on now?"

"Sorry for barging in Twilight." said Star Dusk, "But Vinyl is refusing to honor a bet we had, I'm just making her pay up!"

"I refuse to do it during the concert! I never agreed to that part!" she retorted turning away from him.

"So you're just being a coward. Afraid of the crowd?"

"HEY! DJ PON3 does not get stage fright!" she replied, spinning around and pointing a finger in his face

"But apparently Vinyl Scratch does." he said with a smirk across his face.

Like you weren't having that three months ago?

"Oh! It's on hero boy. Name your terms!" Star Dusk's smirk widened.

"Arm wrestling. If I win, you sing tonight in the concert."

"And if I win?"

"You won't. But to satisfy you let's say I'll wager having so sing some sappy song that was meant to be sung by a woman in the concert."

"You're on!" Vinyl quickly agreed and laid down on the floor, arm extended out. The young knight followed suit and clasped her hand.

"Vinyl?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah, what is it? I'm ready to hear this little wussy singin' in falsetto."

"You do know who you just agreed to arm wrestle right? The hero of the Crystal Empire?" The realization dawned on Vinyl just as they began. The match to a total of five seconds, Star Dusk was feeling generous.

"Argh!! How did I forget who the heck I was challenging!?"

"Two things Vinyl," started Star Dusk. "You have to stop taking bets when someone puts you down, easy prey. Secondly, you haven't even read the music and you were so opposed to it. Read it, then make your decisions."

"It's gonna suck or it's gonna really suck. That's all there is to it." she said walking out depressed. Star Dusk looked up at Twilight for answers who only was able to respond with a shrug.

The hero himself started for the door, "The concert starts at eight, Twilight. Please don't be late!"

As if I would miss it... she thought to herself, having forgot about her nightmare.

---

Everyone took their seats a medium distance from the stage. Of course Twilight and her friends were there but also attending were Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna, who were wearing cloaks so as not to draw attention to themselves. The area was full of concert goers, apparently people from all over Equestria were here to listen to DJ PON3 and the new artist she 'discovered'.

"I hope he'll be okay, a lot of his most important friends are here and it's a lot fuller than I thought." worried Twilight.

"Calm down Sugarcube. Hero's got this." reassured Applejack.

"I don't know... with the bets and his own music..."

"What bets?" asked Cadence.

"Well he bet us that he could write a love song." informed Rainbow.

"And he bet Vinyl he could make songs a certain way." filled in Twilight.

"What way?" asked Luna.

"You know what, I don't know... All I know if that Vinyl really didn't want to sing for them."

"SHE'S GONNA SING?!" cried Rainbow loudly.

"Um.. yeah?"

"ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh, the only thing she's ever done is speak her lyrics. This is gonna be so awesome!"

Before anyone could add anything more, the lights dimmed and Vinyl came on stage and started her set. Not much different than her usual stuff, dubstep and electronica. Once her set finished she took a breath and slowly walked off stage. Star Dusk blocked her path and she reluctantly went back to the DJ station, picking up a microphone and taking of her signature glasses. Star Dusk took her place at the DJ station grabbing another mic.

"Hello everybody! I've got a special treat for you all! DJ PON3 and I, H3R0, collaborated on a couple songs. Would you like to hear them?" The crown voice overwhelming a approval.

"Alright then, let's get started!" he said as he put down the mic and grabbed a set of headphones with a mic attached. Music much like Vinyl's started and both musicians moved their heads in time with the music. At first, Vinyl seemed apprehensive though it didn't come across in her voice, just body language. After the first chorus, she relaxed and started to really move to the music and Star Dusk began his verse.

During her last verse, Vinyl's demeanor changed. She moved close to the booth and started giving Star Dusk sultry looks. Star Dusk, however, kept his eyes focused on the panel. After the song ended, he took off the headphones and grabbed the microphone again.

"I dunno, Hero didn't look quite into it.." said Rarity.

"Well that was a song for Vinyl to sing, maybe he wrote it for her?" suggested Applejack.

"That's probably it." settled Rainbow.

"Twilight, are you okay?" asked Fluttershy.

"I'm fine..." What was with those looks she gave him?

The next song started, a better blend between Vinyl's and Star Dusk's styles. They came to the front of the stage starting the song:

Girl I've been all over the world
Looking for you
I'm known for taking what I think I deserve
And you're overdue
And if you listen you can hear me through the radio
In that bright white noise
What I been missing in my life
What I been dreaming of
You'll be that girl
You'll be that girl
You'll be-

Everything you want so let me get up there
I'm the baddest baby in the atmosphere
Tell me what you want so we can do just what you like

You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You, you make me feel good

Star Dusk kept playing to the crowd but Vinyl kept her eyes on him,

Get a little closer to me girl
And you'll understand
'Cause if you want a guy that knows what you need
Well, then I'm your man
And if I listen I can hear you through my radio
In that bright white noise
What I been missing in my life
What I been dreaming of
You'll be that girl
You'll be that girl
You'll be-

Everything you want so let me get up there
I'm the baddest baby in the atmosphere
Tell me what you want so we can do just what you like
Oh
Everything you know I'm flipping upside down
Take you 'round the world
You know I like it loud
Tell me what you want 'cause we can do just what you like

You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la

Vinyl got his attention and started applying pressure while singing to him,

Put your hands up, put your hands up
Let the lights drop, let the lights drop
Make my world stop, make my world stop

She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in for a kiss. Everyone in the crowd cheered, all except for the main group of friends who were all in shock. The music continued as both Vinyl and Star Dusk missed their initial cues. Once they broke the kiss they both, like pros, continued at the point they were in the music, Vinyl now playing to the crowd while a dumbfounded Star Dusk kept staring at Vinyl.

La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la
You make me feel good
La la la la la

Once the song was over, Star Dusk quickly grabbed Vinyl and ran off stage as the crew began preping the stage for his solo performance. Twilight tried to stay composed but could not control the tears welling in her eyes.

"That came outta left field..." said Applejack.

"But it still fit in with the hints, we just assumed he wasn't going to be nervous with Vinyl." pointed out Rarity.

"I guess that counts as the love song, but then why would he be shocked? Shouldn't he have been happy when she kissed him?" asked Rainbow.

"Maybe he wasn't expecting an answer during the concert?" suggested Fluttershy.

Twilight buried her face in her hands in order to hide the tears now flowing out. Her brother put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"It'll be alright Twily."

"No, I'm fine. I'm just resting my eyes before the next part." she lied as she let loose silent tears that fell to the floor. "I just need a couple minutes is all."

"Is it just me or was he not into that one either?" pointed out Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie, not now." scolded Rarity softly.

"Sister, was it just me or did Star Dusk seem-"

"A little more than frustrated?" finished Celestia.

"Yes, mostly when he walked of the stage with 'DJ PON3'."

"Y-You two don't have to cheer me up. I'm fine."

"There's no need for us to do that," pointed out Celestia, still with her warm voice, "You have great friends to do that for you."

"Ooh, Ooh there he is again!"

As Pinkie said, Star Dusk walked up to the microphone and picked up the guitar next to it, putting it around his neck. He clasped his hands together and put them to his forehead as the crowd cheered.

"He seems nervous." pointed out Cadence causing Twilight to look up. At each of the instruments, a magical replica of himself picked up the instrument and prepared 'himself'. Star Dusk took one more deep breath before continuing.

"Let's get started!" he said excitedly with the crowd answering in kind. He began his first song which the five recognized from the private sets.

---

After a number of songs, all well received, H3R0 was dripping in sweat.

"Okay, I'm done warming up. You ready to go?" he asked jokingly.

"He's really nervous, huh?" said Applejack.

"Yeah, he's been looking a bit off." said Cadence.

He turned around and shook his head quickly before starting the intro, much longer than those that came before:

No,
we cannot see
Who are we,
to look to

No,
We cannot hear
What is to believe in

He spun around, now looking very invested in the song.

And we keep dreamin' of a world
Where all that's good so we were told
We need a hero

And we keep dreamin' of a time
Where good is all that we can find
We need a...
We need a...
Hero

No,
we cannot tell
Who's the one to lead us

But you know that we'll be there
Waiting for them to find us

And we keep dreamin' of a world
Where all that's good so we were told
We need a hero

And we keep dreamin' of a time
Where good is all that we can find
We need a...
We need a...
Hero

"Wow, who knew he could sing about himself?" said Rainbow sarcastically.

"He's doing pretty good instrumentally though." pointed out Shining Armor.

"What ever happened back stage seems to be subsiding finally." said Celestia.

"I wonder why he's singing about himself from the point of view of the rescued?" asked Twilight, trying to remain invested. It was really hard to stay, but she would do it for her..... friend.

"Twily, if you want to go."

"No, no. Like I said, I'm good." she said flashing a cheap smile to her brother.

And we keep dreamin' of the world
Where all that's good so we were told
We need a hero

And we keep dreamin' of a time
Where good is all that we can find
We need a hero

And we keep dreamin' of a world
Where all that's good so we were told
We need a hero

And we keep dreamin' of a time
Where good is all that we can find
We need a...
We need a...
Hero

He finished with another strong instrumental section.

"Two more songs to go!" he warned the crowd, who voiced their disappointment at the prospect of an end.

"I wonder what he'll finish with?" Rainbow mused.

The bass player kicked in loudly and the music began proper with another extended intro:

And so you fell
into the danger
And you're all alone tonight
Well you're surrounded by the hurting type
And you just don't care for the sight

Well we'll come runnin' to your side
We will protect you from your fright
All of us are on your side
We'll take them
We'll take them... down

Fight! Fight, fight, fight

"There's his point of view." said Shining Armor

You know you must be strong and hold your own
'Cause the power's on your side
The enemy will try to give you fear
But you never run nor hide

And we'll come runnin' to your side
We will protect you from your fright
All of us are on your side
We'll take them... down

Fight! Fight, fight, fight

"But the 'we's are kinda weird." pointed out Cadence.

"Well he was a royal guard, maybe he's referencing the guard as a whole." her husband counterpointed.

And we'll come runnin' to your side
We will protect you from your fright
All of us are on your side
We'll take them
We'll take them... down

Fight! We'll take them down, fight

The crowd cheered loudly again. Some of the magical clones flickered but was brought back up by the lead musician looking quite ragged now.

"Oh no," realized Twilight, "It's exhausting enough to do a concert like this, but to also keep out magical clones is nearly impossible. He must be close to the end of his rope! That must be why he wasn't so invested before!"

"Then why doesn't he stop? Take a break?" asked Rainbow.

"He must feel like it's his duty as a musician to finish the concert. He's being selfless again!"

"I'll go stop him!" said Shining Armor getting up.

"I had a bet with some friends of mine." Star Dusk began.

"Wait!" said Luna grabbing the Prince.

"They said I didn't know any thing about love, so I should write about it to wrap my head around it."

The crowd laughed, some calling for DJ PON3 to come on stage and let them know they're wrong.

"Well, here's my attempt. Lemme know how I did, huh?"

"Wait, you mean that song with Vinyl wasn't the love song?" said Rarity flabbergasted as the music began:

And tonight the coastline is quiet,
It's quieter than it's ever been.
Honey this town is a prison,
With it's four walls closing in.
And they have one pill to make you smaller,
They got one pill to make you scream.
Darling this heart is on fire,
And this life is but a dream.
All right, all right.
All right, all right.

"This isn't a love song..." said Fluttershy.

You see this town pulls my heart strings.
I fell in love with the Shrewsberry stars.
But there's far too many diamonds,
In the back seats of borrowed cars.
And I could never stop this burning.
Honey, I can't tell no lies.
I could never stand no weather.
Darling this heart is on fire.
All right, all right.
All right, all right.

Tonight, tonight,
We're gonna ride like Silver in the desolation moonlight.
Tonight, tonight,
I ain't coming back until the morning light.
Tonight, tonight,
It's all right, all right.
Tonight, tonight...

"There it is." said Celestia turning to the five friends, "Seems like he understands the concept fine."

All right, all right...
All right, all right...

Dancin' by moonlight,
My old friend the Twilight.
Dancin' by moonlight,
My old friend the Twilight.
Dancin' by moonlight,
My old friend the Twilight.
Dancin' by moonlight,
My old friend...

Everyone was shocked. So shocked, in fact, they couldn't hear the roar of the crowd in approval. He said Twilight's name, three times. The performer heaved his breaths, the instruments falling and striking the floor hard as the replicas dissipated. He walked off the stage, seemingly, with great confidence. But Celestia and Luna got up and quickly made their way to the stage with everyone following.

---

"I'm telling you he's fine." said Octavia to the group of friends outside the backstage area.

"But he really stretched his energies to their limit. Are you sure-"

"Rarity, I can tell you that he is absolutely fine. He's just..... in the green room! Recuperating...."

"Then can you answer another question?" started Twilight, her eyes still a bit red and baggy from her earlier tears, "What was with Vinyl on the stage?"

"Yeah, why'd the heck did she kiss him?" pushed Rainbow Dash.

"Oh.... That...." said Octavia quietly. "Well, I don't know if I'm at liberty to talk about that..."

"Are you sure?" said Princess Luna, walking forward and pulling down the hood of her cloak.

"Oh Princess Luna! I... I don't want to..."

"It's fine Tavi." said Vinyl Scrach walking up to the group, trademark glasses back on her face. "I got this."

Her face was not the usual, exuberant DJ they all knew. She seemed ashamed and ready for punishment.

"There's a reason I wear these glasses when I perform." she began, "When I started out, I had a more traditional sound, well, as far as DJs go anyway.

"I was decent enough, got a few cool gigs at night clubs here and there. The only problem was that I couldn't keep myself from getting into the music. I would find all sorts of problems with my music, that didn't really exist, right in the middle of a set and try to fix it, live.

"The good thing is that it's what gave me my current sound. Bad thing? I would get so lost in the sounds, like I had found some kind of high just making new sounds."

"That doesn't sound all too bad." Rarity sighed.

"It wouldn't be, if I could keep myself in my booth on stage. It's like I was getting drunk in the music and waking up with regrets and mistakes."

"So like a musical hangover?" suggested Rainbow.

"Okay, I guess I can't dance around the issue... Dash, you were closest. Yeah, like a musically induced hangover. Except I remember all the drunken debauchery every morning I woke up, next to someone new. Every Time. I wish I could say it was due to something else, alcohol, drugs, anything. But it just seems like I was on an uncontrollable roller coaster that never let me off. I loved music too much to give it up, but the idea of acting like I was a drunk person on a boat load of aphrodisiacs scared me."

"That probably scare me too." sympathized Applejack.

"That's when I met Tavi, I went to a concert of the Canterlot Philharmonic. Half to get new ideas for music, the other half of me wanted to test and see what this music would have as an effect compared to my usual stuff. Tavi actually came to me."

"I saw her during the performance," continued Octavia, "She was so unlike our usual audience members so she stood out like a sore thumb. I went to ask her why she had come to such a performance. To which she took offense."

Octavia smiled and began a flawless imitation of Vinyl's speech patterns but kept her own accent.

"'What? I can't come here and listen to music? I know there's no dress code for this concert. So why don't you take your silly oversized fiddle and back off.' I could obviously tell that something had been bothering her the whole night and just let loose on the first dissenter.

"After talking with Vinyl I deduced that all she needed to do was try and remain focused. To which she countered, 'Oh, you think I just play around when I'm on stage? That I don't have the same work ethic?'"

"'No,'" said Vinyl imitating Octavia, accent and all, "'Every musician needs to lose themselves from time to time. It helps when you have to focus on the multiple parts that may change during the performance. However, if you lose yourself all the time you end up in a rut, or the strange situation that you find yourself in I guess.' She asked me about everything leading up to the blackouts. Since everything turned white right before she suggested adding color.

"At first I had no clue what she was talking about. I wandered around Canterlot a few days and found these glasses. I thought they looked cool and I thought it would give me a cool edge for my gigs. The next time I had one, I wore them but nothing happened. I was able to keep myself flowing and focused on the music. I finally got what Octavia was saying."

"Though that's not what I meant, I'm glad I was able to help, Vinyl."

"That was a touching story," said Twilight softly but her demeanor showed annoyance, "but still didn't answer my question. Why did you kiss Star Dusk?"

"Well, he asked me to perform with out my glasses. It was part of the original bet. He said something like 'I want the audience to see the emotion of the song related through everything, not just the lyrics.'"

"So that's why you said it would suck either way. Either the song was going to be no good or you would end up losing control again." equated Twilight.

"Yeah... It's especially worse when there's lyrics involved. I tend to become whatever the lyrics are describing and since he wrote party songs about 'making me feel good', well... you know the result. Heh. Though he thought I did that on purpose to throw him off his groove for his set as revenge for making me sing."

"He probably was also angry for another reason..." said Cadence not particularly under her breath.

"Oh yeah, sorry didn't mean to steal your boyfriend or anything. I didn't know you two were dating."

"We're not. Not really."

"Oh... OH! Wow, I'm really sorry! I didn't know both of you were still sending feelers and all. Damn, I thought he was the only one who didn't know." Vinyl was very uncharacteristically apologetic.

"Then, I'm really glad he was able to snap you out of it." mentioned Octavia. "If left to your own devices... well.... I've experienced that before."

"Yeah not an easy thing to do. It might have gotten worse back stage if he didn't bring me out of it."

"How'd he do that?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"You know, I wish I knew." she replied.

Suddenly there was a lot of clamor coming from the outside.

"Tavi check that out will ya?" As Octavia turned to go to the stage, Star Dusk burst out from further backstage running at a break neck pace jumping through the curtains and on to the stage.

"What's his-" before Vinyl had finished, everyone then ran past her to see what was going on.

On the stage, Star Dusk was fighting with a group of husks with the other half of the platoon being down in the seating area.

"What the heck are those things?" cried Cadence.

"Doesn't matter! Star Dusk needs our help!" replied Shining Armor, ripping off his cloak and charging in to help.

"Come on girls! We'll take the group down with the audience!" instructed Twilight with the others nodding.

With all the assistance, even some from the Princesses, the crowd was thinned very quickly.

"We did it!" cheered Twilight as she took out the last husk. She turned back to the stage to see Shining Armor and Star Dusk take out the last one there.

"Woo Hoo! Go us, it's our birthday!" cheered Pinkie.

"Star Dusk where are you going?" said Shining Armor.

"I need to take care of something." he answered before being tackled by a figure coming through the curtains. They both flew back into the front row of seats.

"Hero!" called Rainbow Dash as she and the others ran to see him. Before anyone could get really close two figures quickly popped up and shot back away from each other.

One of course was Star Dusk, battle damage still all over his body, breathing very heavily and visibly exhausted. The other...

"Wait, am I seein' double?" said Applejack.

"I... what's going on?" asked Fluttershy.

"Stay back!" said the knight on Twilight's left. "He's dangerous!"

"No I'm not!" said the one to her right. "He's trying to trick you!"

"Liar!"

"Said the pot to the kettle!"

Twilight finally wrapped her head around what she was seeing, "There are two Star Dusks?"

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Song: You Make Me Feel...
Originally performed by: Cobra Starship featuring Sabi
Written by: Steve Mac, Ina Wroldsen
Label: Fueled by Ramen, Decaydance, Warner Bros.

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Song: We need a Hero
Originally performed by: Ron Wasserman
Written by: Ron Wasserman
Label: possibly Universal, more likely self recorded

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Song: Fight
Originally performed by: Ron Wasserman
Written by: Ron Wasserman
Label: possibly Universal, more likely self recorded

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Song: Wooderson
Originally performed by: The Gaslight Anthem
Written by: Brian Fallon, Alex Rosamilia, Alex Levine, and Benny Horowitz
Label: XOXO

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Comments

[darkforce95]

This will defiantly (hopefully ) be the only multi-song chapter. I know it feels longer because of it.

So I hope you wonderful readers are enjoying it, 'cause I know I'm enjoying writing it. Let me know what you thought of this chapter!

Edit: Over a thousand views on the story at large!!! Dang, I didn't think I'd make it at all....

You guys all rock!!