Baleston Days

by LordOfTape

Meet The Mess (Part IV)

A sly grin crept its way up the unicorn’s muzzle. Darkened eyes glinted in the technicolor room. A deep red hoof planted itself on the ground, mere inches away from Code Levol.

Versal stared down arrogantly at Levol, “Oh I betchu don’t. Not after last time at least.”

Levol turned his head to the side and snorted. His left hoof whipped around, knocking Versal’s firmly planted hooves off center. The confident visage washed away to fear as the stallion toppled to the tiled floor.

“Watch where you put those hooves, Derpal. Can’t have you falling all over the place, now can we?” Levol remarked snidely.

Versal shook off the fall with ease. He wasn’t damaged physically, but his reputation was certainly at stake, especially considering who he was dealing with.

Code Levol and Versal had never truly gotten along. Coming from two completely different areas of Equestria, the rapping ponies couldn’t manage to see eye to eye. It didn’t help that Versal was a unicorn supremacist. He thought that his horn and magic made him far more capable than the other species. Sure, the earth ponies had their strength, and pegasi their speed, but unicorns were masters of magic. They could do everything, even that which was thought only capable by other species.

Growing up in the harsh streets of Detrot, Versal learned how to survive quickly. Orphaned at an early age, the estranged colt didn’t have a strong parental push to do the right thing. Luckily, he had an older brother who was always looking out for him. Starstring, as he was called, was Versal’s caretaker and taught him everything he would need to know to live on his own.

Starstring was several years older than Versal, and as hard as he tried, was unable to stay with him at the orphanage. As with all good siblings, Starstring promised Versal that he would make a name for himself. Tears were shed, but the two brothers stayed strong.

Versal was determined to emulate his brother and become successful as well. However, with a large track record of procrastination behind him, maintaining a job was difficult for the then young stallion. What’s more, the unicorn had yet to acquire his cutie mark, making a steady job even harder to find.

Instead, Versal found fame in the underground music scene of the busy city. He had always listened to old hip hop and rap music and was excited to get involved with them himself. One night, while enjoying himself at a party, Versal managed to insult one of the underground’s top rap battlers. Needless to say, he was immediately wrapped into a battle with the verbally abusive pony.

Knees clacking, the dark red stallion tripped his way up to the stage. The challenge was unexpected, and he had no time to prepare for the ensuing rap battle. His aggressor was first to go, ripping through syllables like they were paper. Versal bit his lip in anticipation.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of torture, Versal was hoofed the microphone. Holding it in his left hoof, the scared stallion scanned the boisterous room. Echoes of screaming and cheering bounced all around. A lump worked its way up into Versal’s throat. The top pony looked at him and laughed.

Ready to drop the mic and leave, Versal caught himself on the cries of one pony. Somepony out in the crowd was yelling ‘You can beat him Verse!’ Versal didn’t know where the voice came from, but he didn’t care. He gripped the microphone tight with his hoof and began attacking his foe vocally. Each line was a gumball, rolling off of his tongue and sticking his opponent right in the eye.

When he had finished, the crowd was already ablaze. Every pony was chanting his name; “Versal! Versal! Versal!” It was then that he felt an odd tingling sensation. It was going down from his back to his legs, forcing him to turn to find its source. As he turned, his eyes lit up, indulging in the most precious sight the stallion could witness. Resting on his once blank flank was a cutie mark. A drawn microphone on a piece of paper now adorned the rapping pony.

That night, Versal left the party with not only his pride intact, but also a purpose. He knew that he would be successful like his brother one day and now he had the opportunity to do just that. This newfound inner strength did come at a price though as Versal’s ego exploded into astronomical levels.

And that is where these two don’t agree.

“Very funny,” Versal spat “but we’ll see whos laughin’ after I beat you in the battle tonight.”

“Sorry Verse, but I ain’t even in the battle tonight. In fact, I was supposed to be doing something else.”

The unicorn laughed in disbelief, “If you had real plans then why are you here?”

Levol was about to answer, but was cut off by the sound of curtains drawing. A deathly grimaced washed over his face. Versal noticed this and took advantage of the situation.

“Somepony on stage there, Little Levol?”

“Luna Damn it.” He whispered.

Levol ran up to the side of the stage, trying to see if he could make it before they started. Versal darted after, not wanting to lose his prey. The two ponies trampled the others who were waiting patiently backstage. For one reason or another, they had to reach that stage.

A booming voice resonated within the room, “Alright everypony, who’s ready for some RAP BATTLES!?”

It was Vinyl. She was standing behind the DJ booth with Dubious at her side. Instead of showing her beautiful magenta eyes, she wore thick blue shades. They complimented her mane well.

Dubious, less involved with the booth than his marefriend, noticed Levol and Versal behind the curtain on the side. He had an apologetic look on his face as he pointed to center stage with his hoof.

Two figures stood head to head, their eyes burning into each other brains as the seconds ticked. On the right was a short white unicorn with flaming red hair. His tail was short cut leaving a very visible cutie mark. The cutie mark itself was a purple dunce cap and Levol knew exactly why. This was Pyrox, a sophomore that Versal had taken under his wing, so to speak.

Levol didn’t know too much about him, other than that he was always seen hanging around Versal and acted pretty much the same. Needless to say, the two didn’t get along well either. However, Pyrox was not Levol’s main focus.

Standing opposite to him on the left was an all too familiar face. Zeko’s striped body permeated the essence of the stage. The lights seemed to both imprint and reflect off of his ever changing body color.

Code Levol was surprised to say the least. Zeko was standing proud on the stage, ready to battle. Levol had been sure that he would’ve been shaking by now. The pegasus mustered a smile, but his gut was telling him it was too early for that.

Vinyl levitated a microphone to her mouth, “Alright folks, we’ve got out contestants right here. Our pony on the left, or should I say zebra is MC Zeke. We know those zebras got a way with the rhyming, so let’s see what this motherbucker brings to the table!”

The crowd went wild. Of course, the crowd was already wild with drinks and friends, so it didn’t take much. Zeko’s facial expression didn’t change. Levol’s gut twisted again.
Vinyl moved on to Pyrox, “And in this corner, the baddest of the bad, the fire spitter himself, you know him for his lovable arson jokes, Pyrox!”

The crowd didn’t stop, they just got more and more rowdy. These were ponies who either loved rapping and hearing battles, or were just so drunk they enjoyed whatever was going on. Sometimes both.

“Let’s get this beat pumpin’!” Vinyl yelled, telekinetically tossing the microphone to Zeko.

The zebra tried desperately to catch the falling object, but had to fumble it about in the air before getting a grip. Finally his demeanor had changed, although it was not what Levol had hoped for.

Pyrox laughed, “You gotta be kidding me. This scared friggen zebra thinks he can take my attack when he can’t even handle the microphone?”

The crowd laughed with him, pointing and jeering at the poor young rapper.

“Princesses damn it all!” Levol cussed at the inevitable fate.

“Oh this is gonna be good.” Versal mocked behind him.

Vinyl dropped the needle on the record. The music began to blast from the stereo system. There was no going back now.

Author's Note:

aight, should only be one more part for meet the mess. expect RAP BATTLES to ensue. also expect at least one new character. should be a good show.
sorry i dont give a great back story through narration, but i like to flesh out the base details later with dialogue. i love dialogue. thats why i hate expositions.
enjoy! and shut up derpal.