Through Martyr's Eyes

by ShouldNotExist

Magical Mystery Tour

-Magical Mystery Tour-

This hadn’t been thought out thoroughly enough ...

Although, the tour had gone fairly well, if mostly for Cherry’s enthusiasm. A park, a few nearby shops, and Twilight even pointed out the clock tower as well. However, Twilight found herself at a loss for things that Marty might be able to see … when he really couldn't see anything. A tour doesn’t really do much for someone who isn’t going to see anything. She liked to believe that he enjoyed it anyway. But if he ever got bored, he never showed it.

He had often expressed that he liked it better than the city, especially the air for some reason. She hadn’t noticed anything wrong with Manehattan’s air, other than the slightly higher than normal temperature that the day had had. Maybe it simply had to do with blindness? She’d always heard rumors about enhanced senses, and Twilight was pretty sure that she could remember Marty having mentioned something about it.

However, Sugarcube Corner had been an interesting stop. Cherry made a beeline for it as soon as it came into view, and even made the common mistake of trying to eat the plaster decorations. She ended up leaving her own mark next to the few others who had made the same assumption. They were fairly convincing, all the gingerbread and candies that made it look like it was made from the confections sold there.

Re-introducing Cherry to Pinkie had been entertaining as well, the party pony instantly turning the room into a small celebration. She’d called it a ‘Hello Again Party,’ justifying it in meeting Cherry for a second time. It seemed that they’d been made into good friends on the train.

It did leave Twilight suspecting some surprise party for Marty, since the pink pony had still refrained from throwing him one. She could only hope it would go along better than her first attempts with that grumpy donkey.

After they’d left the spontaneous celebration, thankfully without calamity, Twilight led them into the marketplace. More permanent shops ran around the perimeter, large display windows showing off goods and attracting anyone with bits too heavy for their pouches. The smooth cobblestones clicked under many hooves, banners and tarp covers flapped idly in the chill breeze. A small fountain still ran in the center of the space, a trickle of icy cold water flowing out from underneath the decorative statue of a dancing mare.

Fresh flowers, fruit, and vegetables filled the air with a bouquet of sweet smells, undermined only by the smell of hard work. It was an enticing smell, and Twilight could feel her mouth starting to water thinking of the crisp fruits. Might be a good time to do a little grocery shopping, she mused to herself.

On the other side of the plaza, a stage was being constructed. Preparations for the Nightmare Night Festival already underway, banners and flags in boxes set nearby for their moment to flap in the breeze. It even looked like a band was going to use the half constructed stage to play a few idle songs.

“So this is a market? I’ve never been to a market before,” Marty said, sticking close to Twilight’s side as they walked through the crowd. His ears flicking at the various noises and conversations, his head occasionally turning to listen to a pony yelling out something about her wares. Cherry bounced in a wide berth around them, her blue bob of hair peeking out from between ponies’ legs as she cheerily examined the ponies and the stalls as they passed.

“Yep,” Twilight replied, idly looking around. “There are a lot of farmers around Ponyville, so most of them come here to sell what they grow. Otherwise there’ll be days where a shop will set up a stand and put things on a sale,” she said, leading them through the sparse crowd to the fountain at the center. “Do you want some water, Marty?” she asked.

While it was easy to find bottled water among the stands, and often even easier to ask somepony for a glass of water, the fountain next to them was just as viable a source. While some ponies saw it as a bit of a taboo, claiming that the act degraded ponies back to their more animalistic roots, most ponies had no qualms about using public sources of water for just that. During a particular study session, Twilight remembered reading that ever since before the Princesses ponies kept standards of fountain water quality, and that to this day standards kept these kinds of water details completely drinkable.

It was an interesting tidbit, but not much of something for her to simply spout out. She strangely did have the urge to though, an alien want to fill the empty space in the conversation almost overcoming her. But with a deep breath she managed to hold herself back from sputtering out random historical trivia.

Marty smiled, oblivious to Twilight’s sudden internal struggle. “Sure, where are we getting it?” he asked, turning his head farther toward her. It seemed that a small conversation to the side had distracted him for a moment, but now she had his full attention.

“Well, there’s a fountain right here, if that’s alright? But I could always see if there’s a stand with some water, too,” she said, quickly adding in the other option with a small stutter. She fought the urge to plant her hoof on her face for the verbal tripping, still unsure why she felt as flustered as she did.

“Fountain’s fine,” he said, a small chuckle escaping his lips. He hadn’t missed the slip, but thankfully he didn’t point it out. “Where to, then?” he asked, making a motion for her to lead the way with a tilt of his head.

“Just over here,” she replied, speaking quickly to try to avoid another unnecessary stutter. She turned with him toward the fountain, ready to lead him up to the edge of it. She jumped back however, narrowly avoiding a scooter loaded down with fillies. She backed straight into Marty, practically landing on top of him.

Cherry was not so lucky: The scooter, fillies and all, barreled straight into the little red filly and sent all four of them tumbling onto the ground. The scooter clattered away with the wagon still attached loosely with a jump rope, thrown free of the tumbling fillies and landing on its side a short distance away.

“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle protested loudly, her voice squeaking as she sat up and nursed the top of her head with a hoof. A pained expression decorated the glare that the young unicorn tried to aim toward the daredevil filly.

“Hey! It wasn’t my fault! We hit a pothole!” Scootaloo yelled back untangling herself from underneath Applebloom and aiming a more successful glare. Her purple racing helmet thumped off of her head as the strap came loose, the only evidence of any of them even considering safety equipment now gone as well.

“Yeah right. Scoots, you’d a’ hit every pothole in the whole dang town and we couldna fallen over like that! What’d we hit?” Applebloom asked blearily, her bow bobbing in the air as she rolled off of Scootaloo. A second glare from the orange pegasus, this one much hotter than the last, once again went ignored.

“That really hurted,” another voice groaned, drawing all three of the bickering fillies’ attention behind them. Cherry sat blearily as she cradled her head, eyes rolling as she tried to figure out which direction was up again. Her mane had been ruffled from the tumble, a stick somehow having made its way into a tangle there.

“You alright, Cherry?” Marty asked, carefully taking a step toward where he’d heard her. A calm but worried expression had come over his face, ears erect as he tried to listen for them among the uninterrupted din of the light crowd of the market.

“I is okay,” she replied, giving her head a shake and finally steadying her vision. But when she did finally get her eyes to line up again, her vision was filled by the three other fillies’ faces. She froze under their gaze, pulling away from the increasingly excited expressions on their faces.

“Hi!” Sweetie Belle spouted, eyes beaming as she stared down at Cherry. Her voice made Cherry jump, unsure how to react to the sudden excitement almost literally bubbling off the three of them.

“Eh … Hi?” Cherry replied with a small amount of confusion. She could easily see the happiness that was fluttering over all three of them, but she wasn’t sure why it had come up because of her. “Why is you standing so close?” she asked carefully, still uneasy about the sudden attention she was getting from the ponies who’d just basically run her over.

“Well, firstly we’re awful sorry fer hitting you with tha scooter, ain’t we Scootaloo?” Applebloom answered, aiming one last glare at the orange pegasus. She ignored the tongue that Scootaloo stuck out at her, turning back to Cherry with a smile. “Plus … are you new in town?” she asked quietly, as if worried that somepony would overhear them in the crowd around them.

Cherry was confused by the sudden secrecy that the fillies suddenly seemed concerned with but she followed along anyway. “Yes, but only for a little bit, me is thinking,” Cherry answered, keeping her voice equally low. She still wasn’t sure why they felt the need for whispering, but she didn’t want to upset them.

“Oh, then you haven’t had a party yet? Have you met a really energetic pink pony today?” Sweetie asked, carefully keeping her voice low as well.

“You is talking about Pinkie Pie. Yes, we has met her. But Marty is not liking parties so much, so Pinkie is said that maybe later,” Cherry said quickly, accidentally stopping her whispering. She was further surprised by the reaction from the fillies, whom all let out a loud sigh of relief. “What?” she asked, finally deciding to voice her confusion.

“We were jist worried ‘bout another pony knockin’ all o’ us over,” Applebloom said with a small laugh. “So, Ah guess we should ask what yer name is, seein’ as we already ran you over with the scooter,” she said, a sheepish smile overcoming her features and quickly followed by the other two who voiced mumbled agreements.

“Cherry, like Marty said. Did you not be hearing Marty? He asked ‘Is Cherry okay?’ and I was saying ‘Cherry is fine,’” Cherry answered, making sure to put extra emphasis on her name. She was happy to see it draw a laugh from them, smiling in the wake of the ripple of happiness that fell off of them.

“You’re funny,” Sweetie noted with a giggle, her eyes widening for a moment. “Hey! Do you wanna join our club?” she asked, smiling widely toward Cherry as she was joined by the other two fillies. “We’re the Cutie-Mark Crusaders! We’re all trying to get our Cutie-Marks together! What’d’ya say?” she asked, turning to display her blank flank. The other two followed suit, turning to show Cherry their equally blank flanks.

“I never been joined a club before!” Cherry cheered, clapping her hooves and smiling widely. She almost couldn’t believe it, it was always so hard for her to make friends before and here were three fillies practically begging her be friends with them. She wasn’t sure if it was just the way she talked or the fact that anypony she tried to make friends with always knew she was a changeling, but that didn't matter now.

“Well come on then! We were just going to see if we could get some rock climbing equipment,” Scootaloo beamed, dashing back over to her scooter and picking it back up. The wagan clattered back onto its wheels, creaking slightly as the abused metal frame settled back into its proper position.

The other fillies quickly jumped up, joining Scootaloo in the makeshift transport. But Cherry hesitated as she too hopped onto her hooves, prancing in place before quickly darting back over to Marty. “Marty! Marty! Can you being alright while I go play with my new friends?” she asked, propping her forelegs up on his chest as she pleaded to him.

“Well, yeah, I guess,” Marty replied instantly, still slightly confused as to the sequence of events. “I mean, I could just hang out with Twilight for know. Just get back to the library before dark?” he said, directing his question toward Twilight, it was her house after all.

“That’ll be fine, I’m sure that they can’t get into too much trouble. Right, girls?” Twilight asked, though a bit nervously. She’d seen a few of the rather extreme antics that they’d gotten into, a strangely large amount ending with the three rambunctious fillies covered in tree sap.

“YAY!” she bubbled, hopping high into the air before zipping into the wagon behind Applebloom and Sweetie Belle who both joined in her giddy laughter as Scootaloo began to pull away. “Twilight is taking good care of Marty now! Bye!” she said as one last farewell, waving wildly with one of her hooves while clutching to the wagon as it lurched to life.

And just like that, they’d disappeared as quickly as they’d come, taking an extra filly with them. “Well …” Twilight muttered, as equally confused by the sudden chain of events as Marty was. He merely chuckled, taking a few careful steps toward the sound of the running water in the fountain.

“Just another set of crazy characters in this town,” she heard him mumble, his lips easily finding the water. After taking a moment to sate his thirst, he stood back up and simply seemed to be taking in the sounds of the marketplace. Water dripped idly from his chin as his ears swiveled around toward the random noises.

Only the sounds of the market were around them, so Twilight couldn’t be sure what exactly he was listening for. “It’s moments like these where I wish I just carried a guitar everywhere with me,” he said suddenly after a long moment, drawing Twilight’s attention from whatever blank silence her mind had produced in her.

“Why’s that?” Twilight asked, thankful for a conversation topic in the silence that had fallen between them. She hadn’t wanted to break the silence, nor had she wanted it to continue. It had been an awkward pause for her, and she had desperately wondered how she could keep things moving. But thankfully it seemed that Marty had simply drifted off into a tangent all his own.

“Just … You know, all this sound in one place. Don’t have to worry about magic, or money, or … anything really. I just feel like I’d like to take advantage of those kinds of moments and just strum a few chords for fun,” he said, rolling his eyes at his own statement. “Sheesh, listen to me, I sound like an old coot,” he joked, shaking his head.

“Well, there is an instrument shop down the road. I’m sure that Vinyl would let you strum on a few of her guitars if you want,” she offered, the particularly loud unicorn coming back to the front of her mind. Actually, now that she was thinking of it, Vinyl tended to be a bit crass when it came to … music, and a distinct disregard to decency added on top of it.

But, what could really go wrong with just a pop into her store to look at a few guitars?

“Sure, maybe she’d even let me rent one,” he agreed, shrugging and taking a step back toward her.

She stepped up to his side before moving toward one of the streets splitting off from the square, trying her best not to blush as she noticed several glances that they received from various ponies. It’s not that she didn’t like walking with Marty, she actually found it sort of nice being able to stand next to somepony so closely and not have to worry about awkwardness from both of them, it was the fact that she knew what they were thinking.

In a small town like this, rumours spread awfully quickly. She’d just have to take the blow on her pride when ponies started talking about her and relationships. Twilight wasn’t totally blind to why her friends had joked the way they had, she just hadn’t really taken it into account until today. She’d received many glances from various ponies around town and she knew where that would lead eventually. After all, there weren't that many situations in which she would walk, sides practically touching, with anypony, let alone a stallion.

It didn’t matter all that much to her though, words neither scraped nor bruised. And besides, they’d already made it to the store.

The iconic vinyl record shone in the sun, both off of the door itself and from the hanging sign above the window displaying a few instruments alongside an unnecessarily large speaker. Vinyl Scratch’s store always seemed slightly more rundown than the rest of the stores on this road, and it was apparent that she cared more about what was inside the store than the condition of the building itself.

When they entered, the dim wooden walls and stained dark purple carpet greeted them warmly. Polished instruments and various books and records lined the walls and filled randomly laid out aisles. Huge racks of speakers and amplifiers of various sizes filled the majority of the space, a few stools set up so that somepony could try a guitar and amplifier before buying it.

Various party lights whirled and blinked even in the relatively ample light of the room, their effects muted by the white lights keeping the room at a comfortable brightness. An abandoned counter greeted them as they entered, and no bell announced their entrance through the door.

“Gotta love the smell of an instrument shop,” Marty muttered with a deep breath, sighing as he took a few steps forward and narrowly avoided knocking over a large set of ride cymbals. The smell of machine oil and various polishing solutions filled the air, the sign of an attentive keeper of the instruments. Twilight had to wonder if it was actually Vinyl who did the maintenance of them, the store just as absent of music as it was of its normally irresponsible owner.

“I wonder where Vinyl is, she’s normally in here. And I don’t think she’d just leave the place unlocked,” Twilight said, voicing her concern as she eyed a few of the more expensive pieces of equipment that were on display. If somepony had wanted to, they could just take these things if she wasn’t here. Not that Ponyville had much of a theft problem, everypony knew everypony else so there wouldn’t be a way to get rid of it once they’d gotten it.

“Well, maybe she just stepped out?” Marty suggested, somehow having gravitated toward a set of large speakers that he was feeling out with his hooves. They wandered over the knobs, carefully feeling out the raised numbers and the texture of the panels. “I’m sure that if the owner left the door open, she won’t be gone long,” he reassured, his hoof following a wire plugged into the front.

His hoof followed it until it reached another end that had separated from another extension wire. “I wonder why this sound-in cable is just hanging around?” Marty said, his magic picking up both ends of the wires. They felt like they would fit together easily, both round and reinforced cylinders of brass with a few textures etched into them for somepony to grip.

Without really considering what he was hooking up, Marty pressed the connections together. The ends mated with a soft click, and was quickly drowned out as the entire wall of speakers next to him burst into life.

They both jumped as a heavy bass filled the air, the melody of high pitched screeching noises barely lifting above it between the booms. They both clapped their hooves over their ears, trying desperately to block out the far too loud sound of the wub. Twilight frantically clambered for the power switch with her magic, but through the noise in the air she was barely able to find the speakers at all with her magic.

Whenever her horn gained enough magic to even reach for it, the bass buzzed through the length of her horn and made her flinch. If she even tried lighting her horn the sensitivity of the bony organ skyrocketed and made it almost impossible to even concentrate at all in the onslaught of sound.

But just as quickly as it had started, the speakers went silent, leaving a ringing in her ears. Twilight peaked through her eyelids, expecting to see Marty with the two separated wires again. But he seemed just as surprised by the sudden silence as she was. She cast her gaze around the room, ears still ringing even as they swiveled on top of her head.

A door she hadn’t noticed when they’d come in flew open, slamming against the rear wall. A particularly miffed looking off-white unicorn strode out, her signature sunglasses perched on top of her head among her electric blue mane to reveal the normally hidden, sharp purple eyes. She wore a set of headphones around her neck with a matching color scheme, the cord trailing behind her back into the room.

“That was one hellova entrance, I’ll give ya that,” she muttered, barely heard past the ringing in their ears. “Can’t you two read?” she asked rhetorically, pointing a hoof behind them toward the counter where a small card sat in the open. It read; ‘Recording ~ Be Back Later’ in bold and easily read lettering.

“WHAT!?” Marty yelled, cupping an ear and turning toward them. He squinted as if to peer through the cataracts that marked his blindness, almost like he thought that would somehow let him hear them better.

“She was recording in the back, Marty,” Twilight attempted to explain, speaking loudly to overcome her own partial deafness inflected by the amplifiers. “We interrupted her when you hooked up the speakers.”

“WHAT!?” he asked again, leaning forward slightly and making a second effort to cup his ear to hear a response.

“Honestly, I thought I’d unhooked that,” Vinyl said, walking past them to the counter at the front. She began rummaging around in a box behind the divider, looking up to eye the two of them once it seemed she’d found what she was looking for. “Hold on, I’ve got something here that’ll help with your ears,” she explained loudly, making sure that at least Twilight understood what she was doing.

“WHAT!?”

A light blue aura lit up her horn as she proudly held out a small tuning fork with her magic. She trotted back around the counter and moved back over to them, bringing it up for Twilight to see. But before Twilight could really examine it, Vinyl swiftly struck it against the leg of a stool next to her, creating a similar ringing tone to the one still playing in her ears.

Without warning Vinyl pressed the bottom of the ringing fork to the base of Twilight’s skull, letting it vibrate into the top vertebra of her spine. She felt it buzz through her brain for only a moment, and then her hearing instantly cleared. Her ears popped as whatever magic weaved into the tuning fork worked, a rough but effective spell that had no visible reaction that would have otherwise given it away.

Vinyl swiftly moved over to Marty, repeating the motions and relieving him of his deafness as well. It was only then that she seemed to recognise his blindness, taking a step back and donning a confused expression.

“Hoo, thanks,” Marty said, stretching his mouth out in a yawn as he too felt his ears pop. “Sorry about that, wasn’t really thinking,” he apologized, rising back to his hooves. He seemed no worse for wear, even if he’d felt the brunt of the sound.

But a look of recognition flashed onto Vinyl’s face at the sound of his voice. “Holy shit! I thought I recognized you! You're Marty Microphone!" she exclaimed, practically prancing in place. “Sorry, it’s just- I’m a total fanfilly for your music,” she sputtered, letting out an uncharacteristic giggle and allowing herself a little nervous dance on her hooves.

“Oh … great … an old fan,” Marty said, trying desperately to keep a cheery smile on his face. It was strained, clearly a forced smile. He didn’t seem upset, just slightly unnerved by being recognized.

“Sorry, sorry,” Vinyl quickly said, composing herself. “You must get this a lot, sorry. It’s just- Gosh, you’re in my shop,” she breathed, almost in disbelief. “I mean, you did so many sorts of genres of music that it’s not even funny! Th-there was that wicked solo stage you started with, all vocals,” she explained, turning to Twilight now as she started to list off her various knowledge of Marty’s past career. “Then he got together with some other stallions and started from rock and just kept going. Classic rock, metal, a little bit of screamo, some wicked crossover stuff with classical and electric thrown in for good measure. I just wish I could have seen some of it myself!” she said, finishing with a sheepish grin. Her ears flattened as she saw his facade drop to reveal a tired expression of defeat.

“Yeah, not so much. I try to avoid those kinds of … reminders. Left all that far behind me, won’t be going back on my own terms,” Marty said flatly while simultaneously trying to regain the fake smile and taking a nervous step back from Vinyl. She didn’t follow, allowing him to take his distance as she set the tuning fork down on top of a speaker. “You don’t … like, want an autograph or something, do you?” he asked reluctantly, offering the formality in place of anything else to say.

“W-well actually- I’ve got all my recording equipment set up! Cou- Would you play a bit for me? I’d love to have a few tracks, even just one! To mix into my own music that is,” she stuttered nervously, motioning toward the door where she’d come from erratically. It seemed that the normally confident disk jockey was, for once, quite excited.

“Uh, well … I guess I could play something. I’m actually just here looking for a guitar, I left mine in Manehattan,” Marty relented, turning an unsure glance in Twilight’s direction. It seemed like he wasn’t sure about Vinyl, or whether or not he should trust her.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Vinyl spouted excitedly, taking a few steps back toward the door and motioning for them to follow. “Come on, Twilight, you can come in too. I’ll hook you up with some headphones and we’ll rock out!” she said, her magic already pulling an electric guitar from one of the wall racks.

“I didn’t actually know you played in your own concerts,” Twilight commented as she walked up to his side. She followed Vinyl through the door, watching the guitar maneuver over their heads. It’s body was black, a white sunburst pattern decorating its front face and edged in blue. The entire instrument was carefully polished, tuning pegs gently turning as Vinyl made a few adjustments in the air.

“I did quite a few before I ended up dropping out of the business, I guess a few ponies managed to grab some of my music during them,” he mumbled, clearly off put with the sudden attention to his previous achievements. His voice was quiet, and his whole demeanor seemed subdued. The only explanation Twilight could come to to explain it would have to be that that was the majority of time he’d been an addict, probably not a time he looked on too fondly.

After all, the saying did go: Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll.

The hall they’d entered was short, a door to the right and at the end being the only decorations. Vinyl’s magic pulled open the door into the hallway, revealing its carpet padded interior. The guitar found its way into the room on its own as she ushered them in. Her magic swiftly began moving different things around the room to the sides, a keyboard and respective stand folding and leaning up against the padded wall while a drum set scooted to the rear on a separated platform.

A large window took up the majority of the front wall, looking into the actual studio where reels and machines hummed in wait to carefully capture the sounds inside. The studio was neat, though sloppily lined with empty food containers and a few empty bottles of what was once probably alcoholic in nature. Looking at some of the boxy machines that Vinyl had set up on the other side, Twilight’s mind was drawn back to the project that Marty had mentioned.

The huge machines were in fact some of smaller equipment that could be bought, most likely barely having fit through the door to the studio itself. Marty had said something about a record player that didn’t need a record.

“Right over here, dude,” she said happily, a stool setting itself up in front of a microphone hanging from a track in the ceiling. A small cage surrounded the capture device, a smooth ring of mesh turning to aim toward the stool where she indicated Marty to sit.

He complied quietly, following her voice and finding the stool easily. Once he’d taken a seat Vinyl surrendered the guitar over to him. “What all have you got set up in here?” he asked idly as he tested a few of the strings with a hoof. His ears swiveled around the room, trying to listen to whatever sound the various instruments might be making.

“Actually, I’ve got a bunch of stuff in here right now,” Vinyl admitted to him, putting a hoof behind her neck as she examined the instruments spread around the room. “I really should clean up. But there’s a set of drums, a couple other guitars, an electric base, and it looks like Octavia left her cello in here again. Uh … there’s a keyboard over there, and I’ve got a few mixers set up too,” she listed off, pointing each one out despite it doing no good for Marty.

He listened anyway, nodding his head as if checking off a list in his head. “Cool, hook all of it up,” he said, motioning with a hoof to the whole room.

Vinyl blanched, freezing at Marty’s words before a wide smile spread on her face. “You mean you’ll do more than just a guitar while you’re here!?” she practically begged, a foalish hopefulness springing into her words.

“Well, since you got me in a recording booth … I kinda need to do something a little different to really be able to do anything longer than a few seconds,” he tried to explain, the words not really coming as smoothly as he’d like. “I won’t explain the technicalities, but- Just trust me, I’m about to show you something that will blow the two of you away,” he finished, donning a bit of confidence to try and drive away his own nervousness.

“Sweet!” Vinyl practically squealed, her magic rapidly hooking up every available instrument in the room. When she’d finished she floated a pair of simple headphones over his ears, hooking up the cord to a line of inputs in the wall under the window and making one final adjustment to the microphone hanging just in front of Marty’s face. “Come on, Twilight. We’ll get set up in the other room,” she called to her once she’d finished.

Vinyl quickly led Twilight out from the recording booth, sealing the door behind them so that they could maneuver past a box of dingy records lying abandoned next to the studio door. It creaked inward to the other room, creating a bottleneck as they squeezed between it and a large glass case of recording reels.

The room had little hoof space with the large recorders lining the walls, a large mixing console that took up what space was in front of the large window. Vinyl squeezed behind the console first, taking a seat on a cushion farthest from the door and motioning for Twilight to sit on the one she’d just stepped over.

Once Twilight had taken her seat beside Vinyl, chest pressed up against the edge of the console with its expanse of knobs and sliders sitting rather imposingly before her. Here she had a perfect view of Marty sitting patiently in his stool where they’d left him. Vinyl re-donned her headphones, her magic floating over a pair of matching headphones to Twilight.

She fit the pads over her ears, unsure of how to properly place them as she’d never put any on before. Once she’d settled them over her ears she heard a small static burst as Vinyl hooked her headphones into a small input on the console. She watched as Vinyl adjusted a few sliders and flipped a few switches farther up the console.

“Can you hear us alright, dude?” Vinyl said, a small black microphone sliding toward her with her magic.

“Loud and clear,” Marty replied, the nervousness practically swept from his voice now. “How’s input on the instruments?” he asked, his hooves moving across the strings to produce a rise of different notes. They echoed slightly in her headphones, surprising her slightly at the unexpected noise.

“Sounds great, and just about everything in the room is miked up, so do whatever you want,” Vinyl replied, her magic leaving the microphone after she was done speaking. “Say hi, Twilight. Just press that button on the mic over there with your magic, and Marty should hear you,” she said, pointing Twilight to a similar microphone on her side of the console.

“Oh! Uhm … okay, like this?” she said, her voice echoing in her headphones again as she pressed onto a small button at the base of the microphone beside her. “Hi? Can you hear me?” she asked, taking the pressure off of the button and looking up at Marty.

He smiled and hid a chuckle. “I can hear you just fine, Twilight,” he replied, lifting his hoof from the neck of his guitar to wave toward the window. “Now, I’m gonna do something a little different from what I usually … well, that I haven’t done in a while,” he admitted, his horn glowing slightly with his crackley grey magic.

With a deep breath, Marty’s magic bloomed out in a wave that shook the window silently in its place as the room faded out of the grey he’d flooded it in. The drum set behind him glowed and slid forward slightly and to his right. A bass and and electric guitar followed soon after, scooting across the floor on their respective stands. The keyboard came to life next, turning and sliding up toward Marty’s side opposite the drumset.

“I guess that room’s not as auratight as I thought,” Vinyl mused, looking up toward the roof where some of Marty’s magic was still fading away. “We’re ready when you are,” Vinyl said into her microphone, flipping a switch with her hoof that turned on several ‘Live’ signs both in the studio and in the booth. Marty acknowledged her statement with a nod before leaning forward to press his muzzle against the mesh hanging in front of the microphone.

“Feels like you made a mistake,

You made somepony’s heart break.”

His hooves plucked at the strings, muted chords popping free. But as he sang, sound flooded through Twilight’s headphones with an exaggerated sweep of his arm. But it somehow seemed like too much sound for a single guitar to be making.

“But now I have to let you go,

I have to let you go,”

This time she was sure of it, whenever he sung a line there was more sound than his guitar could possibly make. And on his last line that he sang out, she could tell why.

Every instrument he’d moved was still glowing faintly with his magic, coming to life suddenly as he sang and hiding themselves again once he stopped to leave his guitar along with its muted strumming. And just as soon as it had stopped, they came to life again at the sound of Marty’s voice, this time remaining alive as Marty sang and filling the air.

“You left a stain

On every one of my good days!”

The drum set came alive with a beat that filled the air with life, cymbals crashing in time to a lively boom of the bass drum. The sticks had a life of their own, swinging and twirling in the air by the hooves of an invisible pony as they struck down hard and fast. The guitar and the bass played alongside Marty’s at first, breaking away to start their own melodies as they leapt from their stands as if a pony had swung the straps over their shoulders and started to play.

“But I am stronger than you know

I have to let you go

No ever turned you over

No one’s tried

To ever let you down,”

The keyboard’s sound filtered through, the keys pressing down of their own accord and accenting all the sounds around it. It tied the music together in graceful bow, like Twilight could actually hear the structure that the music could make.

“Beautiful mare

Bless your heart

“I got a disease

Deep inside me

Makes me feel uneasy baby

I can’t live without you

Tell me what’m I supposed to do about it

Keep your distance from it

Don’t pay no attention to me

I got a disease,”

The music paused, dropping a hole in the sound that drew Twilight in just as it started again. Marty’s hooves flew over the strings, a riff trailing from them over the rest of the music as it started again with his voice.

“Feels like you’re makin’ a mess

You’re hell on wheels in a black dress

You drove me to the fire

And left me there to burn,”

His voice dropped, taking on an almost sinister tone as he sang. Yet the music remained the same upbeat and alive sound that it had been before. The contrast created a thrill that made Twilight’s heart shudder in her chest and drove a distinct shiver up her spine.

“Every little thing you do is tragic

All my life, oh was magic

Beautiful mare

I can’t breathe,”

The music dipped only slightly before rising again, like it was moving so fast that it couldn’t even stop anymore. And suddenly the magic flashed around him again, in time to the music. The instruments had changed, no longer did invisible forces play them, but similar to Even Essence’s ghostly heads, ponies materialized to play the instruments.

“I got a disease!

Deep inside me

Makes me feel uneasy baby

I can’t live without you

Tell me what’m I supposed to do about it

Keep your distance from it

Don’t pay no attention to me

I got a disease

And well I think that I’m sick!

But leave me be while my world is coming down on me

You taste like honey, honey

Tell me I can be your honey

Be, be strong

Keep tellin myself that it won’t take long ‘till

I’m free of my disease!

“Yeah well free of my disease

Free of my disease

“Free of my dise~ease,”

Marty’s lips pressed into the mesh, battling the arm hanging from the ceiling to keep it in place as he sang into the microphone behind it. It held in place, Vinyl’s magic already having tightened the bolts in the joints of the arm enough for it to be rigid. The ghostly band behind him had taken life of its own, not simply robotically playing the sounds Marty desired.

It seemed each one had its own personality to it even, flair mixed generously in with the flawless sounds that they produced on their instruments. Hardly a single note was missed or even off beat as they played, all orchestrated through Marty’s wildly glowing horn.

“Yeah well I got a disease!

Deep inside me

Makes me feel uneasy baby

I can’t live without you

Tell me what’m I supposed to do about it

Keep your distance from it

Don’t pay no attention to me

I got a disease

“And well I think that I’m sick!

But leave me be while my world is coming down on me

You taste like honey, honey

Tell me I can be your honey

Be, be strong

Keep tellin myself that it won’t take long ‘till

I’m free of my disease,”

Once again Marty’s guitar rose above the other sounds, and Twilight was only barely aware of Vinyl playing with the knobs and sliders in the peripheral of her vision. The magic surrounding the ghostly figures slowly began to unwind, like all this time they’d been made of yarn just ready to fall apart. Thread after thread came undone and fell away until they began to collapse, the instruments playing on defiantly till the last note.

“H-yeah Free of my disease

Set me free of my disease

Oh~yeah”

The guitars slowed, the drums petering out with one final crash of the symbols. Marty finished with a defiant strike of a chord, his guitar being the last harsh sound of the song as he drew it to a close.

Twilight couldn’t speak. She didn’t think Vinyl could either as she seemed just as quietly shocked at the display put on. Not only had Marty played more than one instrument simultaneously, he’d somehow managed to play five at once. But added onto that was the glamourous illusion he’d laid overtop it, adding a flair to his show.

And the magic behind it baffled Twilight. Not only would Marty have had to had an incredible level of control over his magic, both working on the instruments and the illusions that he’d so meticulously created, he’d also have had to power it all. The amount was astronomical, each illusion and added instrument exponentially expanding the flow of power necessary to maintain them.

He should have been winded, sweating, absolutely exhausted mentally and magically after an exercise like that. Yet the only reason he was out of breath was from the singing, and barely that at all. He simply sat and caught his breath, the only sign of an effort shown was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead which he quickly wiped away.

“So,” he finally voiced, taking a moment to swallow before continuing. “What’d you think?” he asked, an edge of nervousness pulled back into his words. He’d maintained an air of confidence as he sang, but it had faded away with his magic.

“Dude, I think you broke Twilight,” Vinyl said breathlessly, her voice echoing inside Twilight’s headphones again.

“Not sure if that’s a good thing or not,” Marty said with a bit of worry, it was enough for Twilight to realize her pause.

She gave her head a shake before depressing the button on the microphone again. “Sorry, I’m fine,” she replied shakily, once again slightly off put by hearing her own voice through the headphones just after she’d spoken. “I just- uh … Wow!” she said, settling on the monosyllabic exclamatory in place of nothing else to say.

“You could say that again! That was so awesome, I don’t even know what kind of word could describe it! Awesome isn’t enough!” Vinyl exclaimed, jumping up onto her hooves and raising her forelegs high over her head to try and demonstrate how much better of a word she would need. “It was- It was-”

“Incogitable?” Twilight suggested blearily.

“INCOGITABLE!” Vinyl affirmed, practically screaming into her microphone. She hopped in place, dancing in an ecstatic display of her happiness. “I can’t believe I got all of that on my tapes! This is gonna be so fuckin’ awesome! Nopony’s gonna believe me when I tell them that this was made by the same pony all at the same time,” she said breathlessly, scrambling at the controls again to shut off the recorders.

The low hum of the machines ended, the presence of the noise having gone unnoticed until it was silenced itself. “Well I guess that’s a vote of approval,” Marty said, leaning slightly around the microphone as if to peer through the glass. “I actually like the feel of this guitar, if that’s alright. Mind if I buy it off you?” he asked, directing his question to the still ecstatically bouncing pony beside Twilight.

“Dude, keep it!” she replied giddily, almost forgetting to press the button to speak to him. “After that, I should be paying you!” she beamed, another uncharacteristic giggle escaping her. For some reason it was off-putting to Twilight, she’d never heard Vinyl do much more than give a cackle that she would normally relate to Rainbow’s way of laughing.

She pushed it out of her mind, marking it down as simply jitters from meeting somepony she’d always looked up to but never had the chance to truly meet. Although, Marty had been a bit more subdued in admitting his admiration of Twilight.

“The guitar’s probably more than enough, Vinyl. Thank you,” he replied, rolling his blank eyes. “Actually, if it’s alright with you guys, I think I might need a break,” he said, finally showing some amount of exhaustion that let Twilight finally latch back to reality.

“Alright, and while you recover, we can share notes. I’m very interested in hearing how you pulled this off, Marty,” Twilight said into her microphone, turning to Vinyl as she stood up. She removed her headphones before continuing. “This was … educational. Thank you again, Vinyl, for taking time out of your recording session,” she said, trying to make it clear that her hospitality had not been unappreciated.

“Twilight!” Vinyl replied in exasperation, removing her headphones as well. “I should be thanking you for finding this guy! Where was he hiding anyway? … I haven’t heard a thing about him since he sort of … dropped off the map,” she asked, following Twilight as they made their way out into the hall.

“As far as I know, he was just lying low while he did some … soul searching,” she replied happily, not wanting to spread too much of Marty’s personal history that he’d trusted with her.

“Well, I guess I shouldn’t pry. None of my business after all,” she said, shooting Twilight a sly wink as she finally lowered her sunglasses back over her eyes. “Keep him around for me, will yah? I’ll go get some stuff for that guitar, a case and stuff. Just meet me outside,” she said slyly, brushing past Twilight to the door leading into the shop proper.

After leading Marty through the door with a bit of juggling with the guitar to make sure it didn’t get too bumped around, they made their way out to meet Vinyl. After a short exchange where Vinyl made sure to reaffirm just how much she enjoyed listening to him play, they packed up the guitar and made their way out back to the library.

Vinyl saw them out, and waited at least half an hour just to make sure they weren’t coming back before moving back into the recording studio, the door locking firmly in her wake. She squeezed back in behind the console, her magic separating one of the panels to reveal the wires that connected everything together.

The mishmash of wiring would have been overly confusing for even some of the more talented ponies with cutie marks pertaining to magical machinery that she knew. But to her, it was only a layer to cover the true purpose for the entire studios systems, and she could honestly live on without truly knowing how it worked.

Her magic pulled the wires gently to the sides, revealing the brightly glowing gems underneath. They each were set in brass and gold rings that allowed the copper wires to wrap in coils nearby them to conduct the magic both into and out of them. She scrutinized the gems for several long moments, taking careful account of the new greyish color and the intensity of the light coming from each one.

Her horn glowed as a gem-encrusted magnifying glass lifted itself from its own compartment underneath the wiring, snaking its unassuming appearance out from the tangles. To anypony else, it would simply appear to be some family heirloom that she kept safely hidden away in case somepony decided they’d prefer to take it from her. However, its purpose was much more than its appearance, as were many things in magic.

The base clicked into a slot among the many different sized input and output jacks in the console, indistinguishable from any of the others. Once it was rooted into its proper place, her magic flowed through the complex system of gems and the glass swirled into an opaque purple.

After a few moments, like smoke clearing, an image appeared in the encrusted spyglass. Glowing yellow eyes stared back at her from the glass, a leathery drape falling across the rest of the face and hiding their owner’s identity.

“I hope this is important, I was in the middle of dinner when you called,” a smooth voice floated gently from it, slight vibrations in the glass creating the sound. Vinyl cringed at the other’s words, unable to stop a shiver from snaking its way down her spine and into her thighs.

“It is important, ma’am,” she said as calmly as she could, swallowing the lump in her throat before continuing. “I found him,” she whispered, as if still afraid that somepony would walk in and find her.

The eyes widened and the drape over the rest of the face went taught. But then they narrowed, and the owner’s voice had turned to a hiss. “Elaborate on this claim,” she demanded, pausing just long enough to cut Vinyl off before she spoke again. “And be very careful what your next words are. It would detrimental to your future health to raise my hopes too high.”

Vinyl swallowed, true fear slithering through her and making her shake. “It’s really him, Martyr. I’m absolutely sure of it!” she said, doing her best to keep her tone respectful. “It’s exactly like the stories! His magic, his eyes, his music. He even admitted to it when I asked! I promise you, mistress, I know it’s him,” she said, ending in a pleading tone.

The eyes softened, a low purr making its way out of the glass. “Don’t fret, my dear DJ-PON3,” she said, carefully pronouncing each symbol of the title that Vinyl had chosen for herself. “I believe you. I can see the readings you picked up now; they are very promising. Is there anything else I should know? Does your partner know anything else?” she hummed, her voice now reassuring, an almost motherly tone.

“No, ma’am, not yet,” Vinyl answered quickly, eager to stay on the other’s good side. “But Twilight Sparkle was with him, and they seem very close,” she admitted, seeing the softness in the eyes change into a smile.

“You’ve done so well, my little pony. We’ll be in touch very soon,” the voice responded, her voice low and sultry. Vinyl shivered and stifled a whimper, watching as the image returned to swirling smoke before clearing in the glass.

She let out an explosive sigh, collapsing into the pillow behind her and simply laying there for a moment. After a little while, her horn glowed and her magic deftly picked up a small, pre-rolled piece of paper from behind her machines. She placed an end in her lips, lighting the end with a spark of her magic and inhaling deeply as herb began to smoke.

She held her breath for as long as she could, letting out the smoke in a large cloud. With another sigh, this time one of contentment, she enjoyed her joint. “Octy’s gonna love this,” she mused aloud, happy to finally have the chance to leave this town. She blew a smoke ring, letting the drug do its job.

Author's Note:

ITS DONE!!! FINALLY, after months of considering and tinkering, I made something decent to shove down your throats show to you guys! I actually have a decent plan now as to where this story is going as well, and I hope to make good use on my dark tag at a later date. A cult seems mostly original, how's that sound? Also, should I put a slice-of-life tag on this now? Looking at the subject of the last couple chapters, and the ones coming leading up to nightmare night, it might be needed.

Anyway, song in this chapter was Disease by Matchbox Twenty

Prepare for a talky chapter next, involving MAGIC!!! Also, I think I came up with another way to write in music, so expect some experimentation on one of the next ones as well.

Normal spiel goes here: Please tell me what you think down in those comments, I love reading them.

Comments

[Syndicate Luna]

ok, description got my attention *adds to read later*

[-Brutus]

Those three crusaders always causing trouble ha!

But but that cliffhanger!

[Luna Secret Stallion]

Cherry is awesome enough said!