Don't do the robot!
"Presenting, for the first time ever ladies and gentlecolts, the fantastic robot mare! Gaze in fear at her clunky moves, stare in awe at her rigid jumping, use your eyeballs to view her as she slowly ambles towards m-- no wait Octavia I'm sorry!"
"Quit it then! I'm doing the best I can! Can't we take a break?"
The music dulled to a quiet thumping as Vinyl turned down the volume on her machine. It was a real beast of a thing; nearly twice as large as she was, with a compartment in the bottom for any records she wanted, over seventy different buttons and levers who's purpose Vinyl didn't even know, two huge speakers that were well worn from use and neon lights and stickers plastered on every available surface. With a tired sigh, Vinyl leaned over the machine; poking over the edge to make eye contact with Octavia.
"Come on, Tavi. The contest is tomorrow, we don't have time to 'take a break.' We need to whip you into shape, and fast. Now stop complaining and let's take this from the top again. Remember, you need to pop into a jive, but you can't pop into a groove. You need to build that one up through out the song, and drop it with the bass," Vinyl said.
The lights dimmed as Vinyl returned the volume to its normal state. Before she could truly get lost in the music though, Octavia stomped her hoof down loudly. Loud enough to ring through the air and shake Vinyl's turntable. "Vinyl! No, no, not again! Get down from there, we need to talk!"
For a minute, the music remained unchanged, until it was pierced by another sigh, and stopped completely. Another half a minute passed as Vinyl leaped over the turntable and landed gracefully on her feet. There was no time for a chat, Vinyl knew this, but it was better to be behind schedule than lose Octavia completely. After all, she was the crux of the plan. "Alright, cool, fine then. What's on your mind?"
"I can't do this, Vinyl."
They were the words Vinyl didn't want to hear. "What are you talking about? Yes you can! If that one legged pony with the eyepatch can dance, so can you."
"That was in a book."
"It was a very inspirational book though. Had pictures and everything." Vinyl said, staring into the distance before snapping herself back to the present, "What do you mean you can't do this?"
Octavia closed her eyes, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "I mean I can't dance. You've seen me, I look like a bloody fool while dancing. If you'd asked me to sing, fine, I can sing. I'm good at singing. If you'd asked me to play the cello, fine, I can do that too. I'd even prefer you'd asked me to play that thing you call an instrument; I have experience in that. But dancing? I don't dance."
"Come on, it's easy. If I can do this, than you can do that."
"I'm not giving you the liberty of finishing that reference."
Chuckling, Vinyl took off her glasses. "Alright, serious Vinyl now. Look at me, I'm being serious now," Vinyl said, "I really, really need your help with this one. This is probably my only chance to own an autographed 'Electric Fireflies' vinyl record. If I could, I would sell my own mother for that record. And if I could, I would enter that competition myself and take your place. But I can't, and I'm counting on you more than anything else in the world. Don't let me down, bro."
Octavia greeted Vinyl's serious attitude with a smirk, "You have dozens of autographed records."
"But none from the Electric Fireflies. That's why this is so important."
In order to sweeten her point and really drive home how desperate she was, Vinyl bit her bottom lip and did the closest thing a pony can do to a puppy-dog look. It was cute. Octavia, however, was having none of her tricks. "Why can't someone else take my place? What's Neon doing? Why can't you do it yourself?"
"Shush, me and him aren't speaking." Vinyl said, before leaping closer and throwing a hoof over Octavia's shoulder, "And I can't do it, because I'm the lucky mare who gets to play the music."
Slowly, Octavia lifted a hoof to her face; cradling it for a second before suddenly shooting herself straight again. "Who even are the Electric Firebugs? Why are they so important to you?"
Vinyl looked like Octavia had just snapped her favorite record in half and used the remains to dig a grave in the garden. "Who are the Electric Fireflies? Who are the Electric Fireflies! Tavi, have you been living under a rock for...right sorry," Vinyl said, suddenly remembering who Octavia spent her time with, "The Electric Fireflies are only the most popular techno remix group in Equestria. They are to music what the Wonderbolts are to flying. They're the ones who popularized the post-pre-progressive cyberswing-unirock subgenre. They're legends in Equestria. I tried to buy a ticket for their show once; line was so big it took me two weeks to get into the theater."
"Okay, I know you made half those genre words up."
"The point is, Tavi, these ponies are big. Not to mention they're practically my heroes. Their music is what got me into the industry, and truly was a large influence on who I am today."
"Wow. Have they apologized yet?"
"Oh haha, very funny. I need that record, Tavi," Vinyl said, throwing the puppy eyes back on.
Octavia was silent as she thought, but Vinyl knew what she was going to say. Any second now, her head was going to lull back, an annoyed groan was going to bubble out from her throat and she was going to attempt dancing once again. It was just the kind of pony she was. Octavia didn't give up on a friend, or practice. And this was both.
A groan went through the room as Octavia lulled her head back and stared at the ceiling. "Fine, very well. How does the move go again?"
Throwing her glasses back on, Vinyl took a position in front of Octavia so she could explain better, a smart grin on her face the whole time. "It's easy, I made it so it was easy." Vinyl explained, going through the motions of the dance once again. By now, the counter was reaching somewhere in the hundreds. "And whatever you do, don't do the robot. Please."
"Why can't I do the robot?"
"That's exactly the question. Why can't you do the robot? One would assume it would work perfectly with your dance style."
"Har har. Seriously, what's wrong with the robot?"
Vinyl turned and, flicking her ears forward, said, "Nothing. I think it's a good move when performed well. But you're not good at doing the robot, and it drags the whole performance down."
Climbing back onto her seat in a way that was very reminiscent of Edmund Hillerhay's ascent of Mount Everest, Vinyl placed her hooves on the top of the disks loaded into the device. As the provider of music for the event, she wasn't going to deny she had an advantage in practice and for a second, the unfairness of that fact made her guilty. Until she peeked over the top of the machine again to watch Octavia trip over her own hooves and go tumbling head first into the ground.
Fair or not fair, they were going to need every advantage they could find if they were going to win this competition.
"Presenting, ladies and gentlecolts, the entrance of the amazing dancing robot!" Vinyl said mockingly, pushing herself off the wall she'd been leaning on for the last twenty minutes. It was a favorite of hers; that leaning space. Every time she waited outside the club she found herself leaning against it, as if by magic. The stones had even been worn down by it over the years.
"Very funny. Honestly Vinyl, we need to talk about this. First you work me till hours after the sun goes down, then immediately ask me to get dressed up and meet you at the club? Even if I wasn't working tomorrow, I need my sleep. Not everypony can afford to party all night. And day. And just about whenever she feels nopony is going to shout at her for playing loud music."
Vinyl chuckled and threw a hoof over Octavia, "Don't worry about it, this should only take a second. Come on in, I'll explain."
"The last time you said that I was set on fire."
"Please, I was on fire much longer than you; why do you always bring that up?" Vinyl said; ending the conversation quickly as she pushed open the door to 'her' club.
Despite the reputation her club carried, they weren't immediately blown back down the street by a sudden wave of music that blasted out. That would be silly, and no one would even be able to dance to the music. At that volume it would just be a dull thumping that gave everyone gathered a head ache. Vinyl knew enough about music to keep it at a reasonable volume; and taught the other DJ's to do the same. While she would gladly turn the music up while practicing, at work she had a strict 'no teeth rattling' limit.
The inside of the club was nothing special either, despite the same reputation. A small bar to her left, a dancing floor to her right filled with ponies and beyond that, a stage where the musicians could play without fear of getting overrun by the dancers. Nearly pulling Octavia forward and leading her directly into the crowd, Vinyl began to explain. "So we can both agree that practice didn't go so well today, right?"
Octavia shook her head, "I thought it went rather well. I learnt that thing with the hooves!"
If Vinyl heard, she was too busy chatting to the air in her own personal world to notice, "And since the competition is tomorrow, we need to throw things into overtime. Hit the clutch, ignore the speed bumps, pedal to the metal, full speed ahead, set a course for training from hell. Things are too slow, we gotta step it up, dude." Vinyl said, parting the crowd in front of her. A large red X was painted on the floor, and Vinyl pointed at it casually, "Can you stand on this X for a minute, mate?"
With a tentative hoof, Octavia tapped the X. Amazingly, it didn't spring up, catch on fire or start rotating widely; something that was uncharacteristic of things that Vinyl usually built. Carefully, Octavia stepped onto the marked spot and bit her lip as Vinyl walked away. The crowd was still parting before her.
"Theory and practice are all well and good; and nopony does practice better than you, but if we want to get things rolling in time for the dance off, we gotta get you dancing for real. Knock 'em out of the park, test yourself under a real scenario." Vinyl said, almost as an afterthought as she leaped onto the stage. With a quick nod, she dismissed the pony currently performing and took his place behind the turntable. It wasn't as good as the one she used at home, but most weren't, and she was familiar enough with it anyway that it didn't matter.
"Vinyl, I'm not sure I like where this is going."
Pushing a button on the board, Vinyl released a light fog over the crowd. "Relax Tavi, everything is going to be just fine. Just do a little dance, shake that tail all over the stage and most importantly, don't fall off! I haven't gotten you to sign the waiver yet."
Octavia's questions about waivers and dancing were cut off when the ground suddenly shook from beneath her and the X was launched into the air; bringing a perfect circle of the ground and Octavia with it. For a brief second, Octavia's mind tried to comprehend what happened while her body reacted on instinct. Her hooves pulled themselves into the center of the platform and Octavia leaned back so that she wasn't leaning over the edge anymore. "VINYL! Get me down from here!" She shouted as her thoughts finally processed down to her tongue.
Vinyl just chuckled to herself and turned the music up. "Relax Tavi-bro. You can't dance when you're all tense. Everypony's watching you, just do what I taught you."
She hadn't noticed it before, but at the mention of other ponies, Octavia was suddenly aware of just how exposed she was. Looking down, she could see dozens and dozens of faces. Faces watching her, faces judging her. A whisper was running through the crowd; a quiet thing that was kept hushed so that the dancer on high couldn't object to what it was saying. Bright pink spread across Octavia's face and her eye started to twitch, but she remained strong.
She could do this. She could totally do this. If she could stand on a stage and play the cello for some of the most important ponies in Equestria, she could certainly stand on a stage and dance for a couple of brainless ravers. All she needed to do was follow the steps she'd rehearsed. It could be easy; it was easy! It was no different from singing, or playing the cello, or any of the other performances she could do.
As she started though, she only became more aware of the ponies beneath her. A little voice was gnawing in the back of her skull, holding her back and whispering the truth into her ears. 'You look ridiculous, they're ridiculing you, you can't dance, why are you even trying?' Octavia's blush deepened, and the beat started to escape her, only aiding the voice in her head. 'You're getting the moves wrong, you're not relaxed enough, that pony over there is laughing at you, for Celestia's sake, just stop.'
"Vinyl, I...I can't do this!" Octavia shouted, her voice being lost in the music.
Luckily, Octavia's voice was always heard by those important to her. "Of course you can! Just dance! It's like one of your performances, except with more movement!"
"But I'm good at my performances!"
"You're good at this!"
Octavia scoffed, before she stopped moving completely. "Just get me down from here."
Vinyl slowly lowered the volume of the music in the air. "Come on, Tavi..."
"Get me down. Now."
She contemplated ignoring her, Vinyl really did. Octavia had no idea how hard it was to set something like that up in time for the contest. Of course, she was going to install it anyway, but now she had a legitimate reason for it. Not to mention she hadn't even turned on the neon lights along the side yet, or the fireworks. But, in her heart, Vinyl was a good pony, and she couldn't force someone to do something against their will. With a sigh, she flipped the switch in front of her, bringing the platform back to the ground. With another practiced move, she brought her mouth over to a small microphone.
"Sorry guys, she's not going for it. Shame. Ah well, anypony else want to try the lift out? Don't worry, only one in three ponies fall off."
"Can I try?" A pony shouted from the crowd. Vinyl focused on him quickly, raising an eyebrow. The pony was clearly drunk, struggling to even stand on his feet. In fact, if it wasn't for his friend next to him, he probably wouldn't even be able to do that.
"It depends, have you been drinking? Be honest."
The pony hiccuped, "Only...only two cups, miss."
Vinyl furrowed her brow, "Really?"
"Really."
"Alright then, I don't see why not. Get on, I'll take you up."
The pony below lit up, and rushed over to stand on the giant X. Or crawled over, as he lost his balance nearly immediately. Flipping the switch again though, Vinyl noticed something as he rose into the air. Something she should have noticed nearly immediately, and she was quickly kicking herself over for not realizing.
Octavia was gone.
"There she is! Ladies and gentlecolts, the great dancing robot has been found! And she's actually looking...pretty sad."
Pretty sad was an understatement, and Vinyl knew it. In fact, she'd only seen Octavia look this sad twice before; and both had been her fault. Now it seemed she'd need to add a third time.
Sitting down on the gutter next to her, Vinyl tried to find the right words to say. The cold bit into her coat; Canterlot always had the coldest nights, and she rubbed her hooves together to try and get some warmth. Almost absentmindedly, she shuffled closer to Octavia, rubbing their coats together. She still had no idea what to say.
So she said nothing. Her presence was enough.
They faced the cold, together yet apart, each waiting for the other to make the first move and break the silence. It wafted through the air like a tangible force, almost pressing in its intensity. And it seemed only fitting that the one causing it should be the one to break it.
"I'm sorry about...about freaking out back there. Don't they still need you in the club?" Octavia said, not looking at Vinyl.
"Nah, I got my bro to take the shift for a couple of minutes. Which means it's going to take me an hour to talk him down from the podium again." Vinyl said, chuckling, before continuing, "I've been a real jerk, haven't I?"
Octavia nodded, so Vinyl continued, "You really don't want to do this. I should have noticed."
"You're not exactly making it any easier with all that 'dancing robot' trite."
"That was a compliment, and I've just been a thick headed ponce, haven't I?"
"Pretty much. I mean...Moon, how many times do I have to say I'm not comfortable with this?"
Vinyl sighed, "Once. Once should have been enough. Why's dancing such a big deal for you?"
"It just is. Dancing is different from playing an instrument. I feel...exposed when I dance. It's like, when you have this huge cello, you can always hide behind that when you perform, or you can focus on it all you want. When you play an instrument, it doesn't matter who's watching, it's just you and your instrument. But when you dance, you lose that. It's just you. And you can't help but focus on the crowd, and notice everything they're saying and screw up because of it. You're exposed."
"It's not really that different..." Vinyl started, before Octavia rose her voice and cut her off.
"And not to mention, a pony like myself doesn't dance. Not like that. I'm an aristocrat, Vinyl, I don't dance like that. I slow waltz, or I tango, I don't 'mosh pit.' It's too out there. I feel exposed again."
Vinyl was silent as a cold wind picked up around them. She didn't know what to say. Why did she never know what to say? She panicked briefly, before steeling herself. Screw it, she was going to say the first thing that came to her mind.
"Nopony cares about you."
"What?"
Okay, maybe that could have been handled better. Vinyl panicked again, "What I mean is, you need to dance for yourself."
Octavia gave a tired smile, "Explain."
"Nopony cares if you can't dance. That's not what dancing is about. Let's be serious for a minute," Vinyl said, taking off her glasses, "There's no 'right way' to dance. All the stuff I've been teaching you? That's just how I like to dance. It's all the stuff I've learned from years of dancing. And even if you could dance as well as me, nopony would care. Sure, they'd look at you, and gossip or be impressed, but nopony really cares if you can dance. Nopony is going to look down at you for being a sucky dancer. That's not what dancing is about. Hell, ninety percent of one hundred percent dancers suck at dancing."
"That doesn't..."
"You dance for yourself, not for the crowd. The crowd is just a backdrop; like a wall or...well, nothing. You dance because it's fun. You dance half because you know how ridiculous you look, and half because you don't care. You dance because the music fills you up and you can't help it. You dance because you can. You gotta dance for yourself, Tavi-bro."
The chill finally succeeded in punching through her coat, and Vinyl felt a shiver run through her spine. As much as she loved Octavia, and as much as she liked to think of herself as a good pony; even a good pony doesn't want to sit in the cold all night talking about their feelings. "Listen, Tavi, if you don't want to dance in the competition, I don't want to force you. You do whatever you're comfortable with."
"But if I don't, you'll never get your record thing!"
Vinyl laughed, loudly, "Mate, forget it. It's just a signed record. Plenty more will be made, and this one isn't worth losing a friendship over. Besides, I'd be lying if I said I actually expected you to win. Hell, you'd be going up against Neon, no way you can win there."
"I thought you said you weren't talking to Neon!"
"Of course I'm not, dude wants to steal my record while I can't dance for it. He's the one who got me the music position to begin with, the sneaky bugger. Wish I'd thought of it first."
"You're insane."
Standing back up, Vinyl threw her glasses back onto her face, "Yea, we've gone over that. You coming inside or you gonna sit here and mope all night?"
After sitting still for another minute, Octavia forced her legs to move from under her. Smiling, she gave a small wave to Vinyl, "Nah, I'm going to head home and get some sleep. It's freezing out here and to be honest, I'm probably not going to dance if I go with you anyway."
"That's fine. Anyway, I need to be off. Gotta make sure drunk guy didn't fall off the lift. I think we threw a mattress down just in case, but apparently that's a fire hazard. Plus nopony is really sure where it came from, so we gotta check that out too."
"Very well. Goodbye, Vinyl." Octavia said, her hoofsteps clicking against the stones.
"Lates, Tavi." Vinyl shouted back, before disappearing into the welcoming glow of her club.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlecolts and jaw dropping robotic dancing ponies! To the...whatever year it is right now here in Equestria Equestrian 'Dance till you Drop!' Seriously, what year is it, like, 2000? I don't even know; I'm so drunk right now I'm amazed I can actually hold this microphone. Wait, hang on everypony, my manager is telling me that I shouldn't have admitted to my intoxication. Alright, alright, I can fix this. If any guards ask, I'm sober. If there are any guards in the audience, I would like to remind them that this job has a three drink limit for DJ's, and that I'm also locking myself in here, so good luck getting to me. Ha."
From her vantage point above the dance floor, Vinyl could see everything. She imagined this was like flying was like. Just this feeling of being really, really big and everyone else being really, really small. The booth she was in sat above everything, pressed against the wall as if the designer had forgotten about it until the room was built and suddenly remembered to add it at the last second. With a smile and a wink at the crowd below, Vinyl pulled the microphone closer to her mouth.
"Anyway, let's move on. I'm going to introduce the contestants today, starting with my absolute favorite, Neon Lights. He's really something, people. Willing to stab his friends in the back at a seconds notice and take all the glory for himself. We can only hope he suffers a sudden heart attack on the floor and has to be carried away on a stretcher."
"Are you still angry about that?" Neon shouted from below. Vinyl scoffed. From up here, he was so tiny. "I thought you'd love this job! You're getting paid in the hundreds!"
"I'd rather be getting paid in 150 grams of indented and signed vinyl. Which reminds me, anypony want to hear a funny story?"
"Don't do this, Vinyl." The tiny unicorn pleaded.
"Cause see, I remember this time me and Neon were at the club right? And from across the floor he sees this absolutely stunning beauty of a mare just sitting by herself. And I go, 'hey Glasses,' cause that's what I called him at the time, on account of his horrible glasses, 'you should totally go talk to her.' And he says,"
Vinyl was cut short as her attention was captured by someone waving at her from deeper in the booth. With a sigh, Vinyl turned back the crowd, "Alright, my manager is telling me to move on. Turned out she was a he. Didn't stop me from scoring though, BAM! Anyway, who's next on the list?"
The list of dancers was exactly like Vinyl expected it to be. Long, full of ponies nobody knew interspersed among the ponies who would actually win the competition and, above all, boring. Every time she tried to make a joke about someones flank, or the length of their name, her manager would step in and cut her off. She hated managers. She hated people without a sense of humor. Even Octavia removed the stick from her flank occasionally. If it wasn't for the pay Vinyl doubted she'd even still be there.
Finally reaching the end of the list, Vinyl read it out in a slow, monotone voice. She sounded like one of those announcers who was clearly too tired to be commentating a hoofball game, but showed up to do it anyway. "And finally we have Midnight Shimmer, a pony who is so obviously Princess Luna she might as well have just not even tried to disguise it. Seriously Luna, times have changed, you're allowed to mingle with people. At least cover your horn and wings for Moon's sake, no offense."
Leaning back, Vinyl took solace in the one pinprick of joy she still had left. Finally, finally she could play some music. A train could have burst through the wall and she would have continued to play, at least playing was actually doing something.
She'd gone over what she was going to play beforehand, and every one of her records were lined up in order; with what she was going to play first the closest to hoof. It hadn't been a hard decision, music was her specialty after all, but it was entirely natural to feel nervous before a show. At least, that's what she told herself. Lifting the first disk with her magic and placing it on the turntable, Vinyl placed her hooves on the machine. She could feel every groove in the record in front of her.
Seconds before she could start though, the pony behind her coughed loudly. The sudden noise threw her off, and a swift tap to her shoulder caused her to spin around. Her manager was standing there, leaning close and motioning for her to do the same. Vinyl sighed, and did so.
"Alright ponies, 'nother minute before we start, bear with us." Vinyl said to the crowd below, before straightening herself out, "Okay, okay, we have a new dancer. Can we get a spot light on them or something? No? Fine then, lights are over-rated. Anyway, can we all welcome the last dancer..." Vinyl paused for a moment, motioning at her manager for him to give her the name of the dancer before continuing, "The Amazing Dancing Robot."
"Moon, what a terrible name," Vinyl whispered to herself and placing her hooves back on the turn-table. "Music starts in two minutes, everypony get ready. Gonna open with some Electric Fireflies to remind everypony of what's at stake."
The first hour passed without much notice. Some ponies left, some ponies didn't, some ponies realized there was much better things they could be doing with their time. The second hour was much like the first, and the third. Vinyl occasionally laid down a comment or two to keep things interesting and humorous. It wasn't until the fourth hour that enough ponies had fanned out and Vinyl could actually get a good look at the contestants.
Neon was still there, having hardly broken a sweat from his dance infused body. He'd taken off his glasses somewhere around the two hour mark, and as a result he constantly squinted his blue eyes under the bright light of the dance floor. Vinyl spent a moment watching him from her vantage point in the sky, before moving on. She honestly didn't hate him for tricking her, she would have done the same thing. Really, her only regret was not doing it first. Still, he at least owed her a drink or something to make up for it, that was how it went. Don't screw your pal without taking them to dinner first. Or something. Vinyl wasn't sure.
Princess Lun Midnight Shimmer was also still in the running, but years of moon life and cake ingestion was beginning to take their toll, and Vinyl felt a little bad at how she...wait, was that Octavia?
Vinyl threw another song on and scanned the crowd for that glimpse of grey. She was sure she saw Octavia just a second ago, near Luna Midnight. She wasn't making this up, she was certain she saw something.
A flash of light blinded Vinyl for a second, even through her glasses, and she zoned in on the source by pure reflex. One of the newer dancers was wearing a gaudy 'robot' suit while they danced. Not a great idea, as Vinyl knew from experience that those kinds of outfits got really hot, really quickly, especially while moving around and under the lights. And it wasn't even that great, just some tinfoil wrapped around a bucket with eye holes. Overall, the whole setup just radiated the word 'new' like a radioactive sword freshly pulled from a clump of lead.
And then the mare started doing the robot, and Vinyl knew instantly that Octavia had decided to try and pull for her. After all, no one did the robot like Octavia did.
It was probably the way she kept her entire body rigid while moving her hooves alone that made it unique. Not a 'standing still' kind of a rigid, but a 'I was once hit by a carriage and it broke in half upon my stony body' kind of rigid. Or maybe it was the way she got her tail to move at only right angles. Most likely it was the fact that Vinyl's idea of a robot and Octavia's idea of a robot differed, and so Octavia's robot was more akin to an industrial toothpaste squirter than anything else. Freezing in place was definitely new though. So was the half drunken stumbling. Most robots Vinyl knew did have a habit of falling over though, so that was spot on when she thought about it.
The music skipped a beat as Vinyl's brain caught up with her eyes and caused her body to flinch. She abandoned the table for a minute and tried to leave the booth, but her manager stood in the way and forced her back. Swallowing down a disgusting taste growing in her mouth, Vinyl headed back to the window and picked out her friend once again. The crowd of dancers had parted to give her room, and the two paramedics on staff temporarily blocked Vinyl's view as they lifted her onto a stretcher. A word of panic nearly broke Vinyl's lips, but she fought it back. It wouldn't help anyway, nobody could hear her. The music faltered again, and Vinyl raced back to her post, remembering her job. It would be fine, it would all be fine.
Vinyl took a moment to change the song for the dancers remaining, and scanned the room again for Octavia.
She was already gone.
Vinyl awoke in confusion. Her hoof was sore from where her head was resting on it and her back ached from the uncomfortable position. Music throbbed in her ears as she slowly remembered what had happened, and with a quick movement she pulled the earplugs out of her head.
The hospital bed lay next to her as she leaned forward in her chair. She'd hurried over there as soon as the competition was over, just two hours ago. Octavia was still out of it. Vinyl figured she'd must have dozed off some time since then, if the clock on the wall was anything to go by.
"Good to see you're awake."
Vinyl immediately perked up, twisting her body to face the bed. Octavia was smiling weakly, clearly awake, but no better for ware. Her eyes had a tinge of bloodshot in them and a tube connected to her front hoof, but she was clearly awake. Vinyl wasn't sure whether it was appropriate to lean over and give her a big hug, but decided against it. Hospitals were no place to mess around in, hospitals were serious places. That's why she never wore her glasses in a hospital.
"I tried to wake you up, but I think your music drowned me out." Octavia said.
"How are you feeling? Good, strong, confident? Here, drink this, it'll help." Vinyl said, passing her a small bottle sitting on the ground near her.
"What happened?"
"You decided to go dancing in a crowded room with little ventilation in what amounted to a medieval suit of armour, you got heat stroke."
Octavia froze, suspending the bottle just in front of her lips. "I think you're not supposed to drink things when you have heat stroke."
"Are you thirsty?"
"Yes but..."
Vinyl shrugged, "So drink it. I'm trying to make you comfortable here, man. Why you gotta be hating?"
The bottle remained stationary, before Octavia took a big drink. "Well, forgive me. I suppose passing out and waking up in the hospital takes something out of you."
"Yea, that would be your wallet. I think one of the nurses took it."
Octavia let out a chuckle, before wincing. Vinyl assumed it was a headache. She remembered when she was once in the same situation, the headache was one of the worst she'd ever had.
"So," Octavia finally said, "Did I at least win?"
Now it was Vinyl's turn to laugh. "You came, like, thirty something. Neon and Luna Midnight danced it off for the finals before Neon took it away with a hip hop jive remixed into a 290 degree double twist pop."
"I don't...I don't know what half those words mean. And how did you do that thing with your voice?"
"Not important."
There was a moment of silence, and for a second Vinyl thought the conversation was over, until Octavia spoke up once again. "Thanks, thanks for sticking around. At the hospital. I really appreciate it. The only thing that makes me feel better are painkillers."
Vinyl smiled, "Well, thanks for pulling through for me. I thought you weren't gonna show up to dance."
"Please, I didn't do it for you. I did it...for myself." Octavia replied.
Vinyl couldn't contain her laughter. "That's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard you say. Sweet Celestia."
"Sh...shut up."
"Nearly as cheesy as calling yourself The Amazing Dancing Robot."
"Shut up."