With a bright flash, Vinyl found herself in pitch-black darkness. However, powerful lights flooded her vision, illuminating a football stadium filled with screaming ponies holding up various banners and foam fingers. Looking up, she saw the stadium lights and the number of fanatic ponies sitting all around her. Behind her was her friends, all rather confused as to where they were. Curious Apple Bloom attempted to poke a fan pony sitting next to her, but the mare fizzed like a holograph and caused the whole stadium to fade in and out of focus like a broken television set.

Turning her head back to her foward position, Vinyl discovered her opponent, Discord, who was still wearing that irritatingly smug smile. A microphone appeared in his paw, as he suddenly took on the voice of a heavy-weight wrestling referee.

"Weeeeelllllcome all you electro-heads, to the first annual Dubstep Duel! Are you ready to drop some bass?"

The crowd went wild, throwing their hooves in the air and blasting airhorns at full volume.

Discord put his eagle claw to his ear, "I can't hear yooooouuu!"

The crowd's loudness increased, as if their volume were being controlled remotely. In fact, they became so loud that Vinyl was forced to cover her ears.

"That's better!" Discord then pointed to himself, "In this corner is that amazingly good-looking, master of all things chaotic -including dubstep-, and soon-to-be ruler of all Equestria, the amazing Discord!"

The crowd went insane. Some mares were squealing like fangirls.

Jeez, vain much? Vinyl wondered.

Discord then pointed to the white unicorn. His voice returned to normal upon announcing Vinyl, "Oh, and over there is just some mare named Vinyl Smack."

"Scratch." Vinyl corrected, "How do you get smack mixed up with Scratch anyway?"

The crowd was unfortunately, dead-silent for Vinyl. Luckily, the Cutie Mark Crusaders in the stand behind her were cheering her on.

"You can do it, Miss Vinyl!" Apple Bloom encouraged.

"Yeah! Win it for us!" Sweetie Belle cheered.

"Kick his mixed-up butt, Vinyl Scratch!" Scootaloo added.

Discord put his microphone away and faced Vinyl, "Chose your weapon, pony."

Vinyl promptly expanded her bass cannon. She stood upon her hind legs, her forelegs on the switches and buttons of the oversized speaker. Discord only smiled at her as he slowly pulled out a tiny remote control with a single red button.

Vinyl held back a laugh, I might stand a chance after all!

She spoke too soon. Discord pressed the button and placed the remote on the ground. It quickly began to expand into a giant machine that towered over Vinyl. The giant, twenty-foot speakers loomed over her like an approaching storm. Between the speakers was a turntable that was three times larger than Vinyl's bass cannon. In fact, her bass cannon looked pathetic compared to Discord's fully equipped DJ system.

Never mind... Vinyl gulped, I'm doomed...

"Don't let him intimidate you, Vinyl!" Rainbow's voice called from behind, "You got this!"

Vinyl composed herself, Yeah, she's right. I'm Vinyl Scratch for crying out loud! I'm the best DJ in Equestria! Plus... She looked over at the discorded Octavia, who was taking no interest in the competition, I need to get the 'tavia I know back...

Discord interrupted her thoughts, "Are you ready?"

Vinyl slowly nodded, "You bet your mixed-up flank I am."

"Very well..." Discord pointed up at the big screen, currently displaying Vinyl's cutie mark and a cotton candy cloud with health bars next to each symbol, "This measures the health of both the bass cannon and the bass cannon-er. Whoever's cannon breaks first, or whoever is blasted out of the ring is declared the loser."

"Got it." Vinyl wondered why he was informing her so much if he wanted her to lose.

Discord pointed to her bass cannon, "You're up first, Latch."

This made Vinyl very mad, "For the last time, Discrud... IT'S VINYL SCRATCH!"

From Vinyl's bass came a beam of powerful electronic music that rocketed its way to Discord, hitting him and his "weapon" at high speeds. The sound of crackling electricity shot through the air, making Vinyl's fur rise to unnatural heights. She did not hold back, allowing her bass cannon to blast at full power. However, her cocky attitude was quickly diminished when a much larger beam of bright red counteracted her blue beam. The red beam broke the crossfire and hit Vinyl.

What she experienced at that moment was almost deadly. The blasting, heavy electronic was beating against her eardrums, while the noise unto its self was powerful enough to cause her and her bass to start slowly skidding backwards. She held her ground as the powerful bass drop faded out and allowed her to regain her footing. When the beam was gone, Vinyl had already taken a serious beating. Her ears were ringing, while her mane was a torn-up mess. Sure, it might have been awesome...

...But Discord was still standing there, completely unharmed by Vinyl's blast.

Whoa... Vinyl started to think, fixing her mane, That was so freaking epic... Wait! What am I saying?! I've got to stop him!

While Vinyl was dwelling in her thoughts, Discord began to gloat.

"Face it," He said, "You don't stand a chance! I've been doing this for thousands upon thousands of years! I 'invented' dubstep, for crying out loud!"

Vinyl came up with an excellent comeback, "Y'know... Sometimes the novice outdoes the master!"

She fired again. This time, Discord was too caught up in his gloating to respond and was hit with the blast. Unfortunately, he managed another drop of his own and immediately counteracted Vinyl's blast. Vinyl refused to be beaten and kicked up the power so that both beams were caught in a crossfire. The beams couldn't keep it going, so they eventually exploded, throwing up dirt and sand in both dueler's faces. Vinyl was unable to see for a moment, allowing Discord to take this chance and blast her with another drop. She was hit and almost went tumbling backwards, but kept her hooves on her bass cannon.

Over the noise, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had a conversation.

"I don't think it was a good idea to sit right behind Vinyl!" Cried Apple Bloom.

"What makes you say that?!" Sweetie Belle yelled over the music.

"Because Discord's blast is coming DIRECTLY AT US!"

Another blast hit Vinyl, this one so powerful that it trailed out from behind her and rocketed to the stands directly behind her. Vinyl's supporters were subjected to incredibly loud dubstep of epic proportions. They were forced to cover their ears at the sheer noise of it all.

"How can anypony like this excuse for music?!" Sunset screamed.

"Whatcha' talking about?!" Scootaloo yelled back, "This is TOTALLY AWESOME!"

"YEAH!" Sweetie agreed, as she began headbanging to the beat of the music.

"Pretty sure you're only suppose to headbang at a metal concert!" Apple Bloom stated.

"I don't care! It's just too awesome!" Sweetie shot back.

Vinyl had recovered as Discord withdrew his bass drop. She glanced up at the big screen, seeing her health bar in the yellow zone, while Discord's was still well into the green. She had to stop playing around if she wanted to win. Checking her bass cannon, she noticed one of the metallic sidings had been ripped off. Some electrical wire was exposed, meaning she couldn't push it too hard, or she could end up causing a fire.

I can't compete with this, Vinyl thought, My bass cannon is too weak. Maybe... She started to push every button and pull every switch in hopes of powering it up. Maybe building it up would prove to do somethin-

BOOOOOMMM!

Vinyl was blasted backwards by her bass cannon, smashing her against the arena walls. The sheer force of the music emanating from the cannon was enough to cause it to fire backwards from the beam. The beam itself was bigger, stronger, and louder than anything Vinyl had ever made with her cannon before. The beam hit Discord, who was forced to grab onto his turntable and hold on for dear life. The rest of his long, slender body whipped out behind him, unable to stabilize his gravity due to the power coming from Vinyl's bass cannon. He lost his grip and went tumbling head over heels into the wall, smashing against it at a speed that would have killed a normal pony.

When the music faded, Vinyl was nearly crushed pancake-flat by her own bass cannon. Both her bass cannon and herself fell to the ground. She was the one to complain, for Discord was literally smashed pancake-flat against the wall. He peeled himself off and popped back into his original three dimensional form before standing up and glaring at Vinyl murderously.

"You're dead, Match!" He growled.

Vinyl rolled her bass cannon back to its original position while hiding herself behind it. Discord returned to his position behind his turntable and wasted no time firing up another blast. Vinyl ducked behind her bass cannon just in time as the beam rocketed around her protection. She saw more of the bass' siding being torn off and thrown backwards. She could smell an electrical fire within the cannon's circuit board.

Vinyl was hoping for Discord to stop, but he did not. He continued to fire blast after blast. Her bass cannon was falling apart and was getting increasingly hotter with each blast that Discord fired. Eventually, the bass cannon could not hold on and flew directly over Vinyl's head, smashing into a million pieces when it hit the wall. This allowed the blast to hit Vinyl, pushing her into the wall as well. She crashed into the wall, hearing the sound of her body cracking in objection.

The music faded. Vinyl fell on her back, dazed from the hit and dirty from the arena's sandy ground. Her supporters gasped.

"Vinyl!" Thorn cried, trying to jump over the walls to enter the arena, but an invisible force field of magic stopped him.

"Nice try, cheeselegs," Said Discord with a laugh, "But I'm afraid you can't help this failure of a bass dropper. She's mine now."

"Ouch." Sunset added, "Harsh diss."

Vinyl sat up. Seeing her bass cannon in pieces and Discord slowly approaching, she gasped and scrambled to the wall with her back against it.

"Sorry, Patch," The spirit apologized with fake sincerity, "But you failed. You lost the game. You know what that means?"

Vinyl started breathing erratically. Her ears were flat against her skull and her eyes registered intense fear. She couldn't believe she had lost; not just the game, but her friends, Equestria, and soon, her own mind.

However, little did she know that her ex-best friend was watching the whole thing. Something tugged at Octavia's heart, a feeling that had been dead since Discord had brainwashed her. Something was building, urging her to do something she just couldn't figure out. However, her discorded half was fighting it, blurring her memory and making her cold.

Glancing down, Octavia saw a piece of Vinyl's shattered bass cannon laying in front of her. She leaned down to pick it up, but immediately doing so resulted in the familiar dizzy feeling taking over her. She was plunged back in time, back to the time she met Vinyl on the beach. Her life from that very moment flashed before her eyes, all those wonderful moments she shared with her best friend in the entire world. The most memorable one being the time that they defeated Nightmare Moon with their combined powers of friendship. That one moment was the greatest one that Octavia had ever experienced. She realized something at that very moment that blasted the effects of Discord's spell to dust.

What was I thinking?! Vinyl is my best friend!

Octavia coat returned to its normal color, the determined, fiery glow coming back to her eyes. She was dazed for a few seconds, but managed to register what was going on. She saw Vinyl, being picked up by the scruff of her neck and lifted up to Discord's face. The white unicorn had closed her eyes and accepted her fate, awaiting for whatever her enemy planned to do with her. However, it never came, for Discord suddenly cried out and dropped her on the ground.

Vinyl allowed her eyes to open. She saw Discord a few feet away, lying on his back while he rubbed his claw hand, apparently having something hit it earlier. Between Vinyl and her opponent was the familiar gray mare with her cello bow in her mouth, crouched down into a battle stance. Vinyl's eyes widened as she gasped with surprise.

"Paws off my best friend, Discrud." Snarled Octavia.

---

Soooo... Whatcha' think? Epic? Meh? Totally amazingly mega awesome? Any review will suffice!

(If it wasn't awesome enough, I recommend listening to heavy dubstep while rereading this chapter. That should add to it)