Perspective of Vinyl Scratch.

It had been three months in the making… well maybe a year in the making really. It had been a full year since my last concert and single release. But however, it had only been three months since a little filly somehow got me back on track.

A long time ago, in the wake of Treck’s attack, I lost my voice completely. Oh Celestia was I in the dumps after that. I tried to keep my spirits up, but I couldn’t sing, so how could I DJ without a voice? I didn’t have my music.

However three months ago I met a little filly who even after nine months of nothing being produced by me, still believed I was the best DJ in all of Equestria. She showered me with praise, stars in her eyes the whole time. I had been feeling so alone without my music, but she made me feel appreciated again.

Over time that little Filly, just by believing in me and working with me, as I had agreed to train her, gave me the confidence to try to make a comeback based just on my music, never mind my voice.

One day when training little Lightning Strike, my music attracted a crowd and somehow I got roped into finally making my own comeback concert a reality.

Today was the day of that comeback. I set up my mix track and a small keyboard. Around me I looked at several stallions and mares doing checks on my speakers. I looked up to see my lighting arrangement. It was all perfect. I had thought about scaling back, as not having a hit in a long time, my funds were drying up. However my sister Octavia gave me a loan saying “You’d better be paying me back by keeping up your part of the rent.”.

I smiled thinking about Octy. I looked out over the audience and saw, yep, sure enough, she was there. She hadn’t the slightest interest in rock music normally, save when we combined our music, yet still she was there, cheering before the music was even about to start.

I smiled huge. Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack, Button Masher, the CMC, Rarity, Soarin the wonderbolt, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Lyra… so many ponies had shown up, so many of them my friends… well I didn’t really know Soarin but one can pretend right?

I turned my ears right as I heard four small hooves skittering across the stage and zipping over to me. “It’s happening! It’s happening! It’s happening! It’s happening!” Lightning shouted. “I’m on stage with Vinyl Scratch!” She slid to a stop just before running into my set up. I chuckled looking at her outside the setup, her apparently trying to find a way around. I walked back and around to get out of the surrounding various objects, walking onto the stage to join her.

WHAM! And thus a little yellow pegasus filly with a bazaar lightning shaped blue mane jumped into me and hugged my neck tightly. She slowly let go, tears streaming down her face. I grinned at her. She turned around. I lit up my horn, projecting the words “WELCOME TO THE SHOW!” over my head. Lighting flew next to my head, mouth fixed in an open smile.

The crowd erupted into a cheer. No, a small town isn’t as loud as most full sized rock concerts, but screw anyone trying to point that out, it was great. Especially according to my filly fan. “I’m here! I’m here! I’m here! I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die happy!” She started scanning the crowd. “Where is he?”

‘Where’s the princess?’ I wrote on a note pad, showing it to her.

“Um,” she scanned the audience. “Don’t see her.”

I looked up, finally seeing the princess of friendship herself come in for a landing. Fashionably late I suppose. Anyway, when she landed she looked down for a moment. As she looked up a small blue earth pony colt, looking about six years old, floated up next to her head in a purple energy bubble. His dark mane had a single yellow highlight running through it looking just like the last light of the day. “DUSK!” Lightning shouted, seeing her brother, him waving at her. “HE’S HERE. I’m here, I’m here, I’m here with Vinyl Scratch and my best friend is watching, my life is complete!”

She looked at me, beaming. I shook my head, levitating my notepad in front of me again and writing ‘Complete? What about your cutie mark? Or your first show?’

“Well let’s be fair,” she said. “I’ll probably get the mark, but a show? I’ll probably just be performing at a few parties if I’m lucky.” I shook my head at her. “You don’t think I’ll make it that far?” I almost glared at her, raising my hoof. “Further?” she said cocking her head to the side.

‘You better at least try. You’re my student after all!’ I wrote. She laughed and nodded. ‘Now we’re about to start, I need my pyrotechnic so get over there.’

“Considering it’s me isn’t it supposed to be… electro… tech… nic?”

I closed my eyes and shook my head, still smiling. ‘Move your butt.’ She happily skittered away to the right side of the stage.

I was center stage, but Lightning was closer to the crowd… Okay so I fibbed a little. Lightning had done a little more to get me back on stage than just be an adoring fan. She had a certain… talent, that tended to attract crowds under the right circumstances.

The crowd quieted down.

I hit the base a low hum going over the crowd, Lightning Strike waiting for her cue, her wings outstretched. I then started a prerecorded track, accompanying it with a few notes from the key board. I had chosen the song, Atomic by She. Lightning would soon show the audience why.

“It’s just like you always wanted to be…”

Okay so right off the bat, one of the primary reasons I chose that song, is that no one really cares that much if the voices are prerecorded. When she performs, Lightning tends to try to sing, which is hilarious at best and ears bleeding horrible most of the time. I have tried to make her stop, but she is only eight and I think it’s a bit of an involuntary reaction.

I turned up the music when the words started to come in, only a few ponies in the front hearing Lightning’s singing, and they weren’t mean about it.

The second occurrence of the first verse, Lightning started to fly in place just a few feet above the ground. As she flew, strange disturbances started to happen around her, many in the audience looking at her curiously.

“Don’t stop you’ve got moves to kill!”

I dropped the base a little for the chorus, Lightning dropping to the ground and well… Lightning struck. Quite literally.

When Lightning landed she slammed her right hoof into the stage and a bolt of electric energy shot up into the sky, a small rumble shooting over the crowd. Cheering erupted.

In came the chorus and I hit the volume again and the crowd was on it’s hooves. Everyone was moving with the music, including myself of course. I hardly noticed as electric bolts shot out from Lightning. Lightning was not exceptional at dancing, but her magic discipline classes had been helping her control her unusual electricity powers like a pro. The bolts looked dangerous, and probably were, but they only flew out harmlessly over the crowd.

It was fun to watch the different ponies in the crowd during that chorus, especially the kids, but also a few of the adults. Scootaloo started moving her shoulders and stomping with the beat, her friends Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle doing their best to keep up. Next to them was little Dusk, doing his favorite kind of dance, tap dancing, which he seemed to try to fit to everything. In the middle of the crowd was Button Masher, he was slightly moving his shoulders, but mostly he was just staring slack jawed at the bolts of electric energy erupting overhead, his head shrinking down slightly every time one of them was too loud or got closer to the crowd than usual. It was a good thing I had made sure all the pegasi were given strict instructions not to fly. Thus…. Yes it was hilarious watching Rainbow Dash standing there, completely and obviously lost as to what to do.

The chorus wound up, then down again. Finally came the next base drop. I lowered the volume as it came in, getting read to suddenly raise it with Lightning’s next big pulse.

Right on cue she- fell backwards, crab walked back and looked ahead with a look of absolute terror. She recovered her hooves, but continued to lean down, wings stuck to her sides, head trying to escape into her shoulders and eyes wide.

Needless to say, I stopped the music. I looked over the crowd to see what she was looking at. I noticed a gray pegasus stallion flying over the crowd. I was a little ticked to see that. Had she accidently hit him or… wait… his wings weren’t flapping. They were just stretched out from his body and he just hung there in the air.

His eyes were shut and his tail and mane blew in the- frankly non-existent wind. He slowly opened his eyes. Looking at him I stepped back a few feet. His eyes were completely blue. Not just the irises, no, his full eyes, save for small black pupils, glowed a light blue. I’m not sure he even had irises. He looked so wrong I almost shivered just looking at that stallion.

The strange stallion then slowly smiled. As his lips curled back I couldn’t stop myself from a full on shudder. His teeth were like those of a shark and also glowed blue. Perhaps that would have made me laugh had his mouth not just kept… opening I guess. His lips didn’t stop where they were supposed to, instead they kept going, like they were splitting his face apart. As they continued to curl away, more and more teeth were revealed. His lips cut under those creepy eyes and kept going. His face didn’t stop opening until his smiled had cut almost into his neck.

What the heck was I looking at? The ponies around had all finally realized the music had stopped playing, many of them looking at the strange creature in the air. Several older siblings and parents started to push their children under them like a slight precaution.

“Hello Lightning.” A deep voice said. It came from the creature, but he didn’t move his lips so… maybe it wasn’t his voice.

“YOU!” Lightning practically screamed. Electric energy spun around her, a field of energy slowly appearing surrounding her. Lightning started to lift into the air, propelled only by her electric energy, which was now starting to rip into the stage.

The image of the creature over the crowd disappeared. Lightning started scanning the crowd, as did I. The creature reappeared with its wings down directly in front of Lightning Strike’s face. Lightning’s energy field vanished and she dropped to the ground letting out a shriek.

That smile still terrified me, but as I saw that creature bearing down on my little friend, I crashed through my own equipment and galloped over. I was almost to them when the stallion’s head turned so fast it was like it was on a pivot. Staring straight into those glowing blue eyes and having that predatory smile aimed at me, my heart skipped several beats. I swallowed my fear best I could. Then he started slowly walking towards me and I started involuntarily walking backwards.

Finally feeling I was being pushed too far I started warming up my horn, glaring at the creature. My horn flared, a quick warning to the creature that I wasn’t joking.

CRACK! Lightning Strike screamed as something happened to one of her wings. She stumbled backwards, tears streaming from her eyes, her right wing hanging uselessly by her side.

“This is a declaration of intent,” Came the voice again, once again from the pony, but this time, his lips really did move. I kinda wish they didn’t, because instead of revealing his mouth to be actually normal size, his entire face started splitting open as he spoke. “The girl belongs to me, as does her young friend. I will take what I want and soon, what I am forming will cause a cataclysm that will be remembered until the end of time.”

I looked at Lightning, suddenly noticing a much larger yellow pegasus standing over her.

Fluttershy stood glaring at the creature, wings spread out, Lightning whimpering behind her. “Nopony hurts a filly in front of me!” she declared.

“Agreed.” Twilight dropped in front of me. “Come quietly or this will get ugly.”

“Personally I’m hoping to mess this freak’s face up even more than it already is.” came Rainbow Dash’s voice. “Go ahead and resist.”

The creature looked up at Rainbow Dash, flying several meters above all of us. His smiled seemed to deepen a little. She glared back down at him.

Something slammed into my shoulder and I started stumbling over. The pain wasn’t excruciating, but it sure got my attention. Where did that come from? A purple force field surrounded me.

“Enough!” Twilight shouted. “Trying to fight a little girl and a musician?” To my left Apple Jack pulled herself onto the stage and glared at the figure of the creature. I looked behind me to see several of my instruments and many planks of wood levitating above me. Rarity stood in the midst of it all. “Try fighting me and my friends. I guarantee we’ve fought tougher than you.”

The creatures laugh. “Oh no doubt you have, I’ve kept up with the news about you… five?”

“Over here!” came Pinkie’s voice. In the crowd she stood next to a large cannon that I’m sure she had basically pulled out of thin air. “Step away from the filly. No pony hurts kids while I’m around!”

“Do you six really even know this girl?” asked the creature, glancing at Lightning.

“Doesn’t matter,” Twilight answer. “We’ll protect her just the same. Now what’s it gonna be? You can surrender or you can fight. I don’t place much odds on you liking the outcome either way.”

“Or I could run away,” he replied.

“You could try,” Twilight answered.

The creature looked down, as if to think. “If I were to fight you and win, what would I really gain besides an injury that would likely impair or kill me? One or two of you I might challenge, but this is ridiculous. If I go with you, I’ll be imprisoned and my plan will come to nothing. Thus my decision has been made for me it appears.” He opened his wings, Twilight and her friends rearing back to give chase.

The creature disappeared. Everyone on stage started looking around. Even Rainbow Dash, from her vantage point didn’t seem to be spotting anything. She looked down at Twilight. Twilight cocked her head a few times and Rainbow smiled.

Rainbow Dash shot over the crowd, zipping around in ever widening circles. In a few seconds she returned shaking her head and looking confused. “It’s like he’s just gone,” she said.

Twilight closed her eyes. “I don’t like how confident he sounded.” She looked over my audience. “I want this crowd to disperse.” She announced. “Get to your homes. Please work with us everypony. Stay indoors for a little while and keep your children close. Please just do what I say.” The crowd dispersed.

This was Ponyville. We had had several monster attacks, thus most of us knew to listen to Twilight during one.

Rainbow Dash continued to scan the air as Twilight continued speaking to her friends, myself, Lightning… and for some reason Scootaloo jumped up on stage.

“Get out of here Scoots,” Rainbow said, finally coming in and landing.

“Um… momma Dash… I’m pretty sure Twi’s orders were for me to stick with my parent.”

“Oh right,” Rainbow said, walking over to her. I then noticed Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle climbing up on stage as well. They quickly went to their big sisters.  

“Where’s Dusk!” Lightning shouted, sounding like she was ready to panic. She looked left, then right. Turned out while no one was really looking, the quiet young colt had walked over to his sister’s right wing.

Lightning wrapped Dusk in a hug, looking like she was getting ready to get protective, however just as she wrapped herself around him, she fell off him screaming and starting to cry.

Twilight started giving orders. “Rainbow, you and Fluttershy stay with Lightning and her brother. Rarity, AJ, you stay here in case that creep comes back. Pinkie, you’re the fastest of the group-“

“Hey!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

“Go ahead argue with me,” Twilight said, raising an eyebrow to her cyan friend. Rainbow looked at Pinkie in irritation, the pink mare just shrugging.

“What I thought,” Twilight continued. “Pinkie, you search the town. Whatever that was should be easy to spot with just a glance.”

“Okey dokie loki!” Pinkie said and shot away in a blur of shades of Pinkie.

Twilight held up a hoof as if she meant to say something else, but then just shook her head. “I was gonna tell her to careful, but let’s face it, if someone actually manages to hurt Pinkie… I’ll be rather surprised.”

“I’ll be pissed,” Rainbow said, almost as if to correct her.

Twilight looked over at me as I walked over to Lightning. I had my magic very gently go around Lightning’s right limp wing. Lightning shrieked in pain. “You should go home Vinyl, I’m sorry your concert was ruined.” I shook my head at the princess. “Excuse me?”

I levitated my note pad out. ‘Remember our meeting with Lightning’s father? I’m her legal guardian while she’s in Ponyville.’

“Can you defend yourself?” she asked.

‘I am a unicorn after all. I think I can manage against a pegasus.’ I wrote.

Rainbow lowered her eyebrows at me. “You trying to say something?”

Twilight sighed. “Please not now Rainbow.” Rainbow rolled her eyes, but stepped back from me. “Stay on guard and stay together.” she continued.

Fluttershy got down next to Lightning and gently pulled the injured filly to herself. She nudged Lightning’s wing, the foal jumping and hissing. “Please, try to be brave little one,” Lightning actually wasn’t known for bravery. However with a combination of Fluttershy’s calming smile and Dusk calmly pushing her to stay put, Lightning, flinching like mad, was able to stand there while Fluttershy examined her wing.  

“How is she?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy slowly got up. “She’s not in immediate danger, but I think would be best if we get her to the clinic. Her wing is broken.” Lightning looked up at her in distress. “Oh don’t worry, it should heal with proper attention, you’ll be flying again in no time.” Lightning looked back at her wing whimpering. “I know it hurts,” Fluttershy said, gently brushing a hoof over the filly’s mane. “Like I said, just be brave.” She kept gently petting the scared child and turned back to us. “It’s like someone twisted it until several of the smaller bones got… let’s just say it should be looked at.” I levitated Lightning up and onto my back. “Um actually, I’ll take her, you just keep her wing stable alright?” Fluttershy asked. I nodded and eased the filly onto Fluttershy’s back. Once she was there I used my magic to just hold her right wing out and steady.

“Any idea what in the Sam hell that was?” Apple Jack asked.

“Library?” asked Rainbow. Twilight shrugged, but nodded.

“Someone has to see if anything like that has been seen before.” Twilight said. “She looked at Rainbow. “Rainbow, if there’s trouble, you come get me.”

“What?” Rainbow demanded. “Fluttershy can get you, but I should fight. My daughter is here and-“

“And you can get me in seconds as opposed to Fluttershy’s minute and a half,” Twilight interrupted.

“Fine,” Rainbow said. Twilight flew away without another word.

Fluttershy glided slowly forward, carrying my little fan filly.

As we started moving, I thought back to that creature. Those eyes and that head splitting smile made me shiver.

Lightning started hissing as I closed my eyes.

In my mind’s eye I saw that mouth laughing and those eyes staring at me. I froze. I felt a sharp pain in my back ankle. My eyes shot open and I looked back quickly. It was only Dusk. Course he was rather upset. “Wake up! You’re hurting my sister!” I looked at Lightning, who now had one eye wedged shut against the pain. I smiled at her apologetically.

As we traveled a few meters, something struck me about Lightning’s reactions to the pony. I couldn’t risk levitating my notes out to ask and sweet Celestia not having a voice is annoying at times. I supposed for the moment I would have to wait to ask.

Still as we kept moving, one question rolled over and over in my mind. ‘Lightning… you knew what that was didn’t you?’

I looked over at the filly, expecting her to have calmed down as she was being carried. Her eyes were however wide. She kept looking around and glancing at her brother, as if barely able to keep from panicking for both their sakes. She was shaking. I so wanted to ask. ‘Lightning, what was that thing?’

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