Chapter 4 Be Prepared
>You are Anon
>And you have a busy day ahead of you and a night that is sure to be remembered.
>You had a lot of fun dancing with Vinyl this morning and you are feeling considerably happier than usual.
>Who knew good music and good company could be so therapeutic?
>First off you had to contact a good friend of yours to do some advertising.
>You make your way through town towards lower Canterlot.
>The ponies of Canterlot have gotten used to your presence over the last year and now no longer cower at the sight of you.
>You finally come to a familiar red brick, two story, building.
>The sign was the same shitty one it always has been.
>Chat’s Advertising, I’ve got the hoof up on the competition!
>You seriously considered doing this yourself, but Chat knew everyone in town in some form or fashion…
>Good and bad ways.
>You open his door and walk inside to the same old worn out office that you were used to.
>In his favorite office chair was Chatterbox, he was the biggest gossip that ever existed, but when it came to advertising that could be a useful quality.
>Chat see’s you come in and yells out to you, “Well, if it isn’t my favorite shaved ape! Sit down, let’s talk shop!”
>Chat was the only pony who wasn’t automatically scared of you the first time you met… even the Princesses were wary of you in the beginning!
>The first thing out of Chat’s mouth when the two of you first met was, “You are gonna be big news! Let’s chat!”
>You take a seat in the specially designed chair he had made for you.
>Chat may be a lot of things you didn’t want him to be, but he was loyal to his friends, and that made up for a lot of his shenanigans… even if most of them made you want to pistol whip him.
>”Well Anon, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
>You looked at your friend, he was a simple looking pony, but that’s just what he wanted everyone to think.
>He was a bland beige colored earth pony with a dark yellow mane that you never got tired of making fun of.
“Well Chat, I need some help with advertising for tonight’s show…”
>”Say no more! I got ya covered!”
>He cut you off, full of enthusiasm.
“I also need you to advertise my new DJ.”
>Chat scooted closer to you, obviously interested to learn some new hot gossip.
>”Who is it? Anypony I know?”
>You give him your favorite smirk, basking in the knowledge that you knew something he most assuredly did not.
“Nope, she is new to the professional DJ-ing scene!”
>If he wasn’t interested before, he was absolutely enthralled now.
>”Well lay it on me Anon, don’t keep me in suspense who is she?”
>You let him marinate in the silence for a moment longer before answering,
“Her name is Vinyl Scratch, and her stage name is DJ-PON3”
>Chat tilts his head, obviously trying to remember if he had heard of her.
>”So you got a newbie hitting the stand?”
>That’s why you liked Chat so much, his bluntness was refreshing.
“She is not new to DJ-ing, I went to a show she did in Ponyville and she was good enough to have that backwater country town dancing their hooves off to dubstep!”
>”Well now, this IS something! Sounds like you found a diamond in the rough! Is she hot?”
>This guy… when he wasn’t talking out his ass, he was fuckin with his dick.
“Yeah, I’d say she was hot, why?”
>”She single? You think you could hook us up?”
>You sigh, same old Chat, this dude never changed… even after that PAIDS scare.
“As far as I know, she is single, but I am not helping you with this one.”
>He looks at you with a disturbing amount of intensity.
>”You got the hots for this one? I thought you couldn’t into pones?”
>You hate the fact he picked up on your lingo so quickly, you loved using references that other ponies couldn’t understand.
“Well… she is pretty badass, she has a great taste in music and I can’t seem to stop thinking about her…”
>Chat nods his head sagely, “I feel ya Anon, I’m just glad you finally got over yourself and decided to try and hook up! Does she feel the same way?”
>You were afraid he was going to ask that question.
“I don’t know to tell the truth, I think she likes me as a friend right now.”
>”Hmm, well I wish you luck, now tell me about this mare… we need to come up with an ad campaign for tonight!”
>You nod and proceed to describe Vinyl to Chat along with her stage presence.
>This goes on for a few minutes until he decides he has enough info.
>”Alright Anon, that should be enough for me to spread the word around town.”
>You shake your head,
“I want the full package, I want everyone in town to know that I have a new DJ, I want my club packed.”
>He raises his eyebrows, “You sure your girl can handle that many ponies?”
“She’s got this down pat… trust me.”
>”Well in that case I better get to work, I got a busy day ahead of me!”
“If it all goes to plan, I will pay you tomorrow.”
>He nods in agreement, he knew how things went with you, and your payments were determined by how well the club scene went.
>If all things went well, you and Vinyl were about to make a killing.
>The two of you head out of his office and he locks up.
>You exchange good-byes before splitting up, he had to start spreading the word around, and you had to go and pick up some supplies.
>You then head over to Berry’s Booze.
>This girl was the biggest drunk you had ever had the pleasure of meeting.
>She was from Ponyville originally, but when she had the chance to expand to Canterlot, she jumped at it.
>The two of you often spent Saturdays getting smashed at your bar and commiserating on how awesome alcohol is.
>You step into her shop and are instantly bombarded by the strong scent of booze.
>Behind the counter, nursing a drink, was Berry Punch.
>”Hey man, come on in! You wanna drink?”
>It was 10 in the morning and she was already slurring and asking customers to drink with her… God this pony was a pony after your own heart.
“Not today, I need to be level headed for this one. I am just here to pick up my shipment of whiskey for the club.”
>She stares at you blankly for a moment before she remembers what you were talking about.
>”Oh yeah, the whiskey from Appaloosa, just a second, let me go get it.”
>Even while drunk she knew when to be professional.
>She returns from, the back with a box perfectly balanced on her back.
>You have yet to understand the physics behind that.
>You take the box from her and open it to reveal 12 bottles of Appaloosan whiskey, the strongest in Equestria, sitting pretty at 145 proof.
“Thanks Berry, checks in the mail.”
>She looks at you like you just told her the sun was green and you amend,
“I will get you your money tomorrow!”
>She smiles and waves you off, obviously wanting to get back to her drink.
>You make your way back to the club so you can drop off the booze with the staff.
>When you get there they are having some sort of staff meeting.
>The floor manager waves a hoof at you to come over.
>When you get there they form a semi-circle around you… this could not end well.
>The manager, a pegasus named Chet, was the first to speak.
>”Anon, we need to talk…”
“Go ahead.”
>He seems to relax a little before continuing.
>”Some of the workers here, myself included, are concerned about our paychecks.
>”Yeah!”
>”Come on Anon!”
>”I haven’t been paid in a week and a half!”
>This concerned you severely, you had known money had been tight, but you could have sworn your accountant was keeping everyone paid.
“I understand your frustration, but tonight I have had confirmation that this club will be filled to capacity and with our new DJ I am confident we will have a bigger take than we ever had before!”
>Most of the staff visibly relax, there were a few who still looked worried, but for the most part their worries were laid to rest.
“Here is the replacement whiskey from Appaloosa, can you make sure we get restocked?”
>Chet has the liquor taken away be one of the barbacks asks you, “Are you sure this will go as well as you think it will?”
>You give that a moment to think about before answering,
“It has to, if we flop tonight, Blue Oyster Colts is probably going to go under and we will all be out of a job.”
>He nods gravely, he knew the stakes just as well as you did, that’s why you hired him to keep watch over the place while you were gone doing your own thing or too busy to take care of thing personally.
>You decide to check in on Vinyl, best to make sure she was taking tonight seriously!
>You are Vinyl
>And you are in the groove!
>You had your playlist coming together beautifully!
>The music was going to flow almost seamlessly from one song to another.
>You decided to mix up the track’s genres so as not to bore the crowd.
>Anon had left his music list on the table and you had spent almost an hour sampling some of it.
>You were so concentrated, you didn’t hear Anon enter the room, nor did you hear him approach.
>It wasn’t until he was bent over you, reading the list over your shoulder and he said, “This looks like a good set!” that you registered his presence.
>This scared the ever-loving shit out of you.
>You jumped so bad you slammed you head into Anon’s, who was sent reeling back into the table.
>He tripped and fell on his ass and you were left clutching your head in your hooves.
>So smooth Vinyl… so smooth.
>Anon gets to his feet and mumbles, “Geez jumpy much?”
>You feel like a total klutz as you reply,
“Sorry Anon, I was so in the zone I didn’t even hear you come in!”
>He gives you the smirk, he really like that thing, and says, “Well I was wanting a meeting of the minds, but not quite so literally!”
>You roll your eyes at his bad pun and ask,
“So what’s up, thought you had errands to run?”
>”I still do just wanted to make sure you had things well in hand, you obviously do so I will let you get back to it!”
>That was sweet of him, he may be bad with jokes but it was nice to know he legitimately cared.
>Anon walks out the door and you return to the playlist and ponder the next song on it… maybe try this thing called pop…?