I crouched on the balcony, covered in the ever-disgusting mattress cover.  S.A.T.S. was ready.  My sniper rifle was loaded and tucked at my side.  I actually hated myself for planning to ruin her performance.

Deadeyes hadn’t been stupid.  When I entered the balcony, I found a note had been left for me:  One shot to the target, one to the table.  The stage is rigged to explode if you shoot anything else.

Celestia burn him!  Even if I could get a message to Calamity, he was no better at disarming explosives than I was.  (Out of petty spite, I stole his copy of Applied Gemstones.)

Velvet Remedy drew the song to a tear-jerking close.  The audience, scores of raider ponies, sat utterly stunned.  Even Gawd’s beak had dropped open.  There were several seconds of dense quiet, the stage going dark save for the faintest glow from Remedy’s horn.  Then an explosion of hoofbeats shook the mess hall, vibrating the balcony and sending bits of debris down from the roof as dozens of ponies hoof-stomped in applause.

I caught Deadeyes shooting a glance up at the balcony.  Out of the corner of her eye, Gawd caught it too.  She dipped her beak into a tin drinking cup, her gaze never leaving him.

New music began to swell from the stage, an orchestra in a single horn.

Velvet Remedy began clopping a hoof on the stage, setting a rhythm.  Soon, most of the ponies in the hall were matching her stomp.

“Enough of this slow stuff, who’s here to party!?” she bellowed out, drawing a roar from the crowd.

My ears were up; my eyes widened.  And for a moment, I completely forgot about the sniper rifle at my side.  All that mattered was that I didn’t recognize this music.  I’d never heard this song!

“Gallop, don’t trot, night’s burning hot, don’t make me wait to go!
Band’s playing loud, screams of the crowd, this here’s what feeds my soul!
If you’re not smiling, you’re not trying!
Start a riot!  Don’t be quiet!
Hoof to the floor, just give me more, I need my rock ‘n’ roll!”

By Celestia’s grace!  She’s going to set off any explosives under that stage herself!

I floated up my sniper rifle, now terrified of letting her complete the song.  With the light and sound now bursting from the stage, Velvet Remedy absolutely had every pony’s (and griffin’s) attention.  By Luna, I could probably start shooting and no pony would notice until half the room was down!  Well, if the stage didn’t go up in a fireball.

“…Don’t be lazy; just go crazy!
Why don’tcha get that it’s a PARTY?”

Flowing into the perfection of my PipBuck’s targeting spell, I locked onto a sequence of three targets.

BLAM!!  BLAM!!

First shot tore through the tin cup, splashing Gawd with her drink, and dug into the table.  Before anypony could react, the second ripped the top half of Deadeyes’ head clean off, splattering several of the ponies in front of him.  My third target was Velvet Remedy, who glowed with a light not of her own making as I telekinetically shoved her back through the heavy curtains and off the stage.

Fallout: Equestria Chapter 12