//------------------------------// // Questions,Questions, and More Questions... // Story: Music To Our Ears... // by Prorook363 //------------------------------// Wow, Soundwave can really drop those beats! Why didn't Pinkie tell me this instead of the thinking part? That would've been ten times cooler! But he’s been doing it for a long time.... We’ve been in this music room the whole night and he hasn’t left the turn tables once. Do robots take bathroom breaks? I’m right here next to him, still listening to him dubbing and remixing a lot of tracks. He’s been doing scratching the discs for a while. I think I got him hooked…. “Hey, Soundwave, how about giving me a shot at the turn tables now?” I asked the DJ-ing robot. He didn’t hear me I guess, because he continued messing with the console. By Celestia, I hope he didn’t spend all his time here. He continued to spin the discs in front of him, and going through my laptop for tracks. I think he was lost. I needed to get his attention somehow. “HEY SOUNDWAVE!” I shouted. Soundwave flinched at the sound of my voice which caused his hands to slip off the turn table and create a halting screeching noise. I Finally got his attention. The robot turned to me and looked back at the turn tables. “Got a little…too into it I believe?” He told me a little astonished. I shrugged. “Oh I don’t know, maybe the whole night doesn’t shout addicted…” He gave me yet another one of his puzzled looks. I facehoofed. “Do you understand half the things I say?” I asked. Soundwave shook his head. “I am not familiar with your ways” he told me. My ways? What did that even mean? I was the one to give him a puzzled look now. Is he even from around here? Soundwave just looked at me for a while and then finally back to the turn tables. Oh no, you’re not! “Soundwave?” I questioned him. He began to work on the turn tables once again but looked over his shoulder to show he was listening. Soundwave began to play the music he helped me create, integrating sounds and beats that were totally wicked! But I couldn’t get distracted. I wanted to know more about my new friend. I shook my head from the trance of the awesome music and finally opened my mouth. “Where did you come from?!” I shouted, trying to be heard over the roar of the music. Soundwave looked at me with his glasses and looked back at the computer. Dang it he was ignoring me again! He really had the habit of not even listening. “Are all you robots this rude?” I asked him. He didn’t budge at all, instead moving to the beat of the song. I opened my muzzle once again to tell him something but was cut short by the booming of words coming from the amplifiers. I can dance all day! I can dance all day! Try to hit me! Try to hit me! (c’mon) My hearts beating, my hearts beating! My hands are shaking, my hands are shaking! But I’m still shooting! I’m still getting headshots like boom headshot! Boom headshot! Boom headshot! HEADSHOT. By Celestia I’ve never felt my jaw hit the bottom of the floor so fast in my life. The next sound that came out of those amps after the words were the sickest beats I’ve ever heard. If these beats were on my Bass Cannon, I think I could wipe Ponyville off the face of the map! I stared at Soundwave who was now bobbing his body up and down to the heavy beat of the song. This was almost unbelievable. How could he learn to do such beats in only a night? Well, it was his voice. I only changed it up for him and called it Dubstep. This robot was truly something and I had to get to know for sure where he came from. What I was going to say was surely going to be the biggest lie I’ve ever said in my life “Hey Soundwave, your beats can’t even compare to mine!” I shouted at him over the sounds of those wubs. The music suddenly came to a screeching halt and Soundwave looked back at me. Well, I had to get his attention. Even if it got him mad. He didn’t look mad though. Instead he looked at me like I was insane. Kind of how the kids in my art class did the day I outbursted. The thought of that day sort of made me feel a bit uneasy, but I had to take this moment to ask my questions. If I didn’t he surely wouldn’t give me another chance. “Okay, I was lying; your beats are off the hook…” I said guilty. I needed to talk to him fast. “…But seriously dude, I want to know more about you.” Soundwave shook his head and threw his arms upwards. He finally turned his body to my direction and leaned on my system. He didn’t say a thing and just stood there in silence. He could be kind of creepy some times. I just looked back at him and stuck my tongue out. I was getting kind of bored. Soundwave put his hoof(?) over his face and begin to shake it side to side. He kind of did that a lot. I think the question I asked him made him feel a bit uncomfortable. Maybe that’s why he kept ignoring my questions. “So you said you’re not familiar with our ways” I said, stroking my chin. I think I may able to make him speak up. Soundwave lifted his hoof (what were those things?) from his face and looked at me with his glasses squinted. “Yes, I’m not” he told me nonchalantly. As cool as it is to have a robot friend, he could be kind of a drag. “Well, maybe I could cut you a deal.” I added. I was a little nervous because even though I barely knew Soundwave, he was very uptight. “What kind of deal?” Soundwave asked, this time with his glasses raised. Okay he bit the bait. Now it’s time to rail in the fish… “I promise to teach you our ways and our history in Equestria, if you tell me about your past” I said smiling. I honestly hated history and all that other stuff but if it was to learn the past about a robot that can think, I’ll go through any boring subject! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My circuits were still sore from the side effects of the immobilizer but that didn’t stop me from laughing at the unicorn’s proposal. She really wanted to trade her historical knowledge of this place for my past? What would I possibly need to know from Vinyl that would help me manage any better here? Vinyl saw me laughing and shot me a look. She stomped down on the ground in anger. “What’s so funny?” she whined. Her rage caused me to laugh a bit more now. “Look, what I’m telling you is a good deal.” She informed me. My laughter began to falter but I was still chuckling at the idea. “What do I have to gain from your knowledge?” I asked, still chuckling. She looked at me from across and cleared her throat. I saw her beginning to smile. “Well, unless you plan on staying here for the rest of your life, I’m pretty sure you’ll need to know something about this world” she said with smirk. I quickly regained my senses and stopped laughing. Scrap she was right. I did need to know about this world. I can’t be in any terrain without any knowledge about it. That’s unprofessional to say at the least. Even though there were apparent dangers in this world, maybe some knowledge she could lend me would prove valuable and save my exhaust port. Any form of Intel about this world, would prove to be a valuable asset soon enough. The white unicorn looked at me with her purple toned optics, gleaming with delight. She knew I was going to give in. The old I would not give in so easily to a creature such as her. I had to though. She was my only ally in this world, and I needed to maintain as many connections as I could. Maybe that was the feeling in my gut. “Fine” I grumble. I’m going to regret this. “Ah yeah, score one for Vinyl!” she shouted in excitement, standing up and bringing her arm up and down almost as if pulling something. “Alright Soundwave it’s a deal” She boasted walking towards me and reaching out her arm. I looked at her arm for a short while wondering what she wanted me to do with it. If she wanted me to shake it, I would most surely crush her arm within my grip. Vinyl sighed and pulled her arm back. “I guess I got to teach you that too…” she mumbled lowering her head. “Well anyways, forget that, let’s start are deal by telling me about you” Vinyl said, raising her gaze and hunching down in front of me. I thought about how I should tell her who I was. I imagined myself telling her “Oh well I’m the notorious communications officer for the superior Decepticon army and I’ve terminated over hundreds of Cybertronians for the glorious cause of the mighty Megatron!” Some first impression that would be. Also, I felt no urge to reference myself to a faction I now truly realized was forged off of arrogance and revenge. I stood there lost in my thoughts, trying to put together a very ‘rough’ explanation. “Where I come from,” I started, “I am a communications officer…” “What’s that?” Vinyl questioned, cutting me off. I brightened my visors. So that’s what it felt like when someone you were talking to does not to know what you’re talking about. “A communications officer is someone who works with communication” I grumbled. This is going to be quite a long day. “So what did you do communications for?” she pestered on. That was a question I was afraid she was going to ask. I decided to respond as vaguely as I could. “I worked for a group of people during the war-“I stopped short before I could utter anymore. Scrap I shouldn’t have spoken about the war. Vinyl’s eyes widened. “Did you just…say war?” she asked in disbelief. I dimmed my visors and lowered my head. I slagged up. Grunting I answered the stunned unicorn’s question. “Where I come from, my world is not like yours.” I looked up at Vinyl Scratch and looked into her optics. “My home world Cybertron, suffers from a millennia of warfare.” I tried to be as vague as possible, avoiding any details that would lead to further questions. "Many of my people have lost their lives throughout this war sadly...". I was lying through my faceplate, but I couldn't afford any more questions. Vinyl Scratch looked at me in shock. “I’m…sorry…” she stammered. I lifted my visor up at her in curiosity. Was she apologizing? “I didn’t know that you came from a place of War. I mean, that’s sucks dude” she added."We have'nt had a war here for one thousand years!" . Wow one thousand years. Thats a blessing from Primus. She remained silent after that. I was glad to know she was done with her questions. Now maybe I’ll be able to move onto- “How’d you get here?” she asked abruptly, a hint of sadness in her voice. I looked at her, feeling an odd emotion towards the unicorn. It felt depressing and heavy. Was it pity? Vinyl’s question is what struck me next. The events that occurred before my arrival flashed through my servos. Shockwave’s plan. The multidimensional creature. The death of my companions. The blast of the Immobilizer. Shooting the Space Bridge and getting flung into it. It was too much too process, but I’d be able to narrow it down for the unicorn. The information she is going to give me better be worth it. Just as I was about to process the events that brought me here, I heard a large bang coming from the front door. I instinctively turned my body to face the door, prepared for anything trying to break through. “Ah dangit I forgot!” I heard Vinyl shout. I turned to see the white unicorn rubbing her eyes. “Sorry Soundwave but I was expecting company”. She walked past me to open the door. Another banging noise came from the door. “If you want, Soundwave, you can come with me all you have to do is transform-“ she started but I waved her off and walked out the nearest door closest to the stadium. Scrap that I ain’t turning back into my alt mode after being crammed up for 4 moons! I'd rather just wait here in the confinements of this house until she gets back. I still need to get my end of the bargain. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “I’m guessing that’s a ‘no’” I said as I saw an angry robot walk out of the music room into my bedroom. Well I didn’t want to give the dude any more troubles. I mean when he told me he lived on a planet full of warfare, I thought I might cut the robot a break. Still, I have some questions he still needs answering. Knock,Knock,Knock! Oh snap, its Rivers. I walked out of the music room and made my way to the front door. After taking a deep sigh and telling myself repeatedly not to screw this up I opened the door. There before me was Rivers in a leather jacket that hung on his upper shoulders and went down his back. It did not cut off his mysterious cutie mark though. “Hey, DJ, you ready to go?” he asked me warmly. I smiled at him and looked up at the sky. It was a bright sunny day and that just screamed the perfect weather to go have a nice good walk. “Yeah I’m ready” I told him with a dumb smile plastered on my face. Okay you’re doing good so far don’t screw it all up. “Alright then let’s get a move on. I want to go show you something” he said nudging his head to the side of the plains. I walked out of my house and closed the door. Hopefully Soundwave will do okay at the house and won’t do anything dumb while I’m away. “Where are we going?” I asked him as I walked by his side passing through the field. He walked with great posture which really added to his physique. “It’s a surprise don’t you worry” he told me. What kind of surprise? “If anything I’ll give you a hint” he said reading my thoughts. “Since you showed everyone your taste in new music, I thought I might show off mine” He gave me a wink. I blushed. Why did he make me so nervous by doing the simplest things? “Also I hope you don’t mind walking. We’re going to be walking for a while” he told me. I shot him a look that screamed ‘are you serious?’. He laughed and pointed his hoof forward. “Don’t worry, if you get really tired, I’ll drag you all the way there”. I smiled at his generosity. “Well, on the floor, not on my back” he added grinning. Oh wow, quite the gentle stallion… -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Are you okay back there?!” Rivers shouted from the top of the grass hill. I was way on the bottom, panting and wheezing. My legs were beginning to get wobbly as well. “NEVER BEEN BETTER!” I shouted back as I collapsed to the ground. My face hit the grass and I was sprawled out on the floor. I stood their tired trying to get back my breath. How the buck was Rivers able to do this every day? I heard the sounds of hooves running in my direction which made me lazily lift up my head. “I’m very sorry. I thought you were just joking around” Rivers explained. I looked at him with an angry look. He laughed. “If you ever want to give someone a look, I think it’s a good idea to take off your shades”. Rivers put his hoof close to my face and pulled off my glasses. Rivers casual smile slowly faded. I began to panic at the thought of him thinking I’m a freak for my eyes, but swiftly tried to think of something else to say. “That’s funny” I said tiredly. “My friend Octavia use to say that” After that I let out a weak laugh and felt my head drop back into the grass. That’s it I’m done with walking. I suddenly felt myself being lifted off the ground and heard the sounds of grunting. I opened my eyes to see what was happening only to realize I was on the back of Rivers…and he was climbing the hill! “Now just hold on tight” he grunted, slowly walking up the hill. “If you roll back down, it’ll be a pain to get you all the way back up…again!” I listened to his instructions and just went limp on his back. Hopefully I wasn’t going to break it. “Alright…we’re almost here….just a little….OH BUCK!” I snapped my eyes open as I heard Rivers shout and saw myself sliding off his back only to roll. I think Rivers was rolling to because I kept hearing a lot of swearing on the way down. After what felt like hours, I finally came to a stop. Then I felt another body collide into mine and whatever crashed into me brought me into another cycle of rolling. I was beginning to get real dizzy and I wanted it to stop so bad. Again, after a while, I came to a stop on what seemed like the bottom of the hill. The figure that crashed into me was slowly raising his head from the side and looked down at me. Rivers was on top of me. “I…uh…” Rivers stammered staring down at me. I saw that my shades were on top of his head and he was still looking down at me. I stared at him with a blank expression. His light brown eyes stared back at me. This was…a little uncomfortable. Rivers finally tried to get up, but realized when it takes more than one attempt it doesn’t look right, so he just rolled off onto the side. There was a long silence. I lay on the floor looking up at the sky and began to see the skies turn into a reddish purple. It’s been possibly more than one hour since I’ve left my house. I seriously wondered if Soundwave was okay. “Well…” Rivers said breaking the silence. “...You up for round two?” I turned my head over to face the insane stallion. He looked back at me and shrugged. We both lay on the floor next to each other. “What? It’s not like I’ll be able to show you my song here when my house is up there.” He said pointing his hoof up at the top of the hill. I whinnied. “Rivers…” I said. He turned to my direction. “..You’re Insane!” He smirked. “So I’ve been told…” I threw my head back on the grass and closed my eyes. Why was I always drawn to the crazy stallions? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After hours (Okay I’m lying; YEARS!) we made it up to the top of the hill. I came up panting from that intense workout I just forced on my body. Rivers came by my side and laughed. He looked like he didn’t even break a sweat! “It’s only been fourty minutes Vinyl, calm down”. I shot open my eyes. Fourty minutes! By Celestia… “C’mon let’s not keep you waiting any longer” Rivers said, motioning his hoof over to the house on top of the hill. It was a brown one story house, very similar to the structures I’ve seen in Las Pegasus or Manehatten. It had only two windows, each one to the side of the door. “Welcome to my cozy little home” Rivers stated waving his hoof. I actually liked the house. "I took the design asthetic from the houses i gre up around. I grew up in Las Pegasus." “It looks neat” I told him, walking closer to the door. He followed and put himself in front of the door. “Want to get a grand tour of the house?” he asked. I thought about it, but then figured might as well considering I busted my flank coming up from that hill. “Sure” I said gleefully. Rivers nodded and opened the door. He held it open and waved his hoof downwards. “Mares first” he remarked, as I walked into his house. When I walked into his house, all I could think was wow. I saw his little kitchen which looked so modern. All the cabinets and furniture were black with a white outline. I ran over to my left to see his living room which had a HUGE television and a comfortable looking couch. This place was awesome! “I could see you like my house” I heard Rivers say from the back of me. He was still at the door. “Yeah your house is awes-“ The words got stuck in my mouth. Straight ahead from the living room was a brown lit room full of musical instruments, amps, speakers, and a computer. It was his music room! I quickly dashed out of the living room into the music room. It was huge compared to mine! His house may have been a one story house but it had a room this huge. “Your music room is huge!” I shouted out the entrance door of the music room. Rivers came into view walking casually and smiling. “You’re like a little filly you know? You’re everywhere!” he said chuckling. I was so lost in all his instruments I wasn’t paying attention though. My eye wandered onto one particular instrument. “You play the drums?” I asked him with a puzzled look on my face. Rivers walked by to my side and nodded. “Yeah I play the drums. My band already has a drummer, but it doesn’t hurt to know how to play another instrument” I looked at the stallion in awe. He was so cool! “Oh yeah, look I want to show you something” the grey stallion said, walking over to his computer. I followed him, remembering he wanted to show me something about new music. He came to a stop when he was in front of his computer, and began to rummage through the files. While he was doing that I was looking around the room, checking out all the gear. He had way more gear than me! Finally after a while, Rivers interrupted my thinking. “Well Vinyl Scratch I have here a file that I think you may enjoy. You see me and my band worked on this one particular song called ‘Crawling’. Turns out, I wanted to go a little further and decided to mash up the audio.” I listened to him speak about this new song he was going to make me listen to. I wondered of all the people why me? “…also I think you may find the beat a tad bit familiar.” I lifted a brow. “Familiar?” I asked. “Just listen” Rivers replied and played the song. When I heard the song it was very slow beat and mellow but it showed signs of being edited. It wasn’t bad at all. I was never a fan of slow music (That one time as a filly doesn’t count!) but I could get use to this son- Whoa wait, this beat is getting very familiar. “Wait, it sounds like…” I started. “Dubstep?”. Rivers finished off my sentence. How the heck did he get a hold of these beats? “How long have you had this song?” I asked him. Rivers lifted his hoof to his chin. “Hmm, I say about a year or so. Why?” he asked me tilting his head. A year? He’s known about these beats for a year and I barely recognize them now? Wow I feel like such an idiot. I honestly thought the only way to create those beats were through Soundwave… “Uh, no reason” I lied, still trying to shake off my humiliation. Rivers gave me a look. “You don’t like it?” he asked sounding a little disappointed. “Oh no, I like it!” I stammered. “It’s got some crazy beats, even though it sounds as slow as Octavia’s music…” “Wait” Rivers pitched in. “Are you talking about Octavia the Cellist?” I shot my eyes open. “You know Octavia?” Rivers seemed happy to know that I knew her too.That sort of made me a bit jealous of my classy friend. “Yeah, I do, we went to school together” I froze. They went to school together? I’ve been Octavia’s friend all my life and I’ve never seen this stallion before the party. “Do you know Octavia?” Rivers asked me. I looked back at him with a dignified expression. “Of course me and Octavia are like, the bestest of friends since forever!” I exclaimed. Rivers shot me a look and squinted his eyes. “Wait, you went to school with Octavia right?” he asked, his eyes still slanted on me. I began to feel a little creeped out. “Umm..yes..we…went to school…together” I stammered. Rivers shot his eyes open. “By Pri…err I mean by Celestia it’s you!” he shouted pointing a hoof at me. I cowered at the sound of his fierce yet gentle voice. Wait, fierce and gentle. “…You’re the mare…” He’s from Las Pegasus… “…The one bullied by…” …Dang, just my luck. “…By Skrill-X and the Twins!” rivers said, smacking his forehead. “I knew it was you for a moment, I just couldn’t really remember you off the top of my head!” So the stallion I happen to be talking to is the one who saved me from the bullies as a little filly. "Wow, I'm sorry if I didn't recognize you at first, you just look much...older." he told me with an appreciative smile. “Umm…yeah…thanks for getting rid of those…jerks” I mumbled to the stallion. Rivers saw that I was uncomfortable because he rested his hoof on my shoulder. “Did you realize that after that day, they stopped bugging you?” he told me with a smile on his face. I thought about what he said for a moment. Actually now that I think about it, I didn’t really see those guys around a lot. “But there’s a rumor going around Vinyl” he said cautiously. “Your gig two nights ago was pretty big. And I mean pretty big!” he said stretching out his hooves. “There’s a group of pretty popular DJs wanting to battle against you...” I opened my eyes and a frown flew across my face. I already knew who he was talking about. Skrill-X, the Twins, and Deadmau5. They were all big hits in the world of Equestria. And my former bullies. They all wanted to battle against me. I began to feel a little sad at the thought of having to meet up with my old tormenters. Rivers apparently saw, because he lifted my head up and winked at me. “Don’t worry, I beat their flanks to teach those three some manners. They shouldn’t be disrespecting you any time soon.” He said, patting my shoulder. I smiled at him. He was the stallion that made my school life a little more easier and was now willing to make my normal life easier. I quickly gave him a tight hug, catching him off guard and finally letting him go. “Yeah..uh..thanks a lot dude for taking care of them” I said blushing. Rivers laughed and turned around back to the computer to do something. That’s when I saw the cutie mark again. Soundwave had that same mark on his chest. It had to mean something if a strange robot from another world had the same symbol as a stallion (except in a different color). “Um, Rivers?” I asked. Rivers looked up at me briefly and nodded his head. “Yeah, whatsup?” I took a deep breath. If I was able to get some information out of a robot, I’m pretty sure I could get it out of him. “I still want to talk about your cutie mark” I said bluntly. Rivers stopped what he was doing on the computer and slowly looked to my direction. “Umm..what about it?” he asked nervously. That obviously meant something. “What does it mean?” I interrogated him. I needed to break the ice on this one. Rivers lifted his head high and closed his eyes. “Well…I..I got it for…being a great…DJ” he stammered. I raised both my brows and laughed. That was the most horrible lie I’ve ever heard. “Wow you are such a liar!” I giggled. Rivers looked down at me now. “I’m not lying…I…” “Dude, I have a cassette player at home with same symbol except purple!” I blurted out giggling. Aww buck! Rivers shot his eyes open instantly. “What do you mean?” he demanded approaching me. Crud this isn’t going to end well. He's not as easy as Soundwave. “Well-I…uhh” I stammered. I have nothing to say. “You’re telling me that you have a Cybertronian in your house right now?” I screwed this all- A CYBERTRONIAN? “What?” I asked Rivers shocked. “What the buck is a cybertronian?” Rivers waved his head upwards and whinnied. “You’re telling me you have a robot holed up in your house and you don’t even know what their race is called?” How did rivers know more about my guest than I did? No, back up, how did he even know I had a guest? Rivers turned his back on me and began to mutter things under his breath. “I knew that music was a dead giveaway, Soundwave was the only one I knew who was capable of making those beats…” Soundwave? How did he know Soundwave? “How do you know Soundwave?” I asked Rivers quizzedly. This was beginning to get really weird. Rivers head perched up and he turned his body all the way around. “What? Hold on how do you know about Soundwave?” he asked me with intense curiosity. I sort of began to walk back as he approached me again. “Well I talked to him…” “That’s not possible!” Rivers shouted enraged. I began to shake my head. This is all too much. My eyes closed and head shaking. “He’s at my house right now, but I need to know how you-“ Thud! I opened my eyes to see Rivers quickly storming out of the music room. Where was he going? “Rivers!” I shouted at him, following him out the music room. By now he was outside the front of his house. I ran outside of the house out onto the top of the hill and looked down the slope. Rivers was running really fast down the hill. I knew where he was going. He was going to my home to see Soundwave himself. I ran down the hill as fast as I could. The moon was the only thing lighting the outside now, and I had to get home quickly before Rivers does anything to ruin my house or messes with Soundwave. As I ran down the slope, I began to get tired quickly but I couldn’t give up already. I still had a long way to go. The thoughts about facing the four best DJs in Equestria didn’t help calm my nerves. I knew that with them, something was going to go down, and It wasn’t going to be pretty. I finally reached the bottom of the hill and began to pass by the first row of trees. More questions began to cloud up my head about Rivers. How did Rivers know Soundwave? Is that how he got his cutie mark? “I don’t know the answer yet, but pretty soon, somepony is going to start talking” I growled through the winds as I ran through the trees, desperately trying to make it home around the same time as Rivers. This is Rivers I’m talking about though. Hopefully he tripped on a rock and knocked himself out…