//------------------------------//
// Bonus Chapter: Music 
// Story: Ocean Blues 
// by TalkingToMyself 
//------------------------------//

Blue woke up with a long yawn and stretched all her legs. She always enjoyed sleeping in, but this morning really put in a lot of effort to be perfect. The sun was shining into her bedroom, not so bright it would blind her, but warm and welcoming. Through the window, she could hear birdsong and if she listened closely, she could make out the sounds of the market in the distance. 

Blue sat up and looked out the window. In moments like these, she realized how different life was here in Ponyville, compared to the one she left behind. Despite living here for almost half a year now, it still felt like a fairy tale. Or more like one of those animated cartoon movies for children.

The apartment was quiet, as expected. Blue had the day off, but Spring Meadow was already off to work and wouldn’t be back until later in the afternoon. Judging from her rumbling stomach and the sun, Blue’s guess was that it was still early enough to get some breakfast to start her day.

The kitchen had a box of cereal waiting for her, and Spring had left her half a pot of coffee from her own breakfast. Thanks to the magic coffee-maker-thingy Rarity got them as a gift, it was still warm and smelled like freshly brewed. Blue sipped slowly through her cup in between bites of breakfast. She didn’t really need coffee to wake up, at least not today, but she enjoyed the taste, nonetheless. 

She glanced through the kitchen and saw the pots from yesterday’s dinner on the stove, as well as a number of dishes in the sink. In fact, the whole kitchen could use a good cleaning. Blue wasn’t usually the cleanliness type, but since they were not living in a dump anymore, even she felt the need to keep the place tidy. And since she had the day off, she could just take care of it without bothering Spring as well.

Finishing off her coffee, she got up and got started. Cleaning wasn’t her favourite thing in the world, but she knew she’d like the place even better once she was done. Before she dove into the dishes, she looked through the door into the living room. On a small table sat another gift from her friends, Pinkie Pie this time. It was an old fashioned ‘turn-the-crank-so-it-works’ record player (which wasn’t as outdated in Equestria), and next to it a stack of music records, more gifts but from a different set of friends this time.

Oh, why not? Might as well have some tunes while I’m working.
She chose one of the records and set the player in motion, loud enough so she could hear the song in the kitchen. She grinned when the guitars set in, and then finally dove into work.





Starlight Glimmer wouldn’t usually call herself a morning pony but compared to Trixie she always felt like one. They had had breakfast (and most importantly coffee), but Trixie was still kinda sluggish and yawning a lot, which had Starlight giggle
“Come on, it’s almost noon already. You can’t still be tired.”
Trixie, trying to hide her next yawn, struck a pose that had her cape wave dramatically
“The Great and Powerful Trixie, like any performer worth their names, is a mare of the night! It is in her famous shows when Trixie dazzles and amazes her audience late into the night.”

Starlight chuckled at Trixie’s over-dramatics as usual, but it was a well-meaning and kind-hearted chuckle. When she was with Starlight, Trixie had stopped being a showmare all the time and also mostly dropped talking about herself in third pony. She also very rarely wore her stage outfit anymore when they were just strolling through town, but today she had felt the need to show off her best side. Which meant she was going to show the Great and Powerful Trixie-routine a lot.

Starlight knew that some ponies, scratch that, most ponies found it annoying, but it helped Trixie be less anxious, so she rarely ever told her to quit it. Both Starlight and Trixie had kind of a bad record meeting new ponies, so Starlight wouldn’t want to take this little comfort away from her friend, since she was the one meeting somepony new today that Starlight already knew.

So Starlight just smiled as Trixie adjusted her magician’s hat yet again, and felt good enough for some friendly banter
“You didn’t even have a show last night. In fact, when was the last time you even performed in Ponyville?”
“Oh yeah? Tell me again, who needed a whole pot of coffee this morning all for herself?”
They glared at each other for a brief moment, before they both chuckled. With Twilight and the others, Starlight would never say something like this, but between Trixie and her, this was their usual spiel.

“Now then, remind Trixie, how much further do we have to go until we meet this Ocean Shore?”
“Not that far. We’re almost there.”
“And you’re sure she won’t mind us dropping in unannounced?”
“Nah, it’s her free day, I’m sure she won’t mind at all. She’ll be thrilled.”

As the two walked down the street, Starlight picked up something new that had her smile. The street was mostly quiet, but from one open window in the apartment complex, she could hear music, most likely from a record player. That wasn’t too unusual, but Starlight could easily recognize this music for what it really was. The heavy guitars and the drums’ aggressiveness didn’t match with anything ponies could come up with, but thanks to her brief visits through the mirror-portal, she could recognize the sound as the rock music she had heard in the human world. 

She turned to grin at Trixie, but her friend looked very pale for some reason. She was about to ask what was wrong, but Trixie grabbed her hoof in a way that was very unlike her, so Starlight only got out part of her question
“Trixie…?”
“Starlight, is this… this wouldn’t happen to be from your friend? Please tell me it’s not?”
Trixie seemed distraught, which was something that happen rarely to never (invasions into the changeling hive excluded). Finally, Starlight managed to find her words again
“What’s wrong, Trixie? What’s the matter?”
“Don’t you hear this? What pony in their right mind would listen to such music?”
Starlight sighed, relieved that it was just one of Trixie’s dramatic reactions
“Come on, Trixie. Different ponies like different styles of music. I’m not a fan of guitars and rock music either, but…”
“It’s not the guitars, it’s… it’s just wrong. Just listen! Listen!”

That was so un-Trixie that Starlight now worried even more than before, and like her friend suggested, she listened more closely. This time, she heard past the guitars and heard some of the lyrics as well, more of a shouting really than real singing.

Cut my life into pieces
This is my last resort
Suffocation, no breathing
Don’t give a fuck if I cut myself bleeding

Starlight gasped and now understood Trixie. And worst of all, now she worried more than her before. She knew some of the story why Ocean Shore had left the human world, and of course she knew Sunset Shimmer’s story, and that both stories were intertwined at some point. If Blue was listening to this kind of music, would that mean…?

Trixie was staring at her, which meant that Starlight had zoned out for a moment, but she came back to it just to hear the next set of lyrics, that made all the colour fade from her face

Would it be wrong, would it be right?
If I took my life tonight?
Chances are that I might
Mutilation out of sight
And I’m contemplating suicide

Starlight’s eyes opened wide in fear. She had no time to explain to Trixie right now, she had to act before it was too late. Grabbing Trixie’s hoof tighter, she didn’t give much of a warning as she teleported them both into the apartment complex, right in front of Ocean Shore’s door. She barged right in without knocking, pulling Trixie after her into the loud room from which the music came. She heard an angry call from the kitchen, but she couldn’t bother with that now. 

Her eyes scanned over the room, until she found the source of all evil: The record player. Before she could really think, she acted. Her horn flared up and a powerful blast of magic turned the record player into a million little pieces, finally stopping the atrocious sound.

Starlight allowed herself a breath of relief, but Trixie was looking at her in fearful confusion. Or maybe was looking at what was behind her, because Starlight could hear hoofsteps before somepony shoved her roughly, effectively throwing her over with another angry yell. Starlight was so surprised that she landed painfully on her flank, but the perpetrator wasn’t done with her yet. She angled her eyes up to see Ocean Shore with wild fury on her face and her hoof ready to strike down on her.

Despite her bravado moments before, now she froze up in real fear and closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. When it didn’t come, she dared to glance up again. Blue was still glaring daggers at her, but at least she had put her hoof back on the floor
“WHAT THE FUCK, STARLIGHT?”

Starlight winced as Blue screamed at her at the top of her voice. That anger that hit her was almost as bad
“I was just…”
“You were just what? You break into my home and blast my things…”
“I WAS JUST TRYING TO SAVE YOU!”

Starlight blurted out when Blue didn’t let her explain, but somehow it only made Blue angrier
“Save me from what? Are you out of your fucking mind?”

Starlight winced again under Blue’s continuous glaring, and finally her mind caught up on her surroundings. She could see that Blue’s hooves were slightly wet, and behind her she could see the kitchen through the open door. And the half-done stack of dishes next to the sink.
“You… you were doing dishes?”
“Yeah, so? What the fuck do you care? What has this to do with you breaking into my fucking home?”

Starlight knew that when Blue was swearing like this, she really was on the brink of an angry breakdown, so she had to thread carefully now. Sadly, Trixie didn’t know that.
“Of course it wasn’t you doing dishes! But that song, that record you were playing…”
“Shit, my record!”

Starlight and Trixie both flinched when Blue screamed again and headed to look at what was left of her former record player. Starlight and Trixie shared a worried look. If Starlight was anything, she’d be a powerful and capable mage, so they both knew nothing could have withstood the power of her spell. Blue also had to realize this as the biggest piece that was left of her record was just about the size of a bit.

For a moment, it looked like Blue was about to break into tears, but then her head whipped around to glare at her intruders again, her wings now flared in a clear sign of aggression
“What the actual fuck, Starlight! Why did you do that?”
Blue didn’t look like she was about to hit her, but Starlight knew that it would only take a wrong word for the former human to explode, and if the sinking feeling in her tummy was any indication, this time Blue was in the right to be mad at her.

Trying to save what she could, Starlight tried to at least lessen the blow
“I’ll get you a new player of course, and new records…”
“You can’t just replace this record, and you know it! It’s from…”

Blue stopped in mid-sentence and they both turned to Trixie, who suddenly seemed to get what this was all about
“Oh! It’s from that other world you told me about, is it?”
Starlight felt hot and cold at the same time when Blue’s glared burned into her soul again, and this time she knew right away that she had messed up  
“So you didn’t just invade my home and trash my things, you also told ponies about my biggest secret? HER out of all ponies?”

Trixie let out an undignified huff and struck a confident pose
“Of course she did! Starlight would never keep secrets from her best friend, and everypony knows that the gr…”
“I swear if you say ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ now, I’ll break your face into more pieces than that record!”

That had Trixie shut up, if only for a few moments
“Why are you so rude? You should be thanking Starlight and Trixie for getting rid of this thing and stopping this terrible song!”
“I like that song! That’s why I played it! If you don’t like it, you can’t just come in and break it. I don’t give a shit about stage magicians, but that doesn’t mean I go to your show and mess up your stuff!”
“It’s not about this! But this song… we were worried why you’d listen to such a bad song!”

Blue gritted her teeth so loud that Starlight could hear it, but somehow she seemed to get that this was more than just a taste in music, even if Trixie did a bad job of explaining it
“That song… it was so angry, and it sung about… about…”
“About what?”
Usually, Trixie acted bold and confident, especially when she really wasn’t, but today she acted so meek when confronted, it had Starlight wonder
“You know! You heard it! It was about… about… trying to end things…”

Blue’s glare intensified and she took another step towards Trixie, but Starlight got that she wasn’t threatening her friend this time
“For fuck’s sake, say it!”
“You know what Trixie meant, so…”
“SAY IT! You have no right to lecture me about anything if you can’t even say it! Either you stop mincing words now and say it, or you can just go and never come back, you spineless little…
“SUICIDE! The song was about suicide! There, I said it! Happy now?”

If Blue was surprised by Trixie’s outburst, she only was for a second before she grinned. It was not a happy grin by any means, but at least her wings folded back now, even if Starlight still couldn’t say anything and felt shell-shocked

“I’m not happy, but that’s not the point. Why is a song about suicide so bad you have to disintegrate my stuff?”
Starlight and Trixie both stared at Blue, baffled beyond belief
“Because it is! It’s a bad thing, so there shouldn’t be songs about it! And even if there are songs about it, nopony should listen to them! Only ponies who think about it would listen to songs about bad things!”

Blue shook her head and glared, but it wasn’t at them anymore
“It’s just a stupid song! It doesn’t mean anything! I don’t even care about the lyrics at all, but even if I did care, it’s just a stupid song!”
“But… but if you like the song, that means… it means that… you’re thinking about ending it. Why else would you listen to a song like that?”

Both Trixie and Starlight winced when Blue started to laugh, but it was a dead, mirthless, and bitter laugh
“Yeah, right. I listen to a certain type of music, so I’m automatically a bad person. That’s what you like to think, right? A girl looks that way, listens to the wrong music, she must be a bad girl, a criminal, and it’s fair to judge her even though you never bothered to even talk to her and you don’t know a single fucking thing about her!”

Blue’s voice had grown louder and louder as she ranted on, so at the end she was more or less just screaming at the top of her voice. At least she wasn’t screaming at Starlight or Trixie directly, but Starlight could see how angry she really was. It felt so strange to see her maybe sometimes grumpy friend act this out of line.

Trixie, who had never met Blue before, didn’t have the comparison, and maybe that’s why she was bold enough to clarify
“So, that means you’re not… thinking about ending it?”
The glare Blue threw at her said enough, but she made sure they got the right message
“No. I’m not a fucking coward.”

Trixie and Starlight both let out a sigh of relief, but that only seemed to irritate Blue even more
“Wait, that’s what this is all about? What the fuck, Starlight?”
“I’m sorry! When we heard the song, I thought… I was afraid you might be… I panicked, okay? I didn’t want you to get hurt, or hurt yourself!”
“It’s a fucking song, Starlight! It doesn’t mean jack shit.”
“Yes it does! It’s such an angry song, and you’re angry and I know about Sunset and you and…”
“YOU KNOW JACK-SHIT ABOUT ME! I know you think you do, but just because we hang sometimes doesn’t give you the right to decide things for me! Or go around town telling everypony things about me because you think you know I wouldn’t mind!”
“That’s not what happened, I…"
“YOU THINK I REALLY CARE?”

And just when it looked like Starlight was getting angry and ready to shout as well, they suddenly all heard a strange crunching noise. Three heads turned around, only to find Discord, the spirit of chaos, lounged on the couch, with a bowl of popcorn on his lap. Not bothered the slightest, he idly threw another piece of popcorn up into the air and caught it with his mouth.
“Oh, don’t mind me, girls. I’m just enjoying the show. Please, do continue.”

While Starlight knew better than to go ballistic at Discord out of all ponies, Blue was far from being this reasonable. She shot another glare in his direction and screamed at the top of her voice
“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? WHY IS EVERYPONY JUST WALTZING IN FUCKING UNINVITED?”
Discord wasn’t phased the least and just swallowed another bite of popcorn
“Well, first of all the door was open. And second… do you really think it counts as a private conversation when you scream so loud that the entire town can hear you?”

Blue was looking like she was about to jump at Discord and start hitting him, to which he only laughed
“Oh, come now. This is the best chaos I’ve seen all month. Give me that, at least.”

While Trixie was trying to hold Blue back, Starlight now frowned at Discord
“You wouldn’t happen to be responsible for this, would you?”
“Moi? Your words wound me deeply, Starlight Glimmer. I don’t cause chaos anymore, but that won’t stop me from enjoying it when I see it. I thought you as a fellow reformed villain would understand.”
He acted all dramatically as if he’d actually been hit down, only to perk up the next moment
“In fact, I think it’s rather exceptional we all met here today. All of us reformed individuals in a way or another, am I right?”

He disappeared in a flash, only to reappear in the middle of the three mares to pull them into a hug
“Oh, we should do this more often! Maybe we should form a club and have weekly meetings.”
He snapped, and suddenly, before Blue could pull free and rage even more, they found themselves in what had to be a room of Twilight’s castle, although if it was, Starlight had not seen it before, even if the walls and floor told her she was right.

Starlight and Trixie found themselves sitting on a couch, Blue was sitting on some kind of beanbag seat and struggled to get up, while Discord stood behind a podium and knocked with a mallet
“I hereby call the first Ponyville reformed villain club meeting to order. First order of the day would be our typical meet and greet. I’ll start us off!”
Another flash, and Discord had summoned a flipchart with photographs of his ‘greatest hits’, so to speak
“Hi, my name is Discord, and a thousand years ago, I tried to bring chaos to Equestria but was rudely stopped and turned to stone. After that, I corrupted the Elements of Harmony and their bearers and turned Ponyville to the new chaos-capital of the world, only to be stopped again. Which finally made me rethink my position and join the side of ‘good’.”

Starlight and Trixie, who were more familiar with Discords antics, knew that there was no good way to stop him right now, so after a sideways-glance at each other, they agreed to play along and clapped while Discord staged a bow.

By this time, Blue had managed to escape her seat and flapped her wings hard to stay afloat so she could get right into Discord’s face
“Whatever bullshit you got planned, leave me the fuck out of it!”
“Oh, I know you don’t mean that. After all, why would you give up the chance to join a club as exclusive as ours?”

Another snap, and suddenly the room looked like a ballroom, with Discord in a tuxedo with a top hat and Blue, Starlight and Trixie in fancy dresses. And while Trixie admired hers, Blue tried to pull hers off immediately, but somehow it changed from being a dress and turned into some kind of straitjacket instead, effectively pinning her down.
“Get this stupid thing off me!”
Starlight laughed and used her own magic to help Blue out, before she turned to Discord
“I don’t know, I think this is a bit too fancy for a club like ours, don’t you think?”
Discord let out a dramatic sigh, but he finally nodded
“I suppose you’re right.”
A snap later, and the room looked more like a regular living room again, with Starlight and Trixie back on the couch and Blue on her bean bag, while Discord floated lazily in the air. Trixie looked like she was about to disagree, but then she saw that she was still wearing her dress, she grinned and made sure to show it off some more, which earned her a wink from Discord.

Blue on the other hoof was warily testing the seat that had trapped her before. It seemed safe now, so she reluctantly sat down, even if she didn’t look happy to be around.
“I don’t even fucking know why you dragged me here. I was never some crazy super-villain like you.”
Starlight and Trixie sunk down a little, but Discord only had a wink for Blue
“Oh? So you’re telling me you’re an innocent little angel?”

He snapped and Blue suddenly had a halo over her head, which she immediately waved away with her hooves
“Fuck no. I got a whole list of times I fucked up. Shoplifting, pickpocketing, fighting with people, a few broken arms, broken nose, the whole shebang. And I don’t know what Starlight and the annoying one ever did…” “Hey! Trixie heard that!” “…but I’m sure that’s not on the same level of trying to take over the world with bullshit-magic. Right guys?”
When Blue turned around to Trixie and Starlight Glimmer, she finally noticed their uneasy expressions.
“Guys?”

Starlight cleared her throat before she was able to say anything
“Before I met Twilight, I was the leader of a cult that tried to take everypony’s cutie marks away, so they’d be all equal, except for me. And when Princess Twilight stopped me, I was out for revenge and messed around with time magic and maybe destroyed Equestria a few times over when I messed with Twilight’s past.”
Blue just stared with her mouth hanging open while Trixie added
“And Trixie used a corrupted magic amulet to get revenge on Ponyville and Twilight Sparkle by driving her out of town and kinda enslaving everypony a teensy little bit.”

Blue just stared from villain to villain, waiting for a punchline that never came
“Seriously? You did that? And you’re still allowed to walk around freely?”
Starlight and Trixie nodded awkwardly, almost afraid, but Blue just laughed and shook her head.
“Fuck that. How long did they put you behind bars for it?”
“Behind bars?”
Neither Trixie nor Starlight seemed to understand what Blue was even asking.
“You know, prison? A judge that hands out a verdict and then you have to go to jail?”

Starlight blushed brightly and looked at the floor, almost ashamed
“Princess Twilight didn’t punish me at all. She made me her student after she convinced me that what I was doing was wrong.”
Trixie nodded, in the same sentiment
“Trixie had to apologize in public, but after that she was free to go.”
“Oh, come on!”

Blue threw her hooves up into the air, a gesture that made more sense back when she still had hands
“I got stuck in juvie for almost three months for something I didn’t even do, and you pull all that shit and all you get is a slap on the hoof and a lecture?”

While Starlight tried to stop Trixie from complaining that a public apology was pretty bad, Discord cleared his throat and leaned back in the armchair that materialized under him.
“Well, a millennium trapped in stone, but who’s counting? And I agree. We did get off pretty easy, all things considered. Just like you, which gives you even more reason to join our little club. Isn’t that great?”

With a snap of his claw, a banner appeared with their faces and Discord’s club name on it, although even Blue’s picture was glaring at Discord.
“I didn’t get off easy. I had to run away to another freaking dimension to get away from shit.”
Discord ignored the glare, and just leaned towards Blue with a maybe not so smug grin
“And once you did, didn’t you turn out better than ever? Didn’t all your struggles turn more bearable once you made that choice? As soon as you finally accepted Twilight Sparkle’s help, didn’t you finally manage to turn your life around, into something you could enjoy?”

Blue’s glare immediately vanished, and she looked over to Starlight and Trixie, who had that same smile as Discord. A smile she remembered from her friends in the other world, especially from Sunset Shimmer, whenever she talked about the magic of friendship.

All eyes were still on her, but her anger just faded away, and she admitted with a sigh
“Yeah. That’s absolutely what happened.”
Discord winked and produced his wooden mallet again.
“In that case, I think you really do belong into our little club.”
“Seconded!”
“Hear, hear!”

Discord hammered on his little podium with his mallet and the others applauded. Blue just rolled her eyes, but like her picture on the banner, she was smiling now.
“Never a dull moment with you guys, huh?”
“Oh, I would hope not!”

Discord changed the room back into the sitting room in Twilight’s castle, although he kept the banner, and everypony was sitting in their places again. Starlight, feeling that things were finally calming down again, felt even good enough to throw a little quip towards Blue.
“At least you didn’t steal a magic crown and turn into a demon.”
“Hey! Keep Sunset out of this!”

While Blue was glaring at Starlight, though with much less intensity than before, Discord immediately perked up with a dangerous glint in his eyes
“Oh! What a wonderful idea!”
He wiggled his fingers before he snapped, but the snap sounded louder than before and echoed through the room. Then, a hole in space opened just in the middle of the room, and Discord reached inside with his lion paw. Before anypony could ask what was going on, he pulled a very familiar, amber-coated unicorn out of the hole before it vanished
“Hey! What gives? What’s… why do I have hooves?”

Sunset Shimmer needed a moment to get on her hooves and looked around confused, especially when she realized where she was and who was with her. Meanwhile, Starlight and Trixie glared at the perpetrator.
“Discord! What did you do?”
“Whatever do you mean, my dear Starlight? We can't have our club meeting without our final member.”

Starlight and Trixie looked up at the banner that now suddenly had Sunset's face on it as well, but they kept glaring at Discord, so Sunset turned to Blue for help. Blue just cracked up laughing and shook her head.
“Hey, don't look at me! All I did was put on a record this morning!”

Sunset turned to the draconequus who just shrugged with an innocent expression 
“Oh come now, don't look at me like this. When would we ever get a chance to meet like this, without a little help from yours truly?”
Sunset frowned, staring at her hooves
“I was in the middle of a class. What if someone saw what happened?”
“Oh, pish posh. Your professor won't notice if there are 80 students or 79 trying to stay awake during his lecture.”
Sunset laughed, looking a lot less guilty now
“True. And it's not everyday you get invited to a club as exclusive as the 'Ponyville Reformed Villain Club'.”
“See? She gets it!”

Discord smiled satisfied and pointed at Sunset, who was just rolling her eyes before she chuckled along with Blue, as they shared their usual hoof-bump for a greeting. Trixie also seemed okay to just go along with things, but Starlight wasn't willing to let this go so easily.
“How did you even get her here? Twilight needs a magic mirror, all kinds of contraptions and a magic journal as a conduit, but you can just open a rift between worlds whenever you feel like it?”
Discord shook his head, and suddenly seemed more serious than Blue had seen all day from him
“Oh, I can't pass over just whenever I please. Only when it would cause enough confusion and maybe a teensy bit of chaos. Compared to Equestria, that other world has far too many rules for me to breach in very often.”

Blue suddenly started laughing so hard that everypony stared at her.
“Oh man, this is too good. Discord runs on cartoon logic!”
Only Sunset seemed to get what Blue was going at, since she joined in the laughter, while Discord crossed his mismatched arms in front of his chest
“I most certainly do not! I'm the spirit of chaos! I'll have you know that I don't run by any logic!”
“You kinda do, though.”

Discord huffed and turned away as if insulted, so Blue and Sunset tried their best to stop laughing
“Sorry, we got it out of our system now. Back to the club meeting?”
“Oh, right! I almost forgot!”
He snapped, and suddenly his podium was back and everypony was sitting on couches again, Trixie next to Starlight and Blue next to Sunset, who had a spotlight shining on her.
“We still haven't finished our meet and greet! It seems like our newest member still has to introduce herself!”

All eyes on her, Sunset blinked twice as a flipchart with photos of her in her demon form, her Rainbooms-outfit and finally her angel-form appeared, but she shrugged and just went with it. It was kinda hard to argue with the spirit of chaos, after all.
“Uh, hi, my name is Sunset Shimmer, and I terrorized a high school in the human world for three years, then I stole a magic crown from Princess Twilight and turned into a raging she-demon, before Princess Twilight and her friends defeated me and showed me the magic of friendship. And now they and me kinda try to keep magic in the human world under control. Oh, and I kinda also met Blue in the human world and helped her move to Equestria.”

The others clapped politely, only Blue rolled her eyes
“Wow, I get mentioned along with your biggest villain scores. Thanks for that.”
Sunset just chuckled and nudged her with her hoof, and Discord snapped his podium out of existence and went back to floating lazily in the air.
“I knew you'd fit in just fine, Sunset Shimmer. Well, I believe that concludes the first point of order. And since just saying that word gives me itches, that's the last time we talk about having order in this club meeting.”

The ponies laughed and agreed, and Sunset turned to Blue  
“So, I have to know. Which song put this all into motion?”
“Last resort.”
Sunset tilted her head and chuckled
“Really? That one is tame compared to... oh, I guess in pony terms, it's a touch off.”
“More like, a metric shit ton of off. Starlight totally freaked out when she heard it.”

Blue pointed at the mare in question, with a glare
“You owe me a new record player by the way!”
“Ouch. That bad?”
Starlight blushed but Sunset seemed to find it hilarious, so Blue kept going
“You have no idea. She zapped into my home and blasted my stuff into tiny bits. And then the annoying one...” “Hey! That's not my name!” “Sorry, the whiny and annoying Trixie...” “Eh, close enough.” “... whatever! She tried to tell me I'm a bad pony and they had to rescue me.”

“Rescue you... from a song?”
Sunset blinked and looked to Starlight and Trixie, before her eyes flew wide open
“Oh yeah. Ponies don't really sing about stuff like that, huh?”
“And humans do? How can you live in a world with creatures who sing songs about suicide?”

Discord seemed fine with watching for now, he even had his bowl of popcorn back, but luckily Sunset was there to keep the situation from escalating this time.
“I kinda like the guitars. Plus, that song is supposed to be edgy. It was kinda a hot thing back then.”
“And it was ways better than boy band music.”

Blue started singing something in a fake-squeaky voice and Sunset joined right in, but they both broke down laughing after just a few verses that sounded so corny that even Starlight Glimmer and Trixie couldn't help but chuckle.

“Oh wow. Humans are very strange creatures, aren't they?”
Blue, as the only native human in the room, took the job to feel insulted in the name of a whole species.
“Like there are no freaky or strange things in Equestria.”
She glared at Discord, who just nodded, not at all bothered
“She has a point. Frankly, I think it's silly to narrow any world down by needless rules, but short-lived mortal beings seem to cling to them in any dimension.”

Sunset and Trixie laughed, and Starlight shook her head
“I would have never thought that you'd be into philosophy, Discord.”
“I had a millennium in stone to think about stuff like this. I can't say I enjoyed it a lot, but it made the time pass.”

Blue grinned, getting almost familiar with the mixed bag that was this club, and went for a quip against the big bad himself.
“Next time you end up as a statue, we'll make sure we set up a radio next to you.”
“Oh, phew. Music is all about rhythm and harmony and order, it just doesn't do the thing for me. That's why I don't spend too much time around ponies who spontaneously burst into song at any given chance.”

Trixie and Starlight chuckled and grinned
“Oh really? Well, I'm pretty sure you broke into song too. A tiny glass of water, please?”
Discord huffed, but the ponies around him just laughed.
“That was different. It's obviously not the same when I do it.”
Blue chimed in, this time in defence of Discord
“Yeah, I feel you, man. Pony music gets kinda samey after a while.”
“Is that why you play records from the human world?”

Blue nodded to Trixie's question, as did Sunset
“Human music has far more variety. There's something for every taste. I bet even Discord would find songs he likes.”
“I highly doubt that.”
Discord still didn't seem convinced. Sunset threw a glance and wink at Blue, before she addressed him directly
“Well, I would love to show you, but I don't know how. It would be easy if we had access to the internet here, for a change.”
Blue grinned and picked up Sunset's plan, backing her up quickly
“Yeah, that would be, like, the most random thing ever! But I suppose it's never going to be possible without breaking every rule of magic and physic.”

Discord perked up immediately and prepared his fingers for another snap, but then blinked and smirked
“Oh, I see what you're doing. Very clever. I'll go with it, just this once.”

He snapped extra loud, like when he pulled Sunset into the room, and an image appeared, floating in mid-air so that everypony could see it. Starlight and Trixie just stared at it in utter confusion, but Sunset and Blue grinned and exchanged a hoof-bump, as the recognized the starting screen of an internet browser.

Discord reclined into an armchair that appeared behind him, with a smug grin.
“You have one song to convince me. But I doubt you'll manage to find music I would enjoy.”
“Challenge accepted!”

Blue and Sunset huddled together, but Sunset just grinned at Blue's suggestion and nodded. Blue, kinda going by Discord's random vibe, just reached in mid-air and suddenly had a computer-mouse and keyboard in front of her, pony-sized of course. Everypony watched as she clicked and typed in a few words, Trixie a tad scared, Starlight fascinated, Sunset with a grin, and Discord just bored.
“It's not going to work.”
“Oh yeah? Have a piece of this!”

Blue smashed the enter-key and the browser changed to a video player. A faint sound of an electric guitar started to play, and after that a few words that didn't seem to match together at all. Trixie and Starlight just looked at each other confused, before their attention turned back to the music video, but what was happening on the screen didn't match up with the music either. Sunset allowed herself a smirk as she watched Discord, and Blue grinned just along.

After a few seconds a hard, erratic baseline set in, together with more instruments, or just noises? It was hard to tell, especially when the voice in the background just kept repeating the same nonsensical lyrics. Starlight and Trixie were just lost, but Sunset bopped her head along and Blue waved her hoof kind of in rhythm, clearly enjoying herself.

Discord however sat up straight as soon as the music started, and when the music grew more and more confusing, chaotic, his face lit up like a Christmas tree, and Blue was almost sure she saw sparks lighting up all around him. He also had the biggest smile Blue had seen on him all day as he absorbed the music with full attention.

Sunset and Blue bumped their hooves together and screamed along when the song reached another climax.

The song only lasted a couple of minutes, but when it was finished Discord jumped to his feet and started clapping
“Oh, marvellous! Wonderful! So inspiring, so invigorating, so…”
He stopped and cleared his throat when he saw that everypony was grinning at him, and tried to hide the excitement from his voice.
“I mean, that wasn’t as bad as I feared. For music. It might be worth exploring some more.”

He could barely hide his smile when the keyboard appeared in front of Blue again. She and Sunset laughed even harder, joined in by Starlight. And even though Trixie was smiling along, she couldn’t help herself.
“Humans truly are strange creatures, if this counts as music for them.”
Sunset nodded vigorously and agreed
“Strangest creatures I’ve ever met. But don’t worry, that one was extreme even by human standards. Let me show you one that’s a bit more chill.”

She typed some words and a guitar-heavy song started playing instead. Starlight watched the video with the same fascination as before, while Blue rolled her eyes
“I knew you’d pick something like that.”
“So? That song is only one of the most sold singles in forever.”
Sunset crossed her hooves like she would cross her arms in front of her chest, a leftover gesture from being human just minutes ago, but Blue wasn’t looking for a fight and just nodded
“Yeah yeah, gotta respect the classics. Whatever.”
Sunset now shot a grin at Blue that looked very mean to everypony, except Blue who knew how to take it. Just like the glare she shot back to Sunset in return.
“Aw, what’s the matter? Is the song not edgy enough for you?”
“Fuck you, Shimmer.”

They glared at each other for a few moments, then started laughing. By that point, Trixie just gave up. She had been watching the exchange closely, but she just couldn’t figure either of them out.
“Is this a human thing, all this casual swearing?”
Blue shook her head and pointed at herself
“No, that’s a me thing. Get used to it.”
Trixie shook her head, and at least she tried to keep a friendly expression, although it still looked like she had tasted something bitter.
“It’s kinda rude, you know.”
Blue narrowed her eyes and suddenly there was a sharp edge in her voice
“Maybe I should try something else. I could start talking about myself in third person and give myself pompous titles. I’m sure that won’t get annoying anytime soon.”

Trixie huffed and adjusted her magician’s hat
“Trixie does that for the dramatic effect!”
She flounced her mane, but Blue just rolled her eyes at her
“Oh please. I’ve seen you go all out on the cashier at Bargain Barn’s last week. What’s dramatic about getting fucking groceries?”
“Everything the Great and Powerful Trixie does is…”

Trixie never got to make her point, because at that point, both their muzzles got held shut by a teal glow of magic that came from Starlight Glimmer
“Alright you two, that’s enough. We’re going to stop arguing now, or I’ll send you both into timeout. Just relax and enjoy the music.”

They both glared at each other for another half minute, but then Blue rolled her eyes and nodded along
“Sure, whatever. But I got dips on the next song.”

Sunset chuckled and magically nudged the chaos-magic-keyboard over to her. Trixie just adjusted her hat when Starlight released her magic and said nothing. Only Discord pouted, pushing away his by now half-empty bowl of popcorn.
“You always interrupt when they’re about to reach the good part.”
“Oh, shush.”

They all laughed and when Blue started the next song, everypony was listening quietly for a little while, before Starlight and Sunset started talking about the song. Blue and Trixie exchanged another glance, but Trixie seemed apologetic enough, so Blue kept it with a ‘water under the bridge’ gesture.

With the last bit of tension settled, Blue finally sat back and relaxed on her beanbag seat.





“I don’t get how you can be so into the lyrics.”
Blue addressed Trixie, both of them slouched on their seats, which meant that Blue was more or less lying and had her hooves stretched out. Her rear-right hoof bounced a bit in the rhythm of the song Sunset had picked, but the music was just background noise to her at this point.

“It’s the most important part of the song. The humans who wrote it put a lot of effort into them, and they represent the meaning of the song. I don’t get how you can like a song when you don’t even understand the lyrics.”
At this, Blue just shrugged.
“I never really thought about it. I just like the guitars on that one. Never listened to the lyrics besides the chorus.”
“Really? But, their words are so… powerful. The way they sing about loss… you can’t tell me that doesn’t touch you at all?”

Blue tilted her head and focused on the words for seemingly the first time.
I want to tell you that you’re all that ever mattered
Want you to know that for eternity I’m shattered
I tried so hard just to protect you, but I failed to
And in a prison of abandonment I jailed you

“Oh shit. Hey Sunset, why didn’t you ever tell me how depressing that song is? What the fuck, man?”
The others just laughed in a very non-teasing way and Sunset tried to explain.
“I always thought you knew. It’s one of your favourite songs, after all.”
“Yeah, but not because of that! I mean just listen to that guitar solo. That’s got enough power to push you against the wall, it’s awesome!”

This time, Trixie closed her eyes and listened more closely, and she nodded
“I agree. But it only puts more emphasis on the lyrics if you ask me.”
“I dunno. Maybe they picked lyrics that would match the music instead. You know, just find some words that rhymed?”

While Blue and Trixie were discussing things, they didn’t notice that Discord, Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer weren’t paying much attention to the music anymore. Instead, they were watching the other two, who had been at each other’s throat just a few hours ago, but were now talking about music amicably. Starlight and Sunset grinned to each other and even exchanged a hoof-bump when they were sure Blue and Trixie wouldn’t see it.

“Oh man, I think you’d get a kick out of rap music.”
“Really? Why would you think that?”
Blue nodded and waved with her hoof, in a gesture that made most sense to Sunset since it was clearly meant for hands, not hooves.
“There’s way more emphasis on lyrics and less on the actual music. Most of the time, it’s just some beats.”

“Trixie has heard the occasional rap song, and it was not very impressive.”
Blue rolled her eyes and laughed
“Yeah, not here in Equestria. Pony life is too happy and sunny. Rap is rough, more serious and stuff. About things like politics or problems in society and that kind of shit. Here, let me show you.”

Blue snatched the keyboard and fired up another song. While before, almost every song had had mainly guitars, this one was led by percussion mostly. Sunset grinned when she recognized the song, but when she was about to say something, Blue stopped her with a wave of her hoof.

Trixie had her eyes closed, probably to keep a better focus on the words. And while she didn’t freak out like the last time she had heard about violence and death on one of Blue’s songs, her ears dropped down and she looked uneasy. When the song finished, she just looked at Blue, visibly concerned
“That’s the world you’ve been living in?”
Blue blew air out of her nose, in a sigh that was frustration and anger to equal parts.
“Pretty much, yeah.”

Neither Blue nor Trixie said anything else, so Sunset decided to speak up
“That was a rather old song, more than 20 years ago. Some things in the human world have changed for the better since then. Admittedly, not all of them.”

She started another song, a more modern one from what Trixie could tell, but the sentiment behind the words was almost unchanged. At some point, Blue began mumbling the words along with the song, especially when the song conveyed the most anger.
“Did you listen to music like this a lot when you were still a human?”
Blue nodded absently, clearly thinking about it for the first time.
“Yeah. All the time. Maybe a little less after I met Sunset and the girls, but not by much. Figured angry music was better than letting my anger out on other people.”
The others nodded, but since Blue didn’t say anything else, neither did they. Blue knew what they had to be thinking, so she made an effort to slump on her seat and appear relaxed.

On earlier occasions, with other people or ponies, she used to get angry whenever somebody seemed to pity her. And while she still felt that anger grumble inside her, she knew better by now. She knew that the others were worried, but not because they pitied her, but because they cared about her, and no amount of arguing would change that.
“You guys okay?”

Starlight smiled, although she had to force it a bit
“I feel like we should be asking you that.”
“Nah. I’m okay. I moved on, you know?”

Three heads nodded, but Trixie hesitated
“You moved on, but a bit is still left, isn’t it? No matter how far you think you’ve come, there’s always a bit left.”
Blue sat up, and the song in the background changed to the next, but nopony was paying much attention to it. All eyes were on Trixie, who felt compelled to explain.
“It’s usually when I’m around Twilight Sparkle. I know, rationally, that I don’t have any reason to hate her. I can’t even say I dislike her very much, even though I don’t think we’ll ever be friends. But when I’m near her…”
Blue understood and finished Trixie’s sentence
“When you’re near her, it doesn’t matter what you know. You’re still feeling a little angry. You might know it’s not right, but in the moment, that doesn’t help.”

Starlight walked over to Trixie and put her hoof on her shoulder
“I didn’t know that’s how you really felt. And I invited you to the castle whenever you visit. I never wanted to put you in an awkward position.”
Trixie looked up and shook her head
“You didn’t! I might not enjoy being around Twilight Sparkle, but you’re Trixie’s best friend! That’s worth so much more than being a little uncomfortable around Princess Twilight.”

The two friends smiled and shared a long hug. At the other side of the room, Sunset rubbed a tear out of her eye, while Discord only rolled his eyes. Blue just shook her head
“If they start kissing now, I swear I’m gonna barf.”

Starlight and Trixie quickly pulled apart, with Starlight shooting a glare at Blue, while Sunset just started laughing. Discord on the other hoof looked thoroughly pleased with himself
“I knew putting together this club was a good idea.”
At that point, several items came flying at Discord from three colours of magic, and Blue just rolled on her seat from laughter.





When Princess Twilight walked through the entrance doors late afternoon, the castle was quiet, as expected. Spike would be out all day, searching for gems with Rarity, and Starlight would meet up with Trixie today. It was the reason why Twilight had decided to spend the morning at Sweet Apple Acres in the first place. She could see that Trixie’s and Starlight’s friendship was good for them, but there was always some lingering tension when Trixie and her were in the same room. So she made herself scarce, giving the two friends all the time they needed to bond. And going by their usual routine, by now Trixie would be bored of hanging around at the castle and she had pulled Starlight into town instead, for whatever activity that came to her mind. Twilight smiled to herself, she was very glad that Trixie managed to pull Starlight out of her shell, and she was very thankful for it. That’s why she didn’t mind forfeiting her home for a couple hours every few weeks.

Princess Twilight climbed up the stairs towards the library, already with a checklist of books she wanted to catch up on in mind, but then she heard a strange noise coming from one of the corridors. Which was strange, since the rooms in there were currently not used by her or anypony else. Intrigued, and frankly a tad worried, she followed the noise, which turned out to be music. She immediately recognized the music as human music, something Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer had shown her on an earlier visit.

As she got closer, she also heard some voices singing along, even if only one of the voices seemed to know the song well enough to follow the tune. But why would Sunset Shimmer visit Ponyville on Starlight’s and Trixie’s meetup-date?

Carefully, Twilight nudged open the door to the room the music came from, just enough to sneak in a peek. It was all she needed, really.

The inside looked a bit like a bar and on a makeshift stage, she saw Sunset Shimmer going wild on a guitar that looked very close to the one she owned in the human world. Next to her, behind a drumkit, was Discord, with a ridiculous wig and a few additional arms to play the drums. She glanced over the banner that was set up over them, and it made her smile. In the middle of the room, the dancefloor if it really was supposed to be a bar, she saw Starlight, Trixie, and Blue. With Discord involved, Twilight knew better than to question her presence (it seemed just random enough, after all), but she was surprised to see her interacting with Trixie out of all people.

The song that came from some speakers in every corner of the room and Sunset’s guitar was loud and aggressive, just the kind of song Blue would enjoy, and she was shouting along the words of the song at least partially. Her focus was on Trixie though, who stomped to the aggressive rhythm and bounced her head, so much that her mane flew from side to side each time. And if Starlight’s dishevelled mane was anything to go by, she had been doing the same not too long ago. Blue’s mane was too short to really notice, but she was shouting at Trixie to encourage her it seemed, and Trixie really let herself go, a stark contrast to her usual, always self-promoting attitude.

The song reached its climax it seemed, and everypony sang along, though Sunset and Blue the loudest, something about lacking self-esteem and feeling angry.

Princess Twilight threw another glance over the club members who had not noticed her over the music, and decided that she should not interrupt, even though the urge was certainly there. If only to know how five personalities as big and different as them would match up with each other. That might even be worth a friendship report to Princess Celestia. Maybe she’d get some research done later.





Sunset laughed and shared a last hoof-bump with Blue
“I don’t know about you guys, but I had a blast.”
“Best club meeting ever. Same time next month?”
Discord pulled a face as Starlight suggested something that came close to an orderly ritual, but Blue came to his help
“Uh, how about… second Thursday after next Monday?”
The ponies laughed but Discord seemed pleased by the now totally random date, and staged a bow
“Ladies, it has been a pleasure, and I bid your farewell, as of right now, I’m…”

He never finished the sentence and just vanished in mid-sentence and mid-air, which seemed par for the course and had everybody chuckle.
“Huh, there goes my ride back home I guess.”
“No worries. I’ll go activate the mirror for you.”
Sunset and Trixie exchanged a hug before she left with Starlight, and Blue got into the air with a flap of her wings.
“Yeah, I should head home too. Better clean up the living room before my sister throws a fit. Unless Discord totally unexpected cleaned when he zapped us over. That would be so random.”

A zipper opened in mid-air, and Discords head poked out for a “Nice try” before he just vanished again. Blue laughed and shook her head
“Ah well, worth a shot.”
Starlight, who had been on her way out, pawed the floor and blushed
“I, uh, I guess that did happen. Sorry again for…”
Blue cut her off quickly
“Forget it. But you owe me a new record player, Glimmer.”

She didn’t give Starlight a chance to reply and waved to Trixie who had gone to finishing of the snacks Discord had summoned, before she went for the door that would lead her back to the entrance. The last tune still rang in her ears and she was almost humming as she took the left to reach the main staircase, so she only noticed the purple shadow as it approached her from behind.
“Good afternoon, Blue!”
She jumped startled, before she recognized Princess Twilight. She was about to return the greeting, but something was off. Blue knew Twilight Sparkle well enough to recognize that dangerous glint in her eyes. Either Twilight, human or pony, had that when they were in full science-nerd mode. And since this was the pony princess, it wasn’t much of a leap of thought that a friendship lesson was involved somewhere.

“Have you had a good time with your new friends?”
Blue rolled her eyes, though she was in too good of a mood to get really annoyed. But that still didn’t mean that she was willing to endure a friendship interview from the Princess of Nerdiness.
“See Twi, I’ll be real with you. I can’t tell you. It would violate like so many club rules.”
Princess Twilight gasped excited and summoned a scroll, furiously scribbling without taking her eyes off Blue
“You actually got Discord to follow some rules? How would you describe his position in your new club? Did he put any effort to strengthen his friendship or was he more passive in his approach? What part did Sunset…”

Blue silenced the princess with a hoof to her mouth
“Twi, I told you, I can’t say anything. It’s in the rules. The first rule about the club is, you don’t talk about the club.”
“What kind of rule is that? It doesn’t make much sense to…”
“Twi, listen! I’m already violating so many rules, but let me tell you the second rule of the club: You. Don’t! Talk! About! The club!”

Blue poked her hoof into Twilight’s chest for emphasis with each word, but she kept her face straight, utterly confusing Princess Twilight now.
“But, that doesn’t make any sense. Why would the first two rules be identical?”
“Shhh, Twi! If the others find out I told you, they’ll kick me out faster than you can recite the national anthem.”
“Equestria doesn’t even have a national anthem.”
“Exactly! So you understand, I can’t risk that! I better go now, before I get us both into trouble! What would happen if the Canterlot Free Press finds out that Princess Twilight broke official rules on purpose?”

It was enough to throw Twilight off loop for a moment, which was all Blue needed. Instead of heading down the stairs as planned, she jumped out a conveniently placed window and took flight. She laughed when she was outside and took course towards home. That was one of the best and most unusual days off she ever had, but she didn’t really mind. In fact, she was already looking forward to the next one.