Music, Muscle, and the Multiverse

by themultiversewatcher


The Birthday Surprise

I suppose I should start by explaining who I am. I am Sean Cameron. I am an astronomer, but I have yet to find a proper job. You see, I live in a small town in Connecticut named Tolland, which is a town that you wouldn't have heard of unless either you live there or knew somebody who lived there. It's that obscure. I am fresh out of college with a PhD in astronomy. I own the house my parents paid off two years ago. They moved to my mother's parent's condo on the Cape recently, after renting it out to strangers. That's a little off the topic of me. I live with my sister, Sara, who is a well accomplished athlete. Anyways, I like biking. On a bicycle, not a motorcycle, mind you. I am an Eagle Scout and kind of a smartass, if you ask Sara. Oh, and I'm also amazing at singing. I tried out for American Idol, but didn't make it. Those judges were harsh.
Sara and I are bronies. She prefers pegasister, but I don't. I knew lots of people who were fans of the show, but I was really into the fanfiction. I am a member of FimFiction and read all sortsa different stories. As an astronomer, I was really into the idea that each of these stories took place in other universes. See, I have always been a fan of the multiverse theory. Well, now the hype has died down. My amazing multiverse has dried up. I tried writing some fics, but was never really successful. By the way, my birthday is today, May 10, 2020, at 11:55 PM. I am turning 25.
Now, for some stuff you should know about Sara. She is a showoffy, self-centered, tomboy athlete. Nothing is ever good enough for her, and she always has to one up everyone else. I wouldn't want her any other way. She loved Rainbow Dash, Gilda, Lightning Dust, and the Wonderbolts. If they were into speed and power, she was excited about them. Oh, and her birthday is tomorrow at 12:05. She is also turning 25. That's enough about us, I don't want to bore you to death with my life story or anything, 'cause that's rude.


Sara walks slowly to the kitchen table with a large chocolate cake with a thin layer of chocolate frosting, my favorite type. Unfortunately, because of the Noro virus and a cupcake, I can no longer eat lots of frosting. It super sucks. On top of the cake sat two candles in the shape of a 2 and a 5. The deal was that I would be able to blow out one of the candles on on the exact time of my birthday. That's five minutes away. And Sara would be able to blow out her candle on her birth time.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Sean~, happy birthday to you!" She sings.
"Cut it out, Sara," I complain, "You know I don't like your terrible singing voice."
"You're just being a sourpuss," she says back, sticking out her tongue.
Finally, the time for me to blow out the candles has come. I take a deep breath. Five, four, three, two, one. Suddenly, I freeze up. I can see fragments of shapeless blobs running away from some unknown monster. I hear a deep cackle, and a few words.
"Five score, divided by four. It took some time for me to find your weakness, but now you will pay for trying to stop me!"
After that, I find myself being shaken by Sara, who wears a frightened face.
"Sean, are you alright?" She asks worriedly.
"Yeah, Lightning, I'm fine," I confirm, shaking my head.
"Um...Sean? You called me Lightning. You sure you're okay?"
"I did? Oh, well I'm sure it was nothing."
Why did I call her Lightning? Could it simply have been a Freudian slip? And what was that vision? I find myself wondering. Shrugging the thoughts off, I blow out the candle after making a small wish.
"My turn!" Shouts Sara excitedly. She is practically jumping into the seat next to me. I decide to sing a jazzy sounding birthday song, complete with an a Capella trumpet.
"Time to blow out your candle, Sara," I say.
Sara takes a deep breath, and freezes at the last second. I stare for a minute, unsure of what to do. I snap my fingers next to her ear.
"Earth to Sara, earth to Sara, come in Sara," I say. Still no reaction. "Yo, Sara, come on, you're scaring me!" After five minutes, she decides to join the land of the living. I am relieved to see that she is at least not permanently damaged. "You zoned out for five minutes. You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks," she says, unconvincingly. I shrug it off.
"Oh, hey," I say, pulling out a bottle of high-quality Cabernet Sauvignon, "I was saving this baby for today. I've heard it goes great with chocolate cake." We pull out two wine glasses and pour the red liquid into them. I was never a beer person myself. My dad always drank wine, so I did, too. My sister is another story altogether. She drinks beer. Lots of beer. Her tolerance level is, like, off the charts. Anyways, back to the story.
"Yeah, thanks, Treble," she says absentmindedly.
"Uhh...Sara, you just called me Treble. I know I might sound like a hypocrite for saying this because I called you Lightning, but that's just a little weird." My nickname, by the way, is Raptor, because I like utahraptors a lot. It's sort of a running joke on my preferences.
"Oh, well, I guess I must be pretty tired for me to make that mistake," she says. I glance at the clock. 1:30. We finish our cake and wine.
"Yeah, I guess. Welp, good night Sara, see you in the morning."
"'Night, Raptor."


I run towards the sounds of that monster of chaos. All I can think of is that this universe should not have taken this awful turn. Unfortunately, he, no, it, was not even from this universe. It's my job to stop it. I had only recently left Doc and Ditzy alone, and they were probably gone by now.
Damn it. I need to find someone who can help me out. I see a teal and orange pony standing by.
"You, help, now! No time to explain," I shout. She follows me without question. "I need you to flank him. Go!"
Damn it, damn it, damn it! Now she's gone. I've got to stop it!
"Five score, divided by four. It took some time for me to find your weakness, but now you will pay for trying to stop me!" That thing cackles. Suddenly, everything is dark. So dark. Losing consciousness.


I wake up from that nightmare in a cold sweat. I haven't had a nightmare in ages, and this one seemed pretty real. I shudder at the thought. I walk into the bathroom across the hall and promptly barf into the toilet. Once that episode is over, I decide to take a shower to clear my head. I take off my pajamas and climb into the shower. I absentmindedly scratch at my thigh. I feel a strange sensation, like I no longer had hair there. I look down to see what the matter is. There, on my thigh, is a trio of treble clefs arranged on three invisible bar lines. My first thought is, What did Sara do to me last night. I don't remember getting a tattoo. Mom's gonna kill me. After finishing my shower, I get out and get dressed. When I open the door, there, in front of me, is a seething Sara. You know how people get when they're angry? Well, Sara takes that to a whole new level. She doesn't just get mad, she gets really, really pissed. Needless to say, I am terrified.
"SEAN RANDALL CAMERON! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!" she screams. When she uses my full name, I know I'm in trouble.
"I didn't do anything, Sara," I plead fearfully. Then she does something unexpected. She pulls up the side of the skirt she's wearing. "Sara! You're my sister!"
"That didn't stop you from doing this to me! Knowing you, you were probably drunk, but that's beside the point! Now, look and tell me that you put this on me!" I am forced to look. I gasp at what I see. There, on her thigh, is a lightning bolt with three stars at the tip. "You know how much I like Lightning Dust, especially after her redemption episode, but to do this is kinda cruel! Hey, Sean, you listening? Sean?" Her anger turns to worry as I stare into space. I shake my head.
"Sara," I say, "I want you to look at something, too." I pull down the side of my pants, revealing what I am now calling my cutie mark. She stares at it. We are probably thinking the same thing. What's going on? And why us? This was a birthday surprise we weren't expecting to happen. Little do we know, it'll get a lot worse before it gets better.