The Benefits of Music

by Ashardu

A new genre.

It was another bright and beautiful day for the town of Ponyville. The weather patrol just finished moving some clouds to make it look like heavenly day, with Rainbow leading it. Yes, she took the liberty to take a day off the Wonderbolts to help the weather patrol. She said something about making the weather patrol another 20% cooler once again, or so.

In a not faraway distance, a figure appeared walking down the road towards the town. It was definitively a male. A pegasus to be precise.

His body color was a green yellowish, the color of his eyes were cyan, his mane was black and a bit of orange at the tip of his mane. His wings had some sort of accesory, which looked like a metal attachment. He was wearing a brown jacket with a white t-shirt under it, some dark blue pants and a sunshade glasses on top of his head. He stopped walking after traveling a few meters and stood looking at the town with a burning determination in his eyes.

"Ha! Finally! I reached the famous Ponyville!" said the young man, who was holding some sort of guitar-shaped case. He took a breath and let it out with pride as he saw from a distance the unique town of Ponyville.

"Okay, before going I need to check I brought everything with me." said the man as he stood still on the road towards Ponyville. The fella went into his knees and started checking his stuff.

"Let's see..... Guitar? Check. Awesome clothes? Check. Wallet full of bits? Double check. Nail for the guitar? Check. A place to stay? ....Screw the check."

The man standing was none other than Quarter Tone, an amateur, yet talented alternative guitarist who seeks his special place and fame as well.

He comes from Tinkerrune, LA. Ever since he was a colt, he always used to hear a lot of songs of Linkin Flank, an alternative music band that has gained a huge amount of reputation to this day.

One day, this band held a concert nearby his home and Quarter went to that same concert with his dad. After he got in his Dad's shoulders to see them better, something in him changed. A new goal was born. To become a great guitarist just like Linkin Flank's guitarist was.

That same day, he got his cutie mark. It was a sunset with a guitar in the middle of it. It represented the dedication and passion he has for music.

After he got his cutie mark, Quarter worked hard enough to buy his own electric guitar, a Les Paul nevertheless. It was something like this.

He couldn't be any prouder. His hard efforts finally paid off once he got this guitar on his hands. Quarter has kept the guitar ever since then and took care of it like it was the most important thing in the world. He even gave it a name! He called it, 'Nixus'

As for his goal, he was on his way towards something really big. Becoming one of the greatest guitarist of the world. Sure, it was a huge dream for such a small man coming from middle-poor family, but he always thought that dreams can be achieved if your pour your heart on it for a long time, even if it takes your whole life to do so.

Reaching the entrance of the town, he looked in awe to every building. It wasn't that luxurious as the rich families's houses, but to him, everything had a purpose.

He managed to arrive to The Sugarcube Corner, which caused him to drool just by looking at it. For a second he thought it was made out of candy. The concrete wall of the shop said otherwise.

Later, he spotted the Carousel Boutique. It looked small, but the fancyness around it made it look bigger. Moving on-

..... Hold on. I think I missed something. This can't go like this. It's going to end before it even starts! What was that thing missing? ..... Oh! That's right!

Quarter soon walked a few more feet until he spotted a big mass of pink flying straight into him. He barely got time to react and inmediately smashed the ground with his face.

"How are doing floor? Having a nice day I suppose. I would like to present my face to you. Face, floor. Floor, face." he thought as he was lying face-down to the floor.

Quarter could hear a babbling really near him. It didn't stop. It just didn't. He didn't felt like looking at this voice and remained in the same position.

The voice suddenly stopped. Quarter couldn't put his finger on it why, but as he finally deattached his face from the floor (Goodbye, face!), he turned his head to see this someone on top of him.

It was a pink mare, with a really fluffy and curled up mane. Her cyan eyes were exceptionally beautiful, not to mention the body she had.

Quarter was lost in the stare towards the strange girl. He realized he looked like a pervert and stared into the girl's face, hoping she wasn't looking at him with disgust. Her expression clearly showed she was curious about him.

"Um.... hi?" said Quarter.

"Oh, you are awake! HI! I thought you were unconcious because I landed on you and you like really smashed your face into the ground really hard. It must have hurt a lot because hitting the floor always hurt everytime I slip or trip. I noticed you aren't from around here and I know like everyone from here and since I haven't seen you before must mean you are a new friend to meet!" said the girl in a unknown speed.

"Oh this is so exciting! I love meeting new friends all the time! I'm going to throw a 'Welcome new musician to town! Sorry I landed on you really hard!' party! I'll invite everybody since everybody is my friends and friends are supposed to have a good time. You are invited too since it's your party silly! The party is going to have a lot of ballons and games and-"

Quarter wasn't sure if this was a torture for something he did in the past or he was simply allucinating from the recent faceplant.

In either case, he couldn't comprehend a thing or two she said the moment she opened her mouth. The only things that caught his attention were that she knew his profession and the party.

"Whoa whoa, hold it lady! Who are you and how did you know I was a musician?"

"Oh! That's right, I didn't tell you my name. Silly ol' Pinkie." she said as she blinked while bumping her head, getting off of Quarter as well, "Name's Pinkie Pie! One of the best party throwers ever and friend of everyone!"

Quarter couldn't argue with that. She did look like a party thrower and friend-them-all girl, not to mention her matching personality.

The second question still remained unanswered.

As he got up from the floor, he was going to ask again, but she spoke first, hitting the topic he was just about to say.

"I knew you were a musician since that guitar over there looks like it belongs to you!", Quarter's eyes narrowed as he heard his guitar dropped hard nearby him.

"You must know a lot of music since you carry a instrument with you! We have a lot of talented musicians here in Ponyville as well! We have some artists named 'The Living Tombstone', 'Mandobrony', 'WoodenToaster' ,'Izeer', 'Black Gryph0n'..."

He didn't care a single bit of what she said, his attention was focused on his guitar on the floor. He carefully picked it up and searched for any kind of damage or scratch to Nixus. It had a few scratches, but they were repairable. Quarter sighed relieved it didn't broke or anything, but his face sudddenly turned into an angry one.

"This girl is not getting away with this." thought Quarter as he proceeded to look at her again.

She was gone.

"Where could have she gone!?" said Quarter.

"Right here, silly!" said Pinkie. Quarter, not sure if he wanted to look, slowly turned again to find this mare wearing a really weird costume.

"....What are you wearing?" asked Quarter.

"It's a clown costume!" she replied.

"That's not a clown costume."

"Oh really? I must be wearing a scuba diving costume! Or is it a shark costume? I always liked costumes because-" started babbling Pinkie. Quarter knew what was going to happen. If he didn't stop her right now, he would lose his mind.

"H-hey, Pinkie..."

"What is it?", said Pinkie as she snapped from her endless talk and looked at Quarter,

"I'm... actually curious about the party, that's all. Could you tell me a little bit of it, please?"

"Huh? That's the first time someone told or asked me something like that." Quarter raised an eyebrow, amused by her answer. He inmediately focused on his chat.

"You see, if there is a party, there must be music right?" he asked.

"Of course! There can't be a party without music. The party would end really early! Imagine that! A really short party!"

Quarter saw this as an opportunity. If he could play at that party and show his skills, he could rise a lot of reputation in no time. It was such a great opportunity! He thought it was his big chance after long years of practice.... well, a few years since he started from the bottom and has few experience when it comes to big events (Yes, Pinkie's parties are a blast), but you get the idea.

His hope was soon to be crushed by an incoming message from Pinkie.

"It's a good thing I hired Vinyl to be the music for the party! She is so fun! Her music always cheers even more my parties!"

If Quarter wasn't in a public place right now, he would go sob in a corner right now. Hiding his deception with a good poker face, he spoke, "V-vinyl? You... mean... just who is she?"

"She is a DJ!"

Boom. Quarter's mind just blew. Inside. No one noticed it, but Quarter was crying internally. He didn't have any kind of grudge against other musicians, but this was definitively a vendetta against DJ's. Their music was awesome though.

"Alright! I'm going to start organizing your party! See ya later!" said Pinkie as she walked away, jumping.

Suddenly, she stopped. She turned around to see Quarter once again and approaches him.

"You know..." she tilted her head with a doubt in her mind, "You haven't told me your name yet... even worse, I haven't shown the town yet!"

"Crap. Me and my manners." he thought.

"My name is Quarter Tone. It's nice to meet you Pinkie Pie." said Quarter as he bowed, "And don't worry, I can tour myself around." he stated.

"Are you sure?" said Pinkie in her doubting voice.

"Yes, I always liked discovering things by myself."

"Okay then Quarter! You win! Get ready for tonight! It's going to be a blast!" gloated Pinkie.

"Hehe... sure... See you at the party..." said Quarter as he delivered a false grin, hiding his inner sadness for having lost a big opportunity.

Pinkie finally left and soon she wasn't in sight. Quarter sighed and scratched the back of his head as he decided it was best not to grieve for this unfortunate event.

"Well, I'm sure another opportunity will show up eventually." He shook a bit of dust off himself, grabbed his trusty guitar and walked away. One thing was bothering him though.

"Where am I even going to stay tonight?"

A pumping techno music could be heard...

The night finally arrived. At the Sugarcube Corner, anyone who was invited and those who weren't were inside. Quarter was one of the last guests to arrive.

Since he didn't have a place to crash (and asking a stranger something like that was out of the question, especially Pinkie), Quarter decided to take a quick break from the auto-tour he took. He took a nap in some nearby fields, causing him to skip track of time. Quarter, as he woke up, panicked after seeing what time was it.

Picking his stuff, he ran all the way to where the party was helded. He was relieved the party was still. Quarter was afraid he might lose his own party. Taking a closer look, he could see all sort of lights coming out of the window.

"Quite a party." he said to himself.

Quarter walked to the entrance and entered. What he saw was definitively not something you see everyday...

He spotted a mechanic bull ride in the center of the place. Some fellas were acting like if they were drunk and glowing sticks were up in the air. The air was filled with a pink smoke and everyone seemed to have a really good time. Quarter admitted this actually looked like fun.

A certain girl suddenly noticed Quarter, who was looking around the party. This girl approached him in a flash. When she took hold of Quarter, causing to turn around, she went into a hug. Quarter was taken back by this, but managed to recognize the girl hugging him. It was Pinkie, the one and only.

"Oh Quarter! You finally arrived! We were waiting for you!" said Pinkie as she let him go.

"Hehe, sorry I was late. Kinda fell asleep." admitted Quarter.

"It's okay! Now that you are here, I can introduce you to everybody!"

"Why do I have the feeling that is not a good idea..." he thought.

Pinkie grabbed Quarter's hand and went through the horde of people dancing. If they weren't careful, they might have gotten lost.

What? No. Pinkie would be fine, who worries me was Quarter.

Finally, after going through many people, they reached a stage where big speakers were held. Quarter assumed it was where the DJ was playing. He clenched his fist a bit after remembering the lost chance hours ago. Pinkie was too busy looking for something in a pile of boxes that she didn't notice Quarter's not-so-well hidden annoyance.

After a minute or two, she finally found what she looking for. A huge speaker. Quarter didn't want to know how loud was that speaker or where she get it, but it didn't matter since nothing could stop her from using it. Heading to where the stage was, Pinkie asked the DJ to lower the music a bit. Preparing the speaker, Quarter covered his ears, for it was going to be very loud.

"HI EVERYONE, HOW ARE YOU DOING?" said Pinkie as the speaker literally shook the entire building and everyone inside of it. Quarter didn't budge at all. Suddenly, a large cheer was heard followed. Pinkie smiled upon this and proceeded to speak again (Don't worry, she lowered a lot the speaker's volume).

"I'm so happy to see everyone looking so happy! [i]It makes my heart smile, smile, smile~. Anyways, I'm going to introduce you to the special guest tonight!"

Quarter soon knew where this was going. He was NOT prepared for this.

"I want you to meet my new friend, Quarter Tone!" she said as she pulled him behind some stereos. How did she managed to pull him there when he was on back-stage? We better leave that question unanswered.

"He is a super-duper guy and he is a musician!"

Quarter Tone froze right there. He thought having a party for him was great (even if he didn't get to play), but meeting everyone right now and there completely neutralized him. Everyone stared at him, with curiosity. He knew that he needed to speak, but didn't know what to say.

"Don't be shy, Quarter. Just say 'Hi'!" said Pinkie behind him. Quarter gulped, still thinking what to say.

"Oh boy. What do I say?" he thought. Quarter sighed, gathering guts to speak.

"Okay, it is just a greeting. Nothing more. Time to shine, rockstar!".

"H-h-hi... My n-n-name is.... uh.... Quarter Tone. N-n-nice to meet ya..." he stuttered. The crowd obviously didn't comprehend his stutter and everyone looked at each other trying to deduce what did he say.

"Oh. My. God. I can't believe how much of a wimp I sounded like!" he thought holding a nervous grin towards the audience.

"Hey man, chill! Everyone in here are pretty much friends." said an unknown voice, probably female, from behind. Quarter looked behind to see who said that. It couldn't have been Pinkie, her voice was different to the one he heard. Then, he spotted it. He spotted the person who said that.

It was Vinyl, the DJ Pinkie mentioned earlier.

Her mane was in two tones of blue and she was wearing a scarf. She was wearing some purple glasses, probably to protect her eyes from all the lights. Her small athletic shirt seemed to be quite tight for someone that is a DJ and it also said the words 'DJ PON-3' on it, which probably was her artistic name. Quarter was struggling to whether show a grateful or a grudge expression.

Hmmm, the grudge expression had an advantage, I wonder why?

A person in the crowd coughed which caught Quarter's attention. He looked again at the audience and remembered where his position was. Gulping to the pressure, he sighed afterwards and spoke with more confidence.

"Thank you guys for the party, I really appreaciate it. I hope you have a nice staying!" said Quarter pointing at the crowd.

The crowd launched a large cheer, causing Quarter to feel embarrased by this. Back home, he never had such significantly big party before. His parents couldn't afford something like since they had to take care of 4 children, Quarter being one of the youngest, with barely 23 years of living.

Quarter moved from the stage and recieved a 'Good job' hug from Pinkie. They enjoyed the rest of the party and when they realized it, it was already over. Pinkie waved good bye to each and every single guest from the party. The few individuals that remained were Pinkie, Quarter and Vinyl. They seemed to be talking about something.

"Oh man, that party was awesome! You did a great job back there Vinyl!" flattered Quarter looking at Vinyl.

"Hehe, thanks man! Nice to see someone who agrees with me."

"Someone that agrees? Does that mean there is someone who doesn't like your music?" asked Quarter.

"Yeah, it's a friend of mine. She is stuck to all the classic stuff that doesn't have time to my work and even if she had time I'm sure she would complain about it." explained Vinyl.

Pinkie was just hearing the conversation, silent to any comment coming from them.

"I guess I can relate."

"Really?" said a wondering Vinyl.

"Yes. Back where I used to practice in my hometown, a lot of kids made fun of me since I was different in tastes. They all enjoyed their dubstep and double sense music only. They didn't like my alternative since they said it was too boring."

"Huh. Well, that must suck..."

"You said it," said Quarter pointing at her in approval.

"It made my childhood not so pleasant, but they couldn't stop me from becoming an artist, not some kind of meticulous DJ. Good thing my brothers-", he closed his mouth before anything stupid came out of his mouth again. Quarter did a rewind thought of what he said, causing to fear he might have insulted Vinyl about the DJ thing. Vinyl actually looked a bit unamused by his comment.

"I-I-I mean... DJ are awesome! Y-yeah, that's what I meant! I never... said they were... boring! I-I..." tried to explain Quarter.

"Don't talk. You are only going to make it worse..." whispered Pinkie next to him.

"Couldn't agree with you more." he replied. Trying to avoid that topic, he switched to something more... casual.

"So.... What is your name? I only heard from you recently." said Quarter changing the topic.

Vinyl was taken back a bit with the sudden change of topic, not that it bothered her, but still.

"Name's Vinyl, Vinyl Scratch. You are Quarter Tone as you already said."

"That's right."

"So... you are a musician?" asked Vinyl.

"Yeah... why?"

"Just wondering. Other artists come to Ponyville quite often. So tell me, which Laji are you?" asked Vinyl as she pulled a chocolate bar out of a box nearby.

"Laji?"

"It's genre in Finland, dude."

"Oh." said Quarter as he was going to ask why did she knew that, but didn't afterwards.

"I guess you can call an Alternative guitarist." explained Quarter.

"Alternative? ....huh." said Vinyl while looking away

"....Is something wrong?"

"Oh! N-nothing. Just ignore it, it's just something I remembered, that's all."

Quarter couldn't help but feel it was something related to him being an Alternative musician. Quarter looked at the time in a wall clock and noticed how late it was.

"Oh shoot. This late already?" said Quarter looking at the clock, which caused both Vinyl and Pinkie to look at it also.

"Uh oh, I better get home before Octavia scolds me."

Quarter wasn't paying attention, he was too busy thinking of a place to stay.

"Well, I'll take off now, see ya later guys!" said Vinyl walking to the exit.

"O-oh, bye..." said Quarter. As she left the Sugarcube Corner, he felt something wrong, like a disturbance in the air. Something that shouldn't have happened, but he couldn't figure it out since he was the new guy and all. He turned around, expecting to see Pinkie, but instead he found out he was alone.

"Huh? Where did she go?" thought Quarter as he looked around hoping to see her, which it didn't happen.

"Pinkie was awfully quiet in most part of the conversation. I wonder why? I hope is she is okay.". wondered Quarter as he started to leave the shop.

Once outside, the green male looked around to find a hotel or somewhere to stay. Since he had a lot of bits with him, it wouldn't be a problem.

After a couple of hours searching and getting scolded by a few people for knocking this late at night and also for looking like if he was some sort of homeless man lurking the streets, he found a piece of paper attached to a particuliar house house with an offer written on it.

We are renting one bedroom, anyone interested please knock.
P.S. Don't even think about knocking at this late at night.

"...Shit." cursed Quarter as he noticed the warning below.

"Well, I guess I should look for an hotel now..."

Quarter turned around and started walking, only to be interrupted by the sound of an opening door. Curious about it, he decides to look at the opening door. Well, either the world is small or a simple coincidence. It was Vinyl on the door.

"Hey, man. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing."

"Well, funny guy, this happens to be my house." she explained.

"...... eh?"

"You heard me!"

"Then the poster was your-"

"My rent plan? That's right!", she said proud of it when a thought crossed her mind, "....Hold on a minute."

Quarter was afraid she might find out he was looking for a place to stay. Not that it was a bad thing, but a man has to keep his pride, you understand what I mean.

"Are you looking a place to stay?", Bullseye, Quarter's cover was blown.

"N-no, I was just.... touring around town! Yeah, that!"

"At 2 a.m., Alone." confirmed Vinyl.

"Er... I always liked the night?"

"..."

"You aren't buying it, are you?" asked Quarter.

"Not a single word."

Quarter sighed, knowing that it was no use in lying, and spoke, "Okay, okay. You got me. I'm looking for a place to crash tonight, or an apartment to be more precise. I just happened to see your poster. Yes, I was interested in it."

"...Quarter?" called Vinyl as she approached him.

"Yeah?"

"You can stay in our guest room tonight." said Vinyl with a smile on her face. Quarter's heart was leaping with joy.

"Are you sure? I mean, I just met you!"

"Nah, it's okay. Everyone in Ponyville are good people and we rarely do anything unappropiated." explained Vinyl as she placed her hand on Quarter's shoulder, "Besides, you can consider it as a welcome gift of my own!"

He didn't know what to say. No one (besides his family) showed so much appreciation before. He would cry if he was very sentimental, which he isn't. Quarter grabbed Vinyl's hand and shook like there was no tomorrow.

"Oh, thank you, Thank you!" he thanked.

"Hehe, don't wory about it. Come on in!" said Vinyl as she proceeded to enter inside, followed by Quarter.

Quarter entered and saw a lot of discs hanged on the walls, famous artist as well and the decoration inside the house was pretty decent. He walked a bit more until Vinyl showed him the guest room. He thanked Vinyl one more time and entered the room.

It was decent room, with music decoration everywhere. He felt like he was home somehow. Placing his bag and stuff next to the bed, he changed clothes and went straight into bed. He made himself comfortable and thought of all the opportunities that could arrive staying here in Ponyville.

"Man, I'll remember this day for a long time." said Quarter as he started to finally feel sleepy.

"aaaaah.... I wonder what is going to happen tomorrow..."

Quarter's eyes soon closed and he went into sleeping mode. The night was bright and silence was its eternal companion. In a few hours, morning was going to arrive and a new day of adventures as well. What could possibly go wrong?

"Hold on a minute. Octavia used her famous zapper on you!?" repeated Vinyl staring at Quarter with amazement.

"Famous?". Quarter felt her stare was a little awkward, even if it was coming from her. "Y-yeah, why?"

"Dude!"

Quarter, looking confused by this, moved a bit away from Vinyl, "W-what?"

"Oblivion." asnwered Vinyl.

"Oblivion?"

"Octavia... do you mind if I do something for you, to prove I really don't mind what you did?" asked Quarter, hoping she would agree. Otherwise, the situation would remain awkward.

Octavia hesitated, not sure what to say to this. Gathering enough courage, she thoughtfully made her words. "Okay, Quarter." said Octavia as she sighed and nodded, "You have my permission."

"Vinyl, I said no. Now please stop closing the door." Quarter tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"Vinyl, seriously. I said I don't want to and I don't want to get upset with you. Now PLEASE, stop it. " he opened the door freely just to be shut in front of him. Quarter was getting angry and decided to let it out.

"Okay, Vinyl. Stop it. It's not funny. Don't force me." said Quarter, but it seemed like Vinyl didn't listen, or she simply didn't care. This kind of thing was getting into Quarter's nerves.

"Celestia Damn it Vinyl! Just let me go!" he yelled.

"Pretty much." she replied.