The Science of Music

by Majin Syeekoh

Stress

Twilight Sparkle, alicorn princess and owner of a new castle, rested her head on a table at Sugarcube Corner. A spoon encased in a lavender glow stirred a large cup of coffee which currently was subjected to an influx of sugar pouring into it, the sugar dispenser wrapped in its own purple hue. Across from her sat Vinyl Scratch, Ponyville’s resident DJ, studying her intently behind a pair of sunglasses. A cerulean glow surrounded the sugar dispenser, then was set down on the table.

“I, uh, think you’ve put in enough sugar, Twilight,” Vinyl said with a nervous chuckle.

The lavender glow surrounded the sugar dispenser once again. “Never enough sugar,” Twilight said. The dispenser was enveloped in blue again and whisked off to an adjacent table.

“That’s enough, babe.”

Twilight groaned, sat up, and placed the spoon down on the table. She grasped the cup with her magic and took a long, drawn out sip. She glared at Vinyl. “You’re the worst.”

Vinyl buried her face in her hoof. “Twilight, you keep putting that much sugar in your coffee every time, you’ll end up dead at forty. That would be the worst.”

“Well, if this keeps up, I might not make it to the end of the week,” Twilight said as she took another swig.

“What?” Vinyl asked with a snort. “You might get lost mapping out your new castle and die of starvation?”

Twilight glared at Vinyl. “I always carry rations with me when mapping out my castle.”

Vinyl snorted out a giggle. “Celestia, I was just joking. I didn’t think you’d actually worry about getting lost in your new home.”

Twilight stared into her cup, swirling around the contents. “I think it’s a valid concern.” She took a sip. “Besides, it’s not a home. My library was a home. This—”

“—will be your home once you get used to it. Don’t worry about it,” Vinyl said as she reached a hoof across the table, laying it on top of Twilight’s.

Twilight smiled in return. “Thanks, Vinyl.”

“No probs,” Vinyl said as she retracted her hoof. “Now, what’s with the caffeine-and-sugar overload? Mapping out your castle overnight?” she asked with a chortle.

Twilight shot a glare at Vinyl. “It’s a valid concern! I have to worry about zoning ordinance violations—”

“Whoa there, slow your roll. Just playing around. Seriously, though, what’s the problem?”

Twilight shuddered as she took another sip of her coffee. “It’s the books.”

“Books?” Vinyl asked as she slowly raised an eyebrow. “But you like books.”

“I do. Reading them, at least,” Twilight said. “And organizing them as well, but not as much as reading them. But it’s kind of difficult to take solace in organizing books when you hold an open call for book donations to stock the new Ponyville Library—which is also my new castle—and end up receiving a constantly replenishing supply of books to organize. And just when you think you’ve finished cataloguing all of the books, they dump a new batch on you like some kind of Sisyphean torture!”

She slammed her cup onto the table, her chest heaving.

Vinyl examined Twilight, who took a nervous sip. The DJ then grasped her sunglasses in her magic and removed them from her face, revealing her cerise eyes. She neatly folded the glasses up, placed them on the table, and looked Twilight in the eyes. “Twily.”

“What?” Twilight grunted as she sipped on her coffee again.

“What’s reason thirty-six on the checklist of why we go well together?”

Twilight let out a weak chuckle. “Because we both like keeping schedules. You,” she began as she waved the cup in Vinyl’s direction, “for your work, and me,” she continued as she took another sip, “so that I make the most efficient use of my time.”

Vinyl nodded. “Yeah. So why aren’t you scheduling your library-ing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Twilight, you do realize that you don’t have to stock all of the books as they come in, right?”

“But what if somepony comes to the castle looking for a book, but it’s in the pile I haven’t catalogued yet?”

“Then write it down for when you do come across it. You don’t have to kill yourself getting every book on the shelves. Just take it in manageable chunks and it’ll be done before you know it, without running yourself ragged.”

Twilight looked down at the table as she sipped on her coffee again. “I wonder why I didn’t think of that.”

Vinyl grinned. “Probably because you were too tired from all the books.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Twilight said with a smile. She looked into Vinyl’s eyes. “You’re the best, you know that?”

Vinyl laughed as she slid her sunglasses back on. “Yeah, I know. But you’re a very close second.”

“Thanks, Vinyl.” Twilight finished her coffee. “By the way, where is everyone?”

Vinyl smirked. “Sugarcube Corner’s been closed for an hour. I had Pinkie keep it open just for us.”

Twilight blushed as she set her cup down. “You shouldn’t have.”

“Look, you seemed like you needed some time to chillax.”

“Well, as you can see, I did. Thank you for this.”

“No probs.”

“Are you girls up to any funny business?” Pinkie called out from the kitchen.

“We might be,” Vinyl yelled back, “you wanna—?”

Twilight’s widened to the size of dinner plates as she clamped Vinyl’s mouth shut with her magic. “No, Pinkie, we were just leaving!”

“Oh, okay!” Pinkie called back. “You two have a good evening!”

Twilight stood up, let go of Vinyl’s mouth, and glared at her. “You’re terrible.”

Vinyl stood up and chuckled. “Shut up, you love it.”

“I do not.”

“Do too,” Vinyl said as she pecked Twilight on the cheek.

Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them. “You are incorrigible.”

“I know,” Vinyl said with a snicker as they left Sugarcube Corner.

Comments

[gamexpert1990]

Now I want to ask how many points are on that checklist, and what they all are.

[JustAnotherTimeLord]

Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them. “You are incorrigible.”

I'm not sure why, but I really don't like Twilight using "incorrigible." It feels . . . off. I can't place why.

But either way, this was a great little chapter. I am really digging this ship, and I want to see what can be done with it.

EDIT: Now it is 100% easier to figure out which word I was talking about.

[Cpt Jake Hoofness]

“What?” Vinyl asked with a snort. “You might get lost mapping out your new castle and die of starvation?”
Twilight glared at Vinyl. “I always carry rations with me when mapping out my castle.”

How big is her damn castle?

[OmniFox]

How did they got together in the first place?

[Dark_Knight]

5645366 It's a TARDIS, no one knows for sure

[BudCharles]

5943616 OMFG WHAT IF HER HOUSE ACTUALLY IS THE TARDIS! DUDE! There's already connections between the two series, it would make sense!

Does that mean time energy might be a type of magic? Perhaps magic is a unifying force across all universes with time, it's just different strengths in different ones, like gravity.

[King of Kings]

This—”

"___is a marketing ploy to sell more toys"