Bass Clefs and Sapphires

by Crispn

Cleaning Snow White would be proud of

2 flights of stairs later, I was standing in front of the apartment 4C. So this is going to be my new apartment. I must have been wearing my nervous face proud because Vinyl sidled up to me and grabbed my arm and started to rub her cheek on my arm.

“It’s going to be fine, Dashie has always been a really good friend to anyone she meets. You remember meeting one of her friends at my end of the year party, Twilight Sparkle?”

I did recall meeting someone by that name four months ago; short stature, purple hair, really nerdy. She had talked to me for hours about random nonsense that I could never comprehend, something about trans dimensional portals and creating power stones that would increase output on magic capabilities thousand fold, and that they would be so strong, even pegs and earthies would be able to wield them with ease.

“Well? Aren't you gonna knock?” Vinyl nudged my arm and motioned to the door. “Like I said, just don’t be a douche like you can be sometimes when you are being stupid or tired. Dash might be a small one but she will kick your ass from here to the coast.”

“I'm not a douche.” I grumbled and was answered with a punch to the shoulder. She looked at me with her eyes peering over her sunglasses. I sighed, gathered up what little balls I had and knocked on the door.

Nothing. I knocked again. Still nothing. Knocked a third time. Still Nothing. I look over at Vinyl and shrugged. She shrugged as well.

“Maybe she’s not here, or she went back to sleep.”

“I just talked to her 20 minutes ago, she should be up. Then again, she does like to nap a lot.”

“Of course I’m up. Had to go get some necessities. And with all do respect DJ, can I get to my door.”

Spinning around on the spot, I came face to face with this girl named Rainbow Dash. There looking me straight in the eyes was a pair of fuchsia eyes slightly bobbing up and down. Then she glided away from me, using her large, cyan wings to keep her in the air. It was weird to me to see any peg keep their wings outside of clothes, let alone fly around all the time. In her hands was a bag of cleaning supplies and some small amount of cooking materials, which she promptly plopped into my arms.

“So this is the guy, huh? Crisp, was it? Seems too tall. The only other person I have seen that tall is Big Mac and maybe Caramel.”

“Uuuuh hi. well I can’t thank-”

"If there is anything I have learned from my friend, and that is to be generous with what you have. Although, I probably would never go to the extent of what she would that's for sure. Well, since you are here, you can help me with what I was trying to do before you two showed up.”

“Hehehe, not even living here for 1 minute and she is gonna have you working your ass off.” Vinyl managed to get out between snickers as we walked inside.

It wasn't in the best of shape. In fact, it was downright disgusting. There was stacks of takeout boxes layered at least 4 or 5 thick, cups and dirt everywhere. The kitchen was not in any better shape, in fact, it looked worse. Dishes, dirty bowls, caked on food. The floor was sticky and it looked like no one had cleaned it in months.

Vinyl walked over to the back of the couch, staring at the filthiness in disbelief, “Jesus dash, no wonder you don’t have anyone over anymore. Tavi and Rares would probably have a conniption fit if they saw the condition of your apartment.”

“Yeah, again, sorry about the mess, Part of the reason I kicked out Thunderlane. And ya know he was just a bum and a half. Never paid bills and rent. His room is probably terrible too, but at least he grabbed all of his shit and hightailed it out of here yesterday.”

“This is not that bad, you should see my car.” I chuckled as I grabbed the mop in the corner and started to fill the bucket with warm water from the sink.

“Uhm, what are you doing? You realize I was kidding right?” Dash said as she hovered in front of me, attempting to take the mop out of my hands. With a hard wrench, I pulled the mop back away from Rainbow Dash and into my hands.

“Yeah, but still, you are letting me stay here, so I might as well help make this place livable for you.”

“Hey its livable, for me. Considering I basically lived in my room or at the meteorology dept. Sometimes I spent the night at the gym, on nights after I have tried to get the school a flight club. Apparently this isn't a great place for one. Seems like unis and pegs are kind of treated like shit around here. Never really got the idea of why some earthies can treat others so callously. Let’s just hope you aren't like the others around here and that you are like the ones from my hometown.”

Vinyl looked at me and smiled. She knew but I wasn't about to let anyone else know right now about my being a peg.

“Don’t worry, I’m not a dick about stupid shit like that” I replied with just a touch of disdain in my voice. I had been all too used to the discrimination from my community. So much so that i kept my wings hidden and posed as an earthie.

“I’m gonna hold you to that, or else I’ll have to rough you up. I may be smaller than you, but I make up for it” she said, smiling with a devilish grin.

I nervously laughed started to mop up the kitchen floor. Vinyl started with cleaning the dishes. Dash was zipping around picking up containers and dropping off silverware and what other cups and plates from the apartment. We worked in mostly silence, save the music Vinyl was blasting from her headphones. It sounded like a new sample of the music she was collaborating with the university orchestra. The only other sounds were vacuum cleaners, the crunching of paper bags and Styrofoam boxes going into bags and the occasional sigh or exasperation from Dash when she found even more filth and crap. 2 hours later we had cleaned the living room, the kitchen and the hallways. How could she stand to live in this pigsty? I guess being able to fly helped get around all the shit.

Our next challenge was the bathroom. Dash said she had not been in there since she moved in almost 3 months ago. As we opened the door, the musk of mildew and other foul smells spilled into the apartment. The smell was so overpowering that we all made a beeline for the outdoor patio.

“How in the hell did it get that horrid?” I asked trying to breathe in as much fresh clean air as possible. Even the slightly smoggy air was a thousand times more preferable whatever cocktail that was.

Dash managed to reply between coughs and deep gasps for air, “I don’t even want to know. But in the words of Rarity, of all the possible things, that bathroom is the Worst. Possible. Thing.” As she finished she flopped down onto the patio chaise lounge and struck a melodramatic pose that would make any soap opera actress jealous. Vinyl doubled over in laughter saying something barely coherent about being right on the money.

“Well, inside jokes aside, how the hell are we going to clean that mess?”

The uni and the peg both stopped laughing and had a look of terror in their eyes. Then Dash and Vinyl looked at each other and then at me. They both wore smiles that made me very uncomfortable. Dash zipped over to the counter and grabbed rubber gloves and a face mask.

“OH no, not gonna happen. Nope, nope, nope, nope.”

“It’s going to happen, Crispy my dear.” Vinyl grinned, “just be glad that she isn’t asking you to strip down and do this.”

I glowered at her as I grabbed the gloves and donned the face mask. I was just glad that Dash had her own bathroom. Steeling myself, I dove into the war zone that was Thunderlane’s old bathroom and slammed the door behind me.

The smell started to sting my eyes and I distinctly felt that this was going to be a terrible time. I was used to cleaning up large amounts of manure, my adoptive parents raised dairy cattle. The enclosed space just escalated the potency to the point of convulsion. Quickly I stripped off my shirt and restraints, unfurling my wings. I may not be as strong of a flyer as Dash seemed to be, but I needed the speed and maneuverability to get this job done as fast as possible. Opening the bottle of bleach that I decided upon as my weapon of choice, I got to what would possibly be one memory I would need a large quantity of vodka to forget anytime soon.

45 minutes later, I walked triumphantly out of the bathroom. Looking over at the couch where the girls were, I pulled off my mask, did the best cheesy triumphant pose I could muster and then immediately went over to the backpack. Vinyl had been thoughtful enough to have brought it down. Pulling out my set of clothes from yesterday, I changed in the now pristine bathroom. If I hadn't received my mark already, I would have earned it right then and there. Would have been a jug of bleach, but I am glad with my bass clef with an eighth note.

My new room was much easier to clean than the rest of the apartment, just some trash and vacuuming and everything was clean. Dash was sitting in an armchair and was looking very pleased with the turnout of her new roommate and her place being clean in what was probably months.

“If it stays this clean, I might just have to sleep here more.” She laughed as she removed her beanie, revealing the most interesting coloration of someone’s hair I had ever seen. It was a poly-chromatic set that was pretty much a rainbow, with red, orange and yellow on the top and her pony tail green, blue, and violet.

“Well if its alright with you, I should start moving my stuff in. Do you know what I can do about parking here, don't really want to leave my car on the street for too long. I also need to air out for a bit, I don't think I will ever be able to get this bleach smell off of my skin”

"As well as other things." Vinyl pipped up from the couch with a wicked stare. She was just enjoying the fact she knew about my wings over and holding it over my head a little bit too much.

She flipped over the chair and flew over to a cabinet and pulled out a parking pass, handing it over to me with the number plastered 4C on it.

"Here, I don't have a car or drive for that matter," she said flapping her wings and perching on the arm of the couch like a bird, "So feel free to take the spot. Garage is around the corner and under the building. I’m guessing you need some help moving shit in. If you are anything like Vinyl here, you have either lots of speakers and instruments or tons of computers.”

“Latter” Vinyl laughed at the previous comment. “He’s more of the recording type, best as my partner since he has some trouble with playing anything but a piano.”

I shot a venomous look at her, as she knew there were many things that I wasn't proud of and this just happened to be one of the ones I had more issue with.

“Yes, in fact I do need some help. Vinyl, if you would be so kind and help me out. I think Rainbow Dash could use some rest.”

“I don't need to take a break, and you can just call me Dash. Besides I need to talk to management about your car and then I need to....." Dash's face went from one of indifference to complete panic, "Oh MY gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh,” Dash quickly zipped over into the kitchen and started fussing around with everything in the fridge.

"You had possibly the worst timing today, Scratch. Managed to call me when I was out with Pinkie. Now she’s all super excited about throwing a party tonight. She said she is gonna try to be here seven or eight.”

Vinyl grinned as wide as she could possibly go, “She better be bringing food, you know that I can't get enough of it.”

“She told me to tell you and Tavi to bring out all your reserves. Don’t pull any punches either,” Dash then turned to me and started laughing, “Well I don't know if he can handle everything that she is going to bring. Can you handle yourself and your liquor?”

Turning to Vinyl, giving her a perplexed look, “Did she really just ask this? Is she serious?”

“Well, when it comes to Pinkie, partying is serious business,” as Vinyl pushed me out of the door.

Author's Note:

Self edited again, but hopefully it is not totally riddled with grammatical errors like the first chapter.

If I am going to write something and people not like it, I want it to at least be correct.