Hoping to make a name for himself and spread his music all over Equestria, Treble pays a visit to his cousin Octavia in Ponyville. After meeting her roommate, Treble declares Vinyl his rival and attempts to beat her in something they both love: Music
Persuing his dream of becoming a famous musician, Treble Clef visits Ponyville where his cousin Octavia lives. Upon finding out she's roommates with the famous DJ-PON3, Treble attempts to best Vinyl in the thing they both know best: making music. Will Vinyl prove to him that she's no pushover when it comes to her passion? Or will Treble show her what being a musical prodigy is all about?
The stallion was now annoyed with the loud music which was blasting from the unicorns headphones, he turned to face him. "Excuse me do you mind turning that down?” he asked. The unicorn kept bobbing his head up and down to the beat with his eyes closed obviously not hearing the colts question. Starting to get furious the colt tapped the unicorn on the shoulder, as he did this the unicorn took off his headphones only to see a face full of rage staring back at him. “Can you turn that music down!?” yelled the pony, the unicorn just shrugged as he replied “Come on dude there’s no need to be so loud, some ponies are trying to enjoy some peace and quite” The unicorn looked to see the train had stopped at the station, “Anyways gotta go this is my stop” the unicorn took off in a quick gallop.
“So this is Ponyville huh?” the unicorn rummaged around in one of his bags pulling out a town map, “Okay Treble, better get too lookin for her house, this place isn’t that big it shouldn’t be so hard” Treble put his headphones back on, “But I’m gonna need the right track before I head out” and with that, he put his music back on with his volume set to the maximum. Since he was little, Treble always enjoyed music, he had learned to play a variety of instruments and enjoyed just about any element of music. Though it didn’t surprise him, music ran in his family. His father was a DJ, song writer, and recording artist; his mother a singer and music enthusiast; he basically had music flowing through his blood. His cousin whom he had come to visit was also very gifted, she was amazing at playing the cello and was even once apart of the Royal Canterlot Symphony.
Treble wasn’t paying attention to where he was going as he studied the map and had his headphones on, his body made contact with another pony with a hard motion. Both of them fell back on their backsides, the force was so great it knocked off his headphones and left him a bit dazed. He shook his head and looked at the pale unicorn in front of him “Geez can you watch where your going?” The unicorn picked up her glasses and put them back on while putting her own headphones around her neck “Well excuse me, but I don’t see how its my fault you can’t keep an eye on your own surroundings”
“Says the pony who’s wearing shades when the sun isn’t even that bright” Treble and the unicorn were now both back on their hooves and face to face.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, look your cute and all and I’d love to stand her and chat with you but I got some recording to get back to and I haven’t eaten anything all day and I’m starved” the unicorn put her headphones on and left.
“What the hay was that? I thought ponies in this town were nice and she was nowhere close to-“ Treble paused for a moment as he blushed with a look of irritation “Did she just call me cute?” he shook his head, “Whatever I’m almost to cousin Tavia's anyway” Treble put his headphones on and continued on his way.
Octavia was practicing as she always did when there was a knock at her door, “Ugh Vinyl, don’t tell me you locked yourself out again” she than put her cello to the side and got up to answer the door. When she opened the door she was greeted by a sky blue unicorn with a turquoise colored mane and tail.
“Treble? Treble Clef?” Octavia had a shocked expression.
“Tavia Wassup?” Treble wrapped his hooves around her giving her a hug “s’Been ages since I seen you, nice to see you again cousin”
“Nice..to see…you too” Octavia said between gasps of air, “Can you…maybe…ease up”
Treble let her go and saw all the color return to her face, “haha, my bad cuz” as she gasped for air Treble let himself in and shut the door behind him. Treble noticed how the living room, much like the outside of the house, was divided in half “This is some pretty wicked architecture you got goin here,” he said as sat down on a couch on the side that appeared to be his cousin’s.
“Yes well my roommate and I share different musical interests, so we made a compromise” Octavia cleared her throat before she continued. “I don’t mean to be rude Treble but I really must ask just exactly are you doing here?”
“Is there any harm in me just wanting to visit my favorite cousin?”
“Well I suppose not, but you really should inform me ahead of time like I said before I have a roommate and-“
“Yeah been meaning to ask you about that” Treble interrupted, “Is he your roommate or is he more like your room ‘mate’?” Treble started laughing after he noticed Octavia turn a bit red when he asked.
“For your information my roommate happens to be female”
“S’ok Tavia, a lot of other mares roll that way too” as he said this Treble began laughing even harder than before. He settled down after a moment and took notice of the music equipment on the other side of the room. “Gotta hand it to her though, she does know how to pick her equipment. Hey, does she record music like me too?”
“Yes she does and as a matter of fact she’s in the middle of something, so please for the love of Celestia don’t touch-“ Octavia looked over at her cousin and noticed he was already behind the stand. Her face held a frightened yet angered expression, “ARE YOU MAD!?!? VINYL WILL KILL YOU!!!!” Though she screamed rather loud, Treble just continued as though he didn’t hear her.
“Adjusting the BPM by 15 cents up will still give it the rhythm we’re looking for. Now we add a little reverb to the kick, slight echo on the clap and throw in a snare roll before the beat drops and the bass kicks in”
Octavia looked at her cousin puzzled as he spoke out loud with his headphones on. He appeared to know what he was doing but she couldn’t take the risk, so she pulled him away before anything else could happen.
“Awww I’m not done, it still needs a tad bit of resonance control and slight filter of the snare roll to the left side instead of right” Treble whined as he was forced to take the headphones off.
“Well it’s getting late, if you are to stay here than I guess you can sleep on the couch. I’ll go get you a pillow and blanket, don’t touch ANYTHING while I’m gone” with that Octavia left the living room leaving Treble standing there with a grin. He quickly turned around when he heard the sound of the front door opening, and somepony coming inside.
“Tavi, I brought you a wheat burger, there were some fries but I ate them on the way here. I figured you’d be mad but then I thought you’d get over it eventually” Vinyl paused for a moment when she spotted an intruder in the house.
“What the heck are you doing here!?” Treble asked with a nervous expression.
“The heck does it look like!? I live here you creep, the real question is what are you doing here!?”
Both unicorns stopped yelling when Octavia returned with Treble’s pillow and blanket. When she noticed her, Octavia smiled and greeted her friend, “Oh Vinyl, welcome home” Vinyl gave her a confused look as she said this, “Uh Tavi, you wanna tell me what’s goin on here?” Her roommate nodded with a sincere gesture and prepared to explain herself.
“Pardon us for a moment Treble,” Octavia said as she and Vinyl started walking to Octavia's bedroom “This’ll only take a second” Octavia said as she shut the door behind them.
“I don’t think that’s normal cuz, it’s usually supposed to last longer. You should probably check with a doctor if that’s the case” Treble called out to his cousin trying to hold in his laughter. Treble went back over and sat down on the couch, he was thinking about taking a nap when something caught his eye. He noticed the cello resting in it’s stand where his cousin had left it, Treble walked over to the instrument and imitated Octavia by speaking in a Canterlot accent. “Ah Bartholomew, it’s been quite some time since we last crossed paths hasn’t it? How are you my old friend?” He stroked the instrument as though it would break if he applied anymore pressure. “Why don’t we? just once for old time sake” said Treble as he picked up the bow and grabbed the instrument.
“So he’s your cousin?”
“Yes”
“And here I thought you were cheating on me” Vinyl laughed as she seen her roommate’s annoyed expression. “Aw I’m just messin with ya Tavi, so, when was he leaving because it’s kinda getting late?”
“Actually he had intended on sleeping here, I hope you don’t mind” Octavia said as she turned to open the door.
“Its cool with me, just as long as he doesn’t touch my stuff and watches where he walks” replied Vinyl as she followed Octavia out of the door and headed towards the living room. “Anyways I gotta get back to work, I’ve been beat blocked for hours and I think I have an idea on what I’m gonna…” Octavia stared at her friend as she had stopped in mid sentence with a shocked look on her face. “Vinyl? Is everything alright?” she followed the unicorns gaze to see what had made Vinyl stand frozen. As she turned her eyes to the living room she gasped in surprise. Sitting in her spot with instrument in hoof, Treble played quite yet powerful as he glided the bow over the strings.
“What the heck do you think you’re doing!? That’s Tavi's prized cello!”
“Tavia you call it your ‘prized’ cello? Why I’m honored” Treble bowed his head after speaking this.
“Ok, that’s it!” Vinyl said as she began stomping towards Treble. She would have continued had a familiar face not stopped her.
“Wait Vinyl!” Octavia stood in the middle of her and Treble with her hooves raised to her friend, “Its quite all right, Treble here is actually an experienced musician and has handled my cello before”
“But…no pony touches your cello, you said so yourself” Vinyl spoke with a puzzled look.
“Well normally that’s the case but the truth is”- Treble interrupted her as he began to speak.
“I’m the one who gave her this cello. It was originally mine but after realizing my talents were not tied to one specific instrument, I decided to give it to my favorite little cousin” Treble could see the look of confusion on Vinyl’s face, “Its probably better if I show you than tell you, so why don’t you have a listen to your music” Treble pointed with the cello’s bow towards Vinyl’s equipment.
“You touched my stuff!?” Vinyl yelled at him as she ran to her equipment. “Oh there is no way your staying here now!” As she put the headphones on Vinyl prepared to hear her track she had worked hard on all day ruined, however, what she heard was actually a major improvement to what she originally had. Her song had come out the way she envisioned it in her head.
Treble noticed her look of astonishment as she lowered the headphones, “It could have come out better but somepony interrupted me before I could finish, I only got about a minute or so into production” Treble looked at Octavia who just rolled her eyes at his comment.
“But…how? I’ve had beat block all day and yet you captured what I wanted in less than minutes?”
“Treble has always been very gifted and passionate when it came to music, its practically all he lives for. Our family has always called him a musical prodigy, although, I wonder if he can keep up with the famous Vinyl Scratch ” Octavia smiled and winked at Vinyl when she spoke this. “Wait, what!?” Across the room Treble’s face held a nervous yet excited expression. He shot up from the couch and placed the cello back on its stand in a quick action and ran over to where the two friends were standaing. “Vinyl Scratch? As in, The Vinyl Scratch a.k.a DJ PON-3? Your that Vinyl Scratch!?”
“Well there’s usually an amazing and cute in there too” said Vinyl with a confident grin.
“How in the wide world of Equestria did I not recognize you sooner? I mean, your only the best DJ in Ponyville and Canterlot, heck maybe even in all of Equestria” Octavia laughed as she saw Vinyl blush from the flattery.
“I guess I am pretty awesome” Vinyl gave a nervous laugh as she scratched the back of her mane with her hoof, “Your not too bad yourself from what I heard, say, would you be interested in helping me with some more tracks? I know we may have started out on the wrong hoof but”-
“It would be an honor!” Treble interrupted her with a scream, he cleared his throat before continuing in mellow tone of voice. “I mean, I guess I can. Two great minds are better than one”
Octavia smiled seeing her best friend get along with her cousin, “Well I can see you two are hitting it off splendidly, but I’m afraid I feel rather exhausted so I’m heading to bed” Octavia turned back to the two before she headed to her room, “If you two intend on staying up late please try to keep the wubs down” she smiled nervously at the two before closing her door. Treble and Vinyl stood quiet for a moment before their silence was broken.
“We should respect Tavia's wishes” Treble said as he stared at her.
“Yeah, I guess your right” replied Vinyl.
The two unicorns looked at each other and slowly locked eyes in silence. “Nah!” they both said out loud as they began laughing hysterically.
“So miss Scratch, where shall we begin?” asked Treble as he and Vinyl walked over to the equipment.
“Depends, are you fond of dubstep?”
“Are you kidding me? No bass hits harder than a dubstep bass, actually I was currently in the process of developing a dubstep bass cannon back home” Treble laughed nervously, “Although I never really got around to make it, heh heh”
Vinyl wrapped a hoof around Treble and brought him in close laughing.
“You and I are gonna get along just fine, oh and ‘miss Scratch’ sounds lame, just call me Vinyl”
Octavia stretched her hooves forward as she sat up in her bed, she yawned as she crawled out of bed and made her way to her bathroom. She brushed her teeth and then combed her mane, she than felt something a miss.
Unlike her other mornings, she didn’t wake up to the usual loud bass of her roommate shaking their home and dubstep reverberation off the walls. Curious as to why the silence, Octavia opened her door and made her way to the DJ's room.
“Vinyl are you up yet?” she asked as she knocked on the door. She waited a few moments before continuing her questions, “Did everything go alright between you and Treble last night? You two seemed to be getting along well” Octavia said with a laugh. She waited and after a few moments of silence she looked irritated. “Vinyl are you even listening to me?” she asked as she opened her door.
Octavia’s face held a look of confusion, as she peered into the room she saw that Vinyl’s bed was still made from the morning before. Octavia slowly shut the door as she attempted to guess where her friend had gone, she was usually up by now and she never went anywhere until the evening. Octavia walked down the hall heading to the living room still pondering as to where Vinyl was, but when she reached the living room she got her answer.
Octavia giggled as to what she saw, sleeping on the couch sofa were two musicians. Treble had apparently fallen asleep sitting up and Vinyl’s head rested in his lap as though he were a pillow. They looked so cute Octavia almost didn’t want to wake them, she walked over to were the two lay and cleared her throat rather loudly. Vinyl’s eyes slowly began blinking as she attempted to open them. When she got her eyes half open, she was surprised to see Octavia standing in front of her.
“Hey, mornin beautiful” Vinyl said as she attempted to speak through a yawn. “Did you sleep well last night” Vinyl teased knowing her friend always had trouble sleeping with the loud music.
“Funny you should mention that,” Octavia said with a bit of a sassy tone. “I was just about to ask you the same thing” Octavia giggled at Vinyl as she said this.
“What are you talking abou…” The unicorn stopped in mid question when she realized she wasn’t in her room. Her eyes now fully open, she sat up quick blushing as she realized where she was sleeping. Her quick movement shifted Treble and caused him to slowly open his eyes, he saw where he was and began rubbing his eyes to see if it was a dream.
Sure enough it was real. Vinyl looked back at him and as they locked eyes they both began blushing now. They then both turned to face Octavia who had a smile on her face as she stared back at them.
“Tavia this is not what it looks like” Treble said as he got up quickly causing Vinyl to fall off him and on to the floor face first following a moan of pain.
“We were doing some late night sessions and then I started getting drowsy so I sat down on the couch and…”
“Nothing happened between us I swear” Vinyl interrupted as Treble was speaking. “We just got tired and…”
“Neither of you has to explain anything to me,” said Octavia as she giggled at them. “I’m just glad your both getting along SO well” Octavia placed emphasis on what she said as if to tease the two ponies. Octavia turned her back to them before she continued, “I knew you two would hit it off great but I didn’t know you’d become an item”
“We’re not an item!” both the ponies replied in unison.
“If you say so,” Octavia replied grinning at the two “Anyways I must get going, my ensemble is rehearsing in Canterlot and the train leaves in 20 minutes. While I’m gone you two are in charge of the house” Octavia grabbed her Cello and made her way to the door. She looked back at the two unicorns before exiting, “And Vinyl, no Bass Cannon Parties while I’m gone” The DJ gave a defeated moan as Octavia said this, after which, Octavia smiled back and shut the door behind her.
The two remained silent as they stood in the living room, neither of them looked at the other. After a few moments, the silence was finally broken.
“Alright look,” Vinyl said as she turned to him “We’re just gonna forget this morning happened and move on with our lives, deal?” Vinyl extended her hoof as she asked this. Without hesitation, Treble reached for it.
“Deal” he replied as their hooves connected. “Hey are you busy today?” Treble asked as he turned to face the door.
“Not at the moment, why wassup?” Vinyl replied as she went over to her stand and grabbed her trademark shades and put them on.
“Well as much as I liked staying here I actually intend on getting my own place here in Ponyville but I’m not sure where to start looking. So I was wondering if you could show me around town a bit?” Treble scratched the back of his head nervously as he spoke.
“No prob, let me just grab something first” Vinyl said as she dashed to her equipment and grabbed her headphones and put them around her neck. “I never leave home without ‘em” she said with a grin.
“Same here,” Treble replied as he now put his own headphones around his neck. “Lead the way,” said Treble as opened the door and motioned for Vinyl outside. As they began to leave, the two DJs encountered an unlikely visitor waiting for them. A blonde haired pegasus with a rather large box was staring at them, though with her eye, neither Vinyl nor Treble knew exactly where she was staring.
"Hey Derpy, wassup?" Vinyl asked as she locked the door behind her and Treble.
"Oh, you know just the usual. Delivering mail wherever its gotta go, speaking of which, I got something here for you" Derpy began to push the package to the door and pushed to hard causing it to fall and nearly land on Treble. "I'd love to stay and chat but I got lots of more mail to deliver," Derpy gave Vinyl a crooked salute before she flew off.
As Vinyl examined the package she realized it wasn't addressed to her, but instead was for Treble. "It's got your name on it," she said as she began to open the box.
"If it's for me than why are you opening it?"
"Because I like opening boxes," Vinyl said as she dug through the last of the foam. She looked over at Treble who had a doubtful look, "So I'm nosey, sue me" Vinyl dumped out the rest of the box's contents to find several pieces of a DJ stand and turntables. When she quickly assembled it, Vinyl began staring at the turntable as though she was mesmerized.
"Oh sweet it's my equipment from home, I didn't think it'd get here so soon I'm supposed to have a house to put this in," Treble stared at Vinyl as she slowly began moving the turntables back and forth making scratching motions. "What? You can't possibly say you've never seen a turntable before?"
"This isn't just any set of turntables," Vinyl had a look of awe on her face. "These are made by Yamahoof, only the best brand of music production equipment in all of Equestria. What'd I'd give to test these bad boys out," Vinyl's face shot up quick as she stared at Treble with a smile, "Can we?"
"I don't know, I really should be getting a place to stay and I'm sure there are alot to checkout," Treble walked over to her and gave her a playful shove, "Plus, you know how we get. We'll be inside all day"
"Okay look, Tavi isn't gonna be back for the rest of the day, so how about today we drop the search and tomorrow I'll give you a tour of town and help you find a place you like? Oh and don't worry about a place to stay you can crash here again, just this time you sleep in Tavi's room, deal?" Treble seemed a bit hesitant, he really did need a to find a permanent residence in Ponyville, but he didn't want to dissapoint the only friend he had made.
"Alright, deal"
"Great!" Vinyl unlocked the door and pushed both the equipment and Treble quickly into the house. After a few moments of set up Vinyl turned to face Treble, "You ready for another all night session or are you gonna fall asleep again?" she teased.
"Sleep is for the weak," Treble said as he put his headphones on. "Now, let's get busy" he said as he turned to the pale unicorn.
“Vinyl, Vinyl get up” Treble said as he gently shook the DJ as she laid in her bed.
“Uh, uh, 5 more minutes,” she replied as she pulled her cover over her head.
“You said that half an hour ago!” Treble now seemed rather annoyed. 'How does Tavia put up with her everyday?’ he thought to himself.
"I told you I wanted to get this thing outta the way as soon as possible, but in order for us to do that you gotta get up, like right now”
“It’s too earlier though”
“It’s 9:00!?”
“Oh yeah, it’s WAAAY too early for me” Vinyl turned her back to Treble as she threw a pillow at him.
Treble caught the pillow with ease and held it in his hooves his face slightly red from anger. He looked at the pillow he held and than back to Vinyl as a dark idea crossed his mind. ‘Besides Octavia, would anypony really notice? He thought to himself as he coldly stared at the pillow. He shook his head quickly pushing the dark thought out of his mind as he came to his senses, ‘Perhaps another time?’
"I didn't want to have to do this Vinyl, but you leave me no choice,"
Treble exited the room and made his way to the living room. He dug threw his bag, then using his horn, he levitated out his Pone Pod. He skipped threw his usual DEATH tracks (Dubstep, Electro, And, Techno, House) until he found his classical tracks. He hooked the pod up to Vinyl's speakers, set the volume on the device to the max, and prepared for what was to come. As soon as he hit play and the violins and strings began, Treble heard a blood curling scream come from Vinyl's room. At the sound of a loud thud, Treble rushed to the room to see if the dj was awake now. When Treble entered the room, he noticed that the unicorn had fallen out of the bed and had her hooves placed over her ears.
"For the love of Celestia, please, make it stop!" Vinyl screamed as she attempted to speak over the music.
"Are you up yet!" Treble yelled back with a evil grin on his face.
"Because if not I have a whole 5 hour playlist I could play until- "
"NO! It's cool, I'm up I promise. Just, please, turn it off!" Vinyl replied still trying to sound louder than the music.
After hearing this, Treble returned to the device and unplugged it from the speakers, causing the once loud house to go silent once more. Vinyl came stumbling out of her room looking rather groggy, she had a look of irratation and annoyance on her face.
"That....was cruel," Vinyl said as she entered the room almost tripping as she walked.
"Well, how does Tavia usually get you up every morning?" Treble asked with a confused expression.
Vinyl began to blush as a look of bliss appeared on Vinyl's face.
"Heh, if you really wanna know..."
"Forget I asked," Treble interrupted quickly before she could say anymore.
"Lets just go already, the sooner we get done the better," he said as he made his way to the front door.
Both the unicorns walked down the streets of Ponyville with their headphones blaring. They both moved rhythmically and bobbed their heads up in down, and though they each had their own pod, it was as off they were both listening to the same song. Their movements seemed to sync with each other perfectly it was almost uncanny.
Their strange movements seemed to draw the eyes of everypony in Ponyville, even a few pegasi that flew over head noticed the two musicians as they continued to their destination. However, one in particular actually came down to say hi to her friend. A sky blue pegasus descended from the air and landed in front of the two unicorns, when she did, Vinyl and Treble both took their headphones off.
"Wassup DJ?" the pegasus asked as she extended a hoof.
"Rainbow Dash, what's good with ya girl?" Vinyl replied as she connected her hoof with Rainbow's.
"Not much, just out for a morning fly," Rainbow said as she stretched her wings out. She than turned and looked at Treble.
"So who's this?"
"This genius" Vinyl said in a sarcastic tone as she put her hoof around Treble.
"Is Octavia's cousin, he's a musician like us, but he's cooler than she is because he makes music like me,"
"Except for this morning?" Treble teased.
"Except for this morning," Vinyl replied as she tightened her grip around the unicorn.
Rainbow Dash looked at Vinyl and than back at Treble, she began to grin and laughed as she stared at them.
"So, are you guys a thing?" Rainbow Dash asked as she tried to hold in laughter.
Vinyl blushed slightly as she let go of Treble and gave him a shove.
"Um, no, we're not a thing. He's just stayin with me and Tavi till he gets a place of his own, as a matter of fact, we're on our way to town hall right now," Vinyl said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.
"If you wanna hear some real music," Treble said as he looked in Vinyl's direction.
"You'll have to stop by my place when I get settled in. I promise, my music will leave you mind blown,"
"Ya know, I just might," Rainbow began as she gave Treble a look.
"Anyways I gotta jet, I'll see you both around sometime,"
Rainbow Dash took off as quickly as she had appeared leaving Treble and Vinyl alone.
"Real music huh?" Vinyl asked with a laugh.
"Oh Vinyl," Treble began with a grin.
"I may be a huge fan of your work, but let's face facts, I'm the better musician," Treble teased as he gave Vinyl a playful shove.
"Oh yeah? We may just have to see about that,"
The two unicorns stopped at the end of a dirt road which exited into a clearing. The field that the house sat on was of relatively large size. The two musicians removed both their headphones and stared at the home.
“Hey, this place doesn’t look so bad,” Vinyl said as she and Treble approached the house.
“You got some nice land for….” The unicorn paused as she thought for a moment.
“An outside house party?” Treble laughed as he placed the key in the door’s lock and pushed open the door.
The door made a loud creak as it opened slowly and exposed an empty room. There appeared to be a living room to the left and to the right a kitchen area. Straight ahead was a small hallway which Treble assumed led to the bedroom.
“It looked smaller on the outside, but it looks like you’ll have enough room for some furniture and your equipment too,” Vinyl said as she continued straight down the hallway and left Treble in the living room.
“I’ll probably set up some mounted speakers on the corner of the living room, acoustics in here doesn’t sound bad,” Treble said to himself as he drew out an imaginary layout in his head.
“Vinyl do me a favor and try not to break anything, I’m not sure how old this place is,”
Just as he began to say this, Treble heard a crash coming from the bedroom followed by an awkward silence.
“Oops,” Vinyl called out from the back of the home.
“Vinyl what did you do?”
“Let’s just say,” she began with a nervous smile.
“Your gonna need a new sink in your bathroom. Anyways,” the female unicorn said as she attempted to change the subject.
“Congrats, you are now an official resident of Ponyville, and you know what that means?”
Treble looked on at the dj with an expression of confusion as she asked this. Vinyl gave out a sigh and led him out of the house before she continued.
“Come on genius,” she said sarcastically as she grabbed Treble by the hoof.
“We’re going to Sugar Cube Corner, we have welcome party to throw and I know just the mare for the job,”
The unicorns took off their headphones once they entered the pastry shop.
“Huh, that’s funny, she usually here,” Vinyl said as she looked around the room.
“She’s probably in the back, you wait here I’ll be right back,”
Treble watched as the pale unicorn disappeared deeper into the store. He wasn’t exactly sure why they were here, all Vinyl had mentioned to him was throwing a welcome party. As he stood where Vinyl had left him, Treble heard a high pitched gasp from behind him which startled him.
He turned around only to be tackled and sent rolling across the floor. When he managed to focus his sight, he noticed a pink earth pony was on top of him and was staring down at him with excited eyes.
“Oh my gosh are you new to Ponyville? You must be because I know everypony in Ponyville and I’ve never seen you before, and if I’ve never seen you before then that means I don’t know you. And if I don’t know you then I can’t say I know everypony in Ponyville now can I? That’s like trying to say Rainbow Dash can’t do a Sonic Rainboom, even though she can. And if she can then how could I say she can’t? I’m not saying she can’t though I’m just saying-”
“Hey, you found her,” Vinyl interrupted as she returned from the back of the store. When she saw the awkward position Treble was in, Vinyl laughed at him.
“Wow Treble, Octavia never told me you were such a chick magnet,” she teased.
“Oooh I love chicks, oh but I’m not talking about mares though, I only like baby chicken chicks,” the pink pony said.
“Alright Pinkie Pie, let him up,” Vinyl laughed as the pink pony got off of the unicorn.
“So what’s up dj?” Pinkie asked with a smile.
“As you know, my pal Treble here is new to Ponyville,” Vinyl began as she helped Treble up.
“He just recently got a place to stay and now he’s in need of a welcome party,”
Pinkie Pie began jumping up and down as she let out a squeal in her excitable manner.
“I’m on it, I’ll invite everypony in Ponyville and there will be music; and dancing; and cake; and streamers; and balloons; and music!”
“You said music twice,” Treble laughed as he stared at the hyperactive mare.
“I know, if your like dj than I know you’ll want music!”
Treble gave looked over at Vinyl who was staring back at him, it appeared to Treble that the unicorn was thinking the same thing.
“Let us worry about the music,” Vinyl said as she threw a hoof around Treble.
“We’ll bring music that will blow everypony’s mind,”
“She’s coming!” Treble exclaimed in excitement as he looked out the window to see an earth pony drawing closer to the house. Treble dashed away from the window and stood behind his large speaker and pushed it until it was inches away from the door. “You ready?”
“Just a sec,” Vinyl said as she quickly finished plugging in the speakers and hooking up her turntable. “Alright I’m ready, hurry up will ya?”
“This is gonna be amazing,” Treble laughed as he now stood behind his turntable and adjusted his mixer. “Tweaking reverb; adjusting pitch and tempo; and finally, placing the bass to the max!”
Octavia walked along the dirt path, at the end of the path was a rather large piece of land with a sky blue and white house at the end. The clearing looked as though I’d be perfect for farmland, or in her cousin’s case, an outside house party. She approached the door as an odd thought crossed her mind.
“Wait, Treble and Vinyl mentioned a welcoming party here. Yet, it’s rather quiet for a party especially if they’re the ones throwing it.” Octavia was a bit hesitant about knocking on the door, something about the dead house made her overcome with a sense of unease. After a few moments of pondering, she let out a deep sigh and knocked on the door. To her surprise it creaked open slowly and remained cracked halfway. “Hello?” Octavia called out. Not receiving a reply, the earth pony decided to poke her head through the door. “Vinyl are you-?”
“Run, skip, jump or hop! Your body better be movin when you hear that beat DROP!”
“Pardon?” Octavia exclaimed before she was blown back by the blasting sound of the speaker shortly after hearing Vinyl and Treble’s chant. She jumped back startled as the bass of the dubstep punched her well brushed mane out of place. The music rapidly died down, afterwards, Octavia heard nothing but silence; or at least, she would’ve had it not been for her cousin and roommate’s hyena like laughter.
“You see? I told you! Her face was just as priceless as I said it would be!” Treble roared with laughter as he rolled on the floor. Vinyl was doing the same thing as she tried to contain herself.
“I’m sorry Tavi, I just had to!” Vinyl cackled as she rolled around on the floor like Treble. “I just-I can’t-Oh Celestia, I can’t breath!” Vinyl wheezed
“Tavia, maybe you should give her mouth to mouth,” Treble continued as he hopped to his hooves and wiped away a tear of joy.
“No objections from me,” Vinyl laughed as she stood up as well. “I mean there was that one time during Hearts and Hooves Day when-”
Octavia cleared her throat loudly which seemed to quiet the unicorn who just grinned back at her. “When...when was that party supposed to start?” she chuckled nervously with a slight blush on her face.
“Ponies should be arriving soon,” Treble began to say as he moved the speaker away from the door to allow his cousin entry; he moved it to the side beside his turntable which he then stood at. “Me and Vinyl have just been preparing a sick dubstep mix and we jus wanted you to tell us what you think.”
“Really Treble, you know that was never my kind of music,” Octavia walked over to the punch bowl which sat on a table in the living and got herself a glass of the red liquid. “Is that the only kind of music you’ll be playing?”
“I already have some Beethooven lined up for you cuz,” Treble sighed as he pulled out a record disc, he blew it off which created a rather large puff of smoke. “Huh? guess it’s been awhile since I played this thing.”
“Better get ready genius,” Vinyl laughed sarcastically as she trotted over the door entryway. “Cause I see some partygoers coming in the distance.”
“This party is going be awesome!” Pinkie Pie screamed as she ran out of the bedroom with a lampshade over her head. “Woohoo!”
“What the-!? Pinkie!? Where did you come from?” Treble’s face confused yet curious at the same time. He and Vinyl were the only ones at his house before they called Octavia over, how did Pinkie get in?
“Ummm, a word of advice, never question how Pinkie does anything.” Vinyl leaned closer to Treble as though she was telling him a secret. “No pony knows how she does it, and if you ask her, her explanation will only be more confusing.”
“Uhh, okay?” Treble laughed still confused as he watched the pink mare pull her own tail and lit her head up like a lightbulb. “Oh she just reminded me, I gotta get the lasers from the back.”
“Laser light show!? Ahhh yeah!” Vinyl dashed over to Octavia who was sipping on a cup of punch with her eyes closed. She wrapped a hoof around the earth pony and brought her in close, their muzzled almost touched. Vinyl lowered her glasses so her eyes could meet Octavia’s. “Tavi, why have you never introduced me to your awesome cousin before!? He knows how to party!”
“Well if you must know, Treble tends to keep to himself. He’s always been a bit of a recluse, even when we we’re younger he was distant to his own family.” Octavia took another sip of her punch. “I was the only pony he actually talked to, life. Music, problems; he came to me for everything before anypony else.”
“So is that why he’s here?” the DJ questioned as she eyed Octavia’s cousin set up the lasers and strobe lights around his turntable.
“Yes, I wasn’t supposed to bring it up but I guess there’s no point in hiding anything from YOU.” Octavia sipped her punch once more, however, this was a longer sip than the one before. She let out a sigh before she continued. “His dream was, and as far as I know still is, to be the greatest musician that Equeastria has to offer. He was on a steady rise but stopped performing largely when his last relationship went bumpy, I guess he’s trying to run away from his problems and that’s why he’s here in Ponyville. He may not look it, but he’s still pretty hurt deep down.”
“Wow, she did him that bad huh?”
“After months of cheating on him, she finally confessed to him that she was only with him for them money.” Octavia shook her head in disbelief as she sucked down the last of her punch. “Poor Treble, she was his muse you see? He needs this party more than anything, though I’m surprised he’s actually performing. Last time he was like this, he didn’t even touch his records for weeks; maybe something has inspired him.” Octavia eyed Vinyl, her eyes teased the unicorn as she left to get more punch. “Or somepony.”
“Some….pony?” Vinyl stared blankly off into space before a familiar voice beckoned her back to reality.
“Yo! Equeastria to Vinyl Scratch,” Vinyl realized that Treble was now waving her over in his direction. “Can’t DJ this party on my own,” Treble paused as he greeted several ponies who entered the home and thanked them for coming. He than returned his gaze to Vinyl. “Or maybe I can, I mean, I am the best DJ musician in all of Equeastria!”
“Oh yeah!” Vinyl cried as she dashed to her setup which was next to Treble’s. She picked up a record and spinned it on her hoof before placing it down on her turntable. “Guess we’ll just have to see about that!”
Loud music boomed through several loud woofers as ponies of all varieties mingled with each other. Some talked of the party, others of their daily lives and routines. Treble continued to stand at his turntable scratching the record back and forth which added some nice touch to the music. He had forgotten how good it felt; to be the center of attention; to be the life of the party and hear the murmurs of ponies talking about his music. This was a joyful feeling he had longed for, but there was something else he was also feeling, though he couldn’t put his hoof on it. Treble than looked over to see a familiar alabaster unicorn approaching him with two glasses of punch.
“You seem chipper now,” Vinyl laughed as she wore her headphones around her neck and her glasses rested on her hair above her horn. “Thirsty?”
“Yes please, my throat is a bit dry.” Treble used his magic to retrieve the glass as his hooves were busy adjusting sound on his mixer. He took a sip and exhaled with relief. “Man that’s good punch, give my compliments to the genius behind this magnificent concoction,” Treble laughed as he gave Vinyl a wink.
“I’m sure she knows,” Vinyl added as she took a sip of her own glass. “You wanna go outside and get some fresh air? I’m sure that mix will continue by itself for the next couple minutes or so.”
“You know what? I’d like that,” Treble finished his drink and placed it in his turntable’s custom cup holder. Vinyl did the same and followed the unicorn outside. Octavia watched the two exit, all the while, a smile formed on her face.
“Man it feels great out here!” Treble held his head up high as the breeze brushed past his face; he eyed the giant white pearl in the sky and his eyes held a glint of despair. “The moon looks just like that day,” Treble mumbled under his breath.”
“Hey, Treb, I just wanted you to know that Tavi told me about your last relationship.” Vinyl had expected the unicorn to snap on her, its only natural that a pony would do so after their privacy had been invaded. However, Treble did not act with scorn or irritation, instead, he simply turned to face Vinyl and gave her a half-hearted smile.
“So you know huh? Well I should’ve told you both the day I first got here, I mean, I was a guest in your house after all.” Treble collapsed on his back as he stretched out in the grass, he stared up at the sky, pondering his thoughts. “Come here for a sec, I wanna show you something.”
“What are you-?”
“Just come here,” Treble stated sternly with a laugh to soften his request. Vinyl listened to the unicorn and laid with her back I the grass similar to how Treble had. Of course, she didn’t come to close to the where Treble lay, she didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable. “The moon looks the same way it did the day my ex, Gold-digger, decided to leave me.”
“I’m sorry, gold-digger?” Vinyl snorted with a laugh, she tried to take into consideration Treble’s feelings and kept herself from laughing more.
“Yeah, I know, in hindsight I probably should’ve rethought my choice in dating her.” Treble chuckled slightly along with his remark about his ex. “But it’s not all bad, because just like how the moon will soon enter a new phases, so will I; then the past will be behind me.”
“Well I don’t know about moons, but I do that you can’t give up on making music just because you had a bad song. I mean seriously, you were mixing some pretty wicked stuff I that party,” Vinyl nudged Treble with her elbow as she said this. “Those were some Vinyl Scratch skills you had in there.”
“Nah I think they were better,” Treble teased as the two joined together in laughter. Treble locked his blue eyes with Vinyl’s magenta, he couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she looked in the moonlight. Feeling his face become flushed with red, he quickly sat up and exhaled a deep breath.
“You okay?” Vinyl asked as she sat up next to the sky blue unicorn. Treble simply stared off into the distance, Vinyl could clearly tell his mind was elsewhere. After a few moments of silence, Treble turned to face his companion with a determined grin.
“I think I’ve found my new muse,” Treble began as he stood back up on his hooves. “Vinyl Scratch, I challenge you to a duel of musical ingenuity. I want to settle which one us is the better musician once and for all.”
Vinyl simply looked a Treble, her face frozen with an expression of astonishment at his words. What exactly did he have in mind? And what does he mean he found his ‘new muse’?
Every partygoer exited Treble’s house and made their way outside. Waiting for them were two DJ booths with their respective owners standing behind them adjusting equipment and placing down speakers. The viewers were murmuring amongst each other, once word of a DJ battle broke out, it seemed as though everypony dropped what they were doing to come see. Octavia met up with her friend while she was in the middle of adjusting her mixer.
“Vinyl, are you sure you want to do this?” Octavia asked.
“Heck yeah! Tavi, I was challenged, I have to accept. It’s okay, I’ll try not to drop the bass on your cousin too hard,” Vinyl replied with a laugh.
“Actually, I didn’t want you to be discouraged.”
“Me!?” Vinyl erupted with laughter. “Your joking right?”
“Treble gets very competitive when it comes to music, he’s a bit like your friend Rainbow.” Octavia looked over at Treble who was wearing his headphones, his expression was a serious one, like the look of someone who’s about to do something life changing. “You’ve seen how good he is, and I can guarantee you he hasn’t even shown half of what He can do—”
“Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh,” Vinyl hushed as she wrapped a hoof around Octavia and brought her in close as she had done before. “Tavi, have we met? Don’t you know who I am? I am the Vinyl Scratch. I’ll win this thing no doubt, you’ll see.”
“If you say so,” Octavia replied with a worried expression. “Just keep an eye out for whenever he—”
“Hello Ponyville how are y’all doin tonight!?” Treble shouted into a microphone, enthusiasm radiating off of his very words. Treble’s words got the crowd of mixed ponies fired up because shouts of cheer and excitement rang throughout the ocean of ponies present. “Alright, that’s what I like to hear, I think I’m gonna like this crowd. Alright look, short and sweet, me and the phenomenal Vinyl Scratch, also known as DJ Pon3, will be performing in a competitive battle of the bands type of contest; and guess what? You lucky ponies get to be the judges of this epic jam out!”
Vinyl listened on at Treble’s announcement, he seemed really good at speaking to a crowd like this, almost like he rehearsed what he was saying. Another thought began to creep into Vinyl’s mind: Is it possible she’s not the first musician that Treble has challenged? “At the end of the night, we’re gonna ask you who you think dropped the bass the hardest and it’ll be up to you all to decide. Does that sound good?” Another roar from the crowd signified that they understand quite well. “I don’t think I heard you clearly, now I ask again: DOES THAT SOUND GOOD!?” The ponies of the crowd practically exploded with noise and cheer after Treble restated his question. “Then let’s get this party started!”
Treble threw on his headphones and began messing with his mixer, using one of his legs, his speakers began emitting a hard kick noise. Soon there was the sound of several hooves stomping in unison, Treble quickly found a rhythm and began bobbing his head up and down to the beat. Vinyl soon found herself doing the same as she watched on, the crowd was into the song even though there wasn’t much to it so far; but she was still confident she was going to win no matter what. Next, Treble did something Vinyl didn’t expect, it was the last thing she would have guessed he would do; he began to sing…or at least, that’s what it sounded like to Vinyl.
“Thought I was gone but now I’m back, guess I got DJ Pon-3 to thank for that
My muse is back with the beat hitting harder than ever
I’ve already moved on from my last endeavor and I’m better than ever
You may think it’s clever, the music I make
But my favorite part of all is when I get to—” Treble paused as he made his words re-loop with a slight echo, the beat began to come alive with several string sounding instruments that began to rise suddenly; when they reached their peak, Treble’s final words re-looped one last time.
“You may think it’s clever, the music that I make
But my favorite part of all is when I get to D-D-D-D-Drop the bass!” Just then, Treble’s speakers exploded with a loud electronic dubstep like bass that sent the wave of ponies into a party frenzy. The bass was so loud and hard that the ground shook from it’s power, Vinyl was almost certain that even Canterlot residents could feel it. Vinyl herself had already placed on her glasses and was rocking her head to Treble’s beat, he looked over at her and gave her a smile, not a usual smile, but one of gratitude.
The beat began to return to Treble’s re-looping words again as the strings began rising once more. Instead of the bass dropping again, Treble only kept the kick of the beat going, never breaking rhythm.
“As much as I like the spotlight, I’m sure there’s enough speakers here for two DJ’s to play at once,” Treble looked over at Vinyl and gave her a grin, “So whaddya say Vinyl?” Vinyl pulled out a record and began spinning it before she slammed it down on the turntable.
“Let’s party!”
Letting Vinyl take the reins of the show, Treble tuned down the volume of his music and watched on at her; the bobbing of her head to the beat; her smile that flashed to everypony present; Treble had never seen nor heard such an in sync pony with music before, no pony but his cousin. He watched how she acted, how free she was, he wanted that; to feel free again, to arise from his slump that he had been in for the last few weeks. Treble could feel it returning, with each kick, each snare, each drop of the bass, Treble could feel something stirring inside him; and it was all because of this pony, a pony who had made such an impact on his life yet he barely knew her personally.
“Hey!”
Treble was brought back to reality by the voice of his friend, he snapped back and realized that the other DJ was trying to get his attention. Vinyl waved a hoof in his direction and gave him a smile, is it possible she knew what he was thinking? No. She was just bringing his attention back to the music, letting him know he had the stage once more. Treble went to replace the record on his turntable when something caught his attention, out of the corner of his eye was an instrument he had forgotten he had. He put down the record and quickly grabbed the large synthesizer keyboard and quickly hooked it up. Vinyl was still lost in the electronic beat that was blaring from the speaker, her and the ocean of ponies were making similar gestures and jumping to the beat.
But just as they were preparing for the crescendo of the song, the heavy dubstep bass and electric symphonic strings were silenced and replaced by a softer sound. The gentle sound of different expressions, pain, joy, sorrow, glee, a mixture of exploding emotions resonated from the speakers. Many were surprised, Vinyl included; to hear the strong dubstep replaced by such blissful music.
Octavia’s eyes rapidly shrunk as she listened, memories of her childhood flooded back into her mind upon hearing her cousin play the keyboard after all these years. Everyone went silent, to go from club music to a beautiful classical piece left everypony speechless.
‘Tavi said he was into all kinds of music and played a tone of instruments, but I didn’t think…’ Vinyl became lost as she shifted her gaze over to where Treble was playing, his hooves gliding over the keys, each stroke was gentle yet still retained a feeling of power. She was mesmerized, as was the rest of the party, even an on looking Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie closed their eyes and allowed Treble’s playing to command their very thoughts. ‘I hate this kind of music, and yet’ Vinyl thought to herself as she watched her opponent play on the synthesizer with grace. ‘And yet, this has got to be the most epic song I’ve ever heard.’
Treble’s gentle playing didn’t last long however, it soon began to pick up speed and was soon dancing with several symphonic strings that seemed to only enhance the beauty of the song. The unicorn’s work soon pieced together as he now brought up the tempo and threw in several dubstep elements including a kick and a snare. Then, without warning, the beat exploded into an orchestral dubstep mashup, the shaking of the bass and electronic music accompanied by the gentle keys of the keyboard, loud screams and cheers brought the party back to life as everypony was now practically bouncing up and down to the rhythm; activating a strobe light and several lasers only made the crowd frenzy further.
Treble looked over to Vinyl who had removed her glasses and gave him a sly wink as she removed her headphones to better hear the other musician. “Hey, so you ready to come back and give this crowd something worth talking about!?”
“Heck yeah!” Treble had to yell over the loud music, “Let’s do it!” Vinyl began to mix in elements of her own music as Treble eased on his crossfader to help her song fade into existence. Vinyl soon lowered the volume of her song as well, soon calming the song. Treble placed his headphones back on and gave Vinyl a nod which she returned, they were about to perform their grand finale when a loud scream silenced the noise at the party.
“VAIT!!!”
The music was as well as the clamoring of the party guests was silenced by a loud yell. Treble and Vinyl both looked to see an earth pony making it’s way through the crowd with several other ponies following behind. Treble had never seen this pony before, in fact, he can’t recall ever meeting her.
“I, Photo Finish, have arrived,” the earth pony stated as she struck a dynamic pose along with the ponies who accompanied her. Her accent was heavy, Treble could immediately tell she was foreign, or so he assumed.
“Right, right, Photo Finish,” Treble turned to Vinyl who now had her headphones off as well. “And she is?”
“I dunno,” Vinyl shrugged her shoulders as she relaxed on her haunches.
“It doesn’t matter right now,” the mare struck another pose, “I, Photo Finish, found the newest musician who is going to shine all over Equestria right here in Ponyville.” Photo Finish then pointed a hoof at Treble, “You!”
“Me!?”
“You vould make a wundabar musician! When you play ze piano you bring, no, you are…” Photo Finish paused for a moment before striking another pose. “The magics!”
“And your going to turn me into a famous pianist?” Treble questioned with the raise of his brow, yet a slight sense of excitement in his voice.
“Don’t be absurd, I’m a photographer not a manager of musicians. Sorry, I cannot help you.”
“But you said just said—”
“I have a couzin who vorks out of his office in Las Pegasus.” Photo Finish made a gesture and handed a card with some information on it to Treble who withdrew it with his magical aura. “I am going to visit him tomorrow, the train leaves for Las Pegasus in the morning at 10:30 sharp.” There was a longer silence than the previous one, in both Treble and Vinyl’s mind, it lasted longer than it should have. “I go!” the photogenic earth pony galloped out of the crowd and soon out of sight, taking her two lackeys with her.
“What…..what just happened?” Treble stammered as he rubbed an eye with his hoof, slightly confused.
“I’d say you just received a business offer,” Vinyl laughed, as she put her headphones on. “But we’ll talk about that later, right now we got a party to wrap up. And if I remember correctly we we’re just about to perform our grand finale, right?”
“You know it!” Treble laughed as he put on his headphones, “But I don’t know Vinyl, I think it’s up to the partygoers. You ponies wanna keep going!?” an explosion of noise was as good as confirmation as any that Treble received, he gave his fellow DJ a nod. “Let’s do this!”