Author's Note

Warning: The first chapters of this fanfic is just a build up. In the next chapters, we'll be moving on to the main topic of this fan fiction. So enjoy.

Chapter 1: The Beat is Back in Town

It is morning, sunlight bathing over the land and a cool breeze blows through. It is like every average day crossing through the grasslands: tranquility, harmonious, and restful. Yet, walking through the peaceful grasslands, DJ Nucl3ar, also known as Beatz has his shoulder bag with a Vinyl Scratch theme on it, including his shrunken sound system, turntable, and series of instruments inside of it, thanks to his magic, while heading to Ponyville. He thought about what was so important to be called back over, that he had to stop his research, yet, he put his headphones on for some time, listening to his usual music. He danced to the song he is listening to while rapping with it at the same time.

After he was done, Beatz continued to go back into his deep thought. "Daze and the others better have called me over for a good reason. I might’ve finished my training, but I’m still in the middle of my investigation." Beatz complained. “Yet, on the bright side of it, I’ll at least see them again. Remembering all the years with those guys were one hell of a blast.” Beatz thought in his head as he started to chuckle. “And I’ll also get to see my sweet Vinyl again… I’ve missed her so much. I wish I hadn’t left.” Beatz blushed as he thought more and more of his beloved mare friend. “Unfortunately, I had to.” He sighed. On his way, he walked toward the Everfree forest. "Well this is just great, it’s this damn forest. Ugh..." Beatz sighed with his palm against his face. He looked around the border of the forest and saw no other way pass it. With no choice, he walked in, lifting branches and cutting through weeds “Can’t believe I have to go through this cursed forest to make it to Ponyville, I can hardly see through this fog of nature!” He complained. After an hour with a few scrapes, he made it through. “Well finally, I’d hate to get lost in there…” He dusted himself off and continues on his way. Down the path, he finds Ponyville over the hill. "Finally here, if I'm correct, everypony should be waiting at Sugarcube Corner. Hopefully, I won't be bear hugged by the Mane 6, they got a pretty tight grip when it comes to hugs." He thought as he shivered. He walked down through town, waving to everypony he hasn’t seen since he left. Cloud Chaser, Lyra, Bon Bon, Roseluck, Lily, Daisy, Berry Punch, heck, he even missed Derpy so much, he stopped for a few minutes to eat a muffin with her and Doctor Whooves. Beatz then continued on his way and arrived at Sugarcube Corner shortly after his little break. Opening the door, he saw Daze, Cwolf, Eclipse, Phoenix, and Nocturne with the Mane 6, sitting at the tables talking. They all looked at him and jumped right up.

"Hey Beatz!" They all yelled. Except for Eclipse. He never is the go-happy guy, unless it is involved with Fluttershy, which Beatz can respect. Rainbow and Pinkie ran toward Beatz in great haste, not wasting any time.

"Oh no. Not a bear hug. Not a bear hug. NOT A BEAR HUG!!!" Beatz panicked while backing up. Attempting to run, it was too late until he got pounced and hugged by the two of them at the same time. Twilight, Rarity, AJ and Fluttershy also ran toward him, asking him questions. He sighs in pain as both Pinkie and Rainbow hugged so tight, you could almost hear his spine break.

"It's awesome to see you again." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yeah, how long has it been since ya been gone." Applejack continued.

"We all missed you!" Pinkie Pie yelled with a smile.

"Where have you been?" Twilight asked.

"What have you been doing?" Fluttershy asked as well.

"Have you met any new ponies darling?" Rarity continued on.

"You too, and it's been only a year, and I missed you all too. I've been at the Crystal Empire, DJ business with some research, and yeah, I've met a couple of new ponies..." Beatz answered with hardly any air and the sound of one of his bones crunching. "Please put me down now." Both of them let go and he landed down on one of his knees, starting to catch his breath with his hand over his chest. “Geez, I’ll never get used to hugs like that…” Beatz said under his breath. Daze, Cwolf, Phoenix, Eclipse, and Nocturne approached Beatz and Daze put out his hand. Beatz looked at them as they stared back and all of them smiled.

"Good to see you bro." Daze said. Beatz started to chuckle a little, seeing his old friends again, he felt nostalgic. Remembering all the good years he spent with them.

"You guys too." Beatz replied as he grabbed Daze's hand and got up, shaking his hand afterwards. "So, not to be rude as to jump to the point, but what did you guys call me here for?"

"Princess pain in the ass asked you here for a very important assignment. She didn’t explain it to us, because you had to be here." Eclipse said with his arms crossed.

"I see you haven't changed Eclipse. Still the overpowering unicorn we all know to be." Beatz responded.

"I see you still haven’t gotten to be less irritating Beatz. I would’ve said it was nice to see you in my most sarcastic voice possible, but you just get more annoying when you start replying." Eclipse replied.

“Heh, yeah… Good to see you too…” Beatz said feeling a little neglected.

"Continuing, the reason you’re called back here is because your tech skills seem to provide a great assist to us. You build everything that was back on Earth, when we first traveled there, so we need every piece of technology you have for this mission." Cwolf explained.

“Every piece of tech huh? Well, I got the best tech around, from cyberpunk to the moderns.” Beatz replied. “When do we get to it?” He asked.

"Exactly what we need. That could serve us very well,, but you better wait until tomorrow, you had a long journey from the Crystal Empire and well, you know it takes days now to reach from there to here. All of us are leaving to Canterlot early in the morning." Phoenix said.

"This is where your staying." Nocturne said, handing Beatz a paper with an address on there. “The princess thought you could use your own place.”

"250 Drake Way. Huh, never saw a house in that part of town before.” Beatz said as he placed the paper in his pocket. “Well, alright, I'll see you guys tomorrow. I’m gonna go drop by Vinyl’s for a visit." Beatz said as he turned and started walking towards the door slowly. He made his few steps short as every time, always eager to leave some place.

"Wait!" Pinkie said as she blocked the door in great speed. Beatz stared at her and tilts his head confused, considering Pinkie never does this unless it is important. "Aren't you gonna stay for your Welcome Back party?" She asked holding out a cake saying, "Welcome Back Beatz." Beatz smiled and patted Pinkie on the head, appreciating what they’ve done for him.

"Heh, to be honest, I missed your parties Pinky." Beatz admitted. Pinkie smiled back. "It is sometimes quiet at the empire, it never brings that much excitement to the heart..." Beatz said. “And also…” Beatz continued. Pinkie knew what he was about to say also and prepared herself to say it the same time he did.

"There's nothing like a PINKIE PIE PARTY!" Both of them said simultaneously. All of them laughed and party horns started to pop all over the place. His welcome back party went from fun to hilariously daring as soon as hours passed and the sun slowly slept into the horizon. There were games they explained about, such as ‘Truth or Dare’, ‘Two Truths and a Lie’, ‘I Am’, and ‘The Hunter.’ Of course, in Truth or Dare, Daze got a seven minutes in Heaven dare from and with Rainbow Dash, which was lucky him. Applejack got a dare from Rarity where she had to give her lover, Cwolf, a lap dance, Beatz looked away as he laughed the whole time. Eclipse didn’t care what he had to do, but apparently, he got a dare from Nocturne that he had to swap clothes with Fluttershy for half an hour, he wasn’t happy about that. Eclipse eventually got payback by daring Nocturne to rip Twilight’s bra off and tell her to go outside and get it without covering her chest, Nocturne felt very embarrassed and ashamed of it in the process. After Twilight got back, she slapped Nocturne straight across the face, that he fell flat on the floor. Eclipse laughed at the outcome, of course. He loved making others suffered by having some harmless and embarrassing jokes played on them, except he never does that to Fluttershy since she is his mare friend. We moved on to Phoenix’s dare which is, luckily, from Pinkie Pie. He read it aloud.

“You have to remain perfectly still for one minute. Meanwhile the one who volunteers for this dare is going to attempt to get you to move by whatever means he/she can think of. If you can remain still, you’ll get to do whatever you want to that pony.” Phoenix said his dare aloud. “Wait, what? Who’s the player who’s going to try that?” As the question was asked, Pinkie raised her hand immediately and smiled.

“Don’t worry, this won’t last very long.” Pinkie said. Phoenix blushed and then started to stand very still, determined to win this dare.

“Alright, I’m ready.” Phoenix said as he prepared himself. Pinkie started to walk around Phoenix, thinking of the many ideas she had in her head to make him move. She first started by tickling Phoenix in his most sensitive spots, he hardly stood against it that he felt the urge to twitch and laugh, but he still stood his ground. Pinkie then began to press her body against Phoenix’s, she licked his chest and kissed his neck to still get him to move, but he kept on holding his own against her.

“I will… win this… dare!” Phoenix said as he kept holding still for the longest time.

“Oh really?” Pinkie then smiled and poked him in his pants where he got, well, excited. He then jumped in the air and fell flat on his back, not expecting that kind of attempt to happen. “Darn it! I lost the dare.”

“Better luck next time, sweetie.” Pinkie said as she kissed Phoenix on the cheek. Even though he lost, Phoenix smiled and got back up, sitting on the chair awaiting the next pony to be dared. The next victim was Beatz, he got a truth, the first one out of everypony. The truth question was anonymous, no one’s name was on it.

“Who do you love in your love life?” Beatz read aloud. He smirked as he looked at this question and chuckled a little. He then answered. “You guys already know who it is, and it’s Vinyl.” Beatz then blushed and threw the paper away, considering he isn’t the type of person to admit his feelings. “By the way, where is Vinyl?” Beatz asked to everypony.

“She’s in Canterlot with Octavia, music business as usual.” Phoenix answered. “She said they’d be back by later tonight.”

“Oh, ok.” Beatz replied. He felt impatient about waiting for Vinyl, too eager in fact to at least hear the sound of her voice. Still going through the game, Daze got the next dare which is from Eclipse, he didn’t like it because every time, Daze always suffers from Eclipse. Yet, he read it anyway.

“Go outside and run around the neighborhood half-naked, yelling, ‘I’m a dick and everypony knows it!' until the other players tell you to come back.” Daze read. His eye started to twitch and dropped his head, looking at Eclipse with irritation. “You’ve got to be kidding. Eclipse, why must you do this?” Daze asked.

“Because you gotta suffer.” Eclipse chuckled. “Now get out there and do your dare.” Daze sighed and stripped himself down to his boxers. Rainbow Dash stared at him, blushing very red and having her wings perked up. Daze blushed as well, he didn’t mind Rainbow Dash looking at his current state, but the rest of the dare is what he had a problem with.

“Do I have to do this?” Daze started to protest.

“If you don’t, I get to do whatever I want to Rainbow Dash.” Eclipse replied as he smiled and looked at her. Daze didn’t like that. Knowing how sex crazed Eclipse is, he didn’t want to take that chance. So he breathed in, swallowing his pride and ran outside all over the neighborhood, yelling without hesitation.

“I’m a dick and everypony knows it!” Daze yelled loudly. Everypony looked through their windows looking at Daze, wondering why he is running and yelling around like that. A half hour has passed and Eclipse called Daze back in. Never in Daze’s life, has he ever felt so embarrassed, he shivered in He put his clothes back on and sat on the couch with Rainbow Dash.

“Ok, moving on, we have ‘The Hunter’ as our next game. One player has to be the hunter, while he tries to catch all the players here. The goal for the hunted is to reach the front door of this house. Using of magic, and hiding outside of the house is prohibited.” Phoenix explained. “Now to select the hunter.” Phoenix spinned a bottle on the ground with everypony in a circle. The bottle pointed toward Nocturne. “So Nocturne is our hunter. Everypony has to hide while Nocturne covers his eyes for 30 seconds.” Phoenix continued. Nocturne then covered his eyes.

“Well, this probably will turn out well.” Nocturne said.

“Ok, everypony, GO!” Phoenix shouted. Everypony hid all over Sugarcube Corner and after 30 seconds passed, Nocturne uncovered his eyes and started looking. He checked in the basement, and started to check carefully, looking under every object and then he smelled something.

“Hm, I smell… the scent of cake and confetti, with a little bit of… perfume.” Nocturne whispered as he turned around and saw Pinkie and Rarity trying to sneak away from their old hiding spot. “Got you!” He ran towards them with Pinkie and Rarity screamed, trying to run to the stairs, but Nocturne then caught them.

“Aw, pickled peppers.” Pinkie Pie grouched.

“Well, it was a good try.” Rarity said.

“Two down, nine more to go.” Nocturne said as he put Pinkie and Rarity down. He continued to walk through the house, he then got back to where he came from and saw Twilight and Phoenix coming down the stairs quietly. Nocturne then ducked and snuck on the side of the stairs, trying to get the drop on them. As Twilight and Phoenix almost reached the front door. Nocturne caught both of them as well, grabbing the two by their shirts with a slightly tight grip. The two sighed.

“We were almost out.” Twilight said.

“Yeah, until it backfired quickly…” Phoenix mumbled. Nocturne then put them down

“Heh, you guys got to do better than that.” He then walked upstairs and started to look in the Baby Cakes room. Looking thoroughly, he searched every hiding spot in the room, even checked in their toy trunk which somepony could fit into. After, he started to leave until he heard rumbling in the closet. Nocturne faced his vision on the location of the sound and grinned, carefully sneaking to the closet. He then placed his hand on the handle and opened it quickly. Nocturne looked at the bottom of the closet and found Fluttershy in there, kneeling with a couple of stuffed animals on the top of her head.

“H-Hi there.” Fluttershy said nervously.

“Sorry Fluttershy, but you’re out.” Nocturne said as he tapped her on the head lightly and left the room. “I wonder where Eclipse is…” Nocturne thought as he looked through another room down the hall from the Baby Cakes’ room. It is Mr. and Mrs. Cakes room, he scanned the room carefully and listened keenly to any sounds. He heard noises under the bed and in the closet, rustling noises in fact with faint whispers. He walked over and looked under the bed first, finding Applejack and Cwolf. Next, he pulled the closet opened quickly and found Rainbow Dash and Daze cramped together with clothes ruffled over their heads. “Well all of you are out now. I find this pretty easy now.” Nocturne said. “All that’s left is Beatz and Eclipse, then I could just say that this is the easiest thing I’ve played all day, beside the video games at my house.”

“Well this is retarded, those two should’ve already been caught before us.” Cwolf said. “They got to be cheating, this just ain’t natural.” Cwolf stomped with ill-temper.

“Well Beatz is a good hider, it isn’t difficult for him to blend in with his surroundings, even without magic.” Applejack added.

“But Eclipse should’ve been caught by now. Without his magic, there is no way he couldn’t have lasted this long.” Daze pointed out.

“Maybe he’s better than we thought. He’s sometimes fast on his feet and very vigilant. Not to mention, he’s very determined to win anything.” Rainbow Dash continued. A whistle came from outside, and they all walked and looked out through the window. Beatz and Eclipse were outside waiting.

“Game over Nocturne. You lose.” Beatz called out as he gave a thumbs down.

“Not like you could’ve won in the first place.” Eclipse called out as well. Nocturne sighed and everyone returned to the front room. It was getting late, and everypony went home, except for Beatz, he stayed a bit longer to help Phoenix and Pinkie Pie clean up, considering the mess all of them left behind: plastic cups, plates, wrappers, etc. It took a little longer than expected, but they got it done.

"Thanks for the help Beatz." Phoenix said.

"It's not a problem, I should get going, it's midnight and I have to be up early." Beatz replied.

"Alright. See you later." Phoenix farewells.

"Bye!" Pinkie said waving. Beatz waved back and went on his way. He walked with his horn glowing, lighting his path through the dimness of the dark.

"Just two more streets and I'll be there." Beatz sighed. He kept walking through the dark with his headphones wrapped around his neck and phone shuffling through his hands. His ears then perked up and stopped his movement. He heard rattling in the background and shifted to look behind him, shining his light. “Who’s there?!” He shouted as he shined his horn’s glow everywhere. He didn’t find a single living thing that could have been making that noise, he then became less aware of it and sighed. “Tsk, must’ve been my imagination.” Beatz assumed as he turned back around and continued on his way to his house. Something then snuck behind him after Beatz walked a few feet and grabbed him by the shoulders. “What in the--?!” He panicked and flew up in the air to get away from it and into a cloud.

“Woah Beatz, calm down. It’s only me.” A voice said from the surface. The voice sounded familiar and feminine, it seemed like deja vu all over again. Beatz retreated from the cloud, flying back down slowly and not pleased with this prank that this certain pony has pulled.

“Vinyl, why did you have to go and do that?” Beatz said as Vinyl came into his horn’s light. She stuck her tongue out and giggled.

“Because it’s fun, and you were always easy to sneak up on.” Vinyl replied.

“Haha, very funny.” Beatz sarcastically replied. “So how was Canterlot? Anything new up there?

“Nah, doing the same thing as always. Besides the fact there had been a few tweaks of your tech up there.” Vinyl said. “Besides that, I had to go to some of Octi’s concerts with a lot of gigs to be at.” She explained.

“A lot? How many?” Beatz asked.

“Like about… 40 gigs and 20 concerts.” Vinyl said rubbing the back of her head. “I got pretty lonely without you here. What’s the big deal about leaving your mare friend here in Ponyville while you go off somewhere else?” Vinyl pouted.

“I’m sorry Vinyl. I just had to take care of things in the Crystal Empire.” Beatz replied as he kissed Vinyl on the forehead. She blushed and calmed down a little. “I didn’t want to leave, but I had to. Don’t worry about it, I won’t leave you again, I swear. You know you’re the first to come in my life.” He promised.

“You better not!” Vinyl said as she lightly punched him in the arm playfully. “But um… Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. Well, how do I explain this…” Vinyl stuttered as she brushed some of her hair back. “So, you see, we lost our home due to a little rent problem we had a few days ago, so we’re kinda homeless now.” She explained with an embarrassed look on her face. “I know it’s ridiculous, since we make a lot of bits with our jobs, yet, there was other stuff that we had to pay for. Can we stay with you?”

“Wait, we? Where’s Octavia then?” Beatz asked.

“Over there.” Vinyl pointed behind her with Octavia standing next to numerous boxes on a wagon. All the boxes were stacked on top of each other, almost as if it is some kind of mini skyscraper.

“So, can we stay with you or not? We would’ve asked your brother, but he isn’t here.” Octavia asked. Beatz rubbed the back of his head and nodded.

“Yeah, you can. Since you let me stay in your home, hey, why not let that favor be repaid? Besides, you two helped me when I needed it.” Beatz said as he smiled.

“Awesome! I knew we could count on you!” Vinyl said as she hugged him back. Octavia sighed and grabbed the handle of the wagon, starting to pull until Beatz walked towards her and generously made his gesture.

“Please Octavia, allow me.” Beatz said as he raised the wagon with his magic’s aura surrounding the bottom of it.

“Oh, well, um… Thank you, Beatz. Just please don’t drop anything.” Octavia informed.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Beatz replied. They all walked to the house together and after a half-an-hour later, they finally made it. Yet, they found the house on a steep hill, with a stairway leading up to it, and the height of the house being two-stories high and very expansive.. As the three of them entered inside their new home, Beatz dropped all the boxes one by one, stacked by the stairs in a pyramid. “Alright, let’s check this piece of paper. I saw some info on the bottom of it...” He took out the paper and read the features of the house. “So, there is whole bunch of rooms upstairs, a kitchen, three bathrooms, a music room, and there seems to be a video game room too. There is many more, but I’m too lazy to list them all? Signed… Phoenix… Of course.” Beatz sighed. He crumpled up the paper and threw it in the trash.

“Well, at least we got this awesome place to live in. I can hardly believe we’re even standing in here. It even takes a few minutes to reach the backyard when you’re running.” Vinyl said.

“Ok, well, you two have fun. I’m gonna go upstairs to sleep. Goodnight.” Octavia said as she went upstairs and entered into her bedroom. Vinyl then leaned on Beatz and whispered in his ear.

“Now we’re alone.” Vinyl tempted.

Beatz blushed and looked at her. “Heh, yeah, we are.” Beatz smiled and kissed her on the horn. Vinyl’s horn then glew with happiness and she smiled back at him.

“So what do you want to do before going to bed?” Vinyl asked. “We do have some catching up to do.” She said.

“Well, how about we tell each other what has happened over the year?” Beatz suggested.

“Alright. I’d love to hear what you’ve been doing over at the Crystal Empire.” Vinyl replied. They both sat on the couch and Beatz feeling a bit parched, he retrieved two glasses of apple cider with his magic in the fridge, not moving from the couch. Surprisingly, it was the finest known in Ponyville, rarely found here. Grabbing the bottle with his magic, it had a note on it that said, “Gift from Applejack. Enjoy!”

“Thank you Applejack.” Beatz said as he passed the other glass to Vinyl. “Hopefully, I won’t get drunk from this…” He thought. Vinyl giggled as they tap their glasses together and drank it down. After that, they started to talk about what they’ve been doing when they went off for a year.

“So yeah, I haven’t been doing that much. Just a lot of concerts I had to be at, only been with Octavia for the past year, and been thinking about how you’ve been doing.” Vinyl explained. “Though, that’s been explained since you’ve been writing letters to me about what you’ve been up to.” She continued.

“Yeah, though those letters haven’t been completely explaining everything.” Beatz replied. “Originally, I’ve went to the Crystal Empire to train in the greatest magic ways, under Princess Celestia’s orders for some reason…” Beatz said as he wondered why Celestia would send him there in the first place. Beatz never had the intention of becoming stronger, the only thing he could ever want is to spend his life with Vinyl and his friends.

“Beatz?” Vinyl said to snap him out of his daze.

“O-oh. Sorry Vinyl.” Beatz apologized as he scratched the back of his head.

“So… who exactly had to teach you at the Crystal Empire.” Vinyl asked curiously as she scooted over closer to him.

“Well, they were alicorn relatives I never knew about… Apparently, my family left a secret library chamber below the crystal heart. Only ponies of my blood are allowed in.” Beatz explained.

“Wow, that sounds really cool. What did you learn?” Vinyl asked once more.

“I learned a lot of spells actually. Powerful ones that shouldn’t even exist… Somehow, there is also a spell that can give you the same magic as Discord…” Beatz said but with a little stutter.

“That seems awesome.” Vinyl commented with a bit of a smile.

“Except it gives away your mind to insanity and makes you lose control for… who knows how long…” Beatz replied.

“Oh…” Vinyl said as she lost her smile.

“But don’t worry, I won’t ever use a spell like that.” Beatz assured. “There’s actually a lot more I learned, but it didn’t just include magic.” He included.

“Not just magic? What else could there be?” Vinyl questioned.

“Well there are maps to secret locations that explain their purpose.” Beatz explained. “Most of them involve physical training. So I’ve been training myself to my limits to follow where these books and scrolls are leading me to. Eventually, it got me to perfecting all the spells in the library with the massive increase of strength, speed, and accuracy.” Beatz explained.

“That’s a lot to work with.” Vinyl said. She placed her hand on his chest and leaned against him. “How is it that were you able to pull all this off in just a year?” Vinyl asked.

“I really don’t know… I’m not determined to be powerful, but I was determined to complete this assignment to see all of you as soon as possible. Since... well. all of you are my best friends, and you're my mare friend Vinyl. I don't want to keep you worried.” Beatz said with a smile towards Vinyl. She just smiled back at him and hugged Beatz tightly.

“You know you’re so mushy right?” Vinyl questioned.

“I know Vinyl.” Beatz said with a little chuckle.

“C’mon, let’s go to bed. We’re leaving early in the morning.” Vinyl said. Beatz just nodded in agreement and walked upstairs to their bedroom to sleep until dawn.