Mind over Matter

They walked for a couple of more minutes until they stopped in front of cream colored house with bushes covering the corners of the house and a brown roof with wooden windows.

As they walked up to the door, Soundwave raised his hoof to knock on it but was stopped by Shockwaves magic.

“Now before we go in, I want you to promise me something.”

“What is it?” Soundwave asked with his head cocked to the side.

“When we go in, I want you to behave yourself and act like a proper Deceptic-er .….stallion. No making a mess and no loud yelling.”

“Oh come on Shockwave, by scanning our organic bodies it is shown that we are at the age of eighteen. It is mandatory to live it up.”

“You can do that with Rainbow Dash and when I’m not around but since we’re both here you’ll obey my commands. Are we clear?”

“Yes… we’re clear.”

“Good.” Shockwave said as he stepped forward and proceeded to knock on the door “Now you let me do the talking.”

He knocked a few more times before the door opened. The door opened to reveal Octavia with a small smile “Hello Shockwave, its good to see you again.”

“Its good to see you to Octavia.” Shockwave said with a smile on his face “Sorry for being a bit late, we got caught up on a few things on our way here.”

“It’s quite alright, to be honest I didn't think you would come.”

“Well I am a gentlecolt of my word.” Shockwave proudly proclaimed. “Besides, we never got to finish that conversation that we had.”

“Then come in and we can finish our little conversation.” Octavia opened the door further and stepped out of the way for the two Decepticons to enter.

“Oh Octavia I almost forget, I didn't properly introduce you to Soundwave.”

“Hello Ms. Octavia.” Soundwave bowed slightly as a show of gratitude. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“It is nice to meet you too Soundwave. I believe the last time we saw each other, you had a weird ear twitch going on. Is everything alright.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. My ear was just itchy. I fixed it by scratching it.”

“You sure? Because they way you were acting it seemed like it was hurting you.”

“Well… it was the first time I had an itch right there. Don’t worry I got used to it.

“Well thats good to hear.” Octavia said with a smile. The three stood there for a good few seconds until Octavia decided to break the silence “So Soundwave, I’m guessing your here to see Vinyl.”

Soundwave was trying to hide his nervousness but to Octavia it was obvious. “Yeah, I figure me and Vinyl could do a collab or something.”

“Okay, let me just call her down.” And with that Octavia walked over to the stairs that lead up to the second floor “Vinyl!!”

“What!” A voice shouted back from upstairs.

“Come down stairs!”

“Why!?”

“There’s a pony here that wants to see you!!”

“Tell Pinkie that I don't want to party tonight!!”

“Vinyl would you just come downstairs already. It’s not Pinkie Pie.”

“Fine Octi. I’m coming down -” Vinyl trotted down the stairs to the doorway. “Alright Octi this better not be another gro…” Vinyl stopped to spot a familiar blue pegasus standing by the door. “Soundwave? Oh Celestia it’s nice to see you.”

“Its nice to see you to Vinyl.” Vinyl smiled but was nudged by Octavia.

“Vinyl I want you to meet Shockwave.” Octavia pointed towards Shockwave.

“Sup.” She nodded towards Shockwave as he coked his eyebrows

“Sup?”

“Yeah, like whats up.”

“Then why not just say whats up?”

“Does it matter?” Vinyl said with a cocked eyebrow.

“It makes a conversation easier.”

“Right…Anyways, your Shockwave huh? Soundwave told me about you.”

“Really?” Shockwave asked as he gazes at Soundwave.

“Yeah he told me that you two are roommates back in Hooftin and that you like lame music.”

“Is that so?” Shockwave turned his head to a nervous Soundwave ruffling his mane.

“Well I was just joking around…” Soundwave stated sheepishly as Shockwave turned back again to Vinyl .”What else did he say?”

“He said that you play the same music as Octi here, you know the one that can put you to sleep.”

“Oh… well yes I guess I do -” Octavia became slightly flustered but she remained focused “- but the music I do is orchestral or rather flowing music that doesn’t need words.”

Vinyl lifted up her glasses with her magic and yawned loudly. “What my friend Octi is saying is, that her music will put you the sleep before it plays through. I think I fell asleep just reading the sheet notes.”

“Vinyl!”

“I’m kidding Octi, yeesh you are cranky today.”

“I’m not cranky. I’m just not in the mood for your jokes today.”

“Yeah sure. Hey Soundwave do you want to come to my room, I want to show you my equipment.”

“Sure!”

“Well come on already.” Vinyl jokingly said. Before Vinyl could go up the stairs she noticed Soundwave’s tail being held back by a purple aura around it.

“Now hold on there.” Shockwave said as Soundwave turned to him, annoyed.

“What is it now Shockwave?”

Shockwave tugged the tail slightly. “Remember what we talked about?”

Soundwave sighed. “I know I know, I promised to behave mom. Now can you let my tail go before you rip it off?!”

Shockwave complied and removed his magic aura from around Soundwave’s tail. “Make sure you do.”

“Same goes for you Vinyl.” Octavia said behind Shockwave.

“Yeah yeah Octi. Geez you’re such a grouch sometimes.” Vinyl blabbered out as she walked up the stairs.

Octavia ignored her housemate’s rudeness and lead Shockwave to their living room as they both had a seat on the couches opposite of each other.

“I am so sorry about that Octavia. Sometimes it feels like I’m taking care of a child.”

“Oh believe me I know that all too well. The only reason why this house looks so clean is because I have to clean up her messes.”

“Humph….Yeah I feel you. Well to be honest with you, the house looks beautiful.” Shockwave complemented.

“Why thank you Shockwave. I always tell Vinyl that to have guests around we must have this house spotless but she says that it’ll clean itself. Sometimes I think she has the brain of foal.”

“I heard that!!!” Vinyl’s voice shouted from the stairway.

“At Least her ears still work.” Shockwave jokingly muttered.

“Yeah, well not much I can do with her at the moment since she can easily swipe me away with magic or her… wubs” Octavia cringed as she said the last word.

“Oh yes. The loud music that almost made me go deaf. Soundwave calls it art but I call it ear poison.”

“Odd. Vinyl calls it the same thing when we bicker. How is loud incoherent music art. It’s like saying listening to Rarity whining is art.”

“Exactly. And what’s worse is that they claim that making it louder makes them all sound different.”

Octavia walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. “Want something to drink?”

“Yeah. I haven’t really had much to drink during my time here in Ponyville.”

Octavia grabbed two bottles of apple ciders. Shockwave used his magic to levitate one of the bottles over to himself. Using his magic, Shockwave opened up the bottle as he noticed Octavia was trying to open hers. “Here, let me get that for you.” With a quick motion a purple aura surrounded Octavia’s bottle as the top lead came off.

“Thank you Shockwave.” Octavia said before taking a sip.

“You’re welcome. Now shall we continue our conversation from the party before we got interrupted.” Shockwave said with a smile as Octavia returned the gesture.

“Yes, lets.”

Soundwave followed Vinyl down the hall to her room “Hey Vinyl, I want to say sorry.”

“For what?”

“For Shockwave, he can be a total bummer sometimes.”

“Ha...Its cool, Octavia is the same way. Heck sometimes she reminds me to properly clean the dishes, even though I said its perfectly fine to just rinse them but... Noooooo... can't have that.”

“She definitely sounds like a bore.” Soundwave chuckled. “Shockwave tends to act the same way.”

“Huh, seems like we have the same taste with boring partners.”

“Yeah, though Shockwave is more boring than Octavia.” Soundwave joked.

“How so?”

“Well I would tell you but for me to do so, I would need a long piece a paper to write down the list of times that he is boring. And that would take awhile.”

Vinyl snickered slightly as they finally reached the door to her room. She raised a hoof to Soundwave’s chest which stopped him in his tracks. “Before I show you my room there’s one thing you gotta know.”

“What’s that?”

“Aside from Octavia, you are the only to ever see my room. I guess this is like a VIP special or something.”

“Really, wow don't I feel special.” Soundwave said with a sly grin

“You should, not even my manager has seen my room.” She snickered. Her horn lit up, her blue aura covering the door knob. The knob slightly twisted to the side before the door opened. “Welcome to my room.”

Soundwave stepped inside, as soon as he a shock of awe fell upon his face as he gazed upon music records framed on walls, a computer with a mix amp and two big ass speakers by it. For him, this was a kickass quarters to live in.

“Well come on, you look like you never saw a room before.” Vinyl walked into the room, still snickering while Soundwave stood in the doorway with his mouth open. “You coming or what?”

Soundwave shook off the shock and made his way into the room. He looked around to get a full view of his VIP special. He stared at the sides of the rooms and noticed two sets of huge speakers connected to the computer.

“So, what do you think?”

“....Its beautiful.” Soundwave simply replied as he gawked at the amazing equipment. He wanted to jump around and touch all the equipment that made his set on Cybertron look smaller. The only thing keeping him from doing so was his promise to Shockwave so he stood still and just admired their shine.

While admiring he felt a nudge on his shoulder as he turned to see Vinyl smiling at him “Thanks, is your room back in Hooftin like this?”

“Yeah, my room looks a little bit like this.” Soundwave lied as he remembered his living quarters back in Kaon “Even though it was filled with dead Autobot parts.”

“I bet you rocked out alot in Hooftin. What kind of wubs did you make?”

“I experimented with whatever I could get my hooves on. Techno and such, I’m slowly getting better at the more difficult things. Of course most of my experiments were figuring out ways to kill Autobots. I think my favorite was with Zeta Prime, oh how he screamed.”

“Maybe one day I’ll come with you back to Hooftin to see what you made.”

Soundwave snickered slightly “Sure, if you don’t mind the pile of dead Autobots parts scattered around the place.”

“Why are you snickering?” Vinyl asked while opening up a file on her computer.

“Just thinking of how you would react to being in my home. I don’t think you’ll like the scenery.”

“Dud once I get there and play my wubs, that place be kicking like never before. Everybody loves wubs.”

“Except Shockwave and Octavia. As well as Megatron, Starscream, Onslaught, Brawl and pretty much all Decepticons.”

“They’re just pretending to hate it.”

Soundwave snickered again but louder. “I seriously doubt that.”

“Oh come on, at least give it some thought. If Hooftin is as boring as you say it is then I have no doubts we can kick it up a notch.”

“You might be right but I guess it won’t happen until it happens.”

“So, will you give it some thought?”

“Sure, I’ll think about it.” Soundwave said, smiling.

“Cool-”Vinyl started playing around with her computer. “-So, how did you two meet?”

“Pardon?”

“Yeah, you and Shockwave didn't really get to explain it at the party due to you two bickering and I know that Shockwave is probably talking about it with Octavia.”

“Um… What was the lie again? I can’t believe I forgot and after using it so much! Well… Um…Shockwave and I met in school when we were colts and ever since then we became the best of friends. We grew up with each other and at one point we decided to live together. Yeah we bicker and fight but at the end of the day we are still friends. Heck, we treat each other more as brothers than friends as I look up to him like he’s my big bro.”

“You two definitely give Big Mac and Applejack a run for their bits when it comes honesty.”

“Yeah… honesty. Speaking of which, how did you get yours?”

“I got mine back when I first started Dj-ing. As soon as played my first song and heard the crowd go wild my mark popped up like a light show. That was the best thing to happen that night and I haven’t found another night like that yet.”

“Really, that's awesome! So that was when you found out your special talent?”

“Oh yeah! All I’ve been doing ever since was playing wubs and loud tunes and I haven’t regretted it yet. How did you discover your talent for playing wubs, besides your name.”

“It just came naturally.” Soundwave said is it seemed to satisfy Vinyl.

“So, want to give it a try?”

“Humph..I do, but Shockwave will be pissed at me if I do.”

“Ah come on, he won’t mind if you try it out once and besides you came up here to see how I do things and I’m giving you the opportunity to play with my equipment.”

“I know but Shockwave would lecture me later about it.”

“So. Octavia lectures me all the time. It goes in one ear and out the other.” Vinyl said but could see the hesitation on Soundwave’s face. She tried to think on what she could say to convince him until an idea popped in her head “Tell you what Soundwave, I’ll make a deal with you.”

“Deal?”

“Yeah. I know a club in Canterlot that I DJ at. If you play just ONE track on my mix amp. Then you can come with me and we can do a show there together, what do you say?”

“That does sound awesome and it’s not everyday I get to play with this type of equipment.”

Vinyl’s horn lit up, her magic aura forming around Soundwave as she pulled him closer to the mix amp. “Well don’t let Shockwave stop ya. Go wild Soundwave!”

“Well I guess one track wouldn't hurt.” Soundwave said as he looked over the controls “Now lets see what kind of masterpiece I can make with this.”

Youtube Video

Meanwhile

In the living room Shockwave and Octavia were both laughing, to the point where they had to put down their drinks or else they would have spilled it all over the floor.

“And then what happened?”

“I told Starscream to be careful with the door...Heheheh…..But he was all like “Shut up Shockwave, I can handle a door.” Shockwave imitated while crossing his eyes which made Octavia laugh louder “And the next thing you know, he rams head first to the door... heheheheh. I swear I had to drop what I was doing because I was laughing so hard.”

“It appears this Starscream isn’t as smart as anypony thinks. What else did he do?” Octavia asked, intrigued by Shockwave’s stories.

“Well there was another time he was suppose to do the weather for our town and instead he electrocuted himself while moving a cloud over Mayor Megatron. Megatron became so infuriated that Starscream was grounded literally for a month. He couldn’t fly or even think of it.”

“That must have ticked him off. I think I remember Rainbow Dash being grounded once for a race. She didn’t take it too well either. Those pegasi tend to be angsty when incapable of flight.”

“Believe me I know that all too well with Starscream. Ah pegasi and their wings. Never ones for simple movement.”

“You could say that again. Would you like another drink Shockwave?”

“No thank you, I think I had enough for tonight.” Shockwave but he then noticed a cello lying against the wall near Octavia. “Is that yours?”

Octavia looks over to the instrument and smiles. “Yes it is. It’s something I hold dear. All the music I play comes from it and it’s the reason I have my cutie mark.”

“Its beautiful, I have one back in Hooftin that I practice on. Its the only thing I use to calm me down if I have a stressful day or dealing with Soundwave and his wubs.” Shockwave said but noticed a small smile from Octavia.

“You know we seem to be alike in ways. Both of us have Cellos, we have housemates who are similar to each other yet different from us and we both have issues getting along with them.”

“At least yours is not a smart ass. Soundwave is very good at picking holes in my arguments and rubbing it in.”

“Vinyl doesn’t have to find holes in our arguments. She makes them with wubs. Every time we argue she has that amp mix or whatever it’s called with her and plays it loud.”

“Well at least I know that Soundwave won’t do th-”

WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB

Shockwave and Octavia both fell back from their setting position as Octavia was covering her eyes from the loud music.

“Oh he is so dead.” Shockwave thought as he was also covering his ears.

About a minute later of Soundwave’s ‘masterpiece’ was playing, he decided to turn it down until the music fully stopped. He spun around in his chair and leaned back with a satisfied look on his face. “Damn I’m good.”

“Oh yeah that’s what I’m talking about!” Vinyl yelled out, pumping her hoof in the air as if the music was still playing. “That was awesome Soundwave! Woohoo!”

“Yeah, that was awesome!” Soundwave hopped off the chair and stretched with a smile on his face.

“So Soundwave, are we still down to go to Canterlot?” Vinyl asked as Soundwave took a second to think on her question.

“Well I did promise her that I would but...No I can't, I’m on a mission for primes sake. Lord Megatron is counting on me and I won’t fail him. I refuse to fail my lord but I kinda like making music and Vinyl seems to think I’m awesome at it but… I’ve always been praised for my completion of missions and I don’t want to be seen as just another Decepticon.” Soundwave thinks for a few more seconds before showing her a fake smile. “Sure, I would like to do the show in Canterlot.”

“Awesome, what about Shockwave?”

“Oh don't worry about him, I know how to convince him.”

“I bet.” Vinyl sarcastically said as she opened a new file on the mix amp. “Hey listen. Whenever you want to make a music track just for kicks you can come here and wild out.”

“Sounds good to me.” Soundwave said with a chuckle until he noticed his field of view was blinking flashing red as he looked to the top right of his optic view and noticed it was almost getting to 10 O clock. “Hey listen it's getting late, I’ll meet you here tomorrow so we can go, okay?”

“Alright, I’m holding you to it.”

“Yeah yeah I know.” Soundwave mused as he walked out the room with Vinyl following behind.

They walked down hallway leading back to the stairs, Vinyl now walking next to him as they continued walking.

“By the way Soundwave. I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“What is it?” Soundwave asked as he looked at her.

“Exactly how far is Hooftin cause you two walking to Ponyville from there would have been hell. You two never mentioned any towns and you never mentioned anything about food or water.”

Soundwave looked at her wide eyed. “Crap… How the hell did Shockwave not think this further …..Well um… it’s kinda hard to remember due to how long ago it was.”

The two ponies made it to the end of the hall, they slowly walked down the stairs leading to the living room. “You think Shockwave and Octi heard our loud tracks?”

“Nah, it wasn't that loud. I'm sure that they are still having their boring….” Soundwave stopped as he saw two very angry ponies sitting their with their four hooves crossed “Ohhhhh….Damn.”

“Oh hey Octi and… Ummm ...Shockwave.” Vinyl tried to say through her shy laugh but noticed they were both staring daggers at them. “So, what's up with you two? Did you guys have a nice talk?”

“We did.” Octavia answered bluntly but Vinyl could see that she was not done “Before you two started playing loud music!”

“Calm down Octi, I was just showing Soundwave my new mix amp and I forgot to turn down the volume that’s all.” Vinyl said, lying through her teeth. She could tell that Octavia could see through her nervous smile.

“I can tell you’re lying Vinyl. You’re a horrible liar so quit it already.”

Shockwave ignored his mare equal and continued to stare daggers at the nervous Soundwave. “Well Soundwave? Want to try lying to me which you know doesn't work or will you tell me the truth?”

“Look Shockwave, if its in any consideration ninety-six percent of me tried really hard to resist.” Soundwave said but he could see Shockwave unamused.

“Really, and what about that other four percent?”

“Wanted to play the music loud…” Soundwave mumbled.

“Soundwave I thought we agreed that you would behave. NOT nearly cause my ears to fall off!”

“I know but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to do it so badly!” Soundwave pleaded. “I was tempted!”

“You promised Soundwave! We agreed that you will NOT be doing ANY wubs while we were here.”

“I know I know but I couldn’t control myself Shockwave. It felt like I was on top of the world and I didn’t want it to end!” Soundwave said with pride in his voice but he can still see that Shockwave was having none of it.

“When we get back to the library we will talk about this now come on, it’s getting really late.” Shockwave said as he turned towards Octavia “I am so sorry about this.”

“It’s quite alright. To be honest I knew Vinyl was gonna try something like this so it’s to be expected. Perhaps we can talk tomorrow or whenever you are free.” Octavia said without knowing that she was slightly blushing “If you want.”

“I would love to.” Shockwave said with a smile. Both Octavia and Shockwave stood there gazing into each others as Shockwave couldn't but feel a very strange feeling while he was gazing into Octavia’s eyes. While they were trapped in each others gaze, Soundwave and Vinyl both gaze at each other and silently nod as Soundwave made his way to the door and Vinyl made her way up the stairs.

Both Soundwave and Vinyl tried to make the least noise as possible as Shockwave and Octavia continued their awestruck staring.

“Soundwave wait for me outside.” Shockwave address Soundwave without moving his eyes away from Octavia.

“Wait upstairs Vinyl.” Octavia addressed to Vinyl without moving.

Both Soundwave and Vinyl sighed and did what they were told. Noticed that they were alone Shockwave decided that it was his time to leave “I guess I'll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” Shockwave said as he made his way to the door,  but not before looking back to Octavia and giving another small smile.

Octavia smiled back and watched as he walked out the door to a nervous Soundwave. Octavia walked over to the door and closed it gently, turning around and leaning her back against the door. She looked up to the ceiling with her cheeks a pinkish hue and a wide smile spread across her face. She slowly slid off the door into the crouch position as her mind was fluttering with thoughts.

On the outside of the house, Shockwave and Soundwave were already heading back to the library. Soundwave was looking straight ahead, doing his best to avoid eye contact with Shockwave by looking at the passing houses and stores. Shockwave on the other hoof, was looking at the ground. His mind racing with thoughts about what just transpired a few minutes ago.

“What’s this feeling I’m getting? Humph...I probably just need to get some rest.” Shockwave thought as he moved his gaze forward.

“Umm...I..Uhh..”

“Don’t even say anything Soundwave, I have more than enough issues at the moment. I will deal with you in the morning.”

“... I… okay.” Soundwave forced out of his mouth as he lowered his head and ears.

Inside Cheerilee’s home, the studious teacher was reading her favorite romance book in her living room. She giggled and smiled as she read through the pages and drank her cider in a cup. She continued to scroll through her favourite love story until she hears loud banging coming from her front door. “Who in the world could that be?” Cheerilee asked to herself as she closed the book, gently placed it on the table next to her and trotted over to the door.

The banging continued until she unlatched the lock and turned the knob to the door. The banging stopped and Cheerilee opened the door to the sight of a very angry mare standing there, gritting her teeth as if they were about to crack

“Ms. Mash what are you doing her-” Before she can ask, Ms. Mash got right up to her face.

“WHERE IS HE!!?”

“Um… who are you talking about?” Cheerilee asked.

“Shockwave!!”

“Oh him? Well he’s new here so I don't know where he lives. Probably with Twilight, why is something wrong?”

“Of course there is something wrong! How could you let that idiot teach such things to my son!”

“What are you talking about, he was only teaching them about growing plants and the sun light.”

“That’s not what my child said! And before you ask if he was lying, my Buttons doesn’t lie and I asked the other parents about the sub and they said the same thing I’m telling you!”

“Well… if that’s the case, then what did he teach them because I told him that they are learning about science?”

“Well he did but apparently he added more to it. What kind of sick and twisted world did you get him from anyway?!”

“I didn’t get him from anywhere and he seemed nice and intelligent when I met him. Look I’ll have a talk with him tomorrow and I will try to get this all settled, okay?”

“You better or I’ll take this issue to Mayor Mare and have you fired. Goodnight!” Ms. Mash turned to walk away when she glares back at Cheerilee. “I hope this issue is dealt with or I’ll have to deal with Shockwave myself!”

Ms. Mash walked away as she left a shaking Cheerilee standing there “What did he do?”