Duncan POV:

Duncan was walking along the road out to where he was told Octavia and Vinyl scratch lived. Confirmed roommates made him happy, if they were a couple, that would be more awesome. Along the way he absent mindedly kicked the ground his foot making contact with a small purple square stone. It bounced along the road before falling over a small ledge and into a lake with a small ‘plop’.

A shadowy dark purple portal opened up just above the surface of the water and promptly deposited an equally shadowy figure out and into the water before abruptly closing. The figure splashed around a bit before popping its head above the water and calling out.

“Alright, who summoned me this time?! Come on, fess up!”

“Heh he, sorry. That would be me.” Duncan called out approaching the ledge to see who he accidently just summoned.

Dox POV:

It happened just as I started to leave the castle with Bluebelle, right at the freaking castle gates. A portal opened in my face and took me away from my fiance and my adventure.

I swear, sometimes Displaced either have the worst sense of humor, or the worst sense of timing. Either way, I just got cock blocked from something that was bound to be REALLY fun. This Displaced better be in need, dying, or someone I know in need of help, otherwise I’m going to be VERY pissed off.

AND OH GREAT! I got dumped into a FUCKING LAKE! What else now?! I sank down a little then quickly swam to the top and breached the water a little. Jeeze, this guy better need help, luckily I know a quick-dry spell.

“Alright, who called me this time?” I demanded. “Come on, fess up.”

“Heh he, sorry. That would be me.” A male voice called out from over the hill.

I looked over to see a young male with short brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing green colored traditional chinese robes. Around his neck was a large red sphere. Oh great, a kid.

“Sup. What do you want?” I asked. “What was so important that you needed to call me away from one of my fiances and a possibly epic adventure involving Dwarves?”

“Dwarves? Actually, it was an accident. I was on my way to ask Octavia if she had a violin for sale and could offer me some lessons. If you are dealing with Dwarves I would love to help.”

“Eh, it’s fine. I was gonna go off with the fiance I mentioned and we were gonna go have some fun hunting down Dwarven clans and bring them back into the light.” I said. “You said something about a violin and Octavia, though?”

“Ya, truth is I’ve been missing my own fiance since being Displaced. Figured it was something I could learn for when I get back to her.” The kid crossed his arms with an air of depression hanging off of him.

“Heck, I might just be able to help with that.” I said. “But uh, first, let me get out of this lake.” I poofed into shadowstuff and reappeared right next to the kid, surprising him a little. I then cast my quick-dry spell just to get my clothes and self dry. “So uh, before anything else happens, I’d just like to introduce myself. My name’s Dox, Dox Ad Finem. Who are you?”

“Ah sorry my name is Duncan Klysh, my cosplay was Li Syaoran of Cardcaptors. You said Dox? As in the Dungeon Master’s champion?” He asked with a bit of curiosity.

“Um, yeah.” I said. “How…. How did you know that?”

“I read a fanfiction about you back on earth. I use to read a lot of Displaced fictions.” He answered, his face was controlled, awaiting a response and trying to figure out what my reaction might be.

“... Oh shit.” I said, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. “Please. PLEASE. Not this shit again. Pretty sure there was only two people I knew about that talked about this whole ‘my life is a fanfiction’ shit. One was Mistress Change-”

“Oh, ya she is out right now, something about visiting her friend Avarice. She said she loved your fic and was hoping to find a way to catch up on your adventures since she met you the first time.” Duncan explained, amused at my reaction.

“No.” I said. Seriously, not this shit again. “No. No no. Not again. Don’t you start. You start, I’m gonna start freaking out, and you REALLY won’t like it.”

“Ok, in exchange you said you would help me with violin lessons?”

“Sure. I play cello, though.” I said. “So, don’t really expect the best. Then again, you were going to Octavia for the same reason, and she’s a cellist. I at least learned multiple instruments. In the show, she never really showed to know anything but cello, and last time I checked, your world follows the canon of the show pretty well.”

“Well that is how little I really know about music. I figured bow and string would be close enough to get started at least. I could also use the help of having someone to practice with. Maybe we could get together and I could practice with you, things like reading music and hearing tone differences?”

“I’d be fine with that.” I said. “Again, lucky you I know a lot of music. But again, a warning. I’m good at cello. Violin was kinda too small for me to learn properly without getting a modified instrument. Trust me, it was hard to get, and, to me, was not worth it.”

“I understand, but with hard work comes the greatest rewards. Shall we get going?” Duncan gestured down the road, following the path I saw a cottage that was split down the middle for colors and style….

“What the crap.” I said. “Now, the show in my world stopped at the end of Season 4, and planned on going forward. I never really saw anything else. Was there a fanservice episode or something that explained Octavia’s housing situation?”

“No idea, I got displaced right before season 5 came out. Right now, the world is a little after the start of season 3, Twilight is still a unicorn.”

“Ah, okay then.” I said. “Well, if I meet someone who knows, I’m asking. Found out a while ago the girls followed some kind of map that showed up in season 5 and went to a village that was pretty much communist. Made me think of Liberty Prime for some reason. Anyways, let’s get you that violin, then I’ll see if I can help out with your lessons.”

Duncan POV:

Dox was proving to be as cool as the fanfictions portrayed him. He hoped that Mistress could get internet and up to date chapters so he could catch up. It looked like a lot had happened since Dox lost his arm. Approaching the front door, Duncan knocked on it, aiming right for the split in the colors.

There was a crash from inside then a mare’s voice, “Yes one moment please!”

The door opened to reveal a gray mare with dark bags under her eyes. Spotting Duncan, she instantly slammed the door. From inside they could hear her say something about still being asleep. Duncan tried knocking again, this time a white unicorn with blue hair answered.

“Hello, I am Duncan with the guard. I’m hoping to speak with Octavia.” Duncan politely asked, the mare raised a hoof indicating for him to wait. She went back inside without a word. There was the sound of running water followed by a splash, a scream and another crash.

Octavia answered the door again, this time drenched from head to hoof. “Yes?”

“I am Duncan with the guard. I am here to speak with Octavia.” She eyed him starting to recognize the description she had gotten from around town. Her eyes wide at the introduction.

Meanwhile, unknown by Duncan, Dox was putting on a facade to make him look as intimidating as possible, almost to the point of him putting up the illusion of the grim reaper. But no, instead he had settled to transform into a unicorn royal guard, put an illusion on his mechanical parts to make them look organic, and pulled out some cuffs from his magic satchel, as well as some armor which Celestia had gotten him as an idea for wedding wear. Surprisingly, it had changed with him. He put it on and teleported behind Duncan from his spot at the side of the house and began to twirl the cuffs in his hand-turned-hoof.

The sudden appearance of the ‘guard’ with cuffs caused her to hide behind her door slightly before asking, “What can I help the guard with? If it’s about Vinyl’s music, I swear we keep it down during curfew.”

“What? No this is personal I wanted to ask for a violin and lessons, what gave you that…” Duncan turned around to see the pony guard with the handcuffs. Said ‘guard’ dropped the handcuffs and kicked them away before casually whistling.

“Dox?” Duncan raised an eyebrow, not completely sure it was the displaced.

“Eh heh heh.” The ‘guard’ responded before putting a hoof behind his head. One poof of smoke later, and there stood the Displaced that Duncan had summoned earlier. Duncan glared at Dox in disapproval. “Hey, I’m just having fun. I’m getting married soon, that, and climbing a high ladder on the status quo. Gonna be very stressful, so I’m trying to get as much fun in as I can.”

“Don’t blame you, now then.” Turning to Octavia with a smile on his face now, “Sorry about my friend, he is a good guy. I’m just trying to learn to play violin, I was hoping you could teach me?”

“Why don’t you two come in for some coffee and we can discus this.” she opened the door to them too tired to really want to deal with them. However turning them away would be rude and she was a proper mare. Vinyl levitated several glasses of the bitter liquid to the table for them.

“I would love to help you, but everything costs bits. I have a violin you could borrow but I recommend making a trip to Canterlot and getting yourself a proper violin if you are serious about this.” She yawed rubbing her eyes a bit. “Excuse me ever since the strange noise started we haven’t gotten much sleep.”

“I think I can help with the money.” Dox said. “But, uh, strange noise? Could you please explain?”

“Certainly, every night, after I go to bed, I start to hear music, a melody being sung. At first I thought Vinyl had left her stereo going. However, when I enter the living room, the music stops, all the equipment is turned off. Vinyl swears it isn’t her, then when I try and go back to bed it starts up again.”

“Odd.” Dox said. “Um, Duncan, something tells me you might know what this thing is… You do, don’t you?”

“It sounds a lot like the song card. It’s a mostly harmless card. It tries to replicate songs and voices that it hears but it is very, very skittish. Catching it will be tricky.”

“... card? what do you mean card?” Octavia asked dipping back and forth from exhaustion.

“Magic sealed in a card from let loose I’m the only one who can stop them. Why don’t you and Vinyl get some sleep and Dox and I can try and catch it?” Duncan offered.

“I’m up for it.” Dox said. “And Duncan’s right. You look like you’re about to pass out. Go get some sleep.”

“I shall try. If you need anything, let Vinyl or I know.” The mare walked up the stairs to her bedroom the door quietly closing behind her. Vinyl on the other hoof had already passed out at her turntables.

“So sealing should be simple, we just need a song that it likes to draw the card out. Have anything on hand?” Duncan asked as he summoned his sword getting ready.

“What, do you expect me to just pull an instrument out of thin air?” Dox asked. “‘Cause that’s physically impossible, let alone completely insane and anything you prefer?” During the whole run on, Dox had pulled out a cello and a bass guitar, separately, and set them down. “I mean, seriously. Got anything on mind?”

“I want a bag of holding so bad, but nothing in particular. In the show it was something soft and slow. Think something that brings tears to the eyes?” Duncan offered trying to see where Dox kept his bag.

“Well, I don’t think I can do that.” Dox said. “Well, at least not with what I have, alone. Do you see a piano around anywhere around here? I can’t really pull one of those out of nowhere.”

“Looks like Vinyl has one. I don’t think she will complain.” Duncan pulled the keyboard out from under a pile of boxes and trash.

“Great. Wish there was a normal piano to use, but what the hey.” Dox said, walking up and taking the keyboard from Duncan. “You see a stand for this thing anywhere, or do I have to use a table?”

“Here.” Duncan pulled a folded stand from between some furniture. He handed it to Dox letting the more musically inclined displaced figure how he wanted it setup.

After about five minutes of just setting up the keyboard, Dox finally got his act together.

“Alright, I think I know what I can do.” Dox said. “Now… How did that one piece go again?” After a few moments of thought, Dox started playing a very soothing song. He seemed very into it as he played. His eyes were closed, and it seemed as though nothing else could break his concentration. The song wasn’t very long, but it seemed to do the trick.

A beautiful woman with long purple hair began fading into being on the far side of the room. She began singing along in a lovely voice that sounded familiar to Duncan. She appeared in a white dress with a vest that looked like sheet music.

Duncan stepped quickly to try and catch the card, unfortunately his foot slipped on some trash. He fell forward onto the coffee table with a loud crash sending the cups flying. The loud noise scared the card, she silently faded away.

“Ow…”

“Good job.” Dox chastised as he finished the song he was playing. “Like, seriously. Good job. Not only did you scare the card off, but I think you woke up Vinyl.”

The mare stirred a little bit, looking up at the two. She wavered a bit before falling off her stool and falling asleep on the floor.

“I’d like to see you do it with all this trash around.” Duncan gestured to the piles of take-out and insta-meals “I wonder how long this has been going on or if this is normal for them?”

“Eh, anything’s possible.” Dox said. “And even though your point is valid, what are you gonna do about it? An excuse is still just an excuse.”

With a sigh Duncan reached down and started collecting all of the dirty dishes. “I suppose the best option is to help them out and clean up some. You in?”

“Eh, sure.” Dox said. A second later, he lit a small flame in the palm of his hand. “What? Might as well make it interesting. Just give me any of the trash, I’ll incinerate it.”

“Alright, catch.” Duncan blindly threw an empty carton of Chineighse food, over his shoulder in the general direction of Dox. He reached for the next one, sweet and sour hay. He could just smell the burning carton he threw, and threw the next one. Turning, he saw Dox standing smugly with the fire still in his hand.

“Alright how about rapid fire?” Duncan had a wide smile on his face as he started chucking box after box at Dox seeing if he could keep up. Instead of seeing Dox frantically moving around, Duncan saw Dox snap his fingers and a wall of flame appear in front of him, incinerating everything that had been thrown at him.

“You were saying?” Dox asked. “Is that all of them?”

“Nope, there are still some over here, and is that a pizza box? Oh this is impressive.” Duncan motioned Dox to come look behind one of the cabinets.

“And what am I looking at?” Dox asked as he walked over. He quickly saw what Duncan was referring to. Stacked from floor to ceiling were pizza boxes. The impressive part was how they were stacked varying from flat, to on edge. It looked like something from the Loony Toons, somehow it all balanced on an apple core that had been there too long. “Well damn. This thing…. This thing is getting eliminated. I don’t care how much that defies the laws of physics, but I’m getting rid of it. Any objections?”

“Hold on I wanna take a quick picture,” Duncan said pulling his phone from his pocket, “My brother would like to see this I’m sure.”

“Eh, go ahead. Take your picture.” Dox said. “Actually, screw it. I think we’ve cleaned enough. We can just move the rest of the crap. Let’s just get back to trying to secure that card.”

“Alright, I’ll stand by over here this time.” Duncan re-summoned his sword and stood next to where the card appeared last time.

“Alright, what other song to play…” Dox said, moving over to the piano and musing over his options once more. He eventually settled on a song that started out smooth and calm, but slowly changed into something more dynamic as copies of Dox started appearing and playing along with instruments that seemed to just appear.

Once again the beautiful woman appeared, this time a bit more hesitant, about half way though the song she joined in. Duncan took an extra moment to check his footing, swinging quickly he move to catch the card.

Only for a blast of static from Vinyl’s speakers to scare the card off again. It also broke Dox out of his concentration, causing him to stop playing and for the copies to just disappear along with their instruments.

“Really?!” Dox half-yelled. “Really? Great, well, guess we need to fix it.” Dox got up from his position from behind the keyboard and walked over to the speakers before examining them. “Double great. The wiring’s shot. Well, this is the point in which we can either get Vinyl over here, or figure out how to fix this ourselves. Leaving the call up to you.”

“Feel free to try and wake her, but if she is still out after this, I don’t bet much.” Duncan moved to the wires. “Don’t suppose you have any electrical tape? Some of these cables are damaged and shorting out.”

“Do I look like a hardware store?” Dox said sarcastically. “No, I don’t. I might have a spell in my book, though. Let me check.” Dox pulled out a large tome and started scanning through it. “Aha! Here’s one. Let me see the wires one at a time, otherwise I might screw up the spell and just fuse them to one another.”

Thus began the long and rather annoying process of Duncan lifting up a single wire and Dox then casting a spell on it, causing them to repair almost instantly. It took about thirty minutes to get done, but in the end seemed worth it.

“Alright, that it?” Dox asked.

“Yup, better than it was I think. Now then, lets try this again.” Duncan summoned his sword for the third time.

“Alright, but I think I might be out of songs….” Dox said, walking back over to the keyboard. “Yeah, I think I’m done with the keyboard. Maybe.” Dox walked over to where he had laid down his instruments. He picked up his bass and put it back into the weird trans-dimensional space that was his magic satchel. He then picked up the cello and took a seat. “I might have something else, but let’s just say that it’s not as calm as everything else, alright?”

“Worth a shot, ready when you are.” Duncan held the sword in both hands, arm cocked back ready to swing.

“Alright, let’s try this.” Dox said. He immediately started a build up on the song he was playing, but dropped it for a different theme as a copy of himself appeared, along with a harpsichord. That theme then shifted into something else entirely when another two duplicates of himself showed up, one taking the keyboard and the other playing another cello and a kick drum. All in all, it seemed like a fun piece and seemed to work.

The woman showed up again with a confused look, the beat seemed infectious though as she started to bob her head with it. After a few moments she started singing with the music. The card wore a huge smile on her face enjoying the session. With the final note, Dox’s copies (and their instruments) disappeared, and Duncan swung his sword. The card stopped moving.

“Song! Return to your power’s confined, Song!” The sealing circle rose up returning the card to it’s sealed from. It floated over in front of Dox, then hovered in the air waiting for him.

“Huh. Cool.” Dox said, grabbing the card. “So, is that it? I mean, the card or whatever seemed to be just trying to enjoy itself. What do we do with it now?”

“If I can have it back, I sign my name then let Octavia and Vinyl know the noise problem is gone.” Duncan explained extending a hand for the card.

“Oh come on, that can’t be it.” Dox said. “The card just seemed to be enjoying itself. It didn’t mean any harm.”

“Some cards are really that easy. Although if there is anything else you want to do? It's been a few hours. I’m sure the girls would be up for a session.” The card vibrated and pulsed with a purple glow from Dox’s hand. “I’m sure Song would like to join in, too.”

“Well, if you say so.” Dox said, handing the card to Duncan, who quickly scribbled his name on it, and then getting up and walking over to Vinyl, who was still asleep on the floor. Dox began to poke Vinyl repeatedly, all the while saying, “Hey. Hey. Wake up. The problem’s over and I need you to go and wake up Octavia. Wake up.”

Vinyl slowly stirred before looking up at the two displaced. Nodding, she climbed the stairs with a yawn up to Octavia’s room. There was a crash and scream again. A few seconds later Octavia descended the stairs with her mane a mess, Vinyl followed closely behind.

“You two need anything….?” She looked around the now mostly clean appartment, surprised. She listened for a moment and realized how quiet it was. “You cleaned and got rid of that awful static? How did you do that?”

“Eh. We just did what we do.” Dox said.

“Right well thank you very much, I assume you dealt with that other noise?” She asked.

“Yes it is sealed, however it only really wanted to have some fun. We were wondering if you two were interested in doing a bit of a session?”

“Uh sure, that sleep was the most restful in a while, Vinyl?” Octavia looked to the unicorn mare, who was currently putting her headphones on. She gave a hoofs-up before starting a beat.

“If she is up for it, then we would love to, anything in particular?” She asked getting her cello out carefully tuning it.

“Well, ever heard of Viva La Vida?” Dox asked. “We could do that.”

“From Coltplay? Sure we know that one.” Vinyl switched out a record on the turntables, starting the song. Dox, however, reached over and removed the record from the turntable.

“No. No, we do this from scratch, no records.” Dox said, walking over to the keyboard. “Just start playing with me and we’ll get this right. Duncan, do you know the lyrics?”

“...I don’t sing… karaoke night was awful, however I’m sure Song can fill in.” Duncan pulled out his sword and struck the card summoning the purple woman again, she hovered behind Duncan for a moment surprised by the number of ponies. “Go on Song, have fun.”

“So, does she need anything, or what?” Dox asked. “Like, is she just gonna know the lyrics or something?”

“I think so. Song do you know the lyrics?” Duncan asked the card, the card nodded gently and floated over by Dox and waited.

“Alright then. Let’s get playing.” Dox said. “One, two. One, two, three, four.” On four, the song started with Dox and Octavia. Bit by bit, the song got rolling. At one point, Dox got up from the keyboard, leaving a copy of himself playing while he pulled out his bass guitar. Two other copies appeared, one playing violin and the other playing guitar.

Duncan smirked watching the violin player emerge, apparently Dox knew enough to play. He watched as group played. Vinyl’s hooves moved as she regulated the audio from the different instruments and managed the beat, the effect made it all sound perfect with the right highs and lows for each part.

The song card’s voice change to emulate the correct cord set for the song, she had a wide smile as she sang with the group. As the song ended Duncan began applauding their skill. “So Dox, when did you learn the violin, I thought you said you couldn’t play it?”

“Music and magic.” Dox said as the clones started disappearing. “Music and magic. The less you question it the better.”

“Fair enough. Well then it’s been a long day. We can keep playing and I’ll send you home when you are ready. Thanks again for the help today.”

“Hey, no problem. It’s for a friend of a friend.” Dox said. “Hey, if you want more help, don’t hesitate to call me, unless I’m busy. If that’s the case, then I’m going to ask you to send me back. You sure you don’t need any more help? I mean, I’m more than capable with other types of tasks.”

“Nope, that is all I really have. Although, if you can call me over sometime once I start paying for lessons, that would be awesome.” Duncan smiled and extended his hand to offer a handshake.

“Can do, buddy.” Dox said, accepting the handshake. “Heck, I’m probably gonna call you over before then. You and Mistress. I’m having a wedding in a bit, so consider yourself invited as a guest.

“Thank you. I’ll be sure to answer the summons. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help, I’m sure MC feels the same way. I bet she would also like to see you again, for her, it has been a few centuries.”

“Well damn.” Dox said. “I’ll have to remember to call her over. In any case, you can send me home now. I need to get back to what I was doing.”

“You mean who? Dox our contract is complete.” Duncan smirked as a portal opened behind Dox.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Dox said, taking a step through the portal. “I’ll see you around, man. Have fun.” And with that, he was gone. Leaving the two mares very confused and with looks of shock on their faces.

“You Displaced are a strange lot, but thank you for your help. Now, about that violin.” Octavia shook her head in amusement.

Dox POV:

When I arrived back in my world, I was able to notice a few things.

One: The sun was in a different position.

Two: There was a VERY pissed off Bluebelle in front of me.

“Now, Blue, I can explain.” I said, backing away from the angry mare in front of me. “I know I said we’d be leaving right then and there for the adventure, but I got pulled away by another Displaced! Ya can’t really blame me, can you?”

“Start running.” Bluebelle said in a menacing voice.

“Er, what?” I asked.

“I said: START RUNNING!” Bluebelle yelled. “We are going on that adventure and we’re doing it NOW!”

She didn’t have to tell me twice as I took off for the trains, running as fast as I could as she chased me down. She literally tackled me onto the train, then pulled me into a private room. If it weren’t for the fact that she was angry as hell, I might have found it romantic. Either way, this train was gonna need to leave us in our own car.