It was another regular, busy Tuesday at the Carne Den. Business was good, customers were happy, I finally had a proper bed I could flop onto at 2 AM after we closed, and it felt like nothing could go wrong.

“Yang, we need your help!” Twilight urgently shouted.

“What do you need?” It was good she’d come before the dinner rush. Come to think of it, there weren’t as many guests as usual in the leadup to the dinner rush. Odd.

“We need you to fight someone for us.” Something was wrong. She needed a hero.

“And you can’t fight them yourself because?”

“He drains the music magic out of a pony and keeps them from getting close enough to do anything. He got my music magic, so I can’t do much about it.”

This was not how I wanted to spend my day. Night. Whatever. “Sylvia, you’re in charge for the night!” It had to be her since neither Gilda or Brew were here.

“Can do” Sylvia reported.

“I’ll be back down in a moment, Twilight.” If I was going to fight, I had to be dressed right for the occasion. Fortunately, the buckle I got from Ita made that easy. It also gave me an energy boost, which is always helpful. After I changed, I put the buckle in a pouch and left through a window over the front door. “Okay, tell me about what’s going on.”

I followed as Twilight ran back towards town as she explained. “Music magic is a universal magic, found in all species, but more prominently in ponies. Because it’s not unique like the three types of ponies, it’s not been subject to much study.” I thought back to when Sweetie Belle and her friends seemed to be in the middle of a spontaneous musical number a while ago. Was that music magic at work?

“So, who’s doing this?”

“A changeling king that learned how to drain music magic. He was apparently sealed away over 1000 years ago by Celestia and Luna in the Everfree. He calls himself ‘The Unmusician’, since he takes music from ponies.”

“Is he Tirek sized?”

“No, but he’s still bigger than you are.”

Eventually, we reached the center of town. All around were ponies who looked like they’d suffered something terrible, and the place reeked as well. The green puddles all around seemed like a good hint to what happened. “Ah, you’ve returned, lavender alicorn” spoke a large changeling sitting like a human on the edge of the fountain. His natural armor looked like a plate mail tuxedo and had a number of glowing sections on it, all across his body. His forehooves were in the form of a griffon’s talons, it looked like he didn’t have any wings, and he even had a cane and top hat. Classy. “And you’ve brought someone else for me to. . . No, she has no music magic I can drain. But maybe she’ll still be able to amuse me?”

As I loaded the purple shells into my expanded gauntlets, I wished I could use them without having to worry about hurting innocents or damaging the town. “Mr. Unmusician, would you kindly return the music you’ve taken?”

“No, I won’t. Here’s why.” He lit his horn with a black and white glow and the sounds of violins playing a pleasing tune filled the air for a few seconds. A moment later, a few ponies violently threw up where they stood, others were dry heaving, and still others were unaffected. Twilight was in the dry heaving group. That was a sick way to incapacitate someone. “This is what amuses me. Of course, I didn’t drain all of them. I left the ones more prone to using music magic untouched. It’s more fun that way.”

“Not. Cool. Look, I had to kill the last guy who stole magic from the ponies here, and he was a giant centaur. If you want to live, just return the music you stole and change your ways. Peace is an option.”

The Unmusician stood up like a human, coming to nearly ten feet tall. “While I do admire your attempts to negotiate, I’m not going to just give up like that. In fact, you are the biggest threat to me, so I will do the smart thing and leave.” His horn lit again and a whistle filled the air, causing more dry heaves with its short tune. “Of course, if I just run away, you’ll follow me, so I’ll be leaving you something to keep you occupied.”

“Occupied?” A moment later, a number of diamond dogs, all wearing music themed helmets that covered their eyes and ears, came up out of the ground between me and the Unmusician.

“Occupied. Have fun.” As the Unmusician ran away, the dogs rushed at me. I retracted my gauntlets to their bracelet forms so they wouldn’t fire and sighed before I started fighting them. The sooner the dogs were down, the sooner I could go back to work. If I could do it without mortally or even slightly wounding them, that would be even better.

All of them were bigger than me, but the nice thing about the diamond dogs’ size advantage was how easy it was for me to punch them in the chest and gut. Each punch I threw at them knocked them away, but they got right back up and came at me again. Knock one down, then another, then another, and the first one was already coming back at me. There was no end to this small pack’s rush. I needed to change tactics.

I was about to expand and start firing the Ember Celica with my punches when Twilight called out “Go for the helmets!”

“The helmets?” I struck one dog with a palm thrust into another one.

“There’s some kind of music based enchantment in them. I started to get that sick feeling when I probed it.”

Well, I had a plan now. A goal, at least. “It’s worth a shot.” Instead of punching the next dog, I jumped over him and onto his back. I secured myself by wrapping my legs around his neck, just tight enough so I wouldn’t fall off or strangle him. As he clawed at my legs, I pried at his helmet. It was tight on his head, but each attempt to remove it became easier as my aura took damage and I got stronger.

Finally, I got it off with a *pop* sound. “Huh? Where am I?” the dog asked. He didn’t seem to notice me. “The bad tune is gone!”

I tossed the helmet aside. “Bad tune?”

He noticed me. “The helmet has music in it. It took my body from me. All of pack too. Save them.”

I didn’t have to take or damage a life here. Sweet! No shots had to be fired either. “I’m on it.” I got off the dog as he walked away from the impromptu battlefield towards Twilight. Just as I had with the first dog, I jumped onto his back, anchored myself around his neck, and pulled off the helmet. I got it off on the first try this time, and the dog’s reaction was similar to the first one.

As I continued, I found myself falling into a rhythm. Jump on dog, secure around neck, pull helmet off, jump onto advancing dog. Some of the helmeted dogs were actually smart enough to pick up the helmets I’d thrown aside and slam them back onto a freed dog’s head, putting it back into the fight. Why did they have to extend the fight like that?

After what felt like almost an hour, but was really just thirty minutes according to Twilight, all of the dogs were freed. Rarity happened to have wandered into the area and, since her music magic wasn’t drained, she was tasked with collecting the helmets. While the cleanup was going on, I was laying on a bench and Twilight had gathered the pack together. “So, how and why did you put the helmets on?”

“We heard a pleasing sound in Everfree area and went there” the dog closest to her said. “We found the helmets there, by a cracked rock in a big clearing. Don’t know what happened next.”

“Bad sounds in helmet took body from us” another added. “Bad sounds hurt.”

“Any ideas on how to find this Unmusician?” I asked. “Because he’s still got an effect on the town. The moment someone, say, Pinkie, starts singing, the whole town is going to be sick.”

Twilight blanched at that idea. “That would be terrible. Pinkie’s music magic tends to go throughout all of Ponyville, and if the Unmusician didn’t drain her magic, that would lead to half the town being sick, the other half helping those who are sick, and Pinkie going into a gloomy state.

“Fortunately, while you were busy with freeing the dogs, I launched a tracking spell at him. I know where he is, but I can’t really follow.”

I pulled out the buckle. “Is there any way you could transfer your end of the tracking spell to this?”

“No, but I could give it to you instead.”

“How does that work?”

“Hold still.” Twilight’s horn lit up and a small orb formed at the tip of it. With a nod of her head in my general direction, she launched it at me, the orb landing on my face.

My vision went purple for a bit before clearing up. A crosshair came up at the edge of my sight, and looking in its direction brought it towards the center of my vision, along with how far away he was. “Well, that’s a fairly direct tracking method.”

“I would have woven it with more detail into the spell, but I was in a rush, so all I could do was prioritize the homing part of the spell to make sure it hit him.”

“I guess I’ll go after him.” I got off the bench and did a few stretches. “You’ll take care of the dogs, right?”

“Yes. Oh, before you go, I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“They don’t look like they’ve eaten for days. Could I take them to the Carne Den?”

“As long as we get paid, sure. However, if they start causing trouble, Sylvia has the authority to kick them out.”

“We’ll be good” the largest dog said. Maybe he was the alpha? Why were there only males in this group?

“I’ll cover their meals” Twilight said. “I don’t think I’ll be getting much of anything though.”

“At least have some water” I suggested before running off towards the crosshairs.

It seemed that he was keeping on the move, as if he had no set destination. I’d run straight at the crosshairs, then they would start to move elsewhere and I’d adjust my course. It took an hour or so, but I eventually found him in a clearing with a stone cliff face in it. There was still enough sunlight to see by at least. I didn’t immediately charge in, but rather took a moment to stop and quietly catch my breath.

“Ponyville is done with for now and I’ll go back in a couple weeks to check on them” the Unmusician said, almost sang, really, to himself. His cane was off to the side. “Until then, I’ll just head off to Canterlot and see what I can do there. Oh, it’s going to be so much fun.”

I was rested and heard enough to take the initiative. I leapt out of the forest and went into the clearing, the sound drawing his attention just in time for me to leap up, expand the Ember Celica to their gauntlet forms, and hit his face with a right hook as I went past him. The gauntlet fired a slug as well, which seemed like it would be good at breaking his armor. “You’re not going to do that, Unmusician.”

The tall changeling turned towards me as I stood back up. The slug was stuck in his facial armor. “Now that was just rude.” He pulled the slug out and quickly healed the spot over, though an indent was still slightly visible. “However, I must congratulate you on finding me so soon. In fact, I’m actually feeling a little dangerous. How about we play a little game?”

“What are the rules?”

With a wave of his talons, the cane flew to the Unmusician’s grip, increasing his classiness by three levels. “A little gamble, a little wager. One of these glowing parts of my body contains all the music magic I’ve drained since I broke free, which consists of a few random travelling ponies, some birds, and almost half of Ponyville. The only way to release the magic is to break the right glowing area. If you pick the right one, you’ll restore all of that magic, but if you don’t, I’ll go back and leave only the one with the most music magic undrained. You can only break one of them.”

Something about that smelled a bit fishy, but maybe that was just the carcass of the Unmusician’s dinner on a rock nearby. “Just one shot?”l

“One shot. One chance. I’ll even stand against this rock face to make it easier for you.” He walked to the area he specified and stood with his back to the rock wall. “Go ahead and take your time to choose. I’m in no rush.”

I looked over the sections of him that were glowing. Each segment of his arms and legs had a glowing area on it, along with his chest and gut. None of them stood out any more than the others, and all they did was glow. Nothing pulsed in them, nothing looked like it was moving. It was like a light bulb. “He’s only giving me one shot. Center mass would be too obvious, the legs would be too crippling if it was really there, and that leaves only his arms. Well, he can heal, but. . . I’ll just punch something.” I stepped back, launched myself at him, and punched his right forearm, the punch cracking his armor and the slug in the gauntlet breaking through, the glowing green inside fading away. He healed it promptly, his body almost spitting the projectile out in my face, but the glow was no longer there.

The Unmusician winced in pain. “Oooh, that, wasn’t it. Now, as stated before, I’m off to go drain more musi-Aagghh!”

I cut his little spiel short by delivering a similar punch to his right upper arm. “No, you won’t.”

“You agreed that you’d only take out one of my glowing sections!”

“And you said you had all the music in one of the glowing sections, which I’m sure isn’t true either.” I hit him in the gut to try and make him keel over. It didn’t work, but I did see the glow there disappear while the remaining sections get a bit brighter. “Besides, did you really think I’d let you get away with your little plan?”

“A fair point, but-”

“I think I’ve got your trick figured out.” I hit his legs next and the sounds of the Ember Celica firing filled the air. Amazingly, I wasn’t getting that ringing sound in my ears, and he didn’t seem affected by their sound either. Why I never noticed that until now was beyond me. “You just move it all around, keeping it safe.”

My punches were interrupted by the Unmusician delivering a punch of his own to my face, knocking me away from him. “And the more you do that, the stronger I become.” So he had a skill like my semblance? Why couldn’t his be the inverse of mine instead? At least it looked like it was only his left arm that was stronger.

I got back to my feet, still ready for more. On the bright side, I had a good amount of strength now, and while he wasn’t as hard to damage as Tirek was, he was healing his wounds before my eyes.

For a minute, we stood off against each other, his back to the rock wall and my back to nothing. The standoff was broken when I took the initiative and leapt at him again, still aiming for his left arm. He saw that coming, caught me by my face, and slammed me into the hard rock wall. “You’re not going to beat me.”

“No, I will beat you.” I don’t think he was as smart of a fighter as he was a disruptor since his left forearm was in the perfect spot for me to hit with both fists and launch two slugs into. So I did that. His grip lost its strength and I slid down to the ground. While he was focusing on healing his forearm, I went for his upper arm, breaking the glow there and making his chest positively luminous. “Everyone’s music will be returned. Why exactly are you after it anyways?”

I got tossed away as he finished healing his armor. “It’s a stronger and longer lasting source of food than emotions are for changelings. That the targets get ill when they hear a bit of music is a side effect I take joy in.” I noticed that the music magic seemed to be straining his chest armor. One solid punch should do the trick.

I paused a bit. “I’m sorry, I tuned out for a moment, but that just sounds sick.” The Unmusician facepalmed at the puns, and I took the opening to charge in and hit his chest. After the Ember Celica fired, everything went white.

“What’s going on?” I asked when I woke up in a white void. “Where am I?”

A tiny alicorn fairy with a silver coat and wings floated up to me, her yellow, pink, and green mane and tail flowing like Celestia and Luna’s. She could easily sit on one of my open hands. And she did. “You haven’t moved at all, yet you are here.”

“Who are you?” In the back of my mind, I was wondering why an alicorn fairy needed the extra insect wings to fly. “And can you give me a simpler answer?”

“Back when this changeling, the Unmusician, was being sealed away, I was hiding in the music he had stolen, trying to find a way to free it from the inside. Not only was I trapped in him, but I was also sealed in there with him, though he never knew about me. I’ve been in there ever since, waiting to be free. As for who I am, you can call me Poppy. I am this world’s secret guardian of music.” Well, that sounded dumb to me. “The music magic you’ve freed will go back to its rightful owners now.”

“That’s good. So, how did I get here?”

“Think of the Unmusician as a thick glass orb containing some very high pressure water, the magic. You cracked the orb and the water came out all at once in your direction. You’re currently drenched in the music magic, and some of it is entering you.”

“So, I’m getting music magic of my own?”

“Yes. You are at the epicenter of its release, after all. Now, there is something I want you to do: use your new music magic to beat the Unmusician for good. Find the beat. Keep the beat. Use the beat. Beat! Beat, beat, beat! DoReMiFa beat!”

Beat him up with music magic. Somehow. “Gotcha.”

“Do-Do-Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, Okay, DoReMiFa Beat! Now, go.”

I woke up again, this time on the ground. I could see the Unmusician in front of the rock wall, though he seemed a bit smaller now.

“I won’t let you beat me like this!” I was no expert at reading emotions, but he was clearly losing his composure. He lit his horn with his black and white glow and he fired it into the ground. “I should have done this when you found me.” Golems made of dirt, stone, and grass rose from the ground. There were more of them than there were dogs earlier, but they were only about my height, and quite humanoid.

I heard three low electric guitar notes as I stood up. Three more as I ejected the purple shells. Another three as I tossed the orange buckshot shells in. Three more as the Ember Celica closed and I got into a battle stance.

Come at me, and you’ll see, I’m more than meets the eye.

I could feel the second wind coming over me. “Bring it on.”

You think that, you’ll break me.

“You’re done for. Golems, attack! Crush her!” The golems rushed en masse at me.

You’re gonna find in time you’re standing too close to a flame that’s burning hotter than the sun in the middle of July.

My hair lit up as I jumped into the middle of their formation and started blasting them around.

Sending out your army, but you still can’t win.

“Bury her.” The golems began to merge together into a dome around me.

Listen up, silly boy, ‘cuz I’m gonna tell you why~

With one leap, I broke through the dome and landed a punch on the Unmusician, stunning him.

Can’t hold me now. You got nothing that can stop me.

With a rage filled roar, the Unmusician summoned his cane and got a few hits in on me.

Swing all you want. Like a fever, I will take you down.

As anger powered as he was, his hits didn’t do much damage to me. I didn’t even flinch as I let the song do the talking.

As the electric guitar played, I grabbed the Unmusician’s wrist and almost danced around with him for a bit before throwing him into a reforming golem.

Reign supreme? In your dreams. You’ll never make me bow.

“I guess it’s time for a remake.” The Unmusician’s horn lit up again and his golems shifted, gaining sharp, serrated rocks on their knuckles.

I charged right in and one of the golems punched me in the face, the force of the impact sending me into the rock wall.

Kick my ass? I’m world class-

I opened my eyes and saw a small lock of my hair on the golem’s fist.

-and Super Saiyan now.

Oh, they did it. My eyes turned red and with a burst of fire in my wake, I kicked off the wall and slammed my fist into the golem’s face, causing it to fall apart in a small wave of soil, grass, and stone.

You’re starting up a fight you just can’t finish.

My anger wasn’t sated, so I turned my fists towards the other golems and began toppling them.

Watch the little hearts while they scrape you off the floor.

I turned to the few remaining golems around their changeling master and saw two of them pulling him out of a pile of debris from their destroyed comrades.

One of the golems, apparently having learned not to damage my hair, made a soil fist and punched me away from the group.

Bringing out your rockets? Well shoot ‘em up baby.

With another flash of the Unmusician’s horn, the surviving golems shifted again. They held up their arms and began firing round rocks like cannons.

High as you can go, but I’m the one who’s gonna soar

I jumped over the incoming rocks and towards the golems again, swapping out the orange shells for yellow incendiary shells in midair.

Can’t hold me now. You got nothing that can stop me.

I punched a golem with lots of exposed grass, setting it on fire. Another fiery punch and it blasted apart, spreading the embers.

Swing all you want. Like a fever, I will take you down.

I continued punching the golems into pieces, quickly bringing their number down to zero.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

I turned to the Unmusician. “One last chance for giving peace a shot.”

Let’s kiss and make up, then you’ll learn.

“As long as you’re here, there is no peace for me” the Unmusician proclaimed before tossing his hat aside and getting into a combat stance.

You can fight your life away.

“And if you’re around, there’s less peace for the world.”

I get what I want, so don’t bother and just watch me burn.

He jumped back a bit and taunted me, not that it was necessary to get me to charge at him. Soon, he was blocking and deflecting my punches with his cane while he was moving backwards into the forest.

Hotter than the sun, feel my fire. Pyromania, my desire.

Some of my punches, though blocked by the cane, still managed to send fire at the Unmusician’s body. It didn’t look like it did anything to his armor, but his reactions said otherwise. He was feeling the heat.

Thought that you could see the truth, ‘til I just burned down the roof.

A number of branches in the canopy, caught aflame by some stray shots, fell down around us,revealing the dimming sky.

Human torch can’t mess with me. Johnny Blaze? Suspect B.

“He’s a human that can light himself on fire” I explained. I knew it didn’t matter, but I felt like explaining it anyways.

Strike ‘em quick, lightning fast! Melt them bitches down to ash.

Once I knocked his cane away, I was able to deal a strong blow to his gut. It sounded like some of his armor cracked and he doubled over, allowing me to throw a number of fire enhanced punches at his chest.

Gasoline, kerosene, strike a match, ignite the scene.
Things will never be the same, feel the fury of my flame.

One of my punches knocked him away from me and into a tree, where he lit his horn and dissipated the heat from his body. Some of the armor broke off and fell to the ground. “My armor!” he exclaimed.

Beg for mercy, it won’t help. Embrace the end that you were dealt.
Seems you chumps will never learn. Now sit back and watch me burn.

We quickly got back to the fight. I had a good amount of strength still in me while the Unmusician seemed to be running on desperation and anger.

As the guitar solo played, we continued our fight, making our way back to the clearing. I lost my rhythm when I tripped on a rock, allowing the Unmusician to grab my head with one set of talons and punch me with the other into the rock wall.

It hurt quite a bit, and I saw a single strand of my hair on the arm that punched me.

“It’s over!” I ejected the incendiary shells and leapt straight for the Unmusician’s throat, making him bend over backwards.

Can’t hold me now. You got nothing that can stop me.

A few twists and spins and he was disoriented.

In his disorientation, I punched his chest, making more of his armor break away.

Swing all you want. Like a fever, I will take you down.

A kick to his gut and I sent him back into the rock wall.

I pulled out the spiral rainbow shells and tossed them into the air.

Can’t hold me now. You got nothing that can stop me.

The shells landed perfectly in the Ember Celica, the gauntlets closing around them.

With one last battle cry, I charged forward.

Swing all you want. Like a fever, I will take you down!

On the last syllable, I hit his damaged chest with a full force rainnuke punch.

The explosion launched me up into the air and back towards Ponyville. In the rainbow mushroom cloud, I could see a wavy triangle, tilted clockwise, rising up, glowing like a small sun before it exploded. When it exploded, I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

Just as Celestia was about to leave her chambers for supper with Luna, she felt a disturbance. She looked to her cutie mark and saw the Northeast sunflare move away from the center ring of the sun, joining the northern flare.

“Oh no.” She would talk this matter over privately with her sister.

Exhaustion began to creep into me during my flight. I’d saved Ponyville and the world again, and I was tired, just as before after I beat Tirek. I almost fell asleep in the air until I noticed that I was flying towards home. There was a crowd outside, though there was a clear area in the middle of them. It looked like Pinkie was keeping that area clear.

I soon found out why she was keeping that area clear when I landed there with so little grace, a brick would shake its head in disappointment if it could. I could hear the crowd gathering around me, though I couldn’t understand everything they were saying. They seemed concerned though.

As I stood up, I got a feel for my aura, which was almost gone. I was dirty, I was tired, and I was hungry. I politely made my way through the crowd and inside.

“Hello, Yang” Pinkie greeted. She had a white shirt and black vest on, along with a fake moustache that still had a price tag on it. “We have a seat reserved just for you, if you’ll follow me.”

I followed Pinkie to the spot reserved for me: the seat at the bar closest to the stairs going upstairs. After I sat down, Fuzz came over to me. “So that’s what she was up to” the dragon said. “And what happened to you? You look terrible.”

“I had to fight someone” I said. “Can I have a plate of chicken strips?”

“What do you want on the side?”

“Some toast. And a fireball whiskey.”

Fuzz’s eyes widened. “You’re sure about that?”

“Just make it.”

“Alright.” Fuzz put the order in and gave me a glass of water while she mixed the drink.

I downed the water in a matter of seconds and found myself relaxing a bit. My breathing leveled out and I felt my eyelids drooping a bit. What kept me from really closing my eyes was my stomach telling me to stay awake for some food.

“Here’s your drink” Fuzz said as she set the glass down in front of me. The whiskey had what looked like an orange diamond shaped flame floating in the middle. “And your food.” She set the plate of chicken strips down as well. I grabbed one of the chicken strips and bit into it. “What kind of fight was it?”

“Too long.” I took a bite of the buttery toast. “Any fight is too long for my liking.”

“Did you win?”

“Yeah.” I continued on the chicken as Fuzz went to another guest at the bar. As I ate, I could feel some energy coming back. When Fuzz got back to me, I’d finished my food and was ready to try her signature drink. “Here goes.” I took a sip of the fireball whiskey. Even though the glass was cool, the drink felt warm in my mouth. The sip continued beyond the sample and I soon had downed the whole glass. I sighed and a burst of steam came out of my mouth. “That’s good stuff.” More steam came out of my mouth with every word. “I’m calling it an early night.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing I’m here” Gilda said. “I got a letter earlier from Sylvia that she’s going to send tomorrow telling me to come here tonight. I got this.”

“Thanks. You’re awesome, Gilda.” I couldn’t really follow what Gilda said, but I was glad she was here. I felt my energy slipping away, so I got up from the bar and made my way upstairs. A shower was in order for me before I went to sleep.

Author's Notes:

Power up 2 achieved: music magic.

After a year and two days, the song this story draws its name from finally uses the song itself. Now it's time to continue with more writing.