The door swung open to reveal a grinning white unicorn with jagged blue mane and tail and purple shades on. “Yeees?” She said in a tomboyish voice.

For a second, Joseph lost his concentration on what he was doing because he was too focused on what the new unicorn looked like that he fumbled his reply. “U-Um, yes, u-uh, hi.”

“Hi.” The unicorn replied without missing a beat. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“O-Oh! Yeah! Yes, sorry, m-my name is… ‘Shit, what did I put down again?’… Oh yeah! Fiery Strings.”

“Your name is Oh yeah, Fiery Strings?” The unicorn teased Joseph.

“Yes, wait, what? No! I mean, no, it’s just Fiery Strings.”

The unicorn giggled some before continuing. “Well Mr. Strings, is there something I can help you with?”

For a moment, Joseph had nearly forgotten his initial purpose of coming to the house and nearly screwed up his introduction, but luckily for him, he remembered at the last second. “Err, yes, you may. You see, I’m new in town and-“

“You’re trying to sell me something?” The unicorn asked.

“What? No! No, you see, I came from the town hall and-“

“But we’ve paid our bills on time.”

“I-I don’t work for the government Ms…”

“Scratch.” The unicorn said with the same grin she greeted Joseph with. “Vinyl Scratch.”

“Ah, okay. No, you see, I just came from there Ms. Scratch because I was told about a job opportunity.” Joseph was finally able to explain. “Am I to assume that opportunity is no longer available?”

Even though Joseph couldn’t see her eyes, Vinyl’s eyes lit up as he mentioned the job opportunity. “Yes! The opportunity is open still, come in! Come in!” She said as she got out of his way and motioned for him to come in. ‘Suppose it would make sense as to why he’s hauling around a guitar on his back.’

As Joseph walked inside the house, he was just as amazed looking at it from the outside as he was looking at it from the inside. Again, the house was very modern, as everything looked brand new and hi-tech, something a new school rich person would want, even though all he could see at that moment was what he guessed was the living room and the dining room. It felt like he was standing in a club of sorts.

Joseph turned around and saw that Vinyl was still grinning at him. “Uh….”

“Please, have a seat.” Vinyl said as she motioned for the couch after she had shut the front door. She walked over to the chairs opposite of the couch and sat down. Joseph had done the same and followed her order, sitting on the white couch opposite of Vinyl. He had been so used to wearing pants, that he let his legs spread apart as he sat down like a human.

After finally getting comfortable enough, it was then that Joseph had finally noticed the Cutie Marks on Vinyl’s flanks, a beamed note of two different notes from what he could tell. “You like what you see Mr. Strings?” She teased Joseph once more.

Joseph became red in the face as he just realized he was staring at her flanks just for trying to figure out what her Cutie Mark was and got caught. “U-Um, no, I-I was j-just trying to f-find out what y-your Cutie M-Mark meant.” He nervously explained. ‘Wait, why am I getting nervous about looking at a mare’s sides?’

Vinyl chuckled some before speaking. “It’s alright Mr. Strings, no need to explain. After all, I’ve done my share of staring as well.” Her grin seemed to get wider as Joseph hadn’t picked up on her clue. “Anyways, perhaps we should continue. What type of instruments do you play Mr. Strings? And how much experience do you have with said instruments?”

“W-Well, I mostly play the guitar, and I have about s-six years of experience.” Joseph told Vinyl as he took the guitar off his back and placed it in his lap. Vinyl seemed to have cursed under her breath a little without Joseph noticing.

“Could you play a song for me to test your so called experience?” Vinyl asked Joseph.

Just before he was going to respond though, the two heard hoofsteps coming from behind Joseph, presumably somepony coming down the stairs. They both turned to look and saw a grey earth pony with black mane and tail, and a purple treble clef for her Cutie Mark walking down the stairs. The pony noticed the two right away. “Oh hello, who might you be?” She asked in a sweet voice.

“F-F-Fiery.” Joseph fumbled. “S-Strings.” He didn’t know why, but this was the first time he had ever felt uncomfortable greeting someone. He didn’t know if it was the pressure from knowing he would soon have to show his mediocre skills, or if it was something more.

The grey earth pony smiled at Joseph and replied. “Well it’s very nice to meet you Mr. Strings. My name is Octavia Pie.”

“L-Likewise.”

Octavia continued to smile, presumably to make Joseph feel less tense, but instead only added more. “Tell me, what brings you to our household?”

“He’s here for the third spot in our business ‘Tavi.” Vinyl answered for Joseph.

“Is he now?” She asked as she walked over to the other chair that was right next to the one Vinyl was in. “How far into the interview have you gotten Vinyl?” She asked her roommate as she finally sat down.

“So far we only got name and what instrument he plays. Right now he was about to show me his experience with the guitar.” Vinyl answered.

“Guitar? Well, I certainly do hope you’re better than our last roommate.”

“W-Was he bad?” Joseph asked nervously.

“Well….” Octavia began, but was cut off by Vinyl.

“He stank.”

“Vinyl!” Octavia yelled.

“What? It’s true! The only reason why we hired him was because we were desperate!”

Just then, Joseph raised his hoof in the air, earning their attention. “Yes?”

“I-If he was so bad, t-then do you mind me asking h-how you got this house?”

The two stayed silent for a few seconds before Octavia answered him. “Well, to tell you the truth… we’re unsure of how he paid for this house. We suspect that he was doing something illegal, but we were always too afraid of asking.”

“Don’t get us wrong.” Vinyl continued. “It wasn’t like we were afraid of him hurting us or anything, it’s just…. He had this almost dark feeling around him, almost as if it wanted us to stay away from him.” Vinyl ended while rubbing her forelegs like a human would with their arms if they were chilly.

“Enough of him though, we’re here to hear you play Mr. Strings.” Octavia said as she smiled at Joseph.

“Y-Yeah.” Joseph replied as he too bitterly smiled. ‘Well, here goes nothing.’

Joseph took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and right as he was about to strike the first chord, He began to feel something he had never felt before flow through him. He didn’t understand how to explain it, other than a funny fuzzy type of feeling, surging through his body, all the way down to the so-called ‘invisible fingers’ that Joseph had decided to call them on the way to the house.

Right as he plucked the first chord, he felt that fuzziness leave his body and transfer itself to the guitar. Without missing a beat, Joseph suddenly began to play like never before. “So…” He began. “So you think you can tell… Heaven from Hell. Blue skies from pain. Can you tell a green field… from a cold steel rail? A smile for a veil? Do you think you can tell?”

Right as they were needed, the other instruments meant for the song began to play as phantom-like beings shaped like ponies began to manifest themselves with the instruments in their hooves and play.

As Joseph finished the song, the phantoms dissipated into thin air and the fuzziness that had transferred itself into the guitar also began to fade away. As he hit the final chord, Joseph came back to reality. ‘What the hell was that?’ He thought. ‘How… Why…. Fuck, okay Joseph, you need to act as if this is totally natural, otherwise, if you start freaking out about this as well they might think something’s up.” He looked up and smiled weakly at Vinyl and Octavia. “H-How did I do?”

Both of their mouths were agape, heck, even Vinyl’s glasses had slide off of her face some revealing crimson red eyes. The two were completely speechless at the performance they had just witnessed. Finally, Vinyl spoke up. “How did you do? How did you do?! That was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it before! How did you do the part with the specters playing the other instruments without being a unicorn?!”

“O-Oh, um, I-I, uh, g-got my g-guitar e-enchanted b-b-by a, um, enchantress! Yeah! F-From, uh-“ ‘Fuck, what was that country again? Oh yeah!’ “Prance! That’s it! I got it enchanted from an enchantress in Prance. Cost me a fortune too.” Joseph answered as he chuckled nervously. ‘God I hope they don’t find out the truth.’

“Prance? Well, whatever were you doing there?” Vinyl asked, making Joseph more uncomfortable.

“O-Oh, u-uh, I, uh, lived there, f-for u-until I-I w-was e-eighteen.”

“Please Mr. Strings, there’s no need to be nervous around us.” Octavia told him warmly. “I presume you lived there because of consequences involving your parents?” Joseph nodded furiously at the question. “I see. Well then, perhaps you could tell us a little about it some other time. For now however, we must continue business.” She said with the same smile she had on from earlier. “Ahem, alright then. Mr. Strings?”

“Y-Yes?”

“There a few things I must go over first before we can take you in as our third pony. Is this alright?” Joseph nodded at the question, but before she got a chance to continue, Octavia was interrupted by Vinyl.

“Oh come on, do we really have to do this now ‘Tavi? I mean, it’s not like he’s missing out on anything important.” Vinyl said as she groaned in agony.

“Please Vinyl, this is serious! Ahem! Now then, Mr. Strings, the things I wish to go over are our company’s policies and rules, is this alright?” She asked once more, and Joseph nodded again in return. “Very well then. First off you must know that we mostly approve music, be it your own, or a cover from an individual, so long as you have their permission.”

“Oh come on, nopony’s gonna notice if you take something of theirs and play it in a town like this.”

“They might notice, and that’s a risk I’d rather not take!” Octavia responded to her annoying partner before turning back to Joseph and smiling once more. “Second, we would like for you to refrain from anything promotes sex, violence, drugs-“

“Just the violence, sex and drugs are okay.”

“Vinyl!”

“What? What’s the big deal ‘Tavi?” Vinyl asked with a confused look.

“The big deal is that I’d rather not be a pony known for such horrid things!”

“Nopony is going to criticize you just because you would live with us ‘Tavi. Besides! Haven’t you been hearing the music nowadays? All it’s about is sex and drugs! Get with the times ‘Tavi, nopony who’s under the age of 30 listens to that classical crap anymore.”

Joseph looked at Octavia and could tell she was about to blow a fuse. “That ‘CRAP’ is what pays the bills around here Vinyl!” She seemed to put extra emphasis and anger on the word ‘crap’ just to try to prove a point to Vinyl.

Before she could reply though, Vinyl and Octavia had been interrupted when a loud rumbling noise started. They both looked at where the rumbling had come from and found an embarrassed Joseph, covering his stomach. “Oops, hehehe, I, uh, forgot to eat anything at all today.”

Octavia sighed. “I’m sorry you had to see that side of me Mr. Strings.” She said while glaring at a grinning Vinyl. “But I guess the last thing you ought to know is that I’m the one who receives notices about somepony that wishes to hire us for events since we currently don’t have an agent to do so for us.”

“A-Alright. Is there something I should fill out, or….”

“No, no. Well, yes, but let’s do it after we eat lunch, okay?” Octavia replied.

“I’ll go make it then!” Vinyl announced as she got off her seat, but was almost immediately stopped by Octavia.

“Oh no you don’t Vinyl!”

“What? Why not?”

“You know exactly why!” Octavia said with frustration.

“Oh come on ‘Tavi! It was an accident!”

“You tried putting out a grease fire with water! We’re lucky you didn’t end up burning the entire house down!”

Joseph began to snicker some at the fight, and immediately got a glare from Octavia. “Oh, um, I was just, uh, laughing about something else. Yeah, that’s right.”

Before she could get a chance to get Joseph to confess, Vinyl had spoken up to interrupt Octavia. “Fine ‘Tavi, you can make lunch.” She said with the grin she had on earlier, almost as if she constantly grinned all day long.

“Thank you Vinyl for seeing it my way.” Octavia replied with grace, and got off her chair while heading for the kitchen.

“Just don’t count on making dinner as well ‘Tavi, as I’m sure Pinkie’s already found Fiery here and is throwing him a party at Twilight Sparkle’s house.”

Octavia stopped dead in her tracks and glared at Vinyl. “We are not going to that insane asylum that lunatic calls a party! Twice! Twice she’s ruined my jobs because of her antics and her behavior of wanting to throw parties wherever she goes!”

Vinyl didn’t give up though as she continued to grin. “Okay then ‘Tavi, if that’s the case, then I’m sure me and Fifi-“

‘Fifi?’ Joseph wondered.

“Here will go to her party without you and party all night long. Who knows? Maybe we won’t even return to the house tonight. Maybe we’ll go to a local hotel and have some ‘fun’ of our own.” Vinyl finished as she began to wag her tail almost like a dog when it’s happy.

‘Is… Is she trying to hit on me? Or sexually harassing me?’

Octavia sighed and became slightly red in the face. “F-Fine Vinyl, you win, but only because I don’t want you taking advantage of Fiery here!” She yelled as she pointed her hoof towards Joseph.

Octavia then stormed out of the room and into the kitchen, leaving Vinyl and Joseph all alone. There was silence for a few moments before Joseph turned to Vinyl, confused. “Uh…. What just happened? And what’s with the whole ‘Fifi’ thing?”

Vinyl turned towards Joseph and continued to grin. “Well, I just like messing with ‘Tavi time to time. As for the whole her blowing up like that, it’s because her sister Pinkie has crashed two of the events that ‘Tavi was playing at with her friends and causing a ruckus, including one of them being the biggest event of the year in Canterlot.”

‘Wow, that fucking sucks.’ “Okay, I suppose that explains that… but what about the whole ‘Fifi’ thing? I-“

“That? Well, I just thought it was cute, that’s all.” Vinyl responded, then walked over to Joseph, almost seductive like, when Octavia popped her head out of the kitchen for a second.

“Don’t you dare tease the new pony Vinyl! I would like it if he didn’t go screaming and running out of here because of your antics! Besides, lunch is almost ready.”

Vinyl began to giggle uncontrollably as she stood next to Joseph, who had a look of confusion on his face. “Alright, alright, I won’t play with him ‘Tavi.” Vinyl finally responded after being able to calm herself down enough. She then started to walk towards the kitchen, having her tail tease Joseph one last time by rubbing it up against his face, sending shivers down his spine.

As Vinyl walked away, Joseph could only think of one thing. ‘Dear God, what the hell did I get myself into?’