I know Sofi doen't really sing Raise Your Weapon, but let's just pretend she does :)

Sofi was able to convince the two of them to make the song at her house. That weekend, Sonny and Joel trotted alongside the side road to get to Sofi's house.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Sonny practically was jumping up and down the entire way. Joel sighed, knowing he would never shut up until they got there.

"Yes, Sonny. You've said that about a million times already today."

"I know, but I've never actually made a song with anyone else before. Usually it's just me." He continued to bouncy-trot all the way until they stopped at Sofi's doorstep, when he finally gave it a rest.

Joel tapped the doorbell with his wing, and he could hear the ring going throughout the house. Finally, he heard hoof steps from inside, and Sofi opened the door.

"Hey guys!" She smiled, "Ready to make the song?" Joel nodded and picked up his keyboard piano. Sofi led them inside and through several hallways before pausing at a door.

"This is where I practice singing. I tried to clean it up a little before you guys got here, but it's still a little messy. We can use it to make our song." She used her purple magic glow to open the door, and flicked on the light with her hoof.

Inside were an expensive-looking sound system, two microphones, a laptop, and a keyboard stand. Old papers with song lyrics and broken drumsticks were scattered around in the corners, collecting dust and dirt.

Joel placed his keyboard on the stand as Sonny opened the laptop. The machine whirred to life as a password screen popped up. Sofi used her magic to punch in the code and get the system working.

"I wrote down some lyrics for the song. I hope they don't suck too much." Sofi rifled through papers with her hooves until she found the right one.

"I'm ready to play." Joel said, and stood by his piano.

"Wait." Sonny ran up and grabbed a second microphone, "Can I be your backup singer?" Sofi glanced at Joel, and he shrugged. She sighed.

"I guess so, but you're still putting this thing altogether, got it?" Sonny smiled and nodded as he took a spot next to Sofi.

Sofi cleared her throat as she threw Joel a paper with the notes for him to play. He nodded as his hooves began to tap on the keyboard.

"Ready?" She asked, and they both nodded. As the music flowed from the keyboard, Sofi began to sing.

Rippin' my heart was so easy, so easy,

Launch your assault now, take it easy,

Raise your weapon, raise your weapon,

One word, and it's over,

Rippin' through like a missile,

Rippin' through my heart, rob me of this love,

Raise your weapon, Raise your weapon,

And it's over

Love your ego, you won't feel a thing,

Always number one,

The pen with a bent wrist crooked king,

Sign away our peace, for your war

One word, and it's over

Dropping your bombs now, on all we've built,

How does it feel now? To watch it burn, burn, burn,

Raise your weapons, raise your weapons,

And it's over.

Sonny didn't sing. He couldn't sing. She was so talented at it, he didn't want to interfere. As the song died down, their eyes were plastered on Sofi.

"What did I do…" She started, but Joel interrupted.

"That was amazing, Sofi! I knew your talent was singing, but I didn't know you were that good!" Joel beamed as Sofi's face reddened. Sonny put down the microphone he didn't use and went over to the laptop. After a few clicks, their new song began to play from the speakers.

"You were recording?!" Joel snapped, but Sofi hissed at him to shut up. Sonny used his red magic to add different effects into the song. He became so focused in his work, making music.

"Ugh, something isn't right!" Sonny fussed as he worked with different keys, adjusting and adding things to the song. After a second, Joel stepped up.

"Can I try?" Joel asked, a pleasant smile on his face. Sonny pushed the laptop over and Joel messed with the sounds a bit more. "There!" He said, and played the whole thing. It sounded complete now that Joel had finished the job.

"It sounds great! Good job, guys." Sofi pulled them in for a group hug, "We should call this into a radio station or something!"

Sonny pushed her away and shouted, "Hey! That was my idea you…" But Sofi only smiled and pulled him back into the hug. After, Joel and Sonny looked up radio stations to call.

"We could call this one!" Joel pointed to a number in a book with his wing. He began to dial the number, but Sonny stopped him.

"Wait! We have to pick out a name first."

Joel pondered this for a moment, "How about Raise Your Weapon?" Sonny approved by nodding, and Joel thought for another second, "We also have to have an artist name."

Sonny thought and said, "Well? What can we say?"

Joel rolled his eyes. He thought back to when he was in fifth grade…

Joel opened the side of his computer, looking for an answer to why it wasn't working properly. He stepped back in shock when a dead mouse rolled out of the open panel.

"What the heck?!" He stared at the mouse as his old friend Tommy trotted into the room. Tommy was in eighth grade at this time.

"What's going on?"

"I found a freaking dead mouse in my computer!" Joel said, and tried picking it up with one of his tiny wings. Tommy laughed as he walked out, leaving Joel to stare at the little mouse.

The next day at school, Joel and Tommy were walking when a colt from across the way yelled, "Hey dead mouse kid!" Joel shot Tommy a look, and Tommy just shrugged as they continued to walk.

That day, everyone in his class knew about the dead mouse. They thought it was a pretty funny story, all because Tommy told a few of his eighth grade buddies about it. It was nothing for Joel to be ashamed of, and he sometimes even took some pride for it.

"You know, that would be a cool name for something someday." One colt in his class told Joel.

"Really?"

"Yeah, like, a musician or something. 'Dead mouse', performing live!" They joked about it for awhile until everyone forgot, and since then it had kind of slipped Joel's mind.

"I know what I can put for my name," Joel said, "Dead mouse."

Sonny looked at him and asked him what it meant. Joel explained the story, and Sonny asked, "Who was Tommy?"

"Oh some kid I used to hang out with when I was your age. He's in high school now." Joel wrote 'dead mouse' on a piece of paper, but stared at it for awhile.

"Your name needs something. It's too…plain." That was the only word Sonny could come up with. He trotted over to Joel and took the pencil and scratched out the 'mouse' part, replacing it with a 'mau5'.

"Deadmau5, eh?" Joel said, "I like it. It fits me, now we just have to come up with a name for you."

Sonny looked down at his hooves, and remembered the past…

"Look it's Skrilly!" Guetta had yelled on the walk home. Sonny was only in fourth grade, and Guetta was in seventh grade. 'Skrilly' was a dumb nickname Guetta came up with after the teacher had called Sonny that by accident. Now, it had just become an annoying name Guetta used instead of Sonny.

He remembered to just a week ago…

"Look everybody! Skrilly got his cutie mark!"

Sonny looked down. He could still hear Guetta's sneering voice in the back of his head, but he shook it off.

"Skrilly."

Joel looked at him, "What?"

"You know, that name Guetta picked up to call me in fourth grade." Sonny felt like a loser, using this name that had been used in insults so many times.

Joel thought a moment and said, "What about 'Skrillex'? I think it sounds a lot better than 'Skrilly', but what do you think?"

Sonny nodded and said, "I like it. I think it's really cool!" He smiled up at Joel as they called the radio station. An obviously high guy picked up.

"Hey…thanks for calling One Oh Seven Nine…what can I do for ya'?"

Joel gave Sonny an uneasy glance, but said, "We would like you to play a song for us." He rapidly clicked on the computer to upload the song online.

"Sure…kid…what's it called?"

"Uh…" Joel made sure the song had uploaded before he replied with, "Raise Your Weapon by Deadmau5 and Skrillex…"

The DJ on the other line tapped away on his computer, looking for the song, "Ah…I found it. It seems to be a kind of new song…ya' know…but whatever…." Sonny flipped on the nearest radio and turned it to 107.9, waiting for their song to play.

"Thanks…?" Joel said into the phone, and pulled it away from his ear, "Let's just wait for our song to play." They sat by the table for five minutes, then ten, fifteen, and an hour soon went by without their song playing. Sofi came back into the room with cupcakes and hot chocolate.

"Has our song played yet?" She asked, but she sighed when Joel shook his head. They silently ate cupcakes as they waited for their song to play. Suddenly, they heard the DJ's voice come over the radio.

"We have a…uh…new request from some guy. This is Raise Your Weapon by Deadmau5 and Skrillex…I hope you enjoy." His voice shut off and their song came through the radio.

"Wait…you forgot to mention me?!" Sofi stomped her hoof in annoyance, but turned and left the room after she got no response. Joel and Sonny were so mesmerized with their own work as it filtered through the radio's speakers and into the room.

After the song ended, Joel looked at his flank, expecting something to be there, but it was still blank as always.

"Ugh! I told you it would fail!" Joel stood up and stared at his hooves, a stinging under his eyelids. I'll probably never get my mark… he thought as he bit his lip, forcing back tears. Sonny reached up and put a hoof on his shoulder.

"It's gonna be ok. It will come." Sonny tried to make Joel feel better, but he knew it was going to have no effect. Sofi came trotting into the room.

"Hey guys! We just got an invitation to come to a costume party tonight! I know it's short notice, but some other ponies couldn't go so they gave them to us instead."

"I can't wait! Let's go!" Sonny tried to be perky, maybe that would make Joel feel better, but it had no effect on his mood at all. Joel just walked forward until they got outside.

"I dunno Sonny. I don't really feel up for a party tonight."

"Please Joel! I'll help you find a costume!" He smiled at Joel, who sighed and said that he would attend. Sonny followed him back to Joel's house, where they went rifling through drawers and boxes until Sonny found something that looked like a mouse head.

"What's this?"

"Oh…that." Joel picked it up, "After I found the dead mouse in my computer, and everyone called me 'the dead mouse kid', I decided to make a dead mouse head of my own, you know, since everyone was calling me that. I never really got to wear it, so it's just been in this box since I don't feel like throwing it out."

Sonny looked at it and said, "You could wear it to the party tonight! I mean, we already have our stage names, and you're Deadmau5! It fits the name perfectly!" Joel put it on his pony head, and Sonny nodded approvingly.

On their way to the party, Sofi met up with them.

"Sonny! You didn't dress up!" She motioned to his usual self, as she had dressed herself in neon leggings with ripped jean shorts over them and a shiny silver jacket. She had more makeup on than anyone had ever seen her wear before.

"I dressed up as myself." Sonny smiled, and Sofi rolled her eyes. The party was at a pony named Zedd's house. He was in sixth grade, but Sonny nor Joel had paid much attention to him. They had exchanged 'hi's' in the hallway once or twice, but that was about it.

As they trotted through the door, it seemed as if every pony from their school was invited, including some high schoolers. Sofi ran off and mingled with some of her other friends, leaving Joel and Sonny in the dust.

"Well, this is going to be some night." Joel said, as people stared at the big red mouse head he was wearing. Sonny suggested they go find some food, and Joel obediently followed.

Three slices of pizza and a can of soda later, Joel saw a familiar face in the sea of students. He briskly trotted over to the figure and tapped him on the shoulder. The older pony turned, and smiled when he recognized Joel's face.

"Joel!?"

Joel rolled his eyes and laughed, "Hey, Tommy."

Sonny was irritated that Joel would just leave him like that, mainly since he didn't see any other fifth graders. He considered looking for Sofi, but knew that she would be gone with her group of friends by now, so he just stayed by the snack bar.

"Dude, we have to hang out sometime. I haven't gotten a chance to hang out with you since I graduated eighth grade!" Tommy joked, and Joel smiled. This night was going to be a bit better than he thought.

"I'm sorry to have to leave now, but I kind of abandoned Sonny by the snack bar." Joel half smiled.

"Oh, you mean that little unicorn with the long black hair? Well, I guess I'll see you around." Tommy turned back to his group of high school friends as Joel trotted back to Sonny, who was surprisingly still there.

"Where did you go?" Sonny asked Joel, who laughed.

"Just catching up with an old friend." Joel's ears perked up as a familiar song began to play, "No freaking way…"

Sofi's head turned from her group as she heard their song echo around the house. She heard her own voice sway the crowd. Sofi turned from her group and set out to find Joel and Sonny.

"Oh my god…it's our song!" Sonny jumped with excitement, but Joel put a hoof on his shoulder, keeping him from jumping again. Everyone seemed to be enjoying it, until someone turned to look at Joel and Sonny.

"Hey! It's the guys who made this song!" All the fillies and colts in the room turned and began questioning Joel and Sonny about the song. Sofi pushed her way though until the was standing next to Joel.

"Well, it's all thanks to Sofi, here, who volunteered to sing." Everyone tuned to Sofi, who blushed. They all said how amazing her voice was as the song continued to play.

Joel felt something. It was almost as if, this was what he was meant to do, to make music…to be Deadmau5! A wave of energy filtered through his veins, making him feel whole inside. He smiled, knowing what he had to do.

Sonny gasped, and Joel turned to him, "What is it?"

"Joel…" Sonny pointed to Joel's flank, "You're mark!" Joel turned and saw a light come and emit a glow for a second on his flank. When it disappeared, all that remained was an outline of the red mouse head. He smiled through the mouse head helmet he was wearing, and looked down at Sonny who was smiling too.

"I…I realized what my mark means too." Sonny said, "At first, I didn't get it, but now I do. Being 'Skrillex' is part of who I am, and that's what the 'ILL' stands for. It's the three middle letter that make up 'Skrillex'!"

Joel beamed at him and said, "Being 'Deadmau5' is part of who I am, and I guess that's why I got the mouse head for my mark. I want to continue to make music, because it feels like that's what I'm supposed to do." Joel and Sonny smiled at each other, then turned to Sofi, who was smiling as well.