Horns, Hooves, and Fur

by Deyeaz

VIII - Planning A Concert

VIII - Planning A Concert

The Dream Realm

"Well, damn! This place is awesome!" exclaimed Praxis, examining his surroundings and beaming at what he saw. He, Jace, Vinyl, and Zeke were in the most grandeur of dining rooms: Red velvet curtains decorated the four ten-foot tall windows in the room, which was about fifteen yards in length, eight in width. The table stretched from one end of the room to the other, red cushions on the backs and the seats of the twelve pushed-in chairs. The room was illuminated by two massive chandeliers, giving off warmth as well as light. Praxis advanced a step forwards, his hoof making contact with the warm Persian rug, intricately woven and beautifully decorated with a pair of beamed musical crotchets in each of the corners, hourglasses running along the trim of the enormous rug, and in the center was a skull with red eyes. The skull rested on a very familar-looking emblem: a black star inside a pentagon, with short lines coming out of each corner of the pentagon's vertices to meet with a circle that had spines running along the outside and the inside of it. All those shapes were turned on their heads.

'The beamed crotchets... they're Vinyl's, while the hourglasses... those are Jace's, I think. The skull is obviously Zeke... but that means.. that emblem...' Praxis looked down at his navel, and saw the exact same symbol that was on the rug. His eyes widened when the epiphany hit him like a raging locomotive. 'Is that... me?'

It was the Curse Seal of Insanity.

((May I help you with something?))

Praxis whipped around, along with Zeke, Vinyl, and Jace. All four of them went slack-jawed at the sight of who had asked in that kind voice.

Another satyr had walked in, looking almost precisely like Praxis. The only things that were off were the clothes, the eyes, and the fur on his legs. His clothes consisted of pure-white prayer robes with a gold vest and black prayer beads adorning this new satyr's neck, his fur was black, but with streaks of gold here and there. The eyes, rather than being brown irises, were a gradient transition of red to yellow, yet there were no slits for pupils, no black vitreous fluid that substituted the white. Praxis couldn't help but shudder: they were rather like the eyes that he himself inherited whenever his Corruption had taken over and he became that... evil rendition of himself.

"Uh, Prax, what did he say?" Vinyl turned to the satyr, curious of what the other one had said. "I can't understand him at ALL."

"He's speaking Arabic, and he asked us if he can help us out with anything," answered Praxis.

"Wait, you can understand him?" questioned Jace, receiving a nod from the original satyr in reply. "I thought only me and Zeke were omni-lingual. Pretty impressive, Prax."

"Thanks, man. Anywho...." He turned to his doppleganger and spoke in the native tongue they knew all too well. ((Well, I guess you can help us. Can you please tell me who you are? See, my equine friend doesn't speak our language, and I don't know if you speak English, so....))

((Ah, rather good question, especially since you're new here. You see, because you have entered the Dream Realm, you have what we would call a Dream Personality. Your human friend there has one, and so does that unicorn. I am Aflatoon, YOUR Dream Personality.))

((Hmm… very interesting.))

((And I DON'T speak English; I'm completely inept at it.))

((Oof. Tough luck, 'Toon,)) Jace sympathized for Aflatoon, who raised an eyebrow at the nickname.

((However, the god of this Realm, this boy's Dream Personality, was kind enough to speak to me in MY language instead of me studying his.))

((Really? Who's the god here?)) Praxis asked.

((That would be me.))

The quartet of creatures spun around again to see who had spoken at a booming volume: a muscular man of 7'5" with a pale complexion walking through the doubled doors at the other end. Donned in luxurious robes of black silk with red trimming, he made his way toward the five others, his pure-white hair and Van Dyke beard practically shining in the luminosity of the chandeliers' candlelight. His pale face bore orange cracks, which were more accumulated around his piercing red eyes that glowed with benevolence. Next to him was another Vinyl Scratch, who looked more elegant than the other; she wore one of those velvet robes that only wealthy ponies could wear, a small goblet of wine in her magical grip. ((You, satyr; welcome to my humble abode. My name is Aksheal, and it is nice to meet you.))

'Holy shit, he's taller than me, like Zeke. I feel a midget next to him for some reason; my 7'1" ain't got nothing on him.' He shrugged it off as he thought about it. It wasn't worth complaining about at all.

((The feeling is mutual,)) Praxis finally said, extending his hand out to the god of the Dream Realm. Aksheal brought his large hand into the satyr's other and grasped firmly before shaking it. "Please, call me Praxis. So... how long has Aflatoon been here?" he inquired in English. "Since I came to Equestria? Or since I became a part of the Dream Realm?"

"Now that you ask that, I presume that he HAS always been in you, but he actually became animate and real in this Dream Realm when you came to Equestria. But Aflatoon appeared about... what, two or three days ago?" wondered Aksheal, rubbing his chin. "Yes, that was rather it. He came here the same time you did, and so I took him in, shall we say. He IS an interesting addition to the Realm, seeing as how he is an extremely rare specimen, and because he is only capable of speaking Arabic, Persian, Urdu; whatever languages that originated in the Middle East and Far East, you can bet he'll try and master it. English isn't so successful; many new words and unintelligible slang does that to him, so he just left it alone." The smell of curry, meats, steamed vegetables, and freshly baked bread filled the air, the intoxicating aroma almost lifting all of them off of their feet or hooves.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa...." moaned Praxis, eyes drooping slightly from how powerful the scent of food was. His stomach rumbled audibly, putting the volume of the Royal Canterlot Voice to shame with how loud his belly growled. He chuckled nervously, blushing in embarrassment. The others laughed, Aksheal snapping his fingers after the laughter died down. The snap echoed across the whole room, and enough food to feed a family of twenty appeared on the table. "Dig in."

"Don't mind if I do!" Praxis wailed, jumping into the pile of food in a diving position, mouth open as wide as he could get it.

---

Aksheal's Manor; Den

"Dear Lord, how am I still alive?" Praxis verbally pondered, rubbing his now bulging stomach, Insanity's Curse Seal stretched across the navel. The food he had gorged himself on was making him drowsy. He did his best to stay awake, to prevent the snakelike tendrils of sleep from enveloping him and pulling him under. The real Vinyl caught on to this and grabbed a cup of ice water with her telekinetic magic. She hovered it over Praxis' head before tipping it over, spilling the contents over his face. He shot up, the sudden change from hot to cold making his teeth clatter as the two Vinyls, Jace, Aksheal, Aflatoon, and Zeke all guffawed idiotically and raucously.

"Well, screw you, too," the satyr grumbled, wiping his sopping face dry with a nearby handkerchief.

"Sorry, Prax, but MAN, was that funny!" Vinyl chortled.

"*Sigh*... Alright, I admit it; that was a good one." Once he finished being soaked, Praxis leaned back in the leather chair and bathed in the heat of the roaring blaze in the fireplace. 'Man, it feels good to be here,' he mused gratefully, putting his hooves on the Ottoman of his chair. 'Now if only Ponyville could be like these guys....'

*IDEA FORMULATING: Loading...*

*Still loading...*

*Ding!*

"Hey, Jace? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh, sure," the human said.

"Cool. Can you bring Zeke and the real Vinyl along as well?" He got up and walked out of the den to the hallway. It was adorned with a long runner, and torches lit up the entire hall. Zeke, Vinyl, and Jace followed him out. He turned to them and hesitated for a while, trying to morph his train of thought into actual, audible words. "I need your help with something. Can I trust you three?" They nodded, smiling earnestly at him. "Excellent. Listen... I have a huge problem with Ponyville. Y'see... the townsfolk hate me. Like absolutely LOATH me, all because of what I am. I want to gain their trust and friendship, but... I can't go anywhere without everypony running away from me. Or throwing things."

"Alright, Fluffy. We'll help you, but do we have to do?" Vinyl said.

"Simple: we play a concert in Ponyville."

"A concert, eh? Y'know, that's actually not a bad idea. You may have struck gold, Praxis," Zeke complemented. The satyr beamed widely, letting off a *Squee*.

"Holy crap, I didn't know I could do that," he said ecstatically. He smiled again, and again, and again: *Squeesqueesqueesqueesqueesq-*

"Stop it!" Vinyl exclaimed in protest, standing on her hind legs and clamping both fore hooves on Praxis' face, contorting into a male human rendition of Rainbow Dash's kissy face from Season 1, Episode 4.

"Err.. right. Sorry," he apologized, his speech slightly stifled from the DJ's hooves squeezing his face. She let go and he wiggled his jaw around to get the feeling back into it. "Anyways, I think a concert might work. And I even know what song to play."

"I would hope so," Jace said. "What genre? Dubstep? House?"

"Er, I was leaning more in the direction of metal and hard rock."

"Hmm... metal doesn't sound too bad," Zeke admitted.

"Indeed it doesn't. But in order to make an effect, we're gonna have to throw some badassery into this... Vinyl?"

"Yeah?" The white unicorn turned to Praxis.

"Can you play a bass guitar?"

"Err... I guess so. It ain't a DJ's turntable, but since it's bass...sure. Why not?"

"Can you also do a spell where a non-Pegasus can sit on clouds?"

"Um... I think I'll have to work on that one."

"That's OK, you take all the time you need." He gave Vinyl's mane a friendly tousle, messing up her already slightly shaggy mane, which felt like velvet under his hand. He then turned to Jace and asked him, "Can you play electric guitar?"

"Sure thing, man. Even though I'm a DJ, I was a freak for heavy metal and all that when I was still in my teenage years... Speaking of age, how old are you?"

"Erm... I WAS 17... but from what I read from a Percy Jackson book about satyrs aging half as fast as humans, I can safely assume that I'm 17 in satyr years and 34 in human years."

"You son of a... I'm only in my early twenties! What the hell?"

"You seem angry; why you mad, brah?" Praxis created the greatest troll face he could summon in the direction of the miffed DJ. He turned to Zeke and asked, "Do you think you can play the drums, Zeke?"

"Well, I could try. What, with 2000 years of existing, I might've played percussion at one of those times. I'll give it a whirl," he answered.

"Perfect...."

---

Ponyville; Twilight's Library

"G'ah!"

Twilight Sparkle, who had decided to host another slumber party with her friends when they returned from Canterlot, awoke with a start, panting like she had just run two consecutive marathons. She was drenched in cold sweat, her eyes the size of pinpricks. The horrific nightmare she endured still clung to her like glitter on superglue: she had seen the satyr Praxis standing in front of a decimated and burning Canterlot Castle, the heads of the Royal Princesses in his hands as they swung in his grip. He let out an evil laugh, one that reverberated across all of Equestria for everypony to hear. The Mane Six were there, quivering with fear at the sight of him. He glanced in their direction and smiled, showing his white fangs. He turned to them and kicked his lips hungrily, deadly whispering, "You're next...." He had dropped the heads and let them tumble unceremoniously down the road before charging at full speed towards the six of them, talons bared. Twilight had awoken abruptly the second she felt his black nails penerate her flesh and sever her jugular vein.

Her exclamation of surprise had awoken three out of the six sleeping creatures: Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy jumped up at the purple unicorn's brief shriek, while Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike were still sleeping, only jerking slightly at the sound.

"Are you alrahght, sugarcube?" asked Applejack, rubbing her eyes of all the sleep.

"I h-heard s-screaming. I-is there a g-ghost?" Fluttershy stuttered, curling up into a ball with fear at the prospect of a specter haunting them.

"No, no, it's not that... it was just a nightmare," Twilight answered sheepishly.

"Well, you must tell us, darling!" Rarity whisper-cried, removing her eye mask with her magic. "This could be something of importance!"

"*Sigh*... alright, gather around, everypony...."

She reiterated her surreal vision as calmly as possible, a difficult task to accomplish with how violently she was shaking under her covers. When she had finished, the three others adopted her exact same look of apprehension.

"I just hope that he doesn't come back...." Twilight mumbled, hiding under her covers. "Go back to sleep, everypony. It was all just a dream..."

"At least... I hope so...."

Comments

[Life_asylum]

DONT HATE HIM!

[PoisonSt]

Ponies are racists. In many fics.

[the other sans]

"Err.. right. Sorry," apologized he, his speech slightly stifled from the DJ's hooves squeezing his face.

He apologised.

Also, no idea how the mane 6 are gonna welcome him back to town now...

[Deyeaz]

516479
Fixed the typo.

[Plasmadon]

I KNEW IT!!! GROVER IS PRAXIS!!!!

[dragenfire68]

513345 hence the reason if i ever go there and im found im forcing them to kill me.