Old Records and Spray Paint

by Dunglord

Chapter 1

Luna POV

I sighed in annoyance to myself as I trotted away from night court. Having been adjourned for the night, well, in this case, morning seeing as how it was already past 2 AM, I was finally finished settling petty arguments among our ponies. I thought to myself about the day's events as I walked down the halls. I paused for a moment however as I heard music flow out of one of the guest rooms.

I could hear a tune and beat flow out of the rooms, but I heard what seemed to be speaking. I felt giddy and rose my head up for a moment before I noticed that the speaking was in time with the beat. I sunk back down as I recognized what it was. Tia has told me about this type of music before, she called it 'hip-hop' if I remember correctly. I walked away from the room feeling more annoyed and feeling cheated in some way. The speaking I heard led me to believe that an actual conversation was occurring, but apparently it was just from the music Maxwell was listening to.

That room belonged to the Human, Maxwell. Maxwell was, for lack of a better word, strange. He never interacted with ponies unless completely necessary, to the point where he would actively take another route if he saw either Tia or me around the castle. Tia and I can never figure out why he feels the need to avoid ponies.

We had given him the chance to move to Ponyville in an attempt to make some friends, but he declined our offer. Only further secluding himself from the outside world.

When he had first realized that he was going to be stuck here forever, he asked for only three things, parchment, quills, and a record player. He had not asked us for anything else since other than more quills and parchment.

The Night Guards stationed outside of my door stood at attention as I walked by. I only nodded to them as I trotted into my room.

Sighing as I sat down on my bed, I removed my royal regalia. Still lost in thought about the human. He woke up so late in the morning and slept very late at night. I knew very few ponies who follow such scheduled on a daily basis. And even then, those ponies only did it because of their work.

He would still be up right now, right? Maybe I could watch him do whatever it is he does all day. I trotted out to my balcony and cast a perception spell on myself so that he would not be able to see me. I spread my wings apart and took off into the sky. I found his room easily and watched him from the skylight.

He was hunched over a desk and parchment was strewn all across the room. His major source of light seemed to be coming from a candle near his desk. I could hear this 'hip-hop' music still blaring over the speakers, The record that was currently playing seemed to have its cover on display. I could not tell what it meant, but it was a golden, human, hand curled up into a fist, which had another golden, human, hand pointing at it with two fingers and the 'thumb' pointing upwards. All on a blue background.

Less than a minute after my arrival, however, the record had ended. Maxwell had gotten up out of his chair and walked over to the record, sliding it back into the case. He chose another record from a very large shelf and pulled out the record it contained. He set the record down onto the turntable before putting the cover on display. The music that came from this record, unlike the last record, seemed to be more upbeat.

The human sat down back at the table again, but this time he seemed distracted by something. He kept looking away from his work and around the room every so often. He finally pushed aside whatever it was that he was doing and pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment. He wrote something down on the paper and pushed the chair away from himself. He walked with a purpose over to the window separating the room and balcony and taped the paper up. Curiosity got the best of me however and I glided down onto the Balcony to read the letter.

"If you really want to talk to me, don't stalk me. Knock on my door, Moonbutt."

At the time I was angrier about the fact that he recommended I knock on his door than the fact that he somehow saw through my perception spell. Come talk to him? How in sisters' name am I going to talk to a creature that actively tries to avoid me? It made no sense!

I huffed angrily and flew off back to my room.

The Next Day

Celestia POV

I glanced over at the clock, making sure that I would not be late to resume day court as I took a bite of my sandwich. I thought about a specific case between two ponies who were having a dispute about spilled cabbages of all things. Just as I was going to take a bite of my sandwich again, the doors in front of me glowed with blue magic and promptly swung open, revealing my sister.

Dressed in her usual regalia, she calmly trotted over towards the table and plopped down in a chair, and let out a groan that sounded like death while rubbing her eyes with her hooves.

"And a good afternoon to you too sister." She continued to rub her eyes before setting her hooves down onto the table.

"Sister, may I talk to you in private?" She asked, exhaustion clearly visible in her voice. I turned toward the head guard and gave him a slight nod. He returned the nod and every guard in the room walked out. By the time all the guards had left, Luna was sitting up straight in her chair.

"What do you want to discuss, sister?" She sighed before speaking.

"The Human."

"What about The Human?"

"He's been cooped up in that room for weeks now. He barely comes out of it, and whenever he does he tries so hard to avoid us." I swallowed the bite of my sandwich that I took before replying.

"Give him time, Luna. He's still trying to come to terms with the fact that he will never be able to go back home again."

"That's not the point, yesterday I tried to observe the human after night court ended. He somehow noticed I was there and stuck a note up for me to see that read, 'stop stalking me and knock on my door already.'"

"And?"

"How am I to talk to a creature that actively tries to avoid us whenever we are around?" I sighed before continuing.

"Have you considered the fact that Maxwell may fear being in public?" She stared at me before speaking again.

"Beg pardon?"

"How do I put this... Ah, do you remember how you celebrated Nightmare Night within your first year back from the moon?"

"But of course!"

"Do you remember how ponies first acted around you." She stopped to think for a moment before responding.

"They were fearful." She responded quietly.

"You understand why they were fearful right? They knew next to nothing about you other than you used to be Nightmare Moon, and that you were my sister."

"But Tia, that was different. Nightmare Moon promised to bring eternal night forever. Even after the Elements of Harmony reformed me, they still had a right to be scared of me because they knew next to nothing."

"And what about Zecora? They knew next to nothing about her, and yet ran away from her to the moment they laid eyes on her, did they not?" She grew silent after I said that. "It's just a theory, but what if he's trying to avoid that. The unintentional fear he might bring our ponies, just because he exists?" Luna was lost in thought for a while before I started speaking again. "If you really are concerned about him, then don't complain to me. Talk to him, see what he wants." Luna looked at me once more before getting out of her chair.

"Thanks, Tia."

"Anytime, Lulu." I responded, she turned around and walked away from me as I continued with my Sandwich.

Author's Note:

In case you haven't figured it out yet, this story is heavily influenced by music. So yeah, this is gonna be fun.

Songs used this chapter.

RTJ - A Report to Shareholders/Kill Your Masters

Johnny Mathis - Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head