//------------------------------// // Radio Dramas // Story: Grief is the Price We Pay // by Scyphi //------------------------------// Ultimately, Spike decided he might as well do something about it. “A dictionary?” Thorax asked, surprised as Spike sat at the desk in their room, flipping through a pile of parchment he had been working with, the book in question sitting beside the dragon. “And a thesaurus,” Spike added, pointing at the second book that sat under it, his most recent purchases. “Figured I might as well while I was at it.” “Okay, but why did you need to buy a dictionary and a thesaurus?” Thorax asked, the changeling scratching at the chitin on his forehead, tilting his head as he didn’t quite understand this unexpected purchase the dragon had made. “I didn’t, really,” Spike admitted, taking up a quill and scribbling down a note on the parchment before him. “I just decided that, since I might as well be thinking of what else I should be doing with myself now that I’m an outcast as well, as getting positive input for it, I might as well be using my free time productively and try…writing.” He nodded at the changeling beside him. “Sort of like you and all the magic you’ve been studying the past couple of days.” Thorax shrugged. “Okay, fair point,” he conceded. “I guess I just wasn’t expecting you to spend some of our funds on something…something like this.” “Don’t worry, they were cheap.” “Oh, I don’t mind about that it’s just…I know you well enough to know you wouldn’t just do something like this unexpectedly.” Spike paused and regarded the two books he had quickly gone out to buy after escorting Fly Leaf back home from the library. “I didn’t really expect it either,” he admitted. “And sorry I didn’t at least tell you in advance I was going to do it. But…it’s never too early to be thinking about your future, about what I could do with myself…and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try it.” Thorax’s eyebrows went up. “Okay,” he said. “What will you write?” Spike sighed. “I’m…still figuring that out.” He motioned to the parchment before him. Thorax leaned further over the dragon’s shoulder to look at it. He realized it was a list of possible story ideas Spike could write. “Hmm,” Thorax hummed to himself. “Will you write about our adventures as outcasts?” “Only if you want a hefty dose of grief to go along with it,” Spike said, rolling his eyes. “And I’d have to do it at least anonymously obviously, or it’d give away who we are and where we are.” “Oh yeah,” Thorax said, smirking at himself for not thinking of that. “Though it’d be cool if the day came where we wouldn’t have worry about that.” Spike sighed, not thinking it likely, but he grinned at Thorax’s optimism. “Well, just so long as we can both see that day together.” “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Thorax said with a grin, patting Spike on the shoulder before turning for the door, throwing his disguise up. “Anyway, I guess I’ll leave you to it.” Spike nodded, starting to turn back to his notes, but then had one final thought. “Oh, and Thorax?” “Yeah?” “Since I went and got something for myself like this, I guess it’s only fair that you have that same opportunity too. So I’m okay with you using some of our funds to get something for yourself too, so long as it’s not too exorbitant in price.” Spike smirked. “Maybe you could use it to finally get that block of cheese Monterey’s been hoping you’ll buy one of these days.” “Eh, I’m still trying to figure out which cheese I like best,” Thorax hemmed and hawed, thinking about the possibilities. “But I’ll definitely consider it, thanks.” He wandered downstairs to the quiet first floor, thinking he might head in back and get a head start on sorting the newest shipment of books that had arrived earlier that evening, but paused when his disguised but still sensitive changeling ears picked up the sound of music. Curious, he followed it into the back portion of the building, and into the living room that sat across the hall from the kitchen. He wasn’t in this room terribly often; it doubled as Fly Leaf’s office and thus contained a desk, several locked filing cabinets, as well as a safe containing all of the important documents and funds for the shop all along one wall, things Thorax felt he, as the lowly assistant, wasn’t worthy of handling. So he made it a point of veering away from it, especially when Fly Leaf was inside doing work. Today however, Fly Leaf was sprawled out on the couch that sat against the wall opposite of the doorway, skimming through a book while she took it easy, still recovering from the food poisoning she had gotten. While she did so, she hummed along to some music that was playing, but Thorax wasn’t immediately able to determine its source. He cautiously slipped through the doorway of the room to look around and satisfy his curiosity when Fly glanced up at him and grinned. “Evening Thornton,” she greeted the disguised changeling with a nod of her head. “Hello Miss Fly,” Thorax greeted back politely, taking a ready position before her in case she wanted to put him to work for something. But she instead returned focus to her book, revealing she was simply acknowledging his presence. “So…are you feeling better?” “Getting there,” Fly said. “Still a little light-headed, but my stomach is feeling better and my appetite’s coming back, so I think the worst is over. I should be back on my hooves in time for the work week to begin again on Monday.” “That’s good to hear,” Thorax said as he found his gaze wandering about the room. It was really the first time he had gotten a good look inside the room, and saw now that, apart from the wall near the door where all of Fly’s office materials stood, most of the living room’s other walls were covered with a variety of pictures, mostly of Fly’s family. A notably large one of a prominent cityscape, but smaller than Vanhoover, hung directly over the couch Fly rested on that Thorax assumed was Fly’s hometown, Tall Tale. But it was a picture of three young ponies immediately next to it that especially caught his attention. Though she was only a filly, Thorax was able to pick out Fly Leaf from it, allowing him to guess who the other two ponies portrayed in it were. “Are these your siblings?” Fly glanced up at the picture and grinned. “Yeah, me, Chapbook, and First Edition, back around when we were foals.” she said. She then tilted her head at her employee. “You have siblings, right Thornton?” Thorax grinned sadly as he gazed up at the picture of Fly Leaf and her own brother and sister. Changelings didn’t really think of such relations in terms of siblings like ponies do due to how nymphs were usually brought up so that the merits of the individual were more important, but he did have a number of recognized clutchmates that he assumed would be the closest equivalent. “I suppose so,” he replied. “But like the rest of my…family…we aren’t very close.” He let his gaze wander at the other pictures of Fly’s family through the ages. “I’m…admittedly a little jealous, even.” He waved a dark grey hoof at the many pictures and other knick-knacks from her family Fly Leaf had on display in the room. “It’s pretty clear you don’t have that problem.” Fly winced as she looked around and saw Thorax’s point. “Now I kind of feel like maybe I’m flaunting it by displaying it all like this,” she stated with some guilt. “Aw, don’t be,” Thorax said, turning to face her. “You should proudly display your love for your family, because it not only shows how much you love them, it also inspires those such as me to try and find a way to obtain the same for myself and follow your example.” He grinned. “And hopefully I will be able to someday.” Fly grinned sheepishly herself, gazing about the memories she had displayed in the room. “It is nice knowing one has family members that love you,” she agreed. “And while living away from their immediate presence like this, it is nice to have the reminders of that. The pictures, the mementos…” she motioned a hoof at something across the room. “…and the best birthday gift ever.” Thorax turned and finally saw where the music that had been playing the background throughout this conversation was coming from; an ornate wooden box with two round knobs and a dial at the top that stood about three feet tall. Surprised and fascinated with the curious device, Thorax slowly approached it, attempting to determine how it was making the music it was clearly emitting. “What’s this?” he asked innocently. “Cabinet radio, and a pretty high-quality one too,” Fly explained. “They don’t come cheap, so I was quite surprised when Chapbook gave me that for my birthday a few years ago, not long after I had moved up here to Vanhoover.” She chuckled as she watched the concealed changeling look it over with awe and fascination, tapping one hoof at the needle within the dial. “I take it you’ve never been around one before.” “No,” Thorax admitted simply. He had faintly heard of radios through word of mouth back in the hive, but none of the devices had ever reached the hive before. They, like a lot of items of pony creation, were generally considered contraband in the hive and were not permitted within in favor of promoting changeling ideals and way of life instead. “It wasn’t really something…accessible…to me while growing up.” “I’m not surprised. They’re still expensive enough that they’re not something every pony could afford, so much so there are plenty of ponies content to stick with record players still. I’m lucky enough to have one myself, in fact.” Thorax squinted his eyes at the controls on the device, still puzzling out its functions all while it continued to play music. “How does it work?” Fly pointed her hoof at the radio from where she lay on the couch. “Knob on the left adjusts the volume. Knob on the right tunes in to different stations.” “Different stations?” Thorax reached one hoof for the rightmost knob, but then hesitated. “Can I…?” Fly grinned and waved her hoof dismissively as she returned to her book. “Knock yourself out. I was getting bored with this station anyway.” Thorax returned the grin, and then gently nudged the knob back and forth a few times. He immediately got only static at first, but soon learned that doing so moved the needle in the dial so it pointed to different numbers listed on it. When he pointed it at certain spots within the dial, the static cleared and a new sort of audio would play from the device. Sometimes it was more music, while at other times it was at least one pony talking. Some stations had groups of ponies acting out stories which Fly Leaf explained were “radio dramas,” and when Thorax showed interest, suggested a few stations she knew would be playing a few at this hour. So the disguised changeling played around searching for a radio drama he could start listening to from the beginning, before finally stumbling across one right as the announcer started introducing it. “…and now it’s time to turn it over to the Griffish Isles Broadcasting Company for another entry in the ongoing adventures of that hero of time and space, DOCTOR HOOVES!” The program had Thorax’s attention almost immediately, and while Fly Leaf watched with occasional amusement, the changeling remained utterly riveted to the drama as it played for the next hour. By the end of that hour, he nearly had his snout touching the dial of the radio, leaning forward in anticipation so much so to hear what would happen next as the stakes in the drama continued to rise higher and higher. “Will the Doctor be able to escape the clutches of evil yet again and save the world?” the announcer declared dramatically as the program drew to a close. “Or will the ponies of this world fall to the rule of the alien Dimenost?” “Please say the former, please say the former!” Thorax practically pleaded as he eagerly stared at the radio with wide eyes. “Tune in next week to find out, in another episode of—” “Ah! No! No!” Thorax declared in alarm, hooves flying to either side of his head in a panic before using them to grab the sides of the radio, as if he could plead it to give him more. “I can’t wait until next week to know whether or not the Doctor escapes! I need to know now! Don’t leave me not knowing what happens next! I have to know!” The radio, of course, didn’t listen, as the broadcast then proceeded into a commercial for toothpaste. “Augh! No! Go back! Tell me more!” Fly Leaf, by this point, was stifling laughter at Thorax’s eagerness with one hoof, trying to keep composed enough to seem sympathetic. “Sorry Thornton, they only play the program once a week,” she explained. “I’m afraid you will have to wait until next week to hear what happens next.” “Noooooo!” Thorax wailed in a whine, throwing his head up to the ceiling as he sat back in dismay. “I need more!” “Well, I can’t help you with the next episode in the drama until it airs next week,” Fly offered. “But I do know they sell previously aired episodes on record, and I think the program’s been airing for a few years now, so there should be plenty available.” Thorax turned to look at her for a long moment, and suddenly he knew how he was going to use Spike’s offer to get something personal for himself. “A record player?” Spike inquired a couple days later when Thorax presented his purchase to his dragon friend in the privacy of their room. “I bought it used from the thrift shop,” Thorax explained as he set it up on a small stand Fly Leaf hadn’t been using and had graciously donated to him. “It’s in good working order, but only cost ten bits. I also bought a few records to play on it for an additional five bits total, so I only spent fifteen bits altogether, which I’m told isn’t too bad, considering.” “No it’s not,” Spike said with an approving grin, who knew a record player could go for a fair bit more these days if bought new. “I guess I’m just surprised. I didn’t know you were interested in such a thing.” “I didn’t either until just a couple days ago,” Thorax responded with grin. “But I am now!” “Okay,” Spike said with a shrug. “So now that you have it, what are you going to play on it?” Still wearing his proud grin, Thorax showed him the cover for the first record in the set he had purchased. Spike peered at the cover. “‘Doctor Hooves: The Complete First Series,’” he read aloud. Thorax nodded as he pulled out the record to place on the player’s turntable. “It appears I have a lot of episodes to catch up on.”