//------------------------------// // A Deep Conversation // Story: The Synthesizers // by Wiz Ahmad //------------------------------// Skateboarding was hard, no doubt about it, Smolder thought, limping to one of the pumps and resting back against the pipe after hitting her leg hard against the trucks while attempting a previous flip trick. However, it was equally as rewarding once you got a trick correct. It’d also sucked the wind out of her, considering that it’d taken nearly forty tries to get the truck-stand 180-casper spin to flip correctly, since the board’s rounded ends made balancing very difficult. And the other tricks weren’t much different, although the rail flip to flat was somewhat easier given the level of practice she’d done in the streets. While she lay exhausted, dizzy, and a little frustrated, Smolder pondered over how much she’d progressed in her tricks that she’d come up with and what needed to be done to give herself a full sense of accomplishment from her creative drive – which is what had pushed her to run all the way out to Canterlot in the first place. She’d flipped the board over and spun it, but only while the board was stationary to begin with. Recalling the moment when Silverstream fell, Smolder attempted to remember what exactly her friend was attempting to do. She’d gripped the handlebars and leaned back hard – in fact, way too hard. “Hang on,” Smolder pondered. “Isn’t jumping about going forward? Maybe that’s what Silverstream intended, but going backwards first. Now that I think of it, I haven’t really jumped with the board, I’ve only jumped off the board.” Feeling eager, she had to keep a lid on her enthusiasm, given that her body wasn’t exactly ready to try out her theory – at least not just yet. Added to which, she was hungry. It was noon now and all she had to eat was yesterday’s dinner back at the school. Minimal movement last night (thanks to the train ride) and a short sleep had helped, but only a little. Her stomach felt parched, and up here in Canterlot there was no abundance of gems. “Guess I’ll have to just eat pony food then,” she said with a disappointed sigh. Right on cue, Cerulean Blue appeared above on the elevated walkway. “Hey Smolder! How’s it going? Uh…” The eager, joyful smile on Cerulean’s face drained away as he spotted the little dragon curled up in the corner, looking like the sad, sore, beaten-up, hungry dragon she was. “I’ve worked so hard,” she muttered, barely loud enough for him to hear, “but I still haven’t refined many of these tricks. I’ve also discovered something revolutionary, but it’s all theory for now. I need to test out, but my stomach is empty, my head is swimming, and my body is absurdly sore.” Concerned, Cerulean flew down next to her. “Have you been skating since I left? Without a break or relax period?!” “I’ve stopped a few times, yeah, but I for the most part I kept going because I loved it so much.” “I’m no doctor, but there can’t be a better cure for exhaustion and a stressed mind than a quick chat and a visit to a restaurant.” “Sounds good to me.” Out on Restaurant Row, Cerulean headed to his favorite restaurant, The Aqua Blaster, and proudly marched in, with Smolder right behind, holding her board. “Hello there, two cups of juice, two hay burgers, and a bowl of gems please.” “Sir, we only have a small supply of gems and -” “If there’s only a small amount left, then that it is, please.” Cerulean cut in, raising his voice slightly. With their meals ready, Cerulean and Smolder sat down at a table outside, since there weren’t too many noisy ponies around. “So, what’s with your board obsession?” Cerulean began, attempting to formally discuss instead of shooting the breeze. “Well, I simply couldn’t contain my excitement and eagerness to keep practicing what I knew of riding my board, as well as trying out new methods of creative play,” Smolder replied, taking a bite of a large sapphire. “I see. How do you pace yourself to develop and practice new tricks?” “Well, I look at each one I’ve done and observe the minute movements my legs and body make and try to improve and switch things up a bit with each position or first move. Jumping first, then later trying to flip while jumping, and later rotating.” “Interesting. So you observe a sequence of events involving gestures that cause physical movement for one trick and then deduce how to perform the next trick.” “Exactly.” Cerulean was impressed with the way his new friend could think and articulate herself. But he still needed to ask one important question: “Where did you come from? In all my more than forty years of living in Canterlot I’ve never seen a dragon enter the city - apart from a few attacks by massive ones.” Smolder bit her lip and sighed, feeling defeated. This was something she’d been trying to avoid but was foolish to leave right out in the open for him to throw at her - and now she had no choice but to catch it. “I… ran away,” she replied with a sad sigh. “I am a student at Princess Twilight Sparkle’s School of Friendship. During a little adventure, my friends and I discovered a few interesting items - one of which was this board, and…” Cerulean reached over and let an almost-teary-eyed Smolder rest her chin on his hoof. “It’s okay, Smolder. You can tell me anything. We’re friends, right?” Smolder nodded and managed a little smile. “Y-yes. We… we are. One of my friends - my fellow students - also found something during that little adventure, which Twilight called a ‘bike’. While attempting to demonstrate something, she fell over backwards and hurt her head really badly. Annoyed and upset, Twilight took her bike away, but I asked her to let me have my board. For some reason I couldn’t take it anymore, and left. I wanted to keep going at my newfound love for my board in a place where no one could confiscate it or have control over me.” “Even if it meant running away from school? And your homeland?” Smolder nodded sadly. “I just don’t really know what to do.” Cerulean lifted his friend’s chin and smiled, though remained serious. “You need to pace yourself and train your mind just as you trained your desire. Remember how you developed a trick in incremental stages of observation and repetitive attempts?” “Yes?” “Well, you need to use the same basic concept in your day-to-day life at the school. Tackle each day in stages. Furthermore, train yourself to store your exciting thoughts and ideas in a portion of your mind for later retrieval. Right now you feel the irresistible urge to immediately try out something as soon as it hits the inspiration-molding and motivating part of your brain. This is where you have to stop and tell yourself internally that no, I’m not going to do this right away, I’m going to collect it, visualize it a little maybe, and then store it for later.” “Now after classes or during off times, you can then retrieve those ideas and thoughts, ready to implement them. It’s all about the right action at the right time. Prioritizing, it’s called.” “So, how would I go about doing this?” Smolder asked, sipping her juice. “Well, you need to work out a schedule. Ask Princess Twilight how often and how long you’d like to skate and what times would be appropriate in relation to your classes and homework time slots. Based on what I remember about school, you should be able to manage about two to four hours per day - enough to practice learnt tricks and develop the basis for a new one.” “Sounds like a good plan. You’re right. I need to reevaluate my daily routine and build skateboarding around that, not my school around skateboarding,” Smolder said confidently. Cerulean chewed up the last of his second hay burger and gulped down his juice. “Well, you’d better get going. I’m sure Princess Twilight’s already got a search party organized.” “But… she’ll be real mad when I return!” Smolder suddenly pouted. “Apologies won’t work at all!” “I’m sure they will work,” Cerulean replied confidently. “Have faith, just as I had faith in you to be able to be a kind, caring, and respectful dragon.” Smolder gulped and sighed, picking up her board. “Well, I’d better get going.” “Wait.” Cerulean pulled a few bits out of a pouch strapped to his leg. “For your train ticket.” “Thanks so much,” Smolder replied, taking them in her hand and giving him a big hug. “For being a kind, inviting, and respectful friend.” “You’re welcome.” With a fresh, balanced mind, Smolder flew up and located the train station. Then she came back down, grabbed her board and ran off with it briefly, before hopping on and pushing hard, zipping down the streets of Canterlot at high speed. Adjusting her feet ever so slightly allowed her to weave in and out between ponies with ease - and within five minutes, she arrived at the station. “A dragon?” the ticket clerk exclaimed in bewilderment. “Yes. Name’s Smolder. Thanks for the ticket. Have a fantastic day.” After presenting her ticket, Smolder stepped onto the train and laid back on a seat. With her board laid across her chest, she sighed and started thinking up the hard and complicated answers she’d have to tell Twilight as soon as she got back.