Canterlot City, Earth, Canterlot High School
Tomas, FPOV
I sighed softly, shivering slightly. Fluttershy had mentioned she saw me as a brother, better than her birth brother, someone she called Zephyr Breeze. She said she acted like a womanizer, even hitting on her. That was a disturbing idea. If I had a sibling, I wouldn’t hit on them, making it sound like I was romantically interested in them. Rainbow apparently liked that I was athletic, while AJ claimed I should come over to her place for dinner sometime.
A soft exhalation escaped me as I slipped into the music room, noticing only one or two students other than the teacher were there. “I have an idea for something, but I need a bit of help from someone with drums,” I said quietly. It was a song I’d come up with from speaking to some of the veterans that seemingly went unnoticed and unappreciated on the streets.
“Whatcha thinking?” a girl with streaked dark navy and deep cyan hair said, smirking as she wore dark purple glasses.
“I’m thinking a fade in, though I’m open to keyboards,” I said wryly, shrugging.
“Name’s Vinyl,” the girl said with a grin.
“Tomas,” I replied with an amused edge to my voice, glancing around. I noticed one girl with grayish tangelo eyes, moderate aquamarine hair in wild waves, and light greenish gray skin grimacing as she hit a few notes before I blinked, noticing the simple tune held potential. “You mind repeating that over and over?” I said, making the girl look up with surprise.
“Eh?” she said, confused. Wallflower grimaced, unsure why he was even talking to her.
“That simple rhythm… it’s four or five notes… but I think we can build that into something that would be mind-blowing,” I said, amused at her mild confusion.
“Oh… oh… okay… I guess,” she said softly, her tone hesitant and unsure. She made me think of Fluttershy, but even more shy. It was rather obvious few people even noticed her. “That, I will change,” I thought with a firm look.
“Go ahead,” I said gently.
Her fingers hesitantly pressed the keys, repeating the simple little rhythm over and over before I glanced at Vinyl with a nod as she tapped the edge of the snare drum in a steady, 1-2-2-1-2-1 beat. “That’ll work,” I thought, lightly strumming the guitar in my grasp.
3rd POV
Wallflower blushed slightly at being included as well as what she saw as very mediocre musical talent being the basis for such a powerful song.
Tomas FPOV
I couldn't tell if the girl was shy or embarrassed from being included. I noticed the trio I'd overheard called ‘The Dazzlings’ leaning against the wall with amusement in Sonata's eyes, intrigue in Aria's, and interest in Adagio's.
A soft sigh escaped me as I idly strummed the guitar, flicking the switch to its acoustic sound as I hummed softly, thinking. “There is one song I came up with… my older sisters inspired me to keep… pushing… fighting… after a particular incident,” I said softly.
“What sort of incident, sugarcube?” AJ said, making my gaze flick towards her.
“Tell me, do you think this is a glove, or something else?” I said instead, amused at the somewhat confused look that crossed hers, as well as most others, including the Dazzlings’ faces.
“It looks like a glove, sugarcube, why?” she said after a moment.
“Because that’s how it’s supposed to appear… in truth,” I said wryly before pressing the pressure triggers on the underside of the ‘elbow, hearing the soft, pressurized hissing before the wires detached, retracting into the outer ring of the hidden arc reactor before the cap covered it as well, hiding it from sight as I tugged the prosthetic away, much to the gasps of the students. Just to mess with them, I made the hand wave, making more than a few students freak out as I smirked. I noticed Rainbow, Adagio, Sonata, Aria, AJ, and Pinkie amongst the students, though surprisingly, Rainbow and Pinkie seemed the most calm, both grinning.
“Have you ever freaked anyone out by having it fall off randomly?” Rainbow said in her slightly scratchy voice.
“Uh…. I kinda did that earlier today… freaked out the vice-principal when she bumped into me,” I admitted sheepishly.
Adagio snickered as Rainbow and Pinkie laughed as I reattached the prosthetic, though Rainbow’s comment does give me an idea how to really freak people out if they don’t know that it’s a prosthetic arm.
I smirked slightly, thinking. "Accelerate the decoupling process, the vibranium lined wires, add a few thrusters so the arm can hover, yet keep my Aura connected to it… it’d freak people out seeing a hovering arm playing an instrument,” I thought. I noticed Pinkie and Rainbow grinning madly.
“Hmmm, how to do the hovering while keeping it compact and subtle, though? Hmmm… doubt air channels would work, though I could see, if the need arose, a way to use something similar to project a weapon, would have to be a small barbed dart, though. Perhaps sleep drug, or a weak paralytic? Hmmm. perhaps compress the gravity field at certain points and expel it from beneath as a cushion of sorts?” he thought.
A soft sigh escaped me as I turned away as the bell rang, cocking an eyebrow as Adagio touched my forearm. I noticed her cheeks darken slightly as she gained a thoughtful look for a moment, before she smiled slightly, looking up at me as her eyes were an inch and a half or so below my own.
“Want to go swimming? It’s not like anyone will notice, and the swim team doesn’t meet today, so we could play… my sisters, me… you,” she said softly, whispering near the end with a small smirk.
My eyebrow rose. “If you tell me where these came from,” I reply with a controlled edge to my voice as I tap the ruby amulet with one finger. This close, the way those gemstone necklaces feel is giving me a headache. “I don't know what they're intended for, but they aren't going to help…. only harm,” I said quietly.
“Um… we don't know where they came from. They arrived in a box with no stamp and an odd black inverted heart logo with a green gemstone stylized in it,” Sonata said quietly.
My eyes narrowed fractionally, though I didn’t recognize the description. I shrugged. “Call it a gut feeling about those amulets. But I have no problem going for a swim,” I sighed. I did notice Pinkie and Rainbow lingering behind, though I wondered why.
“They’re probably hoping to drag you away to some party or something,” Aria snorted, sneering slightly before Adagio swatted her in the back of the head, making Sonata smirk before the smile shifted, becoming vapid as she seemed to drift off. Her eyes, however, gave away that she was a lot smarter than she looked and acted.
A few hours later, I strode quickly out of the school, sighing softly. Admittedly, being around the Dazzling Sisters felt like being around both old friends and borderline siblings, at least to me. "I wonder if it has to do with whatever I'm sensing that is within them. It feels... familiar," I thought. My eyes narrowed slightly, recalling that they had removed the amulets that still felt unnatural to me, yet the amulets had remained near, not far from the edge of the pool. Something tells me the longer they have those amulets, the worse whatever effects they'll have end up being. I felt the slightest tingling from the prosthetic as I took a deep breath of the mid afternoon sun.
"I wonder why the principal didn't notice we were swimming after school," I muttered.