As the days passed the small community that resides on the Castle of Friendship has finally adapted to living together. They wake up early, have breakfast together and prepare to assist the School of Friendship, Tube Tester had a knack for teaching and Tinker Claw had an easier time making friends with six particular creatures that, in time, invited him to hang out with them, something that his adoptive mother was more than happy to see. He always had a difficult time around the children on Laburynthos since they were all minotaurs and liked to play rough or goats that didn’t even talk. It was a breath of fresh air to meet individuals who were so welcoming to new friends from different cultures.
Tube met Twilight’s friends who welcomed her as a teacher of the school, they were interesting ponies, not the personalities she usually mingled except for the Pink one, she remind her of her friend Celestia when she’s had too many cake and/or booze, if only she stopped addressing her as ‘T.T.T.’ surely it was because of the three Ts on her name, that pony was wild and, as much as Tube objected, she made a welcome party for her. She found interesting that the pink mare invited practically the entire town to the party, at least it was good to meet these ponies outside of working hours, the world seemed pretty small nowadays since she met another of her former students, Lyra Heartstrings, she was always an airhead, apparently she was supposed to give Moondancer a note from Sunburst but ended in Ponyville giving it to Twilight, after that she left the school to live in the town with an earth pony called Bon Bon who ended up marrying.
Twilight’s other friends seemed like decent folk, Tube had a great time talking with Rarity and Fluttershy, the former talked about minotaur fashion which even if it wasn’t one of Tube’s favorite topics it was still something she was interested in, the later mentioned that they had only met another Minotaur, Iron Will, that bunch of muscles walking, he is lucky he is not musclebound yet, Tube thought remembering how buffed he was on some newspapers Iron Will appeared. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were totally jocks, competing on stuff trying to outperform the other one physically, Tube liked working out, but just to keep her good figure, she wasn’t interested in sports at all.
All six of them lived in the castle in harmony… but like every household there is always something.
“Good morning,” said Tube to Tinker Claw and the three mares on the table who were eating breakfast, or Trixie who had her muzzle inside her bowl of cereal snoring , “Oh, is there still milk on the fridge?” they nodded so Tube went to the refrigerator where a half sleep Sunburst was trying to find something to eat for breakfast, ”excuse me boy,” she bent over to pick some milk from the bottom of the fridge, her position made her generous bosom to fall on the stallion's face knocking his glasses off.
Sunburst woke up in full darkness, he kneaded the pillow-like things on his face, ”these aren't my glasses... or my pillow...”
”Oh Sunburst such a forward boy, aren't you? At least take me to dinner first.”
”GAAAH!” he screamed falling on the ground searching for his glasses, realizing what he was touching, ”SORRY TUBE TESTER!” he said while putting his glasses on.
Laughs could be heard from the table where Trixie woke up on time to watch the accident, while Moondancer pouted looking jealous, ”Mister Sunburst, are you going to be my new dad?”
”What? NO!” both Sunburst and Moondancer replied to the cat boy.
”Can I call you daddy? Can I get an allowance?”
”Enough boy, what did I tell you about messing with grown ups?”
”That is rude and can close many doors in the future?”
”Exactly, beside it was my fault, I should have woken him up before digging into the fridge.”
Moondancer played with her cereal still pouting, ”it would help if you didn't wear that all the time.”
Tube looked down to herself and a smile appeared on her face, ”what my tank top? But it is so comfy, do you want me to remove it?” she grabbed the end of her garment pulling it a bit while Tinker covered his eyes.
”NO!” said Sunburst, Starlight and Moondancer.
”Yes...” said Trixie, while the rest looked at her with a confused expression, ”what? I'm curious, Trixie doesn't understand why they are so big, shouldn't they grow only when one is with child?”
”Well, female minotaurs and most of the females from the Erectum Mammalia order tend to have bigger mammaries all the time, some experts believe that is to attract males since the gluteus are no longer at eye level,” Moondancer said while fixing her glasses.
”Can we stop talking about my mom's boobs? I think I'll need therapy after this... oh by the way, the guys invited me to go to the lake today, can I go pwease?”
”Sure boy, last night we finally got the results from the device erm... Music Box, so I won't need you while I work them out.”
“Really? What did you find out with the scanner?” asked Moondancer curious about the results of the machine.
“As I thought, the materials used on the motherboard are very similar to what we use in our computers like fiberglass for the board and silicon alloys for some of the elements, there are still elements the scanner couldn’t recognize but I have a feeling we could replace them, also it seems they used gold instead of copper for conductor.”
Sunburst swallowed his bread, “isn’t gold a better conductor than copper and more durable for the pass of time? Since this had to travel through space for probably thousands of years, it makes sense to use gold instead of copper.”
Tube reached Sunburst head with a hand and rubbed his mane, “so you DID pay attention boy, good, yeah it would make more sense they use gold even if it would be more expensive, I still wonder what part is the one storing the information, I’ll try to find out today.”
Starlight that until now remained quiet finally spoke, “hey it’s been quite a while since we had a session with the girls, why don’t we get all together and listen to a song or two tomorrow?”
“I can’t Starlight, Sunburst and I need to go to Canterlot to pick the rest of my books.”
“Wow you have made like five trips for that Moony, do you have that many?”
“Don’t call me that Trixie, but yeah I want to personally bring them by hoof and we can only carry so many at the time, even with the help of Sunburst.”
“Trixie can help,” said the blue mare, “you know… Trixie might not be a book's best friend but I can be really careful.”
“I… would really like that… but… um… there aren’t that many books left so Sunburst would be enough right?” Moondancer replied poking at Sunburst who nodded while Trixie and Starlight giggled covering their muzzles.
“Ok, so that takes Sunburst out as well, Tube you in?”
“Can’t, sorry, I have several things I need to do with the music box research and I also need to take Tinker to his annual physical, since we are changing doctors I need to do a lot of paperwork.”
“Awww mom, do we have to?”
“Yes boy, we have to.”
“Well since the Great and Available Trixie is no longer going to canterlot she can attend the session and she doesn’t mind sharing her Glimmy time with the other girls either.”
“Ok Trix, I guess I’ll ask the others as well.”
~♥~♦~♣~♠~
The day after, five of the elements plus Starlight and Trixie were hanging out in the castle Studio while they waited for Twilight and Spike.
“Darling, you really need to let me make you a new set of cape and hat, not that yours are… um, acceptable but I could make something even better,” the white mare suggested Trixie while laying on pillows next to each other while a sleeping Applejack rested her head on Rarity’s back.
“As much as the Great and Frugal Trixie would like to enjoy a getup made by such a fine and famous fashionista, she can’t afford it yet.”
“Oh ho-ho-ho you are such a jester, you know I wouldn’t charge a friend.”
“Wait are we friends?”
“But of course darling, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well because the first time we met I made you and your friends look bad in public, the second time I enslaved the entire town and bfbfbfbf-” Trixie was stopped by a muffin covering her mouth lifted by Rarity.
“You talk too much Trixie, yes you had your bad times, but is not something we couldn’t forgive, we are a forgiving bunch after all… even if you made my mane green, such an awful, awful color for a mane...”
~♥~♦~♣~♠~
Far from civilization on a frozen tundra, two mares on the search of a magical plant that only grows in extreme cold, enjoyed some afternoon snack in their camp near the fire, only each other as company. Izzi stopped eating her snack and stared at the horizon.
“Something wrong Short Round?”
“Hmm, I don’t know why… but I think I’ll kick Rarity’s flank next time I see her…”
~♥~♦~♣~♠~
“So darling I want you tomorrow at my boutique to take your measurements, I will not take a no for an answer.”
“I-I don’t know what to say… but thank you.”
A flash of magic startled the group that watched the Princess of Equestria materialize in front of them, next to her Spike carrying a tray with cookies, “sorry we are late, I was held by Raven for some reports, but we are free now, let’s get this started.”
It was decided that Rainbow would press the button, she approached the music box and pressed it a guitar and vocals immediately began.
“What a lovely tune,” said Fluttershy enjoying the guitar.
Rainbow Dash returned to her sit and picked an energetic bar, “yeah, it’s pretty neat, it seems that he might be talking to his special somealien, but what are dollars?”
Twilight was taking notes but turned to answer Rainbow Dash, “probably something you can count, maybe items, creatures or even currency. I think is the later, I believe we heard that term before on a previous song”
“Ooooooh now the rhythm changed, me likes it” the pink party pony said while softly stomping at the beat of the song.
“Heh, he talks fast, I don’t think what he says has much meaning though, or at least I can’t understand the meaning, darling.”
Starlight scratched her chin, “I believe he is talking about what he wants to do, or how to obtain what he wants with his mate.”
Trixie felt that she understood the lyrics, “no… he is talking about a struggle and if dollars is indeed their money, he is talking about an economic struggle, he seems to be in a busy relationship where the both he and his mate are so worried about the money, paying the bills and stuff, that they forget to simply live life and appreciate the things it offers like counting stars.”
Fluttershy nodded, “yes I think Trixie is right, there listen, I believe that he is also talking about how the bad things feel good and good things feel bad, probably he means that he is trying to find a way to cope with the struggle.”
“That’s right Fluttershy, Trixie is now convinced this song is explaining how ephemeral the money really is, what we should do is share memories with our loved ones,” Trixie extended her hoof to Fluttershy and she bumped it with Trixie’s.
With the song ended the group, except Applejack since she was still sleeping with her head on top of rarity, choose Twilight to press the button and once again the sound of a guitar filled their ears.
“Hmmm, now that’s a good and mellow song, this one is also singing to his mate or spouse, like he doesn’t want to let her slip away from him… wait a minute… did they say horses?”
“Yes, it seems that way Twilight, weird isn’t it? And it seems that they might not have evolved horses, like it’s theorized that ponies evolved from horses.”
“Lucky Applejack is still sleeping darling, she wouldn’t like to be part of this conversation,” Rarity said while fixing the mane of the sleeping mare.
Spike was enjoying the tune of the song, “so what do you think of this one Trixie?”
“Well, this seems to be a bit darker, maybe Trixie is wrong but he appears to be abused by his special somealien and is telling her that no matter what wrong she does to him, he will remain by her side. that’s not a healthy relationship If you ask Trixie her opinion… what do YOU think Fluttershy?”
“I… I think it is not just abuse, maybe she has mental problems and can’t help it, I think it’s pretty noble to not abandon her of the alien.”
“Yeah, you are probably right, but even with the meaning being a bummer, it still feels pretty relaxing, don’t you think Glimmy?”
“Yeah it actually is pretty relaxing, it makes you feel everything is going to be just fine.”
And so the group enjoyed the song until it was over, rarity finally woke Applejack and everypony marched to their respective residences, hopefully they will return soon to enjoy more songs.
To be continued