Up on a balcony, overlooking the castle grounds was the two princess sisters, Luna and Celestia. Neither of them had moved from their spot after speaking together for more than an hour.
Luna had just retold her harrowing tale to Celestia about her night at Ponyville. The lunar princess took her time getting to the truly important bits. At first, Celestia had been quite miffed hearing her sister had confronted Lyra and her project. Who knew where that could have led them? Having revealed that the alien was, in fact, an alien and she was more than thankful it had happened.
Lyra in past reports and talks had fantasized and written about aliens for so long, it came as no surprise that a scenario would be made of her desires. Past komlas were no exception to making scenarios in such regards, and as such, the princess had gone along without any thought to the realities of the situation.
The stars had already vanished, giving way to a slightly clouded sky, the sun's rays starting to break through to a new day.
“Luna,” Celestia finally spoke, “just how much trouble do you think this is going to be for us?”
“I’d say a fair bit.”
“Hmm.” Celestia breathed in deeply before letting out a long sigh. “We can’t let anyone know of our… communication error with the alien. Our interspecies treaties with the griffons and minotaurs would make dealing with them more than the simple nuisance it already is.”
“The griffons are currently tied up with those cat people as per that very treaty, along with dealing with some inner turmoil going on with their crown’s underlings and power struggles between themselves.” Celestia raised an eyebrow hearing that. Luna continued, “I have ears there to tell me as such, in case you are wondering. I know you dislike such… actions, but I feel it is important to have such assets. Besides, it is not like they do not have their people doing the same for them here in our lands. As for the minotaurs, they are still working things out between their clans and the leading heads over them. I think we can easily sweep this under the rug before any of their eyes and ears can hear of things.”
“We better, and soon. I’d rather not have to deal with this while dealing with our own problems.”
“It is likely things already look strange enough we’ve ‘put it off’, so to speak, on our meeting with this alien.”
“You wouldn’t happen to know how we should go about that, would you?” Celestia asked.
“Just go with what you do with everyone else: smiles and tolerance all around while putting up your ‘motherly charm’ as you do.” Celestia swung a hoof at her sister, making Luna chuckle as she dodged the swipe.
“You know my actions are genuine, Luna.”
“But that does not mean you don’t ‘ham it up’ as the commoners would say.” Luna turned her head away from her sister, seeing a glare aimed at her. “I know you find some repulsion in the alien, and it’s hard for me not to see why with his… similarities in those Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh’s from the images. But do remember we are dealing with something else and not those things.”
“I know that,” Celestia tensed out. A sigh came out of her. “We’ll just have to schedule an immediate meeting with the alien and get this over with.”
Luna smiled, “Not to worry, sister. I’ve already invited them as guests when I came back for the night so we’ll be meeting them in the morning.”
“W-What?!” Celestia stammered out. “That’s too early! I meant in a few days when I have some ideas on how to deal with this and after the council’s meeting!”
Luna blinked, just remembering about the meeting. “…Oops?”
Letting out a loud sigh, Celestia tilted her head down. “Not much to do about it now. I’ll try and think of something. We’re going to need to use that rejuvenation spell for sure to get through the day tomorrow.”
“We?”
“Of course. You don’t think I’m going to speak to this thing by myself, do you? You’re going to be there as… moral support!” Luna gave a deadpanned stare at her sister, to which Celestia ignored. “We’re also going to need to push the meeting with the council for tomorrow afterward for this.”
Luna mumbled to herself, not happy about her lack of sleep for the day. She barely got any sleep after dealing with that… horrid biscuit. It was still roaming around the castle grounds, not that she’d say anything, not wanting her sister or anyone to know of things that occurred.
“Come, sister,” Celestia said, walking back into her room. “We need to go to my studies and review all of Lyra’s work on the alien before we… talk to it.”
“Him.”
“Right, that’s what I meant. Him.”
The two of them quickly made their way down the halls toward the study for their work. Luna’s guards kept a stiff stance with a thousand-yard stare as they passed them down the halls. Celestia’s on the other hoof could be seen running down the halls, trying to get into their positions as they walked by, failing miserably to get into the correct areas before the princesses passed them by. When either of the princesses was up, their guard would be up as well no matter what.
Once there, the two proceeded to lock it as normal before placing the papers down onto the large, ornate table for the two of them. Splitting the work in half, they began to read over all of the papers, making sure not to miss anything that may have happened.
Hours had passed as the stacks of paper were neatly placed in multiple piles they made to order them out.
“Luna,” she said after passing some more pages into a pile. “There’s so much that Lyra’s done that is making me question why I appointed her to this without anypony looking over it.”
“It’s not that bad surely. She’s done a remarkable job dealing with things up until now.”
“Just look at this,” Celestia said, passing over some papers to Luna. “Here, she’s testing his intelligence on math using pudding. PUDDING!”
“It is quite queer to see things done so unconventionally,” Luna commented, taking the papers with barely a look. “But I see it more as an odd form of bonding between them. Besides, they did make up another, more proper test for this from what I previously read.”
Celestia threw another folder to her sister, being caught in the air with magic. “And here, she spent nearly an entire day discussing the benefits of human fashioned clothing, socks in particular!”
“I got some of those from the run. They are certainly unique things.”
She ignored Luna, going through more documents, listing the many oddities that Lyra had shown in her work. While they were some of the strangest ways Luna had seen for a report, it wasn’t as if she did anything wrong. Yes, things could have gone better, but it definitely could have gone so much worse.
“Maybe I should get somepony else to look over the alien.” A flash of excitement followed by a large smile could be seen on her. “I could give him to Twilight!”
“That would be a terrible idea,” Luna objected. “First off, you already gave Twilight her position as both an assistant and as an Element, so giving her more would be a bad call. Second, there really isn’t anypony else we could hoof him off to that’s trained enough to deal with this or that we could sufficiently believe would be a good fit with the alien much like Lyra is currently at. And third, we can’t just give somepony away, Celestia. I’m doubtful we could pull him away willingly to anyone else.”
Celestia rubbed her forehead, “He’s our first true contact outside our black zone! I don’t even know how he managed to break through the barriers to get here. He needs to be more thoroughly cared for and looked at. There’s a multitude of things that should have been done, such as giving him a proper residence, titles, and so much more!” She slapped a document in front of Luna. “For Solaire’s sakes, he has a job as a masseuse! Why is he working there? WHY IS HE WORKING THERE?!”
“That might be because of the funding you took from Lyra and them requiring the funds for him,” Luna reminded her.
“…Oh poo.” Celestia placed her head on the table, ruffling her head in anger before swinging her front legs out in full length on the table, resting herself on it.
“There’s nothing to get stressed out over,” Luna commented. “The only ones that could even possibly know of this should be the council and we can dress things up in our favor. Besides, it’s not like they’ll do anything to you… not that they can, that is.”
As much power as the council has, they can’t directly do much to the princesses. They can certainly find ways to annoy them and make things difficult, but it was in their best interest not do to so.
“This feels like a repeat of the dog clans all over again.”
“I seem to recall you telling me about that even when I was absent. What clan was it again? Ruby? Topaz?”
“The Sapphire Dogs.”
“So things got a little lost in translation then, it’s not like this isn’t capable of being fixed. The meeting between us should be fine. Plus, we can easily rework some of our previous evaluations of the last few months, just in case.”
“You’re saying we should cover up things?! I am unsure about that, I dislike the thought of… lying.”
“You know the importance of this. A small lie that nopony but a few will ever know about isn’t going to ruin lives. We’ll just have Lyra and the others keep their mouths shut and order much of what was written as top secret or some nonsense to lock these things away. No one will actually see these documents or what has been going on.” Celestia looked away from her sister, scrunching her face up. Luna frowned seeing that. “…Right?”
“I… may have permitted Twilight to look at the documents for some book she was planning to write about the alien.”
Luna shook her head hearing that. “So just tell her that things have made it so she can’t do that.”
“The council also thought the book was a good idea.” Luna thumped her head on the table. “B-But she won’t be seeing it for at least one more month. We can fix this!”
‘Why does my sister allow Twilight so much? She needs to reel that pony in and stop treating her like she’s her own child.’
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ A Few Hours Prior ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
With Princess Luna walking off in a hurry, it left the two mares and the human on the launch pad surrounded by a handful of guards. Anon inspected the one the princess left in charge of things, finding some peculiarities he wasn’t used to. With a sharp and angular gray body and wings shaped out like a bat, he was surprised to see a fourth pony variant.
Clad in dark armor with purple lining and a helmet decorated with a mohawk motif that matched their batty wings, they looked quite intimidating with their overly large size. The guards around them bore similarities, though it was obvious the one in front of them was special. Anon quite liked how they looked.
The guard cleared his throat, gaining the attention of Anon and the other two. “Princess Luna has ordered for me to accommodate you all for the night. It is quite rare for her to have guests as of late. I will make sure to give you proper quarters that I’m certain you’ll find to your liking.”
Turning around, the pony motioned his head to the three of them to follow before slowly walking off. The three of them went along down the stairs and into the building. Lyra was absolutely giddy, looking around the halls they walked down with a smile plastered on her face. Bon Bon saw this, shaking her head with a smile of her own.
“I have to say,” the large guard pony said, looking back at Anon, “I’ve never seen such a strange costume before, nor was I aware that minotaurs celebrated Nightmare Night.”
“That is because I am not a minotaur, um…”
The pony could tell Anon was attempting to get his name. “You can call me Sunshine Smiles.”
Anon raised an eyebrow at the ludicrous name. “Okay, Smiles. Once more, I am not a minotaur. I am a human.”
“Human? Oh, right, the being the princess had spoken of in the past. I’m still trying to figure out just where you came from, as is the rest of the guard. A kind of gamble going around, if you will, guessing just where that is.”
“Anon’s not from anywhere you’ve ever heard from,” Lyra interjected with. “He’s actually an alien from another world.”
Smiles gave her a flat stare, turning to Anon. “Sorry if I find that hard to believe. We’ve all studied the two princesses documents and their inherited roles, and there’s no way for anything to come forth into our bubble of－” He paused, catching his words. “Apologies, I sometimes… say such odd things. Forget what I’ve just said, perhaps… you did somehow get to our world. How did you make the travel?”
The other two didn’t seem to take notice of the peculiarity of his words, something Anon certainly had but chose to hold his tongue on.
“I sort of crash-landed here.” Lyra giggled at that. “And it was not voluntary, as I’m not even sure how it happened in the first place.”
“I suppose stranger things have happened before,” Smiles said.
Anon continued, “One day I am on a ship in the middle of the ocean, the next I am in a forest with a unicorn staring at me. Our technology is not advanced enough for any kind of travel, as far as I’m aware of. All I seem to recall is a lot of weird gibberish on the missile I was launched on and pink, glowing lights.”
“That almost sounds like you were involved with magic to get here. I’m sorry to hear about your predicament. I imagine you would want to go home when given the chance.”
“I am not sure if that is even possible, not without knowing how I came here in the first place.”
“Well, I hope your time here in this world has been good to you.”
Looking back at Lyra and Bon Bon, the two stare back, curious of his gaze. “Better than anyone could ask for, really,” Anon said, turning back to Smiles.
“That’s good to hear,” Smiles replied.
Walking in silence was an eerie feeling for the three, only hearing the clipping of the pony’s hooves. Littered with batty guard ponies and marble pillars, the place was massive to them. Sunshine Smiles didn’t seem to be in any hurry with the pace they were walking.
He turned back to Anon, trying to find some conversation with the odd guest. “Your costume is something I find interest in. What are you dressed up as exactly?”
“I am dressed up as a fictional character from my home planet called Batman.”
A small smirk could be seen on his lips hearing that. “Bat… man…?”
Anon nodded his head. “Yes. He is a superhero that goes out during the night, kicking crime in the teeth whenever possible using his gadgets and smarts. He was very awesome.”
“I-It’s inherited of course!” Lyra interjected. “This is a darker, gloomier Batman from the previous, more fun one!”
The guard pony inspected the costume some before looking back up to Anon. “I’m not used to seeing costumes modeled after bats, save for ones toward vampires.”
“I can see you have some bat qualities yourself,” Anon mentioned.
“…Yes, we are referred to as bat ponies. You’re not likely to see us unless it’s during the night or you’re over in Fillydelphia were a larger congregation of us are at.” The guard hummed to himself in thought, looking away.
Bon Bon shook her head aggressively while Lyra clenched her jaw, silently signaling him to hush. Clearly, this was a subject they wanted him to avoid for some reason.
The rest of the trip was done in silence, with only the clipping of their hooves sounding off into the air. It took some time for them to arrive down a particular hallway lined up with large doors on the walls.
“We are here,” Sunshine Smile announced, standing before a very ornate doorway. “There will be a maid coming in the morning that will lead you all to where you will be fed. I don’t think it needs to be said that it’s expected of the three of you to be proper for the princess tomorrow. Is there anything you require before I return to my duties for the night?”
The two mares shook their heads at him. Anon narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Where is my room?”
Smiles looked up at him in confusion. “It’s right here?”
“Should I not have a separate room from them, like one for males?”
The guard pony raised a brow in confusion before a smirk appeared on his face. “You prefer the company of males then? Although odd, someone that seems comfortable with bats isn’t something I’d turn down at least once. If I wasn’t on duty I’d escort you to my quarters for the night if that would help you. Maybe later on tonight when I’m off…?”
Anon stood stiff, not liking where things seemed to be headed in conversation. Glancing at the other two mares, he could see the amusement on their faces. “N-N-No! No, it is fine, I am fine. I am good here.”
“Are you sure? The night princess has more old fashioned ways to accommodate her guests and allowing the passions to run free is one such way. I could easily cater to you—”
“This room is perfectly fine, thank you!”
“That’s too bad, your uniqueness and love of the night interest me, as it does my subordinates… Call a butler if you ever decide to change your mind.”
Giving Anon shivers from how he was looking at him, Smiles walked off down the hallway, leaving the three of them standing there. The two mares are barely holding their laughter at the encounter, something Anon hadn’t found funny.
Anon walked past them, opening the door and walking in. The room was quite elaborate and spacious. Along with an opened balcony, there was a glass door that led to a bathroom, many pieces of furniture all around the room, and a single, massive bed.
“Crap.”
Sleeping on the ground wasn’t something he was looking forward to. Still holding his suitcase, he quickly made for the bathroom.
“I am taking a quick shower to get out of this costume.”
“Alright!” Lyra squeaked back in a giggle, jumping on the bed currently with Bon Bon staring at her.
Once inside, it took Anon a full ten minutes of struggling with his costume to get it off. He made a mental note to talk to the costume maker about finding a way to fix that problem when they got back. He had to scrub his face for a while, getting the black makeup around his eyes off.
Just as he was feeling his muscles relax from the hot water, a pair of shrieks could be heard outside the door, making Anon jump. He did his best to ignore it, trying to enjoy himself with his shower. A bath might have been better but he didn’t want the other two to wait on him.
It didn’t take long for him to dry up and get dressed in a simple shirt and pants. Walking out, he was met with two red-faced mares trying their hardest to look away from him, along with the room being slightly tinted red, and some orchestral music playing. That only made things more suspicious.
“Okay. What happened?”
Lyra, looking flustered, tried to answer. “I swear we didn’t mean to, Anon! I, I, I found a control box that was doing different things in the room like playing music or making things smell nice, b-but it also sort of, well…”
Lyra looked behind him, back at the bathroom. Narrowing his eyes, the two turned away as Anon looked behind him, seeing the entire bathroom wall now appearing completely see-through. He could feel himself turning red, realizing what had happened.
“I-I-I tried turning off the control box, but I—” Pointing at the box at the ground, Anon could see what used to look like a remote controller, only in a thousand pieces. “I broke it.”
“We’re sorry,” Bon Bon chimed in, unable to look Anon in the eyes.
“It… was just an accident, right? So let’s just pretend it didn’t happen and move on.”
“You’re not upset?” Lyra asked.
“No, I’m not. Wait, no, that’s a lie. Yes, I am, but this was just an accident, right?” The two nodded their heads at him. Anon walked past them toward the bed, grabbing a pillow from it. “So don’t worry about it,” he said, placing his suitcase down near the bed.
“What are you doing?” Bon Bon asked.
“Grabbing some of the bedding? I’ll be sleeping on the ground so you two can take the bed.”
Lyra didn’t appear to like hearing that, “What? No, you’re sleeping on the bed just like us.”
“It’s not like you haven’t slept with Lyra before, Anon,” Bon Bon said jokingly in an out of character manner. “It’ll just be the two of us now, and won’t that be an improvement?”
Lyra gave her friend an unamused stare, making Anon laugh. “Just hurry up and take a shower or bath, I know the two of you have been waiting to get in yourselves.”
Bon Bon raised an eyebrow at him, “Oh, so eager for us to leave? Or I bet you just want to watch us in revenge?”
Anon sputtered at her words, of which the two laughed at. Rolling his eyes at them, he jumped on the bed, ignoring the two of them. Turning back toward them, he noticed Bon Bon staring at him, then turned her gaze to the wall. Anon looked over, staring at the see-through wall as well. He swore he saw the candy mare giving him a wink before walking in beside Lyra.
Sighing, he turned around to give them some privacy. The bed felt heavenly to him, almost like they enchanted the bedding's themselves. He wouldn’t be surprised if they as he found it difficult to stay awake. The last thing he remembered seeing was of Lyra and Bon Bon laughing inside the bathroom shower.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Finding himself waking up, Anon let out a yawn. He suddenly found himself feeling trapped where he was laying. It was difficult to move his arms, making him curious as to why. Blinking his eyes clear, he started looking around, remembering that he was in the castle. Looking to either side of him, he could see Lyra and Bon Bon on his arms, squeaking out little snores as they slept. It was adorable if he was being honest about the situation. He thought it might be a good idea just to let them sleep for a while longer.
Hearing a knock on the door, Anon lifted his head, wondering who it could be. Creaking open, a maid walked inside the room, looking around for something before looking at the bed. Lightly tugging his arm out from under Bon Bon, he could feel his arms prickling from falling asleep. Bon Bon wiggled up to Anon’s side, resting her head on his chest before going back to her snoring.
Waving at the maid, she softly walked over to a side panel of the room, revealing a built-in panel that was hidden. A few clicks and the room turned from its red shade to a more pleasant, soft white. She then walked up to the bed with a smirk.
“I see you had a nice night with these two mares,” she said.
Anon’s face started heating up at the insinuation. “Nothing happened last night, we merely slept in the same bed is all.”
The maid didn’t believe him, looking at the wall. “Whatever guest says. Just so you know, nothing will come out of these rooms regardless of what you say, but I suppose some beings aren’t open to their activities as others.”
“Is there a reason you’re here?”
The maid appeared to look more serious once she remembered why she came. “I’m to escort the three of you to breakfast, which starts in forty-five minutes.” She turned to walk away back out the door. “I’ll return in fifteen minutes.”
“Thanks for the wakeup call. How did you know we’d need it?”
She let out a giggle, “Everypony from these particular rooms need a wakeup call.”
Anon frowned at the retreating mare, uncertain about how he should feel hearing that. Feeling his arm starting to return to normal, he gently shook Bon Bon awake on his chest. Shaking her head, she got up, letting out a yawn.
“Good morning, Anon,” she squeaked out.
“Morning,” he replied. “The maid came and gave us fifteen minutes before we need to leave for breakfast.”
Smacking her lips, Bon Bon rolled onto her side, stretching her legs before jumping off the bed. Making her way to Lyra, she started to poke her in the stomach. The mint-colored mare grumbled, rolling on top of Anon to get away. Lyra woke up immediately, staring down at Anon, her face mere inches from his.
“Lyra, mind getting off?”
Blinking at him, she rolled off the bed and onto the ground, scrambling to the bathroom and forcing it closed. Both Bon Bon and Anon proceed to watch Lyra freaking out through the see-through walls, talking to herself before collapsing on the floor and rolling about.
“She forgot we can see her, didn’t she?”
“Eeyup,” Bon Bon said in slight amusement.
Getting out of the bed himself, he walked over to the suitcase, brushing his hair and getting ready. Bon Bon was doing the same, trying to get the curls into her hair in just the right manner. Just as they were packing their cases, Lyra came out herself, a hop in her step, looking ready herself. Turning to levitate her suitcase, she froze, staring at the wall.
“That thing was still on, wasn’t it?”
“Eeyup,” Anon and Bon Bon said in synchronization.
Lyra sighed, her face turning red. “R-Right.”
Walking out of the room, the maid stood there, looking at them. “You can leave your suitcases,” she mentioned upon seeing them, “you won’t be needing those for when you eat and they’ll be delivered to the carriage before you leave.”
Lyra levitated the cases back into the room right before the four of them made their way down the halls.
Everything looked almost as it was the other day, save for it being much brighter and having the guards replaced with ones that were adorned with golden-looking metal armor. It was certainly different from the bat pony guards' appearance. Thinking of bat ponies, Anon turned to Lyra. “Hey Lyra, when I came here you told me about the unicorns, pegasus, and earth ponies but left out bat ponies.”
Lyra looked embarrassed. “Sorry about that, it never really crossed my mind. Not that I was trying to not tell you about them or anything. There isn’t much to tell you other than they have more batty appendages and some history on them. I’ll tell you more about them in detail when we get back alright?”
Anon merely shrugged, turning back to look at the new guards in the halls. He didn’t find them as interesting to look at as the bat ponies from the other night. They almost appeared too bland.
The four of them soon arrived in front of a large door with the maid turning back to them. “On the other side is another short hallway that connects to a few others. Just turn left when you see a new path and it’ll open up to the diner. If you see a door, you’ve gone the wrong way… somehow, so turn around. The princesses dine here and should already be seated. I bid you a good morning, and enjoy your meal guests.” She left them standing there, staring at the door.
Looking at one another Anon walked up to the door, pushing it open and walking through with the other two. Making their way to the dining room with little effort, they could see a very spacious room, with marble pillars, lined up on one side of the room giving the room natural lighting, and a massive table in the middle with chairs lined along with it. Two ponies sat at the far end of the table, one of which Anon recognized as Princess Luna. The larger, much more horse-looking pony, he did not recognize.
Standing in front of the table, Anon could see the two of them were staring at him. Luna seemed nonchalant about the whole thing while Celestia held a smile. Something felt off about it to him but he couldn’t tell what it was. He did his best not to feel too intimidated that he was about to have breakfast with the ruler of this land.
“Please, take a seat,” Celestia calmly spoke out.
Anon couldn’t tell what it was, but something about her had this effect of making one at ease around her. Oddly, that only put him more on edge.
The three made their way to the one seat that stood out from the others, the one that was perfectly Anon’s size. It was close enough for conversation but far enough away that they weren’t within arm’s reach. Taking their seats, Anon examined the sun princess more closely. Her fur appeared as if someone had bleached it, a very pearly white. Her ethereal mane was quite peculiar to look at; a continuous aurora that flowed in the air freely. She also wore gold adornments over her sister's ebony.
And of course, she was much larger than Luna was. If Luna reached up to his chest, Celestia easily reached his full height. She resembled a horse more than a pony to him, even though she was supposed to be a pony that didn’t look like either of those things. The princess didn’t seem to mind, or even notice, that Anon was inspecting her as it appeared she was doing the same.
“So I finally meet the alien that I’ve been receiving reports about for a few months now,” she said with a smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you at last.”
Anon wasn’t sure what to say at her. “L-Likewise,” he said, giving a cough to help cover his stutter.
“The food should arrive shortly. For the time being, why don’t we talk about your time here?”
“Okay.”
He just couldn’t help but feel stressed out about talking to her. Talking to Princess Luna didn’t feel as awkward, and all he’s heard was how easy going Princess Celestia was in comparison. It likely had to do with how his entire livelihood was at stake, and anything that he said or did could easily make a mess of things for him.
“How has your time here been?” Celestia asked, clearly seeing that Anon would not initiate things.
“It’s… different. My world’s not full of the magical nature that yours is. Everyone here is so open about things, too open at times. It is trying at times, I admit. I do my best to get by regardless of what happens.”
“I know that my ponies can be quite eccentric to others. I can’t imagine how it would be to anyone not familiar to us. Why don’t you share some of those things you’re having trouble with?”
“I… don’t think that would be a good idea, telling you about my problems.”
“Please, it’s going to be a while until the food is prepared and I’m honestly interested to hear about your time. I know the importance of sharing things like this can be for people. I promise that I won’t have any hard feelings over whatever you have to say.”
Lyra, he could see on his right, was still smiling but appearing stiff in her seat, as if she was ready to hear about things being piled toward her. Anon thought about maybe starting small and working his way up; she did say nothing would happen and it wasn’t like she wouldn’t find out if she truly wanted to know.
“I guess there’s that time on the farm for starters.”
“Your time with Applejack?” Celestia said. “That seems peculiar you’d find anything wrong with her.”
“I don’t have any dislike of her, but try having to be around someone that has you do nothing but work throughout the day. It’s tiring and almost feels like I’m just labor to her at times. No offense to her at all, she’s a nice girl, but for someone that agreed to have me as a guest, it didn’t feel very honest saying as such with all the work I was put through.”
“Her, not being honest?”
Anon continued, “Once again, she’s not a huge problem, with how much time I’ve spent there it did irk me. At least I got some good exercise being there. The town is a more recent oddity for me. Recently, half the town has some form of weird closeness in one form or another because of how good I am at my job.”
“Ah, you’re job as a masseuse. I can’t see how being good at your job would stress one out,” Celestia said.
“Gaining a reputation as someone who can, as someone there put it, ‘rub any pony into a blissful state of euphoria’ gets me my share of wackos that I have to massage and at times deal with out in town.”
“The other half of the town was outright ignoring me up until recently where they formed a mob and chased me around the town for I don’t know how long, trying to stuff me into a cage and shove me into the Everfree Forest.”
The two princesses merely blinked, hearing that. “Oooh, that was the pie slinging that I heard about through my reports a bit ago,” Luna said, recalling the incident. “It didn’t say anything about how it started, just what had occurred.”
“At least they’ve finally calmed down, and most have been convinced I’m not there to take their… you know, I’d rather not say. I wish some of the ponies that are out there would stop stalking me though. I keep seeing them hide whenever I look in their direction. It’s getting annoying; I’m not even sure why they’re doing it.”
“My little ponies can be quite curious about things around them－”
“So long as they’re not running away in fear,” Luna interjected, earning a side glance from Celestia.
“Stalkers besides, your time in Ponyville has been alright and no immediate problems I hope?”
“I’m not even sure about that. There’s a few I’m still a bit on edge around for various reasons.”
“Such as?”
“I think the biggest culprit would have to be…” Anon paused, thinking of everyone he had met there. Lyra for some reason looked like she was about to cry. “No Lyra, it’s not you,” he said, patting her head. “Sure you’re a handful but your peculiarities I can get over. You’re a friend so stop feeling like that.”
“R-Right, thanks.” She rubbed at her eyes with a sniffle, smiling at Anon.
Celestia saw this, giving what Anon could say was her first, true genuine smile toward him. “I’m glad to see that you’ve made some friends here.”
“Yes, regardless of what’s happened I still made some friends. I’d say in comparison to the library pony, Lyra is a saint.” Celestia’s smile disappeared immediately while Luna gave her full attention.
“I’m sorry, could you elaborate?”
“Yeah, that library pony was not something I’d want to go through with again. Being locked up in a cage-like that was not fun for my week with her, and that spell she struck at me was not something I want to go through with ever again, whatever it was. I swear she was more interested in my world than she was me. She’s toned down since then, thank goodness, but I’m not sure I’d call her ‘friend material’, not with how much she’s merely interested in my people’s tools or products than myself.”
Celestia continued staring at Anon, looking quite tense hearing what he said. “I am… yes; clearly I’ll have to talk to Twilight about things.”
“Compared to most of the irksome people, she’s as bad as things got. Really, almost everyone else is somewhere between the spectrum of Bon Bon and Pinkie.”
Bon Bon scrunched up her face hearing that. “Excuse me?”
Anon, realizing how that might sound rude scratched his nose. “Well, you’re side would be calm and collected for the most part, while Pinkie’s is extremely off the wall and difficult to be around too much.” Bon Bon seemed happy hearing that, giving a nod of satisfaction at the description.
“I hope that Pinkie hasn’t done anything wrong either,” Celestia said, frowning at hearing a third Element being mentioned.
“No, there isn’t. She’s alright and at times is fun being around. But that’s a pony better taken in small doses. Everything she does is over the top all the time. Even the smallest of things are too much to take at times when dealing with her. Speaking of the smallest of things…”
Reaching into his pocket, Anon dug around for a small pouch he kept on him at all times filled with rocks. Aiming, he quickly threw a rock at a pillar, hearing a shriek of fright. “I know you’re there you little menace. I knew saw you here in the halls last night!”
“I just want you to eat me up!” a familiar cookie said, walking around the pillar into view. “Chew me into delicious chunks and swallow me whole! Come oooon, I know you’re hungry!”
‘I’ve already tried that you little demon.’
Sadly for him, the cookie kept rejuvenating all of its wounds, forcing him to eat more and more of the creepy confectionery. Even taking it all in in one go didn’t work as any crumbs quickly formed into a new cookie.
“You’ll come around soon enough for another bit of my sweet behind, just you wait!” it yelled out before jumping off the ledge of the building. “You and Princess Luna can’t resist the temptations of me for long!”
Everyone turned to Luna, who seemed to blush. Quickly, the five of them see what appeared to be a miniature hot air balloon made out of a cookie rising into the air, with the cookie laughing inside of it.
“How is that thing floating in the air?” Bon Bon asked.
The cookie pulled on a chord, forcing a spattering of sprinkles to shoot out of some contraption, raising the balloon into the air.
“It seems to be powered by helium sprinkles,” Lyra answered.
“THAT JUST RAISES FURTHER QUESTIONS!” Bon Bon yelled.
“Wait, could somepony please explain the cookie,” Celestia asked.
“Pinkie,” Lyra, Bon Bon, Luna, and Anon said in unison.
“Ah,” Celestia said as if understanding.
Celestia cleared her throat, “It seems that things have been a fair bit… stressful for you. I’m sorry to hear your time here hasn’t been as great as it could have been.”
“It’s fine. Those kinds of things, I’m kind of getting used to just expecting around me while I’m here. If anything, I am the alien here so I’ve just got to get used to things not being the kind of normal I’d expect.”
“Still, we should have been more accommodating in your stay here. I promise to help out in the future so long as it’s reasonable.”
“Thanks, I’ll remember that.”
Celestia went back to smiling as before. “At least your stay here at the castle should have been fine.”
“Yes, it has,” Anon agreed. “Though… what was with that bedroom we stayed in?”
“Was it not to your liking?” Celestia asked, unable to hide the sideways glance at her sister.
“It was certainly strange, what with walls turning invisible and the two here getting a free peepshow as I showered.” The two mares shuffled in their seats hearing that. “Also, there was some strange music coming out of nowhere, and the help here seemed odd about the room as well.”
“There were also candles that came out of nowhere,” Bon Bon said.
“And incense burning… and rose petals falling from the roof,” Lyra added in.
“And why were we all in the same room together anyway?”
“There seems to have been an honest mistake,” Luna said with a chuckle. “My captain must have given you the sensual rooms instead of the private rooms. Likely just a communication error, I should have specifically told him what rooms to give you.”
Celestia, smile twitching, turned to Luna. “Luna… what’s this about sensual rooms?”
Luna merely blinked at her. “How could you not know of pleasantries? It’s a room? For the sensual pleasures? My captain just mistakenly gave them those rooms for the night.”
“Why. Do. We. Have. Sensual. Rooms. Luna?” Celestia asked through clenched teeth.
“…For our guests? Don’t you remember? It’s for the guests that typically spent the night with their company?” Celestia groaned out, breaking her previous character. “Is something wrong?”
“Luna, I removed those rooms nearly nine hundred years ago. Just how many ‘guests’ have you invited to those rooms?”
“Only a few,” she answered honestly. “It’s rare for me to have guests. The few guests I do get seem to enjoy the rooms.”
“How many know about these rooms?”
“My captain, a few maids specifically trained to keep the rooms tidy, some of my guard, and of course myself.” Luna frowned at her. “Now that I think about it, I found it strange that no one was keeping to those rooms when I returned. Do you know how difficult it was to both train those maids and to get those rooms set up in the castle in the first place?”
“Luna, we’re going to talk about what’s acceptable now and what’s not later.”
“You’re saying the sensual rooms aren’t accepted in this day and age?”
“No Luna, they’re not.”
“Why not? The few here that were in them liked the rooms!”
“They just aren’t, I’ll explain later, Luna. Do not issue the rooms out to anypony else.” Princess Celestia turned to her three guests with a blank expression, giving them the frights. “This is not to be discussed out of this room, is that clear?” The three of them nod their heads quickly. Celestia immediately went back to her previous, smiling persona. “Right. Well I hope that any future visits for you will be better,” she said to Anon.
“…Okay.”
The five of them sat in an awkward silence for some time from what had just happened. No one really knew what to say at that point.
“…I must say, your time here has already had a huge effect on our lives, Anon,” Princess Celestia spoke out. “Those pens of yours are brilliant. There are quite a few here that are hoping you’ll deliver more contraptions in the future.”
“I know a few that would pay for work directly from you,” Luna added in.
“I’m not sure about doing that kind of stuff,” Anon said, rubbing his arm. “Twilight had mentioned that stuff before and I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with reworking my worlds work over here. Not that there’s a moral quandary or anything, I just don’t feel confident with recreating things.”
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Celestia said with a small smile, “I don’t expect you to do a whole lot. Most that would happen is a pony would come in every now and then to ask questions for a little while on anything you can come up with or they’d initiate things to work something out. The only pony I know that could help immediately with that is Twilight. I hope that’s fine.”
“I… suppose that’s fine,” Anon said with trepidation.
A side door immediately opened with maids, lined up with trays being pushed out. Plates full of food were placed on the table, piled with a variety of fruits and vegetables. One tray that was still covered was placed in front of Anon.
Once the maids left, Princess Celestia turned to Anon, then to the platter in front of him. “I know that it can be hard living in a foreign place like you have. While I can’t do much to help, I hope you will enjoy this nonetheless.”
The princesses then proceed to lift food onto their plates, giving the two ponies on either side of Anon the go to do so as well. Curious what the princess meant, Anon lifted the tray before his eyes widened in surprise.
It was a tray of meat, something he hadn’t seen since he had been there. He wasn’t sure what it was, as he doubted they would just kill off someone to feed their guests. Still, it was a shock to the system seeing this out of nowhere.
“Is it not to your liking?” Princess Celestia asked. She placed the piece of fruit she was eating back down on her plate, staring at Anon’s dish. Lyra and Bon Bon were equally surprised to see what was on the plate now that all attention was on it. “I recall reading the reports on you that you were an omnivore. I know she hasn’t been feeding you any meat since you’ve been here.”
The smell alone was making Anon salivate, looking down at the food. “That’s true, it does look quite tantalizing. But I’m almost afraid to ask, how did you get this meat? I was under the impression that everything in this world was sapient to some degree.”
“Oh dear, you don’t think I went out and chopped up someone to feed you, do you?”
“N-No, Princess Celestia, that’s not what I was… really getting at…”
Princess Luna nodded, placing a pastry on her plate. “That kind of thing is reserved for the people in our dungeons after they’ve been tenderized.” Their three guests felt some blood drain from them hearing that. Celestia glared at her sister. Luna hummed. “I suppose those jokes don’t transfer well in this day and age?”
Celestia sighed, looking back to Anon, “The meat is perfectly fine. Most of the meat that is out there is from the few creatures that are listed as being fine to eat. And even then, the food on your plate is only an imitation of the real thing, though it should taste just the same I am told. I believe the animal is called a Calydonian?”
“So it’s not meat?”
“No. We normally serve this kind of stuff to meat-eaters such as the griffons.”
Turning back to the plate, Anon doesn’t hesitate to finally try out the meat. Cutting into it was like going through butter, and the taste was something he would cherish to that day. He felt like he could cry from how delicious it was. The entire meal, Anon was completely focused on his food, trying to enjoy it as much as he could. He wasn’t sure when the next time he’d be able to eat meat would be, whether or not it was fake.
Taking his last bite, Anon let out a sigh of satisfaction, happy with his meal. A small cough could be heard, with Anon looking up at the princesses who merely smiled.
“I assume that you are done with your meal, or are you willing to lick your plate as well?” Luna asked jokingly.
A light blush could be felt on his face. He had, in fact, thought of doing such a thing. Noticing that everyone was already finished eating, Anon wiped his mouth with a napkin.
“Since it appears everyone is done with their meals,” Princess Celestia started, getting up from her seat, “I really should go back to my duties along with my sister. You’re more than welcome to stay the night if you so desire.”
“There’s going to be a star shower tonight and the castle will have festivities during it.”
“While I appreciate the offer, I’ve already made plans with some others out in town tonight and these two are doing things as well.”
Lyra nodded, “Yep! Bonnie and I will be watching it on our rooftop as always!”
“A maid will help escort you in getting home then. As I have important business to attend to, I must I bid you all a good day,” Celestia said, walking off the opposite end of the room with her sister.
Standing up themselves, the three of them go back out where they came from, finding the maid from before standing there for them. She guided them quickly through the halls back up to the launch pad from last night where a chariot was currently at, along with two pegasus sun guards already tethered to it.
Getting inside, Anon was glad to see the suitcases were there with them; he didn’t want to leave behind his awesome costume after all. Examining the chariot, Anon frowned. “Where's the seat-belts?”
“What’s a seat-belt?” Lyra asked
Before Anon could reply, the chariot shot off into the air, making Anon’s stomach lurch about. He held onto the seat as it continued to lift into the sky.
“Lighten up, Anon,” Lyra said, bumping into his side. “Try to enjoy this! Chariot rides are fun!”
“Just pretend it’s like last night with Princess Luna,” Bon Bon added in.
As odd as it was for him, Anon found last night was easier to deal with; the night helped cover up most of his sight, but now he had a clear view of everything below him. He vowed that the next thing he would come up for the ponies would be seat-belts, along with a myriad of safety devices they didn’t already have.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
“Anon, are you okay?” Lyra asked as she sat beside him.
“Yeah, I just need… five more minutes…”
“You’ve been lying here for a good while, Anon. You even fell asleep.”
‘I was exhausted from the trip you darn horse…’
Standing up, Anon stretched his body, feeling a satisfying pop in his back. He then fell right back into the couch.
“So what did you think of the princesses?” Lyra asked, taking a seat beside him.
“They were interesting. I wasn’t expecting Princess Celestia to be so large; she’s even larger than Luna. Are they really ponies?”
“Of course they are! What else would they be?”
“…Horses?”
Lyra slapped a hoof over her mouth, trying not to laugh.
“It seems like I will be doing work for the princesses now. At least it is better than being tested on like before.”
“Oh, that kind of stuff isn’t done entirely,” Lyra said, “but yeah, at least you should get paid some for that work. It just sucks Twilight’s going to be helping with that. Uuuugh.” Lyra flopped onto her back, continuing her groaning.
“It probably will not be that bad, she’s kind of been getting better.”
“I suppose…”
Anon sat back, thinking about the meeting with the princesses. It was certainly something he didn’t expect to happen, though he wasn’t sure what to expect.
Looking at where he was, he cursed himself, realizing something. “Dang it, I should have asked for a place to live before we left there.”
‘They did mention they’d help so long as it was reasonable, and that should qualify within being fine, right?’
“W-What?” Lyra sat up, looking at Anon with worry. “Why do you want to move away? Don’t you like it here?”
“It is n—”
“Is it us?! Am I bugging you too much, or—”
“Lyra, it is not you or Bon Bon.”
“Then why would you want to move out?”
“It doesn’t feel fair to have the two of you put up with me as long as you have. I’ve been living here for the last few months while you’ve been sleeping down here on the couch. I know you’d like your room back, right?”
“I’d prefer having you here than getting my room back!”
Before Anon could say anything, Bon Bon came out of nowhere adding her two cents from the kitchen, “What about having your own room instead, Anon?”
“How would that work?” he asked.
“I’m not certain the princess could build an entire home for you with your size. You’re even bigger than most minotaurs are, and that’s not including all the furniture and such. But a room attached to our house seems like it would work out, right? We can even hoof in some of the bills if it comes to that.”
“Yeah! You don’t have to move away and can still be here in your room!”
Thinking about it, while Anon desired his own place while he was in pony land, it would take quite a bit of land and money to get his place. And he wasn’t certain he liked the idea of owing so much back to the princesses if he did get his own place like that.
“Let me think this over some more, okay?”
Lyra forced a smile on her face hearing that. “Sure, we can do that.”
Something told Anon that she was about to attempt something quite stupid.
“Anon, you should probably start heading out,” Bon Bon said. “Vinyl’s probably expecting you by now.”
Looking outside, Anon could see that it’s gotten fairly dark by then. Getting up, he grabbed his cloak off the coat hanger and bid the two goodbyes before heading out the door to Vinyl’s place. It wasn’t exactly a long walk, only being on the other side of town.
Arriving at her place, Anon noticed that there wasn’t any music playing through the door. He knocked on it, wondering if they were even there. A few seconds later the door creaked open. Vinyl, looking out of the crack, immediately opened it up seeing Anon. She pulled him in with magic before closing the door once more.
“You’re here! For a second there, I didn’t think you’d make it!”
“I would’ve made it sooner but we got back from Canterlot on a chariot and it exhausted me a good bit.”
“Ah, air travel. It’s a killer way to disorient yourself.” Vinyl pushed Anon over to the couch, getting him to take a seat. “Just wait here. Octavia would have a nasty fit if I didn’t prepare something for guests.”
Leaving Anon there in the living room, he noticed everything seemed more arranged with all the wires now bundled properly and out of the way, for the most part. Though it felt less spacious with all the added equipment and tools he didn’t see there from last time.
It doesn’t take long for Vinyl to return with a tray of tea and brownies. Taking a brownie, Anon found it quite pleasing compared to all the cupcakes every single other pony seemed to always serve up for some reason. Vinyl took a seat right beside Anon, leaning into it and kicking her hind legs on the table in front of them.
“Aaahh, chilling out’s bucking awesome, dude. It feels nice doing so after all the work I’ve done, trying to figure out that godly little music box of yours.”
Throwing the rest of the brownie in his mouth, he washed it down with the minty tea. “To be honest, I figured you would’ve broken the thing by now.”
“…Why would you hoof that over to me if you thought that would happen?”
“It’s not like I can exactly use it for much if it’s already dead, Vinyl. I mean, if it did break then it wasn’t a huge loss on me. But if you managed to charge it up, then that would be pretty awesome.”
“Well prepare to be awesomized!” she said, slamming the tea she was drinking down her throat before jumping off the couch. She walked over to the strange equipment, messing with some of them. “See, I’ve been working on that joy toy of yours for a good while now, trying to figure out just how to put in the correct amount of lightning without busting the thing up. So I went ahead and made some prototype chargers to get things going, setting them at the lowest voltage.”
Clicking some things Anon couldn’t see, he could hear something turning on with a low hum.
“I didn’t use the music box at first, not wanting to risk damaging it. But after some time with it, and a few mishaps of the explosive variety, I got a few final products that I thought would work.”
Vinyl pulled some things out of a box before plugging them into some weird mechanization that looked like they crawled straight out of a schlocky sci-fi flick.
“SO, after duplicating your box, I proceeded to test out the chargers on those before I got the correct one. That one took a good while getting the correct charger.”
“You can make duplicates of the iPod?”
“Sure! I mean, I doubt it’ll have much anything on it; it’s just copying the object itself and that’s it so any weird human magic that was inside of it didn’t transfer over. I don’t have the proper knowledge for that kind of magic. Probably need Twilight, or somepony on her level, to fix that issue.”
She trailed off, thinking to herself as she plugged away at what appeared to be the music player. “They’re not true copies or anything. Think of it like I’m copying a tin full of cookies, focusing on the tin. The cookies don’t come along with that. That would only work if I knew about what was on the inside and focused on that as well, but I don’t know much about the inside of this box, right? Besides, the cookies would taste quite nasty.”
Anon hummed at her explanation as he ate another brownie, watching her mess around with her wires and instruments.
“Maybe I can figure out a copy with the junk on it later, but for now, we just have the original. So I don’t know how many copies I went through to make it work out, having to recycle them over and over, but I finally found one that wouldn’t blow up or melt. I think I charged it? I wasn’t sure how to turn this thing on to check.”
“You already tried charging it?” Anon asked, taking a sip of his tea.
“Yeah… I hope it worked,” she said, handing it over to Anon with her magic.
Looking at it, Anon flicked the lock off the top of it before holding the play button to turn it on. After a few seconds, the screen flashes on, booting up.
“Good job, music is a go-go baby! Ready for some hot jams?”
“Pump that crazy up ‘cause I am ready!”
Vinyl and Anon stare at the player with large grins, ready to try out some of his kinds of music.
After ten seconds, Vinyl turned to Anon, “Why isn’t it playing?”
“It kind of needs earbuds to work,” Anon sighed. “Forgot about that. They’re the white strings I lent you, the smaller headphones?”
“Yeah I copied those a few times too and they’re simple enough to have figured out.” Something flashed in her mind before she jumped off the couch. “I can probably hook them up to my speakers if I take your earstrings and use their connectors!”
She proceeded to flash her horn with spells, tugging at her wires and duplicating the earbuds. This went on for some time before she returned with a large smile and a speaker with one of the headphone plugins now attached to a wire on the speaker.
“See? Easy-peasy! Now let’s plug that bad boy in and feed our ears with some delicious music!”
Anon wasn’t exactly sure if connect the end like that to the speaker would work, but he wasn’t going to argue with magic.
“I’ll show you how to work this so you can play with this later on, but I still want to see the star showers so we can’t do this for too long. I haven’t seen one of those here before and from what everyone tells me it’s something that needs to be seen.”
He instructed her how to turn the wheel and how to flip through the selections in the player. “All that’s needed is to select what category to listen to. I’d recommend going to the genre section over the artist one so you can learn what different styles we have. I would advise you to steer clear from certain genres, like death metal. I’ll give you a list of genres and some artists later on.”
“Death… metal?” Vinyl looked quite confused. “Someone is trying to kill the metal? I… I don’t get it. Why would anyone want to kill metal?”
Anon laughed out, “Ah-ha! But they will fail as metal smites them to the ground!”
Vinyl blinked at Anon’s strangeness. “…What?”
“J-Just ignore that…”
“Whatever dude, just play something already! My lugholes have a sweet tooth for some ear candy!”
“Sure, okay. I remember last time I was here you were playing something that was almost like dubstep.”
“What’s that?”
“If I can remember, it’s a subgenre to techno music that you were playing. You played something that reminded me of more… Hmmm…” Anon snapped his fingers, trying to find the word, “Starts with a…. Ah, right! Synthesizers. Back in college, one of my roommates was into that kind of stuff as a hobby and that’s what your music reminded me of. I think I’ve got the perfect song for you to try out.”
Scrolling the wheel like a pro, Anon selected the song he wanted to play, making sure the volume was nice and loud before hitting the play button.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fvz-nNz0mc
“Interesting,” Vinyl said, seemingly enjoying it. “I guess I can see how this kinda sounds like my stuff. Hmm…”
“The pony sat back to relax and listen to the music play. Her ears twitched about, listening to the tune. Anon could see a smile stretched across her face.
Okay, this stuff sounds pretty cool. I love the part about them singing about harmony and such, everypony’s going to love that stuff! I hope you have more stuff like that on there!”
“I do, along with some things I doubt you’d ever heard of before. But I have a question for you.”
“Lay the words on me, Anon!”
“How in the blazes are you able to understand the lyrics at all?”
“Oh, that? Psh, I talked to Twilight and Lyra about some of your languages. I figured your music would be sung in your language and wanted to be prepared. So I gathered their work and figured out a simple translation spell.”
“Really? You?”
Vinyl sighed hearing that. “Okay, it wasn’t like I figured it out on my own, Twilight did the bulk of the work. I just kept bugging her and Lyra when I got the chance to help me figure things out.” Her horn started to glow before some weird scribing glowed around her throat. Coughing, Vinyl rubbed her throat softly with her hoof. “~+See? Now I can speak your language too! Neat, no?+~”
Anon blinked at her. “That is pretty odd, you have a Swedish accent.”
“~+Is that good?+~”
“Only that it is one of the hottest accents I can imagine.”
“~+Well no bedroom play with this mare, big boy,+~” she said with a laugh before letting out a rough cough. “~+Oh this is hard to speak in. Gonna stop now, clearly need more practice.+~”
“How are you doing that in the first place?”
She shrugged her shoulders, turning off her spell. “I dunno, it’s magic. Ain’t gotta explain crap, right? Talk to Lyra and Twilight about that stuff.” Vinyl hummed to herself, staring at the player. “I think I can probably rework the spell to work on the music player later on, just need to make sure it doesn’t affect the box itself when used on it. Probably won’t use it all that much myself either, it hurts way too much, so only those wanting to converse the mystical language of the human will even practice this.”
“So Lyra and Twilight.”
“Yep.” She closed her eyes, listening to the song once more. “The song is quite relaxing; it feels nice listening to. How much more music does that box of yours have?”
“I have about—” Anon looked at the song count, “—around thirty thousand songs it seems.”
Vinyl froze hearing that before shuddering in her seat. “I… I think my gray matter just climaxed violently.”
Anon didn’t comment on what she said, choosing to ignore it as the song played out.
“The song that just played could be, like, a theme song for us! Seriously, we have to get this thing on a record so I can play this for other ponies! I’ll give you full credit for bringing it here in the first place, of course.”
Anon merely smirked just as the song finished out. Vinyl let out a sigh, poking him in the side. “Next song-next song-next song-next song—”
“Just a moment, sheesh.”
“Make it something that would make me want to move about!”
Anon didn’t want to go overboard with the music selections, knowing quite a few that would but would likely not end up pretty for anyone. And he still wanted to have something she was relatively familiar with. Thinking on it, Anon flipped over to a song he thought fit that description.
“This one is a bit more advanced to what you listened to previously. I can’t exactly describe it, more out of fear of making an ass of myself, but I hope that you enjoy it.”
“I’m not sure what you looking like a donkey has to do with anything, but just play the track already!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuNjx_Q93tc
Vinyl immediately sat up, staring at the speaker. Her ears were twitching madly as the song started to play. Her body started to jitter, obviously her interpretation of how the song is moving about.
Another thing to thank his dorm mates for all those years ago. He could remember asking them for more varied music as all he had was orchestral works. Anon was glad he got to hear so many different genres.
Just as the song ended, Vinyl sat there silently for some time. “That. Was. AWESOME!” She jabbed Anon in the side, “Duuude, play it again!”
Anon grabbed his iPod and replayed the song once more. Vinyl went back to jumping along to the song, flapping her front hooves out to slap at nothing in the air. Anon merely sat back to relax as the song played. The pony soon got tired of sitting, deciding to jump off the couch and dance around was a better activity.
As soon as the song ended, she bugged Anon again to replay it a few more times. They hadn’t even gone on to any of the other songs and she was already loving the songs.
‘If she likes this song so much, wait until she hears some of the other stuff.’
Eventually, Anon could hear a door slamming open from somewhere in the house. Opening his eyes, he could see Octavia walking into the room.
“Okay, I’ve been hearing this weird junk for a good while now. What’s the big deal with all this?”
“JUNK?! Are you out of your mind calling this work as junk?! This is the next step in lightning music, Octavia! This is going to revolutionize everything!”
“I am not in the mood to argue with you on this right now. Just turn the darn crud off.”
“Anon is showing me some of his crankin’ tunes you ol’ ditty! How would you feel if you missed out on an awesome chance to hear stuff you’ve only ever dreamed of! Why I bet there’s even something in his music box that you’d like as well!”
Octavia sniffed, “I highly doubt there’s anything in that little box I’d care for, Vinyl. Now I’d appreciate it if you turned it off, the shower should start soon and I don’t want to hear anything that could ruin it.”
Vinyl turned to Anon with a frown. “Dude, show her some music that she’d like! Prove her wrong for me!”
“Actually, before meeting some old friends I generally listened to orchestral stuff, right before finding some more modern orchestral reworkings on modern songs. I think I have something you might like.”
While choosing a song, Vinyl attempts to force Octavia to sit down on another couch with her. Octavia, of course, stood, not wanting any part of the music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ_fkw5j-t0
The two ponies quickly stop arguing with whatever they were talking about once the song played. Octavia turned her head to the speaker, obviously intrigued by what she was hearing.
“Are those cellos?”
No one answered her as they continued listening to the piece. The song was something that Anon listened to quite a bit, as he greatly enjoyed the electric cello in it. Vinyl seemed to be staring at, well, nothing. She was mostly zoning out as she listened to it. Octavia, on the other hand, was staring wide-eyed at the speaker the entire time it was playing.
The moment the song ended, Octavia turned to Anon, “What… what was that?”
“The name? Let me check the—”
“No, not that! I meant that instrument in the song! It sounded like a stringed instrument but, different.”
“That? It was a cello.”
“That’s impossible, I know very well how a cello sounds and that was no cello!”
“That was an electric cello, something powered by electricity.” Anon smiled at her, “Of course, you ponies call that lightning.”
Vinyl’s face widened with a smile before she erupted with laughter. Octavia had dropped her jaw hearing that, surprised to hear of that.
“And you said my lightning couldn’t improve your instruments!”
Octavia turned to Vinyl, staring at her for a few seconds, unable to say anything. Closing her mouth, she slowly walked out of the room back to wherever she came from, shutting the door with a slam.
“That was strange,” Anon commented.
“But funny! I’ll have to deal with it later, but it was so worth seeing the look on her face!”
Unplugging the iPod, Anon wrapped his earbuds around them before placing it down on a table.
“Wait, why are you putting it up?! Come on, let’s keep dishin’ out those popolicious tunes!”
“The shower’s going to start any minute, right?”
Vinyl took a moment to realize what he had said. “Crap, I nearly forgot about that! Alright, follow me!”
Anon followed Vinyl up to a ladder that led up to her room. Once up there, Anon went over to one of the cushions, sitting down on the largest one, the thing completely engulfing his legs and behind.
“I’ll be right back,” the music pony said, walking back down the ladder, “need to go grab something.”
Looking around, he could see most of Ponyville where he was: from Rarity’s Boutique all the way Sugarcube Corner. Anon could make out the library from there. He even saw Lyra and Bon Bon’s house, though it was difficult making out.
It didn’t take long for Vinyl to come back with another plate of brownies along with some water. Anon eagerly grabbed one, taking a few bites as Vinyl does the same.
“Octavia going to be fine?” Anon asked, drinking some water.
“Yeah, she’s likely just thinking to herself about the song. She’ll be up here in a little bit. I wouldn’t doubt if she’s throwing down something on her music sheets as we speak!”
“Well, that’s good to hear. I di—”
Anon stopped, noticing something wrong with his sight.
“What was that?”
Everything was full of colors all of a sudden. Even more so than it usually was. And so bright!
Looking down at his hands, he moved them around in the air, noticing a distinct trail of paint that followed along with them. It almost looked like he was partially cel-shaded.
‘What’s going on?’
It didn’t take a genius to reach to the obvious conclusion. Looking at the brownies, Anon then turned to Vinyl with a glare.
“Vinyl, what did you put in the brownies?”
Vinyl smirked at Anon, taking another bite of her brownie. “They finally kicking in?” She let out a snicker, “I thought we could use some of these to help with an extra dose of relaxation for the night.”
“Noooeeuut cool, Vinyl!” Anon stretches out for some odd reason.
Said mare ignored him, going back to her brownie. As neat as it was seeing everything, Anon was not happy with the current situation.
‘Though, the colors…’
Anon shook his head, trying to get back to his previous anger an—
The stars right then started to streak across the sky without warning, making the entire sky looking like surreal art. Anon looked up, amazed at the sight before him.
He shook his head, trying to clear it. It didn’t help at all, with him focusing back on the stars.
‘I’m going to get Vinyl back for this, somehow. Darn pony pot…’
~End Chapter Twelve~