"Whatcha readin'?"
I lifted the book from my lap, but did not answer. My lips moved with every word, as if reciting them to some invisible, dead audience.
"The Jazz of Magic," Pinkie read aloud. "Neat! What's it about?"
I sighed. "It's--" didn't want my concentration to be broken, but I also very badly wanted to talk about the book. "It's about how music and sorcery are tightly interwoven, and how studying both has led to insights we otherwise never would have found."
Pinkie cocked her head.
I dropped the book onto the table and spun it around for her to see. "See? This diagram shows how the circle of fifths and the standard rune ring take the same form."
Pinkie squinted at the diagram. "What's a circle of fifths?"
I squinted back at her. "Don't you… play trombone?"
"Oh! Is that just a fancy word for trombone?" Pinkie laughed. "That drawing doesn't even look like one!"
"Pinkie, that's not--"
"Oh, wait…" She leaned in closer. "No, it does. Neat!"
I gave her a funny look and took the book back. The two circles side-by-side in the diagram looked nothing like a trombone. Not even if I crossed my eyes. Celestia only knows how Pinkie Pie sees the world.
"Alright! What can I getcha this morning?" Pinkie said, getting to her hooves.
"I'll have a blue--"
"--berry pancake puff surprise? You got it!" She zipped off into the kitchen before I could even finish asking for my usual blueberry muffin.
I chuckled to myself and went back to reading.
The notion that magic and music have somehow been secretly based upon one another, or that these similarities are a coincidence, should not be what you take away from this reading. It should instead serve as proof that exists a set of higher, immutable laws which describe all things, and are yet to be discovered. No similarity should be considered coincidence until proven otherwise. This is the heart of scientific investigation, the heart of music, and the heart of magic.
I smiled to myself. It was clear why Vinyl had chosen this book, although I got the feeling that she hadn't exactly cracked it open to give it a read. And that was okay. She saw it and knew I would like it, and that's what mattered.
I did like it. In fact, I already had a copy of the book in the library, just hadn't gotten around to reading it yet.
When I received this copy--battered and torn, with little notes in the margin--I had donated my shiny-new version to the bookstore down the street. Feather Quill had even made some little comment about how 'somepony just picked up one of these! How funny!'
The book had been dropped on my doorstep at an unholy hour of the night by my nocturnal friend. She had attached a brief note to the front with a small piece of tape:
Twi-
Sorry. Things are weird. We'll talk soon.
-Vinyl
And so it was out of my hooves.
And I tried to let it be that way, I really did.
The weather had grown colder still, and the snow more frequent. We were now in the true dead of winter, and yet the streets had come alive with foals of all ages playing in flurries and drifts.
And, of course, with ponies playing came friendship problems. Little ones. But… enough to get me out of the castle. Enough to remind me how easy it was to force my own feelings down into a tiny, cold ball of pure anxiety rumbling quietly in the pit of my stomach for eternity.
Healthy, right?
Apparently this is what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to get over ponies. You're supposed to move on.
You're not supposed to sit around, waiting, hoping against hope that some miracle will drop them back into your lap.
I was brilliant at splitting the difference.
"Here ya go!" Pinkie said, sliding a plate down in front of me.
The object resting on the plate was some sort of monstrous dessert-breakfast hybrid: looking to all the world like a pancake filled with blueberries and yet mysteriously three times as thick, and topped with a muffin-y crumble.
"What's the surprise?" I asked.
"Oh, Twilight," Pinkie said, giggling and waving my comment away with one hoof. "Don't be silly! It's a surprise!"
"Okay, but it's just--"
"Bup, bup!"
"I just have an allergy to--"
"Oh, pft, as if I don't know all your allergies." Pinkie rubbed the top of my head, mussing my mane. "We're friends, aren't we?"
I laughed and waved Pinkie's hooves away. "Are friends supposed to know each other's allergies?" I asked.
Pinkie rolled her eyes. "You do if you're constantly baking for them!"
"Surprisingly good point."
"I think you'll find I have lots of good points, Twilight," Pinkie said very graciously. "Maybe if you opened your ears once in a while."
Pinkie turned to go, ready to let her snarky remarks hang in the air over the table for a while.
"Ooh, wait!" I said. Pinkie halted and turned, her motions comically similar to one who had had to come to a halt from full speed, rather than a slow amble. "Rainbow's coming later. Could you bring something out for her?"
"How much later is later?" Pinkie asked.
I blinked. "What?"
"Well, is Rainbow coming any minute now? Because, if she is, I'll bring her a donut."
"She should be--"
"If it's going to be close to twenty minutes, I can put in a fresh tray of donut and make sure they're all hot and melty and ooey-gooey by the time she gets here!"
"That sounds really nice, but--"
"If it's an hour or more, I can start a whole fresh batch in her most favoritest flavor, and have those hot and ready ooey-gooey melty sticky fresh by the time she's here," Pinkie grinned. "I've got you girls down to a science."
I giggled. "Very impressive, Pinkie. She'll really be here any minute, though, so any old donut in the case is fine.
"Alright…" Pinkie said, all sing-song like I'd just turned down the offer of a lifetime.
She turned to go.
I shook my head and chuckled to myself. For once, it was nice to have a conversation that didn't turn to Vinyl.
The thought made my smile disappear.
I kept reading.
The tandem study of music and magic began with a single mare: Johanna Trot. Her quest to bring mathematical definition to music is what led to the modern theories of keys, modes, and progressions that we still teach today. From here, Trot became obsessed with joining her love of music with her passion for magic, and began composing magical circles and runes based upon her own symphonies. The uses of these magic circles (as well as their effects in Trot's experiments) remain unknown, but detailed records of their design and influence survive to this day (see appendix 1.1.2).
I flipped to the back of the book, holding my page with a magical bookmark. The appendix was filled with grainy recreations of Johanna Trot's original notes, with drawings of chords mapped onto runic circles, detailed instructions regarding casting "duet spells" of complex polyrhythms and progressions.
If Vinyl had opened this book, if she had seen these instructions, would she have thought of the two of us performing together? The way I was now?
The bell at the door tinkled. I looked over my shoulder, expecting to see Rainbow Dash.
But, of course, like a phantom, she was there: Vinyl Scratch.
Only she looked at me like she was real. Her eyes wide, staring deeply into mine as if she'd been caught red-hoofed. Then, they quickly flicked away, and she turned to leave Sugar Cube Corner at high speed.
I stared at the place where she had been a moment longer.
"One donut!" Pinkie said cheerfully. "Hey, you look like you've seen a ghost."
I blinked. "I… Vinyl came in."
"She did?" Pinkie craned her neck to look around the room. "I don't see her anywhere. She in the bathroom?"
"She-- she turned and left when she saw me." I looked up at Pinkie. "What do you think that means? She looked at me for a long time, and--"
"Then I guess she's avoiding you, Twi," Pinkie said. "But don't get too down about that. There could be a million-billion reasons she's avoiding you."
I put a hoof on my stomach. "Ugh, like what?"
"Um…" Pinkie stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe… she's contagious and she doesn't want to get you sick?"
I sighed. "Why would she come to a bakery if she were contagious."
Pinkie shrugged. "When I'm sick, all I want are cupcakes. Maybe Vinyl's the same way!"
"I don't think so…" I folded my hooves on the table and laid my head on them. "I just wish things could stop being so weird."
Pinkie Pie pulled out the chair across from me and sat down. "Is this still about game night?"
My heart skipped a beat.
"Y-yeah," I lied.
"I really think you should just talk to her," Pinkie said. "Send her a letter or something. If she really doesn't wanna read it, she can just throw it out!"
"I guess…"
Pinkie sighed. "If you two had kissed that night, it would be different."
My stomach dropped into my hooves. "It would?"
"Well, yeah. Duh." Pinkie sat back in her chair. "If you had kissed and then she started avoiding you, it's probably because it made things weird with you and her, or with her and Octavia."
"Oh. Huh."
"But you didn't kiss!" Pinkie said. "So I dunno why she's acting weird. Ooh! Ooh! Maybe she's in witness protection, and hanging out with you is gonna blow her cover!"
I forced a small smile. "That's a good guess, Pinkie."
"I know, right?" Pinkie sighed in satisfaction. "I should write a book."
The bell tinkled again.
"Ooh! There's Dashie!" Pinkie stomped her hooves in excitement.
I turned to look. Rainbow Dash had just stepped through the door and was surveying the room for us. It didn't take long to spot Pinkie's wildly bouncing mane.
Rainbow trotted over to my table. "Hey. Was that Vinyl I just saw outside? 'Cause she looked at me like she'd never seen me before."
I sighed. "Yeah."
Rainbow sat down in the chair across from me and took a bite of the donut that was before her, not even thinking to ask. "I thought we were pretty much on a first-name basis. What gives?"
I shrugged.
"She still mad over game night?" Crumbs flew from Rainbow's mouth, and I brushed them off the side of the table. "I thought you, like, made up with her or whatever."
I swallowed. "I, uh… I dunno what's up with her."
"So crazy, we were just talking about this!" Pinkie remarked.
Rainbow looked at me. "You really haven't talked to her face-to-face since game night?"
"I…" I grit my teeth. "No? No, I… I haven't."
Rainbow crammed the last oversized donut bite in her mouth. "Aren't you gonna try--"
"Rainbow," I threatened.
She rolled her eyes, chewed, swallowed. "Aren't you gonna try to make up with her? She was really cool."
"I think the, uh… I think the ball's in her court now." I tapped my hooves on the table. "Has been. Since a while ago. You know, a few weeks."
Pinkie and Rainbow stared at me, their eyes searching for the source of the mistruth.
I held their gaze as long as I could. "What?"
"Hm…" Rainbow slowly relaxed back into her chair. "Nothing, I guess."
I shrugged as casually as I could muster. "I'm sure things will go back to normal soon."
Pinkie and Rainbow looked at each, seeming to reach some sort of unheard consensus.
"Alright! No rest for the pink," Pinkie commented, trotting back into the kitchen.
I raised my book again and kept reading.
It's hard to say for sure which art spawned the idea of lyrics. While both music and magic can be used without words, oftentimes those spells or songs that are considered "strongest" include meaningful, repeatable words or lyrics. After all, what does normal even mean? Is normal never talking to Vinyl again? Is it just being weird, unlikely friends? Is normal more or less than I have now? Can I stand it?
I squeezed my eyes shut. When I opened them, the printed words had returned to their usual sense, scientific selves.
I closed the book.
"So, what's new?" Rainbow asked. "I haven't seen that book before."
I glanced down at the cover.
"At least, I-- I don't think I have." Rainbow chuckled. "You read damn fast."
"It's new." I started to cut into my pastry-hybrid. "I started it yesterday."
"Cool. Is it good?"
"It's, uh…" I looked down at it. In the musical notes on the cover, I could only see Vinyl's cutie mark. "It's… What's new with you?"
A look of suspicion crossed Rainbow's eyes, darkening them for only a moment. "Uh… well, I pulled a muscle in my lower back and now I can't sit up straight. Do you think I have to go to the doctor for that?"
"I dunno…" I mumbled. I put a bite of pancake in my mouth.
"Do you think I should go to the doctor?" Rainbow pressed. "'Cause I really, really don't feel like it, but I'm worried it'll affect my flying… it kinda hurts if I stretch my wing up over my head like this--"
She began to contort herself, her wing brushing over the table in the process. I steadied the rattling dishes with my magic.
Rainbow shrieked in pain and snapped her wing back into her side. "Yep. Hurts when I do that."
I glared at her.
She laughed sheepishly. "Sorry."
"Yes. You should go to the doctor," I said.
"Ugh…" Rainbow melted back into her seat. "I knew you were gonna say that."
"Then why did you ask?"
Rainbow pointed her hoof at me. "Excellent question. Here's another question I already know the answer to: what the hay is going on with you and Vinyl?"
I rolled my eyes. "I--"
"--don't know, sure," Rainbow finished for me. "But AJ and I don't buy that."
"Really?" I asked.
Rainbow shifted in her seat. "Well… okay, AJ doesn't buy that. And I agree with her. 'Cause she's stupid hot and stupid smart."
"Holy hell…" I covered my eyes with my hooves.
"Did something else happen?" Rainbow asked. "We've been trying to figure it out. We keep running into her around town and she gives us these crazy looks, like--"
"Who's we?" I asked.
Rainbow looked down at the floor. "E-everypony…"
"You've all run into her around town?" I felt like somepony was dribbling my heart up and down against my pelvis. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"
"Well, I-- I--" Rainbow kind of shrugged, still staring down at the floor. "I dunno, we figured that it wouldn't last this long. But I'm-- I'm starting to get worried that something happened. You can tell us anything, y'know."
I swallowed hard. "I know."
"So… can you at least be honest with me about what's going on?" Rainbow asked. "Like, totally honest? I can't exactly help you out if I don't know what the problem is."
I sighed.
This was the curse of having friends that knew you this deeply. They could practically smell when something was off, and they wouldn't let go until they'd figured out the problem and made some lousy attempt at fixing it. Or… well. Sometimes my friends were pretty good. They are the Elements of Harmony, after all.
"Well…" I shifted in my seat. Rainbow leaned forward in hers. "There may have been… a development."
"Really?!" Rainbow reached out to grab my hoof.
"Shush!" I scolded.
"Sorry, sorry." Rainbow sat back down in her chair. "What happened? Can you tell me?"
"Yeah, but…" I looked around the room. It was mostly empty, save for two ponies at other tables eating alone. "Not here."
Rainbow laughed. "Come on, Two. It's not state secrets or anything. Unless…?"
"No!" I gave her a disappointed look. "I just… I'd rather not talk about it with so many other ponies around."
Rainbow nodded. "I guess I can respect that. Where do you wanna go?"
"We could go back to--"
"Also, can AJ come? She's… probably better for advice on this stuff than I am." Rainbow smiled sheepishly.
I rolled my eyes. "Sure, Rainbow. Let's invite the whole town while we're at it."
I stood and started towards the door.
Rainbow was hot on my tail. "Well-- we don't need the whole town. Just AJ."
"She kissed me," I said.
Rainbow and Applejack gasped. Applejack kind of made an 'ain't that cute' face, and Rainbow covered her mouth with both hooves.
"But… she's still dating Octavia," I said.
"Eesh…" Applejack commented.
"Yikes," Rainbow added.
I sighed. "At least, I think she is."
Applejack and Rainbow exchanged a look.
"You're sure Octavia isn't more herd-inclined?" Applejack asked.
I scoffed. "Definitely not. Vinyl told me herself that she's pretty possessive, and with the way Vinyl's been acting? I can't think of another explanation."
Rainbow whistled. "That's a tough spot, Twi."
"I'm just trying to forget it about it right now," I said. "It's really not my business, after all."
Applejack was looking up at the ceiling, deep in thought. Rainbow was sort of staring at the wall, as if trying to imitate Applejack's deep thinking, but not quite understanding the point.
"Really," I said. "I don't expect there to be a solution, girls. Rainbow just said you were worried about me, and I didn't want you to worry."
"You know what this sounds like to me?" Applejack said. She looked at me, her eyes narrow and focused like a private investigator on the cover of a detective novel.
"Uh…" I thought for a moment. The question was far too vague to consider, though. "I dunno. What does it sound like?"
Applejack nodded slightly. "It sounds like Vinyl's bad relationship is creating a rift in her friendship with you."
Rainbow looked over at Applejack. She smiled knowingly.
"Whoa, I--" I laughed. "I don't think we can go that far."
"Can't go that far on what?" Applejack pressed.
I stuttered. "O-on anything! We don't know that their relationship is bad--"
"Sounds pretty bad to me," Rainbow commented.
"--and, even if it is, what it's doing between the two of us isn't exactly a 'rift in a friendship', it's more of a… of a…" I was at a loss for words. How to describe what was happening? Mutual pining? Love triangle?
"Who even knows what the difference is between friendships and relationships?" Rainbow asked nopony in particular. "I feel like they're pretty close."
"Excellent point, Rainbow Dash," Applejack said, with a nod and a smile.
"Why, thank you, Applejack," Rainbow Dash answered. The two sniggered to themselves.
I cleared my throat.
"You've got a friendship problem," Applejack said.
I looked at her. Then at Rainbow Dash. Then back at her. The two were equally smug, wearing nearly the same face precisely.
I scoffed. "By the loosest of definitions."
Rainbow shrugged. "Who gives a shit?"
I slumped back in my chair. "Fine. Say I do have a friendship problem. How does that get me any closer to fixing things?"
"Oh, that's easy;" Applejack nudged Rainbow. "If it's a friendship problem, that gives me and Rainbow, here, permission to do something inadvisable and ultimately unhelpful to try to solve it."
"Yep!" Rainbow folded her hooves behind her head. "As long as we learn something from it, it's fair game."
"That sounds like a mockery of the elements," I said.
We were silent for a moment.
"But…" I leaned in closer to them. "Out of curiosity… what exactly would you do?"