//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirteen, Enter Shop, Make Rock. // Story: Dancing Flames, Cooling Ember // by Tamara Bloodhoof //------------------------------// Chapter 13, Enter Shop, Make Rock. Manehattan. Of course, there had to be a version of Manhattan here. I mean, Ponyville seemed to be a revision of Smallville, so here we are, the big apple of this world, arriving right at nightfall. ‘Anyone else feel like we stepped out of a badly made Batman episode?’ ‘Will you shut up?’ ‘You said I could heckle you later if I shut up then, so no.’ ‘Fine, you win.’ We had all stopped what seemed like the entrance, the clustered city sprawling out before us. The four ponies, Aquanaut ‘If she helps small animals I’m going to destroy something.’, Rose blossom, Nightwing ‘Not sexy enough, and definitely makes me feel like we’re stepping out of a Batman episode.’, and Derek ‘Only one with a sensible name.’ had all warmed up to us over the ten hour trek it took to reach Manehattan. “So where are we going?” Knightwing asked me and Grim. “Well, we’re searching for a griffin, so I’d say asking the police station would be the most useful task.” I said. ‘Besides, the red string only shows us where he’s been, I’d need to retrace his steps exactly or else I’d lose my sense of direction pretty quickly. Directions to where he’s going would be quite useful.’ Rose Blossom spoke up then, trotting over to me. “Aquanaut and me could show you where the police station is.” I looked at the both of them, my eyebrows raised. “Why would two mares who haven’t served time know exactly where the main police station is in a city like this? Anything you haven’t told us?” Rose Blossom started to rub her two forehooves together, her cheeks turning a deep scarlet. “Ummmmmm……we both dated some of the police stallions who worked there.” Aquanaut piped up, “They’re so handsome, yet most of the time they just go to waste, so we just nabbed them. Quick, easy, and absolutely magnificent.” As she spoke her vision seemed to slip out of focus, her tongue actually lolling out of her mouth. I looked behind me and saw Grim’s ears had shot straight up and his tail was wagging like mad, his face looking just as stupid as Aquanaut’s. “Why don’t you take Grim to the station, I’ll catch you later.” I said, smiling at Grim’s suddenly elated smile. “Wait, now that I think of it, where should we meet up?” “We’ll meet up at the ‘Hard Rock Café’. Rose and Aqua know where it is, so it should be a simple thing for us to meet up, and besides, it’s a token landmark.” Derek said, nonchalantly examining his right forelock for sand or dirt. I laughed at his feigned aloofness. “Sure, why not, then I get supper as a token of thanks.” As I said that they all paled. “Buy all of you some supper, not eat you.” I muttered, to which they all breathed a sigh of relief. “Wait, what? You guys have money?” Nightwing asked, his brows still up. Grim held out a paw, a diamond about the size of my palm held within. “We thought we could use these as our currency.” The four ponies eyes popped, their jaws hitting the floor. “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!” Rose shrieked, her eyes comically turning into miniature diamonds themselves. “HOW MANY OF THESE THINGS DO YOU HAVE!?” “Umm…I’d say somewhere around twelve gems of that size, fifteen of a half palm size, and about thirty assorted other gems, mostly emeralds and sapphires.” I said, ticking off the numbers on my claws. Counting on my claws actually got a lot trickier recently, what with losing an entire finger and all. Derek looked at the gem in Grim’s paw, then at me. “Any chance we could get a small one of those instead?” he asked, his tone suddenly much more polite than before. “Yes, but lose the accent or you’re never getting it.” I grumbled. “So a gem dealer would be a good place to go? Guess we may as well head out then. We’ll meet up at the café in two hours?” I asked, to a general consensus of yes. “Okay then, let’s go.” ‘Autobots, roll out!’ ‘I’ll give you that one.’ ‘Did I ever ask you to?’ ‘You have a point there.’ ************************************************** Nightwing, Derek, and I walked through the town, but I could feel the atmosphere that surrounded me, the stares from everypony that walked past me. Hell, one of the ponies that only saw me once I had come up close literally shrieked and fell into a cart of cabbages next to him, earning him a severe berating from the old grandpa pony next to him. “My cabbages!” “Is everyone like this?” I asked Derek, who just nodded his head in conformation. “What, do I have some food stuck in my teeth?” “It’s your teeth that are the problem.” Nightwing replied, trotting up from behind me so that we walked side by side. “I’m guessing the only reason nobody’s done anything rash is because we’re walking with you.” ‘Oooooooooohhh, the ponies are little racists, awesome!’ ‘Is life just one big joke to you?’ ‘I’ll get back to you in a bit, I just need to finish playing LIFE, I’ve still got to get to college.’ ‘A joke it is.’ ‘Damn right it is!’ I sighed in resignation before following up Nightwing’s comment with a query, “Do you guys hold special influence or anything?” Derek laughed. “Like hell he does. Look at his Cutiemark, what does it look like?” I stared at his Cutiemark, a group of three cups with a pearl laying in the middle of them. “It looks like guess the cup?” Derek smiled, “Close, but no cigar. His special talent is closest to charlatanism, but hey, he’s actually quite honest once you get to know him, you just have to understand what he’s really saying once he flips into greasy mode.” Now that I think of it, Derek’s Cutiemark was rather strange in and of itself. It was a guitar, but there were no strings attached to it. What on earth could that mean? ‘No clue, wanna ask him?’ ‘No, that’s a rather personal question in my opinion.’ We turned another corner and I saw exactly what I was hoping for, a significant curve in the string, leading into the shop and then curving diagonally upwards into the sky. The shop that the string led into was a gem shop ‘Convenient much?’ that looked slick. Sleazy slick. It seemed that the griffins, unable to eat gems, traded the precious minerals they looted from the dead dogs in order to get supplies and food. But to reach this point after so long, one of them must’ve had the knowledge of how to survive off the land. Maybe they ate the coconuts? Maybe one of them knew how to catch clams or mollusks? We walked into the shop, the timetable outside saying we had about thirty minutes left to shop before it closed for the night. As we entered a pony, dressed in the upper half of a suit, rushed up to meet us, his (French?) accent thick and oily. “Mademoiselle, how may Pierre he……” he said before he saw me, his voice stuttering to a halt. He gazed at me with unadulterated fear. “Ma……..Ma……..how may I help you.” ‘Racist and false, how quaint.’ ‘For once I believe that you’re exactly right.’ ‘Still don’t care about that.’ I looked at him, then at the red string that lead into a backroom, “Mind taking us to the same room that the two griffins went to. I want to trade gems, just like them.” His face turned from his original oily black to a creamy white. “How….how…..how do….. how do you know?” he said, his accent completely gone, instead a common place city accent replacing his now evidently fake French accent. ‘Wow, less than a minute and the accent disappears.’ “Is that really of concern to you?” Nightwing asked, cocking an eyebrow. “I thought that you were a merchant, not an Inquisitor. May we please sell you some gems? If not, just say so. We’ll just find another gem dealer, but, as your prices were so beautiful, we thought that you would be the best dealer there is.” Nightwing said, slowly turning away from the Pierre. “No, NO!” Pierre called, obviously frantic. “I mean……right zis vay mademoiselle.” He stuttered, pointing a hoof towards the door. ‘Wow, who’s that desperate to make a sale with such a bad accent?’ ‘Him obviously, but you’re right, the accent is annoying’ “Unless you lose the accent, you’re going to get nothing and we’ll find somebody else.” Nightwing said, throwing me a quick glance, obviously noticing my growing annoyance. “Otherwise, lead on.” Pierre stumbled slightly before moving to the backroom and opening the door. “After y..you….” he stuttered, the three of us entering the room. Nightwing immediately took control. “Excuse me ma’am, but what gems would you like to sell?” I tapped my chin, “How about two palm sized diamonds, a set of five emeralds, and a shard of obsidian?” Pierre’s eyes popped. “If…if you don’t mind…I’d….I’d uh…..buy them for four thousand bits?” he said, smiling widely, a gleam in his eyes. Nightwing slowly turned to him, looking at him as if he were a disgusting bug. “Four thousand? FOUR THOUSAND! Buck no, they’re being sold for eight thousand or else we’re leaving.” Pierre tugged at his collar ‘How do they do that with no fingers? HOW!?’, before muttering, “I could give you seven thousand…….” “Eight thousand.” Nightwing said nonchalantly. “Please sir!” Pierre gasped, his head now covered in a sheen of sweat. “Fine then, you can get them for seven thousand five hundred. We’re walking unless you say yes.” Pierre shifted from hoof to hoof, obviously nervous. “Give me a seco…..” “No.” Nightwing interrupted, “It’s now or never. You’ve got seven seconds to choose.” “What, wait!” Pierre cried, obviously torn between the call of such riches and the loss of so many bits. “Seven, six, five…” Nightwing said, inspecting his hoof. “Please!” “Three…” “What happened to four!?” “I lost count. Awe well, can’t get blood from a gutless turnip.” Nightwing said, turning to the door, “Come on, we’re leaving.” “You can’t go to any other shop right now, they’re all closed!” Pierre cried, pointing his hoof triumphantly at Nightwing. Nightwing looked over his shoulder, his eyes flashing dangerously. “Watch me.” He then turned to us and trotted past, calling over his shoulder, “Come on.” As we exited the building I looked down at the black stallion, my eyebrows raised. “Wasn’t that a tad bit rash? Where else are we going to go now?” Nightwing, aside from raising a hoof to my lips, ignored me, counting down under his breath, “Three, two…..” “WAIT PLEASE!” a voice called from the shop behind us. “I’LL PAY THE BITS! PLEASE COME BACK!” Nightwing sniggered, “Works every time.” ************************************************** It was unbelievable, over seven and a half grand (is it still called that?) in just a span of twenty minutes. I had asked Pierre if he had any clue where the griffins would head next, but, just like I thought, he had no clue. ‘Oily businessmen usually aren’t known for having spines.’ ‘And asshole sisters aren’t usually listened to.’ ‘Why do you think I ignore you usually?’ ‘Touché.’ After the stop at Pierres gem shop we decided to roam the town for a bit until it was time to meet up. Derek and Nightwing seemed to know the town quite well, but neither seemed to have a place they wanted to head to. I mean, who knows a town but doesn’t have a favorite place to hang out? “Derek, Nightwing?” I said tentatively, “Would you mind heading to a music store?” The two stallions looked at one another, then at me, then at each other again, this time with raised eyebrows. “Why do you want to go there?” Derek asked, his face breaking into a wide grin. “Because I wanted to buy Grim a violin…” I said, my scales turning a light purple. “So you’re a couple?” Nightwing said, raising a eyebrow. “Hell no!” I shouted to the heavens, “He doesn’t even like girls!” Nightwing nodded, smiling. “Thought so. He’s hardcore gay, right?” My face flushed as I remembered our first meeting. “Yea.” ‘Awwww, is the Katniss sad that her Peeta is gay?’ ‘Gemina, if you had a body by now you’d have been mauled to death.’ ‘Disagreed, I’d be sitting on your head, pinning you all Kakashi style. Am I right or am I right Keiko?’ ‘Don’t….kill……self……injury……tempting!’ I thought, even the voice in my head sounding strangled in pure rage. ‘Hi there black mage, choking on your rage still?’ I felt a hoof on my arm. As I quickly came to my senses I realized I had suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, my hands held up in the ‘DA FU?’ position. “Annnyways, the closest shop is about a block away. We could go there, look around, and even be back within about an hour which coincidentally is exactly how much time we have left before our meeting time.” Derek said, looking at a shops clock. “So what you say, stay or go?” “Sure, lead the way.” I said, my arms dropping by my side. I plodded after Derek, Nightwing trotting alongside, Gemina arguing with me all the way. ************************************************** The shop that Derek had mentioned seemed to be a catch twenty two music store, with all sorts of instruments placed neatly in their stands. One even held an ocarina. The way Derek was walking through the store though, it was definitely more of an ‘I know this place better than I know you.’ Stance. “Derek, do you live here?” I asked him as we walked through the shop. “Nope, but it was where I got my Cutiemark. You see, while I love instruments, I’m just no good at them. I still loved them though, so I took a part time job here when I was younger. Was my first job ever, and I instantly got the gist of how to organize the instruments, how to clean them. After my first week of working there I arrived to work and everyone was surprised I had a mark on my plot. Now then, what do you……Ember?” Derek said, slipping out of his monologue. I was walking towards a silver flute. It was built in the same shape as the ones back home. Dear lord, it had been so long since I had played one of those. Did I still have the talent? ‘I won’t begrudge you your moment this time.’ Gemina whispered, receding from my conscious. I didn’t pay much attention to that, too focused on the flute in front of me. I slowly reached out a claw and picked up the flute, placing my fingers on the keys. Cocking my arms into the upright position I raised the flute to my lips, blowing a soft, low F. It resounded throughout the shop, causing the room to be filled with a low reverberation. ‘Do I still remember how to play that song? I might as well try.’ I began to blow, a soft sweet melody playing from the instrument, a harp played somewhere from behind me. I kept breathing, the wind skirting over the mouthpiece, my fingers moving at a restrained pace. The music was around me, within me……was me. I gave in, feeling myself slip into the music. More instruments joined my song, a small choir of instruments, playing in harmony, the tune softly calling of home, of the dreams we had, of the love we shared………Thank you so much Mark…….. Once the song finished I lowered the flute and turned back to Derek and Nightwing, only to see they were no longer alone. Rather, a whole crowd of ponies had filed into the shop, old and young, scruffy and refined, all sorts. Derek slowly clopped forward. “How?” “Years of practice.” I said, blushing. “It was quite hard to le….” “I meant how did you make a one person orchestra?” he asked, small tears in his eyes. “It was beautiful.” I looked around, noticing that many instruments were surrounded by an odd glow, crimson in color. ‘Was that from me?’ ‘Either way, it was magnificent.’ ‘Thank you.’ ‘Seems like you may actually be growing up.’ I looked at the gaggle of ponies surrounding me. This was gonna be weird. I coughed and looked around. “Who own the shop?” “We do!” came a pair of voices from the middle of the crowd, and two ponies, one male, the other female, both with light tan coats, pushed their way through the crowd. “Whatcha need?” “I was wondering if I could buy a violin. I know I like the flute, but I wasn’t here to get one.” I said, sighing as I placed the instrument down, my longing for the instrument evident. “Aw shucks, keep it, we’ve got other instruments we could sell.” said the male. “Looks like Derek finally met someone who knew how to play an instrument anyway.” The mare nodded. “Besides, you’ve more than paid for it with that little performance, just look!” I followed her sweeping hoof, noticing that a huge amount of ponies had started to look at the instruments that surrounded them. “You’ve brought in more than our usual rush, so take it, it’s on the house.” I gasped, then swept them both up in a hug. While at first they struggled, once they realized my intentions were non-lethal they went limp. As I let them go, the mare breathing a sigh of relief, wiping a sheen of sweat off her forehead with her hoof. “I’m still going to pay for something. I wanted to see if you had any violins?” The stallion smiled cheekily at me, “Sure thing, just over here.” I looked to Derek, but he just waved me on, telling me to get on with it. Grinning, I walked over with the duo, starting to browse their selection. ************************************************** “Hey, over here!” Rose called out, waving at us from the middle of the line. Everyone was standing around Grim, but seemed to realize that he was *snort* harmless. We walked over to them, and the line seemed to draw back from us. After they realized we were with the ponies however, they breathed out, obviously relieved. Derek looked at me and gave me a smile and wink. “So then, you guys leaving right now?” I glanced at Grim, who nodded in agreement. “Yes, I believe it’s time for us to leave. I know that it isn’t the best way to leave each other’s company, but here.” I say, putting a diamond into Derek’s hoof along with a hundred bits. “Buy dinner and have a good time tonight. Thanks for helping us.” Aquanaut grinned at me, then gave me a hug. “Don’t you dare forget about us, okay?” “I wouldn’t dream of it.” I said, hugging her back. As we let go Nightwing and Derek thumped Grim on the back and Rose kissed both of us. “Goodbye.” I called, turning away. “See ya/Hasta luego/Au revoir/Bye.” They responded, waving at us. As we started out of the city I started talking to Grim, a smile plastered over both of our faces. “So then, guess you had fun going and seeing the hot police ponies, am I right?” “Pretty much.” “So then would you like to do it again?” “Definitely.” “Well, since I had a good time and you had a good time I’d call it a night well…..” “EMBER!” I spun around to see a sight that chilled my blood. Grim’s hind paw was clutched by another one, the later protruding from the ground. His eyes met mine for a second, then gone.