//------------------------------// // Chapter 3-Sidetracked By ScramJet // Story: Abstract Helps Kyo Date Gilda // by AbstractThought //------------------------------// After I finished showing Kyo his favorite fantasy, I set off to find Princess Twilight Sparkle and ask her about her flight with Gilda. Fortunately, I knew Twilight fairly well; she was a fan of my thought columns and she was intrigued by my special ability, so I’d visit sometimes to read and discuss and be examined and such. Her becoming an alicorn princess came as a surprise to me, but she had assured everypony that she was still the same pony, so I wasn’t nervous. Too bad Kyo couldn’t see it that way. Oh well. I could see Twilight’s signature tree library a couple of blocks away. I picked up the pace, determined to get the info I needed as fast as I could. Nothing would get in the way of my quest to help my friend. Nothing in all of- “BOOM!” I cried out and dropped to the ground in terror, my ears overwhelmed with an intense booming noise. At first I was afraid that a bomb had gone off nearby, but when the noise continued, I realized that it was simply a really loud sound system coming from the house to my right. I stood up, using my magic to fold my ears into my head to reduce the noise I heard, and walked over to the front door and knocked loudly, shouting, “Excuse me, could you turn down your music, please?!” There was no answer. Evidently, the music was too loud for the occupants to hear anything else. “EXCUSE ME!” I bellowed, banging on the door, “YOUR MUSIC IS TOO LOUD!” Still no answer. I groaned in frustration, unsure what to do, until suddenly, an idea came to me. I went up to the window and conjured up a thought image of a bright blinking neon sign saying, “YOU HAVE A VISITOR”. After about ten seconds, I saw the front door open and a light gray unicorn with an orange mane poke his head outside. I saw him mouth something, but I couldn’t make it out. I quickly changed the image sign to say, “I CAN’T HEAR YOU.” He seemed to get the message and signaled something to somepony inside, and the music cut off shortly afterward. His lips moved again, but my ears were ringing so harshly that I still couldn’t hear him. I changed the sign again to read, “MY EARS ARE RINGING.” He nodded and lit up his horn, and a second later, my ears popped and the ringing went away. “Whoa!” I yelped in surprise. “Can you hear me now?” the unicorn asked me. “Yeah, I can hear you,” I responded. “Good,” he said, “I was saying, what was that light show you were doing?” “Oh, that’s just a unique ability I have,” I explained, “I can use my magic to make images of what I’m thinking.” “Wow, that’s pretty cool,” the unicorn remarked. “Thanks!” I said, “Now, what was that spell you used?” “Oh, that was a spell to restore hearing,” he answered, “It really comes in handy for me cause I really like loud music.” “Heh, I can tell,” I snarked. “Yeah, I guess that was a little too loud, huh?” he said abashedly, “Sorry, I just got this new sound system installed and I really wanted to try it out.” “I understand,” I replied, “Have you thought about soundproofing?” “Yeah, don’t worry, I have a guy for that coming over,” he assured me. “Good to hear,” I said, “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name’s Abstract Thought, what’s yours?” I asked, holding out my hoof. “ScramJet,” he answered, giving me a hoofbump. It was then I noticed that he had black, metallic-looking wings attached to his back. “Whoa, you’re an alicorn?!” I blurted in astonishment. “Well, not a natural one,” he explained, flapping his metallic wings with a slight mechanical creak, “I had these implanted in me a while back.” “Wow,” I breathed, touching the wings with my hoof, “Can you fly with them? And can you feel anything touch them?” “Yeah, I can fly with them,” he said, “And no, I can’t feel anything that touches them. I still don’t like them being touched, though.” “Oh, sorry,” I apologized, retracting my hoof, “Where’d you get the wings from and why?” ScramJet gave me a serious look and said in a grave tone, “That, my friend, is a very long and detailed story. Do you think you are prepared to hear it?” My curiosity burned, but I knew I couldn’t stay too long or Kyo would never let me hear the end of it. Plus, ScramJet was kinda creeping me out at that moment. “Uh, maybe later,” I replied hesitantly. He sighed and said sulkily, “No one ever wants to hear my wing story.” “Well, I didn’t say I never wanted to-“ “Hey, you wanna see my new sound system?” he interrupted. “Uh, sure,” I said in surprise. “Alright, come in and I’ll show you,” he offered, stepping inside his house and gesturing me to follow him inside. I nodded and went in after him. As I tailed him, I noticed his cutie mark, which looked like a speaker with a trail of fire emitting from it. “Hey, what’s your cutie mark mean?” I asked him. “I dunno, but isn’t it the coolest cutie mark you’ve ever seen?” he responded with a grin. “It’s definitely one of a kind,” I replied. “I sure hope so.” We entered the living room and he gestured to the wall, saying dramatically, “Behold, my ultimate subwoofer supreme!” I stared at the sight before me. The whole wall was filled with speakers, some as big as my head, with a turntable and music player visible to the side. “Wow, that’s, uh, quite a big sound system,” I stated numbly. “I know, right?!” ScramJet gushed, “The pony who sold it to me said that it could literally bring down the house at max volume! Not that I’d want to, of course, but the idea that I could, doesn’t it get you excited?!” “Uh, I guess,” I replied nervously. “I now have the best sound system in Ponyville!” he declared with a grin, “In fact, I invited some DJ friends of mine over so they could hear it in action! They’re over there if you want to meet them!” He gestured to two ponies talking to each other by the music player, one of them a white unicorn with an electric blue mane and purple shades and the other a pale Earth pony with a long dark green mane, a dark purple jacket, and purple goggles. ScramJet called out to them, “Hey Vinyl, Rex, mind if I show the sound system to my buddy Abstract here?” “Sure, dude, the more the merrier!” the unicorn said jovially, “I know the perfect jam he could listen to!” “You got to play the last jam,” the other pony retorted, “It’s my turn now.” “Fine, go ahead, Rex,” the unicorn griped, “it’s not like he’s my friend or anything.” The other pony left the living room silently, rolling his eyes, and the unicorn turned her attention to me. “So, you’re SJ’s new buddy?” she asked me, lifting her shades and looking at me skeptically, “I never expected him to hang with the nerdy type.” “Nice to meet you too,” I replied snarkily, “I’m Abstract Thought, and who might you be?” “You’re kidding, right?” ScramJet asked incredulously, “You’ve never heard of Vinyl Scratch, THE hottest DJ in Equestria?!” “Sorry, I don’t listen to a lot of DJ music,” I apologized. “Wow, dude, you’ve been missing out!” ScramJet burst out, “Vinyl, you gotta play your latest hit for him!” “Aw yeah!” Vinyl cheered, stepping in front of the turntable and placing a couple of records on it, “Alright, nerd boy, prepare to have your mind and ears blown!” “Hey!” the other pony called out from another room, “I thought we agreed…” “Sorry, SJ’s orders!” Vinyl called back as she started up the player. “Uh, guys,” I said nervous, “You’re sure this won’t be too-“ My words were cut off as an explosion of noise erupted from the wall of speakers in front of me, causing me to stumble onto the ground. Panicking, I hastily got to my hooves and ran out the door shakily. ---------- ScramJet facehoofed and groaned, “Dang it, Vinyl, I told you never to play it that loud when you show it off. Not everyone like music as loud as I do.” Vinyl shrugged and said, “Yeah, whatever, I won’t next time.” “Yeah, I haven’t heard that before,” ScramJet said sarcastically. ---------- I ran blindly around Ponyville, not in my right mind from being startled like that. I knew it was rude for me to just leave without even saying goodbye, but well, you tend to not think straight when you’re in a panic. I was barely even thinking about anything until I crashed into someone and we both fell to the ground. “Ow, geez, I’m so sorry I crashed into you like that!” I groaned in embarrassment. “Don’t worry, it’s perfectly fine,” the pony assured me, “Are you alright?” “Yeah, I’m fine, no cuts or anything,” I replied, standing up and turning to face the pony, who was none other than the pony I was looking for earlier. “Twilight?” Well, that was convenient. End of Part 3