My Little Pony: The Next Generation
The Chapter with New Characters
As the sun rose over Manehattan, the crew found themselves rising as well. They had all slept well after the previous evening’s excitement. The morning got off to its normal start of talking, joking, and togetherness in the lounge. They were interrupted before long by the sound of Spike receiving a letter, which Twilight began to read out loud.
“Dear Princess Twilight and Associates, My family arrived in Manehattan today, in anticipation of your harmony tour stop. When it was discovered that I have already met you, they expressed the desire to meet you all in a more relaxed setting. That said, I would like to invite you all to enjoy dinner with us after the festivities. Please respond post haste. Sincerely, Ambassador Dusk.”
As she finished reading the letter, the group had already come to a unanimous decision: Yes. It was a mere five minutes before Spike had written and sent the response. As the puff of flame rolled out the window, the crew was split into its two subgroups. The older ponies prepared for another tour stop, while the younger ones began planning for the day.
T had formulated a rather devious plan for the day. Annie had a great appreciation for sound, due to her condition. As such, she had always loved music. There was no better place in Equestria to hear live music than Manehattan (except for Nieghsville). While the others plotted out their adventures, T silently grabbed Annie’s hoof and lead her down into the streets.
“Where are we going?” she asked when the sounds of the city began to assault her ears.
“I can’t tell you. It’ll ruin the surprise.” She found herself strangely comforted by his answer, but was now excited to find out where she was going. Before long, she felt a gust of wind much cooler than usual, signaling that they had entered a building. She heard the gentle murmur of ponies talking amongst themselves and the smell of food. He had taken her to a restaurant.
T led Annie to an open table and helped her into her seat. He ordered a sweet tea while Annie preferred water. T soon noticed the pony he wanted to see as he walked out on the small stage with an acoustic guitar. “Stay here,” he whispered to Annie and approached the performer. He had met this stallion years ago at a concert in Ponyville. T had always made a hobby of music, but never felt like he would be able to live off of it. He whispered in the musician’s ear and pointed towards Annie. The performer’s face lit up as he smiled and nodded, and T soon returned to his seat.
Annie soon noticed how close T was next to her. He had pulled his chair right next to hers and was almost leaning against her. Before she had time to question why, the music began to play. It was a gentle tune, a song about passion for music. Not long after she had realized this, she noticed something else: T was singing along, but only to her. He whispered the lyrics in her ear, his voice beautiful if not a bit gruff. He began to get a bit louder as the chorus came around.
Whoa-oh, I can hear em playin,
I can hear the ringing of a beat up old guitar.
Whoa-oh, I can hear em sayin
Keep on dreamin even if it breaks your heart.
She had never heard this song before, but it was quite obvious T liked it a lot. By the time the chorus rolled around again, she was singing right back to him, losing herself in the melody. By the time the last few notes rang out, they were both locked in a deep kiss, savoring the moment they had just experienced. While they were surrounded by other ponies, their world had become nothing but each other and the music. They pulled away from each other to applaud the pony on stage.
“That one goes out to a good friend of mine and his special filly.” The performer said before preparing for the next number. As he began to play again, the couple’s food arrived, and they began to eat and listen to the music. While both Annie and T would admit, this date wasn’t much, but it was absolutely perfect.
After a day of running about the city finding ways to entertain themselves, everypony was soon back at the hotel to prepare for dinner with the ambassador and his family. They were getting dressed, combing their manes, doing everything they could to look dignified. They were soon strolling down the street towards the rendezvous point with a noticeable pep in their collective step. They soon arrived outside the restaurant where they saw Dusk and two other changelings, one the same size as him and one a bit smaller.
“Ah, hello again everypony. Glad you could make it.” Dusk then turned to the two changelings behind him. “This is my wife Quartz and my son Ebony.” Just like most changelings, they looked quite similar, except for their eyes. Dusk’s were a deep, dark blue, while Quartz had a much lighter sky blue. The two combined rather counter intuitively to a green-eyed son.
“Pleasure to meet you,” Quartz said while holding out her hoof. “Ebony, don’t be rude. Say hello.” The young changeling in question was quite obviously awestruck, and struggled to make words come out of his mouth. “I’m so sorry about him. He’s a big fan of those elements of harmony stories.”
“Don’t sweat it,” Rainbow piped up. “That’s just the normal reaction to this much concentrated awesome.” This elicited a laugh from the whole group, and they entered the restaurant as it died down. The conversation was normal fare for a group dinner, with plans for the summer to the kids and opinions of the city from the adults. Before long, the meal was over and the two groups parted ways. The event was the main topic on the trip back to the hotel.
“I don’t think that colt uttered a single word the entire meal,” Claire observed.
“I know, right?” added Candy. “Shame, too. He was pretty cute…”