//------------------------------// // Delirium // Story: Dear Journal // by Not //------------------------------// *note this is a short chapter, and I will not edit or revise it at all unless needed. I wrote it between 1:30 and 2 am, so I have no idea how good it is. I stumbled through the door of the boutique. I was glad that no one recognized me when I wasn’t in disguise. Did that make how I regularly looked a disguise? I guess the fake needle and thread cutie mark was kind of a disguise. Whatever. I had a mission. I was greeted almost immediately by a white unicorn with a purple mane. “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where everything is sheek, unique, and magnifuque! How may I help you?” She smiled as she said it. She was as pretty as I was told, but hopefully some of the other things I had been told were just rumors. “Hello. Are you Rarity? The element of generosity?” “Yes I am. What can I help you with?” Her smile stayed as she said it. “I’m Salieri Star, and I was wondering...”This was the part that was going to be hard... “Well um...” I scratched the back of my head. “Seeing as you are the element of generosity I thought you’d be the pony to ask first.” Come on. Just ask. It’s not that big a deal. “I mean... I would help you in any way I can if you say yes but...” Out with it man! “I have no place to stay in town for the night. Could I stay here? I am good at using my magic for intricate things, and I would help you in any way that I can to pay for letting me stay, because, well, I have money, but not much, and if you want I could pay for the room, and I’m talking too much and should let you answer now shouldn’t I?” Smooth... real smooth. She was slightly stunned. I don’t know if it was by the question or by the long sentence that followed it. “I... I don’t know what to say.” Her smile dropped, but only to a neutral expression. “It would be one thing if you were a mare, and another if I knew you a bit better.” She paused for a moment. “Wait... I’ve heard that name somewhere before.” I sighed. “Was it when you were a filly?” She gasped. “I didn’t know you when I was little did I?” I smiled at that. “No. We’re about the same age though, and people first started hearing that name when I was still little.” She thought for a moment and her eyes lit up. “You’re not... Are you? You are! But...” she looked at my cutie mark. “That’s impossible. His cutie mark was a violin with four bows. Yours is a sewing needle.” My smile turned into a cocky smirk. “No it’s not.” She raised an eyebrow. “Then what am I looking at?” My horn glowed and the mark turned into a violin with four bows. “A fake.” My horn glowed again, and the mark was simply gone. She gasped. “What?!?” Time for damage control. “I’ve never had a real cutie mark. When I was little and I found out that I was good with music people were proud of me... there was only one type of spell that I was really good at other than my telepathy. I was really good at illusions.” I sighed. “They were all just so proud, and I was the last one in my class without a cutie mark, so... I faked it.” Her smile returned. “So the coolest musician from when I was a filly didn’t even have music as a special talent? What is your talent then?” I pointed at my hip where there was no longer a mark. “This is what it looks like when I don’t have any illusion set up.” I looked out the window at the setting sun. “I’m sorry to rush you, but I need to know if I can stay. If not I have to go quickly to ask the element of kindness” “Well... normally I wouldn’t, but it is getting late, and the guest room is set up. So sure. You can stay one night. Besides.” Her smile turned into the same smirk I had before. “I want to know more about you, and... I want proof.” She hurried off to another room. I followed quickly after her and stopped in the doorway. “Proof of what?” She was levitating three violins out of a cabinet. “What else? Proof that you are who you say you are. You were the only colt who could play the impossible quartet.” I was a bit surprised, but there was one issue. “We need a cello for that. I also need something to help me tune the strings, and a standard set of tuning forks won’t do.” “Well if you’re willing to spread your secret to just one more mare I can get the cello easily, but why won’t a standard set work?” I half smiled as I thought back to my intelligent little trick. “Ponies always wanted to copy me, and I didn’t want anypony to be able to copy this song, so I tuned all the strings differently. Even the unicorns that watched really closely only saw where the bar was and what string I was playing. The unicorns that listened really closely heard every single note, but the notes didn’t make sense. You couldn’t play those notes together like that on so few instruments using those standard bars.” My smile grew a bit sheepish. “It was actually the only song that I liked playing.” “Do you normally tell all your secrets to a mare when you first meet her?” Had I really been doing that? I needed sleep. REALLY badly. “I don’t think so. I’m usually really good at keeping all my secrets. but I’ve also never been awake for this long in my life.” I looked at the clock “What day is it?” “It’s the twenty third. How long have you been awake if It has you this far out of it?” I smiled a big delirious smile. “I’ll tell you after I play the song. Get the cello, and I’ll tune the violins. I can try to do it by ear, but if you can get a full set of tuning forks it might be a bit better.” She looked a bit worried, but she went on her way. I tuned the first violin rather easily. I was always good at that one, but the other two were harder. The first violin took somewhere between 2 and 15 minutes to tune. When you haven’t slept in a while you start losing your sense of time. I worked on the second one, but I only got done tuning one string when Rarity walked back into the room with a light blue pony, a small wooden box, and a cello in tow. Rarity looked to her friend. “Well Lyra, here he is, now hand them over so we can both have proof.” Lyra did what she was told, and after a little bit longer and only seeing Lyra cringe a few times as I got the instruments set up with non-standard tuning I was ready. “Time for the show, ladies.” I propped each instrument up as needed. My horn glowed and the same glow surrounded the bows, and the bars. The melody began on only one violin, then a different violin responded much higher. The first violin repeated itself with the cello accenting it with its deeper tones. Soon all three violins were playing, and so was the cello. There were always two notes being played at a time on each instrument, and each conveyed a deep emotion. The first violin was sad, the second was happy and quick, but the third was slow and longing, while the cello jumped between the three emotions. The song conveyed confusion more than anything else, and right then it came to the climax. After producing one rich, thick, harmonious sound all of the instruments went silent other than the third violin. It played ten more seconds of slow sad longing music, then grew silent. I quickly tuned all of the instruments back to normal with my magic and bowed. I stood and stated “Three days and sixteen hours.” then passed out on the floor.