Chapter 7: Attuned
Twilight Sparkle wanted to start writing up her findings and her report to Princess Celestia, so we were done with experiments for the day. I didn't argue with her priorities. It had been a productive day. She reminded me of my promise to visit Carousel Boutique for a proper wardrobe, and promised that Rarity would entirely understand after a Pinkie Pie Party that 'first thing in the morning' had slipped to 'well into the afternoon.' I'd forgotten all about that promise with everything else going on.
Twilight also warned me to not buy anything at the market unless I had a pony I trusted with me. The salesponies had apparently taken significant advantage of Lero's unfamiliarity with local market conditions and the process of haggling to overcharge him dramatically when he arrived, and Twilight was intent that I not have the same experience.
I didn't bother pointing out to her that I didn't have any local currency to buy things with if I wanted to. I assumed things would work themselves out. The princesses were personally interested in my situation and had provided me with a custom-made house and a brand-new laboratory built to Twilight Sparkle's specifications. There would probably be some sort of stipend or grant that someone would get around to mentioning sooner or later, and I thought that if Twilight were to mention something of the sort in one of her reports then the matter would be promptly attended to. I did not think Princess Celestia would let the sun set on any items on her to-do list.
With no money, the marketplace was an excellent vantage point for observing pony social interactions. I didn't study sociology and even before my accident I was never much of a social butterfly myself; there are some elements of the 'engineer' stereotype with a substantial basis in truth. But I wasn't a hermit either. I could talk to people, I did have a girlfriend, and so on. So watching how the ponies dealt with each other wasn't any odder than my first visit to a frat party and trying to figure out the rules then.
For the most part, the ponies were just people. They walked between stalls on their personal business, they chatted with each other, they bought things. The haggling process was highly idiosyncratic, but I started to pick up on patterns. Not the sort that made reality vanish, though every time a unicorn decided to pick something up I developed a unicorn-shaped hole in the world filled with those. The patterns were behavior. A pony would express some interest in the offerings of a stall. The salespony would praise their wares and praise their customer's eye for either quality or a bargain. The customer would downplay their interest, but suggest some other item at the stall, either because the other item was their original intent or as a distraction. The salespony would allow the customer to guide the conversation and switch to praising the new focus instead. Offers and counteroffers would be exchanged throughout the process, both sides starting with presumably overtly inaccurate valuations and slowly converging based on the flow of the conversation, until either a deal was reached or, more rarely, both sides recognized no bargain was possible.
There were other techniques, but that was the most common pattern. The simplest of them all was one colt whose technique was to put down his money and state its value while pointing out what he wanted, then repeating his offer until the salespony either accepted or rejected it. I decided that if I needed to buy something and had the bits for it, and knew a fair value, then that would be a reasonable way to proceed. But then I had another idea. I saw Twilight's friend Applejack doing a brisk business selling apples and waved to her. She waved back and beckoned me over.
"Howdy there, Gus!" she greeted me. "Y'all feelin' recovered after your first unscheduled Pinkie Pie Party? She springs 'em on everypony. You get used to 'em, an' she's learned not everypony can keep up with her."
"I suggested it," I told her. "She needed a pick-me-up."
Applejack's jack dropped much like Rainbow Dash's did. She recovered on her own, without a magical intervention. "Hold on jes' a moment there, sugarcube. Y'all are tell me that you told Pinkie Pie to have a party on account of she needed one? How in tarnation did y'all get a word in edgewise?"
I couldn't tell her everything, not without unkindly making Pinkie sound bad, so I didn't include all the details. "I had a reaction to magic and she was worried about me," I said.
Applejack shook her head. "Well, ain't that somethin'. Here." She flicked an apple toward me with her teeth, by the stem. I caught it in one hand. "Consider it a badge o' honor of a sort. Th' edible kind."
I took a bite. It was crisp, but the flavors were muted to me. "Thank you, Applejack," I said. She beamed.
"Oh, great, now there's another one?" a loud voice called out from several stalls over.
Applejack shook her head. "Y'all jes' pipe on down, Honeydew!" she yelled back. "Gus ain't done nothin' to nopony!"
"Don't tell me you're courting him already!" the voice sneered. I stepped back a pace so I could see more clearly. Being taller than the ponies made it easy to pick out who was talking. She was at a stand behind stacks of, appropriately enough, honeydew melons.
Applejack burst out laughing. "Y'all wake up with a cooler stuck where it don't belong, Honeydew?" she gasped out, then looked up at me. "No offense, Gus, but y'all jes' ain't my type."
"None taken," I told her back. "I don't see the attraction either."
The other mare, presumably Honeydew, stomped a hoof on her stall. "Like we're supposed to believe that!"
Applejack looked up at me, blinked, and then guffawed again. "Wellllll, thanks fer th' compliment, Honeydew! Ah didn't know y'all though o' me that way! Thinkin' Ah'm that completely irresistible an' all! Mebbe I oughtta jes' ask Fluttershy fer her ol' modelin' contracts an' get famous!"
A melon arced in the air from Honeydew's booth. I caught it in my other hand.
"Guess that is a human thang," Applejack said, looking at the cantaloupe. "Lero's darn good at that too."
"Like you need any contracts to get more famous anyway, little miss oooh-look-at-my-fancy-necklace!" Honeydew spat out. "You write letters to Princess Celestia and she writes back! No wonder you're getting too good for ponies, got to have a monkey of your own like that walking disaster area in purple! Just go off to Canterlot and ditch your little vanity farm, why don't you?"
Applejack reached up and turned over a sign on her stall from 'OPEN' to 'CLOSED.' She cleared her throat and looked up at me. "Gus, don't y'all take Honeydew fer what ponies are like. There's jes' somethin' wrong with that one. An' Ah'm gonna get in a heap o' trouble fer this, but sometimes some things just need doin'."
"Oh, now your prissy little princess-pet feelings are hurt and you're running away!" sneered Honeydew. "Don't show yourself in front of respectable ponies if you're going to play with stupid monkeys!"
Everything started to go shimmery. The numbers didn't replace everything, the pain didn't come, but they were there. Waiting. I may have been having auditory hallucinations; every step Applejack took I could swear I heard spurs clinking on the ground instead of horseshoes. She walked in slow, deliberate steps in front of Honeydew's stall. The other mare leaned forward over her counter and opened her mouth.
Applejack turned around and bucked her square in the face. I literally believe I felt a shockwave at the moment of impact. Honeydew went flying backward into the side of a building, and much like I'd seen pony eyes sparkling beore, I could see swirls in her eyes. She peeled forward off the side of the building and landed face-first on the ground. Applejack reached up to turn Honeydew's sign to 'CLOSED' as well.
"Y'all might as well keep goin'," she told me, and sat down. "Ah got the feelin' Ah'm gonna have somepony yellin' at me th' rest o' the afternoon." She reached up to adjust her hat. "This sorta thing's usually Rainbow Dash's bit, but Ah admit to havin' been feelin' cantankerous mahself today." She took a deep breath. The numbers pressed in harder.
Don't start nothin' that yer hooves can't end,
ever' pony's got their breakin' point that jes' don't bend,
mock me if ya wanna but go after mah friend,
and yer gonna get a buckin', on that depend!
I could hear banjos and I think every pony in the marketplace joined in on the last line. And then the numbers opened up and beckoned me.
When I could see what was happening again, I was standing atop Applejack's stall with a fiddle in my hands, and the marketplace apparently had turned itself into some kind of line dance; the ponies were lined up in four rows, two pairs each bowing to the other. Honeydew was being carried off on a stretcher and Applejack was waving goodbye to me from between two ponies in armor.
"Come on by Sweet Apple Acres sometime, Gus! Y'all're good folks!" And she marched off with her head held high. The two guards were hunching their shoulders, as though they were embarrassed to be arresting her.
I climbed down off of the stall and looked around. Ponies were back to going about their business like nothing had happened.
A pale yellow hornless, wingless pony with a G-clef mark, cowboy hat, and a blue mane tapped me on the hip. "Pardon me, Gus, but might I have my fiddle back?" she politely inquired. "You played it marvellously, really, and I'd love to share a duet with you sometime, but I'm afraid I simply can't let you keep it." Her voice sounded like she ought to be hosting high society tea somewhere.
"What did I just do?" I asked, and gave her the fiddle back.
She coughed into a hoof. "Three stanzas on the importance of finding a balance between kindness and honesty, two more gently chiding Applejack for setting a poor example for the foals, one making it clear you aren't looking for a herd at the moment, and then one final comic stanza making it altogether clear that Honeydew was very much in need of a vigorous reprimand and regardless of the rest of the lyrics expressing your ultimate approval of the outcome. And one extremely risque pun about Honeydew being in need of 'taking a hike.' A-plus material, really."
I looked around at the ponies. "And then everyone went back to what they were doing?"
She tilted her head at me. "Why, of course, darling. The song ended, after all."
I found the apple Applejack had given me was sitting on the edge of the counter. My bitemark was very distinct. I picked it up and bit down again. It tasted orange this time. Not like an orange. Just orange.
I couldn't hide the question. "If you don't mind me asking," but she interrupted me.
"Married into the clan, Gus, dear," she said. "Music was always my passion, but until I was playing it for family I never understood just what it really meant." And she smiled at me, tipped her hat, and trotted off.
***
Rarity made no comment about my timing, but greeted me warmly and promised to have me fit for a royal reception in no time at all. After that, I repeatedly lost track of what she was saying. Once she began using her magic I couldn't hear anything she said, and I didn't get a chance to explain to her first.
She resolved out of numbers into a unicorn, her hooves on my sides, looking with wide eyes into my face. "Gus! Gus! Are you all right, darling? Speak to me!"
"I'm fine," I said, and put a hand on her hoof. "I can't see or hear you when you're doing magic."
"But those were hardly even spells at all!" she protested. "I was simply picking things up. You mean to tell me that if I simply pick up so much as a needle" and then it was just boundaries of potential again until she came back.
"Yes," I told her.
She sat back and tapped her chin with a hoof. "Well! This is certainly a unique challenge. I shouldn't care to simply push you around like a ponyquin. That would hardly be civilized. Ah! I've just the thing. Sweetie! Oh, Sweetie!" she called out. "Your sister needs your help down in the Boutique!"
That little white unicorn filly from group ten came clattering down the stairs in such a rush that she tripper over her own hooves and tumbled down, ending up in front of Rarity with a dress wrapped around her. She poked her head out and asked, "You need help in the Boutique?" as though Rarity had said "I need someone to eat all of the candy in Willy Wonka's factory for me."
Then Sweetie saw me and shrank back into the tangled dress. "We didn't mean to wreck it!" she said quickly. "I'm sorry!"
Rarity looked down at Sweetie, then over to me. "Oh, dear," she sighed. "I see you've already met."
I knelt down to help untangle Sweetie from the dress. "Twilight cleaned everything up, and we made some very important discoveries," I told the filly.
She swallowed. I wasn't sure what she was anticipating after that. Rarity prompted, "And Sweetie and her friends are going to apologize to Twilight for making a mess and ask how they can make it up to her, yes?"
I got the rest of the dress off of Sweetie in one piece. "I don't think that will be necessary," I said, to the evident surprise of both unicorns. "Twilight invited you to participate, scheduled you last, and put you all together instead of separating you by tribe like the other test subjects. I didn't think about it before, but now I suspect she was keeping you together on purpose."
Sweetie swallowed again and looked up at Rarity, then shrank down on the floor. "So... you're not even mad about the fires?"
Rarity put a hoof to her face. "Are the three of you simply having a phase lately, Sweetie, darling? I don't recall fires being an integral part of your games before."
Sweetie blushed. "I think maybe it got to be a habit when Spike started joining us sometimes? But Gus isn't mad!"
"The most important question in science is, 'What happens if I do this?'" I told Sweetie. "I think Twilight wanted to see what would happen."
Rarity sighed. "Gus, darling, I know you're new in town, and given Twilight's magical proclivities and your disability it may be somewhat difficult at times, but please. I love Twilight dearly, but I think every pony in town knows she can, how shall I put it, go just the slightest bit to excess in her enthusiasm every now and then. If you can rein in her ideas just the teensiest bit, that might be for the best."
"So I'm not in trouble?" Sweetie asked hopefully.
"I suppose not," Rarity said. "Gus is very generously choosing to give you a very large benefit of the doubt, so I can hardly do otherwise. Now! What I was actually asking for your help with is a little communication issue."
"What kind of communication issue?" Sweetie asked. "You don't have any trouble with Lero."
Rarity gave me a glance, then back to her sister. "Gus has a... condition," she said. "The moment I use my horn whatsoever, I can no longer talk to him until I stop. It's dreadfully awkward, so if you would, be a dear and repeat what I say for him?"
Sweetie stared at me, then over to Rarity, then back again, then sat back. "R... Rarity? Are... are you... are you making fun of me?" She sniffled, and her eyes watered.
Rarity swept her instantly into a hug. "Never, darling! I would never make fun of you! Why would you think such a thing?"
Sweetie pressed herself into the hug. "Some... someponies were making fun of me for not being able to cast," she said. I could pick out 'miserable' easily by now.
"Oh, Sweetie!" Rarity cooed, and held her close. "Everypony develops at their own rate, you know that! It's going to be any day now, really!"
I felt the numbers sweeping me up. No pain. Just numbers. There was a space for me. A vacuum to fill. I heard my own voice this time, briefly.
Filly, colt, or boy or girl,
Some things are so in any world,
you can't rush yourself to grow up,
any more than you can slow up,
take each day begin to end,
spend it with your dearest friends,
and I'll tell you something that's true -
you're going to grow up you!
It reminded me a bit of "Puttin' on the Ritz." And then I was gone.
I was outside the Boutique when it was over, wearing a very well-cut white jacket that really did an excellent job blending 'fashion' with 'lab coat.' I also had on a new set of pants and, I later determined, new boxers as well. I also had a note in my hand.
Thank you so much, Gus, darling! Sweetie is feeling so very much better now, and I've had so many wonderful ideas! Come by tomorrow and I'll have several more things for you to try on. Is every human stallion such a delightful gentlecolt, or has Ponyville simply gotten terribly lucky?
Au revoir, darling!
Rarity
These musical interludes seemed to be working out well for my popularity, but I didn't think frequent blackouts were a positive sign. I headed back for the lab.
***
I should have thought it through before walking all the way back to my new house. Twilight Sparkle wasn't there, and of course she would have gone back to her own home to write in more familiar surroundings. I realized I was very tired when I sat down for a minute. If I was singing and dancing multiple times, then I might have overexerted myself. I fell asleep in a chair.
Things shifted and choices happened. Some of those choices made a sound. "Gus?" was the sound. I knew the moment I perceived it that it was carrying worry with it. I manipulated the possibilities that made up the set of Gus Wainwright and turned. A hyperextended function named Luna was looking at me. She was an alicorn function with dark blue properties.
"You're burning, Gus," was the meaning of her next decision. A mirror virtualized and I reflected in it. Half of my upper vertex was asymmetric. Six-colored fires were emergent. Where they intersected with the set of Gus Wainwright was alternate elements. Six different things that were not part of the set of Gus Wainwright and were distinct objects themselves, not functions.
Perspective shifted. I was looking in the mirror. I had a hole in my head. Apples, balloons, butterflies, diamonds, stars and lightning bolts were all around it, where fire was leaking out. It didn't hurt.
"They're trying to help," I said. Then I said because then I knew, "It's not working, but they can't stop. They don't choose. They just are."
"This bodes ill," Luna told me.
"I think I'm going to die," I agreed. "It'll all work out in the end. Would you like to watch another movie?"
I held up Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
She glanced at the DVD case, then back to me. "You are strange beyond belief, Gus Wainwright."
"I don't think my circumstances are likely to have ever happened before," I agreed.
"You fear nothing. You accept your own death as blithely as I would choose a flower to pluck in a field. I could offer you neither reward nor punishment, for you would enjoy nor dislike neither. You truly do not care about anything or anypony, you cannot care about anything or anypony. Why then do the Elements burn you, why do they leave their mark on you? Why do you help ponies you care nothing for?"
I put the DVD in the player and sat back on the couch. Luna sat beside me, though I could read her misgivings. "They're factors of reality, here," I told her. "They can't help it any more than the sea can help washing over a sand castle." The disc began. Even in dreams, the FBI warning about unauthorized duplication. "But they'll make something work. In the meantime, I can still make choices. I can choose to make friends."
"How can you call them friends when you cannot care for them?" asked Luna.
"I can choose how I define a friend," I said.
"That is a very dangerous path," Luna told me quietly.
"It's all going to work out in the end," I said.
"How?" Luna asked. "How do you know?"
"Just a hunch," I said.
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What about the political situation? Surely other nations are jealous of Equestria getting the alien science. Or is 'Equestria' refer to the entire world, under one monarchy? I never really cared enough about Xenophilia's worldbuilding (or plot, for that matter (I actually have no idea why I like Xenophilia stories, now that I think about it (I've already faved two extended universe stories, including this one, so it must be hypnosis (somebody help, I'm being hypnotized!))) to be entirely sure.
Dude, you just posted a chapter and then you're like 'Ima post another!'
I'd tell you to calm down, but I'm having too much fun.
FYI, I'm liking the story thus far!
(I was surprised to see an update about a mere 30 minutes after I had finished reading the previous chapters.)
Poor Gus though…
You are on a writing roll. Don't burn yourself out.
Then AJ bucked Honeydew in the face. She lead with her right hoof.
So being around the M6 is slowly killing him?
This is excellent!
2976457
That is what it seems like to me too.
Maybe they seem him as a possible threat ill intentioned or not.
So far the magic and probabilities of the world are affecting him. I wonder if he will be able to warp reality to his will eventually? I suppose he could through observation and his sense of precisely how the variables of magic are applied there via "numbers". Maybe conscious control is not possible though just what he believes. I hope absolute control is not in the works though or at least for such control to be something to be avoided.
2976557 Heh, I'd like to see Fluttershy's reaction if he casually mentioned that she's killing him.....
2976569
We would probably see a mental break down the likes of which have never been seen before. Either she would go catatonic or maybe she would just show him the inside of her shed...
2 chapters today, this is good news.
As far as magic goes, I think the elements are among the kind of magic that would be least likely to kill someone. And they have a reputation for changing things to be.. you know.. more harmonious with the world. One way or another. They haven't killed any villains, though can can make life unpleasant.
I see it as Gus 'dieing' in the sense of not being the same person at the end, but the elements just killing a guy doesn't really make sense to me.
The Elements of Harmony are trying to heal him, but it's not the pony elements, it's the magic of friendship itself?
The forces mean well, but it's killing hum in the process?
They aren't able to stop, because they're not conscious forces. I guess. they're each of the different forces that the ponies embody. right?
the worst part is that Pinkie seems to know, on some level, that she's hurting him.
It's sad really.
Anyway. I'm of a split mind on where I'm hoping this story will go...
On one hand, I want him to get better. on the other.... it would really cheapen the tragedy if at the end of the story he suddenly got better.
Poor 'ol Gus.
^Sorry for the confusing mess up there^
I had trouble figuring out what to say...
Hypothesis: Earth pony magic can express itself through tropes. While Pinkie's pretty much cornered the market on animation gags, the Apples prefer a Western motif. (Except Apple Bloom. She solves practical problems.)
In any case, I'm beginning to suspect that Gus, rather than escaping, was intentionally released. Magically giving someone an allergy to Harmony seems sufficiently dickish for the Gentry.
2976763
the way i see it they are killing him, but they don't mean too. They are trying to fix his brain, and in turn are causing more damage. the human mind on its own works in ways so complex we cannot even begin to figure it out. In the pony world its impossible even. I can imagine even magic can't work with impossible.
Brilliant chapter. The dream sequence, in particular, had just the right mix of surrealism, portent, and poignancy.
Gus has a magic tumor.
this a very interesting read and I am enjoying it very much
Well, can he chose to make the magic work for him?
2978001
I think it may indeed come down to his willing his body to continue if some of the experiment conclusions are correct. Be it likely by magic or through willed normality, time shall reveal as the situation becomes critical.
I...
um...
What?
2980306
*waves a hand*
This isn't the typo you're looking for. It never existed...
Someone REALLY needs to make a fic where the Fair Folk get their heads handed to them on cold iron platers by the collective will of Humanity. Because that would be awesome.
Interesting that the emblems of the elements were there in Gus's visualisation of his... difference. There is some implication that the Elements are a representation of the fundamental magic of Equestria; on a subconscious level, it is clear that Gus realises that they are part of the power that is affecting him.
They are, however, hilarious.
Error: "Y'all" is plural, you should never use that when speaking to a single person.
You need help in the Boutique?" as though Rarity had said "I need someone to eat all of the candy in Willy Wonka's factory for me."
Not so fast agustos save some room for later!
Ohcrap. Earth Pony magic incoming.
Well. I guess turning the whole thing into a magical number would help the communication issue. Go with the flow and it'll all work out.
But despite his inability to care I think he'll eventually get really tired of all the gaps in his memory
And there we have it
Hahaa! And yet his dream-copy plays perfectly!
Luna hasn't realized despite the fact that he can't really feel emotions like everyone else he still cares the best he can. Considering he distracted pinkie so she wouldn't worry about him by having her have a party. He stopped a fight between 2 ponies from turning into a huge fight and help sweetie feel better about the fact she couldn't do some things as well as her sister who is older than her. He is living the elements so far. Kindness and honesty he has shown. And no matter what happens he will have touched a lot of hearts.