Silent Song

by Flora Spectrum

Convincing

Silver Gear burst out laughing while Silent Song smiled. “I can’t believe…” he managed to say while trying to catch his breath, “you tricked your dad like that!” He paused to wipe a tear from his eye. “Did you get in trouble?”

“No, my dad actually thought it was pretty funny himself.” She waited until he had fully recollected himself before asking, “How did you earn your cutiemark?”

“Well, my day was nowhere as crazy as yours,” he stated as he began to remember, “it was actually a pretty normal day.”

}i{

Silver Gear sat on the floor of his bedroom surrounded by blue prints. He could hear his younger twin sisters laughing and playing in the living room. He was babysitting as today was their birthday and their parents were out picking up the cake and a few last minute decorations.

He knew his parents had gotten them each a few gifts, but he knew they wouldn’t get what they wanted this year, or any year. They wanted what every young filly wanted, a puppy. However, his dad’s allergies prevented a puppy going any where near their apartment.

‘I wish I could get a puppy,’ Silver Gear thought to himself, ‘but get one piece of dog fur in the house and dad goes-wait. Dog fur…’ He pulled out a freshly sharpened pencil and a new sheet of blue paper.

Hours later, the family of five sat around the dining room table and the two twins opened their gifts. Cake had been eaten, balloons popped, and now the birthday girls opened the last of their gifts. They smiled and put on their new matching headbands, one teal and the other lilac.

“I have one more gift, but you two have to close your eyes!” Silver Gear instructed getting up from the table. The two quickly squinted their eyes shut as he walked towards his room. “Now peaking!” he called over his shoulder and was met with giggles as the two covered their already closed eyes with their hooves.

A moment later, the married couple, who had been looking on curiously, smile as their son walked back into the room. “Okay,” he said already grinning, “open your eyes.”

The twins jumped out of their seats and ran towards their brother. In front of him walked two robotic puppies being controlled by the two remotes levitating next to him. A ribbon was tied in a perfect bow around each puppy’s neck, one being teal and the other lilac.

The parents watched as he began showing his sisters the different controls and as the puppies began to beg and roll over. Silver never noticed his cutiemark, which consisted of a blue screwdriver and a gear, appear on him, as he was too busy trying to convince his sisters to name the puppies Spot 2.0 and Fluffy 3000.

}i{

“That was really sweet of you,” Silent Song said with a soft smile.

“They still have them,” he commented grinning.

“They do?”

“Yeah the two of them share an apartment in Fillydelphia and they take them to the dog park at least three times a week.”

“Do they get a lot of strange looks?”

“They strangest, but they don’t care. They love those dogs.” He continued to smile just thinking about his two sisters walking two robotic dogs at the dog park. However, one thought kept reoccurring. “My special talent is inventing, and I’m an inventor. Song, why aren’t you an author, or a musician, or an artist?”

“Oh, no I couldn’t be,” she said looking down.

“Why not? That’s exactly what your talent is.”

She sighed, “Follow me.” She stood and began silently walking down a hall. Silver Gear followed without saying a word. He had been in this hall before, but always walked to the end, as that was where the restroom was. They stopped in front of a door he had passed several times, but like now, it was always shut. She opened the door and he followed her in. He stared in shock at what he saw.

Painted canvases covered the walls. They didn’t capture a single subject, but they displayed colors that swirled and flowed as if to express emotions. He stopped in front of one painting that particularly captured his attention. Different shades of white flowed across the canvas it swirls giving off a mix of emotions he couldn’t describe. He looked below the painting and read the name as the pony behind him spoke.

“Inspiration.”

He turned around to see the quiet pony that had spoken in the silence. “This was the painting from your story, wasn’t it?” She answered with a small head nod. “Song, this is really good, all of these paintings are. Why won’t your share them with the world?”

“Because that’s only one pony’s opinion. The art world can be a mean place, they may hate my work, then every pony will know and I will never live it down.”

“What about writing? You wrote a book in one day, that’s amazing enough as it is.” She silently walked over to a desk in the corner. She opened the top drawer and pulled out a stack of papers and set them on the desk as he walked over. He picked up the top sheet and began reading. “Song,” he paused to finish the sentence, “this is really good. Why haven’t you taken this to a publisher?”

“Because countless potential books are denied and never heard of. I can’t face that kind of embarrassment.”

“Well, you still have music-“

“No, I couldn’t. I haven’t performed for anypony since I was a filly.” She protested looking at the floor and averting his gaze.

“Well…”he thought for a moment before running out of the room. “I’ll just sit out here and you can pretend I’m can’t hear a thing!” He called back into the room. “Just play what your heart tells you!”

‘My heart…’ she thought to herself as she slowly walked towards the small baby white grand piano she had for as long as she remembered. She sat on the soft bench and rested her hooves on the keys. She didn’t need any sheet music for this. It was the first song she had ever written, and it was truly from the heart.

As Silver Gear sat out in the hall, his jaw dropped. The piano playing in the other room was exceptional, ‘and that voice,’ he thought ‘oh my gosh that voice.’ He could hardly believe that was Silent Song singing in the other room. As her speaking voice was quiet, timid and shy, when she sang she sounded strong, loud and confident. The song ended too soon and Silver found himself walking back into the other room to find Song standing by the piano gazing at the ground and a blush evident on her cheeks.

“Song, your art, your writing, your voice, is all amazing,” he said walking towards her, “how can you not be confident in your talents?”

“I attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, where I met several other fillies and colts like me. However, they were all exceptional in art, music or writing while I am just average. I knew I would never be as good as them or amount to anything special. How can I be famous when I’m invisible?”

“Song, you are invisible because you don’t let others see you. I know you are scared of embarrassment, but what if you shared your talent under another name?”

“Another name?”

“Yeah, think about it. If things turn out well, then great, and if they turn out horribly wrong, then nopony will know it was really you.”

She paused as if to contemplate this. “I think I could do that.”

“Great!” he said grinning, “Now we just need to come up with a name.” She looked up at him and gave him a soft smile.

“I already have one in mind.”

Author's Note:

Well, you now know Silver's cutie mark story as well. Once again, an update in the middle of the night, but it's better than two in the morning so... Tell me what you think! I've only gotten one comment but I want to hear from you! Let me know if this story it terrible or if it's actually any good! As for chapter 4, it's still in progress, but I have a general idea of what I am going to write, so that may be up tomorrow or the next day! I know this is getting to be a long author's note so I'm just going to stop...