Pupil of Instinct

by Radiogenicpony

Pupil of Instinct

"Canterlot!
Manehattan!
Ponyville!
Baltimare!"

The scenes finally stopped on Baltimare.

"Why stop here?" I asked with slight hesitation, hoping that the vision would not fade again.

"Why?" returned Rarity, looking at me with a troubled stare. No, not Rarity. Instinct "You should be the one telling me. This is your mind we're in."

What was that look? Am I really supposed to know that? Maybe I am just a big failu-

"If you don't know, then I guess we'll both just have to find out, Sweetie Belle."

Where is the irritation in her voice? She actually sounds-

"Let’s get to it then. You're a pupil of instinct now, but whether that's good or bad is up to you. Oh and I am still bitter, but I am a bit curious"

Oh right, she reads thoughts. Then again, shouldn't be too hard if you're in someone else's mind.

"What's first?" I asked.

Quite curious myself, and wanting to get on instinct's good side, I offered one hunch, then another, but made no progress.

"Well, I give up. I'm a failure to all ponykind. I'm a disgrace to all unicorns. Even Scootaloo learned to glide before I could levitate a single object!" I sighed, waiting for that encouragement to keep going.

"You're right. You're nothing; you are pathetic, weak, and forlorn," came a response so cold that the Windagoes themselves might have inspired it.

At that moment, I finally broke. I sobbed until it was impossible for any more tears to cover my cheeks.

But at least I try. Is there no way I can perform magic? I-

"However," Instinct interjected before my thoughts started to ramble, "you can change that. You just need t-"

This time it was Instinct's turn to be interrupted. Not by me, but by a scream from the streets below our building. A memory.
___________________________
Two fillies played in the street below, one earth pony and one pegasus. The earth pony wore a common floral dress, not highly fashionable but not out of style, and the pegasus wore a stunning red and blue streamline dress that, when airborne, seemed like a dance of fire and water.

“Now Sweetie Belle,” said Rarity walking the streets below. Not Instinct who stood next to me in the form of Rarity, but a memory of Rarity speaking to a memory of me. “Pay close attention to every dress design you see. This is Baltimare fashion week, the best time for me to teach you about fashion and style.”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t need to. I just hopped up to Rarity and took in all the dress designs.

“Hmm…” pondered Rarity. “Sweetie Belle, look around and tell me what you think is in style right now.”

“Um... streamline dresses?”

“Good, anything else?”

“No.”

“Sweetie Belle, you’re missing a key observation,” sighed Sis. “What is the most fashionable and what is in style are not inherently the same. Look more closely. What do you see most ponies wearing?”

“Plain floral dresses,” I started, “but that’s not even fashionable”

“It may not be fashionable, but it is what is in style. The streamline dresses are fashionable, and are also in style, but are less common and therefore most likely in style for the wealthy.”

“Fashion is strange. I don't like it.”

I could feel both our hearts skip a beat at what I just said.

"Rarity I-"

Slowly she turned, taking one step, then another, each step brought her closer, and with her, my impending doom.
___________________________
"Why do you think I remembered that?" I inquired of Instinct.

"I should be asking you that."

"I have no idea. Why I would remember-”

"Then it seems you remembered it only to waste our time."

Great, another failure on my part. "Hey, a unicorn's reason for magic is usually tied to their cutie mark, right?"

"No."

"But…"

"What type of magic they cast? Yes. But not usually their reason for magic."

"Oh."

"Just ask yourself this: 'what would I do with magic?'"

"Hmm... Well I would probably-"

Just below us, two double doors swung open with a force that could've made Applejack proud.
__________________________
"I, Photo Finish, have arrived!"

"I say, Photo Finish, do you have to announce yourself every time you enter a room?"

"Of course I do, Fancypants," Photo Finish rebutted while signaling the stallions carrying her to set her down. "Where are Jet Set and Upper Crust?"

"They had business in Canterlot, so they could not make it this year. However, Hoity Toity, Rarity, Fleur De Lis, and Sapphire Shores all made it, as well as much of the usual audience. Rarity even brought her sister along."

"Yes yes, fine. Shall we get started?"

"We've still got a good twenty minutes before we are scheduled to start the show."

"Mm, how about instead of standing around here until the show begins, we do something?" Suggested Hoity Toity.

The six ponies, passed the time by playing games, gossiping, and chatting about work, all the while forgetting I was there.

I took the chance to go explore before the show started. I shuffled my way through the crowd and took a look at the costumes and dresses that ponies were wearing until I somehow found myself inside the deejay's audio booth just as the show started.

As the lights dimmed, the crowd of ponies beside me became nothing more than a mass of silhouettes. The floor tiles began changing colors every few seconds and a slowly rising beat could be heard from the speakers. Soon enough, the models appeared onstage sporting the latest designs of all the "up and coming" designers, Rarity included.

The deejay played right beside me as I propped myself up on her mixing table. I watched every hoof movement as the music changed until the deejay reach over toward a switch I was on and bumped into me.

"Oh hey," she said, obviously surprised that somepony else was in her booth, "aren't you a little young to be here?”

"It’s okay; I'm here with my sister, Rarity. I'm Sweetie Belle."

"Rarity, huh? She’s one of the designers, isn’t she?"

"Uh huh."

"Name's Vinyl," she said, scanning the crowd for a moment before directing her attention to me. "Wanna see something awesome?"

Before waiting for a response, the deejay sparked her horn, and as the subtle aura of magic drifted from the speakers and over the crowd, you could feel the music. All the emotions that the composer felt, all the hidden meanings behind each note, each line, all came together in glorious harmony. With music so powerful, it seemed the elements wouldn't even be needed if Vinyl was around. Of course I'd never tell Sis that.

The music drew to a close and Vinyl turned back towards me with a cocky smile, all I offered in return was a dropped jaw. The crowd cheered, and some wiped a few tears from their eyes while others threw bits on stage or at Vinyl.

"Works every time."

"Sweetie Belle!"

"Oh, looks like your sister's here to getcha," Vinyl said, ruffling my mane a bit and giving me her headphones. Then adding with a wink, "See ya around kid."

"Bye, Vinyl. Thanks for everything," I returned before galloping toward Sis.

"I was so worried about you! Don't run off like that again."
____________________
“Instinct?” I asked cautiously.

“Yes, what is it?”

“I think I know my reason for magic.”

“Well, let’s hear it.” In her voice, I could hear relief. Maybe relief that we were finally done; maybe she thought that something was wrong; maybe she was just glad to have found a student, a pupil of Instinct. But rather than worry over relief, I told her my reason for magic.

“There is harmony in magic. Everyone knows this, but there is also melody, I want to play the melody of magic.”

___________________
Authors Note

Answers in the past. When you look at your present obsticals, remember what led you there, the answers may be a recall away. Only the foolish fail to learn from the past. So this one took a while to write, then transfer then rewrite because I didn't like any of it LINK. So yeah. Special thanks to Cormac McCloppy. And be on the lookout for Magic Words or any other stories I may post, as I'm no longer limiting myself to these story arcs alone.

Comments

[SilentBelle]

Hmm, a short piece. I liked the style and I loved the concept, though it was a bit jostling to enter the story. There were also a few errors with punctuation and capitalization, but not enough to be really distracting.

I think if this was expanded on a bit more, it would have a little more impact. Still, I enjoyed it enough to give it a thumbs up and a fave. Thanks for writing.

[Radiogenicpony]

3217080
Why do people never check my user page?
This story is part of a series that is part of a trilogy.
2nd story of the second series, go look for the others on my page.

[SilentBelle]

3221113 You can't just assume people will take an interest in your user page. Most people will only check it out if they think you have written something that piques their interest.

I'd highly recommend leaving a note in the description of the story when making a sequel. I found this particular story when sorting for stories with Sweetie Belle tagged in them, and read it because of that. Thus, I commented that I felt like it was a sequel to something I hadn't read, because I honestly did not know there was a sequel.

I generally only go onto the user page of an author after I've read the chapter of their story, simply because I don't want any unnecessary context before reading the story. I don't want to know how many other stories the author has written, and I want to read it with as little bias as possible. I want to view it as a single story and focus on it without context of other works (unless it is a sequel, in which case I usually want to read it in order). After, if I think the story was pretty impressive, I look onto the author's page and try to get a context on who they are after I know what they are capable of.

I find it slightly disingenuous to the reader to not mention in the description that the story is part of a series and whether or not reading that series is necessary to understand the context. Knowing beforehand could really help potential readers by pointing them in the direction of the stories they need to read first.

[Back Door Mare]

Have to give you props for telling a story using flashbacks and making it work. Like SilentBelle , I had no clue this was a sequel, but it stands pretty well on its own. As for my snooty critique: More apparent transitions between characters during dialog would this take this to the next level.
All things considered, I liked it.