27. Shopping Spree
“So, I may or may not be going to see the Royal Canterlot Orchestra tonight at eight,” I mention off hand to Rainbow as we continue on our way. I think we're starting to enter a more festive district of Canterlot, if that's even the right way to describe it. For example, when the path takes us close to the edge of the mountainside, I can see a set of bleachers built into the rock, overlooking a cloudy track. Yeah, a track made of clouds. Fucking magic blows my mind.
That aside, there's other sporting areas, like I even spot a tennis court, with several ponies knocking a ball around inside. How do they even hold the rackets...oh, with their mouth. Or magic. I see some of them using magic as well.
“Huh? Why are you going there?” Rainbow questions, raising an eyebrow. “You don't seem like the type that likes that kind of music.”
“Why, because you've only seen me listening to Vinyl's stuff?” I argue. Rainbow blinks, realizing her error. “I like music in general. I used to listen to it every chance I had, back in my time.”
“How? Did you have a band following you around? Or were you carrying a record player around with you?” Right, they don't have many forms of storing music electronically. I bet record players is all they have, so any music they hear has to come from an artist. I think I'll amaze her a bit.
“Right, I haven't shown this to you yet,” I remark, slipping my hand into my pocket. Rainbow watches with curiosity as I fish out my phone, which I haven't actually looked at in forever. I pass it to her carefully. “Here.”
Our progress stops when Rainbow takes the phone with a hoof, since she can't exactly walk well with three legs. “Oh yeah, I think I remember seeing you with this thing. What is it?” she asks, turning it over between her hooves. Her hoof slides along a soft plastic edge, so she nearly drops it.
“Careful with that,” I warn her as she sheepishly gets a better grip on it. I'm not all that worried about it though. It's got an expensive otter-box on it. It's not breaking. How do you think it's stayed in one piece through all the shit I've been through? “It's probably the most advanced piece of human technology your kind has ever seen.”
“Wow, really? This is human technology? Do you know how much this would probably sell for?” Rainbow exclaims, peering closely at the phone. “You'd be set for life!”
“Don't I know it,” I chuckle dryly. Of course, there's no way in hell I'm selling the phone. I'm keeping it until I die. Whenever that is. “Do you know what's even better?”
Rainbow looks on in awe as I reach over her hoof and hold down the home button, such that the little Apple logo appears, along with the loading bar. “Whoa,” Rainbow murmurs, amazed.
“Yeah, it still works,” I remark. In my head, I have no idea why I'm doing this. I'd resolved never to turn my phone on in order to save the charge, but for some reason I have no qualms powering it up to show Rainbow. It looks like there's about 40% battery left. As long as I turn it off again right after this, it should last for a few months.
“And you're showing me? This...is awesome,” Rainbow whispers. Her head cranes back when the apple goes away, to be replaced by the lock screen. “Huh? What are all these markings?”
“Arabic numerals. It makes sense you can't read them, seeing as they haven't been used for three thousand years,” I answer. Again reaching over her shoulder, I tap in my four digit password. “It's a security screen. If you don't type in the right code, you can't access the phone.”
“Phone?”
“That's what it's called. It's a phone.”
“What does it do? What are all these little boxes?” Rainbow questions as the home screen pops up.
“They're called applications. Each one has it's own unique function. Primarily, a phone is used to contact other people. Like a letter, only you're actually talking to them in real time, just like you and I are doing now,” I explain further, while still inwardly questioning why I'm even doing this. I don't like talking about my race, something I've said to everypony, like Twilight, Cadance, and Cheerilee. So why am I breaking that resolution for Rainbow?
“Whoa, so like telepathy or something?”
“Close enough. But that's not all it does. Take a look at this.” As Rainbow looks on, I scroll over one page. I'm not the kind of guy to have all these dumb games or apps on his phone, like Angry Birds or Candy Crush, or other such useless shit. I can't express how much I hate games like that. So because of that, I only have a page and a half of apps. Most of them are utilitarian in nature, like navigation programs, alarm clock, compass, bus tracker, calculator, you get the picture. Literally the only things I have on there for fun is a fanfiction app and of course, my music app. That last one is what I click on. “This is what I wanted to show you. I have hundreds of songs on this particular application. Touch something.”
“How does something this small hold that many songs?” Rainbow asks, her eyes widening as she traces them down the small screen. She taps something at random with the tip of her hoof, since she can't read the artist names. “What the...another screen popped up. Why isn't it playing music?”
“Because all you did was tap a single artist. My music is organized into albums, which are then organized by artist. So if you want it to play, tap an album, and then tap a song,” I direct her. One thing I do have the presence of mind to do is turn down the volume of the phone by reaching over Rainbow's hooves and clicking the buttons a few times.
Of course, while doing that, I realize I'm entirely too fucking close to Rainbow. Like, to the point where I can feel her damn breathing. Without disturbing Rainbow, I stealthily back away a little. I wonder why she didn't push me away herself. Don't mares have any sense of personal space?
Rainbow taps an album and song at random, and then the song immediately starts to play. It's at a relatively low volume so that we won't draw too much attention from the other ponies in the streets around us, but it's loud enough that Rainbow and I can hear it.
I recognize the song almost immediately. It's also a really good one. It's one of my favorites from that particular album, because the singer tried a new style and it worked out extremely well.
Once the electric guitar kicks in, Rainbow's eyes widen, and her jaw drops. “Ohmigosh, this is so awesome!” she declares, and then the singer starts up. “Hang on, how come I can...”
“Shut up. Song now, questions later,” I cut her off rather rudely. Rainbow looks miffed for a second, and then she shrugs, her attention returning to the song playing from the speakers.
So, from an outside perspective, ponies would see a human and a pony, respectively sitting and standing such that their heads are at relatively the same height, both enjoying the sound of faint music coming from an unknown source.
When the song ended, I reach over and stop the music before it can go to the next song. I also take the phone back from Rainbow, which she reluctantly hands back.
“That was awesome! Human music is the best! Can we listen to more?” she says pleadingly, excitement stamped on her face. I look at her with an unreadable expression.
You have no idea how long I've been waiting for somebody to ask me something like that. One thing that always bugged me about other people is that the amount of enthusiasm they show for music is ridiculously low. To the point where I'd shown one of my favorite tracks from an anime to a guy, and he just goes “meh.” He doesn't actually say that, but that's the feel I got from him.
Or worse, when I saw someone listen to a particularly moving string song and not get touched by it. Like seriously? You must be one shallow fucking person if a song like that can't move you.
And then there's the people who do like music. You'd think I'd get along with them, but nope. They're all fucking lunatics. Like the guys in the music department at my school. They're always hanging around together, talking about stupid shit, like your typical over the top college drama that I wouldn't touch with a nine foot pole.
So how do you think I feel, when I'm facing a mostly normal individual (the fact that she's a pony doesn't matter), who's also my friend, who actually wants to hear more of my music?
Like I want to grab her, take her back home, grab a few two liter bottles of soda, and have a blast listening to that music at max volume. Unfortunately, life isn't that simple.
“No. This thing runs on battery power, and I don't want to waste more charge than I have to,” I tell her firmly, powering the phone off again. Rainbow watches me put the phone back in my pocket with a pained expression.
“But...why can't you just charge it back up again?” Rainbow protests.
“Because I can't. I don't feel like explaining the technicalities to you, because you won't understand and keep bugging me,” I snap. I'm already beginning to regret showing it to her. Rainbow opens her mouth to argue. “The answer is no, Rainbow!”
“You...ugh, fine,” Rainbow relents, disappointed. She also looks a little hurt, though I have idea why she would be.
I stand back up, looking away from Rainbow wistfully. I want to show you my music. I really do. But I can't. If I do, my phone will die in the space of a few hours, and then everything I have of Amaryllis, my family, and the rest of my human life will be gone forever. Nothing is worth that.
“Let's get moving. You still want to show me this shop, don't you?” I remind her, hating the awkward silence that had fallen over us. Thankfully, Rainbow gets over it pretty fast, her face lighting up.
“That's right! Come on, we're almost there!”
This gift shop we're going to finally comes into view, nestled in the corner of a large shopping area. By that, I mean there's a bunch of buildings arranged in a square, a little like an outlet mall, only much larger.
There's also ponies fucking everywhere, moving to an from the different buildings, many wearing overly gaudy saddlebags filled with their respective purchases. A lot of the things I see them carrying look expensive. Like this one mare that walks by carrying a dress folded over her back. That looks like it's made of silk. I think that's really expensive, since I'm not sure they've come up with artificial silk just yet. Well, maybe they have, since they figured out artificial leather already.
Now then, I haven't been to this part of town just yet, so what do you think happens when a famed historical being such as myself walks into a populated shopping square? That's right, pretty much everypony stops whatever they're doing and stares. Well, when I say stop, I mean some of them do, while the rest just crane their heads while continuing on their way.
“Rainbow,” I murmur to my friend, who's looking at me sympathetically. “Let's get inside that store before one of these ponies decides to talk to me.”
“Sounds like a good idea. I'd rather spare them the trouble of dealing with you,” Rainbow quips, nudging me. I scoff.
“Well, fuck you too. At least my hair isn't every color of the rainbow. I think you stand out more than I do,” I respond with equal snark, a little half grin forming on my face.
“Oh, are we doing this?” Rainbow demands in mock anger.
“Yeah, we're doing this. I'm talking shit about your mane. Problem?” At that, Rainbow proceeds to strike a dumb looking pose that I think was meant to show off her mane.
“Oh, I think you're just jealous. Who doesn't want a mane like this? It's awesome, way better than that drab black evil pony look you've got going on there,” Rainbow brags, running a hoof through her mane.
“Hey, what am I supposed to do about that? I happen to like black, and even if I didn't, I'm not dyeing it. That would just make it look cheap,” I return, though I'm chuckling slightly at the way she described my hair. “Like yours. How much dye did that take?”
“This? Dye? I'm insulted! This is one hundred percent natural, I'll have you know!” Rainbow retorts, huffing indignantly.
“Bullshit,” I proclaim, and then before Rainbow can stop me, I step closer to her and start messing in her mane.
“Ah! What the hay are you doing?” Rainbow protests. I ignore her at first, moving portions of the mane aside so I can see the roots. And...much to my shock, there's no sign of dyeing. Usually to tell if hair is dyed, you check the roots, because they're usually a different color.
And there's no color change. Her roots as uniform as anywhere else. Which means she really does have a fucking rainbow mane. “Well, I stand corrected. It really isn't dye. Evolution is fucked up,” I admit, removing my hands from Rainbow's mane. She readjusts her mane indignantly.
“Well, yeah, that's what I just said. You're lucky I don't care all that much about how my mane looks. Rarity would have ground you to dust if you'd done that to her,” Rainbow warns me, which causes me to chuckle. I remember Rarity had that ridiculously primped mane that probably took hours to style. Yeah, if I messed with that, she'd murder me with her magic or something.
One thing I do notice as we approach the gift shop. The interaction between Rainbow and I seems to put the other ponies watching us at ease, as they stop staring as much and continue on their way.
“Seriously though, how and why the hell did evolution decide to give ponies brightly colored fur and manes in the first place? How would a rainbow mane be considered viable?” I question. Rainbow blinks.
“What?” At that, I give her an exasperated look.
“Did I stutter?”
“No, but I don't have a clue what you're talking about. Evolution?” Rainbow explains. Ugh...sometimes I forget that most of the ponies have no idea the kind of perspective I had before coming to this time.
“Nevermind, we can talk about that later. For now, we appear to have arrived,” I say, pointing at the building in front of us. If Rainbow hadn't pointed it out when we entered the square, I doubt I'd have figured it out. Though now that I see it, I feel like the Wonderbolts have a connection with the color blue. Like, practically everything on the building is blue.
I may be exaggerating. The brickwork is as white as the rest of the city of course, but the awning and emphasis colors are blue. Also, on the awning and some of the walls, there's this logo of a winged lightning bolt.
“Yes! We're here!” Rainbow exclaims, and then she zooms inside without another word, leaving me out on the street.
“Dammit Rainbow...” I mutter as I follow her inside. A small bell on the door rings as I enter. And the first thing that catches my notice is all of the fucking blue. Blue posters, blue outfits, blue snow globes, blue everything! Even the clerk behind an old fashioned register is wearing this weird ass blue outfit emblazoned with lightning bolts, though it looks a little cheaply made, if you ask me.
The clerk gasps upon seeing Rainbow. “Hey, you're the one who won this year's Young Fliers Competition, aren't you? Miss Dash, was it?” he says excitedly.
Rainbow freezes at being recognized, and then upon comprehending the clerk's words, she starts preening at the attention. “That's right. You're pretty well informed,” Rainbow responds, her ego making itself clear in her voice.
“Hang on, you won the what now?” I interrupt. The clerk looks at me, and then does a double take.
“A...a hu...a human!? In my shop!?” At first, I think he's going to give me trouble, but then his grin widens further. “Can this day get any better!?”
Rainbow laughs at the deadpan expression my face. I guess it was only a matter of time until someone went over the top like this about me. Well, he's about to find out that the last human is nothing like what he expected.
“Yes, yes, but never mind that. Rainbow did what?”
The clerk stares for a second, and then he shakes himself back to his senses. “Right. Miss Dash here executed a totally cool Sonic Rainboom for the Young Fliers Competition earlier this year, wowing the crowd and saving the Wonderbolts in the process. Can you imagine that? A Sonic Rainboom! The only pegasus I know of that's ever performed one!”
“Yes, well, please lay off a bit on the praise. I don't need her ego getting any larger,” I retort.
“Hey!” Rainbow responds, nudging me. I proceed to annoy her by messing in her mane again. “Ugh...stop that! Seth!”
“So I've heard of a sonic boom, but what the hell is a Sonic 'Rainboom?'” I say, changing the subject. A second later, a minor pain in the hand that's in Rainbow's mane causes me to withdraw it with a grunt. I look over to see her looking at me smugly. “Did you just fucking bite me?”
“Oh please, that was just a nip,” Rainbow says dismissively, and then her smug grin widens. “Maybe you should keep your hands out of a mare's mane.”
“Would you rather I scratch your ears?” I tease her. Rainbow cranes her head back and looks at me oddly, as if she's never heard of something like that. “What? It's something we'd do back to the ponies in my time.”
“Humans are weird,” Rainbow remarks. I shrug, as I already knew that. “Anyway, to answer your question, a Sonic Rainboom is when a really fast pegasus breaks the sound barrier and creates an awesome rainbow in the process!”
“That doesn't make sense. A sonic boom doesn't create rainbows. You would have to bend light as well as break the sound barrier in order to do something even remotely close to that, which means you would have to be traveling the speed of light. Which is impossible,” I contest, but all this does is make Rainbow look prouder.
“Well, I did it. I guess that just means I'm awesome,” Rainbow preens. I groan and look at the clerk.
“Did she really cause a rainbow by breaking the sound barrier?”
“Yes she did! I was there!” The clerk answers enthusiastically.
“How the fuck do you make rainbows by doing that?” I demand, lamenting the loss of my perfect world that at one point made sense. Rainbow opens her mouth to respond. “Don't you fucking say 'magic.'”
“...Magic?” Rainbow answers sheepishly. My brow goes flat, and I proceed to facepalm repeatedly.
“Goddammit, fucking magic.” I swear to god, I'm going to find that statue of Discord, and take to it with a fucking sledgehammer.
After a pause, the clerk coughs nervously. “Uhm, pardon my lack of professionalism. It's not often we get customers like you two in this shop. Anyhow,” he takes a moment to clear his throat. When he starts talking again, he sounds like a typical shop clerk. “Welcome to the Wonderbolts Gift Shop! Let me know if you see anything you like!”
“Right! Come on, Seth, I have so much to show you!” Rainbow says, grabbing at my hand with a hoof. I clasp her hoof without thinking about it. Seconds later, I realize it and release her. What the fuck, brain? Where did that come from? Thankfully Rainbow doesn't mention it.
I soon forget about it as Rainbow launches into a rant about everything Wonderbolts. She points out the smallest things, from coffee mugs with the winged lightning bolt on it, to even cheap looking stitched costumes like the one the clerk is wearing. Apparently that's the official Wonderbolt uniform.
“Take a look at this!” Rainbow tells me, stopping just underneath a large poster of several ponies wearing the Wonderbolts outfit. I'm assuming they're the real deal. All of them are wearing goggles that hide their eyes from me, but their manes are enough to distinguish them.
The mare in the lead has a wild mane like fire and yellow wings. The on her left looks male and has grayish blue wings and a dark blue mane, and the last mare has light blue colored wings and a multicolored mane with two shades of light blue in it.
Rainbow points a hoof at the Wonderbolt with the fiery mane. “That one is Spitfire! She's their leader. She's really cool! All serious and strict when flying, but really laid back and fun loving when off duty.” She then points at the stallion. “That's Soarin. He's really goofy, and loves to eat. That last one there is Fleetfoot, and she...”
“You're talking like you know them personally,” I point out, interrupting her in the process. Rainbow looks slightly put out, but that only lasts for a second.
“I do! The prize for winning the Young Fliers Competition is spending a day with the Wonderbolts. So I got to know them all better! It was so...so...AWESOME!” Rainbow squeals, that fangirl part of her coming to the surface. I have to facepalm. I'm humoring her, yes, but I never could understand why people would get so obsessed with celebrities. They were people like the rest of us, which meant they were flawed. Granted, I can respect their talent, like musicians, but I wouldn't post them all over my room. I'd never be like those dumb men and women that get so into their favorite celebrities, they literally want to fuck them. Glancing at Rainbow, I bet she'd be all over that Soarin guy if he were here now. Huh...for some reason that pisses me off.
“I'm sure it was,” I finally say, in a rather dismissive manner. With that, Rainbow continues leading me on a tour of the gift shop.
They have everything in here. Like, seriously. If there's an object, you can be damn sure there's a version of it in here colored blue with the Wonderbolt logo on it, or even pictures of the Wonderbolts themselves. There are some really plush blankets with the same image on it as the poster on one of the shelves. There's even some really expensive stuff here, like electric lamps of the sort that you'd see on a college student's desk. The amount of bits they want for it are ridiculous, but then again, I probably don't even want to see the price of one of the houses here in Canterlot.
Call me twisted, but I'm half surprised there aren't any Wonderbolt sex toys here. It wouldn't be that odd, seeing as in my time, every mall had that one sketchy store that blatantly sold that kind of stuff. Despite that, I'm glad I don't see any. I think that would be too much for me. I do not want to know about pony masturbation habits. Well, thanks brain, for making me shudder. You are really fucking up today.
Shooting me a mock glare, Rainbow picks up a Wonderbolts history book from a shelf near the back of the store. “I'll learn everything about them! Just you wait!” she vows, jabbing a hoof at me.
“Whatever,” I reply, and then we continue our tour.
Finally, after a good hour, Rainbow finally sees fit to leave the store...with several bags worth of various Wonderbolts paraphernalia. Somehow I forgot how much it sucks to go shopping with a woman, even if she is mostly tomboyish...and a pony.
“So now what?” I ask, once we've re entered the square. “I think all we had on the itinerary was this gift shop.”
“Hm, I dunno. What time did you say that concert thing was?” Rainbow replied.
“Eight.”
“Eh, we still got time. What do you feel like doing?”
“Why the hell are you asking me? I've never been to Canterlot; I don't know what kind of entertainment it offers,” I snap.
“Because you'd complain if I didn't,” Rainbow returns with a grin, taking my annoyed words in stride.
“Ugh, whatever. Just find some place to...” I trail off as something on one of the stores catches my attention.
I can't read Equestrian, but I don't need to in order to tell what kind of store I'm looking at. Besides the little Equestrian scrawl, there's the image of several black musical eighth notes.
“Uh...you there, Seth?” Rainbow asks, poking my leg.
“It's my turn to pick the store,” I declare, and then I immediately make a beeline for the music store. I'm interested to see how musical instruments have changed since my time.
Rainbow follows me, confused, as I lead her towards the store. As soon as she sees the name of the store, she makes a sound of understanding.
I open the door and walk inside, a bell chiming as I do so. The first thing I notice are the large grand pianos situated in the center of the room. Hell yes, that's what I'm talking about. I've only ever practiced on keyboards, not actual grand pianos. I hope the proprietor isn't a bitch and lets me play one.
Almost everything in here I recognize. There are many stringed instruments lining the walls, ranging from violins to guitars, though I notice almost all of the latter are acoustic. Those that aren't have prices with tons of characters. Probably in the millions.
“Wow,” I say, feeling like a kid in a candy store. Every time I go into stores like this, it always takes my breath away. Rainbow walks in behind me. When she sees the awed and happy expression on my face, she smiles as well.
“Greetings, and welcome to...” the stallion behind the counter begins, and then immediately cuts off when he sees me. To his credit however, he composes himself after a short pause and continues. “...Bass Clef's Musical Acquisitions. If there is anything you need, please feel free to ask.”
“Thank you,” I reply curtly, not really in the mood to talk to him. That was always the thing with music stores. Too many fucking people. Or ponies in this particular case. Thankfully though, I don't see very many ponies in here.
“That was a pretty quick recovery there,” Rainbow remarks quietly to me, stifling a snicker behind her hoof.
“Yeah, but this is starting to get on my nerves. I wish Celestia would just release a public statement or something about the fact that I exist. Get all the shock out of the way,” I grunt.
“That wouldn't really change anything. It's different hearing about a human, and seeing one,” Rainbow points out reasonably.
“Ugh, I suppose.”
From there, I proceed to ignore Rainbow and proceed along the edges of the room, peering at each and every instrument. Unfortunately, there's very little in here that I actually know how to play. Even worse, I can't actually buy anything. The amount of bits they want for even the smallest instrument is way more than I have. Oh well. They can't stop me looking.
As I'm looking at the violin section, the door rings again behind me, but I don't really pay attention. So what if there's another pony in here?
“Oh! Hello, miss Octavia. It's a pleasure to see you,” the proprietor says, addressing the new arrival by name, curiously enough.
“Hey there, Bass. How are my repairs coming along?” Octavia replies in a casual manner. That tells me two things. One, that stallion is the owner. Two, she called him by his first name, when he didn't. I guess she's not one for formalities. Whatever. I'm done caring.
I tune them out as they discuss the repairs or whatever, instead moving along down the wall, looking at the different stringed instruments. Ooh, that's a viola. Sometimes I wish I learned to play one of those.
Goddamn, these double basses are massive. You know, I actually wanted to play one of those. The idea of playing fun rhythm parts appealed to me, especially when I could make sounds like the ones these things do. Too bad I couldn't afford one. I let my eyes linger on a double bass for a moment longer, and then I move onto the cellos.
“Interested in cellos, are we?” I turn, hiding a groan at being interrupted. The pony who had decided to talk to me is stone gray mare with even an even darker gray mane that looks to have been excessively groomed. Not surprisingly, she has a treble clef on her ass, colored lavender, like her eyes. The pony, who I assume is the Octavia who'd walked in a few seconds ago, is watching me curiously for a response.
“Not especially. I just like instruments in general,” I answer her honestly. I half expect her to become disinterested at that and leave, but instead she nods understandingly.
“Oh?” Octavia responds, prompting me to speak further. Ugh, what a pain. I can see Rainbow wincing behind me. She probably thinks I'm going to chew this pony out. You know, I'm thinking about it.
“I enjoy music, that's all. It's not that strange for me to like the instruments that create it.” I hope she'll figure out that I don't want to talk. I didn't come here to talk, I came here to look. Goddamn overly social ponies.
“Of course not. It's just that everyone usually tends to choose a favorite instrument,” Octavia replies amiably. “Your view is an unusual one.”
“I could care less if that's the case,” I say with a shrug. “Though I suppose if I had to choose, I'd say the piano would be my instrument of choice. It's the only one I know how to play.”
“Hang on, you know how to play the piano?” Rainbow interjects. Right, she's here too. I ignore her though. All she wants is a confirmation, which she'll get if she listens. Octavia looks at me closely, and then at the piano.
“Intriguing. You're not a unicorn, so I can't help but wonder how you play, when the keys are that small,” Octavia comments, in such a way that it sounds like she's challenging my statement. Well, it's easy enough to show her.
“Take a good look at these,” I tell her, raising my hands and separating my fingers. Understanding dawns on Octavia's face hen she sees them, and then she smiles.
“Ah, now I understand. Pardon my disbelief, but I've never met a human before, so I wasn't sure,” Octavia admits. I roll my eyes. There it is. It always comes down to the fact that I'm human. Seriously, shut the fuck up about that.
“You and the rest of the ponies,” I reply bitterly. Octavia flinches at that, as does Rainbow. I step away from the stringed instruments, moving away from the two of them. Times like this make me wish I still my headphones. Even if they didn't work, they still worked wonders in letting people that I didn't want to fucking talk to them.
I think she got the picture. Instead of coming after me, Octavia is now talking with Rainbow about something. Whatever, I don't care.
“Hey,” I say to Bass as I walk past his counter. He looks up at me attentively. I thrust my thumb towards one of the pianos. “Do you care if I try one of those out?”
“Not at all. Be careful though. There's...” Bass begins.
“Thanks, but you can skip the safety warnings. I know more about pianos than the entire pony race,” I snap, starting to move away from him.
“That's a highly contestable statement,” Bass splutters indignantly. I stop once more and turn back to face him, my eyebrow raised.
“Is it? In case you hadn't noticed, my people invented the damn things. In fact, I can tell you it was a talented Italian harpsichord maker named Bartolomeo Cristofori,” I remind him. Bass blinks, nonplussed. Understanding dawns on his face a second later when he finally realizes what I am, but I'm already sitting down at one of the pianos, memories of hours spent in my parents' basement practicing returning to me.
Rainbow, who's still talking to Octavia, notices what I'm doing and nudges the other pony, pointing at me. I start to feel a little self conscious before I even start, because now I realize every single pony in the store (all four or five of them, including the three I've mentioned) is watching me.
I almost decide to say fuck it and not do this, but I stay, knowing that I'd regret it if I didn't do this at least once. I doubt I'll get another chance any time soon if I don't.
I guess I'll start with a little warmup. There was a slightly difficult, yet comparatively easy piece from one of my favorite video games that I would play before I started every practice, because it helped me loosen my fingers and get ready for harder stuff.
Muscle memory guides my hands to the correct position on the keyboard, and then I press the first note to test the sound quality....which is fucking amazing. Okay. I take a deep breath, and that I start playing my warmup piece.
Wow, I haven't done this in forever. I can't help but fuck up a few times, but each time my expression doesn't change, and I just start over. It doesn't take me very long to get back into it, as I've played it enough times that the notes have been ingrained into my head, and my fingers easily remember the right positions.
During my warmup, I can't help but notice Rainbow's jaw drop, while Octavia's expression is neutral.
After playing the last note, I immediately go into one of the only songs I remember. This one is harder, so I do make a few stutters along the way. After all, I haven't played in months. But I keep going. This song I'm playing used to melt my heart whenever I'd hear it, so I had dedicated a long time to learning it.
It's not very fast, but sometimes, a song doesn't have to be fast to be good. That stands in stark contrast to most of my music choices, but this song always was an exception.
Halfway through the song, I get into it, and my hands know exactly where to go, even if I'm not looking. I close my eyes and continue playing, immersing into the spirit of the song. Goddamn, its been too long since I last played. Not to mention, I'll never get to hear this song in its original form ever again, thanks to Sombra. So if I want to keep the memory of it alive, this is the only way I can.
When I at last play the final chord, I open my eyes...and notice that there's twice as many ponies in here than there were a second ago. Now there's like, ten, and they're all looking at me. Well, fuck this, I'm done.
When I stand up, the ponies understand that I've finished, and then all of them start stomping their front hooves on the ground, including Rainbow and Octavia. What the fuck? Is that like, the pony version of applause?
Instead of acknowledging them in any way, I push through them and leave the store entirely. I don't know what had possessed me to play in public. I guess I'd been so excited to see a piano, I couldn't really stop myself. Goddamn it...I hate playing for people, even ponies. They all applaud and such, but they're really just judging me, comparing me to older and better players that I can't possibly live up to.
“Hey, Seth, wait up!” Rainbow calls out to me, having dashed out of the store behind me. I don't say a word to her, letting her catch up to me as I move to make as much distance between me and that store as I can. “Why did you never say you could play like that?”
“What good would it have done? There's no piano in Ponyville, so it would just seem like a bunch of hot air,” I answer bitterly.
“I think Lyra has one,” Rainbow informs me. I look at her in surprise, but then the meaning of the name she uttered clicks.
“Right, and I'm not going near her if I can help it. So my point still stands.” Rainbow huffs at my stubbornness.
“You know, you should really chill out some. I guarantee you'll have more fun,” Rainbow advises me. Right, because it's that easy. If “just chilling out” was enough to enjoy dealing with a social environment, I wouldn't be as fucked up as I am.
“Whatever.” The conversation dies there, and we walk in silence for a bit longer, though I don't really know here I'm going.
“Hey, why don't we go meet Vinyl for dinner?” Rainbow suggests. “We should have enough time before that concert you mentioned.”
“Huh. That actually sounds like a good idea. I haven't had any food since the picnic. And we all know where those calories went,” I reply wryly. Rainbow laughs, as she knows I'm referring to my fight with Celestia....which I still find it hard to believe that I even had.
Whatever. Food now, thinking later.
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Hah, cool. Another one of Seth's talents shown!
Seth likes rainbow! Haha! Oh this is too rich!
Who is Clio?
4581967
The muse of history in Greek mythology. I was making a cultural joke
Cool. Good chapter. This is some nice stuff. I can't wait for Seth to open up. Eventually.
Wow this was a good chapter
The first part with Seth and Rainbow discussing his phone and listening to music was actually a very large deal from an outside perspective. Up to this point the only times Seth has revealed anything of human culture to ponies is when there has been a cultural misunderstanding with their own, and even then he gives the briefest information possible then immediately gets angry with himself for revealing it in the first place. While there was still more information he could have given Rainbow regarding the phone, the fact that he let her see it, interact with it, listen to the music stored on it and answer just a few questions about it shows that Seth at this point has decided to almost fully trust her (even if he flat out denies to himself and everypony else). When he realises that he can't continue showing her the device due to the power shortage he clamps up and immediately drops the conversation (possibly hurting Rainbow's feelings a little), but unlike his past conversations he has dropped, this was not due to anger at the converser but anger that his moment of fun with his friend had to be cut short. Looking at the actual timeline of events so far, it has only been just over a week since Seth arrived, and already he has gone from despising Rainbow to seeing her as one of his only true friends. Despite his hatred of humanity, his feelings of isolation and sorrow seem to have unconsciously forced him to seek out somepony to interact with, and now that he has Rainbow, who actively wants to be his friend and is willing to accept his rude and antisocial attitude, he has latched onto her and doesn't want to let go, even when he has his doubts about how strong the friendship between them actually is. Also very nice music in this scene, I hadn't heard it before but it was awesome
.
The Wonderbolts store was a nice fun scene. Despite not overly caring about the flight team, he could see how much they meant to Rainbow and he kept his opinions on celebrities to himself. This was just another example of the bond they have formed. I will be very interested to see what Seth thinks of the Wonderbolts when he gets to see them in action, particularly since he is aware of how deep Rainbow's opinions of the group are. There were also two lines here that I want to comment on:
I see what you did there
There are a few ways to interpret this line. It could be that due his friendship with her and his opinions on celebrities, he feels some protectiveness to her and doesn't want her to get hurt by somepony that, at least from his warped views, is highly likely to do so. The other way to interpret this is that despite holding absolutely no attraction to ponies physically, he has unconsciously started to find himself attracted to Rainbow's personality, particularly since it so closely resembles Amaryllis' personality. Despite forming a close bond, it is still rather early in their friendship and early in the story as well, so it is difficult to work out which of the reactions it could be (it may even be both). Like most important events in this story, I feel it best to wait and see which direction the story heads. Your method of just writing events as they come to you hasn't let us down yet, so I am happy to wait and see what happens with Seth and Rainbow in the future.
The scene in the music store was interesting. Up to now we were aware that Seth did like music (though not as much as he indicates he does) but we did not know he could play the piano. On a side note, loved the songs. I didn't know the first one, but the second one from Code Geass is such a moving piece (I'm more of jazz and swing man myself, but I can appreciate just about any type of music when it is played well). Anyway, this scene gave us a little Octavia. I have been very interested to see her, and while the interaction was brief, it did give me a little insight on her character. She seems to tolerate rude attitudes like Seth's due to her work within Canterlot society (though Seth's rudeness doesn't spring from feelings of superiority like the pony elite), so she keeps her cool despite his clear annoyance. We also learned from when Seth was playing the piano that she has a deep appreciation for music in general, and even though the music was of human origin and unheard by pony ears, Octavia was able to listen and hear it completely, rather then just hear lovely music. While Rainbow was shocked by Seth's skill, from what I read, it seemed like Octavia not only appreciated and enjoyed the music, but she was able to discern that he made some mistakes as he tried to remember the pieces. This could be due to her special talent for music, or simple a skilled ear, but she could truly hear the music in a way that I doubt most of the other patrons could. I suspect if we see Octavia again that Seth may end up giving her a little respect and appreciation.
Overall a great chapter that incorporated a lot more than what was written. I can't wait to see what Vinyl has been up to while Seth and Rainbow have been out
4607266
Why thank you
I tend to go into quite a bit of depth with my comments when I find a story as well written as this one
Hey, a fellow Fire Emblem fan! Alright, I gotta ask: what's your favorite music from Awakening? Mine's Id (Purpose). The power of the song, the Latin chanting, the fact that it's the music for the final stage... whenever I hear it, it amps me up!
5161158
Right then! These comments of yours are awesome, though I feel like I'm missing something when you're talking about fell dragons
Id (Purpose). How can you not like that song? It's just fucking awesome. My favorites in that game (I spent around 500 hours on it
) Are probably Chaos (Ablaze), Mastermind, Id(Purpose), and Don't Speak Her Name.
In the entire series...Hard to beat the Prince's Despair, Campaign of Fire, King of Bern, Softly with Grace, and of course, my favorite ever, Shaman in the Dark.
5161288 Now I feel like I need to play fire emblem...
:( the second piano song link is dead
"... like your typical over the top college drama that I wouldn't touch with a nine foot pole." That's funny Seth, cause you ARE a typical college drama.
"I've got the world figured out." "I don't need to show any respect to you, but I'll be pissed when you do the same to me," ect.
Fuck, was I this insufferable back then?
second piano song got nuked.
Do it!
Ooh! Hidden feelings there, Seth?
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s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a9/98/29/a99829ec38aeb387ecc9399213b21a8f.jpg
So does Rarity and Appplejack (though i imagine it most likely belongs to Smith Apple).
Hot damn though, got a song from my favorite game series, then another one from one of my top five animes. You sir, have tickled my pickle.
Very beautiful works you have chosen, my friend.
I really like the way you decided you use music in this chapter. Well, at least in the music shop. It was very appropriate, it accompanied the story well and really helps to bring the scene to life, as opposed to the music inserted at the Celestia fight scene. It wasn't really my thing, though I'm sure others enjoyed it. I just think the musical accompaniment works best when it really impacts the story. Like in the music shop, or going back, in the party Seth walks into where he first meets Vinyl.
YOU CALL THAT A FUCKING WARMUP????
9811186
Lamo