Half Hour Horses: Legacy Prompts

by HoofAndQuill

LP31: I Can't Hear the Music [General]

The Prompt: I can't hear the music.

(Another one, with easy-to-spot literary influences. At least in the first part. The time limit was hit somewhere in the last couple paragraphs. Whoops!

Also- yes, I do enjoy horse puns. )

"Look unto the Silent Watchers of the Deep! We will prepare this world for their eternal rule!"

The demented rantings of the Mad Marab Appul Akhal-teke washed over the silent mares from Ponyville as they struggled at their bindings. Twilight Sparkle's wings flared and her horn glowed and sparked as she pulled at the enchanted chains, only to have the same effect as Applejack's maddened bucking and Pinkie Pie's frenzied bouncing. None of the ponies could move an inch, and even though their lips moved, they still found they couldn't make any sounds at all!

"Shagya! Novokirg'hiz! Yili! Altai, Shire-Namib, the thrice-dammed mare with a thousand young!"

Twilight's horn glowed brightly, and the chains around her hooves and wings groaned under the strain, as one of Applejack's bucks finally pulled one of her own anchorings free, and Rainbow Dash's violent struggling managed to pull on of her manacles loose.

"With my magic, given to you all, I bind myself to stone and give you the silent world you desire!"

A brilliant flash of magic poured forth from the Mad Marab and his gathered coltists, shining with a strange light that seemed to darken everything it fell upon. At that moment, Twilight's chains finally broke under the strain, but there was no sound, only falling metal landing silently against the ancient stone flooring. Twilight Sparkle galloped toward the cult, only to find that she was too late. The thirteen ponies now stood as stone statues around the strange altar, and Twilight could tell from the absence of her hoofsteps that the magic had been a success.

In addition to muting the princess and her friends, Appul Akhal-teke had managed to mute the entire world. Twilight forced herself not to think about the chaos that must be covering Equestria as all sound stopped.

Instead, she turned and galloped back to her friends. The lack of sound from her hooffalls threw her rhythm off, but she still managed to keep up her pace. Her horn glowed in the unsettling silence, and soon enough the rest of her friends were freed from the chains, though sullen and defeated expressions covered all their faces. Twilight opened her mouth to try to raise their spirits, but then blushed and looked down at the ground at her failure to speak.

Applejack glowered as she looked around the ruin, pointedly avoiding her friends' glances. Fluttershy scuffed a hoof against the stone, then started to shake at the lack of any sound from it.

After a moment, Pinkie Pie reached back into her mane with her muzzle, and pulled a small notepad of paper seemingly out of nowhere. With a stick of charcoal that seemed to have been stored in her mane as well, she quickly scratched out a note, holding it up to the others. A tiny sketch of a straight-maned Pinkie with tears down her muzzle was drawn next to the two words. [What now?]

Twilight gently took the notepad in her magic, and used the charcoal to write her own message, without any drawings this time. [I'm so sorry, everypony. I had no idea that just reading a book could lead to so much trouble!]

How would Twilight manage to defeat this magic if she couldn't even speak properly with her friends? The note was passed from pony to pony as others added their own lines, the frustration at this slow, clunky mode of communication growing on every face. [It's Applejack's crazy family's fault!]

['Appul' doesn't mean he's from my family, Rainbow Dash!]

[I kind of like the quiet, but this is too much.]

[Those black robes are simply dreadful, and the decor in this ruin is absolutely horrible!]

[Why don't we just PARTY?], accompanied by a sketch of six stick-figure ponies around a gramophone.

The five other mares stared blankly at Pinkie Pie as she held the note up to them. Even without any real experience reading lips, the expression on Applejack's face showed her disbelief at the notion, and despite the sentence starting with 'Sugarcube', everypony was pretty certain she wasn't saying anything too friendly.

Pinkie Pie seemed content to completely ignore their basically-unspoken objections. She reached behind her and pulled out a small, portable party cannon, firing it noiselessly up into the air and letting confetti rain down over the antediluvian chamber. In just a moment, she was bobbing her head and dancing to herself, a smile on her lips and a happy, carefree sort of bouncing suffusing her body. Her friends just stared, open-mouthed. It was almost hard watching her dance and not imagining some gramophone belting out silly party music at the same time. The gramophone that they suddenly saw off to the side, doubtlessly launched from the party cannon, just spun silently as expected.

Still, seeing Pinkie dance like that somehow lifted the group's spirits anyway. Fluttershy smiled after a moment or two, and in the silence she imagined she could hear the twittering and singing of the birds around her cottage. She closed her eyes and thought back to being home in the springtime, and found herself humming along, even if she couldn't hear the noise.

Even if her family was a little crazy, meaning the family member in this ruin that was dancing to silence, they were still family. Applejack glanced over at Rainbow Dash with a look to remind the pegasus that laughing at her wasn't the right thing to do, and then trotted over to join Pinkie's dance. Applejack was a bit off-beat, and the two mares bumped into each other more than they managed to stay separate, but Pinkie's laughter was so genuine that the other friends could almost hear it despite the magic.

Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash all shared a look. Their friends had gone nuts, plainly. But in this desperate hour, alone in a cave full of statues and eternal silence, who would ever be able to comment on their ridiculous party? Rainbow Dash threw her hooves out to the side as she hovered near the group, and mouthed out 'What the hay' before landing and bumping Rarity's flank with her own. Despite a momentary feigned look of irritation, in a few seconds Rarity was dancing along with the others. Giving her own silent laugh, Twilight Sparkle just joined in as well.

All six friends were dancing to different sounds, different beats in their own mind and with their own purpose, but somehow they each heard it. It started small, a tiny crack and tinkling noise that would never have drawn attention if the entire world weren't completely noiseless. Pinkie Pie glanced over to the altar, and pointed with a hoof. Her silent call to attention didn't get anypony's attention, however.

Another cracking noise, and then a clatter of stone against stone, finally caught the other pony's ears. But they still danced, hugging around Pinkie and laughing silently. Another crack, and then a low, deep rumbling sounded through the muted world. The smiles on the mares' faces changed a bit, from their happy carefree attitude to one of triumph. Their dancing continued, and with a resounding snap heard around the world, the statues of the cult and the Mad Marab himself shattered along with the ancient altar in the center of the room.

Sound rushed in like a hurricane. The gramophone playing silly and nonsensical party music, the off-beat tapping of twenty four hooves on the floor, the dripping of stalactites and the chittering of insects that lived in the old ruins, the howling of the wind in the desert outside... and most importantly, the laughter and proud cheering of six friends. The ponies all gathered around and hugged Pinkie Pie happily, their laughter interspersed with thanks and congratulations.

Pinkie Pie just beamed happily. "Aw, you girls don't have to thank me! Besides, we've got a party to finish!"

The ponies all laughed together again, and started their dancing in earnest, this time in tune with the music and each other. The Silent Watchers would have to wait, Equestria was safe again in their hooves.