Obsessed with the Beat

by LunaScribbles

Track 5: Crazy Little Thing Called Wub

Some boring Monday night,

"So, I'm sick." I fake a cough, hopefully the teacher through the phone would buy it. "So, yeah. That's why I can't come to school today. Sorry about that..."

The voice in the phone spoke up, "Well, Mr. Camperson..." I heard a chuckle in her voice. "You're pretty good in my books. I don't see why you should fake being sick today."

"Wha-- Ms. Pines! I'm not lying though!" I clearly lie through the phone. "Whatever, at least I just needed to let someone know that I'm not going to school today."

"Eh, understood, Mr. Camperson."

"Thanks Ms. Pines." I nodded as I hung up the phone. I sighed and threw the phone on the bed, thinking about the current situation I'm in. "What am I gonna do? It's not everyday that you find out that your 'pride' is gone."

I look outside the bedroom and into the living room. I see Kent sitting down on the sofa, talking on his phone. He's also doing the same thing I was doing, coming up with excuses as to why he can't go to class today. I see him finish his call and approached him. "So?"

"So, what?"

"How did it go?"

"They agreed that I can take a leave off for awhile until I can show a medical certificate as proof of my sickness." He said as he sighed. "How can I go to the hospital like this?! 'Doctor! I'm turning into a cartoon pony! Please, send help!' It's ridiculous..."

"Oh, Kent, you innocent child. Have you never experienced the days where you fake being sick?" I said jokingly, "I photoshopped my excuse letters back when I was in Elementary School."

"No, because that's stupid and probably illegal if you do that in the real world."

"Well, you gotta be good at lying sometimes to live in the real world, man. Wake up."

"Yeah, I know that Kent. I just did on the phone. It's just that I'm not very good at lying, unless there's a very good reason as to why I have to... Which is ponies." Kent says, putting his phone down on the coffee table. "I'm going to get a drink."

"Same here."

Kent stood up from the sofa and went to the kitchen to get the sweet and superior carbonated beverage from the fridge. A thought came up to me, 'Vinyl Scratch and Pepsi should have a sponsorship'. Come on, they'd be perfect! Blue hair really compliments the iconic blue Pepsi can. Better than most of the other recent commercials they've tried to do.

Wait, am I just advertising Pepsi right now? Well, maybe I just sold my soul to the Pepsi devil right now as I'm thinking this. You, yeah you, drink some Pepsi right now.

I hear the fridge open and Kent spoke up, "I just noticed that all you have is Pepsi."

"Yeah? What about it?"

Kent rolled his eyes. "Never mind. To be honest, I think it's kind of irresponsible of me to inform my professors and teachers that I'm sick 14 hours after morning... Which is 10:00pm." he said as he sipped the can. "I mean, if it weren't for you showing your... eh. I probably would've been conscious, went to school and still passed as myself. I mean, I was born with blue eyes and black hair."

"And leave me here while I'm still a bit unsettled and probably traumatized by my... eh? Come on Kent, I know that Philosophy means so much to you, but we're both having problems right now."

"I guess you're right. We're still humans as of now. We're not growing anything that would cause any negative attention from people." Kent sat down on the sofa again and put down the soda can on the coffee table. He then clears his throat as if he's readying up to say something. "So, about Princess Luna..."

I raised an eyebrow. "Mmhm? What is it?" I asked, "What did Lulu-best-pony say?"

"Oh, she says that she wants us to return to this land called Equestria. I'm pretty sure you've heard of it cus' 'Pony'." Kent said, "Do you think that those dreams are real?"

"Well, I should tell Princess Luna to combine our dreams together like in that episode with the Tantabus." I said, "I mean, if we both dream the same dream then it's probably real."

Kent yawned, "Well, I think it's time to test that theory. I'm going to lay rest here for a while. Who knows, I might grow hooves and I gotta find a way to sneak past people going all the way to your apartment. I'm not gonna take that risk going back to my house right now."

"Smart move, Kent. I've read several fan fictions of this same certain scenario, and you've done the smart thing to do." I say, approving his choice of his stay here. "And, just to let you know that you're technically sleeping in with a girl now."

I saw Kent visibly wince at the fact. "You should also know that you were a guy, and you've been with me like that for four years, right?" Kent says, "And since when did you gain all this 'femininity side'? For shits and giggles?"

"Pfft, duh? Like you said, I've been a guy for as long as I can remember. Of course I'm trying to purposefully make you blush. Then again, you are the gentleman Judo dude back in high school. You're a tough nut to crack, Neo- I mean, Kent."

"There is that lip slip again. That's happened a few times now to me. One in the nearby McDonalds here."

Wait a minute... I recognize this fan-fiction trope. Almost every brony knows the 5S/4 fan fics that flooded fimfiction.net a long time ago; the Freudian slip of names! Well, not so much a trope more so a thing I just invented out of the 'blue'.

"Kent!" I shout, "Those people might also be turning to ponies too! The fact that they did a slip of a tongue with the mention of your name! Especially that they probably don't even know you because they're fast food workers!"

"What, you want me to go there right now to see if they're still there? I don't know the usual routine of a McDonalds worker." Kent said, "But if it means getting more people to join the club instead of just us two, I guess that's fine by me."

With that, Kent went to McDonalds again.

---

Hello, there! My name is Walter Graham. Age 22. You might be thinking, 'Oh, a 22 year old! Must be filled with hope and spirit!'. Well, actually, I'm a McDonalds Employee. I graduated with a degree in Arts and tried applying for a job in animation, but apparently my best wasn't enough. I'm still not giving up though, cus' I'm just working in McDonalds so that I can pay for the tuition. Usually, I work up until noon and take my classes in the afternoon, but for today, I have to work over time so I can gain just a bit more to pay rent.

Throughout the day, many faces come and go.
You get a feeling there's someone you should know.
If only they take the first step to me,
Maybe our friendship is our destiny!

I recite the poem I wrote yesterday in my head. I usually write poems that reflect how I want the day to go. Right now, I felt the need for a new friend or whatever.

I arrive to the store on a bike and parked it at the back. I came through the back door, punched my card, and started to get to work.

I hum to myself a familiar tune that has been an earworm for several days now, ever since I heard it from my niece's cartoon show.

For I had believed what I was sold
I did all the things that I was told
But all that has changed, and now I'm bold
'Cause I know
That I am just a pony

Yeah, humming that song got me through the day. For a kid's show aimed for girls, it has surprisingly good and catchy music.

Faces come and go,
People I don't know
Don't care about what I feel,
I just serve them their meal.

I sigh at the thought of that poem. It's true, reality is sort of like that. People don't really care unless you make the first move on the step towards friendship. Maybe it is time. I bet, this next customer, I'll try to do that.

"Hello sir, welcome to McDonalds, how may I help you?" boy, if I had a penny for every time I've said that, I'd actually be able to pay my college tuition.

"Yeah, I'd like two 2-pc pancakes and 2 cups of orange juice. Take out." Hearing that, I immediately went to the other employees to get the order done. In about a few minutes, it is done. He paid the bills and got the bag.

"Thanks, uhhh..." he visibly squinted at my name tag, "Walter."

I grinned. Not many people really thank a McDonalds employee, especially with their name. "No problem, Neon!" I cheerfully replied. He looked at me funny. Was it something I said? He then walked away with his order.

"Neon?" replied one of the employees beside me. "Why'd ya call him Neon?"

Come to think of it, why did I say that? God damn it! I wanted the first step towards making new friends to be, I don't know, successful? "I-I don't know. Slip of the tongue, maybe?" I grin, hopefully she rolls her eyes and shrugs.

"Whatever, Waltz. Just keep on workin'."

Gosh, I should really be careful with my words. I don't like being embarrassed.

---

After the long day of work has finished, it's time I say goodbye to the folks at the McDonalds and left. 10pm is not a very safe time to traverse outside on the streets due to the likelihood of getting mugged.

Mugged, yeah right...

"Hey, you work at McDonalds, right?" says a voice behind me. I grew a bit nervous. Did I jinx it? Is this the mugging process? Oh please no. "Have you heard a guy named Walter? He works at this McDonalds, I was wondering if I could talk to him for a while."

I turn back to see that it was in fact the person who read my name and thanked me! "Oh, hey! Neon, it's you!" I cheerfully said, but then covered my mouth. "Crap, sorry about that. That's not your name, mister."

"It's aight. My friend and I think I know why you're doing these slips-of-the-tongues recently, and it has got to do with something, like a huge conspiracy. Say, you haven't learned my name. It's Kent, by the way, but you learned my 'other name', which was Neon, by instinct. Want in on this? Trust me, we won't hurt you." He said as he gestured to follow him.

I have a hard time trusting people when it's 10pm and they're telling me to follow them somewhere... but my gut trusts him. Hopefully the first step, or slip up, actually did something.

Comments

[Viper Pit]

And thus our well not heroes find another pony

[Eris Dis Harmonia]

And whom might they be?

[LunaScribbles]

9290948
Well, I could you that they’re a pony that makes mistakes from time to tiiiiiime

[Eris Dis Harmonia]

9291275
Let me guess, they also like muffins?

[LunaScribbles]

9291430
Well, everypony loves muffins, but it ain't the bubbly pony you're thinkin' of.

[Eris Dis Harmonia]

9291514
Hmmm... when you said "From time to time", were you making a reference to something? Because that line of thought made me think of an entire list of ponies, Starlight chief amongst them.