• Published 12th Aug 2012
  • 19,738 Views, 1,916 Comments

The Piano Man: Act II - The Sentient Cloud



The Piano Man is free, but must now recover from his captivity and adjust to life in Equestria.

  • ...
80
 1,916
 19,738

An Eventful Morning - Part 3

Hey guys; please take a look at the Author's Note. I'd really appreciate it.

- TSC


“Excuse me, Princess.” I stop, also bringing Celestia and Luna to a halt as they move to rejoin the others. “There’s actually something else I wanted to ask about.”

“Yes?” The white alicorn halts her departure, turning around to face me again.

“I was wondering; does Equestria have a… a banking system? One where a group of ponies manage the bits of their clients, and stuff like that?”

“We do.” Celestia nods. “There’s the Equestrian National, the Equestrian Royal, and the Canterlot Royal banks. You yourself have an account set up with the Equestrian Royal Bank.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. Do the others…” I nod at the collection of ponies out in the lounge, who are all talking animatedly. “…have accounts as well?”

“They do…” Luna raises an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Well…” I smile a little sheepishly. “I’ve got a reasonable amount of money to my name, right? I think it was about twenty-six thousand bits, or something.”

“Yes…” Celestia’s own eyebrow slides upwards. She doesn’t vocalize any predictions of what I’m about to say, but I’m fairly sure that she’s already guessed what I’m getting at.

“Uhh…” I continue once more, giving a little shrug. “…Well, I don’t need it. I’m not paying for myself at the moment, and I’ll be getting living funds for the future from the trial, so I think that I might as well give what I have now to somepony – or someponies that can put it to better use.”

I close my mouth, wondering what response I’m going to receive. I literally have no use for this money, so why not give it to the ponies that have helped me so much? And when I say the ponies that have helped me, I’m not just talking about while I’ve been in Equestria. If that were the case, then most of the money would be going to Twilight, Rarity, and some to Pinkie Pie. Luna too, but she’d have no use for it.

Instead, it’s more as payment for the sheer amount of joy I’ve experienced because of My Little Pony – my suffering under Trixie excluded. One and a half years of good feelings and happiness, and they’ve never received a cent for it. The least I can do is give them the money from my Gala performance. I might as well call it a charity performance for underpaid actors.

Celestia still hasn’t said anything. I think she’s letting me properly voice my request.

“So… what I’m asking for you to arrange…” I swallow a little nervously, before nodding my head at the Mane Six again. “Is to transfer Three and a half thousand bits into each of their accounts. Twenty-one thousand total.”

Luna and Celestia both glance at each other, before the Princess of the Night hesitantly asks; “…Why?”

“Well, I’ve really got no use for the bits, and the others out there have done so much for me – before and after I came here.” I raise my hands in a half-shrug. “I think it’s only fair that I show my appreciation with more than just simple thanks, and right now the best means I have are bits.”

“And why would you ask this of us? Why not offer it to them directly?" Luna questions.

“Because they’ll refuse.” I give a little shrug, accompanying my words with a smile. “If they don’t know about it until after it’s done, then they can’t refuse – as long as the transaction’s non-reversible.”

“Are you sure?” Celestia queries, still apprehensive. The only reason I can imagine for that is that I’ve caught her off-guard with my unexpected request. “This is unusually generous.”

“I disagree.” I shake my head to emphasize my point. “If you ask me, it’s fair compensation. Of course, I don’t expect anypony else to see it from my point of view.”

“And you’re sure.” Celestia says again, making sure that there can be no mistake of my wishes. “You’re sure that you want twenty-one thousand bits drawn from your account to be split equally into theirs.”

“Completely.” I nod confidently. It’s really only fair. As much as I would like to hang onto that money for some future event, I feel that the others would have more use for it. “And please, please don’t tell them.”

Celestia and Luna glance at each other again, both of them nodding the affirmative in a silent decision over whether or not to comply with my request.

“Very well then, Keys.” Luna smiles slightly, looking faintly amused by my decision. I’d imagine that a lot of the trivialities of mortals must be entertaining to them. “As surprising as it may be, we shall fulfill your wish.”

“Thank you, your highness.”

“I will not tell you again that I wish to be called Luna.” The Princess chastises in a less-than-gentle manner, and I have to stop myself from sighing. I suppose I’m past all the ridiculousness of trying to be proper and formal since last night, but it’ll take a little mental training to not fall back on the standard royal titles.

“Yes, Luna.” I grimace slightly at how improper that sounds.

“You shall get used to it.” Luna once again smiles slightly at my discomfort. “All things take time. Shall we rejoin the Elements?”

“Let’s.” Celestia replies simply, giving the cue for us to exit the corner.

I follow the two alicorns back to the center of the room, where the discussion seems to be in the process of winding down – or at least, it looks like everypony’s managed to come to term with what I’ve said. time will tell, though.

“…derstand that, Twi.” Applejack sounds more than a little frustrated. “But ah jus’ wanna know how these darn stories exist.”

I clear my throat, drawing the work-pony’s attention. “Sorry Applejack, but we don’t have an answer for that. They exist, but I have no clue how.”

I really should have guessed that she’d have the most difficulty with this. She is of a ‘southern persuasion’, after all – not enough to uphold all the stereotypes, but enough to encourage a watered-down image of the classic technophobic bumpkin.

Applejack produces what looks like a cross between a scowl and a disappointed frown. “Well that ain’t helpful.”

“Tell me about it.” I tap my cane on the floor twice for no other reason than adding an accent to my words. “So what’s been explained?”

“I talked about the details, and what you know…” Twilight frowns uncertainly. “Other than that, I didn’t really know what to say.”

“There isn’t much else to say.” I shrug. “So does anypony have any questions?”

There’s a lapse of silence, in which the Elements take a few moments to exchange glances, which were normally answered by shrugs or head-shakes. That surprises me, although I suppose that some questions take time to be thought of. There's no doubt that I'll have to answer some sooner or later, depending on when they are thought of.

I wait until the exchanges stop, before nodding. “Nothi-”

“I’ve got a question.” Rainbow interrupts, keeping her voice surprisingly level.

“Yeah?” I raise an eyebrow. Rainbow was the one pony I thought would have nothing more to ask. She probably just wants to know more about her fa-

“What’s your name, dude?”

I blink twice. For some reason that’s a real surprise, even though it's actually also in keeping with the Rainbow Dash that Bronies know and love. I probably should have considered this – Then again, there are a lot of things I should be considering that I'm not.

“Rainbow.” Twilight chastises quickly. “If Keys doesn’t-”

“Twilight.” I hold up my hand. “It’s fine. Now’s a good time anyway.”

“What?” The collected ponies chorus, surprise marring their faces.

I give a sheepish smile at the reaction. The entire reason I provided the name ‘Keys’ in the first place was because I was worried about saying anything stupid. Admittedly, I have no clue why I was worried that my name would be a bad thing to hand out. With every passing day my thinking becomes clearer, and I look back at my previous mistakes and wonder how I could possibly have made them.

“Yeah…” I give an awkward cough. “The entire reason I kept my name to myself was because I was worried about saying anything stupid. Not really sure what I was thinking.” I reach up and rub at the side of my neck equally as awkwardly. “But that doesn't really matter any more... so… you all want to know my name?”

“That’d be nice, dear.” Rarity prods gently, as if she's being careful not to spook me on the topic. All of the ponies look genuinely interested, although Twilight and the Princesses are – predictably – paying the most attention.

My sheepish grin doesn’t change as I gauge their reactions. “Well, long-story-short; Keys is a nickname from my friends on Earth. They gave it to me because I play the piano, and I share my first name with a well-known fictitious leader.”

I pause for a moment. It’s mostly for dramatic tension than anything else. I really am a hopeless dramatic.

“So… uh, well… my actual name is Jacob Lewis – Jake for short, but I’d prefer to just be called Keys. It’s what I’ve always been called, on Earth and Equestria.”

“Jacob…” Twilight makes a show of mulling the word over. “That’s an interesting name.”

“If by ‘interesting’ you mean ‘boring’, then yeah. I agree.” I scoff. “’Jake’ is such a bland, average name, which is why I prefer ‘Keys’.”

“’Jacob’, huh?” Applejack nods. “Respectable name. I’ve gotta cousin named Jacob.”

“Oh, and there are a lot of people on earth named Jacob. That as well.” I add, my memory prompted by Applejack’s comment. “But seriously, I’d much rather being called Keys.”

“But Jacob is a fun name!” Pinkie suddenly complains, pouting so heavily that the resulting image borders on grotesque. “It’s a two-syllable word! It fits into almost any song!”

“I’m sure Keys will work just as well, dear.” Rarity ‘comforts’ the party pony.

I give a little shrug. Rarity’s pretty much said it all – and I’d prefer to not get caught up in too many musicals in the near future. The ballad of lord waffle was enough for me.

“J-j-j-j-j-Jacob.” I mutter whimsically under my breath in the following silence, before speaking at a conversational volume again. “So now I’m just wondering, when is the trial set for?”

“In two days.” Celestia replies quickly. “The case begins on Friday morning.”

I nod. “And how long would a trial like this take?”

“The evidence against Trixie is overwhelming.” Luna responds simply. “All that is required is for us to hear all the evidence and the argument from both sides. After that we make our decision, and our verdict is carried out.”

I raise an eyebrow at Luna’s use of the word ‘we’. I had wondered if cases of this scale were presided over by the Princesses, or just judges. It looks like I have my answer, but I’ll need to ask Twilight later.

What’s more exciting is how close the trial is – and how quickly it will be over. This is an example of Equestria’s many differences from Earth. The proceedings will be over in hours rather than weeks, and the investigation didn’t even reach two weeks in length, which is insignificant compared to the month-long enquiries that an event of this scale would merit on Earth.

Frankly, I love it. Trixie will be receiving her punishment before the weekend is out – possibly before it starts, if the Equestrian Justice system is really fast. This couldn't be better.

“Good.” I smile widely at the news. “It’ll be amazing to see that monster getting what’s coming to her.”

It really will be. I’ve only been free for ten days, but this has still been a long time coming. Sure, it'd have been satisfying to kill the mare, but braining her with a pipe's also pretty satisfying – and now she gets to endure a proper punishment for her horrific misdeeds.

Pinkie breaks the silence before I can take a moment to gauge the attitude of the ponies around me. It seems that she's getting worse and worse at restraining her vast stores of energy.

“Hey! I thought we were going to have some fun in Canterlot! What’s everypony doing being all ‘not-doing-thatey’?”

I raise an eyebrow. “Going out to Canterlot?”

Celestia clears her throat, "I suggested that the girls go and take some time off in the city, and that you should join them if you feel you are able. I think you could all do with some relaxation before the trial."

"And I could do with a haircut..." I mutter, touching at my hair before answering with barely any thought; "Well, I'm up for a trip into town. I mean, it'll be good to get out and just do stuff for a change, instead of moping around all day like some depressed Goth."

The elements each voice their general agreement for the trip into Canterlot, although Rainbow doesn't seem to be overly interested at all. I think she's still coasting on the ego-high of learning that she's popular on an entirely different world.

"Yes!" Pinkie leaps out of her seat and immediately starts swaying from side to side, a wide grin plastered across her face. "Let's go have some fun!"