My Little Pony: Onverse

by Goat Carnival

Shiver Snowhoof: The Concert of Nerds

Shiver walked tiredly onto the rubber turf at Twilight Sparkle's Integrated School of Friendship, wearing his usual scarf and a striped turtleneck sweater. As the fashionable ward of Rarity, the element of generosity and one of the teachers at the school, he was often expected to spend some time there learning something. 'Course, he never even bothered to try. He found having to learn about friendship kind of pointless, at least for him. He was raised around the six friendliest ponies in Equestria. He knew enough about the magic of friendship already.

"Shiver!" somepony called. It was Rainbow Dash, who was often in charge of gym classes when her wife, Applejack, wasn't. "Come to help out my gym class?" she asked expectantly.

He continued his tired trot and stood next to her. "Yep, but don't assume I'm here to learn," he scoffed. "I just got bored."

Rainbow Dash frowned at his answer, but quickly shoved it off as a timer on her left hoof went off. She then blew her whistle loudly and the students in the class gathered around the two ponies.

"Alright everyone!" Rainbow began in her stern Wonderbolt captain voice, pacing back and forth to make sure it got to all the creatures in the class. "First thing's on the docket, I'd like you all to meet Shiver Snowhoof. He's generously agreed to help out with this class. I'm sure you're all aware of the importance of generosity as you've learned in Rarity's class!"

Shiver let an exasperated sigh out at the same time as one of the griffons in the class. Noticing this, Shiver met his eyes. He smiled at him, but in response to the griffon's friendly acknowledgement Shiver just looked away to hide a quick blush, much to the griffon's apparent disappointment mixed with confusion.

Shiver never came to the school to seek out friendships. He was content with Burner. He just felt that not every creature needed a friend for each day of the week.

He kept his glance away from the eyes of the diverse set of creatures standing before him, fearing held gazes might ignite a new friendship he wasn’t ready for. While he did this, Rainbow Dash continued to bark commands at her class.

That doesn’t sound like friendship, he thought to himself sarcastically. He put a small smile on his face and subconsciously turned his head back towards the griffon from before. Wait, shit! He didn’t want the griffon to think that he actually liked him.

The class then broke into a bunch of teams and gathered in specific places on the field. Clearly they were getting amped for some kind of sport, but Shiver didn’t care for any sports except hockey and cricket. He sighed and sat down on the nearest bench. Bored with nothing to do, Shiver took a sketchbook out of a large hidden pocket inside his turtleneck. The sketchbook was filled with new and innovative designs, each one of them in some way combining fashion and function. He looked out at the many students running around kicking a leather ball throughout the field. He tried to focus on at least one student, but he kept finding himself on the same griffon.

After minutes of avoiding looking at the griffon, Shiver just gave up and decided to design something for him. A design that he swore would remain PURE CONCEPT til the end of time.

He began by sketching a front, side, and overhead view of the griffon’s basic build, as he did with every new design. He started sketching a jacket shape, where the sleeves were a different color from the rest of the article and were far too big for the griffin’s arms. He continued sketching until the final product took the shape of a handsome griffon in a letterman jacket.

Nnnope, wait. Not handsome. Just a regular griffon in a nice looking jacket that will never be made because this is pure concept and nothing else.

Rainbow Dash’s whistle suddenly blew, followed by a loud and stern order. “Gil! Bench!” The griffon Shiver had been observing saluted his coach and started to fly towards the very bench where Shiver was sitting.

Shitshitshitshitshit! The same curse chanted through Shiver’s head as he hid the sketchbook back in his pocket.

Gil sat down uncomfortably close to Shiver, shaking sweat out of his feathers.

“Ugh… Sweatthatdidntcomefromasituationinvolvingrocknrollenthusiasm~” Shiver groaned under his breath. He shifted to the left, away from the sweaty griffon.

Unfortunately, Gil seemed to notice this. He held out his claw to greet the well-dressed unicorn next to him.

“Hi there! Shiver, right?”

Reluctantly, Shiver placed his hoof in the open claw and nodded. Gil shook his hoof excitedly.

“I’m Gil!”

As Shiver pulled his hoof from the tight grip, Rainbow Dash landed in front of the two boys and smiled.

"Finally making friends, eh, Shiver?" she snarked. "Good job, Gil! That's your third new friend this week!"

"Still working on the friend part there, Ma'am!" Gil responded, eyeing the stallion next to him smugly.

Rainbow Dash silently nodded and trotted back onto the field, out of the boys' earshot. Now alone again, Gil and Shiver both shifted uncomfortably next to each other. In an attempt to avoid further conversation, Shiver pulled his MP3 player and headphones out of his pocket and started listening to his song playlists.

After the first song, Gil tapped on Shiver's shoulder. He reluctantly pulled the headphones off and looked at the griffon next to him.

"Is that UFO Freaks?" Gil asked with a sly grin on his face.

"Maybe..." Shiver grumbled.

"Dude, they're my favorite band!"

Shiver's eyes widened. "Really?" he asked, now unafraid to admit he was interested in what Gil had to say.

"Totally! I'm a big fan of all the rock bands. UFO Freaks, Anomaly Chasers, Ocean Lords, Metal Virgin..."

Shiver was ecstatic to be in the company of another metal fan. None of his current friends were as into heavy metal as he was; not even Burner would accompany him to concerts. He might finally have a friend he could enjoy his favorite music with.

"Hey, me and some of my friends are gonna be at The Chaos Carnival tonight for a concert. Wanna come?" Gil asked.

"The Chaos Carnival?" Shiver asked, confused. "You mean the On'O place with all the Discord lamps?"

"It's so much more than that, now!" Gil said excitedly. "For one, they took down all the Discord lamps. They only allow On'O sessions in private rooms and the main part is a rock n' roll-themed bar now."

"Sounds like a nerd's paradise..." Shiver snarked with a small smile.

Gil laughed at Shiver's joke and patted him on the shoulder. "I'll see you there, right?" he asked expectantly.

Shiver nodded as he let the griffon's sharp talons off of him. "Wouldn't miss it for the world!"

Gil smiled as Rainbow Dash's whistle blew sharply. He flew off back towards the field, waving at Shiver. As he waved back, Shiver realized what had just happened. He had just made a friend.

Fuck.

---

"Wow, Gil. Could've told me there was a wait..." Shiver grumbled to himself as he stood in line to enter The Chaos Carnival. Though at this point it seemed more like a club. He looked around. There were about 10 creatures in front of him and 20 behind. He’d never thought in a million years that this place would be this popular. So much for quiet On’O parties with Two Pair.

Shiver stretched uncomfortably in the line. While his outfit of a red blazer and his trademark scarf done up like a tie was perfectly fitted to provide comfort, the crowd around him seemed to take all the comfort away.

He looked ahead to the front of the line at the bouncer. It looked like he was talking to someone…

Oh it was Gil.

Gil seemed to notice Shiver in the line and waved at him, gesturing for him to come up to the front. He sidestepped out of the line, his spot immediately getting filled by the creatures behind him.

“Come on in!” Gil told him excitedly. He started to lead him inside. “I’m sure you’ll love the band! At least… I hope you do!”

They walked down a hall filled with several doors. Shiver guessed these might be the On’O rooms. The hall led to a huge open party room, filled with ponies, griffons, changelings, dragons… hell, even yaks! And whereas the average party bar would have two levels, this one had three. Needless to say, Kauga had gone through a hell of a remodel since the last time Shiver had been there.

The boys shoved through the crowded floor to the main bar. Gil ordered a glass of beer for Shiver, and then immediately disappeared.

"Gil?" Shiver called. The griffon was nowhere to be seen. He'd thought they were going to enjoy the show together. "Way to abandon me, dude. Another beer, please."

It was by his third beer that the band started to take the stage. Shiver tried to remember the name of the band as the bassist hyped up the crowd.

"HOW'S EVERYBODY DOING TONIGHT?!" a voice called from overhead. Shiver looked up above the stage and saw a shape descending with a guitar around his chest. The crowd's cheers may have just been misleading him, but Shiver could swear the voice sounded like Gil's...

"ARE YOU READY FOR TARTARUS UNLEASHED?!" the voice continued. The cheers picked up again, and the lead singer started on the opening riff of one of their songs.

Shiver shoved his way to the front of the crowd, so he could stand at the base of the stage. He looked up at the guitarist before him.

It really was Gil.

---

"YOU'RE IN A BAND?!" Shiver shouted with disbelief. After the show, Gil had tracked the now drunk pony down and invited him to the greenroom to hang out with his band. It was there that he met the other three band members; the drummer, a hippogriff mare named Sunwhisper, the second guitarist, a changeling named Ephemerid, and the bassist, a unicorn stallion named Star Shooter.

Gil flipped his head back out of the sink he was washing his sweaty feathers in. "What, were the last two hours not a big enough hint for you?" he joked, drying his feathers off with a wash cloth.

"I've just never known anyone in a band before. I mean, Burner's little brother Crimson has a piano toy he likes to play with, but--"

"Is this guy drunk?" asked Sunwhisper.

Gil responded to her question with a big laugh. "No doubt!"

"I just can't believe you've been in a band this whole time!" Shiver continued. "What were you called again?"

"Tartarus Unleashed."

"Tar-tar sauce fun peas..."

Sunwhisper sighed and placed a claw on Gil's shoulder. "You might wanna walk this guy home, G," she advised.

"Can't very well do that. Don't know where he lives," Gil protested. "I shouldn't take him to my house either..."

"I LIVE IN A CAROUSEL!" Shiver suddenly blurted. Clearly no one knew what he meant.

"Guess I'll just have to break in my dorm at the school again. Unless Merid or Star wanna take him in?"

"Noooooo" Star replied with a knowing cadence in his voice. He nudged Merid, who also denied Gil's offer with a rapid shake of their head.

"You're stuck with the drunk hottie for tonight, G," they laughed. The rest of the band gave Gil some friendly jabs in the shoulder and left the greenroom, leaving the griffon alone with the drunk unicorn.

Even drunk as he was, Shiver recognized the implications in the band members' tones. Gil seemed to notice this too, as when he signaled for him to lean against his shoulder, and spread his wing over the unicorn's back to provide extra support, he let out a very stern, yet slightly awkward, "Don't try anything with me tonight."