Chapter 9
Sweet Sauce knew he was brilliant. In terms of ponies who had ever lived, he would've placed himself in at least the top ten, maybe even lower than that. It wasn't his fault that so many other creatures just couldn't see past the tip of their own noses. Equestria didn't really need a constant supply of true genius. Just a few individuals like him were enough, to protect the country from danger and to occasionally intervene when ponies needed saving from themselves.
Even knowing and accepting his genius, Sweet Sauce had trouble processing just how easy it was to put his plan into motion.
The couple that had come to adopt him might care deeply about having their own family, but they didn't know who or what he was. Like Honeydew, they were completely unable to see past the way he looked. They didn't suspect a thing, and that made them perfect.
Getting the paperwork filled out was really just another hour or so of waiting, while the two mares went on and on about how great Ponyville would be to live in and all the exciting things they would do together.
Maybe he should've paid better attention to what they were saying. But actually listening would've implied that he had any real intention to stick around and try to find a place.
Sweet Sauce had no desire to remain in a farming village, any more than he planned on staying as a pathetic little mudhorse surrounded by more of their base and simple kind.
Or so he told himself. In some ways, he had to ignore Octavia to keep thinking things like that. She was mostly the one to handle the paperwork, coaching Honeydew through with simple dignity. Every word she spoke, every suggestion she made—all with confidence.
He wanted to ask how much time she'd spent in Celestia's court. Maybe a few simple questions would save him the need of some stealth maneuver, stealing gold or a train ticket to make the ride up to Canterlot. But as hard as it was, he resisted the urge to ask immediately, and alert Honeydew to his plans. The child-services pony might be dense, but he felt as though she saw him a little better than these clueless mares did.
Just like that the final arrangements were complete, and Honeydew snapped her notebook closed. "And that's everything we need." She bent down, meeting Sauce's eyes one last time. "I want you to remember what we talked about. A foster relationship is mutual in both directions. There is no judgment for the family or for the little pony if it ends up not working out.
"But at the same time, these things generally cause friction before ponies learn to live with and accept each other. That's why we'll be seeing each other frequently at first—once a week, for your first month. Then monthly after that."
"I'm sure we won't have any problems," Vinyl said, looking up. "I know he's got a reputation for being a bit of a troublemaker, but that's okay. Trouble is what I live for."
You may regret those words, he thought. But he kept his mouth closed, doing his best “scared kid” impression for a little longer. The moment of his triumph was at hand.
"I'll tell you,” he said. "But they seem nice." He said nothing else until they were outside, leaving the little building behind.
Ponyville had changed little during his day imprisoned. The streets were still full of mostly-farmers living their lives. But even that was an improvement from what he'd seen recently—these businesses were all locally owned. That silly little apple farmer probably came from an orchard just down the road. The place selling sofas had a workshop out back actually assembling them.
Where he'd been banished, this kind of life was a dream to most. Even if I fail at every one of my goals, and I die alone in obscurity, and least I never have to hear another lawnmower again.
"You're gonna love Ponyville, Sweet Sauce," Vinyl said, just a few steps from the building. "Tavi and I could've gone like... anywhere in the country. Could've lived in downtown Manehattan if we wanted. Could've lived on the royal block in Canterlot."
"Would have made things simpler," said the other mare. "So much closer to my usual venues, and yours. But Ponyville just has that homely charm. It's hard to leave behind a place you've come to love. Or a pony."
They left downtown behind, then the suburbs of slightly less dense Equestrian housing. But this wasn't ancient Equestria—this little town had no city wall. It had no watch either, or guard-towers to be seen. But there were guards somewhere, he'd seen them on the day of his arrival. Maybe they were just better about staying hidden?
"Oh, we should probably warn you," Vinyl continued. "We're out on our own. Didn't used to be, but Ponyville has some rules about how much noise you can make on a weeknight. We had to relocate a little, so ponies could 'sleep'."
She smacked something down over her eyes as she said it—a pair of vibrantly red glasses, dark and mirrored. "Their loss."
The earth pony clucked her tongue once. "Now now, Vinyl. I don't think this young stallion cares much about the intricacies of Ponyville zoning laws."
"Maybe not," she agreed. "But he did say he liked awesome music. You did say that didn't you Sweet?"
He hadn't, but now he was listening. Venues close to Canterlot? Maybe his suspicion about Octavia's position as a musician or something in Celestia's court wasn't that off-base after all.
"I've been away from Equestria for a long time," he said. "I'll admit I'm not up with the latest musical trends. When I was last here, it was mostly vielle, flutes, occasional drums. I didn't follow it as closely as I should have."
More of the creatures he'd met were out here. Sweet recognized Dinky and Pipsqueak playing outside an old-fashioned schoolhouse, kicking a little red ball between them.
They stopped to look up as he passed, staring. He waited until he was certain the adults weren't watching, then waved back once. Circumstances permitting, he would have to give that filly a little more instruction with her magic. Not developing her talents here in Ponyville was an unforgivable waste.
Dinky waved back. Pipsqueak watched him, eyes narrowed. Maybe he was trying to figure out what Sweet was doing with a pair of locals. If you're hoping to see me executed, you're out of luck, dirthorse. My deplorable form has rendered me beneath contempt from the authorities. I escape punishment yet again.
"Friends of yours?" Octavia asked suddenly. Apparently he hadn't been as stealthy as he thought.
"Not sure," he answered honestly. "Our first meeting went productively. They got to explore some of Ponyville's local wildlife, and I learned that everything I believed about Equestrian history was incomplete. Rewarding all around."
The mare's eyebrows went up. "Don't worry, you'll get a chance to spend some time with them later. Starting tomorrow, your education will resume. They do seem to be about your age."
He barely suppressed a groan. As though there was anything he could possibly learn from a village schoolhouse. Knowing the state of Ponyville, the teacher was probably another useless dirtpone like himself. But because they were teaching in a school, that would probably mean they'd failed in their destined profession farming somewhere. So they'd be bitter and resentful in addition to being a simple earth pony.
Don't worry about it, Sauce. You're not staying. At the worst, he might be subjected to the indignity of a little longer at a local school. But maybe he could find a way to make his time there entertaining.
"Home sweet home," Vinyl said, hurrying up the remainder of the path. Sweet Sauce would've easily called it the strangest structure he'd ever seen, if Ponyville didn't have a tree made of glass.
But even in second place, it could hold pride of place for strangeness.
It looked a little like two completely unrelated homes had been cut down the middle with a circular saw, then cemented together. One was made of simple elegant woods, matching the general color scheme of Ponyville. The other was brilliant purple, as garish as the tree castle.
Yet there were some details to tie it together. Instead of ordinary windows, there were musical signs worked right into the metal frames, and piano-key-shaped molding. And if that wasn't enough, the entire chimney looked like a pipe organ.
"Pretty awesome, isn't it?" Vinyl stood by the door, though she didn't open it yet. "We designed the whole thing ourselves. Didn't build it, that's what bits are for. Heavy construction stuff doesn't actually make for good music, despite what you'd think. It's mostly just lots of loud grinding."
"They let you build this?" he asked. "It's... the craziest place I've ever seen. Did you get a picture of the mayor's face the first time she saw it? Oh, or your neighbors? I bet their reactions were worth dying for."
Octavia made a disapproving clucking sound, walking past him through the door. She didn't seem to have a key, and he couldn't see a place to put one on the door. This was no castle, so no reason to lock anything.
Even in a town of useless earth ponies, they were polite enough not to rob or hurt each other, apparently.
Vinyl grinned back at him. "I didn't think of a camera! But you're right, they were... unable to handle the awesomeness."
She reached over his shoulder with one hoof, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Few ponies can. Between you and me, I didn't think Tavi was gonna be able to handle life at my frequency either. But she's more than meets the eye."
He nodded conspiratorially. Yes, let the mare talk about herself. The more she focused on her own relationship, her own past, the less she would be looking at him. "Is that how you met? Music?"
And if they had the bits to build this absurd monument to musical excess, they wouldn't miss a few for a single train ticket. He wouldn't even need to feel guilty robbing them.
Vinyl led him inside, then launched into a long story of how she'd been performing a long set “at the club,” with the other mare seeming increasingly embarrassed as it went on.
"Be mindful of the details, he's only a foal," Octavia said, snapping the door shut behind them. The silliness he'd expected from the outside of the property was greatly magnified inside. Not only were walls different colors, but the furniture was chosen from a different design, the interior decorating was completely different, even the lights.
They're in a relationship, but they want to do everything separately. Maybe he'd understood less about these mares than he initially guessed.
"Your room is upstairs," Vinyl said, gesturing at a stairwell. Naturally, it had to be shaped like a musical score, twisting up into the air. Just like everything else. "We weren't really sure the kind of pony who might be living with us..."
"We honestly thought you might be older," Octavia continued. "But if there's anything we could do to improve it, let us know. We want you to feel at home here, even if it might not be your permanent home."
He barely even looked at the stairs, though. His eyes were drawn towards something on Vinyl's side of the room—a set of huge boxy speakers attached to the ceiling, wired to an even larger base behind her. It was obviously venue equipment, and had its basic design in common with the kind of thing he'd seen at concerts in his prison.
One of the few things that made that world bearable.
He stumbled past the two of them, touching one hoof on one of the keyboard's support poles. His eyes followed the maze of cables, trying to make sense of it all. "How can this be here? How can any of this stuff be here? Equestria hasn't invented it yet!"
The two mares shared a look.
"You know I have to," Vinyl said, flipping down her sunglasses.
"I know." Octavia took a few steps back, firmly crossing the line in the center of the room. "You wouldn't be the first pony not to recognize all that," she said. "But you may want to take a step back. My sweet Vinyl's hearing is... not as sensitive as most."
He didn't move. A few seconds later, he wished he had.
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oh dear
So he his hopping to show 'interest' in music to get Octavia to bring him to Canterlot to get to Celestia, I wonder what will be his instrument, I hope it's something really silly.
Vinyl will always have Nowacking’s voice to me. :) I wonder what she’s up to? I haven’t checked in on her videos in like ten years or so. Maybe I should link one of her videos here in case Scribe doesn’t know who she is…
Uhh… ok, clearly there have been some changes in Nowacking’s life since last I looked. Congrats to him though!
11260671
This was completely understandable and honestly said what we were all trying to find words for, it's chapters just don't feel connected as if they could just try to stand on their own aside from not re-introducing characters. This story is a commission but doesn't excuse the fact that there are so many gaps within the writing. I mean why Octavia and Vinyl? Like I get kind people I don't have a problem with the ship but their career along with Vinyl not having any restraint with blasting music is just spelling out hearing loss. And the town even acknowledges it with how they say they had to move to sleep, I mean especially when a foal with no parents is growing? I think that crosses out the two loudest musicians that can't let ponies sleep, especially with a growing foal. I see where this story is heading in a skeleton way where I see the format, the conflict, and the journey but it feels like the author doesn't have or didn't describe the journey and further than having specific characters contribute to the conflict.
I honestly just may drop this if it doesn't become more blended because there are only so many excuses for "oh but he's just a kid". Like if a kid was speaking of having demonic minions or something along with that extreme you'd worry regardless, I'd argue even more so due to their age.
*facepalm* Equestria hadn't invented it when you left. A time so long ago that the castle of the rulers of the country fell into ruin and was devoured by the Everfree.
11267081
Right? It's honestly getting old. Sweet, get your head out of your arse and GET WITH THE TIMES ALREADY!!!
I hate being a downer, but I'm afraid I'm just about ready to hop off this train.
It feels like the story has ground to a halt since his mini-adventure with Dinky and Pipsqueak, and is now stuck in a rut of repeating the same tropes that we already saw in Chapters 1 to 5.
I get it; Octavia and Vinyl are part of the cast and need their introductions, but it seems like so much of the past four chapters could've been trimmed down to make room for more interesting interactions between them and Sweet Sauce. And Dinky and Pipsqueak, too, for that matter, since the tags suggest that they'll be showing up again.
Here's hoping that the story picks up soon.
LOL he got a face full of Bass Canon....
A farming village with its own crystal tree/castle/library the likes of which he had never imagined. But never mind that, let's scorn these ponies who can't look past surface appearances.
And the two musicians have literally no reaction to this?
Dismissing childish rambling is one thing, but this kind of selective deafness borders on magical compulsion.
(Disappointed Mick Gordon noises)
Well, that and if an earth pony really wanted to get in your house, they'd bust down a wall.
As others have noted, this guy just doesn't seem to grasp that the world moved on without him. Hopefully the subwoofers blast that into his brain.
I kind of have to agree with the growing sentiment I'm seeing in the comments. Having the ponies around Sweet start to notice and take action upon his weirdness is pretty important. Perhaps it's just being done in the background to hide it from Sweet, but it's kind of important the audience feel the building tension that promises a payoff.
11267215
It's feeling that way. Almost as if what the child thinks they're saying is not what the adults think they're hearing.
11267215
There could be some psychobable explanation to it relating to not engaging with the 'obvious baits' so the poor dear gets past them and can learn to acquire attention some other way.
Or something such.
I am not sure if every other characters absurd blindness to his actions will ever be explained, but i think we're past the point where you need to address it. Sweet is saying things that should garner a reaction from others, or should garner a reaction from him about the lack of reaction.
Right now every time you do the interaction of Sweet saying something strange and no one reacting, it starts to make it harder for me to care about what is going on.
You've got a compelling story going on here, so its frustrating to constantly get pulled out every time Sweet talks.
Clearly they have
The revelation of how much time has passed is gonna be shocking
Lol, industrial music would disagree.
...yeah, between missing the mention of Discord and now this, I'm beginning to think Sweet isn't nearly as smart as he thinks he is. He knows there are new alicorns, he's met one of them, earlier he was commenting about the changes in architecture and wondering if Equestria had been conquered by the Crystal Empire, he's seen firsthand what happened to the Castle of the Royal Sisters...he knows that a lot of time has passed and the reminders are all around him. There's really no excuse for him to to be making statements like this.
11300879
I wager he is in shock, and is surprised when things that he had only seen with the Aliens are there.
It seems ponyville looks quaint, different but not that unusual, and then electronics.