A Lovebug and a Love Bug

by XHunter

Chapter 3

Michael

My passengers and I were silent, making the drive back incredibly awkward. I had the jitters and wanted to do anything to liven the mood. My go-to of making crappy small talk was not applicable here, and that was about the only thing I could do since I was driving.

Pink probably didn’t care or feel the same way about the silence, but it was gnawing at me. I tried to think of anything she could understand or relate to, but I literally just met her and I didn’t know anything about aliens-science-whatevers to be confident in guessing.

Why couldn’t this be like a movie, and she just knows English? That thought gave me my solution. Whenever she spoke, it sounded like she was singing. I didn’t know if she was actually singing or if it was just how her voice sounded, but I did know that she had some concept of music or something similar.

With a few taps on my aftermarket DIN, I prepped the only downloaded playlist. I looked at Pink, who was absentmindedly observing the forest, and her friend through my mirror. Clearing my throat, I spoke, “Hey, I’m going to play some music, alright.” I knew she didn’t understand me, but I wanted her to be startled as little as possible. I pushed shuffle and was gifted my favorite song in the playlist.

---

Cadence

During our ride to wherever, I was pondering our situation. We were somewhere magicless on Equis. Very few places like that existed, and the ones that had been found were void of civilization. Home must be incredibly far away, I thought.

I was lucky that the void Chrysalis and I found ourselves in was inhabited. The stallion that found us, Salvare, I named him, didn't seem to have Ill intent. Hopefully, his people were the same and could help send us back home.

Salvare spoke something to get my attention. I watched as he smiled and tapped on something. After half a second, I heard the unexpected: music.

It began with what sounded like a strange keyboard repeating a series of notes, with a harsh instrument accompanying it. The unfamiliar instrument sounded like an angry violin. The keyboard stopped, leaving only the violin. The percussion picked up and Salvare started bobbing his head to it.

After a while, the music calmed down and a stallion began to sing. He sounded somber before his voice turned harsh and aggressive. "The Ror Uv Da Spahc!" sang Salvare. He joined in and his voice was just as harsh. I listened to Salvare sing along with the music. His voice ranged from beautifully soft to angrily harsh, and there was passion and skill throughout it all. It was amazing that despite his language seemingly being non-harmonic, it lent itself well to music.

When the music ended, I couldn't help but tap my hooves in applause. It was different but just as amazing as the music in Equestria. When Salvare heard my tapping, he looked at me shocked and embarrassed. He said something that sounded almost apologetic and looked away before going quiet. Another song played, but this one was closer to what I would hear in Equestria and had familiar-sounding instruments. Sadly Savare didn't join in.

---

Michael

I WANT TO DIE. I had gotten too into the music and forgotten about Pink. She seemed to enjoy it, thankfully, if the hoof tapping was analogous to clapping. At least the mood was lightened.

The drive continued peacefully with music playing in the background. Any time rock or metal would play, Pink would listen intently and even started to bob her head in enjoyment. Her rhythms, however, stirred her friend, who woke up and began to angrily speak. Black, too, sounded like she was singing when speaking, and her voice sounded as though it had a chorus effect applied to it in real time.

Now that I heard their language more, they weren't exactly singing, but it sounded close to it. And their conversation sounded like a half-hearted duet. Black was probably asking what was going on and who I was because she kept looking at me during their talk. Eventually, their conversation ended, and I now had a black Alien-Science-Whatever staring at me for the rest of the drive.

---

Chrysalis

I do not like this. Trapped in some strange machine by an equally strange creature, carried to who knows where, and stuck riding the pony I hate the most. I should've stayed awake since Cadence is a fool who would accept any visage of help. No sapient creature could survive in an area void of magic. I had only a guess as to what "Salvare" and his people were doing to survive.

We exited the forest into a vast open field. I could see a large house some distance away. I couldn't see any other signs of civilization, which gave me some relief. It seems we had a stroke of luck and had been taken by a hermit. However, that didn't mean he had good intentions.

The creature stopped us in front of a building that resembled a shed. I heard a click and somehow the front of it opened up. Inside was another machine that our new host parked his next to. There was no generator as far as I could see, so how did the shed open; better question, how did he do it from a distance?

The machine we were in ceased its rumbling, and the music I had tuned out stopped. Salvare fiddled around before getting out. He opened the door that held us inside, allowing me to fully see him. He was, in simple words, weak looking. Imagine a dark, hairless minotaur that had been clipped of their horns and starved; that was Salvare. He said a bit of gibberish before backing away.

"Again, thank you for your help," Cadence said. I snorted at her naivete. She believed that Salvare was safe, but I knew better.

"If we die, you're to blame," I chided.

"Can you stop being so paranoid? I told you earlier, Salvare is nice and isn't going to eat us."

"Of course, he's going to eat us. Where else would he get the energy necessary for higher thought? The magicless plants?"

"I don't know, okay. But we have to trust him. I don't have any survival training, and you're too hurt to help. We're dead either way, so let's take the option that's a fifty-fifty chance," she said.

"Fine," I groaned. It was bad enough being carried by Cadence, but her leading was grating. I'm a queen. I'm the one who leads!

Cadence proceeded to drop us onto the stone floor of the shed. The trot to the house was silent, and the creature kept glancing toward us nervously. Good, be afraid, I thought. If a fight were to start, I could probably intimidate him to gain the upper hand…if I wasn't injured. I groaned in annoyance.

The creature's home was in an objectively fine condition. It was cared for, but only to fulfill the minimum. There was clear evidence that half of it was added and constructed later. We trotted upon a stone path that extended from the shed to the house and a separate gravel path.

We reached the porch house and found an inconspicuous roadblock. Stairs. The porch was a few hooves off the ground at the center of the house. The stairs were on the porch's side, right against the houses wall. There were only three steps plus the porch. With me on Cadence's back, it would be difficult to get us both up because of the steep incline. When Salvare noticed our hesitation, he stopped and said something.

"These are going to be hard to climb with Chrysalis on my back," Cadence said, gesturing to the stairs.

Salvare didn't understand and continued onward to the door. He unlocked the door with a key from his jacket and gestured for us to follow. "We can't get up fool," I said.

He gestured again and spoke softly to get us to follow. "The stairs," Cadence said while pointing toward them.

He still didn't get it. "Just go up them. I'll hold on the best I can," I said.

"Alright then, hold on tight," Cadence said.

She started to ascend the stairs slowly. I tried holding on the best I could, but the harder I gripped, the more my side hurt. By the time Cadence reached the third step, she was at a forty-five-degree angle. I grew tired and my grip lessened, causing me to nearly slide off.

"Go back! I'm losing my grip!" I quickly warned. Cadence backtracked as fast as she could, nearly losing her hoofing. The idiot finally realized our problem and quickly came over.

"The stairs," Cadence said once again while pointing. Salvare grunted in confirmation and put a hand to his chin.

He pointed to Cadence's wing and said more gibberish. "You fool, there's not enough clearance," I said, pointing at the column that supported the overhanging roof. "Even if the beam wasn't there, the wall is in the way," I finished, pointing at the wall.

Salvare then walked over to the front of the porch and waved a hand outward. There wasn't any railing on the porch except for the stairs, and the support beams were far enough that her wings wouldn't get clipped.

"Oh, hehe," Cadence said, embarrassed.

"You're so dumb," I chided as she walked to the front.

"Hey, you didn't realize it either," She retorted. I wanted to counter her, but she was right.

With a few flaps, she hovered onto the porch. Salvare watched with awe. He said something and opened the door. Allowing us entrance into the home.

Comments

[LittleGreenPony]

Moar

[Doctor_Den]

how high was this staircase and why do you need to make steps at the entrance to a building that is far from the main civilization?

[Tempest_Flare]

11552400
I'm thinking that the ponies are just small size of cats or something like that

[Doctor_Den]

11552405
What size is Cadance and Chrysalis then? I always thought that creatures the size of Celestia in the human world would be the size of a standard horse.

[Tempest_Flare]

11552431
About the size of a lynx in comparison to a normal house cat although Chrysalis is probably about the size of a small Jaguar since she's actually bigger than cadence

[Ralanost]

Interesting choice of music. I prefer the OST for chipp, potemkim and faust over ky myself. I haven't really delved into the themes for the dlc characters yet.

[XHunter]

11552400
Cadence comes up to Michaels chest, making her about 5' tall.

The house is a little above a foot off the ground. There were only 3 steps + plus the porch itself, and they were steep. Since Cadence was carrying Chrysalis, she couldn't do any complex maneuvers.

I'll go back and edit it to be clearer about the stairs. Didn't want to get to wordy.

[AgentKorpsman]

I do not like this. Trapped in some strange machine by an equally strange creature, carried to who knows where, and stuck riding the pony I hate the most. I should've stayed awake since Cadence is a fool who would accept any visage of help. No sapient creature could survive in an area void of magic. I had only a guess as to what "Salvare" and his people were doing to survive.

*wheeze*

Oh my dear that’s where your wrong, you can survive without magic and create some pretty interesting things and weapons and tech. That even better than magic

[AgentKorpsman]

"Of course, he's going to eat us. Where else would he get the energy necessary for higher thought? The magicless plants?"

Um yes and no but not from you.