They didn't blow up.

by SONBoomer

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Luna, Random, Pinkie Pie
Length: 1120

While exploring Princess Luna's Outdoor Exhibition, Pinkie stumbles upon her Nocturnal Highness' favorite installation - and learns something about life, death... And unexploded bombs.

A short story about Pinkie Pie and Princess Luna, as they visit the "Outdoor Exhibition" the Princess had organized. Arriving to a certain pavilion, the pink party pony's interest is piqued by the peculiar installation - which so happens to be her Nocturnal Highness' favorite, for a very good reason...

There's a lesson to be taught here - I'm sure of it! - but I can't be bothered to elaborate. Sorry.

Based on the contemporary art pieces and installations displayed in the "What is Hungarian?" exhibition, Budapest, 2012. Fired/Released but Unexploded

Published 2013-10-05 22:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-05 22:40:02 UTC

They didn't...

"...What's in here?"

The mare was puzzled for an obvious reason.

She stood at the entrance of a large summerhouse stood away from it's brethren - pavilions, gazebos, dachas and bungalows, all large in size, housing pieces of contemporary art.

Princess Luna's "Outdoor Exhibition", set in a smaller, unused part of the Royal Gardens beside the Palace, was a moderate success. The Nocturnal Princess' personal collection brought both surprise, wonder, and plain confusion to the visitors. Connected via gravel paths or arbors, each small building housed a number of art pieces or single installations.

The theme of the exhibition was self-reflection, and name itself - as Luna explained - meant that they brought certain aspects of everyday, private life into the open.

Each display contained pieces from a different ethnicity, nationality or race that lived within Equestria.

From Manehattan, came several "light-plays", where the pieces demanded a certain type of lighting to be viewed properly.

One in particular, which came from an old war veteran, was a single flag-holding iron, nailed onto a wall, painted in a dirty white like the wall itself. On it's own, it was odd - these things were usually outdoors, placed on walls near or above entryways.

But now, it was in a dimly lit room.

And this is were the lighting became essential.

While the flag-holder was nothing more than metal pipe on the wall, pointing at the sky at an angle, in this room, it's shadow revealed a flag in it, flailing limply in an nonexistent wind.

The piece's name: 'Patriotism'.

Another, similar piece was created by a griphon architect in her free time, placed opposite to the entrance of her pavilion: a disconnected and visibly damaged CCTV camera, pointing at the entrance. A set of small lamps illuminated the device with blots of light, it's many shadows forming two distinctive "wings" behind it.

'Freedom' was this one's name.

Another, larger installation was located within a small mock-dacha built in the corner of the garden. It was created by a retired party member from Neighgorod Oblast.

It consisted of cracked, damaged burnt clay replicas of various government buildings - including the Royal Palace of Canterlot -, set on vibrating tables, in a semi-circle arc.

Opposite to the arch was a trivet, holding a black handle with a scythe blade on it's end.

If anyone walked between the tables and the trivet, the tables would begin to shake, slowly eroding the state buildings - meanwhile, the scythe blade slowly began to rise, until it was a completely vertical position. At this point, the violent shaking of the mock-ups suddenly stopped, and, after a few moments, the blade gently lowered itself into it's natural position.

This process repeated as long as one stood between the tables and the trivet.

The name of this one?

'Трепальщик льна' - 'Heckler'.

And then, there was the more "conventional" work of an Appleloosian amateur painter: he drew his self-portrait, but in each and every painting, his face contained the watered-down "stereotypical" assets of an Equestrian ethnicity - zebra, northern, eastern, nocturnalie, draconic, alicorn, unicorn, pegasus, and a lot others...

'Constants & Variables' this one was referred to as.

Pinkie Pie stood before one of the last installments.

The summerhouse was filled with television screens. They were older, boxy TVs, piled up against the curving walls of the pavilion. Each of them contained a few minutes long looping clip, which showed the color shot of various shells: bombs, grenades, missiles, and whatnot, all battered and weather-worn, some rusted or nearly fallen apart, but never-the-less, still intact.

Unlike the others, this installation had no name.

However, above every screen was sticky note with a sentence on it, like:

'They dropped it, but it didn't blew up.'

'They launched it, but it didn't blew up.'

'They shot it, but it didn't blew up.'

"What's this all about?" the mare asked.

"Ah, this." Luna explained, walking into the large gazebo, motioning the pink pony to follow. She stepped up to one the screens, showing a hazard yellow and black bomb. It's overall shape reminded Pinkie of a large, robust wasp, and she shuddered, internally.

"You may wanna listen to it." the Princess smiled, lifting up a pair of headphones that were connected to the set.

Puzzled, the mare put it on.

She sat there for some time.

Finally, she took off the headphones, and stared at the still smiling Luna.

"Well?"

"I heard... Chirping..."

"Do you want to try another one?"

She did. She tried out every and each screens, always hearing something different: fillies and colts laughing, someone randomly flipping through channels, the distant sound of a concert, a bubbling brook, a diligently puffing factory, a busy market, dinner being cooked...

And all the while she just stared.

Looking at the bombs and missiles.

She put down the last one.

"I don't get it..."

"What's there to "not get"?" the blue alicorn chuckled "They released them, and they didn't blew up!"

The pink pony gave her the same, puzzled look.

Luna sighed.

"I suppose I should show you the contrary." she mumbled, pointing a hoof at the center of the room.

Suddenly, Pinkie saw three more screens - and she was sure she didn't saw those before!

The three televisions were small and bulky, as if they were first attempts at making portable sets - which they were.

Their screens were black and white, and displayed grainy, occasionally distorted or static, still images of three other bombs.

One looked like a pipe with a round end, and a box on it's rear.

The other one looked like the fatter version of the previous one.

The third one actually had a person next to it to serve as size comparison - successfully revealing the bomb's MASSIVE proportions -, but the person himself (or herself) was faded, with a burnt hole replacing the head on the photograph.

All three had the same title:

'It exploded.'

"Listen to these." Luna ordered.

Pinkie did so...

But heard nothing.

"I... I don't..."

"Try the other one." the alicorn barked. Pinkie did so.

Nothing.

She shook her head dismissively.

"The other one." the Princess droned.

Faint, distant wind.

"I still don't get it!" Pinkie exclaimed.

The Moon Goddess sighed.

"All the other bombs didn't explode!" she explained "They were designed and built to kill, but they didn't blow up!"

She then pointed at the three small screens.

"THOSE did."

Pinkie stared into a vacant point in the air for some time.

Suddenly, her eyes brightened.

"Ooooh!" she replied, smiling "I get it now! Deeeep!"

Princess Luna smiled back.

They left the pavilion, feeling a little better.

Author's Note

Can anyone guess the message?