Anthropomorphic Seed

Chapter 2: The Seed of Discovery

A Babs Seed romance story

The sound of the alarm clocked echoed through my master bedroom. It’s shrill sound pounded in my head reminding me once again that I had forgotten to turn it off. I got up slowly. I stayed up all night showing Babs the whole apartment, and went a little bit out to town. Surprisingly, I saw a lot of these helpmates everywhere; It seemed as if they ranged from classic cartoonish characters like Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and even a Sandy the Squirrel and then there was the ones that seemed to be modeled after video games like the Anthro pandas from that one really old game, World of Warcraft.

Today was the day I showed her some of my hobbies and what I do for a living. It was a Saturday, so we had plenty of time. (Though why I didn't set my alarm clock to not go off on weekends, I don't know.)

I walked to Babs' room, which the door was wide open, and knocked on the frame of the door. I heard a tired moan from Babs.

"C'mon, Babs, time to get up! It's a big day today."

“I’m tired, five more minutes,” she moaned out.

"Five more minutes, then you're getting up." I said. I was treating her more like a daughter than a companion.

I walked back to my room to get a change of clothes to wear for the day. Since I took a shower last night, I didn't need to take one now until at least the end of the day. I was in my underwear, so I just slipped on a pair of shorts and a shirt with the Electric Lights Orchestra logo on it.

I walked back to Babs room. "It's been five minutes, time to get up now." I said at her door.

“Ugh… Really? That didn’t feel like five minutes. Are you sure I have to get up? Maybe we should time it again,” she said.

"Get up or I'm dragging you out, Barbara Seedling." I commanded, sternly.

Groaning, she pushed the blanket back that had been covering her. She slowly stood in her hockey jersey, and apparently not much else, as she stretched her back out.

“Okay, okay, I’m up, so what are we doing today?” she asked.

"I'm going to show you some stuff, then we can get ice cream later." I knew that'll excite her. In the show, Babs always gets the peach flavored ice cream when she visits the CMC in the later episodes. I always had a keen eye on her in the Friendship is Magic series.

Her ears perked up, “Are you serious? Any flavor?”

"C'mon, you always get peach." I said.

Her tail lifted partly and she nodded, “Well, yeah, but it’s the best kind. I mean sure Apple Bloom always talks about cinnamon apple crunch ice cream, but it’s not nearly as good as peach!”

"We'll go there after we run a few errands." I said.

“Okay, so what kind of errands do you need to run? Are we going to be doing anything kind of exciting? I mean there was this one time that I remember having to help deliver a wedding dress through fire swamp. Sweetie Belle nearly got ate by that huge bear. If it hadn’t been for cousin Applejack I think that we would have been in more trouble than we were,” she said, “So are we doing something like that?”

"We're just picking up some custom records. Now get dressed, we leave in 10 minutes." I said as I left.

Babs followed me around town through the mixture of the previous century and the current one. The various buildings stood against the pavement showing the advancement of the town we were in, and the entire time we walked toward to where the record store stood. Oddly enough, the shop was named after the Rush album, 2112. The sign also had what looked like a red pentagram, like from the album.

We walked inside the record store. The air changed once we were inside. There was the smell of recycled air flowing around us, and it was delivering the scent of old and new vinyl to everyone that walked into the place. It was filled with records labeled and neatly organized in the bins they were in. Giant shelves full of records surrounded us.

Babs walked to the shelves to examine the records and the store itself.

“I don’t think that I’ve seen so many records in one place,” Babs said in awe, "I mean there was that store in Canterlot, but it wasn’t like this.”

"You can pick out ONE record," I told her, "but it has to be ten credits or less, ok?"

“Ten bits, or um, credits for an album? Exactly who’s on these albums?” she asked.

"A lot. Just pick one that most interests you." I said to her as I browsed through the bins.

The owner rushed to see who it was. "Ah, hello Jacob!" He called to me. "How have you been?"

"Eh, doing fine, I guess." I said to the owner.

"I just got your custom vinyl in just yesterday." He said to me, excitedly.

"Oh, you mean the Discovery album?"

"Yeah. Coincidentally, you're wearing a shirt of the artist who made it!"

"Yeah, it was next shirt I got out of my laundry."

“What artist?” she asked as she looked at the albums, “Hey, what’s this album?"

She held the album up, sporting the image of a rural home with a man dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans sitting on the stoop.

“Is this any good?” she asked.

"Ah, that must be the Marshall Mathers LP!" The owner rushed to her, as did I.

"How much?" I asked Babs.

“It says that it’s eleven credits. You did say not to choose anything over ten, so we don’t have to get it,” she said putting it back.

"Yeah. Maybe the LP2 is cheaper. Check for that." I replied

"Do you know this girl?" the shop owner asked.

"Yeah, she's my helpmate. Got her yesterday."

"Ah I see. About a week ago, I saw this one guy come in with his Pinkie Pie. Strangest sight I saw in a long time."

"Anyway, can you get me the custom vinyl I ordered?" I asked.

"Certainly. Let me get it from the back." And he did so.
“What’s the difference between these two albums?” Babs asked as she held up the Marshall Mathers album with what looked like a duplicate of it, “I mean it looks exactly the same but this one is three credits cheaper.”

"Get that instead." I said.

“Okay, but what’s the difference between them? I mean the cheaper one looks newer,” she said.

"One is the original pressing, which is much rarer, and the cheaper one is the newer pressing which is much cheaper."

“I guess that makes sense,” she said holding the new album, “Are we still going for ice cream after this?”

"Yeah, of course."

The owner came back with the vinyl record in the sleeve in his hands. "Since you already paid for it early, I'll give this to you without paying today."

I grabbed the vinyl and took a glimpse at the front cover. It showed an Arabian male with a red bandana holding what looks like to be the Electric Lights Orchestra logo on it. He looks mesmerized at the sight of it, which amuses me everytime I grab the vinyl and look at the front cover.

"Hope that'll replace your old, broken one," he said.

"Oh, we also want to get the Marshall Mathers LP album," I said, looking at Babs with the vinyl in her hand. She handed the record to the owner.

"That'll be eight credits," he said. I gave him the correct amount as we walked out of the store. "Have a great day, you too!" he waved at us as we left.

"All we need to do is test this out at home, then we can get some ice cream," I said to Babs.

“That sounds good to me,” she said holding her new album in her hands. It looked like she was looking over the track titles on the back.

“There’s a song called Stan? That sounds kind of weird,” she said in a whisper.

"That's, like, the best track on there," I said, "Besides maybe Amityville. Which reminds me, how old are you exactly?"

“I’m going to be turning eightteen this week. I mean it’s September right?” she asked.

"Ah, ok," I replied.

We got home and went into my room to play the record. I took the discovery vinyl out of its sleeve and put it on its tray. I flipped the player on and put the needle on the record, starting it. I went back to my seat to observe Babs listening to the record. The sounds of the static filled the air as the record made the first few rotations before it hit the first song.

“What’s this? I know he said it was a custom, but what band is playing?” she asked. Her ears pointed straight ahead.

"Electric Lights Orchestra." I said. "You like it?'

“It sounds kind of like some of the stuff that Vinyl played at that party for Pinkie Pie, but not quite the same… I like it,” she said with a smile crossing her muzzle.

"What kind of party?" I asked

“It was a ‘we’re glad to be part of the Apple family, and Pie family’ after reunion party. Apple Bloom said that was the only time she’d ever seen Sugar Cube Corner so full that they couldn’t fit everypony inside,” she replied.

"Oh..." I said. "So, you wanna finish the rest of this album and get some ice cream?"

“YES!!!!" she said as she thrust her arm into air, a huge smile took place of the small on her muzzle.