Equestrian State of Mind

Chapters

Chapter 1: University Life
Chapter 2: Burning Sensations
Chapter 3: Lost Touch
Chapter 4: Providence
Chapter 5: Old Faces
Chapter 6: That Long Train Ride
Chapter 7: To Remember A Name
Chapter 8: New Horizons
Chapter 9: Reunion

Chapter 1: University Life

“...Where am I?” The gray pony groaned as he looked at his surroundings. He realized he was laying next to a dumpster in a back alley. He got up and started walking towards the sidewalk, away from the putrid smell coming from the dumpster.

He couldn’t believe what he saw.

As he stood on the sidewalk, unrecognizable creatures roamed around him from all sides. When he stared at them, they stopped, and turned to the pony. Staring back with eyes void of emotion.

Oh no, Celestia help me.

His hairs stood up, feeling a tight knot in his throat. He turned around, only to see another one of them. His breathing became more disordered, he could not think anymore. He pushed through the creatures and ran across a road to run as far away as possible from these beings.

His running slowed down to a trot, feeling a force push him back. He collapsed on to his hind hooves, choking up in tears. A sudden sound of a roaring engine was heard, and the headlights engulfed Electric’s vision.

“Gah!” He rose up, gasping for air.

He looked at the digital clock standing on the small table next to his bed. Five-thirty a.m, lit up in brightly red seven-segment display numbers. Rubbing his eyes, he slowly got out of his bed, and stood up. He tried his best to stay firm but the nightmare that just occurred is still going through his mind. He grabbed a bottle of pills from the table, and swallowed a couple of its contents, downing them with a glass of water.

After stretching his wings, he sighed and trotted into his bathroom. At the sink, he opened the cabinet and grabbed a toothbrush. He applied toothpaste onto the brush, rinsed it, and started brushing his teeth for a minute. Once he was finished, he rinsed his mouth and put everything back to its place. He left the bathroom and headed to the kitchen in his small apartment, as he was in for a morning snack.

He opened one of the cabinets, only to find the lack of bread needed for a sandwich. Instead, there was a box of cereal. He grabbed the box and a bowl to pour it into. Something was missing, though. It was the milk. He opened the fridge, but to no avail, as the only carton of milk was nearly empty. He groaned in result, and settled for his bowl of cereal without milk.

Outside, Vanhoover, 6:15 AM

The gray-coated pony stepped outside, standing in front of his apartment block. He thought Vanhoover was a good choice for him, since he liked the environment. It was mildly cold all year around, but never too much for him, as he used to live in the Crystal Empire when he was a small colt, so he didn’t mind. He gazed through the quiet morning streets, populated only by road workers going by their daily routine. It was still dawn, with most of the night sky being darker blue, and the lighter part shining at a distance.

He let out a heavy sigh, maybe this place wasn’t the right choice for him after all, or perhaps he felt a little homesick. He looked at the buildings of Vanhoover, with some of them looking like silhouettes because of the darkness. The town was somewhat modern, and not as technicolor as Ponyville and Canterlot would be, or even the Crystal Empire for that matter. But who knows, he has never been to those two places. Maybe they’re not as ridiculous as his friends claim they might be, he thought.

Hm, The Crystal Empire. Can't believe I still miss it after all these years.

All the memories of him and his father came to his mind. He thought that, if he moved somewhere else, he would forget about him easily in a few years. But it seems all that effort was in vain. He put on his hoodie and walked along the sidewalk. The peaceful morning before sunrise mesmerized him as he observed his surroundings. He looked at a store, which was presumably closed. After standing around and yawning for a few seconds, he headed back to his humble abode to sleep.

~Several hours later~

The gray pony slowly regained his consciousness, and his eyes shifted to the direction of the alarm clock. It took a few seconds for him to process what was displayed on the screen.

Eight-fucking-thirty?! He screamed internally. He swept the sheets off of him, and jumped off the bed. He grabbed his saddlebag, put it on and rushed out through the door. He carefully, but quickly walked down the stairs, as his apartment had stairs that were quite steep, hence the cheap rent. Once outside, the bright light of the sun blinded him momentarily, causing him to bump into someone.

“Watch where you’re going!” The sand colored stallion in a suit shouted.

He wanted to say something back, perhaps insult him, but the pony in the suit was in such a rush, he had already been gone. The gray pegasus took off in a hurry, and flew beside the buildings to save time.

Being forced to dodge street lamps and taxis, he regretted his decision. But no point in turning back now, as he has almost reached his destination, North Vanhoover University. A place he dreadfully endures for several months now, but for some reason he keeps going. Maybe it was because of his crippling anxiety, and the only way to help him recover from it is to be around other ponies.

He landed in front of the university, and raced to the entrance. He broke through the doors and stopped, as he saw a giant clock hung up on a wall. Class had begun five minutes ago.

Shit…

Rushing to class, he had to dodge things once more, this time other ponies. The University was quite big considering the size of the city, so that only made things harder for him. When he arrived into the lecture hall, he saw a middle-aged looking stallion giving lectures about biochemistry, pointing at the blackboard with writing and sketches related to the subject. Some students looked at the gray pegasus for a second, and returned back to taking notes of the lectures.

He went to a nearby chair and sat down. He pulled out all the equipment for taking notes, and started writing as he looked at the distant blackboard. He could barely see what was written in the blurry mess.

If I only I could afford glasses.

He tried to squint to make out the handwritten font on the board, and while he made out some of the words, the writing was too incomprehensible for him. He sighed and rested his head on his hoof.

Why did I sign up for this class? He hung his head in disappointment.

He looked at the clock on the side of the hall, showing that the class would end in 40 minutes. The teacher kept lecturing what seemed to be nonsense to him. Every minute of the blabbering about biochemistry made him more and more tired, up until he fell asleep on his chair.

After an hour and a half has passed, his ears perked up at the noise of rumbling chairs, signaling his awakening. Class must be over, he thought. He opened his eyes and looked around, most of the students had already left.

“Electric?” A voice familiar voice came from his right side.

He turned his head to the source of the voice, revealing his teacher being two meters away from him. His eyes widened in panic.

“Um, yeah?” He gulped.

For a moment, the teacher didn’t say anything. He just looked at the gray student pony, who had gotten nervous from the sudden silence.

“I can’t help but notice that you aren’t paying attention during my lectures,” The teacher spoke.

Oh, great.

“As your professor,” He paused for a moment, “I am a bit concerned about your ability to pass this semester’s finals.”

“Well, uhm… no need to worry, Mr. Quill. I got it all under control, I promise.” He asserted.

His lecturer let out a sigh, "It is my job to help my students. So that they could achieve the best they can, to achieve their dreams.” He had a glimpse of hope in his eyes, then looked down at Electric in a saddened expression.

The professor then turned towards the hall’s exit and made his way towards it, “But, if you truly believe that you have it under control, then I only hope that you do your best. Farewell,” The professor proceeded to close the door behind him.

Electric was left all alone in the classroom. He started to pack his notebook and equipment into his saddlebag, and put it on his back. Walking out of the class, he had several thoughts. He doubted his chances to pass the exams, which depressed him a bit. He trotted outside for some fresh air to ease his mood.

… I wonder what Shock is up to these days?

Electric had an idea. Why not go check up on him? Last he heard, Shock was working in a bar of some sort after he got kicked out of the university. So he went on looking for Shock’s workplace. Only problem was, he didn’t know the name of the joint. He saw a stranger passing by, and decided to ask him.

He cleared his throat. “Uh, excuse me,”

The stranger stopped and looked at Electric. “...Yes?”

“Yeah, uh...” he muttered. “You know any good bars around here?” He put on an awkward smile.

“One is down the street, The Drunken Huntsmare, you’ll spot it easily.” The kind stranger pointed his hoof.

After giving his thanks, Electric headed to the direction given to him after a successful conversation by his standards, leading him towards an odd looking pub. An old, wooden, medieval style place. Oddly enough, he has no recollection of ever seeing this place before, despite living in Vanhoover for well over five years. Then again, Electric hardly ever goes out of his apartment complex.

He walked towards the entrance, and pushed the doors. The opening of the door triggered a bell to ring, leading into a dimly lit Nordic-style bar. Electric couldn’t help but notice how lively the place was. All he heard was random chatter in the background, until a voice that stood out to him interrupted his mind.

“Hey, my boy El! How you doin’?”

Electric looked at the source of the voice, which directed him to the bartender. He stood still with his eyes fully open, looking at the familiar pony behind the counter.

Is this guy talking to me? He thought. Wait…

He furrowed his eyebrows at the bartender, and realized that it was indeed his bartender friend who he was looking for. He walked closer to the counter.

“Shock?” Electric replied with his mouth agape, “How did you end up here? Didn't you get kicked out of uni?"

Shock chuckled as he continues to wipe an empty jug, “Well, that’s a long story. You got the time?”

“I mean, sure. Class just finished and there aren’t any more ‘till tuesday.” Electric replied as he pulled out a stool under the bar counter.

Shock then filled the jug with ale and passed it to Electric, “This one’s on me, to forever lasting friends.”

Shock grabbed a glass of water and clinked it with Electric’s ale. As they both chugged down their drinks, something came to Electric’s mind that bothered him.

“Wait, if you don’t drink then why do you work here?” Electric asked as he set his jug on the counter.

“I guess the atmosphere is too good to pass up,” Shock shrugged, “Also, they had openings when I got kicked out. Probably one of those things like; ‘when a door closes, a window opens’.”

“So, you were just lucky.” Electric said with a slightly raised eyebrow.

“Well, what can I say? Luck has always been by my side.” Shock said with a smug smile.

Suddenly, a glass was thrown near the two, shattering onto the wall behind them and breaking into pieces. Both of them turned around to see who threw the glass. They saw two stallions flailing about, trying to punch each other. Shock slammed his glass onto the counter, almost shattering it. He quickly vaulted over the counter and walked towards the two in a quarrel.

Before one of them could throw a proper punch, Shock lifted both of the stallions and slammed them to the wall nearby. He then opened the door to the bar and threw them outside. Closing the door, Shock realized the place had gotten quiet, as all eyes were on him. He sighed and walked to the center of the bar.

“If any more of you want to fight in here, you’re gonna get yourself some broken bones,” Shock announced to the surprised crowd.

He resumed to bartending behind the counter, and business returned to normal as the usual restaurant background noise arises. Electric had been looking at the situation with wide eyes, as he has never seen Shock being like this. He turned to him, still in shock from what just happened.

“Now you know why I got kicked out of Uni.” He smirked as he returned to cleaning the jugs.

Electric had a concerned look on his face. “Right…” He said as he took a sip of his ale.

“Say,” Shock set the jug to its rightful place. “How are you doing over there? It’s your last year, right?” He asked Electric.

“Yup. I don’t think I’ll be able to pass it though.” He said as he once more chugged down his ale.

“Really? What’s the matter?”

Electric let out a long sigh. “My grades are probably the worst in the damn university, and I’m barely paying any attention to most of the lectures as they’re a pain to go through,”

“Overall, I always felt like shit ever since I’ve been there. I probably shouldn’t have applied in the first place.” He told and finished his jug of ale.

“Hm. Sucks for you, I guess.” Shock said as he filled up a jug of ale for a customer.

“Tell me about it.” Electric shook his head.

Shock chuckled. “Alright, If you ever drop out, just know that we’re always looking to hire,”

“Sure, I've always wanted to work at a dead-end job.” Electric smiled.

“Hey, who knows, maybe I’ll own this place one day.” The bartender pony stated, with a hint of confidence in his voice.

“Good luck with that,” Electric wondered as he grabbed a pretzel from a nearby bowl on the counter. He thought of a topic to start a conversation on. But because of his anxiety, it was a surprisingly hard task to do. Then he realized something.

“Hey, Shock?” He turned to him.

“What do you need?”

“I had this… nah, fuck it. Never mind.” Electric went back to looking at his ale.

“Tell me, or I’ll slam you on the wall like I did to those guys.”

Electric laughed. “Alright, damn. Well, I had this weird dream last night,”

He looked at Shock, who was paying attention to the story.

“Go on, lad.”

“Yeah, so. I don’t remember much of it, but…” Electric paused to recollect his thoughts. “I was in some dark alley. And the weird thing was, I could smell and feel everything, just like in real life. Not the usual kind of a dream, right?” He said.

“Sounds like a lucid dream. Consider yourself lucky, I always wanted to experience those.” Shock added.

“I don’t know, honestly. Aren’t dreams based on memories? The stuff I’ve seen is nothing like in this world.” He skepticized.

“Maybe it’s a spirit from a different dimension trying to communicate,” Shock suggested, “Either that or your brain is just fucking with you.”

“Probably the latter. I remember seeing weird creatures, but it’s all so fuzzy now.” He put his hoof on his head.

“Ugh, not this shit again.” Shock groaned.

“What?” Electric looked at him.

“You know a pony named Lyra? She’s been going on and on about researching these ‘Hu-mens’ every time she comes here.”

Electric couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was it just pure coincidence, or could those things actually exist? He shuddered at the thought.

“Who's Lyra?” Electric asked.

“Think she’s a student at the same Uni you’re in,” Shock thought for a moment, “And if I recall correctly, she was in the music department or something.”

“Huh, interesting. Maybe I could talk to her about these dreams.” He pondered.

“That would be weird, but then again she's probably an expert in those types of things.” Shock chuckled. “Hey, if you really want to meet her, maybe I could set you up.”

“Aha, I think I'll pass." He sighed. "Don't want to make things any more awkward for myself.” Electric leaned his head on his hoof.

“Okay then,” Shock proceeded to clean more jugs that were left by the customers. The bar was starting to become more empty, as more ponies left due to the atmosphere being broken previously by the fight.

“Say, you wanna hang out when I’m done with my shift?”

“Sure thing.” Said Electric as he threw another pretzel into his mouth.

***

Chapter 2: Burning Sensations

***

The duo traversed along the streets of Vanhoover, in hope to find something interesting to the eye.

Wandering through the marketplace of the town, they came across several stands with a multitude of things on display, varying from food to clothing. If you were to pay attention to the local population, you could hear plenty of different and intriguing accents. Judging by the way they conversed, Electric identified some ponies being from the Crystal Empire.

“Why do crystal ponies have to be so... posh?” Shock commented.

Electric gave him a dirty look.

“Heh, no offense El.” He chuckled in response.

“Lucky you. I was this close to kicking your ass.” Electric joked.

“Oh yeah?” Shock smiled smugly.

Electric smirked. “Say, what did you even study back then?”

“What, I never told you?”

Electric shook his head in response.

“Well, I always wanted to become a law student, so I studied law, obviously.” He said.

“Oh, okay. Makes sense.” Electric nodded, not bothering to continue with the conversation.

They walked past the sellers further away from the center of the marketplace, right until a group of three menacing young stallions turned up around a corner and walked up to them. The duo slowed down to a full stop.

"Shit...” Electric was already anxious.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk… We meet again, Shock Wave.” A stallion in a red varsity jacket spoke up.

“I thought I got rid of you. Looking for a fight or what?” Shock grumbled.

“Whoa there, surely we could negotiate? Now personally, I don’t think what you did to me back in North Vanhoover is redeemable anymore,” The pony in the jacket looked back at his companions.

“However, we will let you go on one condition.”

Shock raised an eyebrow. “And that is…?”

“Give us all of your bits.” The boss of the group gazed at him.

At this point Electric was sweating bullets. He barely had any money left after paying for his monthly rent.

So i’ll just starve? Fuck! He winced at the thought.

“Sorry buddy, but my bits are too valuable to be in your povertous hooves.” Shock said calmly, preparing to signal Electric to fly away from the scene.

The jacketed chieftain sighed with anger. “Have it your way then, asshole.”

“I-I don’t know how to fight!”Electric panicked.

“Just get out of here, I’ll handle this.” Shock positioned himself.

Jacket ordered one of his friends to charge ahead, making Electric spring up in the air as a reaction. One of the gangsters ran up to Shock, charging for a tackle. Shock swiftly stepped to the side and stuck one of his hooves out, causing the charging pony to fall on his hind side.

“Rule number one, never be too eager to rush your opponent.” Shock announced to the opposition with confidence oozing from his veins.

The pony on the ground tried to get up, but it was too late as he got knocked unconscious by Shock’s hind kick to the face.

The other hostile pegasus standing by Jacket’s side went up against Electric, who was looking at the situation desperately.

“Hey, I don’t want any trouble!” Electric urged, unfortunately having no effect on the gangster.

The opponent dived in the air, aiming at the combat-deprived pegasus. However, before he could get any further, he was suddenly engulfed in a glow of purple magic that held him in place. Not being able to move, he realized that Shock was actually holding him still, giving ample time for Electric to fall back.

“I gotta say, your tactics suck arse.” Shock snarked at Jacket.

The gangster’s wings were shut close by the magic. In result, the unfortunate pony fell down, receiving a broken bone. The foe laying on the ground yelled out in agony.

“Useless morons,” Jacket groaned in frustration, and looked at Shock.

“...I won’t be humiliated this time!” He shouted nervously, as he drew out a pocket knife from his jacket.

Shock tried to take the knife from his hoof by magic, but was countered by Jacket’s.

“Your magic won’t save you now, bucktard!” He shot the knife towards Shock like a projectile. With no possibility of dodging it, the knife impaled his gut. Shock fell on the ground from all the force put into the attack.

Jacket walked up close to Shock, and attempted to slowly pulled out the knife for maximum agony. By reaction, Shock punched the pony and pulled out the knife quickly from his side, earning a grunt of pain. He swiftly swung the knife across the stallion’s face, hitting him on the cheek and nose bridge. This disoriented the opponent, enough for Shock to regain his defense.

“Hngh, who has the knife now... stupid?” He taunted as he waved the bloody knife around.

Shock began to chuckle like a maniac, disturbing Jacket. He slowly stepped away from him, knowing that he could die right then and there. Jacket bolted away, leaving Shock and the two other wounded gangsters behind. Shock looked at the scene, and at his wound that bled a concerning amount. He scanned around the area for Electric, with him nowhere to be seen.

“El! You can,” Shock coughed up blood, unexpectedly. “Ugh...come out now!”

Waiting for Electric to appear any moment now, there was nothing but the ambient sound of the city. Previously unnoticed by Shock, there was a small audience watching him. Some ponies scuttled over, with worried looks on their faces.

“Sir, you need a doctor. That wound looks serious!” A nearby pony voiced his concern.

“No,” Shock said as he sat on the ground, as he was exhausted. “Believe me... I’ll be fine.”

“We have to get you to the hospital. Here, let me help.” The bystander offered, trying to grab Shock by his hooves.

“I said, no!” He resisted. “Just…” Shock blurted out for the last time, feeling weak, as his possibly lethal wound was still bleeding heavily, meaning it would be only a matter of seconds before he goes unconscious from all of the blood loss. Eventually, he passed out.

“Jeez, what’s up with this guy?” Another bystander asked.

“No idea. Now help me carry him to the hospital, will ya?” The other one requested.

Vanhoover General Hospital, 11:34 AM

Oh, shit. Now that’s painful. He groaned. Slowly opening his eyes, all he saw was white.

Huh, so it happened. I’m finally dead. But what’s that beeping sound?

He looked around the almost eerie white room he woke up in. He realized he was indeed in a hospital. Looking at his side, he could see a heartbeat monitor, beeping at the same 60 beats-per-minute as his heart. The beeping sound was starting to irritate his head, so he decided to get off the bed. All the tubes and dongles got detached from Shock’s body as he got up. Before he could go anywhere, he was stopped by one of the nurses that was assigned to him.

“Oh, Mr. Wave! I see that you’re awake,” The nurse smiled. “You should rest so that your wound heals up completely.” She stated, trying to get him lie down.

“Well, I think I’m good for now-” Shock felt a pain in his side, causing him to grunt uncomfortably.

“No use acting tough, mister.” She said sternly. "Now, get back on the bed."

Shock decided to comply, simply because he was not in the mood to be fighting anypony. Besides, having a five inch deep wound hurt a lot. Shock lied down on the hospital bunk.

“Tensions between the Olenian Kingdom and the Changeling Lands have further escalated as King Djavulen refuses Chrysalis' ultimatum. Experts believe this will ignite an invasion of Olenia.” A news channel blared out from a radio, before the nurse turned down the volume.

Laying on the bed, the nurse set up the blood bag and the heartbeat monitor for him. Shock took a deep breath and sighed, preparing to hibernate. He was about to fall asleep, when he heard a window next to him being opened. Out of the window peeked out a familiar face.

“Hey, man!” Electric delightedly saluted as he got inside the room.

Shock opened one of his eyes to look at the source of the voice. Seeing as it’s Electric, he was mildly surprised.

“Woah, where the hell did you come from?”

“What, is that how you greet me? Gee, thanks,” Electric replied, and proceeded to look at Shock’s wound.

“So, uhh… you gonna tell me what happened at the end?” He curiously asked.

“Well, other than my friend leaving me for dead, the fucker got away and I got this cool scar now.” Shock also looked at his newly stitched wound.

“Leaving you for dead?” He was taken aback. “But you wanted me to get out of there!”

“Yeah, during the fight, stupid.”

“Look, I don’t care. Get your ass up from the bed and let’s go.” Electric said sternly, as he went near the door frame.

“If only I could.” Shock said as he rolled his eyes.

“Well, what the hell is stopping you?” Electric asked.

“I’m kinda not up to it right now, since I was stabbed like, some hours ago. I can’t just waltz out of here yet.” He replied.

“Alright, I got the results-” The nurse chimed in as she stepped inside the room, unexpected to see Electric standing next to her.

“For crying out loud, what are you doing here?” The nurse complained like it wasn't the first time this has happened.

Electric froze for a moment.

“Oh, I’m his friend, I just… came here to see him! Yup, exactly.” He nodded nervously.

“Hm,” She eyed at Electric, clearly not convinced. “The visiting hours are over, so you can’t be here. I suggest you leave.”

“Fuck,” Said Electric under his breath.

“Okay, fine. I’ll see myself out.” Disappointed, he turned to the door and exited the room.

Both of the ponies watched as he went outside the room to the hallway. The nurse rolled her eyes at the event, and looked at her clipboard.

“So, as I was going to say, you’re ready to leave tomorrow. That is all.” She said.

“Tomorrow, huh? Dang, could’ve used a longer break.”

The nurse chuckled. “Try to survive until then. Would you need anything else, maybe lunch?”

“Nah, I’m fine for now.” Shock assured.

“As you wish.” The nurse said with a smile, and departed from the room.

She's awfully chipper. Shock exhaled lightly as he shut his eyes closed, hoping to get some rest. After all, the incident tired him quite a lot. After he successfully wasn’t bothered by anypony, he fell into a dream state.

Home Sweet Home

Electric was lying on his bed, doing nothing as usual when he’s home. Before he could decide what he wanted to do, he heard several footsteps in his house. He went to investigate it, hoping it wasn't a burglar trying to rob him. He knew how he would handle that situation if it ever happens, so he prepared to defend himself from any troublemakers. He presumed behind the wall were the source of the footsteps. A sudden silhouette emerged from behind the wall.

“Electric...” It mumbled.

Before Electric could process what the silhouette said to him, his vision zoomed in slowly to the face of the creature. The endless void of its eyes sent a strong feeling of dread to Electric. He gulped as he could feel the tight knot in his throat again, closing his eyes in hopes of making the creature disappear.

“You are so weak and pathetic… too scared to fight...”

Electric opened his eyes in shock, hastily checking where he was. He was thankfully on his bed, safe and sound. He got frustrated from not seeing the creatures face completely, leaving the mystery still unbroken.

“Jesus… wait what? Who’s Jesus?” He scratched the back of his head, and got up from his bed to check his kitchen. To his misfortune, the toaster was smoking. He quickly unplugged it before anything worse could happen.

There’s no way I’m just imagining this. He skepticized as he paced back and forth.

He took the charcoal black toast from the toaster, and threw them into a small bin on the floor.

Luckily by not being robbed by the gangsters from the fight, while it wasn’t much, he at least had some cash to buy the things he needed.

Electric grabbed his wallet lying on the kitchen counter, shoving it inside of his hoodie pocket. Making sure he had everything he needed with him, he checked for his keys, wallet, and his hoofwatch. With everything set ready, he took a deep relaxing breath and opened the door.

Outside of Electric’s flat, Tuesday, 5:42 PM

The streets were fairly busy at this time, with an endless stream of ponies walking about.

Electric blended into the crowd and went along with the stream. With no destination in mind, he eventually decided to roam around in his neighbourhood that is mostly unknown to him. Electric walked further away from his apartment complex, taking it slowly this time so that he could have time to register the more distinctive areas into his head.

As he continued his journey, he couldn’t help but notice a particular store that really grabbed his attention. From far away, Electric could see a record with flailing music notes set as the store’s banner. He thought it would be a music store, one he has been hoping to go to since he arrived at Vanhoover.

A doorbell was heard, when Electric entered the store. An employee of the store noticed him, and went to the counter. He neared the counter while looking around the surroundings. Varying types of interesting guitars hanging about and different sized amplifiers stacked on each other. He saw several drum kits at the back with a big warning sign saying, “only for experienced users only”. Why did it say 'only' twice, he wondered.

“Hey, how can I help you?” The stallion behind the counter asked.

As he noticed the store's clerk, Electric thought for a moment what he needed.

Oh right. Strings.

“You got any strings for a nylon guitar?” Electric asked with an unsure tone.

“Wouldn’t be a proper store if we wouldn’t have ‘em,” The clerk grabbed several pack of strings from below the counter, and put them on top.

“Here you go, all the strings for nylon guitars. These ones will last you for a long time.” He tapped on the more expensive option.

“20 gold bits?” Electric remarked, lifting his eyebrows in astonishment.

“It’s a quality product, dude.”

Frig off, I’m broke.

“Well, I’ll just have this one.” Electric put 5 bits on the counter and grabbed a pack of cheap guitar strings.

“Sure, whatever floats your boat.” The clerk shrugged as he put the bits in the register. “See you next time then.”

Electric turned away from the counter. His eyes examined the store one last time before deciding to leave. He then continued to walk to the door, recreating a similar sound of the bell earlier after leaving. He has found a nearby music store, so he considered that a plus in his book. After all, he was an amateur musician. In his profession, strings tend to snap quite often.

Electric walked down a small set of stairs leading to the store, and was stopped by his thoughts.

He pondered what to do next, whether to go back home and crash on the bed or continue roaming around the city. Enjoying the outdoors, he chose the latter.

There was a concentration of ponies gathered at the town centre when he got there. Electric was intrigued to see what it was about, so he neared the crowd and blended in. It seemed like a stage show, with an azure mare wearing what seemed to be a cape and a wizard hat.

A magic performance. In a world where magic is as normal as having coffee in the morning. How's that even interesting? He thought to himself.

Rarely being exposed to magic, Electric decided to watch the performance despite the initial thoughts.

“Greetings! come and witness the Great and Powerful Trixie’s spectacular magic performance!" The wizardly showpony threw her hoof up, grinning. "Prepare yourselves, as you’re about to witness the most powerful magic of all!” She announced, leading to small explosions of fireworks after finishing her sentence.

“Boo! This show sucks!” A voice from the crowd was heard.

“Hmph. The Great and Powerful Trixie insists you to believe otherwise,” Her horn suddenly lit up, and a pony appeared on the stage next to Trixie.

“Would you like to be my volunteer?” She asked the confused bystander.

The pony looked at the crowd and back to her. “Ugh, fine. we’ll see if your magic is so special, which it won’t be.” He scoffed.

“We’ll see.” Trixie had an evil giggle. She took a stance, and her horn began to glow. Next thing the crowd saw, instead of a stallion, there was a mare.

The crowd gasped at the sight. The participant was wide-eyed and confused, as she did not understand what Trixie exactly did to her.

“W-What happened-” She asked in a high pitched voice. Her eyes widened. “Oh Celestia, my voice!”

“That'll teach you not to underestimate me, the great and powerful Trixie!” She laughed. The newly turned mare ran off the stage in horror. The crowd clapped and cheered loudly, leaving Electric only with a raised eyebrow.

After a while of uninteresting magic tricks performed by the said Trixie, Electric was glad to see it finally end.

“Now, that will be all from The Great and Powerful Trixie’s performance. Donations are accepted.” Trixie announced, before her donations box got flooded with bits. Seems like a profitable business after all, Electric thought to himself.

The crowd broke apart after the show had ended. Only Electric decided to stay there for a bit. He watched Trixie taking down the compact stage setup into the caravan, somehow. Tempted to ask Trixie a few questions about her show, he waited for a while. After realizing he was standing alone in an awkward manner, he eventually walked up to her.

“Um, hello?” Electric greeted hesitantly.

Trixie closed a hatch, and looked at Electric with a questionable gaze for a moment. She then continued to take down several banners.

“Who requires Trixie’s attention?” She asked in her infamous third-person format.

“Yeah, I was just thinking, is that guy gonna be a mare… forever?”

“Don’t be silly, Trixie wouldn’t do such horrible things. He’ll be back to normal within a few days.” She smirked.

“Oh.” Electric scratched his neck. “Alright, well… that’s all I needed to know I suppose.” Electric concluded. He turned away from the caravan and walked off after not receiving a response, figuring she was busy.

Electric glanced at the caravan for one last time, and saw something out of place. Or rather, somepony. He couldn't help but feel a familiar aura about this person who was talking to Trixie. Before he could place who it was, the pony left in haste. Electric put effort into seeing where the pony was headed, only to notice it was too late. He saw nothing but bystanders walking in the light of dusk, some conversing with each other, but no traces of the mysterious pony remain.

Electric didn’t feel like playing cat & mouse at the moment, so he headed home, albeit still disappointed from not seeing who that pony actually was. He sighed as he tread along the pavement, thinking;

Man, fuck mysteries.

Electric’s veranda, Wednesday, 6:01 A.M (11/27/1016)

It was just about the break of dawn, a cool simmering wind blew past through Electric’s mane. He stood on the balcony smoking a cigarette, still thinking about yesterday’s events. Sleep may already be scarce, but the sensation of wanting something made it even worse. He took a sip of coffee, hoping to stay energized throughout the day.

However, Electric himself knew there was no way that he was going to forget about that pony easily. Why was he feeling that sensation? Did it remind him of his past? Was it someone he knew, someone dear to him? These questions were buzzing all over his head ever since he first laid his eyes on that pony.

Electric sighed. He knows that standing around will get him nowhere. He picked up his teacup and went inside, hoping to find a way to find this certain pony. His best bet was to ask his trusty friend, Shock. Knowing that he’s a bartender, there was a chance that he’d seen this pony before. He placed the teacup on top of a console table near his kitchen. Electric hung his head down as the sensation was too overwhelming for him. He quickly went to his bathroom to wash his face and take some medications to get the edge off.

Outside of Shock’s flat, the same day.

I wonder if he’s home yet, A lonely Electric thought to himself, standing in front of Shock’s apartment door. He quickly checked his hoofwatch, which displayed 2:27 P.M.

He knocked several times, until a voice can be heard from the inside,

“Hold up, I’m coming.” A weary voice that Electric was sure belonged to Shock answered.

In just a few seconds, the door was opened by the resident himself. Shock was however perplexed to see Electric at his house. He still however opened the door wider to let his guest in.

“Oh, it’s you. Well, come in.” Shock invited.

Electric walked in without saying a word, still looking distraught over his feelings. As Shock closed the door, he couldn’t help but ask:

“What’s with the long face?”

“Ha ha.” Electric sarcastically remarked, as he sat down on a couch. “Well I don’t know, I’m being torn apart by this ‘mysterious pony’.”

“Oh? Is this one of your dreams again?”

“No, not this time.” Electric furrowed his eyebrows. “Say, you know anything about Trixie?”

“Trixie? I’ve seen her before, with her weird magic shows,” He had a light chuckle. “I think that was way back when I was still in Ponyville. What about her?”

Electric gave him a surprised look. “You never told me you’ve been to Ponyville.”

“Been to? I was born and raised there,” He said with a smile, but it slowly degraded into a frown, “I kind of... had to move here with my cousin ever since my parents passed away.”

“Oh. I’m sorry for your loss, must’ve been rough.” Electric sympathized.

“Eh, that was a long time ago. Sometimes you just have to let the past be in the past. Besides, life here is much better.” Shock hung his head, looking down at the floor, slightly caressing it.

“So, what was it like in Ponyville?”

“Oh, to be honest, it’s not so different from living here,” He rose his head back up. “You had everything you need. healthcare, good food and a reliable mayor.”

Shock paused for a moment, as he was overwhelmed with nostalgia. “Though, one thing that Vanhoover will never have is probably Ponyville’s charming character.”

“Charming character?”

“You know, the emotions you get when you stay there,” Shock let out a slight smile, “The scenery, the people, the atmosphere. Totally different to what we have here.”

Electric responded with a nod, as he was in his thoughts again. Before he could open his mouth to say a word, his stomach interrupted him with a loud grumble.

“Sounds like you could grab a bite or two.”

“Yeah.” Electric relaxed on the couch, smirking. “Go make me a sandwich.”

“How about I make you a knuckle sandwich instead? You’d like that?”

“Fine, I’ll make one myself.” Electric got up to look for a nearby fridge. After finding one some meters away, he walked towards it and grabbed the handle to open the fridge door. After opening, he was exposed to a vast amount of food, which as a student was surely a rare thing to see.

“You better not take anything expensive!” Shock shouted from the living room.

"Damn, I guess you cook a lot or something." Electric mumbled.

Electric grabbed a wheel of cheese and ripped off a piece of salad. Next thing he needed was a dandelion, which was a must for his sandwiches. He searched for it from different sections in the fridge. Once he found it, he closed the fridge and set the ingredients on a chopping board. Grabbing some sliced bread, he sliced the cheese with a cheese slicer, and set the pieces on a slice of bread. Next up was the salad leaf and the dandelion. The procedure was simple, as he put the leaf on the cheese and the flower on the top.

Voila.Electric grabbed the sandwich he made, and took a bite out of it.

It tasted like what he had expected; nutritious. He placed it back on a plate he grabbed earlier, and brought it to Shock’s living room.

“Looking at all the stuff you used, that’ll be seven bits.” Shock joked.

“Man, fuck you. You know I'm broke.” Electric replied before he gobbled down his sandwich.

To Shock’s amusement, he let out a chuckle. Once Electric had finished the sandwich, Shock decided to continue with the conversation. “So, what about that mysterious pony you were talking about? And what does it have to do with Trixie?”

“Umm, not really sure. I saw him talking to her, that’s all.” Electric explained, with a voice that was muffled from chewing the sandwich.

“How do you know it was a he?” Shock probed further.

“No idea. Hell, why do you even care?” Electric got annoyed.

“Hey, I love a good mystery. Anyway, I could use some more details. Who knows, I might’ve seen that pony before.”

Electric furrowed his eyebrows as he put a hoof on his head. “Seems like it had a white, sorta grey coat and maybe a blue-ish mane, that's all I fuckin' remember.”

Shock pondered for a moment. “You sure you didn’t just looked in the mirror?”

“What do you mean?”

“You literally described yourself.” Shock curiously raised his eyebrow.

“Damn,” Electric cursed, closing his eyes as he tried to remember something, “Oh right, I think she was a unicorn.”

Shock again tried to remember any pony fitting the bill. Unfortunately, that pony doesn’t ring any bells for him.

“Sorry buddy, I haven’t seen anypony like that. But, I’ll keep an eye out when I get back to work.” He assured.

“Okay, you do that,” Electric said as he was walking towards the apartment door. “Thanks for the food, I’ll be going back to my crib. See you later.” He pulled the handle, and saw himself out.

“You still owe me seven bits!” Shock shouted as the door closed.

“What a poor sucker.”

***

Chapter 3: Lost Touch

***

Electric’s Room, Monday, 7:32 A.M.

The sun was bringing down its shine onto Electric’s face as he lied on his bed, reminiscing the moment he saw that certain pony. Something about it keeps coming back to haunt him. His feelings were not so easy for him to control, and thus he has failed to finish his daily schedule on multiple occasions. It all piled up into a domino effect, from which he groaned in frustration. Electric could do nothing but blink mindlessly at the situation. Even if hours had passed, he would still feel numbed by the pain; The same pain he had endured for several weeks. By now, that feeling only serves to him as his Achilles' heel.

As he slowly let himself succumb into the void of nothingness, the sound of mail coming through his mail slot echoed in his ear. Without even thinking, he would already know that it was the landlord sending letters about overdue rent. Those letters had been coming for a few times already, but Electric would just let them pile over themselves.

He stared at the ceiling in deep thoughts. Thoughts about his childhood home in the Crystal Empire, where his step-parents raised him. It might’ve been an unpleasant experience living with them, but for now, Electric only remembered the good times playing with his friends in school.

“I wonder how they are doing now...”

Focused back on the real world, Electric got bored from lying on his bed doing nothing. He rolled over until he fell down to appreciate the satisfyingly cold floor pressed against his cheek. Once he got up on his hooves, he walked over to the front door, where the pile of letters were laying around. Once he laid his eyes on them, he couldn’t help but notice a particular envelope. A bright red envelope. Electric grabbed the envelope and read the sender’s address. It was indeed from the landlord. He quickly ripped it open, took out the letter and read. It was what exactly what he thought it would be; an eviction notice.

Electric stared at the contents of the letter, frozen in place. He hung his head down, and sighed.

“It was bound to happen, Electric. What the hell are you gonna do now?” He cursed himself.

He read the letter one more time;

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

EVICTION NOTICE:

To: Electric Dazzle

Date: 12/19/1016

City/Municipality: Vanhoover, Equestria

Address: Harbor St. 2

Your rent is due the total amount of $ 1500.00 . You are required to pay this sum in three days, or face eviction from the premises. If you fail to abide, you will be extracted from the premises with force by the police. You are expected to not remain by the date 12/21/1016.

Landlord: Onyx Armor

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Well fuck you too, Onyx,” said Electric, as he ripped the notice to shreds in behemothic anger. Once there was nothing left of the letter, he sat down on his flank. The frustrated pegasus looked at the scraps of paper on the floor with his voided eyes.

What would his parents think of him right now? That he’s a completely sad excuse of a pony, or that he couldn’t get his act together? It was either one or the other. Electric, although weak-willed, was never one for relying on others for help. He always wanted to solve his own problems by himself. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so independent, judging by the state he is in right now.

“Time to pack the bags, I guess…” He said, sighing heavily. He glanced at the mess he made and thought that maybe he should clean it up, but he decided against it.

Electric looked around his living room to decide on what he needs to pack up, and the first thing he saw was the guitar his step-parents handed to him. Apparently it was a gift from someone, but they never told him who it was. Strange, he mused.

As Electric was done placing his guitar into its case, he went to his room to grab his expensive textbooks and whatever clothes he has left. He grabbed his saddlebag that he uses for school and tried to fit everything he could in there. Luckily, Electric only had a single hoodie plus a scarf which was enough to keep him warm during winter.

With his clothes and books ready, there was nothing much left for Electric to pack. He thus decided to lay down on his bed, seeing as there was nothing left for him to do but wait for the inevitable. As soon as he got on his bed, he could hear the sound of his door getting knocked on.

He froze in place, thinking about what to do. Maybe jump off the balcony? Shit... The longer he sat frozen, the harder the knocking got. Suddenly there was silence, right until a loud bang was heard. Electric saw a white hoof busted through the door, reaching for the handle.

He sat in place, not keen on moving a single inch. He was sweating profusely and had his teeth clenched tight, as he was unable to react. After the hoof reached to push down on the handle, the door opened with the distinct sound of an unlocked door.

“Where the buck is that idiot?” A familiar voice followed through as it entered inside, knocking a pile of mail on the way in.

Hoof steps were heard along the corridor, until a coat of white with a long, two-colored mane emerged from it.

“What the..” He paused for a moment, trying to process what he was looking at, “Why didn’t you answer the door?”

Electric looked at him, with an almost angry stare. “You broke my damn door! I thought I was getting burgled!”

“A burglar wouldn’t knock on the door now, would they?” Shock smirked.

“Well I was about to open it, you jackass.”

“Resorting to lying now, are we?”

Electric groaned. “Look, I’m getting evicted. I thought my landlord was going to come here and kick my ass in person.”

“Evicted?” Shock, puzzled by Electric’s statement, remembered; “I guess that explains the overwhelming amount of mail in front of your door,”

“Still,” Shock continued, “How did you ended up getting evicted?”

“I couldn’t pay my rent since I ran out of my savings.” Electric shook his head, “I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life.”

Shock scratched the back of his head, “Look, if you’re really that deep in trouble, you can crash at my place if you want.”

“Huh, well…” Electric looked elsewhere thoughtfully. “Thanks for the offer, I’ll think about it.”

“Suit yourself. Meet me at my place if you’ve made up your mind.” Shock said, heading towards the living room of Electric’s apartment.

Electric continued to sit on his bed, wondering what’s going to happen in the next chapter of his life. With so much going on, he couldn’t seem to pay attention to a single thing any longer than he usually could. Though, however short his attention span was at the moment, that certain pony remained a constant in his mind. Even after countless hours of soul searching, he still pondered who that pony was.

Soon enough, Electric got tired of just sitting around on his bed all day. He wanted to do something for once. With his companion in the living room, he decided to join him in hopes of getting any new info about the mysterious pony. Electric hopped off his bed and went straight towards his living room, though the sight he saw next was not so pleasant; at the very least for him. Shock was trying to play a song with Electric’s only guitar, albeit horribly.

He winced. “Are you going to break my guitar, too?”

“With that attitude, I might.” Shock said, still trying to find the right chords for his song.

Electric shook his head once again, as he looked at the pile of mail. He wondered what he could do with it. Before Electric could think up of something good, his train of thought was interrupted by Shock.

“So what are you going to do with all that mail?”

“I don’t know. You got any bright ideas?”

Shock laid down the guitar he was holding into its case, trying to think of something, “How about we burn them?”

“And where are we going to burn them, exactly?”

“Here, of course,”

Electric was puzzled, wouldn’t doing that will result in the building ending up in flames? He wasn’t entirely sure about Shock’s decision. However, he was going to leave soon, so why not give it a chance?

“Alright, and how are we going to burn them?”

“We could use the stove, but that’s boring,” Shock went and picked up all the mail and placed them in the middle of the living room, “So I suggest we use some good ol’ magic.”

“Just don’t accidentally light this whole place on fire.” Electric noted.

“Magic is kind of like metal, you know?” Shock said, emitting a small ray of light from his horn onto the pile of mail, “You can bend it anyway you want.”

“But just like metal, there’s a limit to how much you can bend,” Shock continued as a small flame burst out from where the ray was shining on. In a few seconds, covering the whole pile of mail.

Electric and Shock stared at the burning letters in sudden silence. No smoke emerged from the fire, thanks to the wonderful world of unicorn magic. Silence stayed around for a while, until nothing was left of the pile, but a muster of ash and ember.

“I would’ve clapped right now,” Electric sighed, “But that was seriously underwhelming.”

“I’d like to see you do something like this,” Shock said, leaning back onto the sofa he was sitting on.

“I don’t have a horn now, do I?”

“Then you should be more appreciative of things like these,” Shock gave a smug smile, “Not every day we get to witness the unusual.”

“Okay, hornhead. I couldn't care less about the unusual.” Electric rolled his eyes.

Shock laughed, “You know I'm right.”

“You're killing me, dude.” Electric remarked as he walked up to the fridge. From behind the door, he pulled out what looked like an aluminium can, labeled; ‘Lura’s cider’. Sitting down on the sofa, Shock ogled at the label with curiosity.

Electric downed the last remaining cider in one go, placing the empty can onto the table. He took a relaxed position on the couch, with an empty facial expression that gazed into the void of nothingness. As there was nothing else to do, Shock went to pick up the guitar again to lift the atmosphere a bit.

"So, have you got any news about my doppelganger?" Electric asked him.

“Oh, the mystery pony?” Shock rubbed his chin, “I don’t think so.”

Electric sighed. "Whatever, guess I'll never find out who it was..."

Shock saw how Electric lose all of the emotion he had before on his face, slowly sinking deeper into the sofa he was sitting on.

“Look, I’ve lost something too and till this day I’ll never get to find it,” Shock remedied, “But you still can.”

Shock stood up from the sofa, heading towards the door, “So, it’s either you keep your chin up and keep moving forward,” He opened it, and looked behind. “Or, you stop right now and look for something else.”

Electric glanced at the door, which soon closed with a light slam. Once the ambient sound of his apartment has settled in, he felt lonelier than he previously was. He looked at the clock that was hanging sideways on the wall. His first class would start in forty minutes. He snapped back to reality, got up from his torn couch and grabbed his saddlebag filled with books to put on his back. Although the saddlebag was quite heavy, it was still snugly fit around his spine. Satisfied, Electric checked for the last time if he missed anything important. He had thought of something, and quickly opened one of his bags to search its contents with his hoof. He pulled out a brass key which was for his apartment, and placed it on the kitchen counter.

With nothing else important left behind, he headed for the exit. With a turn of the knob, the door opened. But not as he expected, as the door unexpectedly fell on itself. Electric blinked, and sighed as he stepped over the door.

Lecture Hall S5, North Vanhoover University, 9:43 A.M.

Mr. Quill would usually stay for a while after class had ended. That was the proper opportunity for Electric to notify him about his decision to stop attending university, as the current condition he is in now would not contribute to his studies but to only serve as a major distraction. There was no point in going any further with the classes he’s taking since he doesn’t take that much interest in what Mr. Quill was teaching anyway.

As the class ended, Electric packed his notebooks and such in haste before his lecturer decides to leave the hall. He stood up from his chair and quickly walked towards the middle-aged stallion who was minding his own business.

“Uh, excuse me… Mr. Quill?”

Mr. Quill stopped his current doings, and turned towards his student, “What do you need, Dazzle?”

He stared at him for a bit before talking. “I-I… Uhh,” He gulped.”I wanted to-”

“Electric, try breathing for a moment.” His professor advised.

Soon enough, Electric complied. He took a long deep breath and slowly let the air out.

“Now, can you speak?” The professor asked calmly.

He calmly nodded in response before continuing; “I just wanted to say... I'm dropping out.”

Mr. Quill closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, “And may I know as to why you’ve decided to drop out?”

“Financial reasons for the most part,” Electric gazed towards the floor, “I’m just under a lot of stress right now.”

His professor understood Electric’s decision to stop, since he has seen cases of stress taking a huge toll on students before. However, he still couldn’t help but feel disappointed that Electric couldn’t keep his promise.

“I guess there’s no stopping you,” Mr. Quill tried to keep a smile before he remembered something, “Have you spoken to the advisor yet?”

“No, I haven’t.” He replied.

“Well, you should go and see her, Miss Encre will be leaving soon.”

“Okay… Thank you, Mr. Quill.” Electric put on a slight smile.

“I would say my pleasure, but…” Mr. Quill adjusted his glasses, “I just hope you’ll come back.”

“I don’t find that likely,” Electric headed for the exit. “Goodbye, Mr. Quill.”

He walked out the door without closing it behind him, and headed left, where the advisor’s office was located.

Shock Wave’s Humble Abode, 10:32 AM

Step after step, Electric finally reached the floor where his friend lived. The first door was a simple one, which had Shock’s last name written on a circular piece attached on the door. He knocked three times.

…

No answer.

As he heard nothing from the other side, he tried again.

Still nothing. Electric got slightly frustrated, and started banging on the door several times.

“Hey, hold yer horses, I’m coming.”

Electric blew some air out of his nostrils, not amused at the pun. The door opened, and Shock Wave revealed himself. He leaned on the doorframe in an unusual speechless state. This is certainly not his normal self.

“Sooo…” Electric broke the silence. “Will you let me in?”

“Oh, right.” Shock said as he got out of the way.

Electric slowly stepped inside, but what he saw after he entered surprised him completely. Broken glass, wood and other debris lying on the living room floor. He looked at Shock, who didn’t seem to be even a bit disconcerted about the mess.

“Sheesh, do you even bother to clean up once in a while?” Electric asked in a vulgar manner.

Shock just looked at him with an empty gaze, “What ‘chu mean?”

“What do you mean- Ugh,” He pointed at the debris. “Just look at this!”

As soon as Electric turned back to what he thought was a messy living room, what he saw next would make a normal pony go insane. Instantaneously, all the debris in the room disappeared and the room turned out to be as clean as a whistle. Electric then turned back to Shock, whose horn was glowing a solemn purple color, which quickly dissipated.

“You... are a plothole.” said Electric.

A cheeky smile was imprinted on Shock’s face, knowing that what he did was seen by his winged companion. He closed the door behind them, leaving the two of them alone in Shock’s apartment.

“So, how was class?” Shock questioned, attempting to lift the atmosphere at least a little bit.

“Well, I dropped out for good,” He told bluntly. “So there’s that.”

Shock chuckled as he remembered a conversation they had a few months ago, “Great, you can start your shift tomorrow.”

“Yeah, hilarious,” Electric snorted. “So, where do I sleep?”

“The room right before the kitchen,” Shock raised his hoof and pointed towards the direction of the room, “There should be everything in there.”

Electric sighed, and walked up to his place of slumber. He dropped his saddlebags off his back, and settled down.

“Gee, thanks.”

“You’re very most welcome.”

***

Chapter 4: Providence

***

Darkness. It was all Electric saw, until after a moment, his surroundings became clear. The environment shone upon with a deep red glow, as he stood on a stone-cold surface.

Once he was conscious in the situation, he walked near the edge of the stone platform. Beneath it, was at least a thousand metre free-fall to what seemed to be molten rock.

I’d rather stay back… He concluded, and obeyed his thoughts. He walked backwards from the edge, until he got interrupted by a gloomy, deep voice.

“Here you are again...” Someone said aloud. “Have you met the others?”

Electric turned himself around, and saw a six-foot tall creature. It was no longer dark as it was previously. He felt warmth. The creature in front of him appeared to be a pony, the stature and its majesty akin to Celestia. But the most striking part was a white, beaked mask that it wore.

The pony seemed… oddly familiar. Electric stood still, wide-eyed, and not uttering a single word.

The being gave a slight shake of her head, which seemed to be a sign of disappointment. Suddenly, she took a step forward, and began walking slowly towards Electric. Not until a few meters away, the being reached her hoof out, and touched Electric’s temple. Then something occurred to him. you could call it a flashback for the lack of a better word, but to him, he felt like he was actually there.

In that blurry mess of a flashback, he could see faces. Faces that he thinks.. he believes he knows. But alas, Electric was blinded by a glaring light. He tried desperately to get a better view, in hopes of remembering the faces once again, but his whole body felt a massive force pulling him from those faces. The more he struggled, the harder the pull was. Long enough, he gave up trying, seeing as there is no point for his efforts.

“It is only a dream, Electric. And these are your long lost memories.” The masked being told him.

He panted. “Why can’t I see… their faces?”

“Like I’ve said before, these are the memories from when you were very young,” She continued; “You cannot remember the details, unfortunately.”

The event stopped as the vortex of his memories withered away around him. Electric eventually collapsed onto the floor from exhaustion, as real the lucid dream felt. Lying on the cold stone surface made him shiver, but that changed as there was suddenly a source of heat near him.

Looking behind his back, he saw a simple fireplace burning about, with several light pops and fizzles.

“This dream is nearing its end. Your questions will not be answered, for now.”

She raised her arm, emitting a bright explosion of light from the base of her hoof.

___________________________________________________________________________

Birds, chirping away in the distance. The Vanhoover residents were already on the move, even in the early hours of dawn. Electric held tight onto the blanket as he tried to stay asleep, but alas, his eyes were already vigorous from all the rest he had.

He wriggled around, attempting to find the golden spot that will send him back to dreamland. As Electric tried harder, the harder it became for him to sleep. In the end, Electric surrendered and got out of bed. He let his legs hang at the side of the bed, thinking that it would be any moment now before they touch the carpet floor.

There, he felt it. The soothing solemn blue carpet gave warmth to his hooves. He made his way to the wooden door right across his bed, grabbed the doorknob when he got there and twisted it. The door swiftly opened, leading him directly towards the living room where he had a sandwich the last time he visited. A sly smirk Electric let out as he remembered some nice memories from much more favourable times.

Is it really worth it? A sudden realization hit him right in the head. He started to question why he even really cared about her. What was he going to do when he would finally catch up to her? Would Electric finally feel fulfilled? What if she outright ignores him? These questions started to dizzy Electric, forcing him to sit down on the red sofa set out in the middle of the living room.

“Deep breaths,” muttered Electric to himself, following a slow rhythmic breathing sequence.

This isn’t working, He thought. But, he is already far too deep in a mess to back out now.

There, he found it. Electric decided that he was going to find this pony only for the fact that he was already in something what Shock would consider, A Shit Show. Probably not the most concrete reason Electric could think of. But, it was the only reason he had at the moment and it was good enough for him.

Shock’s room was a corridor away from where Electric was sitting. He thought about waking him up, but he didn't want to bother his daily schedule. He worked till after midnight after all. Shock could still be very tired, and seeing how he is when he is angry, could really bring the pain train to Electric. So, he went back into his room and grabbed what little he had left. His acoustic guitar, a few pieces of paper and a black ink pen he used for college. Electric went back to the living room, setting the paper and pen on the table and adjusted his guitar onto his lap.

He started to tap his foot, getting a beat for his new song. But before he could strum his guitar, the doorbell rang several times. Electric sighed as he laid his guitar next to him on the sofa. He got up and quickly walked towards the door as the doorbell rang even more impatiently.

Who could be visiting Shock at this time of the day? He asked himself as he opened the door.

Lo and behold, the owner himself was out there at the front porch, holding several bags of groceries with his magic.

“Well? Aren’t you going to help me?” Shock asked as he stood there, with a slightly miffed expression glued right on his face.

“Help with what?” asked Electric with a smug smile, noticing slight bags under Shock’s eyes.

“Seems like you got things under control.” He continued.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe help by moving out of the way?”

Electric sidestepped from the way, letting Shock enter his personal domain whilst carrying the bags of groceries. He sat down on his favourite armchair and with his magic, levitated the bags onto a counter at the kitchen. Such the perks of being a unicorn. Though using magic for long periods of time really stressed Shock, draining whatever energy he had left in his body.

Before Electric could make any remark of anything, his fellow friend was fast asleep right where he sat.

“Well, you can only use so much mana.” Interested to see what his roommate had bought, he treaded to the kitchen and looked inside one of the bags. Much to his expectations, it was more than what he could have bought by himself. Though, Shock is a pony of the working class. It would be quite silly if he could not buy the groceries. Nonetheless, Electric was glad that Shock could buy all of the food, which means he himself could finally have a nice dinner for once.

Satisfied with what he saw, Electric went back to the living room to write a new song. Maybe that could fill in the time he had. He sat on the couch, and began playing a tune.

“I’m sitting home, doing nothing at all,

What to do next, I don’t know.

I lost my direction, instead I found my affection.

I no longer give a damn.

I’m useless, like piece of garbage,

My future’s really dark, I can’t see anything

Why do I even keep on going?”

“Now I know, why you came to me,

To make a life that’s simple and easy.

Turn it into something you can’t see,

Life blinding, not so steady.”

“Cause you know,

I can’t live without you.

Cause you know,

I can’t stand without you.”

“Jeez, can you like, shut up?” A weary Shock interrupted the amateur musician.

Electric sneered. “Nah.”

As the mediocre song was over with, he set his guitar on to the side of the couch. In the silent morning, he wondered what to do with his leftover time. Making music was off the list, so what now? Electric certainly was not the type to come up with ideas out of the blue, so his best bet was to take a walk outside. Maybe that will clear his head.

Electric stood up and went towards the window right next to the front door. Looking out, the dawning sun was bright and fine. Streets were starting to get busy as office ponies paced around and stall owners setting up their shop. A good opportunity to take, he presumed.

Pondering his life choices for a moment, he jumped off the railing and started flapping his wings.

He successfully got afloat and made a small U-turn, as he chose to stay near the balcony for a while.

“Watch where you’re flying, you hoser!” A nearby voice shouted in anger.

"Oh, sorry." Electric looked to the side, as he saw a whizz of deep blue dashing by.

Upon closer inspection, the pony had a two-colored tail, both white and light blue. Not exactly important information, he thought.

Anything that Electric tried to do, there was always something trying to push him down. But something made him realize that there was more to life than petty insults, failing grades or unsolved mysteries. He promised himself he would never stoop as low as that ill-mannered pegasus.

Electric continued his journey around Vanhoover, looking for any sort of attraction that was at least mildly interesting. At the height he was at, Electric could see Stanley Park across the lake. From what he read, Stanley Park was one of the first places to be colonized by the early ponies in Vanhoover. Interesting indeed, he thought.

Moving on from the past, Electric hovered at a steady pace above the sidewalks. Nothing out of the ordinary happened as he kept looking for more places of interests, until he saw a slightly brown-coated pony who looked strikingly similar to his former instructor, Mr. Quill. With closer inspection, It was indeed the professor himself.

“Wonder what he’s up to…” Electric said to himself, keeping his gaze locked onto the professor.

Not wanting to get spotted, Electric furthered himself from Mr. Quill to some fifty meters away. They say the best distance to follow somebody is at least the length of a few carriages. But in this case, Electric kept the fifty meters between him and the professor.

With eyes locked and a good distance between them, Electric followed his former instructor around the city. Who knows, perhaps Electric could find out something interesting about Mr. Quill.

As he ogled at his actions, the professor suddenly walked across the street to the direction of a library. Not surprised, Electric was not interested in intervening with the professor’s work, so he stayed in place for a while until Mr. Quill would finally walk out.

Downtown Vanhoover, 2:48 PM

Ding, as Electric heard the library door being pushed open. He had rested on top of the library building to avoid being spotted by Mr. Quill. A good idea it seemed to be, as the professor was still unaware of the pegasus that followed him. Floating back into the air, he continued stalking his target.

Quill walked on the sparse sidewalk step by step like every other pony on Equis has walked before, only in a more eloquent manner. You’d even think Mr. Quill is some snob from Canterlot with his 24/7 dapper attire, but in person, he turns out to be a down-to-earth pony like nopony before. After a short distance, Electric got extremely bored from chasing Mr. Quill at two meters per second. Thus, he let out a yawn so loud that anyone close to him would’ve heard it.

The professor slowed down to a halt. It took a second until Electric noticed, when Mr. Quill started to turn around. Electric cursed himself and dashed for cover behind a building, hoping that he was quick enough to avoid the shame of being exposed for stalking.

“Hm.” Mr. Quill looked around for the source of the sound, but all he could see was other ponies walking about.

He shrugged, thinking it was nothing out of the ordinary, and continued walking. Electric peeked over and sighed out of gladness. He was sure he would be caught at that moment but luckily he was quick enough to evade Mr. Quill’s line of sight. He resumed into flying mode and started to stalk his former teacher more carefully from over the buildings. No second chances, he concluded.

After some time has passed with the chase, Electric noticed that Mr. Quill was actually heading towards his roommate’s workplace, The Drunken Huntsmare.

“Strange, but... I suppose being a professor is stressful.” He said to himself.

He flew to the backdoor of the establishment, trying to find a way to get in without being noticed by his former instructor. He landed on the ground and rushed to open a wooden door that looked like it was straight from the pre-war era of Equestria. The deadbolt clicked with a push of a rusted door handle, and the door opened, revealing a wide hallway that seemed to be the storage room.

“Breach and clear.” Electric chuckled as he stepped inside the building.

The room looked like a classic wine cellar seen in old timey movies. Barrels lined up in order and stacked up on each other as stocks. Electric felt like he was in a horror game judging by how eerie the room looked. He looked around for a door that lead to the main area of the bar but it seems like this room goes on forever. After running around through some sort of maze, he found what he thought would be the door that will lead to the exit. Electric opened the door, and was led back outside.

‘What the fuck…’ Was all Electric thought of the situation.

“El?” He heard somepony say. With a turn of the head, it was revealed to be none other than Shock.

“What are you doing here?” Shock asked, surprised to see Electric snooping around his workplace.

Electric stared. “Oh, um… I’m here for that job you offered.”

“...You gotta talk with the boss first,” Shock said as he walked along the narrow back alley, heading towards a different door in the opposite direction.

“Also, that’s the wrong building.”

As he saw Shock enter the actual building where Electric was supposed to be, he rolled his eyes and went after him. He can only guess how his encounter with Mr. Quill will unfold. And it wouldn’t be far off at all, just that there’s one exception to this meetup; Shock. Fucking. Wave.

“Alright, this is where i’ll get started,” Shock opened a closet, and grabbed what looked like a waistcoat.

“You’ll find the boss sitting in his office on the left from here, the lousy prick.” He hinted at the direction with his head as he put on the apparel.

Electric nodded. “Okay, but Shock… I’m not actually here to work right now-”

“Well you won’t be earning anythin’ by doing nothin’, so I suggest you do, mate.” Shock smiled smugly. “You’re not gonna live in my flat forever, y’know?”

Electric groaned. “Look, I’m following somepony who’s in this building right now.”

“Really? Why?”

“... Hell if I know, I had nothing else to do.”

Shock opened the door that lead to the main area, peeking through to see who was Electric’s prey. As he peered around, he could not see anypony that would peak his interest.

“I don’t see any suspicious pony,” As he scanned the area for a longer time, he saw him. “Oh, you mean Mr. Quill?”

Electric ogled surprisingly at Shock. “You know him?”

“Well, I’ve been to North Vanhoover Uni before, don’tcha remember?”

“Oh right.” said Electric, caught up in his thoughts.

Shock continued outside and went straight behind the counter, preparing to bartend like he always used to. Electric soon followed behind him, but only a bit more carefully, as he saw Mr. Quill sitting idly across the bar. The bar was still almost lacking customers since it had only just opened a few hours ago. Only a few spots were taken by the few odd patrons. Shock eyed Mr. Quill as he started to clean several mugs. The professor took out his notebook and pen and started to write on it.

“Keeping yourself busy, huh?” Shock whispered to himself, setting aside the cleaned mug. Soon enough, comes a waiter that has finished their shift. So, it was Shock’s turn to ask around for orders.

Can’t believe I still have to do this, Shock thought as he walked towards one of the tables.

“Welcome to the Drunken Huntsmare, What would you have today?” Shock said his rehearsed lines.

The silver maned stallion asked, without even looking at Shock, for a cup of grounded coffee. He was clearly too busy with whatever he was jotting down on that notebook of his. Shock tried to take a peek at the notes, but at the pace the professor was writing at, it all seemed like chicken scratch to him.

After a moment, Shock nodded as he noted grounded coffee into his mind, “Anything else?”

The professor put down his pencil, and turned to the bartender. “How about a cup of old friends, Shock?” He asked with a warm smile.

“Hey, I thought you’d never ask.” Shock said, returning a smirk back to Mr. Quill.

The bartender then went to take a seat in front of him, adjusting himself into a more comfortable position. Shock knew that Mr. Quill had something to discuss with him since he knew most of the ponies who frequently come to this establishment, the only exception now being the professor.

“So, what brings you here today, Sharpe?” Shock wanted his curiosity to be answered.

Mr. Quill chuckled upon hearing Shock saying his first name, “Haven’t heard that one in a long time.”

He continued as a heavy sigh was let out, “However, I believe there are much more pressing matters in the moment.”

Shock saw how the professor’s eye gazed a bit to his left. Curious, he turned to see what the professor meant by that. Shock could see in the distance his roommate peeking through the backroom door before noticing he was seen, thus quickly closing it. He couldn’t help but laugh, thinking that Mr. Quill had known all along about Electric’s espionage.

“He’s quite the pony, isn’t he?” Shock joked.

“Well, not so much as the pony who put the Dean’s son into the hospital.” Mr. Quill replied with his best attempt at a smug face.

Shock laughed, reminiscing the moments from his old university days. “He had it coming.”

“True,” Mr. Quill nodded. “Let’s just hope that Electric doesn’t get the same outcome.”

Again, Mr. Quill shifted his eyes. This time, a little bit closer to the bar in which Shock had stood at before. The bartender looked again, and saw a deluded Electric trying to make a drink behind the bar.

“Hey Electric, no need to hide anymore. Come over here.”

As soon as Electric heard the voice, he got startled. The mug he was holding slipped from his hooves broke into several pieces, resulting in a heavy sigh coming from Shock.

As he walked around the counter to meet the two, he forced a smile, which looked a tad bit awkward. “Heyyy…” He uttered out a greeting.

“Well hello, Electric. How are you doing on this fine day?” Sharpe asked.

“I’m fine, thanks.” He said as he pulled out a chair to sit on. As he sat down, a short silence followed after.

“So, uhh..” Shock turned his attention to the professor, “What do you need us for today?”

“Hmm,” Sharpe looked thoughtful, and pulled out a tobacco pipe. “May I?” He glanced at Shock.

Shock was at first apprehensive. However, it was early and the bar was empty with the exception being the three of them and some other early birds. Shock then nodded ahead, thinking there would be no complaints from anybody.

“Thank you,” He proceeded to light up the pipe with a lighter, and puffed out a bit of smoke.

“I’ve come here today to help Electric.” He turned to his former pupil. “I understand you’re having financial problems, which lead to you dropping out, right?”

Electric didn’t respond as he thought of an answer.

“Since I’m quite well off as a professor, I could help with your rent and basic needs,” He had another puff. “I don’t have any family anyway, all that money is just staying there,” Sharpe explained.

Shock smirked at Sharpe as he remembered something, “What about Ms. Encre?”

“No speaking of Ms. Encre here.” Mr. Quill was starting to get red all over his face, but quickly shook it off.

He then took another puff from the pipe. “So, what do you say?”

“Um, that’s really generous of you, Mr. Quill,” He had a light chuckle. “But, I recently got evicted. And I have other problems which money won’t necessarily fix.”

“Oh,” Sharpe frowned. “Truly unfortunate. Could I possibly help you in any way?”

“I suppose not, professor. Sorry.” Electric put on a forgiving smile.

Sharpe sighed and gave Electric a disappointing gaze, “Help will never come to you if you never call for it.”

“Well…”

“Spill the beans, buddy.” Shock got impatient.

“It’s kinda stupid, but… I’m looking for this pony who happens to look like me.”

Electric expected a reaction, yet all he got was a nod, allowing for him to continue.

“I feel like this pony has a connection to me. Like I’ve known that pony for a long time now,” He paused. “But like I said, it’s stupid. Just forget it.” He looked to the side.

“Oh no, this is good.” Sharpe interjected. “This is the first step in solving your problem.”

The professor then continued, “What other features does this pony have?”

Electric shrugged. “Probably might’ve been a mare, I’m not really sure.”

Sharpe nodded, “Hmm, I guess this will suffice.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Electric wanted to ask.

Mr. Quill chuckled as he puffed a few more times from his pipe, “Well, my being a professor in Vanhoover’s biggest university, I’m sure I can get some information about that special pony.”

“Don’t waste your time, Mr. Quill.” Electric didn’t want to burden his former professor with nonsensical things.

“Oh, I insist. My routine has been uninteresting for quite some time now,” The professor stood up, gathering his notes. “Now, how would I contact you in the future?” He asked.

“Just mail anything to the bar’s address under my name.” Shock said, writing down his workplace’s address on the professor’s notebook.

“Alrighty, I’ll see you two some other time,” Mr. Quill stood up from his seat, making his way towards the main door, “I got another class to teach in half an hour.”

As Mr. Quill exited the building, Shock and Electric couldn’t help but wonder what lies ahead of them, especially Electric. He felt that life finally sided with him in his journey and after all he has been through, it may just be worth it in the end.

***

Chapter 5: Old Faces

***

The Drunken Huntsmare, Wednesday, 10:38 A.M.

A few days have passed since the professor’s last visit. It is now Hearth’s Warming, a day in which Shock loved to relax to. The atmosphere reminded him closely of what used to be his home. Seeing ponies together with their family and friends, much like Ponyville, really calmed him down from the hustle and bustle of the big city.

However, the bar doesn’t close on holidays. So, he is forced to go through the wonderful holiday in a drab manner. At the very least, a small pine tree was placed with decorations inside the building. Shock looked at it and smiled, knowing that at some other place a colt could be looking at the same thing and enjoying their time.

Shock sighed as he turned to the tables, only to see depressed ponies who have no one else left to go to. Their last resort being the bar as a place of warmth from the cold. These ponies dive themselves into all the alcohol they can get just so they can hide their pain and sorrow in blinding mead and ale. He thought, Am I like these ponies? A question that seemed to rise from time to time.

As meaningless questions kept lingering around his mind, the backroom door on his left opened. Stepped out his manager, Gold Beard. A stallion mostly known for his brewing capabilities and of course, his beard.

“So uh, Shock.” He muttered, “I’d be lying if I don’t appreciate your hard work here. I’ve left a gift for you in your locker.”

Shock chuckled, “Thanks, really appreciate that one. Sorry I didn’t get you anything. Been too busy helping Bessy decorate the place.”

“Ah, it’s okay.” Gold Beard said as he left Shock to tend his own duties. However, he remembered something before he could fully close the door behind him.

“Say, there’s a letter for you that arrived yesterday,” He said, opening the door again. “Something from the university you went to.”

This clearly caught Shock’s attention as he didn’t expect Mr. Quill to reply so quickly though. He left his station to read the letter for a moment.

Shock went towards his locker inside the dressing room. As he opened it, the first thing he noticed was a neatly wrapped box inside. Must be the gift, he thought to himself. However, that was a matter for a different time. Resting beside it was a letter, assuming it was from the professor. He picked it up and flipped it towards the front, revealing an official stamp from the university.

Here it is.

He ripped the envelope open, pulling out the insides. Crumpling the torn envelope with his magic, he threw it away into a bin on the other side of the room. Shock slowly unfold the letter within as he could start to see handwritten words. Once fully open, he realized that the letter did not have much written on it. Suspicious, he started from the top.

After finishing the letter, Shock put it down and had a moment to think. He turned the letter around and saw a picture clipped on the back.

“Vinyl Scratch?” He muttered. “Could be just a coincidence…”

He saw a unicorn with similar features to Electric. Clearly, this must be it as everything fit the bill. Whitish coated, and a spiky, blue, two-toned mane. The only difference was her mane being a lot longer than Electric’s.

He folded the letter and placed it back into his locker. Saving it later for Electric to read it for himself. He went back to tend the bar for the rest of the day.

Shock’s home, 8:34 P.M.

Shock arrived in front of his door, unlocking it with ease by his use of magic. Upon entering his flat, he was greeted by a pleasant smell. Shock headed towards the kitchen and realized the source of the smell was coming from the oven. Upon looking inside, it seems that lasagna was being made. He looked at the timer, noticing that only 30 minutes were left before it was done.

“Huh, didn’t know Electric could cook.” He said to himself as he turned back to the living room, looking for the culprit responsible for the pasta.

Shock realized that nobody was there. So, he thought the next place to check was Electric’s room. He went towards the door, and slowly opened it. As the door was fully opened, he saw Electric napping on his bed with bliss.

Sighing heavily, Shock realized how close the apartment could have gotten to being burned down. He was unhappy with Electric’s decision to sleep while making something in the oven. However, Shock considered letting bygones be bygones if the lasagna will be as good as its smell. He exited the room and went back into the kitchen to check on the lasagna. Shock leaned on the counter, staring deep into the oven.

After enough time has passed, the egg timer started ringing. Shock blinked several times to the noise of the alarm as he was awoken from his daydream. He quickly opened the oven door and used his magic to pull out the lasagna. Shock carefully placed it on the counter for it to cool down a little bit.

He took a sniff at the aroma of the lasagna, “Hmm, not bad at all.”

Before Shock could grab a knife to cut the lasagna, he heard as if something fell in Electric’s room. He peeked at his roommate’s bedroom door for a moment, before it suddenly slammed opened and a scurried Electric came running to the kitchen. The half-awoken Electric proceeded to open the oven door again. However, he was surprised when he realized that his lasagna was not there anymore.

“Aw, what the fuck! Who stole my lasagne?” He cursed out loud, not noticing that Shock was just silently judging him literally behind his back.

Shock couldn’t help but laugh when he saw the reaction from Electric, thus alarming Electric of his presence. He quickly turned around and saw the baked lasagna already on the counter.

“Oh, I see,” said Electric, being irritated from getting played on by his roommate. However, he was easily distracted by the sumptuous smell of the lasagna. He then walked near the counter, grabbed a knife, and cut himself a piece of the Italian delicacy.

“Never knew you could cook something,” Shock complimented his friend’s cooking capabilities.

“Italian pasta is pretty much the only thing I can make.” He said as he dug into the food with a fork. “Don’t expect much.”

With his magic, Shock picked up a slice of the lasagna and took a bite. He chewed several times until it was all mush, absorbing the taste.

“Hmm, despite the fact that you almost burnt down the place, it’s not that bad,” Shock said, swallowing any last bit of lasagna in his mouth.

“Oh yeah, Mr. Quill replied already. Letter’s on the table.” Shock continued.

Electric’s eyes widened as he got filled up with excitement, he quickly rushed to grab the letter and ripped off the envelope with his teeth. Once he pulled out the letter, something fell out from the envelope. Electric quickly picked it up from the floor and flipped it. What was revealed, was a picture of a pony, seemingly the one he saw during that fateful day. He instantly read the letter as Shock observed him from the kitchen.

“Vinyl Scratch…?” He mumbled. “I think I’ve heard of her.”

“Yep, apparently she graduated a few years ago from North Vanhoover.” Shock explained further.

Electric read more of the letter, “Says here she lives in Ponyville,”

As soon as Shock heard this, he spontaneously changed from his calm demeanor to a much more hesitant manner.

“Hey, we should totally go there!” Electric pleaded his roommate.

“Uhh, no.” Shock put it bluntly.

“Huh, why not?”

Shock started to walk towards his bedroom, “I don’t want to talk about it.” He uttered.

“But-” Electric’s plea was interrupted by Shock slamming the door behind him.

Electric was at a loss for words, not knowing what’s going on with his friend, and what’s his history with the small town. After a short time, Shock heard some light knocking on his bedroom door. Shock turned his gaze at the door, and let out a long sigh. He stood up from his bed and went to open it. Shock opened the door with a quick pull, making Electric, who leaned on the door, fall on the floor next to him.

“What are you doing?” Shock asked with a stern look on his face.

Electric chuckled nervously in response, without answering his question.

“I still ain’t going,” Shock grumbled, walking past Electric towards the kitchen.

Electric quickly got up on his hooves.

“Why not?” He asked. “What is so bad about Ponyville that makes you so scared of it?” He scoffed as he followed Shock to the kitchen.

Upon hearing those words, Shock instantly turned around and shoved his face right in front of Electric.

“You don’t know what I’ve been through!” He yelled, glaring at him.

Electric froze, not sure how to react. Shock kept glaring for a moment, then walked past him into the kitchen and slammed the countertop in anger. His hoof started bleeding from the debris of the broken ceramic. He lifted his hoof, staring at the dripping blood.

“Fine,” Shock grunted as he continued to stare at the bloodied hoof, clenching it. “Just this once.”

Electric was still in shock, and cleared his throat. “...I can go there by myself, if it’s too much for you-”

“No,” He cut him off once again. “It’s fine, I’ll go with you. Just don’t make it a big deal when we’re there.”

“...Alright.” whispered Electric.

Shock walked out of the kitchen limping. Electric stood in silence, seeing Shock leave a trail of blood drops as he went towards the toilet to bandage up his hoof. Once he was all alone in the living room, he sat down on the sofa and examined the picture further. Electric could not stop looking at the photo, since the more he looked at it, the more it bothered him.

Who are you, really? He said under his breath, trying to remember as hard as he could to get at least a little bit of a clue.

Electric got interrupted from his research when he heard the sound of hoofsteps entering the living room. He turned around, noticing Shock’s hoof was wrapped in bandages.

“We move at sunrise,” Shock stated, grasping his hoof, “Pack anything you need, no late calls."

Transition~

With everything packed and done, Electric looked at the clock for time. Exactly twelve midnight. Feeling fatigued from the task, both of the ponies have settled down to relax a bit. Electric decided he could have a drink first before going for a nap, so he headed towards the fridge of Shock’s. He grabbed the handle and pulled, and in his sights was a can of apple cider standing on top of a bracket. He took it and closed the fridge, proceeding to head back onto the couch.

“Why do you have cider in your fridge?” Electric asked from Shock.

Shock pondered for a moment. “Saw ‘em at the store, reminded me of you.”

Electric chuckled. “Alright, barkeep.”

“Hey, you’re the one who likes to drink.”

“Whatever, I’m going to bed.” Electric set down his drink and left.

Shock smiled smugly as he watched Electric walking towards his room. As Electric finally entered his room, Shock stood up and cleaned whatever mess that was left when they were packing for their trip. He peeked out the window, noticing that snow was still falling from the dark sky.

This is gonna be a rough trip, Shock thought before landing on the couch after finishing up his cleaning. Eventually, Shock drifted away into a dream state. Finally, there was peace for a moment.

The morning after, 6:13 a.m.

A buzz went through Electric’s head as he still wooed away with dreamland, even after the alarm clock rang out so. As he kept thriving in his sleep, a sharp electric shock woke him up from his slumber. Awoken, sweaty and out of breath, Electric looked around his surroundings thoroughly. The sudden realization that the dream has ended wrings his heart weary. What was the dream about, that had woken him in such conditions. No matter how hard he tries, Electric could not remember.

Turning his head, he realized that it was past sunrise. In haste, he jumped out of his bed, put on a hoodie and grabbed his pack. As he stepped out of his room, he noticed that nobody was there. He assumed that Shock would be sitting on his favourite chair, waiting for him. However, the living room was as silent as an empty crowd. Although nobody was there, a note was present on the coffee table. He grabbed the note, wondering what was written.

Get your arse to the station by half past six or else you’re in deep shit.

-Shock

He instantly turned his eyes away from the note and looked at the time, realizing he only had 10 minutes left until the train arrives at the station. Without hesitation, he rushed to the front door.
Further descending a flight of stairs, he went through an open door. A chilly gust of wind welcomed him as he stepped outside. It was December, and the snow had piled up to several inches. Electric groaned as he plowed through the snow, wishing for a winter wrap-up.

On a cold snowy pavement, he trotted towards the train station. He rushed past several pedestrians trying to get to the station in time before he would really irritate Shock.

At the train station

Electric stopped right in his tracks, as he tried to find Shock within the line of sight. As Vanhoover was a big city, the station was somewhat equally huge on its own. Like something out of Canterlot, but less extravagant. Inside, there were several tracks. Some empty, some had a train. As it was early in the Thursday morning, most train cars were still parked in place. Until he heard the loud whistle of a train being blown.

Electric started to panic, wondering whether or not that was the right train to Ponyville. Soon before realizing it himself, the same train started accelerating. Before his eyes, he saw Shock waving to him out of a window from one of the cars of the train.

From the distance, he heard Shock yelling at him. “Hurry up, ya’ nob!”

Electric ran without a second thought. Though it was clear, he was never going to catch up to Shock. As the train gained speed, he had no choice but to use his wings. It’s not something that he wanted to do, especially in these cold conditions. He sprung up and started gliding, as he was met with the cold air brushing against his wings. He got closer to the passenger car where Shock was, eventually reaching the window.

Once close enough, Shock grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him in. Electric fell on his flank once he got inside, and put his hoof on his neck to relieve the pain from getting pulled.

“Well that was unnecessary,” said Electric, still aching.

Shock smirked, “It was either that or get hit by a signboard.”

He stood up and got himself seated. Looking out the window, the train seemed to be going fast enough to have reached its top speed. He tapped his seat in rhythm with the sound of the tracks. It seemed that his boredom got to him already. As he continued to tap, Electric was alarmed as he remembered something.

“Wait, I don’t have any tickets.” Electric remembered in a slight panic.

Shock glanced over to him and shrugged without worry, “Relax, who needs tickets?”

Electric rolled his eyes at his antics. He then later realized this might be one of the longest train rides he has been on. Thus, he rested his head on the window and fell asleep in a matter of seconds.

Some amount of time has passed…

Electric felt something tugging his shoulder. He groaned in response, and slowly started to reopen his eyes as they were greeted by the blinding sunlight shining through the window.

“Wake up, basket case.” Shock’s voice snapped him back to reality.

He yawned. “Man, what time is it?”

“Judging by the trajectory of the sun and the shadows...” He stared out the window for a moment.

“Should be ten o'clock now, more or less.”

“Wow, you learned that at the Colt Scouts or something?” Electric joked, only getting a stare of unamusement from his friend.

He got up from his seat and started stretching his limbs and wings. Once he was done, he looked out the window once more. Outside he saw the platform sign with ‘Ponyville’ written on it getting closer towards them, and soon enough, the town itself.

“I guess we’re here now.” He remarked.

Shock stared out the window, “Not quite, the station’s just outside the place. Gonna take some more walking to get to town.”

Electric chuckled. “Well I don’t mind that. Been awhile since I’ve traveled anywhere.”

“Can’t say I’m too excited about this…” Shock muttered.

Electric stopped looking out of the window and went towards the hallway.

“It can’t be that bad, right?” He reassured, disappearing behind the train walls.

Shock soon followed suit. They went outside all the while being greeted by some fresh air from the open field area. He took a deep breath of fresh air, one he didn’t have for quite some time.

“Ponyville, home. At least it was before I messed everything up.”

Electric raised his eyebrow. “...What?”

“Nothing.” Shock walked away from him, and leaned on the ticketmaster’s booth.

Electric sighed, feeling the pleasant warmth of the sun amidst the winter season. He stretched out his wings and flapped them a couple of times.

“I’ll scout the area, be right back.” He announced as he sprung up in the air at a high speed.

Shock oddly stared at his companion’s actions, before he continued his journey towards town.

While Electric was gaining higher ground, he noticed an odd looking cloud formation covered with a few strands of rainbows. He played around with the thought that it might have been the legendary Rainbow Factory, as told in the stories. He then focused on the town below him.

Within walking distance from the railway station, he saw a round building with a spiraling roof, and a blue flag on top. He determined this to be the town hall, as it was surrounded by a big open space. Not far from the station was a large tree in the midst of houses. It seemed to be modified into a building, perhaps someone lived there.

On the opposite side of the town was what seemed to be your typical farm with a red barn, accompanied by an unfathomable amount of trees. All around, Ponyville seemed to be a rather small town compared to Vanhoover. Electric deemed himself successful in his scouting mission, and descended back to the train station. Once he was on the ground, Shock was nowhere to be seen. Assuming he had already been on his way, Electric took what looked like the main road towards town.

While on his way, he realized that Ponyville is not a famous stop for tourists. With only a few ponies to be seen coming and going to the train station. Electric shrugged it off and took it as a sign that this would at least be a calm trip, no commotion whatsoever. A good way to release some stress and his wanderlust is what Electric needed, and this trip was the best way. Out of the big city and straight into a small town dawned with fresh air, and almost little to no hustle and bustle. Though this change of culture almost shadowed his actual objective. Electric shook his head and concentrated on the path in front of him.

After a few more minutes of walking, he had made his way to what he thought was the town hall. Observing his surroundings, he noticed that most ponies were just walking around, doing whateverly. Electric could not put his hoof on what these ponies occupations were, they all seemed similar but so different.

Electric continued walking through an alley, still curious about this small close-knit town. Passing the small alley, he was introduced to a lively marketplace. Guess this is where most ponies are, he thought to himself as he entered the area. When he walked deeper into the crowd, he soon noticed several ponies avoiding a certain pony. After going through the wave of ponies, he realized the singled-out pony was his guide to this new place, Shock.

Electric quickly walked up to him and tapped him on the back.

“Hey,” He whispered. “What’s going on?”

Shock, however, did not budge. He stood still and concentrated on what seemed to be a small art stall. Electric turned to see what was so interesting about the stall. He could see paintings of all types, ranging from portraits of ponies to drawings of Equestria. He could see the artist’s signature on the bottom right of the paintings, “Sushiroll”.

“Hellooo, Can you hear me?” He slightly leaned his head in front of Shock and waved at him.

Shock still did not acknowledge his presence. Confused, Electric tried to look at exactly where Shock was observing. Moving a few steps, he saw what he assumed was the artist herself. A slightly gray mare with her mane ranging from different shades of lavender which almost sparkled when the light shines on it. Electric turned back to Shock, still waving his hoof in front of him. Only then Shock murmured out some words.

“Uhh, what?” asked Electric.

Shock blinked several times, before softly saying the word, “Fangs.”

Electric was clearly puzzled. He turned back to the artist, who was gleefully painting. Electric peered his eyes on her face. With a little bit more focus, he saw the fangs.

“I can’t believe it...” Shock said, as he changed to a much more relaxed stance.

He turned around and saw Electric standing beside him.

“Oh, hey. When did you get here?” He asked.

“Like five minutes ago. What’s going on?”

“Oh, uhh, nothing,” Shock thought for a moment, taking a few peeks at the artist.

Electric glanced to where Shock was looking at. “You know her or something?”

Shock let out a heavy sigh, “Used to.” He said as he walked away from the stall.

As they walked away from the marketplace, Electric noticed how almost everypony avoided Shock like a shark among a school of fish. Worried, Electric walked right next to him and tried to look at Shock’s reaction, hoping to at least know that he was feeling fine. A blank stare with almost no presence of emotion.

Once they have gotten out of the marketplace, Electric noticed from afar, ponies whispering to each other as they were eyed by the pedestrians.

“Why is everyone staring at us?” Electric asked, uneasy from all the attention.

Shock continued to walk, still holding the stare he had. Except this time, he slightly lowered his gaze seemingly to avoid being noticed. Though there was no point to that seeing as how almost every pony there knew about his presence.

Electric followed Shock without uttering a word. It seemed as if they were heading nowhere, just wandering about in Ponyville. Right up until Shock stopped, arriving in front of an abandoned house. It looked out of place standing among other buildings in the area.

Shock walked up to the front door, reaching for the handle. He abruptly stopped before reaching it, frozen in place for a few seconds. Electric could only observed the situation, unsure of how to react.

“What is this place?”

Still unmoved, Shock only blinked a few times before finally turning the doorknob. He stepped inside the abandoned home, cobwebs struck his head as he went in. But those pesky cobwebs were also ignored just like his friend. Electric grew frustrated as more questions were asked than answered. He saw how Shock just silently walks around the living room of this old and abandoned house, confusing him even further.

Before he prepared to ask one last time, Shock uttered a few words.

“Ten years…” Shock said, a little smile glued to his face, “Still feels like yesterday.”

Putting two and two together, Electric deducted that this was certainly Shock’s old home. However, his head was still confined with all sorts of questions.

Electric went ahead into the next room, and found himself in the living room, looking at the dusty furniture and other things. He saw a framed photograph inside a cabinet that has piqued his interest, and opened it to further inspect the picture. An adolescent Shock and two older ponies, a mare and a stallion were in the picture, all smiling gleefully. He went back to his friend, bringing the photo with him. Shock however, has already gone somewhere else.

Wondering where he might have went, Electric thought of checking the upper floor. He walked upon the creaky wooden steps onto the second floor. After the stairs, there was a hallway with several doors. He opened the first door, leading to a typical bedroom. With no sign of Shock, he proceeded to the second one. With a pull of the handle and a slight push, the door opened.

It was a smaller bedroom, less similar than the previous one. Bright colors fill the walls and paper-cut stars hang from the ceiling, a foal’s room no doubt. He was greeted by a chilly gust of wind coming from the balcony. He walked up further to the open balcony doors, only to see Shock staring over Ponyville from it. Electric, with the picture in hoof, walked up to Shock who was still emotionless ever since arriving here.

“If I just jumped right now and ended it here, it would’ve been great.” Shock uttered to Electric in a cold and dreadful manner.

Electric eyes widened in shock and fear. He prepared himself to hold onto Shock if he actually decides to do the deed.

Before Electric could say anything, Shock gave out a weak smile. “However, the height would not be enough to kill me, instead it would only leave me with broken bones and myself in agonizing pain.”

Electric’s brows furrowed at what Shock had just remarked. Was all of this a joke to him, or does he truly believe that? Just the thought of it disturbed Electric. The longer he spent time with Shock, the more he finds out about his true nature.

“Say, whatcha got there?” Shock asked, noticing Electric was holding something in his hoof prior.

Electric brought up the photograph and handed it over to him. Shock took the photo and looked at it for a few seconds. He saw his parents, and himself as a wee lad. Ever since the accident, Shock has remained a thick-skinned son-of-a-bitch for the rest of his time. But as he looked at the photograph of his parents, he couldn’t help but to shed a tear when he thought of what could have been.

“...I guess those are your parents.” Electric concluded.

Shock smiled, “Längs and Evanescent Wave, wonderful ponies.”

Soon enough, that smile slowly disappeared from his face as Shock remembered exactly what happened.

Ponyville, October 1006

“Mom, do we really have to go?” A young colt complained to his mother.

The mother smiled to her foal, “Yes, your father is very busy tomorrow, so we must head back home early.”

A sudden chuckle came from the father, “It’s alright Shock, we can go trick or treating again tomorrow, I promise.”

The colt pouted, before remembering the promise his father made. He gleefully hopped around with his parents by his side as they try to make their way home. Along the way, they could see other foals all over the neighbourhood. Some were approaching houses whilst some other were in groups, boasting about what kind of candy they received. The young colt started to get envious, as he saw how much fun the others were having.

Suddenly, the young colt heard somepony calling out for him.

“Shock, Shock!” a familiar voice heard from a distance.

Shock stopped in his tracks to look for the voice, peering left and right searching for it. He then felt a tap on his shoulder, surprising him in the process. Shock turned around and saw his best friend, Sushi. An odd name for a pony, but it never bothered him too much.

“Oh hey, Sushi.” He happily greeted her with a smile, “How’s your Nightmare Night going?”

“It’s going fine,” She replied, before remembering something, “Say, wanna come trick or treating with me?”

Shock at first got excited at the offer, but soon remembered that he had to leave early, “I’d like to, but my dad’s kinda busy tomorrow. Mom won’t let me out at night alone.”

“Well I’m here, aren’t I?” Sushi presented herself to him in her bat getup.

Shock turned around to his mother, tugging on her dress as he made a frowny face. His mother glanced at her husband, who nodded in response.

“Okay, but only for an hour, all right?” His father said to him.

The young colt nodded right away, before running off with his friend.

“Kids these days,” Längs said to his wife as he chuckled, “Let’s go, Eva.”

The pair walked together back home, leaving their only foal with his trusted friend. They were at first skeptical, but Shock would not learn anything if they kept holding his hoof all the time. Eva looked back at Shock, smiling seeing how happy he was with Sushi. She turned back and nestled beside Längs’ chest, making their way home.

Shock tried to keep up with Sushi, who was running with a basket held with her mouth. Shock was not in the mood for running that night. Thus, he slightly trotted along in an attempt to keep up. He knew that he could never catch up with her, but he only did it so that Sushi wouldn’t feel left out.

In her gleeful manner, Sushi ran into another pony by mistake which alerted Shock in an instant. He ran up to them, trying to ease the situation in any way.

“Watch where you’re going, you dolt!” The older colt shouted, leaving Sushi mildly scared.

Shock however, was having none of it. He aggressively walked up towards the colt, trying to give him a piece of his mind. But before he could do so, Sushi tugged on his shoulder to stop him.

Shock understood, and slowly came to a halt. He kept eye contact with the older colt as he was being dragged by Sushi to some other place. Once far enough, both of them started running without a destination in mind. Wherever Sushi was going, he followed behind. Reaching what seems to be the courtyard of the town hall, the pair stopped running to regain their breath.

Shock was still disappointed that he could not confronted the colt who insulted his friend, “Why did you hold me back? I would’ve made sure he never said those words to you again.”

Sushi had a worried look on her face, before giving a hug to Shock, “I don’t want you to hurt anypony.”

Shock was clearly surprised by what Sushi did. Before he could say anything, she continued, “If you hurt other ponies, you’ll hurt me too...”

That clearly left an imprint in Shock’s mind as he never saw it that way. He let out a heavy sigh, signalling his defeat.

“Fine... j-just, let me go, please.” Even though Shock said that, he did not really seemed to pull away himself.

Sushi pouted, “Aww, don’t you like my hugs?”

“No, it’s not that…” Shock was lost for words, “Look, let’s just go back to trick or treating.”

Once she heard him, Sushi nodded instantaneously. She slowly weakened her grip on him until she fully let him go. The two stared at each other for a moment, Shock left mesmerized by Sushi’s glimmering salmon coloured eyes. Realizing the situation, he quickly shook his head and acted as if nothing had happened. Shock quickly led the journey with Sushi, looking for whatever place deemed fitting.

As they walked, the pair shared small chatter with each other. Something they have not done in quite some time, seeing as Sushi never really leaves her house. Shock also had his parents always being so busy which left him with all sort of work he has to do at home. This barely gave him a chance to go out with friends. But for now, he tries to enjoy their time together to the fullest.

“Do you ever wonder what’s gonna happen in the future?” Sushi suddenly asked.

Shock did not answer as he thought about the question further. After a moment of silence, he simply shrugged. Clearly bemusing Sushi, she pestered him even more.

“Alright, alright,” Shock chuckled, “I think…”

Sushi patiently waited for an answer, “Hmm?”

Shock smiled, “I think the future tends to unfold on its own.”

A boring answer, Sushi thought. However, that is to be expected from Shock. She knew he would try to be philosophical whenever given the chance. So, she just smiled and accepted his answer.

“What about you?” Shock turned the question back at her, surprising Sushi.

“Oh me? Well, I’d like to think that…” Before she could reply, Sushi saw a bunch of ponies gathering around.

Shock at first wondered why she had gone quiet. Soon enough, he noticed the group of ponies as well. Both of them decided to check what was all the commotion about. The pair tried to push through the crowd to get a better view, but the sight was nothing that Shock could ever imagine.

Shock?

Shock… are you ok?

“Dude, it’s okay if you don’t want to say it.” Electric tried to comfort his friend.

Shock blinked mindlessly several times, before he became aware of his surroundings. He let out a long, heavy sigh as tears started to flow.

“I could’ve… I should’ve been there...” Shock sobbed, staring at the photograph.

He continued with whatever emotional strength he had left, “After that, I got all messed up. I hurt the only other pony in my life at the time,” He looked down at the balcony floor, a heartbroken look stuck on his face.

Shock then went inside the house, placing the framed photograph on the bed, “That was when I knew it was time to leave.”

He proceeded to exit the room, leaving Electric to ponder alone on the balcony. He never knew the truth about Shock’s past. Back at Vanhoover, he seemed to be as normal as any other pony there. But it seems Electric just now realized, almost anypony can put up a mask to hide their true selves, even his closest friend.

Electric let out a sigh, before exiting the room himself. As he reached downstairs, he could see Shock attempting to fit most of his mane under a cap. He guessed it was to hide his identity. But he was not doing a very good job at it, at least that was what Electric thought.

After Shock was satisfied with how he looked, he proceeded to exit the house with Electric right behind him. He looked left and right, thinking of a place to go. For a moment there, Shock forgot why they even came to Ponyville in the first place. After mindless blinking and staring, he finally remembered their objective.

“So, what are we gonna do now?” asked Electric.

Shock shrugged, “Guess we’ll just have to keep an eye out for Vinyl.”

Electric nodded in agreement. They started to walk in a randomly chosen direction, hoping to find a trace of the pony that they were looking for. But then Electric stopped walking all of the sudden, leading to Shock wander alone. Shock soon realized his friend was missing and turned around, as he saw Electric standing still.

“Whatcha' staring at there?” Shock was hoping for a quick answer, but Electric didn’t budge.

Suddenly, Electric perked up as he noticed his friend in front of him.

“Oh, sorry.” He apologized with a delay, in his typical Vanhooverite fashion.

He started walking again, and Shock followed suit. As they walked along the not so busy streets of Ponyville, Shock could notice a troubled look on Electric’s face.

“Mate, what’s the matter?” Shock got frustrated, “I’m not Sherclop Pones or anything, but I know a problem when I see one.”

“It’s kinda dumb, but…” Electric paused for a moment. “It’s like we’re chasing a ghost here, and it’s all because of me. I forced you to come here, to find someone I saw for a fraction of a second.”

Shock rolled his eyes upon hearing those words, “Look, I don’t really mind. Feels good to help a friend for once.”

Even though Shock’s words reassured him, Electric still couldn’t help but feel guilty. Being so easily blinded by his lust to find the truth, he never quite realised whether or not it was achievable.

“Well, even if we don’t find her, I’ll take you to Ponyville’s best cafe.”

Electric nodded in response, and they continued walking. As there was no more conversation between the two, he couldn’t help but to start reminiscing about his past experiences as a foal in the Crystal Empire. When out of nowhere, they bumped into a beige-coated mare.

“Ah, you seem to be new around here!” She looked at Electric, whom responded with a nervous chuckle. As she turned her gaze to the pony next to him, her joyful expression suddenly turned into a surprised look, then a mellow smile.

“Um, hello Mayor. Long time no see, eh?” Shock said, as he tried to ease the tense situation.

The mayor nodded, “Indeed, it has been quite some time since you last visited.” She replied with her slightly posh accent.

Shock tried his best to force a smile, not wanting to look displeased at the mayor’s words. He looked over to Electric, anxious as usual. He decided to not drag the conversation any longer than needed.

“So, I brought my friend over to actually look for somepony.” Shock said in a blunt manner.

Mayor Mare was intrigued, she questioned further. “And who would that special pony be?”

Shock thought at first, not wanting to cause anymore problems for the mayor. His old wounds from past events in this town still haven’t fully healed, and something tells him the Mayor felt the same way. But realizing how much of a help she can be, he went ahead and told her the truth.

“Oh, Vinyl Scratch you say?” The mayor pondered after hearing the story. “Well, last I heard was that she went on a tour of some kind. Probably related to that dee-jay thing she does.” She chuckled.

Seeing how much she actually knew, Shock asked even further. “Would you happen to know where she is at this moment?”

“Hmm, since it is the 21st, I assume she would be in Manehattan right now.” Mayor Mare replied, as she held her chin in a thoughtful manner.

Hearing those words, both Shock and Electric became more confident that they finally had a lead for their search. However, Shock realized that Manehattan is a few more hours away from Ponyville. As he looked up, he saw the sun was right above their heads. Shock realized that they were quickly losing daylight.

“Thank you, ma’am, we are very grateful for your help.” Shock respectfully bowed to her, and snagged Electric with his magic as he ran off towards the train station, leaving the mayor confused by their actions.

“H-hey! What’s the rush?” Electric asked, annoyed that he couldn’t move while being enveloped by the magical aura.

“We don’t have any time to waste if we want to arrive to the concert before it’s too late!” Shock hastily explained.

Electric struggled to break free in a futile attempt, and groaned in process. They were already near the train station, thus he was let go of the magical aura holding him in place. As it was unexpected and sudden, he face planted onto the ground and ate dirt.

“Get up, you idiot!” Shock shouted as he continued his run up to the train station.

Electric coughed up some dust and proceeded to stand, brushing off the remaining dirt on his body. He followed his friend on to the platform, where he saw Shock talking to the ticket booth.

“What do you mean the train has already left?!” Shock shouted at the train station staff.

“That is what happened, sir. You can wait for the next one as it arrives in about an hour.” The ticket seller stated.

Shock groaned in frustration, and looked over at his grey-coated partner. “What now?” He asked.

“Well…” Electric rolled his eyes to the side. “I guess we’ll wait for the next train.”

It seemed like it was the only thing they can do at the moment. Out of frustration, Shock went up to the boarding area and looked around. A long road back to Vanhoover on one side and another long road up to Manehattan on the other. As he stared at the rail tracks, he noticed a puff of smoke from afar, presumably coming from the train.

“Wait a minute…” Shock squinted his eyes. “El!”

“Uhh, you figured out something?” Electric was dumbfounded.

“See that?” Shock pointed to the puff of smoke. “That’s our ride.”

Electric was still confused, “But the train already left.”

“We can still catch up to it,” Shock said, clenching his hoof in determination.

“Well, I mean I can reach it. But, what about you?” Electric flapped his wings once as he was ready to take off.

Shock lifted his hooves, “Grab me.”

Electric tilted his head to the side, clearly baffled. “Are you kidding? I’ll never be able to go any faster than that train with you hanging on to me.”

“Don’t worry about that, I got another trick up my sleeve.” Shock assured his friend, with his hooves still lifted.

He waited for a moment, then picked him up as he rolled his eyes once again.

“If you say so.”

A moment later.

Electric flew at a snail’s pace as his friend sat on his back, scouting for the train.

“Well,” He panted. “What’s the plan, Sherclop?”

“Get us a little higher,” Shock instructed. Electric reluctantly complied as he elevated higher with a few more flaps of his wings.

Shock could see the train speeding away from them in the distance. And instantly, his horn flared up.

Gotcha, Shock thought. Suddenly, both of them were engulfed in a deep purple aura. In a moment’s notice, the duo found themselves inside the train. Unprepared for the spell, Electric fell onto the floor with a grunt. Shock was instead standing next to him, smirking at his antics.

Electric stood up, but almost passed out as he crashed on a nearby seat. He breathed heavily for a moment, and managed to collect himself together to form a sentence.

“That-” He snarled. “Was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced.”

“What?” Shock chuckled. “Can’t handle a simple teleportation spell? Well it’s actually not that easy to do but I don’t expect you to know.” He proceeded to sit in front of his friend.

Electric shot up a glare, but refrained from snapping out. “Fuckin’ unicorns…” he muttered.

The train seemed relatively empty, with only a couple of passengers looking at the two like they were maniacs. They would later ignore them and go back to reading their newspapers, thus Electric could ease up from the tension built inside the train. Alas, he soon noticed a conductor collecting ticket stamps from other ponies, as he kept walking towards their end of the train.

“Dude, what about our tickets?” Electric asked the purple-streaked unicorn.

“No worries, I’ll pay for them. Now let’s see…” Shock started rummaging through his satchel bag, which Electric hasn’t noticed before.

“Where’d that come from?” He questioned his friend’s wizardry.

“Magic, my dear Electric.” Shock exclaimed as he pulled out a dozen golden bits.

He shook his head in response to the famous phrase from a popular book series, and watched as Shock exchanged bits for two tickets. Soon enough, the train conductor went on his way.

“No.” Electric uttered. “That’s just too simple of an answer. I refuse to believe that.”

Shock raised his eyebrow as he was bemused. “What are you on about?”

“You always say it’s magic but never bother to explain it.” He stated. “It’s annoying.”

“You would have to be a unicorn to understand the process.” Shock explained. “Otherwise, it’s going to sound like nonsense. For example,”

“To create an object out of thin air, you would need to generate a thaumic energy field with mana, which you can do with a horn.” He continued.

“Then you visualize the dimensions of the object that you’re creating, and try to focus a spell matrix which interacts with the planet’s thaumic field, which creates an object by combining the thaumic patterns of our planet and the mana flowing from your horn, you separate the object into existence. And that’s just the very basic gist of it.”

Electric looked at him with a bewildered look. “I-” He sighed. “Fine. Point taken, you egghead.”

Shock gave out a smug smile, “The egghead would be you, seeing as your head easily cracks after a simple explanation on the thought process of magic.”

Electric scoffed in response. “Well Einstein, That explanation was anything but simple. Where in hell did you learn that?”

“Actually I took a course on Magic Theory for a few years in Canterlot.” Shock answered, holding his chin with his hoof.

Electric raised his eyebrow in confusion upon hearing what Shock said, “What? I thought you studied law back in North Vanhoover.”

Chuckling, Shock nodded his head in response, “Yes, I did. But, I was bored on the side so I took in my father’s footsteps and learned a thing or two about magic.”

Electric chortled. “Oh, so your dad was a magician?”

“No,” Shock gave him a deadpan stare as he laid back into his seat, “He worked as one of the royal’s scientists for as long as I can remember.” He paused. “In Canterlot, of course.”

Electric sat in silence as he listened attentively to what Shock said.

“One day, he decided to study the influence of magic on a pony’s daily life.” Shock continued, “He stopped by Ponyville and met a beautiful mare who would soon to be my mother, Evanescent Wave.”

The train went quiet as soon as Shock finished his sentence. Electric simply nodded in response, having no words to reply with. His eyes would soon drift away, staring blankly out of the window to the blurry trees as the train passed them. His mind ran amok with Electric starting to imagine what life could be with actual parents. How he longed for the warm love that only your parents could give you. He continued his stare long into the train ride, long enough for Shock to realize that his friend had stopped giving any attention.

***

Chapter 6: That Long Train Ride

***

Shock sat in front of Electric quietly, his baggy eyes making him look ten years older than he actually was. He let out a little yawn, laying deeper into his seat. Soon enough, Shock’s deep velvet eyes closed then sending the white unicorn to sleep.

2 hours later, 1:45 P.M. Friday

“Hey, wake up. We’re here!” Electric’s booming voice rang in Shock’s ears as he woke up from a groggy sleep. He looked through the window as the bright sun pierced his eyes at first, then his vision adjusted to the surroundings outside. He noticed the larger concrete buildings and skyscrapers that were iconic of Manehattan. Soon enough, they have almost reached the stop at the Manehattan Railway Station. The building itself was huge, bigger than the ones they’re used to back at Vanhoover. As the train stopped, the doors opened and the ambiance flowed inside.

“The train 6A from Ponyville has arrived. The train to Fillydelphia will depart at exactly 2:00 P.M.” The station announcer’s elegant voice was heard through the intercom.

The steam engine of the train hissed as a stream of ponies exited the cabin. Electric and Shock were stuck in the midst of that stream, trying to break through as they had no time to waste. Shock started to feel uncomfortable being so close to strangers and thus immediately pushed through the crowd with Electric following right behind him until they broke from the stream. Once they had a proper look at the building, they realized that the place was quite the architectural marvel.

The two of them walked through a tunnel that seemed to be endless. All sorts of shops had opened along the tunnelway ranging from restaurants, bars, food stands and some sort of gallery. They ignored the attractions for now as they have more important matters to tend to. They exited the tunnel to the main terminal and were presented with a large open hall. The most noticeable thing at first glance was the big clock in the middle. Both just stood still for a moment to take in all the beauty of the station.

They followed another stream of ponies exiting the terminal. The stream of ponies began to disperse as they left outside the building, giving space for the both of them to plan their next move.

“So, what now?” Electric asked as he stopped to look at all the tall buildings surrounding the area.

He turned towards Shock, who seemed like he was searching for something. Electric wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for and he didn’t really feel like guessing either.

He finally gave up, “What are you looking for?”

Shock answered while he’s still looking around, “Posters or billboards that could lead us to where the concert might be at.”

Electric nodded in agreement, and began to look around by himself for any hints. Coincidentally, there was a wall of posters at the train station itself, one of them being extravagantly labeled:
“Rarafest - Featuring Countess Coloratura, DJ-P0N3 and other famous artists! Manehattan 12.21.1016.”

“Hey, Shock,” Electric called out to him while he was still peering the area, “Check this out.”

Shock heard Electric’s call and walked right to the station wall plastered with random posters of all kinds. He observed the one Electric was pointing at.

“What a cringy name for a fest,” Shock let out a face of slight disgust. “Who came up with this thing?”

“Forget aboot that, look here,” He pointed right on the name of DJ-P0N3.

Shock looked closer at the name but he didn’t really catch Electric’s drift. “What about it?”

“It’s her stage name, I think.” Electric pondered.

Shock was skeptical at first but they didn’t really have any other leads at that point, “Seems about right, she is a DJ anyway.”

He scanned the poster further, trying to find the venue of the event. “Hmm, Canterson Square Garden. Let’s go check at the map to see how far it is.”

“Alright, lead the way Chief.” Electric said with enthusiasm.

Shock turned away from the wall of posters and straight into the station. The stream of ponies had calmed since there weren’t any trains stopping at the time. Electric and him went inside to study the map of the city. Shock looked at every spot of the map with extreme detail, making sure he didn’t accidentally miss any clues to the whereabouts of the park.

“Um, it’s right there, dude.” Electric pointed to the middle of the map.

Shock looked at him as if he has been insulted. Despite this, he glanced at the map again to confirm Electric’s findings. To his surprise, the park was indeed in the middle.

Shock sighed. “Alright, let’s go then.” He said in a defeated tone.

“Looks like Einstein needs a pair of glasses.” Electric chuckled.

“Sure thing, pal.”

The duo picked up the pace and headed over to the park in the center of the city. Along the way they saw things for the first time in their lives, like motorized vehicles for example.

All of the sudden, Electric stopped dead in his tracks. The dream he saw back in Vanhoover flashed through his mind, the sound of the vehicles triggering a flashback.

His pupils shrunk in size. His legs began to quiver, collapsing him to the ground. Soon enough, Shock noticed his friend was not behind him anymore. He turned around to see him on the pavement, shaking in fear.

“No, not again, god damn it.” Electric muttered.

“Holy shit, El?” Shock’s eyes widened in panic, forcing him to run back to his companion.

Electric was trembling, scaring the surrounding ponies away from him. Shock pushed the others aside, trying to get a better look at Electric. Out of options, Shock used his horn and held Electric in place, not wanting to let him make things worse, but he was still shaking. As a last attempt, Shock punched him right above the eye.

“Agh!” Electric recoiled as he rolled over on his side.

“Sorry, buddy. I had no choice.” Shock shook his head with regret. He lent a hoof for Electric and lifted him up.

“What the hell is wrong with you? You don’t punch someone in this situation.” Electric berated him as he held his brow.

“Hey, at least it worked.” Shock said smugly.

“Oh for Pete’s sake,” Electric said with a hoof on his muzzle, in a gesture of disappointment. “Let’s just forget this ever happened.”

Once he was up and about, Electric trotted on towards the search of his special somepony, and Shock followed along. Canterson Square was only a few blocks away, so the trotting soon reduced to a walk. Eventually they saw the place, but there was nothing to indicate that there’s a concert going on. No loud heart pumping techno, or any crowds for that matter. Once they arrived next to what remains of a stage, they realized the concert was already over by the time they got there. Shock looked at a poster on the ground.

“Damn it, Mayor.” Shock sighed as he shook his head.

“What?” Said Electric.

“Says here the show is on the 21st.” Shock pointed at the poster. “But today is the 22nd,”

“Can’t believe I haven’t noticed it before.” He continued.

Electric groaned. “Well, so much for that. I guess we came here for nothing.”

“Supposedly the final concert is in Canterlot, the Grand Galloping Gala.” Shock read the rest of the poster. “But we’ll need golden tickets for that.”

“What, the rich asshole city?” Electric grumbled with an annoyed look on his face. “Getting the tickets is basically impossible for us anyway.”

“Perhaps not.” Shock pondered.

“Huh?” Electric gazed at him with an open mouth.

He shook his head. "Good grief… I guess we will have to see her again." Shock said, heading back towards the train station.

"Wait-" Electric ran up to him. "Who are we going to meet?"

Shock walked for a few meters in utter silence, then stopped, setting his eyes on the bustling city.

"You’ll find out soon enough."

************************
At the train station.2:13 P.M

"A whole lot of fun this place was, we didn't even do anything." Electric groaned.

"We got some useful info at least. The Gala is in two days, that gives us plenty of time to prepare." Shock reminded.

Both of them were prepared to go inside of the station, until a dark blue pony blocked their path. Confused, they moved out of his way, but he kept running up in front of them.

"Listen mate, got a problem or sumthin'?" Shock asked the troublesome individual in an irritated manner.

The blue pony grinned. "Give me some bits, esé."

"What? I didn't quite catch that." Shock lifted his hoof up his ear. "What did you say?"

"Tch. I know you're tourists, so just hand over what you got and you won't have a problem, comprende?"

"But we don’t have any bits-" Electric got interrupted by a sudden hind kick to the face. Blood spilled onto the concrete floor and him along with it.

“I didn’t ask you, maricón.” The pony started warming up with stretches.

Shock sighed, assuming a fighting stance. “I don’t have time to deal with you lowlife types, you’re messing with the wrong ponies.”

“Oh? I know this town, every nook and cranny of it. I’ve studied hoof-jitsu for ten years.” He continued. “You’re no match for me. Even your friend there couldn’t react fast enough to dodge my kick, and he’s a pegasus. What makes you think I won’t be able to kick your ass? Just because you can do magic?”

He smirked. “My name’s Rain Drop. And today, you will learn not to underestimate me.”

No longer than a blink of an eye, and he vanished. Shock took a step back and checked where he might have gone to.

Shock’s ears perked up, and he was instantly attacked from behind with a blunt, but a strong kick that sent him crashing into the station’s wall.

After a few seconds, Shock put his hoof down to get up, feeling a sharp pain on his side.

“You should’ve run away when ya had the chance.” Rain called out.

Shock’s vision was slowly returning to normal. He checked his old injuries and was glad that the wound didn’t reopen.

He let out a grin. “Not a bad kick for ten years of training, could probably do another decade though.”

As Rain’s smile of confidence turned into a frown, he disappeared once again.

After a few seconds, another blow was landed on his shoulder, sending him crashing into the ground. He tried to get up again, but was quickly given another hit on his side. At this point, he was coughing up blood like a fountain.

“See, hermano? You can’t dodge what you can’t see, dumbass. Another ten years my ass.” Rain bragged. “After I knock you out of your life, I’m taking all of your shit with me.”

Rain disappeared once again. This was the chance for Shock. He stood silently, waiting for the moment Rain will strike. He looked around and saw that nopony was around them. Most of them were not interested in intervening. Suddenly, his ears perked up once again. He lifted his right hoof, just in time to guard against another blow from Rain. Though it still sent him back a few meters.

Rain couldn’t help but curse under his breath, and flew off in a matter of seconds.

“Gotcha now, you lightspeed cunt.” Shock thought to himself.

As he stood his ground, Shock’s ears perked up one last time as he hears a whistling sound coming towards him. His horn flares his purple aura, and in a mere moment, he caught Rain speeding towards him with his magic and pinned him down to the ground.

“The moment your opponent starts bragging, that is when you are certain they have lost. Any colt from magic school could beat you up.” Shock had a stern look on his face.

“Impossible...” Rain struggled to break free of Shock’s magical hold. “Nobody in this city could even catch up to my speed.”

“Either you’re one dumb cunt, or something is really wrong with this place.” Shock said as he spat a bit of blood from his mouth.

Rain struggled harder, “What the heck are you talking about?”

“Jeez, you are a one huge dumbass,” Shock explained, “When something travels at an extremely high speed, the wind it pierces creates an explosive noise.”

“Wanna know what it’s called?” Shock went closer towards Rain, “A Shockwave.”

Shock stood back up and checked on Electric. It seemed that he was completely knocked out from the initial hit. but since a minute or two has already passed, he was already conscious.

Shock hit him in the face with his hoof, “Wake up, idiot. We have a flying dirtbag to deal with.”

“Bwah, wha…” Electric mumbled with his face on the ground. He lifted himself with both of his hooves, and was standing after stumbling a few times.

“Ow. Think I lost a tooth.” He mumbled as he spit out a bloody molar.

“Well, good thing you have free healthcare in Vanhoover.” Shock told him with a smirk. He then looked at Rain who was still pinned to the ground with his magic.

Shock turned towards his buddy, “Now Electric, how do we deal with bastards like him?”

“I, uh... don’t know.” Electric pondered.

“Come on, come on. Give him all you got.”

Electric stood still for a second, then walked up to Rain.

Rain’s pupils shrunk as Electric approached. “Wait, don’t hurt me! I can help you out.”

“Really now?” Electric interrogated as he pressed Rain’s head on the ground.

Shock sighed, “You’re actually going to listen to what this shitstain has to say?”

“Hey, we could use someone to get the gala tickets. This guy could do it.”

“What’s that?” Rain perked up, “Tickets? I can get you tickets. All of them, anything you need, esé.”

Electric chuckled and pushed Rain’s head back to the ground. “That’s not so simple. The tickets for the Grand Galloping Gala aren’t easy to find, nor replicate. You need to get a letter from the princesses.”

“Argh, mierda!” Rain cried in pain. “C’mon, who do you take me for? I can get them even if it’s in Canterlot, but I do have to get my hooves a bit dirty.”

“Aha, that won’t do.” Shock was getting impatient, “If I find you stealing even a single bit off the ground, no doctor in the whole of Equestria can fix what I’ll do to you.”

“Fuck, okay man. I’ll do what you want, just don’t hurt me.”

Electric lifted his hoof and lent it out to Rain. “Get up.”

“Ehh, your friend needs to let go first, hehe.” Rain grinned sheepishly.

Shock turned towards Electric, “You sure about this?”

“If this turns out to be a bad idea, I won’t ask anything from you, like ever again.”

After a slight sigh, Shock conformed and his magic grip on Rain had disappeared. Rain quickly went to kiss Electric’s hoof.

“Oh thank you, jefé. I owe you my life!” Rain said as he continued kissing Electric’s hoof.

“For Celestia’s sake, stop being a bitch.” Electric lifted his hoof away from him.

“And for the record, I was the one who let you go.” Shock intervened.

Electric lit up a cigarette and closed his eyes for a moment. After a puff, he exhaled the smoke.

“When did you start smoking?” Shock was puzzled.

“Got really stressed out in uni, so…” Electric shrugged. “What do we do now?”

Shock waited for the oncoming train to stop, “Back to Ponyville. We’re going to meet an old friend.”

“Oh, Ponyville?” Rain stuck around without Shock and Electric noticing, “Can I come with you guys?”

“Now why would you want to go to Ponyville?” Shock questioned the now ecstatic Rain.

Rain held his hoof up to his chin, “Huh, well I never really left Manehattan before, plus I heard Ponyville is pretty fun.”

“Mate, it’s just a small town nopony cares about-”

Shock blinked a few times after a loud train came by and interrupted their conversation. The whistle and whine of the engines roared through the station as it came to a full stop. He turned around and saw that Rain was already inside the cabin.

Stupid fast bugger, Shock thought as he and Electric trotted into the train.

Once inside, they headed to where their new acquaintance was sitting, and sat down in front of him.

After five minutes, the conductor exclaimed that the train was leaving. And shortly after, the train started moving, with a clickety-clack sound of the rail wheels repeating faster and faster.

Ponyville, Equestrian Midwest. 3:20 PM.

“Here we are again.” Electric thought to himself. Outside the window, the endless forest made up of apple trees can be seen. This small town was famous for its cider, so it’s no surprise to Electric that there are so many of them.

“Hmm. Maybe we could go there sometime.” Electric thought out loud.

“Go where?” Rain asked out of the blue, startling Electric.

“Damn, when did you wake up?” He eyed him with suspicion.

Rain chuckled. “Ay hermano, You think I’m some kinda chump? I don’t sleep in trains.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Electric looked out the window.

A few more minutes until the train reaches the station, passing through the endless apple trees covering the outskirts of Ponyville. Electric let out a short sigh. After a short while, the same loud whistle and whine of the train could be heard as steam is let off, the brakes kicking in as the train slowly came to a stop.

Electric could see that Shock was already up, staring out the window to the bunch of ponies outside waiting for the train doors to open so that they could continue their journey. Shock stood up, a silent and cold aura embedding him. Electric quickly hopped off the seat, following him in his tracks.

“So who is this pony that you’re sure can help us?” A confused Electric muttered.

As expected, Shock is struggling to pay attention to anything than himself. Electric has seen this before, and he was not ready to deal with it again. In silence, he followed Shock out of the train and into the main town. Rain Drop was heard talking and greeting the ponies around him, but that didn’t concern Electric at all.

Damn it, if Shock goes around scaring the ponies here again, I swear... Electric thought to himself before bumping into a familiar figure. A figure he had seen before but couldn’t quite remember who it was. Dapper clothing, grey hair, and glasses. It wasn’t until she spoke when he fully remembers who she actually is.

“Ah, Shock’s friend. Back so soon?”

“Oh, so sorry for bumping into you, Mrs. Mayor,” Electric tried to regain his manners, “Yeah, our plan sort of fell over and we thought coming here was the next best thing.”

The mayor raised her hoof to her mouth, “Oh, I’m terribly sorry that happened. Where is Shock anyway? He’s not here with you.”

It took a moment for Electric to process that question, “What...?”

Frantically, he turned left and right. His eyes couldn’t believe it, Shock was not in his sight. After only mere seconds of not laying eyes on him, he disappeared into thin air.

Dear Celestia, this is not what I need right now. He let out a short sigh before running off to look for Shock, leaving Mayor Mare in the dust.

“Colts these days sure are odd ones.” The Mayor monologued, smiling to herself.

***

Chapter 7: To Remember A Name

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Chapter 8: New Horizons

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Chapter 9: Reunion

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