Equestrian State of Mind

“...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.

***