Equestrian State of Mind

***

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.”

***