Equestrian State of Mind

***

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.

***