Equestrian State of Mind

***

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.

***