The Voices (In My Head Again)

With his job as Steel Pride’s apprentice slash errand boy, Sketch heads back to the castle along with Twilight.

“You really want to get out of the castle and on your own huh?” Twilight asks dejectedly.

“Yeah, I don’t like mooching off you and the princesses.”

“Oh, okay, well it was nice having you as a guest-”

“Oh I’m not out of your mane yet, I still need to find a place to live and I am not living in a tiny house where I hit my head on the doorway.”

“Okay, after your work with Steel Pride we can do some research on your species.”

“Just nothing weird, okay?”

“What do you think I’m going to do to you?” Twilight asks.

“Just nothing like a mad scientist would do, a okay?”

“You have my word.”

“Okay, well, I gotta go make the candy for Jon tonight and drop them off at five thirty so I can get to Steel Pride’s shop by six.”

“I’ll set an alarm for you.”

“No need, my phone has one.”

“What can’t that device do?”

“Depends if you have the right application to run, wanna help me make the candy? It is fun eating the leftover chocolate.”

“Sure, what do you do when you make it cause I always hear some sort of music when you’re in the kitchen.”

“Oh I hit shuffle on my phone and it plays one of over two hundred songs at random, most are pretty good but some are just sad.”

“You have sad songs? Didn’t expect that from you.”

“Yeah, I will play you a few of them when we get there.”

“Well, get your phone ready, we’re here.”

“Hey you two, how is your research going Twi?”

“Apparently I’m a good subject.”

“Well yeah, you are the only one of your kind here so of course you are.”

“Yeah, I’m special.” Sketch agrees.

“Okay mister special, let’s get to the candy making.”

“Let’s go.”

The three head inside and make their way to the kitchen and Sketch prepares the coffee beans and pots and pans.

“So how exactly does this work exactly?”

“The water in the pot beneath it heats up the water in it and the top pot warms up slowly and gets hot enough without touching the hot metal directly and metals without burning. Oddly enough I learned this trick in first grade, except we used small plastic dixie cups. We filled the bottom cup with hot water, put another in it and put the chocolate in it and it melts without burning.”

“You kinda repeated yourself there.”

“Yeah… Bad habit”

“Okay, so what about that music?”

“You only want me for my phone don’t you Twi?”

“No, but it is an interesting piece of technology I would like to know more about.”

“Alright well, you wanted a sad song how about… Gorillas?”

“What do apes have to do with music?”

“Gorillas is the name of the band, and the song is El Manana, or in English, it means the tomorrow.”

“Oh, what’s the song about?”

“How about we listen to it and you try and guess it.”

As the three listen to the song, Spike relaxing at the table is tapping his foot to the beat of the song as Twilight bobs her head slightly and Sketch prepares the chocolate. As the song goes on Twilight starts to contemplate the song’s meaning. As the song ends Sketch finishes the first batch of chocolate treats.

“So Ms, Sparkle, what do you think that song is about?”

“Well he kept saying ‘maybe in time, you’ll want to be mine.’ so his mare-friend left him and he’s sad about it?”

“Close, but a good try for hearing it once, the song is about how a girl dumped the singer and he keeps hoping that if he get’s enough money maybe she’ll want to be his again.”

“That is kinda sad.”

“Yeah, wanna hear one that isn’t sad, but is still pretty epic?”

“Do you have any rock?” Spike asks as he walks up to the counter and reaches for a piece of candy.”Can I try one?”

“They are pretty bitter so be careful.” Sketch advises as Spike grabs one and pops it in his mouth, he chews on it and spits it out immediately.”Warned ya.”

“How can you eat that stuff?”

“It’s an acquired taste, you’ll probably like it more when you’re older...How old are you anyways?.”

“Sixteen.” At this Sketch makes a face of utter confusion at this.”What?”

“How are you so tiny and sixteen years old?”

“I’m a baby dragon...I don’t mature for another thirty years or so, well, that’s what Ember said.”

“Ember?”

“She’s the new dragon lord thanks to Spike helping her through the trial for the scepter.”

“Ah, that’s pretty cool, is she like Spike’s girlfriend?”

“No, I have somepony else in mind,” Spike says as he smiles a bit.

“Rarity?”

“How’d you know?”

“A guess, every time we mention her you smile and make a face.”

“He’s got you there Spike.” Twilight agrees, at this Spike’s face turns red and he awkwardly makes an exit, probably back to his room.”He really likes her so let’s avoid teasing him about it.”

“Agreed. So now that I have one batch done, wanna hear another song?”

“Sure!”

“I’m going to honor Spike’s last request before he left and play a rock song.”

“Okay, that should be interesting,” Twilight says.

“How does hard rock sound to you?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s like rock music you probably have here, wait, you have it here right?” At this Twilight nods,”Okay, it is like that but a bit more hardcore.”

“How hardcore?”

“Some are about suicide and others are about tragedies, and some are just great head banging songs, something you can't help but get into the groove with. Sometimes at home, I would get groovy in my chair and move to the beat of the song.”

“Pfthahaha, you’re an interesting one Sketch.”

“Thanks.”

“Now for some rock!” Sketch decides to play inside the fire by disturbed, possibly one of the better songs in his library of music, but this, of course, is just his opinion.

“That song was rather… dark, what was it about?”

“When he said ‘Devon, one of eleven' he was referring to one of his past girlfriends who committed suicide and he didn’t notice til he came home one day and he found her hung by a noose in the main room. The guy saying ‘take your place inside the fire with love’ was the devil saying if you kill yourself too you can spend the rest of eternity in hell with her.

“That is dark and tragic.”

“Yeah, but it is a promotional video for those who are struggling with suicide. They urge anyone thinking about it or who knows someone who is to call a help line and get the help they need so it is good overall.”

“At least it does some good in the end.”

“Wanna hear some rap?”

“What’s that?”

“People rhyming to a hip hop beat mostly and I hate most of it except a few gems.”

“Did someone say gems?” Spike asks as he pokes his head around the corner as he re-enters the kitchen from the hallways.

“Wrong type of gem man.” At this, he seems a bit disappointed but he walks back into the kitchen anyways and stands next to Twilight.”Anyways let me go to my HU folder and hit random.”

“HU?”

“Hollywood Undead.”

“Say what?”

“It’s a band, their name was actually an accident.”

“How so?”

“Their name was originally just Hollywood but the producer misread the song and band name so instead of reading it, Hollywood which was the name of the band, and Undead, Undead being the name of the song he read it as Hollywood Undead as one name.”

“That is interesting.”

“Yeah, anyways, pick a number one through ninety-six.”

“Forty-two!”

“And you are now my favorite pony Twilight.” At this, she squees a little bit.

“Okay, this song is...Oh god...You picked ‘Everywhere I Go’ You are in for a treat.”

“What’s it about?”

“Nothing but partying.”

“Okay?” Twilight hears the song and immediately blushes at what the band sings about and Spike can’t help but laugh at Twilight's reaction.

“I warned ya.”

“Why are they singing about that?”

"It is nothing but a fun song for them and it has no hidden meaning or anything, I like the beat more than most of their songs.”

“But who is that guy that exposes himself? That is just inappropriate!”

“Charlie Scene.It may be inappropriate, but it’s funny too.”

As Sketch makes his candy he plays various songs by Disturbed since they were his favorite rock band, hard rock, but they still did the trick. The two talk about varying songs whether they be rock, sad, or even rap Twilight likes most of them and after two hours of making candy the two decide to head off to bed, fifty-three days left.