Setting down a tray of assorted foods on the table, I eye Tots curiously. On the tray is a little bit of everything; apples, carrots, oats, hay, and gemstones. I’d have put some fish on there if I ever bothered to keep any. Hopefully this will tell me what kinds of things he likes to eat. Motioning towards the tray for him to dig in, grabs the apple and starts biting away at it.

I watch him eat for about a minute before clearing my throat. “So Tots. What do you know about magic?”

He swallows his bite of carrot before responding. “You mean that stuff you do with your horn? Not much I guess. It looks pretty cool though!”

So he isn’t even aware of what he’s doing. Unless he’s playing dumb, but he isn’t showing any of the typical signs of lying. Don’t know what I was expecting to be honest.

“So, what do you plan on doing?” I question him.

He takes another bite of his carrot and chews it thoughtfully. “To be honest, I dunno. I was gonna go see if Pinkie was free today. If not, I would have just wandered around. Talk with others if the opportunity presented itself.”

That simple? No way. “That’s nice, but I meant more long term. Like where do you see yourself say, a month or two from now.”

“I dunno… probably doing the same thing. Wandering around, looking for people to talk to. Oh, and making deliveries for Sugar Cube Corner too! Aside from that...hopefully making more friends. Pinkie and Fluttershy are my friends, but I can’t say the same for everyone else I’ve met so far. Rainbow Dash said I need to get to know her before I can be her friend, and I didn’t really get to ask Rarity or Applejack to be my friend. Speaking of which though, can we be friends?”

I’m honestly caught a bit off guard by this question. I don’t know much about him, but it would probably be best to stay on the good side of an unknown. Smiling, I nod. “Sure we can.”

He cheers a bit and does a little dance where he’s sitting, which is amusing to say the least.

“So, is there anything you like to do? Besides making friends that is.” I ask him.

Finishing off the carrot, he puts a finger to his chin in thought. “You know, I haven’t really put much thought into that. I like to explore though!”

I nod and look at the floor. This far into the conversation, I realize that there isn’t much I can ask him. He has no recollection of anything before waking up under that tree. Again, I don’t know what I was expecting. And I’m not just going to start running him through tests like some lab rat; he can obviously think for himself.

I’m startled out of my thoughts by Tots clapping his hands really loudly. “Hey Twilight, can I ask a question now?” I nod.

This time, he looks down at the floor with a frown. “How do I get ponies to be my friend? I asked a few ponies but most just said no. And those are the ones who didn’t run away when I tried to approach them.”

Tots is full of surprises. I honestly never expected him to be so...humble. He doesn’t seem to want much in life. Looking at him, I try to figure out how to word my next sentence. “Well… it's normally easier to make friends on a common ground. You know, those who share similar interests with you. Besides that, the only real way is to just spend time with the person you’re trying to befriend. How much time, depends on the person.”

“So you’re saying I have to wait for friends?” he says a little loudly. At my nod, he seems to slouch a bit.

“Hey, not everything is a given. You have to work to earn friends. Same way you have to work make money, same way you have to work to learn. Don’t let that get you down though, I’m sure you’ll make plenty of friends.” I explain to him.

He cheers up a bit, and looks out the window. “Well, I should probably get back to the bakery. Getting lost is time consuming enough, I don’t want them to think I just ate the deliveries. Thanks for the food Twilight!” he says as he gets up and walks towards the door.

“Alright then, see you later Tots.”

He waves goodbye and shuts the door behind him. I’m left looking at the tray that's still on the table. He didn’t even touch the hay, oats, or gemstones.

I hear someone open the door. Looking up towards it, I see Spike walking in. “Twilight. What was that? That tall thing that just left the library.”

I smile and chuckle a bit. “That’s Tots. I asked him to come inside to answer a few questions. In exchange I gave him some food.”

Looking at the tray, Spikes eyes go wide. “Hey! Those are my gems!”

I roll my eyes. “He didn’t even touch them Spike. Besides, I paid for them; I would have bought you more.”

With that, he walks over and snatches the gems from the tray and starts popping them in his mouth like grapes and walks away.

I take a piece of paper and start writing. “Dear Princess Celestia…”

Tot’s POV: First Person

Man...what Twilight said really made me think. I don’t wanna wait to make friends...I want them now! Although, I guess that IS a bit selfish… I hardly know anypony and they’re all afraid of me. Maybe they just need a bit of time to get used to me. I guess I do look a bit different compared to ponies, but it’s still not a nice feeling to be feared. Is being different really that bad? I should probably just do what Twilight said and try to find a common ground.

Lost in my thoughts, I fail to notice I’m at my destination until I walk face first into the door to the bakery. Rubbing my nose a bit, I open the door and walk in and see that the place is fairly empty, and a plump blue mare behind the counter. I walk up to her, pull the papers out of my pocket and place them on the counter; I remain silent as I don’t really have anything to say.

She reads the papers and she smiles. “You must be the one Pinkie talked to me about this morning. Tots, is it?”

I nod. “I guess so ma’am; Pinkie told me to step outside and came back out with some deliveries for me to make.”

She nods as well, opens the register, and starts counting out some gold coins. She counts out 15 of them and hands them to me. I pick them up and examine them a bit, and look back at the menu hanging above the counter. The food that Twilight gave me was enough for now, but I don’t wanna have to come back later… a loaf of bread should be good, right?

I slide 4 of the 15 bits back to her. “Can I get a loaf of bread please?”

She smiles and walks in the back of the store. “Of course dear.” she returns shortly with a loaf of bread in a sealed bag, and puts it on the counter, putting the coins back in the register. “Anything else?”

I shake my head, pocket the rest of my coins, and put the bread in my backpack. “No, that’s it. Thank you for the job by the way.”

She shakes her head. “It’s Pinkie you should thank, not me. She’s the one who talked me into giving you the job in the first place. She told me you were in a bit of a tight spot; that got my husband to ease up.”

Oh, she’s married to the tall yellow one. Didn’t know that. “Oh, well do you know where I can find her?”
She shakes her head and shrugs. “She got off work not too long ago. Normally it's her who finds you, not the other way around. I’m sure you’ll run into her though.” she says with a apologetic smile.

I nod and wave bye to her as I walk out of the bakery. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye!”

I take a few steps away from the bakery and look around. It's about noon, and I’ve got nothing to do…. Time to explore some more!

I wander around town for about three hours before something finally catches my attention. That something comes in the form of a really nice sound. Then another one. I follow the sounds; they get louder and louder until I find myself in front of what looks like a music store. I open the door and the sounds get way louder. I smile to myself and enter the shop, and look around. There’s a couple ponies here; some are just browsing, some are playing some of the instruments, and one looks like he’s finishing up at the register. Some eye me for a bit before going back to what they’re doing.

I smile to myself and just bask in the multitude of sounds for a few minutes. I soon grow restless though, and make my way over to a random instrument. This one happens to be a keyboard. I look at it for a moment, not exactly sure what to do with it. I press a key, and it plays a sound. Another key, another sound. I smile to myself as the keyboard makes sound, but frown a bit when I realize that others are actually playing some good music, and I’m just pressing keys. I start to try to press the keys in an order that sounds nice, and I manage to play a small lil tune for my troubles. It’s a small tune, nothing really special.

But that took me about 10 minutes of messing around with it. On top of that, it was annoying to do, and not really that fun. I get up and make my way to another instrument; at least I assume it's an instrument. This one seems to just be a bunch of buttons. I press a button and it makes a small drum sound. Another button, a different drum. Another button, but this time I’m startled when I don’t hear another drum, but instead, a symbol. I keep pressing buttons, each one a different sound. I don’t really like this one that much, and give up on it after like two minutes.

I make my way to an acoustic guitar that’s leaned up against a chair. By now, I notice that the shopkeeper has had her eye on me for awhile; at least I think so. Hard to tell with those purple shades. I ignore her though, and pick up the guitar and sit on the chair with it. I fiddle with it, trying to figure out the mechanics of it. I pluck some strings, hold some frets then pluck, but it all sounds like a bunch of random notes. Nothing really noteworthy. I spend about 20 minutes just messing with it, testing out what strings and frets sound like what.

I manage to play a small tune, but it seems a bit too easy. The other instruments seemed difficult, but with this it just seems to come naturally. So I decide to spend more than just 10 minutes with this one, and try a bit harder. After another five minutes, I feel a bit of inspiration hit me. I take about 10 seconds before I act upon that inspiration.

It started off a bit slow, but got a bit more advanced the longer it went. Admittedly it only went on for a minute, but it's better than anything i did with the other instruments I tried! I look up and see a few ponies staring at me, some in surprise, some in amazement, and a few in between. I feel the need to continue, so I do just that. I meddle with the guitar, testing some things out, then another wave of inspiration hits me. This time I only take five seconds to act upon it.

This one started off slow as well, but got a bit more tricky than the last one I played. It lasted longer too, as the notes just played off each other naturally; one to another, until it came to an end. This time though, I’m immediately hit by another wave of inspiration right as I finish the piece, and don’t take more than two seconds to act upon it.

This one is a bit all over the place; slow, fast, erratic, melodic, and anywhere in between. It seems like I was just lost in the music however, as I just now notice the music playing through the speakers on the ceiling have stopped, and everypony in the shop is staring at me. Everyone seems to be smiling though, so that’s a good thing. I smile sheepishly, and everyone breaks out into cheers, stomping their hooves in what I assume is applause. My smile grows a bit wider, and I bow a bit. “Thank you. Thank you all!”

The shopkeeper walks out from behind the counter, and comes up to me. She’s a unicorn with a two toned blue mane and tail, purple shades, and a music note for a mark. She takes her glasses off, revealing her blood red eyes. She looks at me for a moment with a smile, which turns into a smirk. “Man, I never heard ANYTHING like what you just did before. That was amazing! How long have you been playing?” she compliments and questions.

I scratch behind my head and smile sheepishly. “To be honest, this is my first time playing a guitar. The only instruments I’ve ever even touched are the ones here in this shop.”

Her eyes seem to widen a bit. “Really? Your a buckin’ natural! First time playing, and you play better than some pro’s could. Those hands of yours are really something.”

My smile only grows wider. “Thank you. I’m Tots by the way! What’s your name?” I say as I stick my hand out.

She grips my hand with her hoof and shakes it. “Vinyl Scratch. Pleasure to meet ya.”

I look between her and the guitar. “So, how much for the guitar?”

She barks out a hearty laugh and looks at me. “For you? If you promise to come back here some time and hang out, 10 bits.”

I immediately jam my hand in my pocket, pull out all my money, and shake my fist full of coins in her face. “SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!”

She laughs and counts out the coins and gives one back, which I pocket. She also brings out a fabric guitar case that seems to already have some stuff in it, and hands it to me. I graciously take it, pack away my new guitar and put the strap of the case over my head, and wear it over my backpack; It fits comfortably enough. My smile is at full mast, and I fall to my knees from the chair and hug Vinyl. “Thank you so much Vinyl.”

She hugs back, and pulls from the hug after a moment, putting a hoof on my shoulder. “No problem Tots. You come back anytime.” she pats my shoulder with her hoof then walks back to the counter and puts the 10 coins in the register. Bits I think she called them.

With that, me and my new guitar leave the shop. I notice that I spent quite a bit of time in the shop; about an hour and a half. I think I might have found my common ground.

Author's Note

What's this!? Another chapter in the same month!? Blasphemy! Who am I, and what have I done with the real DekaSkittalz!?

Nah, I'm still me. I'm still trying to do once a month, but since the previous chapter took a bit longer than a month, on top of it technically being a new month, I felt the need to do another; despite it being only a week since the previous chapter. Makes it easier to keep track of when a month has gone by since my last chapter. I'll still upload chapters as I finish them, the month is just a self set deadline.

Now, onto the topic of the chapter. I want to state, that Tots is NOT a Gary Stu. He is the lovable klutz known as Tots, and he has his own fair share of problems. like being feared by half the town, having no home, not even a blanket to keep warm. Twi being suspicious of him, absorbing magic unknowingly, and not exactly knowing things he probably should know. like the difference between a pony and a mannequin.

Him being good at guitar gives him a way to express himself, a common ground; as the title, and Twilight suggests. I understand that NOBODY has ever just picked up a guitar and started playing like that; I GET IT. I personally play piano, have so for a year, and I'm still not that good. But it's a story in magical pony land; there's gonna be a few things that don't seem realistic.

And just to clarify, no. I am not doubling back on my premise: that your memories define who you are as they are the experience what shaped you to be who you are as a person.
that is still true, and this does not contradict. If one is just naturally good at something, they just are. How inspiration works, is more commonly described as a feeling that drives the mind to piece together something creative. Feelings aren't the same as memory.
Just felt the need to clear that up. I always cover my tracks heheh.

ANYWAYS, sorry if this is TL;DR, I just felt a bit that this all had to be said.

Cheers for reading, and have a nice day~!