Dead Man With a Violin

Startled, I shot up and turned around, raising the violin above my head as if it were a club.

No one there, I thought.

Just some bushes and trees.

I shrugged it off, deciding to explore the area a bit more.

I guess it was just my imagination.

I hopped over the log I was sitting on and started in the direction I came from when I heard a small “Ow!” I looked down and caught a glimpse of a light greyish blur shooting back inside the bush next to me. Intrigued, I walked over and looked at the bush. Well that’s odd.

I examined the bush, pulling apart the leaves and looking inside.

I wonder what that was…

“What the hell!” I yelled stumbling backwards into a tree as a light grey pony leapt from behind the bush.

“Now that he’s gone I can-” She looked over to see me standing right there.

“Oh, um… Hi!” She said with a sheepish smile.

I could sense the embarrassment in her voice.

I stood straight, grimacing at her.

She had a light grey coat with a dark gray mane. She almost looked like a normal pony from my world except for the fact that she had light purple eyes and pink treble clefs on her sides.

“Sorry about spying on you, I just, uh, saw you walking down the road with that beautiful violin case and just had to ask where you got it, so I followed you, and well…” She started blushing. “I guess I just got cold hooves. I was about to leave too but then… Then I heard you play. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.”

Even with her compliment I was still pissed at her for spying on me.

“I just couldn’t leave, not before you finished, so I hid behind this bush and-” I cut her off.

“WHY THE HELL DIDN’T YOU JUST TALK TO ME INSTEAD OF SPYING ON ME?” It was uncalled for, but after everything that happened to me I wasn't very happy.

This clearly upset her.

“WELL THEN! I guess I will be leaving.” And with a slight humph, she started trotting off towards the town, nose in the air.

Alright, I thought. I guess that was kinda rude.

“Okay, I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

She stopped and said “You’re gonna have to apologize better than that.” before continuing on towards the town.

I gritted my teeth.

Who does this bitch think she is?

Despite my anger, I knew this might be my last chance at making a friend.

“Oh, alright. I’m really sorry for yelling at you for spying on me.”

She stopped again.

“Better.”

Are you fucking kidding me?

I sighed. “Okay, I am so extremely terribly sorry for being so incredibly awful to you.”

She turned and smiled at me.

“Apology accepted.”

As we walked back towards the town, I tried striking up a conversation.

“So… What’s your name?” I asked.

“Oh, my name is Octavia, what’s yours?”

“Alex.”

“Alex? That’s a strange name.”

“Alex is a strange name?” I chuckled “Octavia is the strangest name I’ve ever heard.”

“Maybe where you’re from… Speaking of which, where are you from?” She asked.

I sighed, and looked up into the sky.

“Somewhere far, far away.”

“Oooooh, how mysterious.” She teased.

“I’m a very mysterious person.” It felt good to finally talk to someone, to come out of the lonely shell I've been cooped up in for years.

“Well then Mr. Mysterious, answer this. What exactly are you?” She asked.

“A human.”

“A what?” She looked over at me.

“A HU-MAN.”

“Okay, okay!” She laughed “It’s just, I’ve never heard of a HU-MAN before.”

“I guess I’m the only one here then…” I shrugged, putting my hands deep in my pockets.

Her smile faded.

“I guess so.”

Not wanting to be a killjoy, I tried brightening back up the mood.

“I guess that officially makes me the coolest person in this world.” I said, grinning at her.

“Oh really?” She smirked at me.

“You haven’t seen cool yet. Just wait ‘till you meet- Oh hey, we’re almost there!”

I was... Intrigued.

“Meet who?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Oh, you’ll see tomorrow.”

I saw the town up ahead.

It was surreal seeing a town bustling with colorful ponies going about like humans, buying and selling goods, chatting with friends and strangers, enjoying the evening. Maybe I ended up in some alternate universe, who knows. I always thought I would understand everything after death, but I guess not.

When we reached the town, and the sun had finally set.

“What is this place?” I asked.

Octavia replied with a grin. “This is Ponyville!”

As we entered the town, I saw the pink pony from earlier up ahead, crossing the dirt road. She was suspended above the ground by... by...

"Balloons?" I asked, staring in awe at the strange sight.

To my surprise, Octavia treated it as an everyday thing.

She smiled and greeted the pink pony. “Hey Pinkie-”

She was interrupted by a loud gasp, followed by the pink pony screaming “Run for your life!” as she slowly floated across the street and into a small shop.

Almost on cue, ponies started vanishing inside building after building.

“Why’s everypony rushing inside all of a sudden?” She looked at over at me.

I sighed and hung my head.

“Oh…”

I knew then she understood.

I walked alongside her, staring at the ground.

“I just don’t get these ponies. Why are they afraid of something that they don’t understand?”

She ranted on and on about how stupid they were, but I guess I understood where they were coming from. It’s sad to say that I knew humans would react the same way to ponies.

“Well, whatever. Here we are.”

I looked up. The pony was standing at the door of an old two-story house.

It wasn’t in very good shape, the white paint chipped and the wood slightly rotted.

“Sorry you’re second visit here hasn’t exactly improved on your first.” I guess she saw what happened earlier.

“So… I guess I’ll see you later.” I said, turning to walk away.

To my surprise, a horrified look came over her face.

“Oh, no no no no no!” She said. “You’re staying here for the night!”

Wait, what?

She grabbed me by the collar and pulled me towards the door.

“But we literally just met!” I protested, trying to pull away from her.

Between clenched teeth, I heard her say, “Dhshn’t mtter, Ah cn’t lt a frnd sleep out on da strt!”

“Alright, alright!” I said, no longer resisting.

When we reached the door, she let go of my now stretched out shirt and smiled.

“Good.”

She lifted the old welcome mat in front of the door, and grabbed a key off the ground.

“Now, you’ll have to mind my roommate,” She said, opening the door.

“She’s a DJ, and-”

The pony was quickly silenced by a massive bass drop.

I could only think of two words to describe the music coming from inside.

Holy shit.

Octavia’s face turned red as a voice from inside yelled “Aww yeah!”

“VIIIIINYYYYYYYYYLLLLL!” She screamed as she stormed into the house. I shrugged, following her inside.

When I entered through the doorway, I could see that the inside of the house wasn’t much better than the outside. The white walls of the entranceway were chipped and scratched, the hard wood floor scuffed and stained from age. I followed along the dirty entranceway to a small living room area with a couple worn couches and an old coffee table. The place was littered with song books, records, and album jackets.

I could hear noise coming from the doorway on the opposite side of the room.

I crossed the room, stepping carefully over the debris and entered into the doorway. I found myself in the kitchen with Octavia and another pony leaning by what appeared to be a giant subwoofer embedded into the kitchen counter. This pony was white, with a blue mane and two bridged eighth notes on her sides.

“What in the hay are you doing?” Octavia yelled in fury.

I stood silently behind her, not wanting to face her wrath.

The pony yawned, stretching out her forelegs and crossing them behind her head.

“Cleaning the dishes.”

I sat at the table, slurping down a hot bowl of what Octavia called ‘dandelion soup’.

The two ponies sat on either side of me, staring each other down, their eyes locked.

I put down the bowl, wiping my face with napkin. I decided to ease the tension.

“So…” I began, looking over at the white pony.

“What’s your name?”

She smirked at Octavia, taunting her.

“My name’s Vinyl Scratch, but you can just call me Vinyl.” She said, careful not to loose eye contact.

Alright, there’s a start.

“And you?” She asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, but before I could Octavia blurted out “Alex. His name is Alex.”

I glared at her, but she ignored me.

“He’s a friend,” She said.

Vinyl leaned back in her chair, and let out a loud yawn. “That’s cool I guess, but…” She looked over at me.

“What the heck is he?”

I took a deep breath, only for Octavia to interrupt me again.

“For your information, he is a HU-MAN.” I looked over at Octavia.

“Uh, Octavia, its human, not HU-MAN.”

Vinyl laughed, infuriating Octavia even further.

She shot me an angry look.

“Alright, I’ll shut up.” I said nonchalantly.

She continued her bickering with Vinyl, their words fading into the background as I shut them out. I started to think about what I should do now that I’m here. I guess tomorrow I should try finding out a bit more about this place… “Hey, you two." The ponies looked over at me.

“WHAT?” They shouted in unison.

"I have a question." I expected them to reply, but was met with silence.

“Where the hell am I?”

A smug look came across Vinyl’s face. “You’re in Equestria, dipshit.”