Faithful Forever

Chapter 9: Training

After an interesting evening with Fluttershy on the sofa talking out the events of the day, I had gone to bed, however I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed, I knew my mission, today was a day to target the mission, complete it, no matter what. I felt hyped up, excited and my body twitched with excitement, as I straightened my mane, cleaned my teeth and headed steadily down the stairs being careful not to tread on a sleeping hedgehog halfway down, that clearly must have been late to bed to be sleeping now. Seeing it sleeping there made me giggle a little as I went past it and continued to the bottom of the stairs.

My stomach growled. I stopped and thought,

“I could really go for a bacon sandwich right now.”

I was about to call to see it Fluttershy had any bacon, but then realized what in her eyes I would actually be saying, and remembered where I was. This In mind, I decided to just see what was available quickly before I went off.

“I can’t work on an empty stomach.”

After a brief fridge raid I found a granola bar and ate that for good measure, I just hoped that Fluttershy hadn't been saving it, because she wouldn't be able to get it back now.

With a Brief pause to think about if I had forgotten anything, I left the cottage in high spirits. Despite that however I still had question’s running through my head such as “where could she be at this hour?”, “Will she even want to help me?”, “should I try again tomorrow?”.

That last question made me giggle; I really was starting to sound like Fluttershy.

I continued on into the still sleepy town of Ponyville, the market was just starting to set up and the shops were beginning to place out their very inviting Welcome mats outside their stores. Occasionally as I walked  I came across the odd pony walking with a friend going about their business, I even caught a glimpse of Rarity going into the Spa “typical Rarity”, I thought as I rolled my eyes and continued on.

Eventually I found myself at Sugar Cube corner, where I hoped to get a little information from the Pony version of Wikipedia, Pinkie Pie herself. As I waltzed into the foyer of Sugar Cube corner I was hit by the warm, creamy smell of fresh melted chocolate, there was instantly a tingling in the back of my throat from the powdered sugar looming in the air. I was so entranced in the inviting atmosphere that i didn't notice the bright and a bouncing Pink Pony racing to greet me as I entered, totally in a daze and unaware of her presence until that first-

“ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh HELLO!!”

I jumped in shock at first before realizing who had startled me and looked back at her with an inquisitive eye.

I slapped a smile on as quickly as I could, not wanting to be rude to this Pony who was being so welcoming.

How was she so bouncy all the time? God only knew but if I remembered correctly the only way to describe it was “it’s just Pinkie Pie”.

“Hey Pinkie” I replied with a grin “have you seen Vinyl Scratch lately I really need to talk to her about something."

Pinkie’s grin began to grow larger and larger until I thought the edges of her mouth would meet at the top of her head.

“well sure!,” she giggled “she’s with Octavia back at home, you looking for a music course?” she winked at me with a knowing eye, making my eyebrow twitch in suspicion of what she knew that I potentially didn't. so once again shrugging my shoulder’s (which to do I had to stand on the tips of my hooves and somehow find balance that  used to come so naturally but now felt strange and  uneasy, if almost a little clumsy).

“Any thoughts on how to get there?” I asked

“Sure!” she cried jumping up and down on the spot as she did so “just follow the music, the source will always be Vinyl or Octavia, or both because they often collaborate,” she lowered her voice “I hear they’re really, really good”… “Like, Literally.” “I heard them the other day; I couldn't stop banging my head!”

I rolled my eyes a little but smiled and laughed nonetheless, taking her advice in its simplest form is the best way to go about conversation with her or else be standing around for an hour while she monologues with enough energy to make a power plant jealous.

“Thanks Pinkie,” I thought with an eagerness to be getting on “talk soon OK?”

“See ya’ later alligator.” She said waving as I walked out the door.

Once clear of the shop I began to trot listening out for something other than the birds chirping and the other ponies around me going about their business with vibrancy close enough to resembling color. The houses from the windows seemed to be calm and empty as I walked by, I needed a sign of anything that could get me closer to where I needed to be other than just having “follow the music” as a reference.

I eventually found myself in the middle of the town square with my ears darting forward, sideways and backwards scanning for the slightest sound of beats banging in the background. I began to get frustrated and growled slightly.

“Why can’t I find her?”

Out of the five directions I could go I chose one at random and decided to go that way in the hope that I could find a way to find Vinyl or Octavia for that matter.

Time passed and I was getting increasingly distracted, I had already wasted some time at a donut stall staring at the donuts inside with a childish glaze over my eyes, bumped into Twilight and gotten nowhere for 15 minutes until she decided to bolt off mumbling something about a mail order that had gone AWOL (like I didn't know the cause of that palaver).

So there I was sitting back in the town square again, listening. it was nearly noon now and I was starting to get hungry, but ignored it, I was trying to get to my destination my destiny depended on me!

...

“What was that?”

“Is that?”

"It couldn't be!”

“After all this time?”

I spun my head around to face the direction of the strange sound, it was pulsing, fast paced, mixed to perfection. my head and body began to move without my permission, the best I could do to resist was to tap my foot… no wait hoof.

The dive-bombing bass line attacked my ears and filled me with a passion to come up with a way to either harmonize or remix  it with my own flair, the thought had me mixing with ideas.

The sound appeared to be coming from an alleyway I hadn't come across before.

Without hesitating I began to sprint…dammit no, gallop… gallop to the source of the noise, the rich playful sound intensifying as I drew nearer, bounding at me from the beats, reaching every nerve in my body that only wanted to become one with the music.

I skidded to a halt at a crossroads and darted left being careful not to barge into someone else’s home, I could see the lights flashing in the windows of the cottage that appeared to be bouncing on it’s very establishing’s to the music.

With barely contained excitement I knocked on the door, and waited for something to happen.

“Will she even have heard my knock with the bass going that loud?”

I decided that knocking was daft due to Vinyl clearly having far too much fun to hear me so I gingerly creaked the door open and peeked inside.

Upon opening the door the sound exploded in my face and is was drowned in a luscious beat so strong it tore away my sense of reality… again.

“That would make it twice this week,” I thought as I looked down at my hooves again for a moment.

Putting on a stern face I pushed into the living room resisting the shock waves hitting me. I did giggle at how all the furniture shook and moved around the room as I pushed through to the staircase, passing what looked like Octavia curled up in a corner with a pillow wrapped around her head. My hooves on the floorboards must have been drowned out by the overpowering sounds reverberating through the house so she can’t have heard me.

“I guess she really doesn't like this music then, so why does she live here?”

I tossed away that thought as I continued onward; I knew I needed to be somewhat fast otherwise my hearing would disappear altogether.

I tensed up with nerves as I realized what I was about to do and hoped I didn't startle her as I went in. So with a gulp I nudged the door and walked in.

“HEY! VINYL? CAN YOU HEAR ME?” I shouted over the racquet beating me into a pulp.

“WHAT?” came the imminent reply.

“I WAS HOPING YOU COULD HELP ME!” I cried.

“No needs to shout I’m right here, now then what were you saying?”

I blushed as I realized the music had stopped, and that my voice alone had been dominating the atmosphere in the room… which now turned kind of awkward.