“Hey, knock it off you two!” Those little blank flanks... why do they always seem to be messing around in my home, even in a new town! I really ought to teach them a lesson, perhaps next time. Yeah, that’s it, next time. I’ll get ‘em so bad, so bad they’ll think five times before they-HEY! “What in the hay are you fillies doing!? Get out of there, if you don’t mind!” The fillies in question were one small orange chicken and a crackly-voiced marshmallow, both invading the home of an Amber Rouge.
Amber, a confident, purple-coated Earth pony, was the newest mare to call Ponyville her home. She lived in a home similar to that of Twilight Sparkle, though Amber had more trinkets, ingredients and brewing devices than said egghead. These were commonplace in the home of any experimental scientist such as Ms. Rouge, who was an expert in her field. Her reasons for moving out of Canterlot were known by a select few, Celestia and her secret informants mainly, though apparently her sudden integration into Ponyville was a surprise to these two crazy fillies. Oh wait, they were talking now, weren’t they? Yeesh.
“Heey! What’s all this neat junk laying around?” Squeaked the marshmallow, groping at her prized carved whale bone collection while the chicken just trotted about, touching abso-freaking-lutely EVERYTHING and causing Amber’s home to be slightly more disorganized (in her mind at least). “Yeah, only one who’s had this much stuff is that donkey who moved in a little while ago.” Commented the chicken.
“Cranky? We’ve crossed paths on occasion, but I would much rather know who you two are and why you, please pardon if I sound a bit rude, seem to think that it’s alright to go fumbling with another mare’s things?” Amber said, straightening herself out a bit and staring at the orange one, causing her to stop mid-trot.
“Well... I’m Sweetie Bell. And she’s Scootaloo, miss.” Explained the marshmallow named Sweetie Bell.
“Rouge. Call me Amber.”
“Ok then, Amber.” Scootaloo said, though she sounded a bit strange when she said it. “Sorry, it’s just kinda hard to sit still when there’s so much to look at.” She admitted, looking over at Sweetie Bell, who simply nodded.
“I understand, girls, you’re young. Your minds were built to wander, it’s just that I can’t handle so much... Discord.” She said, sighing, though the two smaller fillies seemed a bit worried as the last word left her lips. “Listen, if I were to give you two something-”
“Excuse me, pardon, comin’ through.” Said some other tiny country voice from the door, who was pushing past a few mannequins to get just behind Amber. “Scoot and Sweetie, whah were you two here? You were supposed’ta come to the tree house so’s we could work on gettin’ our cutie marks! Oh, and ma’am I’m Applebloom, sister of Applejack and Big Macintosh." The young Apple smiled up at Amber with an almost creepy cuteness, despite her thick drawl.
“Ah, I’ve seen the other Apples on my late night and early morning rounds of the town. I take it you’re friends with these two?” Before the words left her mouth Applebloom had gotten around the room, staring at every little trinket her brain could lock onto. One hoof stomp to the hard wood floor later and Applebloom was sitting beside Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell, looking a bit ashamed.
“Now, what were you saying earlier, Miss Amber?” Squeaked Sweetie, who looked up at her, as if to direct a teacher who’d gone on a tangent.
“Yes, sorry, lost my cool for a second. What I was saying, is that you... well, three, could take care of something for me, then simply return it tomorrow. Sound like a deal, and I’ll forgive you all for messing about with my things?” She asked, getting three very fast nods before trotting over to a shelf and pulling down three rather large gems. One was a sky-blue, one pale green, and the third gem totally clear. “These will help me predict the weather for the next week... I know, I could ask a weather pegasus, but that’s just a bunch of work that I’d rather not get myself tangled with. Do you girls understand the job?” Amber asked as she placed a gem beside each of them.
“You can count on us, Miss Rouge!” Applebloom cheered, the others smiling and nodding with her.
“Very good. Just drop them off in the little basket inside the door, alright? Now run along, I have some cleaning to do, along with some work that may or may not be dangerous to smaller ponies.” Amber smiled at them, then walked the three out, shutting the door behind them.
Amber leaned against her door for a bit, closing her eyes as the sunlight that shone through her two small windows turned from orange to an explosion of pink, then to blue-black night. The pony walked slowly through her home, reorganizing her things in the dim moonlight while humming a tune of discord, shaking a bit every now and again when her humming became sporadic.
She was soon a mess of squeaking humms and nearly silent whimpers, her shelves becoming more and more disorganized in the dark as she went on. When she walked into the wall, she stopped and fell onto the floor, covering her ears. The silence of night was getting to her again, and none of her trinkets were making any... noise?
As she held her body to the floor, her ear picked up some very slight rumbling in the floorboards, snapping her out of her frightened trance.
“What in Celestia’s name is that sound?” She wondered aloud, then ran upstairs to her room, which was a sight to behold in itself. A massive observatory, the roof of which was a giant glass dome, which, in using her own brand of modern science and “potions” as she called them, could be used to study any star she wished. In addition to this, special glass sheets which she designed used the moonlight to litter the ground with thousands of tiny specks of light, making the room an aesthetically pleasing place to sleep.
After admiring her room for a while, Amber opened a window and poked her head out, scoping out anywhere that looked like it was.... hosting a concert. As the thought crossed her mind, the familiar thumping of bass rang through her hooves in the slightest vibrations. Vinyl Scratch was in town, no doubt carting her speakers beside her through the outskirts of Ponyville to promote her new albums. Amber was an enormous fan of Vinyl’s, though she had never seen the unicorn in person, only heard her music and walked around outside her concerts a few times in Canterlot.
Gathering her thoughts and some various bottles into her saddlebag, which was worn around her neck hanging off to one side, Amber trotted down the stairs and headed for the source of the thumping bass. After about 5 minutes of walking, the purple pony found the DJ unicorn sitting beside an amplifier hooked up to two wheels, the ground around the two shaking slightly as sick beats filled the air. “Excuse me, Miss Scratch, could I bug you for a moment?” Amber asked, raising her voice slightly over the music, only to have the unicorn turn around with her glasses sitting above her horn, a somewhat annoyed look on her face.
“Hey, no need ta shout, hon. I can hear ya just fine.” She said then, with a smile, extended a hoof. “And what’s your name, exactly?” Vinyl mused, cocking her head to the side slightly.
“I’m Amber Rouge, new in town, probably haven’t seen me around anywhere.” Amber explained somewhat nervously, grinning as she shook the mare’s hoof. “I own the observatory just a ways away. It’s sorta my thing, stars, science... y’know.” She gestured her head back towards her cutie mark, which was a few small white stars surrounding the Big Dipper, with the North star being the brightest and biggest.
“Sweet. And actually I do think I saw you moving in just a while back. I was kinda runnin’ it around in my head to help you or not, but I didn’t want to interfere or anything.” Vinyl chuckled and pat the spot next to her. “Come on, don’t be shy. I may be popular but I sure don’t bite, ‘specially not a cute thing like you.”
Amber, quite sure she was asleep and dreaming, wasn’t about to let this moment escape her. She plopped her plot beside the unicorn and leaned back, her eyes drifting up towards the moon and the billions of tiny stars shining in the night sky.
The Stars Shall Be Our Guide
Each little star, to Amber, looked like a little hole poked in a big blue-black sheet to let in some light, not enough to cast shadows, but enough to illuminate some empty space. Of course the purple pony relayed this feeling to the unicorn sitting beside her, who simply gave a tiny chuckle and nodded.
“I see what’yer sayin, but I got my own little theory. The whole thing’s just a big ‘ol picture, painted by a pony with white paint and black paper. Each night it looks a new painting, but they’re in the same rockin family, with the same artistic talent, so there are some recurring themes.” Vinyl replied, scooting forward so she could lay on her back with her hooves behind her head.
Amber quickly mimicked the action and laid herself out about a foot apart from one of her top favorite musicians. The grass tickled her back, making the purple coated pony squirm some before settling with her hooves behind her luscious red mane. She turned her head to look over at Vinyl, then peeked above towards the Everfree Forest. “You ever been back in there? I hear it’s terribly scary.”
“PSSSSSHHH Are you kidding me? E.F. is the most rockin place! This one time, I had a show in there, like, middle of the night, pitch black in a tiny clearing, stereos were hooked up and the stage was ready. Only 3 ponies came, so I figured “well, I’ll just make this one of those underground shows” y’know, when you break out the old, amazing stuff that everyone remembers, just so those who came can brag about it to their friends? Anyways, I was jamming for the sound test, and wouldn’t you know it? An Ursa Minor came out and started ripping everything to shreds!” Vinyl’s voice had escalated as she recalled the event, her ruby eyes seeming to glisten, popping out more from her pale coat.
“Vinyl that’s terrible! Did anyone get hurt?” Amber inquired, turning herself over, just mimicking Vinyl’s stance more.
“Oh come on, babe, you and my manager sound the same. You don’t honestly think I’d be so psyched about something if anyone got hurt, right?”
"Well, I-"
"Exactly." Vinyl interrupted, then cleared her throat. "Heh, so anyways, this huge-ass Ursa was just TEARING up my stage, with those big celestial paws... you ever seen one in real life? It's got the night sky for a coat, kinda like Nightmare's mane... liquid... hair thing. The Ursa wasn't leaving anything untouched, but get this. When it saw me, oh, I was just freakin' out like any other pony would be, hiding under my turntables, it was all like "Oh, better grab that sexy DJ" and I accidentally knocked over the microphone!" Vinyl began to chuckle, gently patting the grass beside her.
"So, what happened?" Amber finally said, though just moments before her eyes were big, listening to the white unicorn's incredible story and totally lost in her voice. She shuffled herself a bit to get more comfortable, still shifting her eyes occasionally towards Everfree Forest, feeling the eyes of some big ferocious beast staring back.
The unicorn looked over a bit puzzled, grinning wide after a few seconds. "What do you mean? When I dropped the microphone, the air made this sick bass drop sound as it fell, but then, when it was totally silent, the speakers that still worked were right next to his ears started screaming and squeaking like mad, kinda like that Slendercolt sound. The Ursa started flipping his shit, then ran away roaring, but his stomping made the mic roll out of range of the speakers. It was so EPIC! Celestia, you should've seen it... Although I couldn't hear right for a few days after that."
"Sweet Celestia that's insane... I still vote that Everfree Forest is the scariest place in Equestria. You see, Vinyl, it's not the things I know of that scare me... it's the unknown." Amber says with a sigh, then stares up towards the stars once more.
"Y'know?"
The white unicorn certainly did know, and that little comment hit a nerve and sent a little chill down her spine, the nerve that Vinyl had usually beaten back so that she could enjoy her very laid back lifestyle. She rose and trotted over to Amber and sat closer to her new friend, putting a hoof on hers, feeling the same glaring angry eyes from the forest. "Yeah, I do... Say, you don't happen to have an extra bed at your place, do you? I'd really rather not go home tonight, just a heavy amp." She said, looking over at the cart.
With a smile and a nod, Amber closed her eyes and imagined she was a unicorn like she always did, slowly moving her head side to side and painting star maps with her "horn." After a few seconds of her goofy head gyrating, she nervously hopped to her feet and gestured towards the observatory. "Let's go, Ms. Scratch."