The Magic of Music

Littlefur? Is that what they call me?

"Fluttershy, are you alright?!" asked the rainbow-maned Pegasus. "I was afraid that beast would hurt you," it said, pointing at Krys, "so I grabbed Applejack. We were on our way back to your cottage when I saw it here in Ponyville! What happened?" Fluttershy looked down at the ground in embarrassment.

"I tried to give it the Stare, but it didn't work. I started pacing back and forth, trying to figure out what I was going to do to get through to Littlefur, but she was gone when I looked up. She hasn't been giving you trouble, has she?"

"Yes, it was!" You started it, you four-legged bohemian! "It was trying to attack some fillies, so I swooped down and saved them!"

"Hey, that's not what happened at all!" Sleight fumed. "I was just trying to say hi when you swooped down and tackled me!"

"Oh my!" Fluttershy gasped. "Twilight, your spell worked!" Everyone stared at the canary yellow Pegasus in disbelief.

"Wait, can y'all understand it, Fluttershy?" asked the orange mare which the cyan one called 'Applejack'.

"Her, not it, and yes I can," she said resolutely. "It isn't like talking to you... More like when I listen to Angel Bunny, I just know what she's saying."

"Then I guess it did work, just not in the way I had hoped," proclaimed Twilight. "Not a total success, but not a total failure either. I'm going to find where I made the mistake and fix it so the rest of us can talk with it- her, directly, but first..." Twilight approached Krys with a powerful glare. "Why were you attacking fillies?! Even after we rescued you from the timber wolves?" Timber... wolves...? Krys facepalmed. "And why are you groaning?!"

"Egregious puns are egregious." They glanced at Fluttershy for a translation, but she just shook her head.

"I don't know what she meant by that." A collective sigh sounded from the crew of horses.

"Are you sure it worked, Fluttershy? You just said-"

"I CAN understand her, Rainbow Dash! She said earlier you attacked her!" asserted Fluttershy in as meek a voice as Krys had ever heard.

"That is totally not true! She was trying to foalnap three fillies!"

"I was trying to say hi! Not 'foalnap' them or whatever! I saw them spying on me as I walked through town, so I tried to make contact. Nobody else would." Fluttershy relayed Sleight's message.

"That's not what I saw! I saw them hiding behind a barrel as you menaced your way closer."

"That's a lie! Don't make me throw you again!" Sleight snarled menacingly.

"Throw me? Hah! You couldn't even catch me out here if you tried!"

"Girls, settle down!" interjected Twilight. "Now, what's this about throwing Rainbow Dash?"

"This monster grabbed me by the leg and threw me like a ball!" Rainbow Dash raged, pointing at Krys.

"This pony kicked me in the nose!" Fluttershy translated as a raging Sleight pointed at Rainbow Dash.

"You were trying to feel my tail!" By now, the Pegasus was in Krys' face, trying to be intimidating. Krys reached out and grabbed Dash's hindleg and grinned a cheshire grin.

"Caught you again." It's magenta eyes grew wide, even without Fluttershy's translation.

"GIRLS!!" The two looked at an entirely frustrated Twilight, then back at each other. Grudgingly, they turned away and simultaneously Hmph'd. "Rainbow Dash, don't pick a fight with a creature that we know very little about."

"But she-"

"No Buts!" The rainbow-maned Pegasus hung her head. "And you! You will either promise to behave, or I'm going to lock you in Princess Celestia's dungeon! Do I make myself perfectly clear?" Not really, but... Krys nodded. "Good. Now, since you're a new species, I'd like to take some time to study you. Do you mind?"

"What do you mean, 'study'?" Krys asked nervously through Fluttershy.

"Eating habits, sleep cycles, what you do to keep warm without any fur, your background, whether you're social or not, what you do for fun, how you relie--"

"So basically everything?"

"Of course. What good is learning about something new if you aren't thorough?" Krys sighed.

*********************

Finally, it's over... six eternity-long hours of questions and probing is worse than working slow songs at the studio. At least when I'm working, I have music around. but here? There's nothing. Not even a cello. At least I can walk freely, now. Twilight made me promise not to bother anypon- anybody.

Wow, Krys... Just wow.

But yea, no bothering the ponies. Ponies, not horses. They don't seem to like being called the 'h' word. And here I am, thinking about the things that pester them. I really need to find something to do. *ggroooooooowl* And food. Ugh, with everything that's been going on, I haven't had time to get food. I've gotta find something to... The scent of a tantalizingly warm, apple-cinnamon pie wafted through Krys' nostrils. Sweet mother of god, that smells wonderful! *Ggrooooooowl!* I know, belly. Tongue wants it too.

Krys followed her nose to a small (by her standards) bakery. Inside, she found a counter full of baked goods. Pies, cakes, cupcakes, muffins... Nobody was at the counter, defending the wares, either. It would be easy to just- *smack!* Don't go thinking about stealing, Krys! You made a promise not to bother them, and I always keep my promises! *ggroooooooooowl...* Krys sighed. Then she saw the little bell on the tiny counter's top, and hope was restored. *ding*

"H-hello?" A little blue head with a pink splotch of whipped cream on it poked out from the door behind the counter. "C-can I help you?"

"Yea. Can I get a cake?" Krys asked, hoping they would just be nice enough to give her one since she obviously didn't have any money on her. The blue pony just stared at her. "A cake? You know, the- Gah, Fluttershy isn't here to translate..."

"Let me handle this, Mrs. Cake." Up popped a very pink pony with a very poofy mane from immediately behind the counter. It looked like it had been baking recently, due to large patches of flour covering the apron it was wearing. "Hi! How can I help you, strange and large bipedal creature? We have everything sweet from muffins to cakes!"

"Since you probably can't understand a word I'm saying, you can't help me. And even if you could, I have no money to buy a cake." Krys began to walk out.

"Where do you think you're going?!" She jumped in fright, pounding her head against the ceiling as the mug of the pink pony appeared in front of her from above the door, outside the building. "Didn't you come here to eat something? I can't let you leave hungry!"

"Weren't you just... How did you... Wha?" She clutched her aching head as she glanced back and forth between the counter and the now grounded pony. As the pony walked back inside, it gasped a gasp of comprehension that anywhere else could only have meant complete and utter sarcasm.

"This is the first time we've met, isn't it?! Are you new in town?" it asked, bubbling over with energy at the idea.

"I guess... I've only been here for about a day or so."

"Really?!" *thump* That's a cannon. "You know what this calls for, right?" Wait, that's a cannon! "A PARTY!!"

*BOOM!!*