Us and Them

Chapter 3

An Exciting Day

Part 1-

Tycho

“You’re just not getting it!” Rainbow Dash cried, her voice laden with exasperation.

“Well maybe you’re not a good teacher!” I countered. These lessons were getting me nowhere. One hour in and I still had next to no clue what I was doing.

“Are you saying you don’t think I can fly?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“That’s it!” She barreled at me. Not quite full speed I guess, but it looked like it would hurt. I dodged as soon as I saw her coming at me. She stopped a few seconds after, when she noticed that there wasn’t somepony- namely me- lying on the ground, then turned and came straight back at me. I dodged again, but this time grabbed her tail in my mouth and threw her to the ground.

“How are you doing that?” She asked. She didn’t seem hurt. At least, not too bad.

“I dunno, just instinct I guess.” Then I noticed something felt weird. “Holy hay, I’m flying!”

“See, you just needed a little... motivation. Still, those moves were cool. What else you got in ya?”

“Let’s find out.” We sparred for a while. Rainbow never touched me. Every time she got close, even at some of her highest speeds, I would dodge her attacks, or stop her with one of my own.

“Wow. You’ve got some good moves. I think we could be real good friends.”

“Rivals, more like. Race you to Sugarcube Corner?”

“You’re going down so hard.”

For the record, I lost so hard. We got juice and waited for the party to begin. I guess making friends with these ponies wasn’t as horrible as I thought it might be.

Part 2-

Dusty

I had one hour to get to Ponyville, something that should take me a few hours, according to the gentlecolt from The Halfway Inn. I honestly didn’t expect to make it on time. I was a little worried I would miss the party entirely. I knew what I needed to do if I wanted to get there in time.

I turned left down the road, and began to pick up my pace. I went from a trot, to a canter, before reaching a full gallop. But even when I was galloping, I still felt like I had a lot to give. And I knew that if I didn’t give my all, there was no way I was going to make it to the party in time.

I kicked it into overdrive. My hooves were pumping like mad, but I wasn’t getting tired at all. I kicked overdrive up a notch. I figured I must’ve been moving about three times my normal gallop speed when I hit my top speed. But for some reason, this felt like a normal speed for me to gallop at.

The adrenaline rush this gallop brought was incredible. I felt like I could do anything, and judging by my speed, reaching Ponyville in an hour was going to be simple. I just kept going, running past other ponies at my ultra-high speed. I hoped I didn’t blow any of them over as I went by.

Everything became a blur. I was moving so fast that all the things I passed blended together. It was a strange sight to see, but I imagine it would probably be stranger to see me streaking by at that speed.

Finally, Ponyville appeared before me, coming up fast. The clock tower read 6:45. I made it. I had no idea how, but somehow I kicked it into gear enough to get my flank back to Ponyville in time for the party. Of course, now I actually had to find the party, but that should be the easy part, right?

Part 3-

Lyrica

I stared at the crowd. Okay, so it was just the three ponies judging and whoever happened to be walking by. But I kept staring anyways. The white unicorn on the right looked bored, but I couldn’t see her eyes through her reflective glasses. “Today, please.” Yep, she was bored.

I focused, and let my voice come out. I don’t know what I expected, but I just sang from the heart. The words came out easily, but I don’t know where from. Like a story my mother would have told me as a filly, I couldn’t remember the words, but they came out anyways.

“Just a small town girl, livin’ in a lonely wo-orld. She took the midnight train goin’ aaaannnyyyyywhere. Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit. He took the midnight train goin’ aaaannnyyyyywhere.” I didn’t know what I was singing, but I was sure as heck singing it. My voice could contest Sweetie’s. Full-bodied, confident, and melodic.

“A singer in a smoky room. Smell of wine and cheap perfume. For a smile they can share the night, it goes on and on and on and ohh. Strangers. Waiting. Lookin’ down the boulevard, there’s shadows. Searchin’ in the niiiiiight.” The white unicorn’s jaw dropped. The gray pony was bobbing her head with the beat, not that there actually was one.

“Streetlights, people. Living just to find emotion. Hiding, somewhere in the niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Workin’ hard to get my fill. Everybody wants a thrill. Payin’ anything to roll the dice. Just one more time. Some’ll win. Some will lose. Some are born to sing the blues. Oh the movie never ends, it goes on and on and on and ohhh.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Historia walk past. She must’ve seen that I was singing, because her jaw dropped and she ran right up to the fence. I never stopped singing, but I thought of waving.

“Strangers. Waiting. Lookin’ down the boulevard, there’s shadows. Searchin’ in the niiiiiight. Streetlights, people. Living just to find emotion. Hiding, somewhere in the niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.”

My voice hit maximum volume. I somehow knew that I loved this part, even though I still didn’t know what I was singing. “Don’t stop. Believin’. Hold on to that feeeeeling. Streetlights, people. Don’t stop. Believing. Hold on to that feel-ay-ee-aying. Streetlights, people-oh-oh-ohhhhhh.”

With that, the song ended. The crowd was incredulous. And I had gathered quite the crowd. On top of the judges and Historia, a number of other ponies had gathered to listen. When they had recovered, they all began cheering and stomping.

“Well? How did I do?” I asked the judges.

“That performance was unbelievable. I’ve never heard anything so magnificent. Ten. Easily.” The gray pony said.

“I loved your singing, and that song was so catchy. Ten!” Cheerilee said. Now I just had to impress the white unicorn.

“Look, I’ve heard some good songs in my time. I’ve heard lots of voices, and you’ve got some serious talent. But I’m afraid…” Everypony was hanging on her word, and it sounded like I was going to lose the contest. “I’m afraid I have no choice but to give you a perfect ten.”

The crowd went wild. A perfect score meant I won. I won. I won! I sat on stage, letting it soak in, before Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo dragged me back behind the curtains.

“Aw. I was sure this would get me my cutie mark.” Scootaloo complained.

“Are you kidding? You got a twelve. I’m the one who nearly got her cutie mark here.” Sweetie countered.

“Don’t worry, try again next time. I promise I won’t enter and upstage you.” I said with a wink, before going to see the MC. I picked up four vouchers for a trip and stay in Canterlot, and took them with me outside as I went to meet Historia.

Part 4-

Historia

I was walking back to Sugarcube Corner to meet the other three when I heard singing. I recognized the song. It was “Hush Now, Quiet Now” being sung by Sweetie Belle. I heard it coming from the school yard, so I decided I might as well walk by. Sadly, Sweetie’s song was over before I could get there. What would’ve been disappointment quickly turned into shock and amazement, as I began to hear a song even more familiar than Sweetie’s.

Much to my surprise, I saw an all-too-familiar red pony standing on stage singing. Even more surprising was what she was singing. Whether she knew it or not, she was singing Journey’s ultra-smash-if-you-don’t-know-this-song-you-are-legally-dead (at least for humans. I’m pretty sure nopony else had heard this song) hit: “Don’t Stop Believin’.” My jaw dropped like- well like if I were in a cartoon (comedic takes work even better when the world is a cartoon).

After the song ended, everypony cheered. She had gathered quite a crowd. She got a perfect score, and was declared the winner of the contest. She was so surprised that she won that she had to be dragged back behind the curtain by two other  fillies that I recognized too well. A few minutes later, she came out carrying a few pieces of paper in her mouth.

“Hey Hiforia! Gueff wha! I won da conteft!” She said, still trying to hold the papers as she talked.

“Again, without the papers please.” I said as I took them out of her mouth. I would’ve levitated them using magic, but apparently you don’t just “abracadabra” things and they start floating.

“I won the contest!”

“So I see.” I had put the papers on my back for the time being. I had some talking I wanted to do before we went anywhere. “What did you sing to win?” I was probing to see if I could get any answers about her past. There was no logical explanation why she would sing a human song unless she was a human, like I was.

“See, that’s the funny part. I don’t actually know. The words just kinda… you know, came to me as I was singing.”

“mmhmm. Well, we’ve got a party to go to, so let’s get going.” It was a bit past six. We still had time to make it to the party and still be early.

We kept talking as we made our way to Sugarcube Corner. “So, what did you win? What’re these papers?” I asked.

“Apparently they’re vouchers to get the four of us a free ride and stay at some place called Canterlot.”

“CANTERLOT!?!?!?” I nearly screamed. I couldn’t help it. She had pretty much unwittingly solved our problem. Or, well, my problem. I still wasn’t completely sure I could say our problem yet. I couldn’t honestly say the other three (okay, I was pretty sure about my red friend here) were human or not.

“Y-yes. Is… is that a bad thing?”

“No, no. It’s a great thing. Good job winning. You deserved it.”

“Thanks!”

As we approached Sugarcube Corner, I recognized not one, but two pegasi sitting outside of it, enjoying what appeared to be apple juice. Remembering the “Brony’s Curse” I had discovered earlier, I elected not to shout out to Rainbow Dash, as was my instinct, but to simply walk up and say hi to the one I was already acquainted with.

“Hey there, ready to party?” I asked my still-unnamed friend.

“Yeah I am.” He responded.

“Who’s your mare-friend here?” Rainbow blushed, but then quickly tried to hide it and spoke up before my red friend could say anything.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash. I’m the best flier in all of Ponyville. One day, I’m gonna join the Wonderbolts, and then everypony in Equestria’ll know who I am.”

“Right. Well, party’s about to start. Wonder where that big fella is.” I pondered aloud. The answer came mere seconds after the cue. You’d almost think that a sandstorm had come out of nowhere and hit Ponyville. In a matter of seconds, we went from clean air to a thick cloud of dust. When the air cleared seconds later, there was one more of us than before.

“That was… uncanny.” I coughed out. Somehow, the big colt had managed to suddenly appear out of nowhere and bring this cloud with him. All seconds after I asked where he was.

“I guess that’s all of us then. Is the party starting yet?” I asked.

Apparently, ponies only listen to me when I don’t talk to anypony, because this time Pinkie heard me and slammed open the doors. “Of course it is, silly fillies. Now come on in.” As if she expected us to say no and walk away, she managed somehow to stretch her arms out to grab all five of us (Dash included) and drag us in. The party was on, and I was ready. Or at least, I hoped I was.