Love Songs and Tooth Picks

I was on my way to the boutique, and saw an all too familiar beast fly in through one of the windows. I hear shouting, and a commotion inside, but then nothing. I tear my way through the door, to see the grinning beast waiting on me. "DISCORD! What did you do with Rarity?!"

He was picking at one claw with another. "Hmph, you are unimportant. Begone." He flicked a bit of his claw at me, and when it hit, everything went black.

---==May 4==---

I blinked the sleep wearily out of my eyes, and the world faded into view around me. Everything was green, the same uniform green orb greeted my eyes in every direction. The orb felt heavy, as if I was lifting it. I decided to blink again, and once I did the orb vanished.

The blankets around me fell from their spherical position and enveloped me. For a moment, I thought I was being attacked by some beast. Once I realised how foolish that was, I started feeling around for the edge of the blankets. Finding them, I flung them off, letting my lungs fill with fresh air.

I tried to roll out of bed and stand, only to fall flat on my face. "Hi floor, good morning." I said, quietly to the annoyingly solid wood.

I heard a voice from another room, "Hey! Heart! You just greeting the floor again?"

"Yeah." I shouted back.

"Wait until you try to stand!" Why would she say that? I wondered.

I went to press one hand to the floor to push my self upright, but found a green hoof where my hand should have been. Curiously, I decided to lick it. I still don't know why I did that, and I still regret doing it. "ARGH! MY HOOF TASTES LIKE-" I cut myself off. What exactly was that taste? I licked it again. "MY HOOF TASTES LIKE RAW MINT LEAVES!"

I heard Gate's voice outside the bedroom door. "Why the hell are you tasting your hoof?" The door opened to reveal a light blue unicorn, with an hourglass cutie mark and two-toned hair.

"Gate? Is that you?"

"Yeah, haven't seen yourself yet have you Heart?"

"No, but why would I need to?" A small hand mirror floated into view, enveloped in a light blue glow. I looked at it, and looking back at me was a pale green unicorn with golden eyes and a sea-green mane. I stuck my tongue out, it stuck it's tongue out. I brushed my hair to the side with one hoof, it brushed it's mane aside with one hoof. I blinked, it blinked. That was a reflection of me.  "Well... " I just blinked a few more times.

Gate chuckled a little. "Yeah."

"And the other two?"

"Yep. Try and stand up."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

I grumbled a bit and pushed all of my hooves against the floor. Slowly but surely, I was gaining height. Thirty seconds later, I was a full three feet tall. "I did it!" I was actually kind of pleased with myself, I never did have the best track record with standing.

"Now try to walk."

My mind went entirely blank for a moment. "How? I imagine it'll come naturally once I manage it, but I've never once attempted quadrupedal movement."

"Like this." Gate walked into the room, and started prancing back in forth in front of me, smiling.

"Show off. Explain."

"Front left hoof, back right hoof, reverse and repeat and reverse and repeat."

"Sounds simple enough." I raise my front left, planted firmly forward. I tried my back right hoof, only to fall flat on my face once I lifted it. "Note to self, don't put weight on a hoof before moving it."

"I'll just leave you to it then." She started to walk back out of the room.

"No! I need help with this, how did you figure it out?"

"I just repeated what I know from the show."

"Show off."

"Want to see more showing off?"

"No."

"Too bad." Her horn started glowing blue again, and I felt myself leave the ground. "Come on, it's time for breakfast."  I rolled my eyes as I was levitated through the doorway and towards the kitchen.

I was set down near a bowl of salad on the floor. A white unicorn with a pink mane and tail was lying on her stomach near a window, bowl of salad in front of her. An incredibly muscular white pegasus had his face inside of a bowl pressed against the fridge. Mine was a simple salad, just lettuce and carrot shavings in a bowl in the middle of the living room. There was nothing special about it, but that first bite tasted like the single greatest thing I had ever bitten into. "Oh sweet baby cheezus that is good." I moaned through my teeth.

"Isn't it? I did absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, I guess pony tongues really like salad." Twinkle said.

I nodded, and happily chewed down the rest of the leafy treat.

The next thirty minutes consisted primarily of me learning to walk. 'Tis a rather silly thought, I'll admit, but it had to be done. Everyone else was already an expert at it, apparently I woke up nearly an hour after them. I eventually managed to perform what looked more like a parody of a pony walking drunkenly, so I considered that an acceptable level of skill and sat on the couch.

Without thinking, I made a nearby remote float over to me and turn the TV on and to the news channel. As it turns out, there were more ponies than one would have thought. The first thing I saw on the news was a video someone had shot from a cell phone of two pegasi chasing each other back and forth across some skyscrapers. The news reporter blabbered on some spiel about something before showing a live video feed of some pink unicorn standing at a very familiar tree in a very familiar park.

My eyes immediately shot wide. Ruth? I went and got my violin. I had started to leave, but Gate stopped me at the door. "Where are you going?"

"Park, theres somepony I need to see."

Gate looked me in the eyes for a moment, before sighing. "Just be careful, alright?" He stepped aside and I stormed out onto the road.

The sound of hooves on cement filled my pained ears as I pressed myself to go faster. The instrument floating behind me seemed to be possessed, following me on its own accord. I was running faster than I ever thought I could. I approached a silver car that was going down the same road as me, and I slowed to not pass it up.

The driver of the car didn't notice me at first, so I pulled a pebble off of the road and tossed it at his window. He did a double take when he saw me. I nodded and tossed another pebble at the window, he rolled it down.

"Hey! Guy! How fast are we going right now?!" I shouted towards him.

He looked at his speedometer in his car. "Thirty seven miles per hour! What the fuck are you?!"

"I'm a unicorn, can you point me towards the park?"

"Two miles up the road, take a left and there it is."

"Thanks guy!"

I pulled away from his window and poured the speed back on, leaving him in my dust. Two miles, She's just two miles away.

I came into the turn, and saw familiar territory once more, there were news vans everywhere. They apparently all wanted a shot of the mysterious unicorn. I was moving too fast to stop, so I just focused my eyes on the wall of vans.

I calmed my breathing, and let loose a large translucent orb of energy move forward in front of me, pushing everything to the side.The sound of screeching tires filled the air as I pushed a path through, moving everything out of my way with my magic. I received many a frightened glances, and many more cameras pointed at me. I didn't care though. I had to get to Ruth.

I finally managed to get off of the road, my hooves felt better on grass but I didn't slow down. The Old Oak was just a few minutes away on foot. At a full gallop, it didn't take me but thirty seconds to work my way there.

I forced myself to slow down once the tree was in sight. There were reporters, bystanders, even a few policemen standing in a wide circle around it, making a haphazard chorus of noise loud enough to drown out my approach. The line of people was just ten seconds away, and unmoving. I couldn't stop, there was no time. Five seconds away.  Three seconds away.

Two...

One...

My horn flashed another flare up of emerald light and everyone in my way found themselves floating in the air. It was incredibly draining, but I made myself do it. There were a lot of shocked and terrified faces looking down as I passed under them.

Panting heavily, I finally reached the tree. The light pink unicorn was curled up between two of the larger gnarled roots. At a glance, one would have assumed her to be asleep; but I saw her shivering, I saw her crying. She wasn't asleep, she was terrified. Poor thing.

Once I caught my breath, I placed my instrument on my favorite old raggedy bench. For the briefest moments, I considered not playing at all; but I couldn't think the proper words to comfort the pink unicorn. I decided to fall back on an old, comforting tune.

I withdrew the violin with my magic, It felt strange, gripping at my regular holding position using magic instead of physically touching it. I drew the bow, and motioned for the crowd to fall silent. Thankfully, many of them understood and the noise died down considerably.

My bow met the strings and I cleared my throat. My hoof found a rock, and It started tapping.

Gods, I wish I had a flute right now

I sang out. "Her breath began to speak, as she stood right in front of me." I looked at the pink unicorn, she was looking back up at me. "The colour of her eyes Were the colour of insanity." I twirled back to face my audience. "Crushed beneath her wave Like a ship, I could not reach her shore." I paused for a moment, seeing that several of the on lookers were singing along. "Were all just dancers, ON THE DEVILS DANCE FLOOR! Well, swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o." I turned back to the now-standing pink unicorn. "Swing a little more, a little more next to me. Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o. Swing a little more, on the devils dance floor. "

"Pressed against her face, I could feel her insecurity. Her mothered been a drunk And her father was obscurity. But nothinever came From a life that was a simple one. So pull yourself together girl, and have a little fun!" Nearly half the crowd was singing along. "Well, she took me by the hand I could see she was a fiery one. He legs ran all the way up to heaven and past Avalon. Tell me somethin girl, what is it you have in store. She said come with me now, On the devils dance floor!"

"Well, swing a little more, little more, o'er the merry-o. Swing a little more, little more next to me. Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o. Swing a little more, on the Devils Dance Floor! Swing a little more, on the Devils Dance Floor!" My violin was franticly trying to keep up, I decided to whistle the interlude.

A bit more softly, and directly to the poor mare, "Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o, .Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o. Swing a little more, on the Devils Dance Floor! "

"The apple now is sweet, oh much sweeter than it ought to be. Another little bite, I don't think there is much hope for me. The sweat beneath her brow, travels all the way an headin south. The bleedin hearts cryin, cause theres no way out!" Her tears were dried and her grin wide. "Well, swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o, swing a little more next to me. Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o. Swing a little more, on the Devils Dance Floor!" I left the remaining chorus to the crowd as I walked over to the mare.

"How do you do, miss?"

"L-lenny?"

"I've been called Heart these past few days, but yes I am Lenny Lovesong. You seemed a tad distraught when I saw you on TV, so I came running to cheer you up."

She looked at me up and down. "I suppose that's where you were the other day. I can understand you not wanting to be seen in public once... this," she gestured to herself with a front hoof, "started up."

"Ahh, yes. Terribly sorry about that, it has been a very ... unpredictable week."

"Yeah... I tried to leave, but when ever I move away from the tree, I feel their eyes staring at me. Analyzing, wondering, suspecting. I hate it. I just can't get close enough to ask them to move, before they start bombarding me with sound."

"I could help with that. I'm rather exhausted, but I think I could hold their attention long enough for you to get away, if you'd like."

"That'd be wonderful, but are you sure you'll be okay on your own once I make it away?"

"Absolutely, I love a good crowd. If push comes to shove, I could always just let panic take over and force my way out."

"Okay then..."

"Right, get ready to sprint away, because I don't know how much energy I got left in me. Once I start, Wait until all eyes are on me, and just run. Head straight for cover once you do, don't want anyone noticing you on the way out."

"Oh-by the way, Heart, I've been going by Love lately, I don't know why but other ponies are just calling me that."

"Tis a lovely name for a lovely girl. Now then Are you ready to enjoy a good tune?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." She smiled and leaned over to me and whispered, "That was a terrible pun."

"I know, I couldn't help myself." I smiled and raised my violin once more, and the crowd fell silent.

I decided to go with something simpler, more distracting. Perhaps a Jig?

The crowd had it's eyes on me, ears on my music, but my ears just swiveled towards the sound of a retreating Love. No one seemed to obscure her passage, so I just smiled and held everyone's attention a bit longer.

Several minutes pass, many of the reporters had just dropped their mics and started dancing. I kept the violin floating loudly in the air near the tree, and approached the nearest reporter. She was dancing, her blond hair let down and flailing about and her eyes closed.

"Excuse me ma'am? You are with the news right?"

She stopped dancing and looked at me, eyes wide. "You can talk?"

"Of course I can, I'm not some animal. Anyways, I'd like you to do me a favor."

"Uh, what would that be?"

"Spread this message to all of the news sources you can."

"Oh.. okay?"

"We are ponies. We were humans. We still have rights. Back the fuck off. We deserve privacy as much as the lot of you."

She just stood dumb struck, jaw dropped. "Right, I'll pass that along."

"Thanks, thanks a bunch." I just turned and started walking back to my violin.

"Uhh... Miss?" I heard her shout behind me.

I stood and turned my head. "Yes?"

"Can I have your name?"

"You can not have it, but I will tell it to you." I silenced my song. "My name is Lyra, Lyra Heartstrings. You can call me Heart." I walked away.

I gathered my things, and sat on the bench, staring at the sun as it set behind the old oak tree. Today was a good day. The various onlookers and reporters were gradually starting to trickle away as blissful quiet began to wrap it's tendrils around the park once more. I drifted off to sleep.

I awoke to the sound of hooves approaching. I swiveled my ears towards the noise, but did not open my eyes. "Who is there?"

"It's just me, Heart." That was Gate's voice, but Gate didn't walk that loudly.

"Prove it."

"Just open your eyes, it's me."

I opened my eyes and looked, it definitely looked like the friend I've had for years, but I could tell that it was not her. "No, it isn't. Gate would never pass up such an opportunity to play a joke on me. Who are you?"

She grinned for a moment, and a deep green circle of flame appeared at her feet. It rose up and burned away her disguise, revealing a hole-filled black carapace. Thin bug-like wings were on her back and her horn was bent, jagged, and broken. The look in her now-green eyes was unmistakable. "It is only me."

"What do you want C? Just let me sleep in peace."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, making such a show of yourself will draw unwanted attention."

I grinned. "That was no show, that was just a day's work. A friend was scared, and needed a distraction. I provided for her while she ran. There is nothing to show in that."

"That is not what I meant. You made an open statement to the human media, knowing full well the direction they would take it in."

"And?"

"And what?"

"You speak as if I care what you think. I did something, you don't like it. That's your problem, not mine." I pointed my hoof behind me. "I don't like that rock over there, so I don't look at it. I don't change it or move it, because I know others like that rock, so I just deal with the fact that it's going to keep being a rock."

She seemed a bit taken aback at the comparison. "That is not what I am saying, I-"

I cut her off with a shout. "I don't care what you are saying! Just shut up, let ME live MY life!" I felt energy begin to flow into my horn.

"Now, you listen here. You are going to respec-"

"NO! You have no right to try to tell me what to do. Be gone." I wrapped her in my magic and lifted her about twenty feet over the air, casting an eerie pale green glow onto the otherwise unlit park. I compressed all of my energy into the ball, and launched it as far away as I could, as fast as I could. She was out of sight for nearly a minute before I stopped pumping energy into her acceleration. I blacked back out from exhaustion.

I felt another presence near me, sitting on the bench. "Hey Heart, you okay? Twinkle, Snow and I were on our way to find you when we saw the light fly overhead. We noticed C was inside the light and screaming in terror,  she tried to fly once the light faded but the wind must of torn her wings, because she just fell to the road."

I opened my eyes and smiled meekly. "Hehe, yeah. Magic can be pretty awesome sometimes."

I heard Snow's voice from behind me. "Dude, sometimes? We were watching you on TV! When you walked up to that reporter and told them all off, it was funny as hell!"

Twinkle giggled from my left. "Snow didn't stop laughing until he ran out of air and passed out."

"Figures." I said. "So then, anyone wanna carry me back to the house? I'm kind of exhausted as hell right now."

Snow 'lightly' punched me in the side. "Wimp."

"I sprinted for nearly fifteen miles, at speeds exceeding fourty miles per hour. While carrying 15 pounds worth of violin case, making it float magically at the same speeds. And then I danced for a solid two hours, while playing music loud enough for an entire crowd to hear. Let's see you do that in a body you've had for a day." I laughed at my own words. They sounded kind of funny.

He rubbed his chin with a hoof for a bit. "Fair enough. One of you get the violin, the other help me get sleepy head here onto my back."

I felt myself floating off of the bench and passed back out.