The Technicolor Kingdom Chapter 2: Musical Coffee

Aaron looked at his hand within the light of the barracks: One ten, one jack, two kings, and an ace. Piled neatly on the table were ten beautiful doughnuts, with multicolored frosting and strawberry jelly filling. Aaron felt powerful with determination. They would soon be his donuts, and with this set of cards, he couldn't lose.

He looked at his three opponents. All were guards. The first contained a white coat, black mane, and golden Armor. Sweat rolled down the back of his neck, and he shook with apprehensiveness.

“It’s your turn, Jittertank,” said the second opponent. Jittertank laid down his hand, revealing three fours and two threes.

The group winced. “Aw, that’s unfortunate. Better luck in the next game, I guess,” voiced the second opponent. He was a unicorn with a blue, streaky mane, a white coat, and no Armor. “Alright, your move, Blaudge,” he grunted, referring to player number three, a grey-scaled soldier pony who snored loudly in his sleep.

His mouth hung open and drool slowly spilled out the side of his mouth.

“Yuck. I guess he passes,” said the unicorn, who then returned to Aaron. “Alright, kid.”

The human slammed his cards down on the table dignifiedly and declared “Kachooca!” as was the custom for the winning hand. He pulled the donuts toward himself eagerly, before his social competitor announced, “Not so fast! I still have my hoof to submit.”

Confused, Aaron sat back in his chair and waited, unnervingly.

The white Unicorn slowly laid down his set, to reveal four kings and one ace.

Aaron was flabbergasted. “Wait a minute! How can you possibly have four kings if I already have two?” he interrogated.

“Look closely,” instructed the Unicorn.

Aaron glanced down just in time to see his own two kings suddenly pull back their capes to reveal crossbows. They each aimed at Aaron’s jack, and shot it with two plunger arrows. The jack then fell backwards behind the window of the card, rendering it empty.

“What?” said the human, bewildered at what he just witnessed.

The unicorn sat upright in his chair and said, “Apparently, your kings were assassins in disguise.”

“But-but…But, but” Stammered Aaron.

“Kachooca,” declared the soldier. He swept his hooves across the table and claimed the jelly-filled pastries.  Aaron watched in despair as his conqueror stuffed a doughnut into his mouth, unable to comprehend how two playing cards could betray him and deliver a win for the competitor.

“I don’t understand your Kachooka,” Aaron put down.

Just then, the door burst open, where an orange pony rushed in. Panic smothered his face, and the room shook with his distress.

“Guards! Come quick!” said Flash to the party, although alarm caught his expression when he realized who Aaron was playing with. “Prince Shining!” he cried, “I didn't realize that you were here.”

Aaron’s mind spun with ultimate confusion, “Okay, what?” The human bolted out of his chair and said bluntly, “I’ve been playing a card game with a prince? I thought you were just a captain.”

“Yeah, sorry. I forgot to mention that,” Shining Armor said with discomposure, “And I’m also married to a princess.” He looked back at Flash, “I apologize, Officer Sentry. I know I said that I would be coming after the week you arrived, but then I realized that my sister was visiting here as well, with the report of two new individuals in this… uh… universe.”

Aaron approached him and asked, “Oh, so you have family here, too?”

Shining Armor responded cheerfully, “Yeah! My sister is Twilight Sparkle; she’s also a princess.”

Aaron did a double take, “What!? And WHAT?!” He tossed his cards over his shoulder and demanded, “Ok. What other secrets are you keeping from me? Does she even know that you are here right now?”

“Probably not,” Shining Armor responded hopefully, wanting to keep it a surprise for his relative.

Flash Sentry breathed heavily, panic surging through his mind. As he watched the human and his commander engage in a social conversation, he knew that at the same time, someone else was in serious trouble. He grunted loudly.

“…And so I’ve already met this human, but not the other one; I haven’t heard anything from the other human frankly since I arrived tonight. Of course, everybody should be asleep right now. It is way past midnight,” said Shining Armor, “…should be kind of obvious, but…”

Flash grunted louder, “…Sire.”

“But I would like to meet our other guest sometime this…um,  morning. Flash!” Shining Armor called, startling the guard.

“…Do you know where the other human is right now? It’s not that I want to bother him now of course, but so that I know where to go.”

Flash Sentry hesitated. It was ironic that his commander would be asking him about Garion, considering that Flash Sentry had come to here for the very purpose of saving him.

How was he going to tell him that he threw his assignment over a wall!? He didn’t even know that Shining would be here! Even though he knew he was going to get in some serious beef with his commander, he knew he had to be honest.

Flash sighed and said, “He’s absent.”

Aaron looked at the orange pony with confusion and remarked, “Absent? He was here at the same time that I got locked in here with you guys… Not that you guys are bad.”

Shining Armor stared hard at the soldier, “I was told that there were two humans here and that Celestia assigned you and the rest of the guards to keep them in this castle, until they were released tomorrow.”

Flash Sentry rolled his eyes and announced, “Alright, I failed! I lost him! I knocked him off of the battlement!”

A dreadful silence followed. Aaron suddenly felt lost in emotion. Shining Armor grew terribly stern. Blaudge chocked on a doughnut. “What do you mean, you knocked him off of the battlement?” Shining Armor said slowly and distinctly.

“It was an accident! I swear! But he’s fine! He’s fine! He landed in a wagon full of hay!”

The group gave out a loud sigh of release. Aaron stood upright and regretted ever being mean to Garion.

“But the wagon rolled away,” Flash chocked.

Shining Armor gasped, and Aaron buckled down, laughing.

“Ha Ha Ha! That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” Aaron gaggled, “I’m NEVER going to let him forget this!”

Shining Armor rolled his eyes at the human, and directed his attention at Flash. “You’re telling me that Garion fell off a wall, landed into a cart, and just rolled away from the castle? Like a typical wagon scenario from Ponyville?”

“I don’t know what that is… but sure?” Flash said.

“Never mind that! Why in the name of Lamb Neighson did you knock him off the wall? I outta have you put behind bars for that!”

The sweat rolled fast as Flash explained, “He asked me to demonstrate the lance!”

“So you knocked him off the wall!” Shining Armor accused.

“No!”

“Um, guys? Shouldn’t we be looking for Garion?” said Aaron, surprised that for once he was being more responsible than the surrounding population.

“Oh, sorry Aaron. We’re wasting valuable time,” Shining Armor stated. He gave one last look to Flash Sentry, “You better have a good explanation for this when we’re done.”

“I already do,” said Flash.

“Till then, you and I are going with Aaron to find his friend. You too, Jittertank!” Shining Armor shouted at the small, shaky soldier who was clearing the table of cards. He flinched at Shining’s outburst and dropped the cards onto the floor.

“Get your flank over here! We’re on a mission,” stated the Captain, “Blaudge, tell the princess that we will be out scouting for a few hours. Hopefully we can get him back before her highness even realizes he’s missing...that is… if he’s still alive.”

“Oh please…” Aaron groaned, “All the good things seem to happen to him. I’m sure we’ll find Garion in a spa or eating some random pie.”

Shining Armor put a hoof to his head and thought, “Hmm… I could actually use a nice massage... But enough talk! Let’s get going.”

“Alright!” Aaron announced, vaulting onto the back of the orange pony. He picked up a lance and lifted it high in the air. “Onward to victory! Cha!” he announced.

“Get off me!” Flash Sentry exclaimed, tossing him off.

“Sorry. I’ve wanted to do that since I’ve been here,” Aaron grinned.

“Enough Shenanigans. It’s go time!” declared Shining Armor, putting his helmet on.

The stars gleamed like spotlights onto the somewhat small city of Canterlot. Spires and towers shone with extreme elegance under the light of the busy city. Strange music blared from various points, making Aaron’s ears hurt.

The streets were so crowded that the human actually had to clutch onto the three soldiers in order to keep from being separated from them. “Geez! What kind of crazy city is this awake at four o’clock in the morning!” he yelled.

“There’s a Trans-Equestrian concert going on tonight, of all things, and I wasn’t invited!” explained Flash.

“What!?” Aaron screamed above the noise.

“The Trans-Equestrian concert!”

“WHAAAT!!!” Aaron flung his arms and accidentally hit Jittertank, who dropped his lance and shield on the ground.

“Dude, you need to bring up your cholesterol,” Aaron said to the feeble pony as the over sounding anthem ended and the surrounding applause died down, “How can you possibly stand to fight against anything if you’re like this?”

“This is the Trans-Equestrian concert,” Flash continued, when a heavy metal overture erupted around them.

“The Trans-Siberian orchestra!?” Aaron shouted.

“Pull him in here!” exclaimed Shining Armor, who pushed the four of them into a nearby donut shop.

When the door closed, a ringing sound echoed in Aaron’s eardrums due to the noise racing to leave his sub-consciousness.

The shop was a small department within a duplex of multiple shops. A counter crossed the back of the room where many delicious pastries could be seen behind the glass. A few tables clustered with citizens were situated around the corners of the room. Aaron stared at the tiled floor and took a deep breath.

Silence…beautiful silence.

“Okay, repeat one more time, please,” he said.

“This is called the Trans-Equestrian Concert. It’s an annual event that occurs in various parts of the country. Fans of all forms of music come to participate, whether it’s classical, rock, or jazz,” Flash explained.

“Don’t say the ‘J’ word around me please,” Aaron mumbled.

“And ponies, gryphons, or whoever can come to either listen to their favorite pop stars or play themselves,” Flash continued, “There are multiple areas and panels where different singers or instrumentalists are playing. Sometimes people can witness rare celebrity collaboration if they’re lucky. Apparently it is being held here in Canterlot this year.” Flash Sentry groaned, “And I’m on duty so I can’t participate! If only I had my guitar right now, I could do it too.”

“Oh, so this is like Woodstock, except these people are smart enough to try it more than once a generation,” Aaron retorted.

Shining Armor and Flash Sentry both looked confused, but a background pony sitting at a table blurted out, “Actually, this event used to be called ‘Hoofstock’ until the ponies decided to let other species join in.”

“But doesn’t the name Trans-Equestria mean the same as just Equestrians?” Aaron asked.

Suddenly the donut merchant showed up behind the counter and greeted them earnestly, “Hello! What are three fine soldiers such as yourselves doing standing without a chair? Come and sit. Buy a donut.”

Aaron abruptly chocked and said “Please. No more donuts.”

The vendor chortled, “But you haven’t had any yet.”

“Believe me, I’ve already had my share for tonight.”

“Maybe some coffee then?” the vendor persisted.

“Actually, that would be much appreciated,” Aaron stated, parting from the group.

Shining Armor sighed and bickered with Flash. “Are you sure that the wagon even came this way?”

“Unless it magically flew thirty feet to the side at the moment that I looked away, yes,” Flash responded confidently.

“Well it doesn’t appear that anypony here has either seen or heard anything like a rogue hay wagon. For a place as crowded as this, I’m sure that something like that would be hard to not notice, or ignore.”

“Well I’ll keep asking people then.”

Aaron sat at the counter and took a sip of his drink. “Whoa! What kind of coffee is this?”

“It’s coffee. Is there a problem?” said the vendor, whose nametag read to be donut-Joe.

"It’s way too sweet. What did you do, fill half of it with sugar, and the rest with creamer?” Aaron complained.

“If we didn’t, it would taste bitter and it wouldn’t be good.”

“But I like the bitter.”

“What? Who on Earth likes bitter?” Donut Joe criticized.

“This guy,” Aaron pointed to himself.

“That’ll be two bits.”

“Bits?” Aaron repeated, thinking about what he might have meant. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two dollar bills from his wallet. He placed them on the counter, and Donut Joe peered at them.

“These are just pieces of paper.”

“Yeah, well your coffee is just liquid sugar,” Aaron retorted, leaving the vendor in confusion. He walked backed to the group and asked, “So what’s our method of attack?”

“We’re going to split up,” Shining Armor explained, “Me and Jittertank are going to inspect the exterior of the city, and you and Flash will talk to the people inside.”

“Sir, yes sir! Come on Flash Dance!” Aaron urged, leaving with the orange pony.

“Please don’t call me that!”

It was a maze of ponies as the two companions strived to find any significant signs of Garion’s presence. Slow symphonies drifted like water through Aaron’s mind, and he could tell that he was near an orchestra of some sort, but he couldn’t see it. In fact he could barely see anything at all.

“That blasted pony! Why did she have to shrink us at the first moment! Gosh I hate this plotline!” He jumped up and down around ponies who were almost taller than him, shouting things at them like, “Hey! A wagon?! A crazy wagon?! A crazy human?! Like me? Have you seen a crazy wagon crashing into any of you?”

Feeling unsuccessful, Aaron began to feel that Karma was just trying to play rough on him. ‘I wonder if it was this agonizing to track me down, when I walked off?’

Suddenly the crowd began to dissipate and fortune seemed to smile upon him. The orchestra had finished and was packing up for the night.

He took this opportunity to hop onto the stage to claim the microphone. Aaron approached a grey pony who stood upright on her two hind legs to wipe down her base violin. He asked her, “Do you mind if I use this mic for a few seconds?”

She looked at him weird but nodded her head, and continued cleaning her instrument.

Aaron held the microphone stand close, spilling his coffee in the process, but started feeling uneasy about talking to a large group of ponies who had never seen a creature that looked like him before. It was probably the first time that he had ever felt any self-conscious humility since he had been there.

“Um, excuse me?” He asked politely.

Several surrounding citizens turned their attention towards him.

“Have any of you heard news of a hay wagon rolling uncontrollably past here lately?”

Many of them gossiped with one another. Some of them turned towards a dubstep concert that erupted somewhere near off.

“Please. My friend is on that wagon.”

They just shook their heads and continued gossiping.

Flash sentry shoved his way to the front of the crowd and said, “I haven’t had any success with the people over here.”

Aaron bowed his head with exhaustion and sighed, “You and me both.” At this point, he found himself staring at the details of various creatures who were populating this universe: The pony with the afro; the pony wearing a dress; a small red dragon carrying a guitar; the pony holding a baton in her mouth; an undistinguishable creature with two heads, a unicorn with an unusually long mane, a person with a grey hoodie, a gryphon with a Mohawk, and a Pegasus that seemed to be wearing a popular gangster-rap attire.

Grey Hoodie.

Aaron glanced back to the see the human standing on the roof of a building across the plaza.

Feeling the coffee come in, Aaron spun in that direction and began moving.

“Where are you going?” Flash Sentry shouted, jumping after him.

“I see him!” Aaron rushed towards the building as fast as he could manage. Garion ran towards a ladder and slid down swiftly. “It’s him!” he announced.

Flash sentry caught up to him, and asked “Are you sure?”

“He was on the roof of the building and he’s moving away on the ground now. He’s wearing that old hoodie like he has been for a while.”

The two of them rushed as fast as they could bring themselves to go. Aaron’s poor choice of direction, unfortunately led them into a crowd of more ponies. A gryphon glared at Aaron when he accidentally ran face first into its side, falling comically to the ground.

“Flash! Can you boost me up?” the human asked.

“What do you have in mind?” Flash Sentry asked, lifting the human off of the ground.

Aaron just screamed and jumped onto the back of the pony in front of him. Neighing, the unicorn reared and Aaron leaped onto the next pony, and then the next. Eventually he was running along the backs of the crowds like he planned.

Aaron was quick enough to see Garion casually walking into an alleyway, before he came upon a space in the crowd. He fell and hurt his head. “Why do I always find myself running and falling?” Aaron groaned.

Luckily, Flash Sentry caught up to him and set him on his back. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. You can only do that in cartoons.”

Aaron struggled to push himself off of the ground. “Quick! He went into that alley way.”

Flash Sentry dashed forward. In his defense, he didn’t see the human that Aaron was talking about, and didn’t think that it made sense anyway.

“I told you, Flash! Garion always ends up having a party without even trying. And I always end up tripping over things and running for my life!”

They escaped the open air of the city and fled into the corridors. Aaron saw Garion, but he was always just a few spaces ahead of them, and he could only see a brief glimpse of him before he disappeared behind a corner.

“Left! Right! Left, I mean right!” Aaron directed.

“Out of the way, people!” Flash shouted to any ponies who got in the way.

Aaron rubbed his eyes and wondered how hard he hit his head, because the hoodie that Garion was wearing almost seemed to change every time he saw it. The sleeve of the hoodie would be one color, or a certain type of plaid, and it was clear that Garion knew they were chasing him. He looked around him before choosing a direction to dart into.

Aaron was amazed that the human could outrun a pony, especially when there were several pedestrians blocking their way constantly.

The human led them into an empty curving passageway amidst the very ugly bowels of the city, which still looked ten times more pleasant than anywhere in his Hometown in Aaron’s opinion.

One time, he actually caught a full glimpse of him, but only when they had come across a very shadowy area. Garion himself, seemed to carry no color or decipherable type of clothing, but it changed back within a blink and Aaron wasn’t sure if he had seen it right or not.

It continued to evade their clear line of sight until they finally ran into a dead end.

“Slow down Flash!” Aaron shouted. Flash Sentry had to skid on all four hooves in order to avoid getting a face full of concrete. Aaron on the other hand, fell off and clearly saw that he and Flash were the only two people in there. The passage was about ten feet wide and there were no doors or windows for anyone to go to.

“Where did he go?” Aaron asked, bewildered.

Flash Sentry simply looked up. “If he could jump six feet in the air, he might have been able to grab a hold of that ladder up there,” he said, looking up at a rusty old escape ladder that seemed to have been broken for a long time, “but if he could run better than we were, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“I don’t get it. He was in front of us the whole time.”

Flash panted hard and for a while, they just stood in awkward silence. Aaron thought deeply about what he witnessed, or thought he witnessed. He almost felt like there was something much more…big happening than he was seeing, but even if there was, there was very little he could do anyway. He was as clueless and naïve as a rat playing the test for the scientist.

Faintly, a familiar voice echoed behind them, “Hello?”

“Who is that?” Flash asked rashly, holding his lance in the air.

“Hello? Aaron, are you there?” First they saw the shadow, and then they saw the pony. It was Rarity.

“Rarity? What are you doing here?” Aaron asked eagerly, “And what are you wearing?”

The unicorn was indeed wearing odd attire that was a green shirt and a bow tie.

“Aaron, what on Earth are you doing way out over here at this time at night?”

“I would ask the same about you. How did you find me?”

“I saw you when you were on the microphone back on the stage. I had been trying to get to you but then you ran off with this guard.”

“Are you actually part of this event?” Aaron asked.

“Why yes. I was getting ready to sing with the Ponytones after the orchestra was done.”

“I didn’t know you sang.”

“It’s a four member accapela group that I lead. I forgot to tell you that this event was occuring this week.”

“Well now I know why it was so crowded getting to get to the castle yesterday.”

“Luckily they hardly ever do this here in Canterlot. Usually it’s the small towns that do it,” Flash mentioned.

Rarity scrunched her nose and sniffed loudly, “Dear, have you been running around with that same attire since you’ve been here?”

“Uh, yeah. I’ve been kind of dragged all over the country against my own will,” Aaron said with stale attitude.

“I do want to apologize for that, darling. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get things sorted out and things won’t need to be as stressful anymore,” she said.

Rarity returned to the original question. “Why are you out here this early in the morning?”

Aaron sighed loudly, “We’re looking for Garion. He’s gone missing.”