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{Las Pegasus} A Late Night Stroll[Attn: Blue]


IceStorm

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

It was a surprisingly quiet night out and about in Las Pegasus. At least in this part of the city. Las Pegasus had a reputation for being non-stop for most, but for those that wanted a nice chance to unwind away from all the chaos among others, the parks in Las Pegasus were a good place for a pony to clear their mind in a city that never sleeps. A part of her was surprised that when the moon princess announced her retirement that she didn't want to come and spend the next hundred or so years here. the bustling night life would have surly been quite a thrill for the retired princess. Perhaps that was a good thing though, as depending on how much she knew or learned about the city since her return... she could have been a very easy target for ponies with less than perfect intentions here.

 

As it was for this evening, the park was quiet. The silence that the night sky offered only broken by the chirping of the crickets among the fields. A gentle breeze also rustled the leaves from the trees above her, some of them occasionally falling from the branches. One of the falling leaves seemed to be happy to land on her nose while a few other blew into her mane. She quickly shook her head to get the leaves off. "AAACHO!!!" she sneezed loudly from all the pollen on the leaf that landed on her nose. She rubbed her nose with her hoof to try to get the tickle out. "Can't say I was expecting that," she said to herself as she made her way over to one of the park benches and sat down to relax a bit after being on her hooves all day.

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If the mare was especially paying attention after her sneeze, she might have noticed an extra rustle in the tree above her, the branches swaying in a direction not governed by the wind.  A few rustles and sways later, the head of a stallion would have poked out.  It wasn't exactly an unusual occurrence; the excess of salt and other intoxicants readily available in the city often led to ponies being strewn about the city, remaining wherever they fell asleep until they awoke with no memories.  There was no smell of such things about this one, though, just a general sleep-deprived look about him, black about the eye sockets contrasting with the sky-blue of his coat.

 

"Um, Celestia bless you."  He said, in a slow, gentle voice, one hoof briefly pushing aside the brown mane that fell over his left eye.  "I don't normally see other ponies out so late.  Unless I'm just dreaming you.  Wouldn't be the first time."

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

 

 

Once Wind Dancer sat down on the bench, can she heard a rustle from the leaves once more before a stallion poked his head through the leaves. He looked quite worse for ware as she could see the sleep rings around his eyes in stark contrast to his sky-blue coat and his slightly unkept mane, likely from sleeping in said tree that he poked his head from. She couldn't help but chuckle about the comment that he could have been dreaming her. "Well, I'm sure that definitely wouldn't be the first time that somepony's been dreaming of me, but I can assure you that in this particular instance a dream I am not," she said with a laugh. "As far others being out this late, that's normal here. Not so much in the parks but Las Pegasus is a city that never sleeps. So there's always somepony roaming around."

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The pegasus male blinked, his eyes and mind still in that fuzzy, half-awake state.  "Oh, that's good to know.  It's sometimes hard to believe that beautiful things are still real when the waking world assaults you with the garish and ugly, and you sometimes wonder why your friends said a city would be a good place to start singing when the noise just seems to drown you out."  He ended the rambling statement with a yawn, before shaking the branch some more; finally emerging from the foliage as he glided down to the bench where Wind Dancer was sitting.

 

She would be able to get a better glimpse of him now; he was still wearing clothes, what looked like a white shirt and black jacket, now branch-poked and leaf-strewn.  There was even a tie, tied loosely, that flapped in the breeze as he steadied his wings.

"What's your name?  Mine's Sky Sailing, more from drifting than charted courses."

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

 

 

Wind Dancer nodded as the other Pegasus glided down from the tree and then joining hey by the bench. He did so while addressing the fact that sometimes it was hard to believe that beautiful things still existed when the world continually assaulted you with garish and ugly outcomes more often than not. At this point Wind could see that he was still wearing a black jacket and a white shirt. Items that probably would have looked quite nice if not for the fact they were just in a tree. She nodded further once he told her his name. 

 

"My name is Wind Dancer. Comes from bet able to manipulate the wind currents by dancing. Makes me a popular attraction at the Mareage here in town and a few other casinos as well. Can be a bit dangerous though if I'm not paying attention and cut a dance move to sharp. Wind has a habit of being destructive when excessive force is involved, involuntary or otherwise," she said with a smile. "That said, you mentioned something about being a singer?" she asked with interest.

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Sky nodded, gently.  "Yes, though, if I'm being honest, I mostly do so because I'm the only artist in my studio.  I rode my cloud home here, where I have a little recording set-up scrounged from the leftovers of various warehouses I picked up for a song.  Or, just a few bits.  I mostly work with audio only, trying to fix the dream currents that run through my head in waking hours onto vinyl and tape.  Sometimes they have lyrics.  Of course, I'd open the studio to anypony who wanted my help, but most aspiring singers try to make their way with live shows."  He rustled his wings, dislodging the leaves from his jacket.  "I've always been too much of an introvert to busk or play cafes, so it's been tough."

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

 

 

"Interesting," Wind Dancer started when she heard the fellow pegasi explain that he only really sang in a studio. That he mostly just just worked work audio, but sometimes they're were lyrics as well. "That actually has me more interested in your abilities than when you said you were a singer. Most singers are often only very good at singing and when it comes to arranging things or writing and that's not being sung they tend to struggle. The fact that you're a studio first singer second tells me that your good with sound in general," she started.

 

"You see, like I mentioned. I'm a showmare, and I use music and sound in my dance routines. Lyrics and vocals aren't required for anything I do. It just has to match the style and intensity beat wise as what I'm planning in that routine," she smiled. "How far away from the park is this studio?" she asked. If it wasn't too far, or in a place that she wouldn't feel comfortable walking home in after dark she might be interested in seeing some of the things he worked on to see if they would fit.

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Sky nodded, smiling now.  If this was a dream, and he was increasingly convinced that it wasn't, it was a good dream.  "Yes, I'm mostly self-taught, though, so I don't do things that most professionals would, I guess.  That's both good and bad; I've made a unique sound, but I haven't been able to get out to where the ponies are who'd listen to it and make it meaningful to them.  Something like... well, what you just said, accompanying the dance on stage like how all music accompanies the dance of life."  The drifting patterns of his speech were slightly steadier, and Wind Dancer would see that they were just part of his personality, not his sleepiness.

 

"Oh, uh... it's a bit outside of town, over the reservoir."  He nodded up towards the north.  It wasn't a short distance, else he probably would have flown home to sleep.

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

 

 

When Wind heard that his studio was by the reservoir, she frowned a bit. It was definitely too far away for a quick run. The more he talked about the kind of sounds that he made, the more intrigued she was by them. Being a pony that preferred instrumentals herself, music that had no lyrics in it wasn't a bad thing for her. It was always very easy to dance to because unlike with some of the vocal melodies, there was always a profound steady beat, and in most cases could be unusual and lead to some interesting choreography "Hmm, that won't work for the idea that I had. I know it's a stretch but you wouldn't happen to have any samples on you would you? If so we could head back to my place for a bit because I would be very interested in hearing what you can do. If I like what I hear, I can easily make you into one of my primary providers cause right now, I just use a lot of open source classical stuff, or I have to pay bands to use their music because well... I'm a dancer, not a writer," she said with a smile.

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"Oh, actually..."  Sky nipped his head down to undo one of the buttons on his shirt, bringing out what looked to be a cardboard sleeve from the inner pocket.  "It's not very much, but I do have a vinyl with some things I've worked on.  Not full songs, just demonstrations of what I can do with my setup.  If you have a record player at home, I could play it there for you."  He looked interested in the offer, and more awake now that he'd been during the whole conversation.

 

"I'm alright to go when you are; I wasn't really getting much sleep up in the branches anyway; the wood of the tree inspires waking thoughts and restless dreams."

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

 

 

Wind Dancer was ecstatic when the fellow pegasi pulled out a record. He had samples!!! Hopefully they were as good as he made them sounds cause it would be great to start using stuff that was made for her instead of borrowing classical works for her shows or any band that supported her. She nodded when he asked if she had a record player. "What self respecting dancer doesn't have a record player? Got make them new moves somehow and it doesn't work well on the spot. I've tried, destroyed a clubhouse once doing that..." she said with a sheepish smile rubbing the back of her head with her hoof.

 

She then watched him shake the rest of leaves from his jacket and said that he was ready when she was. She nodded. "Alright!! I just live a few blocks this way. Come with me!!" she smiled as she started heading toward the eastern exit of the park.

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Smiling, Sky Sailing followed Wind Dancer down the street to her home.  He didn't walk, rather he flew low over the ground, gliding, really.  His wings barely flapped, seeming to catch the breeze that blew through the buildings like a canyon and letting it carry him along instinctively.  It was something of a clue as to how he got his name, just as Wind's dancing was to hers.  Though it was still a bit of mystery as to how their parents could have selected such names when they were too young to earn them.  Precognition, or self-fulfilling prophecy?

 

Not a little part of Sky's brain was taken up by such thoughts as he drifted in Wind's wake, arriving at her door, and skidding a little past it as he planted his hooves to stop.  "Eheh, was woolgathering from the sheep you count when you're trying to sleep."  He explained, sheepishly of course, before walking in.  The record player was rather prominent in the room in which it was housed, the rest of the space being clear for dancing practice.  He carefully pulled the record out of its sleeve and placed it on the turntable with his mouth, deftly placing the needle with his wing.  "I'm not sure if it's really the style you're looking for, but it will at least give a sense of what I do for myself, and what sounds I work with."

 

Spoiler

 

 

It was telling that he said "sounds" rather than instruments, since the work was very synth-heavy, musical, but not aiming to really disguise its electronic origin in any way.  But instead of the rather serrated edge that came with synth-heavy songs, his style was both more upbeat and relaxed, though considerably more upbeat than relaxed in this particular track.  Windy might actually be able to dance to it...

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

 

Wind Dancer smiled and unlocked her door as they made their way inside, noticing that the pegasi next to her was more gliding without so much of moving his wings. It was interesting and could see where his name came from. It also seemed that stopping was an issue, which was common when a pegasi was distracted by something. She couldn't imagine what he could be distracted by. 

 

When she opened the door, there was a wide open space in her living room with a record player near by, and it seemed that the walls were structurally reinforced to help keep them stable during some of the outbursts that she was capable of producing. She watched as Sky Sailing went over to the record player and put the vinyl that he had on for her to listen to. It wasn't classical in the slightest, but it was very soothing and upbeat. The longer that she listened to it, she began bobbing her head a bit to it. It was quite enjoyable to listen to as well. Wind could easily find herself listening to this to relax as well as dance. "This is quite good. It's very upbeat, but also very relaxing. I could easily see myself listening to something like this while I'm relaxing here at home just as much as I can dancing to it," she said closing her eyes a bit and swaying back and forth with her wings open for balance.

 

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Sky beamed as he received her compliments.  "That's wonderful!  Especially considering that's exactly what I pictured the listener of this track doing when I made it.  I wonder sometimes how many musicians give a thought on what's happening on the other side of the radio, it seems so many write for an audience that they don't know, or know won't do much with it.  It can get pretty uninspiring at times, browsing through the stations, and I wonder if that's somehow deliberate."

 

The stallion was swaying himself, yawning.  "I don't see much for me besides a restless night, but if I try to fly home I don't know if I'll make it."  He certainly looked like he'd get himself into trouble going out this late in his current state.  One wrong turn taken in a daydream, and Windy would likely never see him again.

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

 

Hearing Sky's comments brought her out of her brief lull of thought, bringing her wings back down as the music continued. It was an interesting thought, and one that she hadn't really thought of before. She wasn't a song writer by any means so the only thing she herself ever did with music was use it to dance to, or as something mellow and relaxing after a night of shows or whenever she needed to just unwind. It really helped on the nights that she would get flare-ups either at the end of a show, or Celestia forbid during a show. Thankfully up to this point the flareups during the show hadn't been bad enough to where she's had to stop a show before. It would just take her a little be longer to start the next part of the act while it calmed down. "That is something that is interesting to think about. I know most of the bands that I petition are surprised that I want to use their music for what I want to do with it. Most just sell me the record that it was on and move on. You'd at least think they'd want a bit of the royalties for something like that," she started

 

When she saw him yawn and heard his last comment she smiled. "Well, why don't you stay here for the night then? I have an extra sleeping bag or two around for when my girls come down. Kinda hard to get them to do that though since one of them lives in Canterlot... but my bed is more than big enough for two, and with two separate sleeping bags we would have to worry about any overnight incidents," she said with a giggle.

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"I'm pretty amazed myself that they'd be indifferent to how their work inspires other ponies, though I probably wouldn't ask for royalties myself.  I actually didn't think about that until you just mentioned it, and even now I'd feel a little weird asking about it."  Sky gave a sheepish smile, rubbing behind one of his ears.  "I suppose that's why a lot of us musicians have managers; earthy ponies that keep us anchored to material concerns while we float through ethereal skies of creative work."

 

It might have been evidence of his lack of monetary concern that such was the last the stallion spoke of such matters that night, but he also might just have been tired.  "Sleeping bags?  Like a campout?"  He asked, blinking, until Wind Dancer explained further.  "Oh?  Oh!  Oh...."  The pegasus stallion was now blushing furiously.  "I-I hadn't even thought about that, um... wait, your girls?  You're a mother?"  It was a sideways leap of conversation to get out of an awkward topic, though given his fatigue it was little wonder Sky failed to stick the landing.  "You don't look old enough for that.  For them to live on their own, I mean."

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

 

Wind Dancer arched an eyebrow for a second before seeing the other pegasi blush a bit before talking about her girls and that she looked a bit young to be a mother, at least a mother who's fillies had moved out. She giggled a bit and nodded in agreement. "Yeah... I'm not that old... No, I'm not a mother, not yet anyway. In fact I'm still quite pure. By my girls I meant a couple of close friends of mine. One of my friends lives here in Las Pegasus... In one of the districts that I usually prefer to stay away from, but that's beside the point, and the other lives in Canterlot," she said with a smile as she made her way to the bedroom and started setting up the sleeping bags.

 

Of course she thought about the other things that he had said about royalties and how he himself wouldn't ask for them. Was that really that uncommon or that unthought of that they didn't want to make a small percentage of hey profits for using their stuff? Still, she could already see herself paying Sky handsomely for writing music for her to begin with.

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Sky blinked, eyes widening in realization.  "Oh, oh!  I see.  I'd just never heard anypony use that phrase before to mean that; I tend to get pretty metaphorical whenever I do write lyrics, but that one's new to me."  He followed Wind into the bedroom, pulling out one of the sleeping bags for himself to unroll.  "I'm not sure how much I'll actually be able to sleep, though.  I've always had trouble with insomnia, leaving me always feeling tired and dreamy, never quite sure of wakefulness.  Being a light sleeper means being a heavy dreamer, it seems."  He paused, repeating the contrast.  "Light sleeper... heavy dreamer... gonna have to write a song with that in the verse, that's good.  Don't let me forget that one, ok?"

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

 

Wind smiled and nodded to Sky when he commenting that willed he was often metaphorical, he hadn't heard that one yet. "Yeah, when you're a dancer, you tent to learn to think outside the box. Especially when you're dancing can easily obliterate said box," she giggled before yawning and slipping into her own sleeping bag. It wasn't as comfy as her bed sheets, but was better than letting him possibly get hurt trying to go home. 

 

When he commented that he tended to be a light sleeper because of his insomnia, but was also a heavy dreamer, she contemplated what that could mean. It seemed that she wasn't alone in that thought either. He told her not to let him forget that line, because he wanted to write a song with that as the verse. She nodded with a smile. "I'll try to remember that myself," she smiled before using her wing to turn out the light.

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Even with the light turned off, Sky was still bound to the waking realm for some hours.  It was something that he was used to; eventually sleep would come if he just stayed still.  He was still enough to the wee hours of the morning that Wind may well have thought he had slept the whole time, but in truth it was only a couple of hours before sunrise that he finally dropped off, only coming back to wakefulness mid-morning.  

 

It was music that woke him, his music, which streamed in through the hallways from the small practice dance floor.  In a kind of half-dreamy stumble, Sky Sailing emerged from the sleeping bag, mane and wings in a ruffled mess, and followed the sound of his record back to where he had first shown it off...

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

 

Wind Dancer was the first to awake in the morning. It was closer to sunrise, around seven, and she made a pot of coffee in the kitchen better she made hey way to the practice room and pulled out on of her sketchbooks. She put the record that the pegasi gave her last night and she began contemplating and choreographing a dance routine for the music. By the time that Sky was awake, she was already several pages deep and was constantly pausing, going back and scribbling in her book, sipping at her coffee all while doing so. 

 

Once she had a good number of pages done she began working on the actually movements to see how what she had drawn up flowed together. She had gotten pretty good at that over the years, but every once in a while she came up with something that was an eyebrow raiser. When Sky would make his way into the room, he would find Wind not paying much attention to her surroundings. She'd find herself back to the doorway standing on a single hoof, wings and hooves spread in a six-point pose as a small breeze flowing through the room. 

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Wakefulness had not yet claimed Sky Sailing by the time he got to the small studio.  It was an open question of whether it ever did, but the upshot of it was that he noticed the play of breeze across his body before anything else in the room.  By instinct, he spread his wings to catch it, beginning to sail and drift like a bit of down caught by the wind.  It was a kind of dancing, even, slow, naturally, as he relied purely on external power.  His eyes were closed, to better feel the movement in time with the music.  Unfortunately, that meant that he was setting himself up to crash into a mare quite unaware of her surroundings, all before breakfast...

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

 

 

Wind Dancer was very much not aware of her surroundings as her mind was following with the breeze that she had created. She slowly started to change her pose when she came in contact with another pony, the only other pony that was there with her and she lost her balance, falling down and threatening to land on the pony that had just drifted into her. "Whaaaap!" She yelped with a thud.

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The crash wasn't painful for either pony, given the slow velocity at which the impact occurred.  Really, it was just a matter of Sky Sailing bumping into Wind Dancer, and she losing her balance.  At her cry, he even tried to catch her, but that ended up in him acting as a cushion so she didn't topple onto the floor.  "Ooof, um, sorry.  Wasn't looking.  Was feeling the wind, you do that when you dance?"  The need for space was starting to make sense in his mind; he imagined that something unimaginably intense would result if she upped her tempo.  If she ever danced salsa, the result might be classified with an F-number!

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~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

 

 

The startled pegasus let out loud oof as she felt herself land on Sky. He immediately apologized to her for knocking hey over saying that he wasn't watching where he was going as he was just following the wind. He then asked her if that was what she did when she danced. She pushed herself off of Sky, gently to make sure she didn't accidentally hurt him by putting to much weight on him. She nodded in response with his question. "Indeed, like yourself and other pegasi, I have an innate attachment to weather. I can use my wings to generate wind currents and I can shape them with my flying and movements. So when I start dancing, the wind starts to build. I can only get so fast in here though and is why I only perform in late auditoriums and saved my more extravagant dances for outdoor performances. The last time somepony paid me to dance in a small hall, weeelll..." she said rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. "It kinda doesn't exist anymore. Well, at least for the moment. They are rebuilding..." she smiled sheepishly.

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