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After exhausting that avenue of questioning, we should head over there! It's far enough to want to travel by cab or public transit.
After listening to the song a little longer, you realize that you don't know much about Dirt Flaxen's old band, either. You ask the shopkeeper if there's anything he can tell you about the members of Halfpipe Avenue.
Shopkeeper: "Why are you asking me? I already told you where they are. Go ask them."
Fair enough, you concede. You thank the diamond dog for the information, then leave the shop, and call over a cab to the northern suburbs...
A few stray clouds soften the midday sun as you hop off the cart not too far from your destination. The central city's blocky buildings that once surrounded you now tower in the distance to the south, beyond fields of peaceful neighbourhoods.
You walk past a few houses, each pleasantly decorated with flowery gardens, swinging benches or trickling bird baths. Hedges and a few tall trees separate freshly mowed lawns into cozy, personal yards, every one a different yet lovely shade of green.
Before long, your notes lead you to a street overlooking the sandy beach. There, flanked by rows of houses behind wooden fences, you find the park you came looking for; a large, smooth concrete pathway surrounding a circular fountain, a few low stairs with siderails, and a ramp leading down to a dry water canal.
But most importantly, you find a small group of ponies — an earth pony mare and two pegasus stallions — taking turns at attempting some impressive skateboard tricks around the park. You wordlessly approach, mesmerized by the sight of the mare pulling off a minute-long series of precise board flips while only ever landing on a single pair of wheels, until she eventually stumbles and laughs it off under her friends' cheering.
Moonflower: "Whoa, that was super cool!"
Skateboarder mare: "Thanks! Haven't seen your faces around before. You guys new here?"
You nod, and tell the mare that you are just passing through in your search for the band Halfpipe Avenue.
Skateboarder mare: "Well, you found 'em. I'm Roller Scratch, and this is Silver Beat and Sound Theory."
Silver Beat: "Hey."
Sound Theory: "That's me."
You greet the trio, and introduce your party to them, before asking if they would be willing to answer a few questions about their old bandmate Dirt Flaxen.
Silver Beat: "Is this for an interview?"
Sound Theory: "Nah, these guys are hires for sure. It's gotta be something serious."
Roller Scratch: "Not too serious, I hope. What's up?"
Enter a comment
- When was the last time you talked to Dirt? Do you talk to him regularly?
- How long have you known Dirt? What's your history with him?
- What were the circumstances of Dirt striking out on his own? How long ago was it? Would you still want to be in a band with him if you could? Why did Manehattan Music Management only sign Dirt?
- Do you know if Dirt had a good relationship with Manehattan Music Management?
- We've been told that his tour bombed. Would that have upset Dirt a lot?
Twilight technically saidbut it would be a cruel joke if by that, the Kirin meant they know where his corpse is. Hence my assumption that they are assuring us he's safe. (I can't rule out that this is some obfuscation meant to hide their embarrassment at his accidental death, but it seems like a reasonable assumption to me.)
Our current theories:
- He had a crisis of confidence in his ability and is hiding from the world.
- His management is bad and he's hiding from them.
- He found a special somekirin and couldn't bear to be apart from her.
(Sidenote: the matter of finding a Kirin translator is still unresolved. But if I had to guess, one is a member of our crew, or it's been arranged that we'll meet one in the Kirin Empire.)
The translator is something I want to bring up after we are done talking with the band mates (as well as changing some of our currency into gems). Not sure where we could find one in Fillydelphia. Maybe we could ask around if there's a “Kirin town” and hire one of the locals? Otherwise we maybe could hire someone in Shui-Ti or wherever our ship arrives. Albeit we don't know how many of the locals speak our langues and we also don't know how many are involved in the disappearing of Dirt. So we may end up hiring someone who's trying to sabotage our efforts.
To be fair, another way this could be narrative causality independent of that is if this were a plot hook to let us recruit another quest-specific party member. But Honourshine isn't that eager to travel with more ponies. (Maybe we should've gone to the Frozen North, hehe.)
The Kirin in A Kirin Tale also seem fairly well-intentioned. But this may be a different group.
Occam's Razor would suggest that the Kirin have no reason to lie to us or kidnap a random celebrity. But there's a lot we don't know.
On the other hoof, the text of the story (2024-08-26) does say:
But you could argue that these are Trailblazer's thoughts, which are affected by what we commenters have been writing.
Yeah everything we know so far makes it very likley that it's not a kidnapping but him not wanting to return. And to learn about a possible reason for this we need to talk with his bandmates. But we still can't be 100% certain that these assumptions are correct.
...anyway. Investigations. Questions. Why'd Flaxen strike out independently, is there a reason he might want to go off the map in another country, anything they could tell us about him that'd help find him, etc.
You know, it would be cool if a photographer joined us on our travels, or we picked up a camera. Is photojournalism a thing in Equestria? (And do they have the tech to print photos in books?)