Full Circle

by BronyMetalhead

New Friends and Old Troubles

“What's wrong, Trixie?” Twilight asked, leading the magician-turned-musician into the library. “Can I get you anything?” she asked as Trixie sat at the table.

“Coffee, please,” the powder-blue mare practically begged. “Black, extra-strong.”

“At this time of night?” Twilight inquired with a raised eyebrow. “You'll never get any sleep.”

Trixie started to yawn, then shook her head vigorously. “That's the idea,” she said.

Twilight looked closely at Trixie's face. Her features seemed slightly sunken, with lines starting to appear under her eyes. The lavender unicorn could also see that Trixie had been crying recently. She then turned to her reptilian assistant and said, “Could you please bring Trixie a cup of coffee?”

Spike looked Trixie over and concluded that the blue unicorn was no threat. In truth, he was also taken aback by how ravaged the mare looked, and despite his keen dislike of her, he readily obliged. Within minutes, he returned with a steaming cup of black coffee and handed it to Trixie. “Just as you requested!” he proclaimed, puffing his chest out.

Trixie took a sip of the coffee and immediately began shaking, her eyes squinting shut. An expression of mild disgust crossed her muzzle. “Perfect,” she said with a smile, “thank you.”

“How long have you been like this, Trixie?” Twilight cut to the chase, her voice full of concern.

“Ever since I took off the A-a-alicorn Amulet,” Trixie replied, her voice shaking. “I hear it... calling me. It's even worse when I use magic. I've barely used any magic since then. When I do, I feel hollow... empty. When I sleep, I dream of it engulfing me.

“I'm scared, Twilight Sparkle,” the blue unicorn cried. “Please help me!”

“I will do my best, Trixie. I promise.”

* * * * *

Thunderwing was the first one awake. While, in reality, he wouldn't know what a buffalo was like while it slept, it was true that Cacophony snored very powerfully, particularly after an exhausting night. The pegasus felt that this would be a great opportunity to stretch his legs, and most importantly, stretch his wings. As a colt, he was largely land-bound ever since his overprotective mother took him to live in Bucklyn. Since then, he usually hovered above the ground to keep his wings from losing their strength completely while still keeping up with his earthbound friends . Otherwise, he didn't really have much opportunity to really fly. Since Ponyville was a more rural location with plenty of open skies, this was a chance he just couldn't pass up.

Once outside, the bassist took a deep breath and stretched, giving his wings a couple of test flaps. “All right,” he said aloud to himself. “Let's do this!”

Soon, the pegasus was airborne. He quickly realized how much he missed soaring through the clouds, and how liberating it was to take a few test dives and barrel rolls. So preoccupied he was with attempting old tricks he used to do as a colt that he narrowly missed another pegasus, one with a cyan coat and a shocking multi-hued mane that left a rainbow in its wake. “Hey buddy!” the pegasus yelled, shaking her hoof. “Why don't you watch where you're going?!”

Thunderwing stopped suddenly and turned around. “Oh wow,” he stammered, “I'm so, so sor-wait! You... you're Rainbow Dash!!”

“Yeah, that's me,” the rainbow-maned pegasus growled. “You nearly clobbered me, you oaf.”

“I'm so sorry,” Thunderwing said, flying over to the pegasus mare. “I never thought I'd meet the only pegasus who's ever done three Sonic Rainbooms. THREE OF 'EM!! Wow!”

The praise changed Rainbow Dash's demeanor immediately. “Yeah, that's me!” she boasted, the near-collision completely forgotten.

“This is amazing!!” the stallion said. “You gotta tell me how you did it.”

“A lot of practice, friend,” Rainbow Dash said. “It also helps if you're just naturally really fast, like me!”

“I don't really get a chance to fly too often,” Thunderwing admitted. “Most of the time, I'm with my band.”

“Wait, did you say you're in a band?!” This time, it was Rainbow Dash's turn to gush.

“Yep!” the stallion said. “We're called Alicorn Malign.”

“You're in Alicorn Malign?!?!” Rainbow Dash cried. “You guys play my all-time favorite song!! Too bad I can't find your album anywhere around here.”

Thunderwing shuffled awkwardly in mid-air. “Yeah. Who'd have figured songs about Nightmare Moon would cause such controversy?”

His new friend chuckled slightly, then Thunderwing continued, “Give me a sec. I'll be right back.”

The stallion flew back to his room at the inn, and soon rejoined the pegasus mare with a record held firmly but gently in his teeth. Rainbow Dash took the album in her hooves and looked it over. The artwork featured the demonic silhouette of an alicorn with the five band-members seemingly staring into her soul with red, glowing eyes. One of the members caught her eye, and it wasn't the handsome front-pony in the center, nor was it the pegasus stallion flying a little over them, but it was a certain unicorn mare standing next to a spiky-maned earth pony.

“Trixie is in your band?! How'd you end up with that loudmouth?”

“Hmm,” Thunderwing said, putting a hoof to his chin, “it would appear that our keyboardist's reputation precedes itself. At any rate, what can I say? She came in for an audition, and we liked what we heard. I'll admit, she can be grating on a pony's nerves, but once you can get past that, she's actually all right. A little 'off', but all right.

“She used to do stage magic, didn't she?” Thunderwing asked.

“Yeah, but then she got some weird amulet that made her super powerful, and even more of a pain than she already was. It's a good thing my friend was able to get her to take that thing off. I guess if she's playing in a super awesome band like Alicorn Malign, she must have really changed.”

It was at that point that the pair was interrupted by a familiar gray pegasus carrying a mailbag. “I've got a letter for a Mr. Thunderwing!” she exclaimed. “Hey, you're that nice pony I met yesterday when I got those muffins!”

“Yeah, yeah,” the stallion replied, taking the letter, “thanks.”

The bass-playing pegasus tore open the envelope and skimmed the letter, then looked at the mail-carrier. “I was expecting our letter to arrive in Fillydelphia today, not getting a reply today.”

Derpy's expression turned serious. “Never underestimate the power of the muffin,” she said. “A swell pony at the theater wrote the reply and gave it directly to me. I would've gotten it to you last night, but you were asleep.”

“Thanks, Derps,” Thunderwing said, smiling warmly, “I don't care what anypony else says about you, you're all right.”

When the mail-mare left, Thunderwing read the letter. “It would seem,” Thunderwing said to Rainbow Dash, “that the pony who runs the theater was able to get us an opening slot with a different band... Mercyfilly Fate?!?!?!?! Dang, wait 'til Cacophony hears about this!!”

“Mercyfilly Fate?!” Rainbow Dash gushed. “Wow, that is so awesome!! I'd give my left wing to see you guys share the stage with them.”

“You won't have to,” Thunderwing said. “I think I can talk Cacophony into putting you on the guest list.”

“That would be so amazing,” Dash said. “Can I bring my friends?”

“Of course!” the musician said. “What are their names?”

“Well, there's Applejack...”

“We met her. She's cool.”

“Then there's Fluttershy, although I don't think she'd like that type of music. Put her down anyways; I'll talk her into coming. Then there's Twilight Sparkle. Don't know if she'd like it, but she's full of surprises. Pinkie Pie would go totally nuts at one of your shows. And Rarity? On second thought, don't put her in. She went as far as to change my music at the Best Young Fliers Competition to egghead classical music. I was gonna have them play 'Wings of Fire', too!”

“Yeah, well, I wrote that one,” Thunderwing said with no small amount of pride. “Wait, did you say 'Rarity'?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, nodding. “What about her?”

“I remember Cacophony mentioning that name a few times. Never in a pleasant way, mind you. Maybe some bad blood between the two, since he's originally from here.”

“Cacophony's from Ponyville?!” the mare said. “Wow, that's so cool!”

“I guess,” Thunderwing said with a shrug. “He doesn't talk too much about it. In fact, all he really does is sing, play his guitar and charge up the gems powering our amplifiers.”

“Yeah, Ponyville's not much to talk about, and yeah, Rarity's my friend, but I can admit that she can get on a pony's nerves. Anyways, I gotta do some more practicing. Gotta be my best when I get back to Wonderbolt Academy!”

“Catch you around, Rainbow Dash,” the stallion said, extending his forehoof. “We gotta hang out some time.”

Rainbow Dash vigorously bumped his hoof with hers. “Totally. Catch you around!”

Thunderwing slowly descended to the ground, meeting up with Cacophony. “Mingling with the locals, I see,” the unicorn said with a smirk.

“Dude, that was Rainbow freakin' Dash!” Thunderwing said, “the only pegasus to ever do THREE Sonic freakin' Rainbooms!”

Cacophony, who normally wasn't impressed with feats of athleticism, was taken aback. The name wasn't familiar to him, which he chalked up to being a “pegasus thing”, but he knew enough about Sonic Rainbooms to know that they were extremely difficult and dangerous to only do once, let alone three times. “And,” Thunderwing continued, “she's a fan of ours. And I've got some good news, bad news, and freaking awesome news.”

“Okay,” the unicorn said, “good news first.”

“Okay, the good news is we've still got a gig when we get to Fillydelphia.”

“Well, that's good. What's the bad news?”

“Bad news is, instead of headlining, we're the opening act.”

Cacophony shrugged. “A gig's a gig,” he said. “So what's the 'freaking awesome' news?”

“We're opening for Mercyfilly Fate.”

“Well, that's cool,” Cacophony said, “I'm sure the exposure will be good for us- wait, did you just say 'Mercyfilly Fate'?”

“Yes. Yes I did.”

“Buck, yes!!!” the unicorn stallion cried. “This is beyond amazing!! This means that we might end up getting picked up on their tour!”

“Yep!” Thunderwing said, beaming. “I hope you don't mind that I invited Rainbow Dash. She wants to bring some friends, too. Apparently she's friends with that cute farm-mare that Sticks was ga-ga over.”

Cacophony laughed, remembering how Sticks was so tongue-tied whenever she asked him anything, and how he was practically floating on the way back from the hotel. “The others she mentioned are, ummm... Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie...”

“I met those two last night,” Cacophony said.

“You dog, you!” Thunderwing said, poking his bandmate in the ribs with a hoof.

“Not like that, you perv,” the unicorn said. When Thunderwing stopped laughing, Cacophony continued, “Pinkie Pie is a very odd mare. I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around my encounter with her.”

“What about the other one?”

Cacophony blushed. “She seems nice enough,” he said. “Really smart, though, and kinda cute.”

“Dude, you should totally go talk to her.”

Cacophony shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not.”

“Anyways, she also mentioned being friends with Rarity, but Dash doesn't think she'd come.”

“Oh, that's a shame,” Cacophony said, not entirely hiding his sarcasm. “Did she mention anypony else?”

“Yeah, a pony named Fluuuu... who is that?!?!”

Cacophony looked in the direction his friend was facing and saw a bright yellow pegasus mare with a bright pink mane and tail, and three butterflies adorning her flank. She seemed to be clearing the way for a family of chipmunks to walk down the street safely. Thunderwing's jaw hung open as he watched her, managing only soft gibberish when he tried to speak. “Ummm... Thunders,” the unicorn said, nudging his friend in the ribs.

Gibberish.

“Equestria to Thunderwing... come in, Thunderwing.”

More gibberish.

As a fellow stallion, Cacophony could absolutely understand where his band-mate was coming from upon sight of the dainty pegasus mare. She was physically beautiful, this much was obvious. But the way she was looking out for the safety of much smaller creatures belied a gentle inner beauty as well. She even seemed to take care that her hooves didn't leave too deep of an impression in the dirt. However, she was so focused on the chipmunk family that she didn't notice that she was about to run into Thunderwing. Thunderwing was so dumbstruck by the beautiful mare that he didn't seem to notice that she was about to run into him, nor would he have cared or minded if he did notice. “Thunderwing, snap out of it,” a distant voice called out to him. Suddenly, the pegasus felt himself get pushed to the ground by something very purple and very rude.

“Oh, I'm sorry,” the mare said softly, “I almost bumped into you. This is just like when I bumped into Gilda.” She then made a meeping sound when she remembered the encounter in question.

Thunderwing's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fainted. Cacophony took the lead immediately. “Really, it's okay Miss....”

“Ummm... Fl-fluttershy,” she said, so softly that Cacophony had to strain to hear her.

“I'm sorry, what was that?” the unicorn said.

“My... name's.... Fluttershy...” the pegasus mare said, growing more and more uncomfortable.

“That's okay,” the unicorn said, not wanting to press the issue and possibly traumatize the poor pegasus. “I know what it's like to be shy. I mean, you should've seen me when I was a colt. I usually spent more time in the work-shed goofing around with my amps. But ponies would always keep disturbing me until finally I told 'em to stay out of my shed. Anyways, my name's Cacophony and my catatonic friend here is named Thunderwing.”

“Oh my,” the mare said, switching gears immediately, “is he hurt?” She then very gently stomped her hoof. “Oh, Fluttershy. You're such a clutz,” she said, chiding herself.

“Fluttershy? That's your name?” the unicorn said.

The mare nodded in reply. Wow, even her name is cute, the unicorn thought to himself. “It's a pleasure to meet you, Fluttershy,” the unicorn said, smiling sincerely. “Don't worry about my friend. He'll be right as rain in a bit.” He then pointed to his facial expression with his hoof. “See? He's smiling!”

“I guess so,” Fluttershy said. She then looked over the drooling pegasus stallion more closely. “Still, I think I should take him to my cottage to, umm... make sure he's okay. It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Cacophony.”

“Please, just 'Cacophony',” he said, “and it was a pleasure meeting you, too.”

He then turned to walk away, but looked back and saw what appeared to be the chipmunk family, a pair of ducks, a white bunny, and four badgers carrying the bass-player on a make-shift stretcher. The yellow mare was fussing over him the entire time. Cacophony had to smile, and wonder if he was more worried for the shy mare, or for the stallion.

* * * * *

“Brother, you should totally go talk to her!” Strings sat across from his brother at an outdoor cafe while they ate their hash-browned hay and pancakes.

“I dunno,” Sticks said. “What if she doesn't like me like that?”

“Stikschev,” the elder brother said, “did you see how she was looking at you? Look, if there's one thing I know besides guitars, it's mares.”

“You know I'm no good with mares, Estringei,” the drummer said after downing his third glass of orange juice.

“Come on, little brother,” Strings said, patting his brother's shoulder with his hoof. “You're a great guy with a lot to offer right mare, and Applejack seems like the type that would really appreciate that.”

“Just what do I have to offer?” the younger brother said, looking down. “I know drums. That's really about it.”

“Yeah, but you are first pony to help out another when they're in a bind. If somepony needs something, you're right there. I know you sometimes feel like an errand-pony, but all of us genuinely appreciate how generous you are... Cacophony, Thunders, me, Dad, Uncle Ivan...”

“Yeah, I guess,” Sticks said with a sigh.

“Look,” Strings said, making his brother look him in the eye, “Dad and Uncle Ivan both saw you when you gave your horseshoes to street-urchin back home. Uncle Ivan said to Dad, 'You know, you raise good son. He don't make table, but Stikschev is good colt'.”

Sticks chuckled at the mention of their uncle, and his perfect imitation of his voice. “And you know what he would say,” Strings continued, “he'd say, 'You go talk to pretty farm-mare. Is good for health'.”

Sticks started laughing, and Strings laughed with him. “When we get some downtime,” the drummer said, “we're gonna have to take a trip back to Stalliongrad. I miss Uncle Ivan.”

The guitarist nodded his agreement. Sticks continued, “So okay, I talk to her. What do I say?”

“Just be yourself,” the older brother said. “See, watch as I talk to sexy unicorn over there.”

The younger brother looked at the unicorn Strings was referring to. She was perhaps the prettiest unicorn he'd ever seen; her coat shimmered like freshly polished ivory, and her violet mane and tail curled in perfect rings. She reminded Sticks of a classic movie star in almost every way. While the drummer acknowledged his brother's uncanny ability to get a date with even the classiest of ponies (that gray cellist came to mind immediately), Sticks had a feeling that this unicorn was out of even Strings's league. “Ten bits says you don't go on a date with her,” he said.

“Oh,” Strings said with a raised eyebrow and a wry grin, “have you not forgotten about cellist?”

“Of course not,” Sticks said, “but that was because she only agreed to it because you fixed her cello after that 'bass-cannon incident'.”

“Doesn't matter,” the guitarist said, “still dated.”

The light green stallion extended his forehoof and said, “Do we have a bet?”

The guitarist bumped the hoof and said, “You're on. Watch, listen and learn, little brother.”

With that, the white earth pony trotted up to the fashionable unicorn mare, who at that moment was looking at different fabrics. He watched her as she felt each one, then stepped closer. “So what is this that you're going to make?” he said to her, making her jump a little.

“Well,” the mare said, regaining her composure immediately and regarding the brazen earth pony now standing before her, “if you must know, I am about to make an outfit for somepony I know. I usually make evening dresses and ball gowns, but I never turn down a challenge. He's a rather rough-and-tumble stallion with whom I had a 'falling out', shall we say. A dear friend convinced me that I should try and mend fences with him.”

“I see,” Strings said. “Well, I have challenge for you. I'm going to be in town for a while. What do you say you and I get together for some wine and braised daffodils, and maybe discuss textiles?”

“And what would a stallion like you know about fabric?” the mare said, regarding Strings with disdain.

“Well, if you must know,” the earth pony said, mimicking the unicorn, “silk is extremely delicate and wouldn't last more than hour on your typical stallion, satin is slightly more durable but doesn't breathe well and would make him sweat like mule.” Strings then turned to his left and said, “No offense.”

“None taken,” the mule standing to Strings's left said, smiling pleasantly.

“Anyways,” Strings said, not missing a beat, “velvet is very durable and pleasant to the touch, but soaks in a lot of body heat, and if you make something out of that angora wool over there, he may as well be wearing sauna.”

The unicorn mare raised an eyebrow. “So what would you suggest?”

“Cotton,” Strings said with a smile. “It's good and durable, pleasing to touch, especially if made correctly, and can be sewed and dyed into any article of clothing you can imagine. Imagine textile equivalent of clay. Not much to look at at first, but can be made into anything.”

“You sure know a lot about such things,” the unicorn said, regarding the stallion in a new light. “Do you make clothing?”

“Nah, I'm musician from Stalliongrad,” the earth pony said. “But my mother does. Mostly clothes for ponies who work in factories back home or on farms in Trottingham. When you grow up among crafts-ponies, you learn different things. So about that date...”

“But I don't even know your name, darling,” the unicorn said with a demure smile, “nor do you know mine.”

“Dear Celestia, where are my manners?” the musician said. “My name is Estringei, but you can call me 'Strings', and yours?”

“I'm... Rarity,” the mare said with a giggle.

“You certainly ar-wait, did you say 'Rarity'?” he said.

“Yes, of course,” Rarity said. “That's my name, silly.”

“Well, it was pleasure meeting you, Rarity,” Strings said, shaking her hoof. “I just remembered previous engagement. I'll see you around.”

“Good-bye, Strings,” the unicorn said, but the stallion already galloped out of sight.

The drummer soon saw his brother galloping as fast as he could back to the cafe. “So,” Sticks said, “how'd it go?”

“I'm not going out with her,” Strings grumbled.

“Whoa, seriously?” the younger brother was incredulous. “I guess that means I'm ten bits richer!”

“It doesn't count, little brother,” he said. “She was totally willing for date. But I think I just hit on one of Cacophony's exes.”

“So? What difference does that make?”

“You do not date your friends' exes, nor your exes' friends. Everypony knows that. It's rule.”

“Maybe so,” the drummer started, “but the conditions of the wager were that I'd pay you ten bits if you went on the date, and you pay me if you didn't. So cough it up, big brother.”

The older pony took out the bits and paid his brother, then said, “Fine, but you're still talking to farm pony. I was totally being successful, but even I have rules I don't break. Besides, you now have enough money to take her out on date.”

“But I don't think she'd be the type to go for 'wine and braised daffodils',” Sticks said.

“So?” Strings said. “Make it cider and hay fries, then. I'll bet you ten bits that you don't have the guts to ask her.”

Sticks bumped his older brother's hoof and said, “It is on, big brother.”

Comments

[Frankie]

I love how you incorporated 'Magic Duel' into this story. I look forward to seeing what happend next with everypony. Excellent work so far.

[Shamrocker]

Oh haha! Dude. This already deserves to be on EqD. Those previewers are idiots. But seriously, this is really good.

On a second note-
I caught that shed.mov reference XD