Chapter 1
“Oh for bucks sake where is that motherbucker?” Ghost Note muttered as she tapped her hoof impatiently, “That asshole’s never three hours late for work!” Suddenly the front door of Ghost Chords Music Shop bursts open with a deafening bang. Standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame is a grey unicorn with black mane and a guitar for a cutie mark.
“Power Chord! Where have you been?! You’re three hours late!” Ghost said angrily.
“Sorry! You wouldn’t believe the things i've done today!”
“Oh really?” Ghost Note said still not losing her bitter tone. “And what were you doing that has caused you to be so late today?”
“Well…..”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *4 Hours Earlier / Perspective: Power Chord* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of an alarm clock ringing filled the small apartment room shortly before said alarm clock is wrapped in a red aura and rocketed at high speed through a nearby window and out into the cold manehattan air, followed shortly by a thud and cry of somepony who now has one less eye to worry about.
“Ugh, Monday mornings, who needs ‘em.” I grumbled as I extracted myself from the bed. “Better start getting ready so im not late, wouldn’t want Ghostie to flip her bit.” I chuckled to myself, as I made my way to the bathroom. One shower scene later and I was clean and ready to face the Manehattan day. On the way to the door I grabbed my bit pouch which contained a meager 25 bits.
I was walking down the street, when out the corner of my eye I saw a pretty little thing approaching me.
She said, “I never seen a pony who looked so all alone, oh could you use a little company? If you pay the right price, your evening will be nice. Then you can go and send me on my way.”
I said, “You’re such a sweet young thing, why do you do this to yourself?”
She looked at me, and this is what she said, “Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked. Money don't grow on trees. I got bills to pay. I got mouths to feed. Ain't nothing in this world for free. No I can't slow down, I can't hold back, Though you know I wish I could. No there ain't no rest for the wicked. Until we close our eyes for good.”
Not even 15 minutes later, I'm still walkin' down the street. When I saw the shadow of a pony creep out of sight, And then he swept up from behind. He put a gun up to my head. He made it clear he wasn't lookin' for a fight.
He said, “Give me all you got. I want your money not your life, but if you try to make a move I won't think twice.”
I told him, “You can have my cash, But first you know I gotta ask. What made you want to live this kind of life?”
He said, “Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked. Money don't grow on trees. I got bills to pay. I got mouths to feed. Ain't nothing in this world for free. No I can't slow down, I can't hold back, Though you know I wish I could. No there ain't no rest for the wicked. Until we close our eyes for good.”
Power stopped and turned to his new companions, “Well, that just made this monday morning a lot more interesting! Could I get your names? Mines Power Chord!”
The two ponies shared a look that asked, ‘What are we getting ourselves into?’
The first to speak up was the pony who just a few minutes earlier was trying to get Power in bed. “Um, i'm Dahlia.” Said the sea green earth pony with two tone pink mane.
Next was the attempted mugger, “The names Bass Head, you gonna give me your money or what?” Spoke the blue unicorn with red white and blue striped mane.
“Oh my no. I will, however, offer you a job working at the music shop i run with my sis!” Power spoke with enthusiasm.
“So, I try to get you in bed.”
“And I try to rob you.”
“And your response is to offer us jobs working for you?”
“Yep!” Power exclaims as if there's nothing wrong with what they have just said.
Dahlia and Bass share another look.
“Come on, lets go get some breakfast. I’ll explain what you’ll being doing at the shop with us.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Back to present*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So, let me make sure I’ve got this straight.” Ghost spoke with a tone that suggested shes had enough of Powers shenanigans for one day. “You’re three hours late because you almost got mugged and sexed up, then decided to hire these same ponies to help us around the shop?”
“Yea, I think that about covers it.”
“And where are these ponies?”
“Oh, their outside still. I asked them to wait for me to explain the situation to you first. DAHLIA, BASS, YOU CAN COME IN NOW!” Power shouted to the ponies waiting outside the door. Who quickly made their way through the door.
Ghost Note stood there facehoofing “You are the dumbest pony in ALL of Equestria I swear.”
“Oh, shut it. You love my craziness.” Power said while sticking his tongue out.
“As much as I hate to admit it, your craziness does fill my life with enjoyment and fun times, and we could always use the help around here.”
“Well the good news is that at least one of them is an actual bassist!” Ghost and Power glance over to see Bass holding a bass guitar and messing with an amp. “Plus, Dahlias really cute!”
They redirect their focus to Dahlia who was looking over some of the electric guitars, but is now looking at the both of them with a blush before stammering out: “W-What?”
“Relax dear, he's just messing with you.” Ghost snickered.
“Oh no way, do you play guitar?” Power Chord said excitedly.
“W-well, I do a bit… Y-yes.” Dahlia said shyly, blushing slightly.
“Excellent! Wait here, i’ve got just the thing!” Power says before zipping off to the back room, the sounds of a madpony rummaging and throwing things out of the way follow. Power rushes back in sporting a guitar that perfectly matches Dahlia’s mane and coat colors, and even has her cutie mark. “Here, play something for us!”
“W-Where did you get thi-”
“Not Important! Go on play something!”
“Well, ok.” Dahlia took the guitar from Power and started to play the first song that came to her mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dahlia set the guitar down and looks up at her audience to find that Power is staring at her open mouthed, and Ghost is looking at her with a smile. Ghost turns to Power and uses her hoof to shut his open mouth.
Ghost is the first to break the silence, “Its been awhile since i’ve seen somepony leave him speechless.” She chortled
“Maybe we should get these two a room, hm?” Bass says with a smirk as he walks over to join the group. Dahlia blushes at his comment, and suddenly finds it very hard to look at Power. Power, however, hearing the comment snaps out of his stupor, and turns his attention to the resident bass player.
“Hey, you play bass right?” He jumps up and run into the backroom once again to retrieve a guitar for Bass Head. Returning a few seconds later with yet another guitar that matches perfectly to the intended pony who will be playing it.
“How does he do that?” Dahlia asks to Ghost while shes sure that Power and Bass are not listening.
Ghost turns to her with a smile and simply states, “No idea.” before turning her attention back to the pair of stallions.
Bass Head picks up the bass, admiring it. He looks to the two store owners, “Got an amp i can use?”
“Oh, yea. Hang tight one sec.” Power rockets into the back room once again, and emerges a few seconds later carrying a bass amp for Bass. “Here try this one.” Bass plugs his guitar in and begins turning knobs and tuning his new bass. Satisfied that everything was good to go, he put the strap over his shoulder, and begins to play. The loudness and ferocity with which he plays is enough to start the various items in the store rocking on their shelves, and it isn't long before things start to fall.
Having finished his sonic assault on the business, Bass removes the strap and sets the guitar down, and looks up to find the store in shambles and the three pony audience staring at him with varying expressions. Power with a look of manic glee, while Ghost has a expression of surprise mixed with a smile to show she was quite impressed with his enthusiasm, and lastly is Dahlia who just looks like shes about to fall over stiff as a board.
“Uh, Oops…” Bass said while rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof.
“Oops? OOPS?!? You just managed to destroy a quarter of our stock with a song! That. Was. AWESOME!” Power Chord shouted, loud enough to make Ghosties ear start to ring.
“Yes, I must say that was quite impressive.” Ghostie said brohoofing the bass player.
Dahlia falls over completely stiff.
“Uh, I think I broke her.” Bass says with a slightly worried expression.
“No, ill be alright.” She says as she starts to get her bearings. “Just wasn't expecting all of that.” She shakes her head and takes a breath. “So, you’ve heard us play. How about you play for us now?”
Power and Ghost share a look that just screams ‘challenge accepted!’, they just silently make their way to their instruments of choice. For Power its a gray electric guitar with his cutie mark printed on the body. Ghost’s choice of instrument is a drum set with white shells and a picture of her face on the bass drum.
They share one last glance before beginning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ghost and Power exited their music induced trance to cheers and stomping hooves. Upon opening their eyes they saw that they had gathered quite the crowd who had heard them playing and came in to listen. Still sitting in the front were Dahlia and Bass who were both participating in the cheering and hoof stomping.
“Uh, Thank you, but that was the only song we’re gonna be playing today.” Ghostie said with a bewildered expression.
“Plus, its almost closing and I want to go home.” Power said with his best ‘get out’ look.
“Feel free to come back tomorrow and look at what we have! We might have something you’ll like!” Ghost quickly added before everypony left. As everypony filed out of the shop, Bass and Dahlia made their way over to Power and Ghost.
“That was pretty sweet!” Bass said with a wide grin.
“Yea, it was quite the performance!” Dahlia said small smile.
“Thanks guys.” Ghost said with a slight blush.
“Hey, its past closing time. How about we get something to eat before splitting up and heading home?” Power said to the other three ponies who all nodded in agreement. “Awesome! We’ve got to try this new restaurant that just opened up a couple blocks from here!” Power spoke as the four ponies made their way out the front door, and into the Manehattan night.