"All Things Go" is Almost a Go · 5:02am Jun 17th, 2015
With just a short scene left to finish up, a new TBATS chapter is on it's way. It would've been out sooner, but I scrapped a large chunk when I didn't think it worked the way I wanted it to... so... yeah. That and for some reason, I decided to prove myself a good worker at my job that helps pay my textbooks. Good worker means my manager wants me there more, so that happened. Now while try and finish up and edit for typos, here's a little preview of "All Things Go".
The lights, the stage, the faces of an entertained audience, the drops of sweat in her mane that wanted to drop onto the ground, Stardust loved everything about it. She had just finished her set for the night, and the crowd was once again in a roar of applause. She stood and looked over the ponies with a confident look before she gave a bow. “Thanks for comin’ out tonight, everypony. Remember to tip ya waitresses, I’ve got rent to pay.” She laughed at her own joke and so did some of the crowd as she stepped off the stage. When she came to Blueblood’s spot at the bar, he welcomed her back with more claps of his hooves.
“That was great, Stardust.”
“Thanks, Blue.” She hoisted her case back onto the bar and carefully placed her guitar into the soft blue fuzz of the case. “So did ya like the new one I played?”
“The one before your finale?”
“Yeah.”
“It was great. You wrote it yourself?”
“Yup. Would ya believe I finished it last night?”
He was at a loss for words, and his blank stare affirmed that. “I-I-I don’t, I wouldn’t even know if that’s something I should be surprised at or not.”
“Eh, depends.”
Stardust was about to close her case until Blueblood saw something sticking out of the fuzz of the case. He pointed out what looked like some paper protruding from some compartment in the case. “What’s that?”
“Glad ya asked.” The case was rethrown open and Stardust revealed what really was a small compartment in the case opened by a string latch. From it, she procured sheet after sheet of wadded up song notes, lyrics, and even full compositions. Each one was different from the others, both in content and how messily scribbled they were.
“You wrote all of these?”
“Yup. My pride and joys.” Watching the way Blueblood was just absorbed in the sheets put a large smile on her face. She saw him look and scrunch his face in confusion at certain pages. “The one’s with blue stars on the top are my favorites. One day, when I save enough, I’m gonna try and get some recordin’ equipment and finally make a demo.”
“I see you’ve got plans,” Blueblood said as he continued to flips through Stardust’s songs, and coming to a stop at one written in solid red called “Crushed”. It was written in a full composition, so he read and followed the notes and matched the lyrics written underneath the staff. As he read one, his eyes widened at some of the stronger sentiments expressed. “Yeeeeaah, I might have to change some words around to avoid a parental advisory label.”
“I should say. How did this one come about?”
“I eva tell ya about Comet Crush?”
Blueblood shook his head, and Stardust pulled up a bar stool. “Alright, I’ve got a few minutes before I need to get back to work.” She started to recount her time with her ex-coltfriend, including a few of the highs of the relationship just to give a full, just account before ending her story with the ultimate crash that came with her discovering his other marefriend at his work during a surprise visit. Blueblood listened and reacted any way a friend would when they find a friend of there’s was cheated on. “That scuzzbag!”
Stardust snickered at his word choice before adding in, “And a bunch of other things, but I could get fired if I say them out loud.”
“Still, that’s just… just… really sorry of him.”
“Eh,” Stardust said with a nonchalant shrug. “Joke’s on him, really. I got ova him real quick, but in those couple of hours after findin’ out, and goin’ back and forth between category five hurricane crazy angry and destroyed beyond repair on the inside sad, I wrote down what’s probably one of my best songs yet.”
Blueblood looked back down at the song sheet in his hooves. The lyrics and the memos about how loud and heavy to play at certain points painted a very vivid image of the rage anypony could’ve felt in Stardust’s position at the time. “So should this be released, and he hears it, you think he’ll know it’s about him?”
“Who cares? I’m not the first mare to write about bein’ cheated on, and I know I won’t be the last. Plus, I’m not namin’ names. It’s a crappy feeling, Blue, and I’m bettin’ any musician that’s been cheated on has written somethin’ similar, or at least covers a song about it. If they say they haven’t, they’re lyin’.”
The animated way she explained herself got a few short chuckles out of the prince. “Whatever you say, Stardust. So how long ago was this?”
“I think a few months ago.”
“And you haven’t tried to look for anypony else after that?”
First, her ears dropped down, which was quickly followed with an eye roll and an unamused look that gave a message along the lines of, “not this again”. “No I haven’t. Though that might change when your party rolls around.” Blueblood raised an eyebrow, and before he even asked, Stardust continued. “When me and Cady went dress shopping before our first movie night, she bought my dress, and we made a deal. I’d let her buy it if I promised to try and get back in the dating pool.”
The words, he heard, but the message was fuzzy. “You’d let her buy your dress?”
“The girl wouldn’t back down! The second I said I’d just raid my closet for somethin’, she ran to the counter and bought it. Our deal was the only thing that made me feel okay with her gettin’ me somethin’ like that.”
“That good of a dress, huh?”
“So good of a dress,” Stardust said with a dreamy moan as the image of herself in that white and blue gown came to her mind. Never in her life did she think she’d be the kind of mare who couldn’t wait to break in an outfit, but here she was daydreaming about the night she’d finally give it a whirl. “Who knows? Maybe I will find somepony. I mean, I’m in a good place right now, but hey, if I do, I get a new shot at romance, and I can get my mom off my back.”
“Your mom’s been on your back?”
“She’s been askin’ why I haven’t found another coltfriend after Comet Crush.” She straightened herself in her seat and cleared her throat. Putting on a higher voice, she mimicked her mother. “Stardust, why haven’t you found a nice coltfriend yet? Stardust, I have a friend whose son I think you would like. Stardust, why don’t you have a coltfriend yet? Stardust, are you secretly a fillyfooler, and that’s why you don’t have a coltfriend? If so, then why don’t you have a marefriend yet?” Blueblood had been drinking his tea, and had to exercise an immense amount of self control to not spurt it out of his mouth or nose once he heard that. Once he was off the verge of choking from holding his drink in after he swallowed, he broke into a voracious laugh one wouldn’t expect from a prince. “Oh, and I haven’t even told ya my favorite one.” She cleared her throat again. “Stardust, when will you get with that nice friend of yours? Stop stringing Shining along and invite him to dinner!” Even she found some humorous irony in that when she thought back to the times ponies thought her and Shining actually were a couple, including the pony sitting directly in front of her.
It seemed so long ago when Blueblood thought back to the short amount of time he and Cadance thought Stardust was involved with Shining. After just one conversation, the mixup was resolved, and he watched the beginnings of Cadance and Shining’s relationship take place. Looking back on it now, he wondered something. “Okay, Stardust. I am going to ask you something, and I want you to be completely honest.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but you’ve known Shining Armor even before he met Cadance, right?” She nodded. “Even back at the Summer Sun Celebration, I noticed you two were and are very close, and I mean very close. So, here’s what I’m curious about, in that whole time you’ve known him, did you ever think of starting a relationship with him? I feel like Cadance and I aren’t the only ones to have mistaken you two for something more than just friends.”
It's starting to catalyze some major stuff, so I can't wait to write the next coming chapters. Hope to get it out real soon. And before signing off for the night to try and finish, enjoy this picture of the two lovebirds of this story.
Original Image
Can't wait for the new chapter and keep up the good work!
3156062
I shall try