Tomorrow night, Ponyville was holding a fundraiser for the local Pet Center. The goal of this was to collect some money and to find a home for some pets so it was highly important to make this event a success. Star Twinkle and his friends were all helping with the preparations for that, except for Fluttershy who they were about to pick up right now. Knowing the animal-loving mare, she was probably aware of this event long before anypony else and was willing to help out too.
As Star Twinkle, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie got closer to Fluttershy's cottage they all began to hear something.
"Hey! Do you hear that?" Twilight said, causing everypony who was not aware of it to peel his or her ears now too.
When Star Twinkle focused on it as well, he quickly figured out what it was. "Somepony is singing?" He said after he could clearly hear the sound of a singing mare in the distance.
The singing came from the other side of Fluttershy's cottage and the group was curious enough to check up on it. What they all saw was unsurprising, Fluttershy who was accompanied by some of her animal friends. They were practically praising and adoring Fluttershy because as it turns out, she was the one who was singing.
No one would probably say that it was obvious that the singing, that came from Fluttershy's cottage came from Fluttershy but they soon realized that no one of them ever heard her singing on her own so they were all listening and watching Fluttershy while she sang a beautiful song and took care of her animals at the same time. They all agreed that Fluttershy had a truly beautiful singing voice so they didn't interrupt her and kept listening.
After Fluttershy was done with her singing and taking care of her animals, she thanked her animal friends for cheering for so loudly. "Thank you so much. You're too kind," she said happily while blushing and smiling at their cheers.
But soon she would get even more praise and compliments because her friends were now approaching her, all of them having their mouths open in awe. However, as soon as Fluttershy spotted her friends, standing not too far away from her, her expression completely changed. She still seemed to blush but not in a grateful way but rather in an embarrassed one.
"Oh... You... um... you didn't hear me... um...singing?" She then asked nervously and embarrassed while she practically hid her face from everypony.
"Uh, yeah, we did!" Rainbow Dash replied.
"We totally heard you singing in the most beautiful voice ever!" Pinkie Pie added. She seemed to enjoy her song the most out of the group and wasn't hiding it at all.
"I've never heard you sing a solo like that before!" Twilight complimented.
"It was like a little slice of heaven," Applejack added.
The compliments just kept coming but the more praise Fluttershy received, the more she seemed to get nervous and embarrassed. Star Twinkle noticed that behavior but he couldn't quite figure out why she was acting that way. She didn't seem to have any problem singing in front of her animal friends before so it made no sense for him why she was now acting nervously.
But despite her being nervous or not, Rarity brought up something else that began to cross her mind. "Fluttershy, I cannot believe your spectacular voice isn't part of the Pony Tones quartet!" She said before she pulled out a promotional poster with those Pony Tones on it.
She was referring to a vocal quintet that she was part of. The Pony Tones were a singing ensemble in Ponyville, Rarity happened to be part of them, as well as Big McIntosh. They are probably the most famous music group in Ponyville and were known after performing in a lot of social events and charities that took place in this town. They were also performing tomorrow at the fundraiser.
Fluttershy tried to give an answer to Rarity's question but she already seemed to have planned something. "This simply must be rectified. You must share that stunning voice at the event!" She demanded in her excitement.
"Yeah! It'll be so amazing!" Pinkie Pie said. "You'll be there on stage, basking in the hooflights! The center of attention! A shining star! Everypony staring at you, judging you, jealously noting how they could be way better than you!" She started to explain without noticing how Fluttershy seemed to get more and more uncomfortable. "Why wasn't it them? Why wasn't it them? And then, when you choke, they'll turn on you, becoming a seething, angry mob, and you'll be horribly humiliated, never able to show your face in Ponyville again!" She further explained, causing Fluttershy to actually tear up by just the thought of it.
But as soon as Rarity realized that Pinkie Pie made Fluttershy feel really bad, she used her poster and smacked the mare lightly on the head. "Pinkie Pie! Don't be ridiculous!" She scolded.
"Aw, but I'm so good at it!" Pinkie Pie replied.
Rarity then went on with her plans and further tried to make Fluttershy follow her. "Come, Fluttershy, you will join the group, making the Pony Tones quartet the Pony Tones quintet!" She said, expecting Fluttershy to be right behind her.
Star Twinkle further noticed the discomfort that Fluttershy showed and decided to step in now. Knowing Fluttershy, she would probably not speak up and let herself get dragged around like this. That's what usually would happen with Star Twinkle in similar situations. But to his surprise, Fluttershy was actually speaking up for herself.
"No," she simply said.
"Pardon me?" Rarity replied confused, turning around to the mare behind her.
Fluttershy explained. "I love the Pony Tones, I'm one of their biggest fans, but I do not want to perform with them," she said.
Twilight Sparkle was wondering why that was the case. "Why not, Fluttershy?" She asked.
"Well, you see... I... I have... um... I... I have..." she started but she seemed to be embarrassed to say what the reason was. That was until Rainbow Dash prompted her to spit it out. "I have... stage fright," she then said.
Pinkie Pie gasped in reply before she was jumping into a bush behind her to hide. "Is it contagious?!" She asked confused. Of course, the pony who loved to be loud and entertaining had no idea what stage fright could be.
"It means that she is simply scared to perform in front of everypony..." Star Twinkle explained. He was probably the only one besides Fluttershy who could actually relate to that kind of fear with his dislike of crowds.
"I'm very thankful the Pony Tones are singing at the Pet Center fundraiser, and I'm really looking forward to the performance, but I'll be watching safely from the audience," Fluttershy explained.
After hearing that, Rarity realized that she couldn't force her friend to join the Pony Tones and gave up on trying to convince her. Still, she had to let out at least one sigh. "Well... I think it's a terrible waste of exquisite talent, but I understand that you're not comfortable," she said.
"Thank you," Fluttershy replied relieved. Shortly after, her pet bunny Angel jumped up and down, trying to tell Fluttershy something. "Oh! Angel's right. We'd better get going. There's a lot of work to do before tomorrow's event," Fluttershy said, basically translating what Angel was trying to tell her.
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash replied. "That's why we came here for in the first place," she added.
"Then let's go!" Twilight said before she led the group of ponies to where the event tomorrow would take place.
A little later...
Everypony was given a task to take care of so that everything would be done by tomorrow. Star Twinkle and his boss, Steel Hammer were helping out as well but the later seemed to be too excited to lift a hoof and waited for the Pony Tones to begin their little practice again.
"I think they are about to start!" Steel Hammer said excitedly with a huge smile on his face.
Star Twinkle could only look at the stallion in confusion. "Why are you looking forward to their practice this much?" He asked.
"Shh! They are starting!" Steel Hammer replied as he looked over to the stage where the Pony Tones were at. Rarity and Big McIntosh, as well as another mare and a stallion then started to sing.
Star Twinkle knew that Rarity was good at singing and obviously the rest was too but he still was positively surprised to see Big McIntosh singing like this. He actually did most of the singing while the others mostly provided some melody with their own singing. It was a really good song and some ponies were actually watching and listening to the Pony Tones, cheering them loudly on after they were done with their practice.
One of the ponies who cheered for them was Steel Hammer. "Woohoo! Go Pony Tones!" He said while he clapped his hooves.
"He really seems to like singing..." Star Twinkle thought before he continued to get back to his work. From the looks of it, there was not much left and the two could go home a little early.
On the next day...
Early in the morning, Star Twinkle and Steel Hammer were already at the place where the fundraiser would take place tonight. The worst thing that could happen was that something was missing at the last second so they made sure to check up on everything before the event started.
Rarity was arriving at the scene as well. "You two are very early," she said at the sight of the two stallions. The rest of the Pony Tones were already with her as well with the exception of Big McIntosh. "You haven't seen Big McIntosh by any chance, have you?" She then asked.
But the two stallions just raised their shoulders in confusion. Rarity said that it was very unlikely for Big McIntosh to be late so she got a little worried. Luckily, Applejack arrived at the scene shortly after. If there was anypony who knew where her brother was at the moment, then it would be her.
"There you all are!" She said with a concerned look on her face.
"Applejack?" Rarity asked. "Could you please tell us where your brother is? He is awfully late for practice,"
"Yeah, about that..." Applejack replied before she took off her hat so that she could explain. "I'm afraid, Big Mac won't be able to show up today..."
"What!?" Rarity replied in shock. "But what about tonight? The Fundraiser? What happened?" She asked.
Applejack then further explained. "Well, you see...he lost his voice yesterday and granny decided to make him a special soup that was supposed to cure his voice again. But then Apple Bloom heard about it and she made some soup on her own. I told granny that letting Big Mac eat that one was a bad idea but she actually agreed and now...he can't even stand up for longer than a minute...without running to the bathroom..." she said before she walked away again, most likely to take care of her brother for a while.
"That must have been one heck of a soup..." Star Twinkle said almost in awe after hearing this story.
Needless to say, Rarity was not too happy about that news. "Of all the things that could happen..." she said while she shook her head. "Whatever happened that he lost his voice in the first place?" She then asked.
"Yeah," Steel Hammer added. "I mean, yesterday, at the Turkey call competition, he seemed perfectly fine..." he casually said.
Of course, Rarity overheard that loud and clear but she still couldn't believe it. "A turkey call!?" She exclaimed in frustration. "He lost his voice doing a turkey call!?" She asked once more, causing Steel Hammer to nod in response to confirm the whole thing. "Now what do we do!?" She asked, awaiting somepony to come up with a fast solution for their problem.
Suddenly, Steel Hammer lifted his chest and smiled widely, something that Star Twinkle noticed but he didn't know why until Steel Hammer spoke up to everypony to share an idea. "Well, from the looks of it, you seem to be one member short in your singing group and luckily for you, I happen to be a really good singer myself!" He proudly said while putting on the biggest smile ever.
"Since when?" Star Twinkle boldly threw into the group. "You never ever mentioned something about that," he said almost in disbelieve.
But Rarity did believe Steel Hammer and quickly approached him. "Let me hear!" She quickly demanded so that she could have an idea of how good Steel Hammer was.
Steel Hammer then cleared his throat and prepared himself to start. He paused a little for a more dramatic effect before he then eventually started to repeat the song that the Pony Tones sang a day ago.
It was certainly a little different though...
"WHEN YOU FIND YOU'VE GOT THE MUSIC! GOT THE MUSIC IN YOU! FIND YOU GOT THE MUSIC! GOT THE MUSIC IN YOU!" He screamed on top of his lungs, forcing everypony to cover their ears.
Star Twinkle quickly put a hoof in the stallion's mouth to make him stop. "I think we get somepony else!" He said.
The next idea that came out of Rarity's mouth, however, actually made Star Twinkle consider having Steel Hammer do the replacement again. "What about you, Star Twinkle?" She asked. She clearly was out of options.
"No!" Star Twinkle replied. "I don't wanna sing in front of a crowd!" He replied almost in a panic. "Besides, can't you just sing as three members?" He suggested. But Rarity explained that it would mean to rearrange the whole song, something that they simply didn't have time for.
Of course, Star Twinkle wouldn't call himself an expert singer but he at least had some skills, especially after he started to spend time with his friends. But replacing Big McIntosh, who was a surprisingly good singer, and standing in front of everypony in a rather important event.
"Whatever shall we do now!?" Rarity then said dramatically before she covered her eyes in frustration.
"Um..." Fluttershy then said who seemed to overheard the whole situation. "I don't know what to do either but if there is anything that I can do to help at the fundraiser then I am willing to help!" She said determinedly.
"That's nice of you to say Fluttershy, dear," Rarity said after Fluttershy offered her help. "But I'm afraid there is nothing that you can do for us..." she added after she was reminded to the current situation.
"Yeah, unless you know a way to make Steel Hammer's voice sound better that is..." Star Twinkle said, much to Steel Hammer's dislike who felt offended by this statement and sulked in response.
But those words that were not to be meant seriously, actually made another idea pop up in Rarity's mind. And this time, it seemed as if it was a good one, judging from her happy expression. "That's it! Fluttershy!" She said while she looked over to the mare who didn't know what this was all about yet. "Remember back then!? When we all stepped into Poison Joke and got cursed?"
"Well, it was not really a curse..." Star Twinkle corrected.
"No!" Rarity exclaimed while she walked up to the stallion. "Don't you remember how Fluttershy sounded like while being under the effect of the Poison Joke?" She asked.
Star Twinkle gave a quick answer. "No..." he said, causing Rarity and Fluttershy to react a little surprised until he further explained and reminded them to something. "I was deaf at that moment! In fact, until you all mentioned it after everything was done again, I thought Fluttershy was the only one who wasn't affected by those plants..."
Fluttershy seemed to be a little embarrassed just thinking about this, Star Twinkle could clearly see that by looking at her face. Rarity explained why that was the case. "When Fluttershy stepped into the Poison Joke, her voice became really low and made her sound like..." she then stopped in mid-sentence because she could see the discomfort in Fluttershy's face.
But despite that discomfort, Fluttershy ended the sentence. "Flutterguy..." she said embarrassed.
Steel Hammer couldn't help but smile after hearing that. "That's a funny name," he said while he chuckled a little until everypony made sure that he would stop after they threw some glares at the stallion. "Sorry..." he then added.
However, Star Twinkle was still not sure why Rarity brought this up. If her plan was to make Fluttershy sing instead of Big McIntosh, then that would be out of option as well because Fluttershy already stated that she didn't want to sing in front of everypony since she has stage fright.
But Rarity was not quite done with explaining her idea. "I know you are afraid to sing in front of everypony so listen to what I have in mind..." she said before she openly shared her idea to everypony.
Nopony wanted to cancel the fundraiser and Fluttershy wanted to do everything to help her animal friends so she decided to go along with Rarity's plan. Now the last thing to do was hoping that it would actually work.
And for that, they had to wait a few hours...
Later that night...
The fundraiser has already started and seemed to be a great success. Many ponies already adopted some animals and gave them a new home. One could think that there was no reason for the Pony Tones to sing. However, in order to make the fundraiser an even bigger success, Fluttershy and the Pony Tones still wanted to go on with Rarity's plan.
Star Twinkle already waited in front of the stage for a while now. Soon, the whole spot in front of the stage was filled with ponies, all of them expecting a really good and smooth performance from the Pony Tones.
Still, Star Twinkle had some worries about Rarity's plan. "I hope this goes well..." Star Twinkle said while he waited for the show to start.
"What do you mean?" Twilight said as she approached Star Twinkle from behind with the rest of her friends. "It already looks like as if the fundraiser is going well," Twilight said, interpreting the stallion's words a little different.
"Um, yeah!" Star Twinkle replied nervously. "But it could always go a little better!" He added, trying to not let his friends know what was really going on.
Everypony reacted a little confused, especially Applejack who was walking up to Star Twinkle. "So I assume you found a replacement for my brother? After all, it looks like the stage is about to start. Who is it?" She asked.
Star Twinkle was about to answer but Rarity stepped up from behind the curtain and was about to start the show any second now. "Good evening, citizens of Ponyville! I want to thank you all for coming out tonight and generously supporting the Ponyville Pet Center! Thanks to your kindness, pets are finding loving homes, and we're sure to meet our fundraising goal!"
Since the show was about to start soon, Twilight began to wonder where Fluttershy was. She claimed to be a big fan of the Pony Tones so her not being present seemed weird.
Applejack came to a quick conclusion. "Probably hidin'. You know how much that pony hates the spotlight," she figured.
"Yeah, most likely," Star Twinkle added nervously while being fully aware of where the mare was at this very moment.
In the meantime, Rarity continued and explained that the Pony Tones were missing one member and had to replace it with somepony else. Many ponies were a little disappointed but they were also curious about who it was. "So, with no further ado, please welcome the Pony Tones and Steel Hammer!"
What followed was the rest of the Pony Tones stepping up in front of everypony. One of them being Steel Hammer who was also wearing the same get-up as the rest of them. The stallion stood there and grinned widely after hearing the cheer of everypony.
Of course, Star Twinkle's friends quickly looked at him as if they demanded an explanation. They all wondered why Star Twinkle never mentioned that his boss was a good singer. One of the reasons was of course because he wasn't a good singer. "I think it's about to start now!" He quickly said so that they all focused their eyes on the stage again.
The moment of truth was now here. Rarity blew into a pitch pipe and Steel Hammer took a deep breath to start singing.
"Bum, bum, bum-ba-da, ba-da
Bum, bum, bum-ba-da ah"
In true Acapella fashion, the other singers quickly joined in an provided the background melody.
"Oh, ah-ah-ah-ah
Oh, ah-ah-ah-ah"
Everything seemed to go well but Star Twinkle would only be happy once it was all over without anypony noticing something weird.
"Trot outside and you see the sunshine
Something's in the air today
Sky is clear and you're feelin' so fine
Everything's gonna be a-okay"
But to Star Twinkle's surprise, everything went smoothly and nopony suspected a thing. The song ended and the Pony Tones bowed down before the cheering crowd.
"Make sure to visit the Iron Hammer!" Steel Hammer had the nerve to say while he received all those cheers to get some advertisement out of the way. It was most likely not even heard by anypony because the cheers were too loud.
Shortly after, the four ponies walked off the stage and Star Twinkle's friends were approaching them. Star Twinkle, however, sneaked towards the other side of the stage and made sure that nopony was around. He then moved his head towards the curtain and whispered some words. "Alright...it's safe..." he said while he kept looking around himself.
After that, Fluttershy stepped out and made sure that nopony was with Star Twinkle. "You think I did well?" She asked in a really deep voice, that caught Star Twinkle a little by surprise, even though he already heard Fluttershy speaking like that earlier this day.
The plan was a huge success. The group went to the Everfree Forest and looked for some Poison Joke so that Fluttershy could be affected by that "curse" again. Her voice became really deep and was perfect to replace Big MacIntosh's part of the song. But Fluttershy was too afraid to stay on stage to sing in front of everypony and Steel Hammer was perfectly fine with that. So the plan was to make Steel Hammer move his lips while Fluttershy was singing from behind the stage and it seemed to have worked perfectly.
The two ponies tried to sneak away from the scene without anypony noticing it. Star Twinkle once again looked all around him to make sure that nopony was there. "All save," he said once the coast was clear.
Fluttershy then walked out of behind the stage but as soon as she was outside for only a second, a pink party pony jumped right in front of her from practically out of nowhere. "Fluttershy, you were on the wrong side of the curtain! You totally missed the show!" She said excitedly, not questioning one second why she was behind the curtain in the first place.
The others were walking up to her and Star Twinkle as well. Of course, Fluttershy couldn't answer because of her deep voice, that would instantly cause some suspicion in the group. Star Twinkle had no time to come up with an excuse but luckily Rarity came to the rescue and saved the day. "Just like a true professional, Fluttershy was backstage making sure everything ran smoothly!" She explained which seemed to be a good enough reason for everypony to believe it. Then, without anypony else noticing it, Rarity whispered some grateful words to Fluttershy who seemed to be happy to hear them. "And it was perfect," she said with a smile on her face.
"Well!" Steel Hammer then said, probably to get the attention away from Fluttershy. "From the looks of it, the fundraiser was a huge success, wouldn't you say?" It seemed to work. Everypony was then reminded about how they didn't expect Steel Hammer to sing like this, a compliment that he took of course.
But there was no time for him to react to that praise since there was somepony walking towards them to congratulate them. "That was fantastic, Pony Tones!" Said a white-coated Pegasus stallion with a black mane, a black beard and green eyes. He was also wearing a black shirt and black glasses.
He was accompanied by a little Pegasus filly with a light yellow coat and an amber-colored mane who was also wearing black glasses and a tiara. "My new puppy and I thought it was super-duper crazy good!" The little filly said while not staying still for even a second and flying around the place in pure excitement, much to the discomfort of the little puppy that she was holding in her hooves and whose head was spinning right now.
"Why, thank you!" Rarity replied happily.
Steel Hammer couldn't help but take the compliment as well. "We were pretty awesome," he said with a confident smile on his face as if he was the one who did the most work.
However, the two ponies did not just come to compliment the Pony Tones and actually had a little favor to ask for them. "We were wondering if you would consider performing at my daughter Zipporwhill's cute-ceañera," the Pegasus stallion asked.
"Will you? Will you?" Zipporwhill asked excited to hear an answer.
Rarity didn't see a reason why she would decline so the answer was obvious. "We'd love to! When is it? Next week? Next month?" She asked.
"Tomorrow!" The two ponies then replied, much to the shock of Rarity and Fluttershy.
Of course, that was not possible. "Oh, gracious, I'm terribly sorry, but that's much too last minute," Rarity explained. Big MacIntosh was not healed and from the looks of it, he probably wouldn't get better by tomorrow so there was no way that they could do that.
The two ponies seemed disappointed, especially the little filly who was so looking forward to the Pony Tones to appear on her cute-ceañera and both walked away with frowns on their faces.
After seeing that, Fluttershy couldn't help but get Rarity and Steel Hammer closer to her so that she could discuss something with them in private. "Oh, Rarity, we can't disappoint that sweet little filly," she then said in her really deep male-sounding voice.
Steel Hammer had some mixed feeling about that idea."Wait...you want us to do this game again? Me standing in front of a crowd and you singing from behind?" To that Fluttershy only nodded with a smile on her face. "So in other words...I get to receive all the cheers while you stay in the back and do all the singing?" He asked, causing Fluttershy to reply with a nod once more. "I'm in!" Steel Hammer then said with a happy expression on his face.
But Star Twinkle, who overheard all this had to be the little voice of reason. "But do you think you can pull something like that off again? I mean, we got pretty lucky just now. What if something goes wrong tomorrow?"
"I have to agree with Star Twinkle," Rarity said after giving the idea a thought. "Are you two really sure you're up for it?"
Steel Hammer and Fluttershy then looked at each other as if they wanted to confirm to agree on this idea. Shortly after, they both smiled and nodded and then looked back at Star Twinkle and Rarity. From the looks of it, they both were confident to pull this all off again. If they repeat what they did today then everything should be fine again, at least that's what Star Twinkle thought. There was no way that he could talk the two ponies out of this idea anyway so he had to just believe in them.
After all...it was just another day...
Several days later...
For quite some time, Star Twinkle found himself doing most of the work in the Iron Hammer. The reason for that was simple. Steel Hammer didn't show up most of the time, and when he did, he only stayed for a few hours before eventually leaving again because he had to show up somewhere with the Pony Tones. As it turns out, he and Fluttershy didn't want to disappoint anypony who asked for Pony Tones to sing for them. This caused him to get involved with one performance after another. And because of Steel Hammer's constant absence, Star Twinkle was left with the majority of the work in the Iron Hammer.
Today, Star Twinkle had to deliver some wooden planks to Sweet Apple Acres. There were some repairs that needed to be done and the apple family needed some resources for that. Star Twinkle arrived at the barn where he had to deliver the planks to and dropped them all on the ground so that he could leave again. When he was about to leave, however, right in front of him appeared Big McIntosh. This was surprising because from what he heard, he was still supposed to stay in bed because of this weird illness that he got from Apple Bloom's self-made soup.
"Big Mac? You're out of the bed again?" Star Twinkle asked.
"Eeyup," the stallion replied.
"Does that mean you are all better again?" Star Twinkle asked.
"Eeyup," the stallion replied while nodding in response.
"So you can sing for the Pony Tones again?" Star Twinkle asked.
"Eeyup," the stallion replied.
"Great!" Star Twinkle replied with a rush of excitement flowing through him. "Would you kindly follow me then?" He said, asking the stallion to follow him.
With Big McIntosh all well again, Steel Hammer could finally stop "singing" for the Pony Tones and return to the Iron Hammer so that Star Twinkle didn't have to do all the work. That reason alone gave Star Twinkle the motivation to make Big McIntosh return so he wasted no time to get to the school of Ponyville because that is where the Pony Tones should be now.
When the two stallions arrived at the school, the singing seemed to be already over and Fluttershy, Rarity and Steel Hammer already attempted to leave again.
"Star Twinkle?" Rarity said as soon as she saw the stallion walking up to her and Fluttershy. "Did you come to see the Pony Tones? I'm afraid the show is already over,"
"And we were good as usual!" Steel Hammer added while he raised his hoof to give Fluttershy a hoof bump, something that she shyly returned with a smile on her face.
"Good to hear!" Star Twinkle replied happily. "I also have good news!" He said before he practically dragged Big McIntosh in front of the three. "Big McIntosh is all better now and can sing for the Pony Tones again! So you two won't have to anymore!"
Of course, Star Twinkle was excited to share that news but Steel Hammer and Fluttershy didn't seem to happy about it. "You mean, that was our last performance?" Steel Hammer said a little depressed.
"You heard that Fluttershy?" Rarity asked. "Now you can bathe in the poison joke antidote and sound like your lovely self again,"
But Fluttershy didn't seem too happy about all this and frowned. "It's just... I didn't know that last performance was my last performance..." she said in her really deep voice before she walked away with a frown on her face who was followed by Steel Hammer who just silently followed her.
"And now...I feel bad..." Star Twinkle thought after seeing the two walking away like that.
Rarity also noticed how sad the two were about that and couldn't help but to offer them one more performance. But of course, that was not only up to her so she walked over to Big McIntosh. "Would it be okay if Fluttershy and Steel Hammer would perform instead of you one last time?" She asked.
The two ponies overheard that question and looked over to Big McIntosh with the best puppy eyes that they could make at the moment. Big McIntosh gave that suggestion a thought and quickly gave an answer while smiling. "Eeyup,"
The ponies were really happy to hear this and Fluttershy quickly rushed to the stallion to hug him. Steel Hammer also expressed his gratitude. "Thanks, big boy! Remind me to give you a discount whenever you need something from the Iron Hammer!"
Later that day...
Fortunately, the next performance they had to give was at Sugarcube Corner at the same day so Star Twinkle didn't have to put up another day doing all the work in the Iron Hammer. He actually was watching the performance with the rest of his friends, who all still didn't know about Fluttershy doing all the singing.
He was still worried that somepony would find out but judging from how they managed to keep this a secret from everypony for so long now, they probably are used to doing this and were better than ever on keeping it a secret.
When Star Twinkle watched the performance however for a little while, he could feel something was a little off. As usual, Steel Hammer was just moving his lips and pretended to sing while Fluttershy was behind the curtain and did all the singing. This is where things looked a little off. Steel Hammer's lips didn't quite match the singing. Nopony seemed to notice it other than him which was understandable because no one knew that Steel Hammer wasn't really singing so they had no reason to inspect his lips like that but for Star Twinkle it was quite obvious.
"Hey, find it, oh why, you can find it
In your heart, yeah, find the music, yeah
It's in you right now! Oh, yeah!
You can find the music!"
Fluttershy sang from behind the curtain which not only sounded like a completely different song but it also sounded as if Fluttershy was getting a little to carried away. She probably didn't even notice it herself.
"I need to go to the bathroom..." Star Twinkle said as an excuse to his friends before he walked away so that he could meet Fluttershy behind the curtain to give her some kind of signal to take it a little bit easier since Steel Hammer could barely keep up with her singing.
When he arrived behind the curtain, it was pretty surprising what he saw. There was Fluttershy flying moving and dancing as if she was having the time of her life, playing with the curtain and dragging and pulling it in the process.
"Fluttershy," Star Twinkle whispered since he could obviously not talk over her to interrupt her singing. But no matter what he tried to do to get her attention she just continued to sing and dance wildly without care.
Eventually, her body hit the curtain one more time and caused it to fall over right on top of the Pony Tones, leaving Fluttershy in plain sight who still continued to sing with all eyes focused on her. It didn't take long however until she noticed the audience. Everypony was watching her silently and with heavily surprised looks on their faces. Of course, Fluttershy was shocked and widened her eyes before she curled up into a ball in midair and dropped to the ground out of embarrassment.
She expected laughter and hooves pointing at her and to be honest, Star Twinkle expected that as well after she was singing in that kind of voice. But, to both of their surprises, nopony was laughing and instead cheered for the mare. However, it was like as if Fluttershy didn't even hear those cheers and replaced them with laughter inside of her head. She was panicking and had tears in her eyes. She could clearly not deal with this kind of situation. What followed was her running away and crying to get out of this situation.
Star Twinkle quickly met up with his friends who were a little confused about what they just saw and of course, asked for an explanation. Star Twinkle had no choice but to get the truth out now...
Later that night...
"I see..." Twilight responded after she now had a clear sight about what happened.
The group was on their way to Fluttershy's cottage to comfort her a little after this experience. The group understood that Fluttershy was afraid to stand on the stage and why she would feel uncomfortable with it but they also didn't know why she reacted like that despite receiving so many cheers from everypony. Any other pony would feel good about this but then again, they were talking about the shyest pony in Ponyville...
Steel Hammer, who was also on his way to the mare decided to stay positive. "I bet if we talk to her then she will probably realize that it wasn't too bad..." he said with an optimism in his voice that quickly jumped over to the others as well.
When the group entered her cottage, they could see how Fluttershy just came out of the bath. She must have bathed in this antidote bath that cures the effect of the Poison Joke, something that she probably was happy about.
Fluttershy still seemed uncomfortable after seeing her friends. After what has happened the group had to be really considered. All they had to do was talk to her and make her realize that it wasn't as bad as she thought. Careful words had to be chosen for that.
But then Pinkie Pie spoke up...
"That was totally unbelievable!" She said as she walked up to the mare, ignoring her private space. "I mean, the curtain came up and there you were, singing in front of everypony! And you know, I don't think anypony was jealous, 'cause there certainly wasn't an angry mob! But it must have been horrible standing there on stage, all eyes glued directly on you! It's like you were living your own personal worst nightmare!" She said without even stopping to catch a breath, making everypony in the room feel sad for Fluttershy who was practically remembered to the trauma that she was living just earlier and broke out in tears again. And just like earlier, the mare ran away crying, causing everypony to look at Pinkie Pie in disappointment and blaming her for that. However, Pinkie Pie didn't seem to realize what she just did and just shrugged her shoulders confused.
The group went outside and actually managed to lose Fluttershy already. You would think that a pony who was running around the town, crying her heart out was easy to find but the group still lost track of her. The only thing that they could do was splitting up in order to find her again and praying that Pinkie Pie wouldn't be the first one to find her.
Steel Hammer was looking for her as well but had no idea where to look for her. That was until he could hear some sobbing in a corner in an alley. When he investigated, there was Fluttershy sitting in the corner, crying. Of course, the stallion couldn't just ignore that and quietly sat next to her while also making sure that she wouldn't feel bothered by it and run away again.
"It was that bad for you, was it?" He asked with a concerned look on his face.
Fluttershy quickly replied. "It was horrible!" She said with tears running down her cheeks. "Everypony was looking at me! I'll never be going to sing in front of everypony again!"
Steel Hammer didn't like to hear that. "Now, don't say ridiculous things like that. You enjoy singing, do you? That's why you keep wanted to sing for the Pony Tones, right?"
Fluttershy seemed to be surprised by hearing that and wiped some of her tears away. "You mean, you knew I really wanted to perform?" She asked.
"Sure! You had the same expression as me when I was actively singing!" Steel Hammer replied with a grin on his face. Of course, Fluttershy remembered Steel Hammer's "singing" and didn't know if it was as relatable as Steel Hammer intended it to be. Steel Hammer noticed the confusion on Fluttershy and grinned even wider. "Hey...listen to this..." he then said before he took a deep breath.
Fluttershy realized that he was about to start singing so she prepared herself to cover her ears. But then she heard him singing...as in real singing...
"Everypony's sayin' you should learn to express your voice
But if talk doesn't seem like it's the answer
Luckily you have a choice
When you find you've got the music
Got the music in you
Find you've got the music
Got the music in you"
After hearing that Fluttershy sat there with a wide-open mouth in her surprise. It was completely different from the last time the stallion was singing. It was fluid and actually pretty good sounding. Fluttershy would even go as far and say that it was better than her and Big McIntosh's singing. She just couldn't help but compliment the stallion on his singing. "That was really good!" She said impressed to which Steel Hammer reacted with a smile in response. But then something suddenly struck Fluttershy and she got confused. "But wait! If you were a good singer all this time then why did you not replace Big McIntosh? And why did you pretend like you couldn't sing?" She asked in her confusion.
"Well...I played with the thought of taking Big Mac's role but I hoped that you in some way would get involved with this. I didn't imagine it to end up with me standing in front of the curtain and you behind it though..." Steel Hammer explained as he rubbed his neck. "And I was right. You did get involved and had fun doing it, right? So why stop doing it? I know it is hard for you to perform in front of a crowd but please, Fluttershy, do not stop singing, especially since you are really good at it..." Fluttershy seemed to give this suggestion a thought but she still had some doubts and didn't know if she was able to do it. Lastly, Steel Hammer asked her one more thing to convince her to try singing again. "Now tell me...what was so bad about singing in front of everypony? The happy faces in the audience? The cheers? The amount of applause that you received? Was that all so bad?"
This is where Fluttershy realized that it wasn't as bad as she expected. In fact, her fear might have played a trick on her and made her see things that weren't really there. Ponies were cheering and applauding her. And that is something that she certainly liked.
"Thank you, Steel Hammer," Fluttershy then said with a smile on her face before she hugged the stallion out of gratitude.
"You're welcome," Steel Hammer replied with a grin on his face.
The two decided to look for the others after that conversation. Fluttershy was no longer crying and told everypony that she was okay again. For some reason, Steel Hammer asked of her to keep this whole "being good at singing" a secret from everypony. He said that he was not important right now and that they all should focus on helping Fluttershy in one thing. Something that they did right on the next day.
The next day, near Fluttershy's cottage...
The Pony Tones decided to give one more performance, this time it was only for Star Twinkle, the rest of his friends and Fluttershy's animal friends. As usual, the singing was really good not only because Big McIntosh was back at full health but also because of one little addition. One shy mare was with the Pony Tones on stage and actually took the lead part of the song without any fear or hesitation.
"There's music in the treetops
And there's music in the vale
And all around the music fills the sky
There's music by the river
And there's music in the grass
And the music makes your heart soar in reply"
Seeing Fluttershy sing alongside the Pony Tones was quite refreshing. Everypony cheered and enjoyed the show, throwing applause at the mare who now finally decided to come out of her shell a little.
Steel Hammer was also present and cheered loudly for the mare. Star Twinkle thought it was a little weird seeing this stallion getting excited by music this much. However, Star Twinkle had the feeling that yesterday, he was the one who encouraged the mare to sing now. He had no idea what exactly he told her and Steel Hammer for some reason didn't explain it but then again, it didn't really matter. It was the outcome that counted after all.
The song was over before they knew it and the Pony Tones, especially Fluttershy were bombarded with applause and cheers.
"You did it, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash said.
"See? That wasn't so bad," Applejack said.
"And you didn't look completely petrified by the fact that we're all staring at you at all!" Pinkie Pie added, being dangerously close to making Fluttershy feel uncomfortable again.
But luckily, Twilight stepped in and used her magic to drag the mare away from Fluttershy a little. "How do you feel?" She then asked, making sure that there was not too much pressure on Fluttershy.
"Surprisingly... okay!" Fluttershy replied in her own surprise.
"Fantastic!" Rarity said. -because the Pony Tones have been booked for the Apple Family Zap Apple Jam Extraordinaire!" She then shared, hoping that Fluttershy could be part of the Pony Tones by then.
But Fluttershy declined. "Oh, no... I couldn't do that!" She said before she vanished behind the curtain. Of course, everypony was surprised to hear that and wanted an explanation, especially since Fluttershy was doing so well earlier. Fluttershy stuck her head out from behind the curtain again and explained. "I'll get there someday. But for now... baby steps, everypony. Baby steps,"
Steel Hammer was the first one to agree with that. "Sounds fine with me!" He said with a smile on his face.
A little later, the group was about to leave again. Fluttershy, however, wanted to talk with Steel Hammer about one more thing so she asked of him to talk with her for a moment. "I just wanted to thank you again for yesterday. You thought me a very valuable lesson,"
"Let's hear," Steel Hammer replied.
Fluttershy then said what she was probably about to write into the journal that she and her friends decided to write. "Sometimes, being afraid can stop you from doing something that you love, but hiding behind these fears means you're only hiding from your true self. It's much better to face those fears so you can shine and be the best pony you can possibly be," she said with a small on her face. Steel Hammer smiled back and was happy that he could help in any way possible. "Still, I am a little curious of how you became such a good singer," Fluttershy then asked.
This question caught Steel Hammer a little off guard but he decided to explain it a little briefly. "Let's just say that I was in a little singing group myself back in the day..."
Steel Hammer decided to leave it at that and Fluttershy respected that and didn't ask any more questions. The stallion reminded her to keep it a secret again and then left alongside Star Twinkle who was already waiting for him.
"What were you two talking about?" Star Twinkle asked confused.
"Music?" Steel Hammer replied casually.
Star Twinkle still had a hard time suddenly accepting this hobby that Steel Hammer seemed to have for a long time now. "Honestly, you need to explain to me how you got into music...not to be rude or anything but...I never suspected you to be interested in music. Though your singing still needs a little work if you ask me..." he then bluntly said.
But Steel Hammer didn't seem to be offended at all by those words. "Yeah, maybe," he said with a smile on his face.
And after that, the two returned home...