Part 3 & 4
Track 1: When did this Storm Begin (4:10)
Note: All music from brony artists used with the musician’s permission.
Disclaimer: I do not own My little pony, or any of the character names associated with the show, all rights belong to Hasbro, and Lauren Faust.
I do not own the rights to Shiny Toy Guns, their music, or track names, and all rights associated remain property of Shiny Toy Guns and their record label.
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The grey and blond mailmare skidded to a stop out front of the Ponyville Theater. Ditzy stopped and took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief. She’d made it here so far without any accidents, and to top it off, the package was intact. It wasn’t often that she got a rush delivery, and even rarer that there was a package for the theater. She knew that she should just knock and if Nopony was there take it back and leave a notice, but her curiosity was getting the better of her, and so she pushed open the door and walked inside. If something was happening here , she wanted to be a part of it. It wasn’t something that many ponies knew, but she enjoyed shows at the theater, but there hadn’t been one in a very long time. She’d gone in the front door, missing the delivery entrance in her typical fashion.
The lobby was dark and deserted but the doors to the theater itself were gently lit from behind. Ditzy wondered if perhaps somepony was inside. Her package forgotten, she stepped deeper into the darkened lobby, and reached out for the handle of the doors to the auditorium. Just before she opened the doors, she heard the sounds of a Piano. She listened for a moment before opening the door.
The sound was sad, almost lonely as the tinkle of the higher notes rebounded and mixed with the gentle lower tones. Ditzy walked in to the auditorium and was hit with a wave of emotions. The music was reverberating off the walls, the seats, and the empty space, filling it with this almost sad sounding tune. There was just a hint of hope to it as the song became slightly more complex. The brown Pegasus on stage sat playing the music with his eyes closed, a hoof tapping to the beat. The rhythmic motions of his forelegs was mesmerizing in and of itself as they darted back and forth over the ivory keys to land in just the right spot at the right time.
The music picked up, and one of the musician’s wings fluttered out to hit a switch that was on a nearby piece of machinery. Suddenly the sound of violins began to flood the room through the speakers. The music picked up just a slightly hopeful sound, and the song, while familiar sounding, was new and uplifting. The sounds grew and faded, playing around each other, and entrancing poor Ditzy who just stood in the doorway, listening.
Suddenly, the sound of the violins came to a crashing stop and the song slowed down, and with a final little chord from the strings, the song came to an end. Ditzy stood there, entranced by the wonderful music that the Pegasus on stage had created. She watched as the Pegasus on stage sat back from the piano and hung his head. She might not have been a genius, but she could tell when somepony was sad, and everything about the Pegasus’s body language screamed out that he was depressed. Being a mother came in handy at times. Her thoughts were interrupted by somebody coming up behind her.
“Excuse me miss, but um… do you work here?” Ditzy turned and saw a large blue pony with a very nervous expression on his face.
“Oh, no. I’m sorry, I’m here to deliver this package.” Ditzy moved with the speed of a professional, and with almost no accidents managed to set the package directly in front of the new pony. “Would you sign here, and here, and I need you to initial here……”
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Rainbow Dash was still at it, practicing for the Wonderbolts. She’d been working on her routine all day, and since she had off from the weather team, she didn’t see any reason to stop. Well at least no reason to stop until it was time to meet her friends for that picnic later that afternoon. Food was one of the few things that would stop Dash from her aerial acrobatics; Food, naptime, the promise of a good cup of cider, or her friends. That was about it.
She stopped after a particularly difficult mid-air turn to check where she was. She was just a little off, since she should now be over the town hall, but was instead over a building two doors down. It wasn’t much, but it meant to the Rainbow Maned Pegasus that she still had some work to do. As Dash drifted off towards the start of her route again, she was passed quickly by a black and brown blur.
“Oh, sorry!” Came the deep voice of the black Pegasus, who’d clearly done it on purpose.. Dash was a little miffed that somepony, or rather anypony, would dare try to challenge her.
“What was that all about?” Dash yelled.
“I’d been watching you fly for a while now, and I wanted to know if you were up for a real challenge?”
“If you give me a name, you’re on!” Dash’s grin was on full force, excited at the prospect of a new and possibly real challenge.
“The name’s Bass Clef!”
The name brought a memory streaming out from the depths of Dash’s mind. Bass Clef…. He was the bassist for the band Victory Cleft, one of Dash’s favorite bands. There was no way it could be, but since none of their album covers ever had a picture of the band, she had no way to be sure. She knew from talking to somepony who’d actually met the band that Bass Clef was supposedly as much of a daredevil as she was. If it really was Bass, he’d be up for the challenge.
“Alright then Bass,” Dash declared in her best sneer, “You’re on. First one from here to the end of Ghastly Gorge and back is the winner.”
Bass’ response was laughter. It set Dash’s feathers on edge. She didn’t like to be laughed at. She’d show this pretentious show pony who was the top flier in Ponyville for sure.
“Then Ready. Set. GO!” With the final word from Rainbow’s lips the two took off like a pair of rockets, zooming through the skies……
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Ditzy was walking out of the Theater having happily delivered a package without any major mishap when she bumped into a large brown wall. That wall turned out to be the same Pegasus that had been playing the piano not all that long ago. He still looked sad, but this time he had a kindly if bewildered smile on his face.
“Are you alright miss?” The brown Pegasus asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Ditzy said, pulling herself up and brushing off her wings. “I’m Ditzy by the way. Who are you?”
“I’m Treble. Treble Clef.” Treble sighed.
“I heard your song earlier. It was beautiful.”
“Thanks.” Treble was surprised that anypony had heard it, and was even more surprised to find that anyone actually
enjoyed it.
“No problem. Although, and I know this sounds silly, but are you the same Treble Clef that’s the lead singer for Victory Cleft?” Ditzy stared expectantly at Treble, her eyes going a little crossed.
“Yeah,” Treble sighed, “Guilty as charged.” Treble noticed the mare’s eyes, but didn’t want to say anything. Unlike his brother, Treble didn’t blurt out statements that could be hurtful just because he noticed something.
“Wow, that’s totally amazing.” Ditzy tried not to jump for joy. Everypony had heard of Victory Clef, and she’d seen the posters around town, but she’d never dreamed that a humble mailmare like herself could ever meet one of the Clef Brothers in person. But that made the question of why his song was so sad stand out even more in her mind. She couldn’t keep it down, and just had to ask. “So, umm, If I can…. Why was your song so sad?”
Treble sighed again, something that he seemed to be doing a lot of lately. He was surprised that his manager, Blaze, had been able to keep the secret so well. This was going to be his final show with Victory Cleft, in fact it was going to be the final show for Victory Cleft period. He’d spent most of his life with the band and he couldn’t really imagine any other kind of existence. He didn’t exactly want to tell this mysterious grey mare about it, but he didn’t want to lie either. He decided that he should just go ahead and tell the truth.
“I’m sorry about that. Normally my music is full of energy, but the band is breaking up, and- “ That was all he could say before he was cut off by Ditzy.
“What do you mean the band is breaking up? Did you have a fight, is somepony in the band really sick, I can’t believe this why would you all break up you are the best band in all Equestria and you need to keep playing because so many ponies love your music and keep listening to it and you are probably the best band that there has ever been in the history of Equestria and – “ Treble stopped her with a gentle hoof to the nose.
“Please Miss. It’s not that big a deal actually. Some of the band members have once in a lifetime opportunities that they are leaving to take. We’ve been playing for a decade now, It’s time to let the music stop for a minute.” Treble almost convinced himself that that was all there was to it. In truth there was a lot going on behind the scenes that even the band’s manager didn’t know.
“Well, I think it is a big deal, and either way, you don’t like it, and so I’m going to treat you to a muffin.”
“Well thanks for the offer but – “ Treble didn’t finish the sentence once he got a look at the look on Ditzy’s face. It was absolutely adorably terrifying. Her eyes had gone crossed, one looking up, the other looking down, but the rest of her face was contorted into a visage of anger. It took all he had not to start laughing. “Okay then, if you insist.”
“Good. Now that that’s settled, we should be off!” Ditzy struck up a ridiculously military pose and started walking off to Sugar Cube Corner, Treble following a step behind….
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Rainbow Dash circled the tower of Town Hall, wondering how in the world this could have happened. Bass had beaten her there by a second. She’d flown every curve in the canyon perfectly. She’d gone through every obstacle. She hadn’t seen Bass since she’d gotten into the canyon, but he was suddenly just ahead of her when she got back to town. She knew he hadn’t cheated because they’d been neck and neck all the way up to the canyon, and if he had cheated, he would have been waiting for her at Town hall.
“I’m going to take it from the way you are angrily circling the tower that you can’t believe you lost huh?” Bass said with a hearty laugh. Dash stopped thinking and started glaring daggers at Bass. If looks could kill, he’d be vaporized. He responded to this with another laugh. “Don’t worry. Its only because I flew over the canyon, not through it. I didn’t get slowed down with all the high speed banking. If I’d flown through it like you I never would have beaten you. So let’s say you won because you took the hard route.”
“But to win you have to have flown through Ghastly Gorge!” Dash yelled, still glaring.
“You never specified. You just said to the gorge and back.” He had her there, and Dash, not one for taking victories she didn’t earn flew up to shake his hand.
“Well, you won fair and square. I’ll just have to do better tomorrow!”
“And what makes you think we going to race tomorrow?” Bass had every intention of doing that again, it wasn’t often he found another Pegasus who was as competitive as he was.
“The fact that I’m gonna buy you drinks!” Dash replied. Bass nodded, liking that idea. The two flew off towards the local Cider Hall, Rainbow Dash in the lead, Bass following close behind.