Music drifted through the store as I dusted everything off; Fang upstairs cooking us lunch. We’d managed to get a few hours of sleep before waking up around eleven thirty. At about noon, I unlocked the shop and turned the sign to open. Just as I sat down at the counter, Fang trotted downstairs with a couple bowls of soup and some tomato sandwiches. We sat and ate our lunch as ponies trotted by with a few coming in to say hi and look around. Among them were a few ponies I’d gone to school with. Now that it was about three, it’d slowed down at the shop, leaving Fang and I to sit and listen to the radio. As we relaxed, I felt myself begin to nod off and soon let myself get taken away by sleep.
I listened carefully as I put an ear up to the crack between the door and the doorframe. Just across the hall I could hear my grandparents snoring quietly, making me smile to myself. Opening the door a little bit more so I could squeeze out into the hallway, I quietly shut my bedroom door and headed for the back door to the apartment, making sure to mind the floorboards that I knew would creak and give me away. As I passed the couch I thanked Celestia that the cats were both asleep and quietly snuck out the back door. Making sure to make as little noise as I could on the metal stairs, I finally made it onto the street and headed for the park. While I knew it wouldn’t make much difference with my white coat, I still tried to keep in the shadows in case there was somepony who might be up and about, though I highly doubted it. Finally making it to the park after twenty minutes of playing ninja through the alleyways, I looked around for the colt I’d come to see. Suddenly there were two hooves over my eyes and I smiled as a voice spoke up behind me. “Guess who?”
“Either my coltfriend or my great-aunt Wide Load. I can’t tell,” I replied with a smirk. The red colt snorted as he removed his hooves from my eyes and trotted around to face me.
“Really? Yer aunt Wide Load?” he asked with a smirk as he gave me a kiss on the cheek.
“Well hey, I’ll give it to you that you smell better than her,” I told him with a smirk. “Especially after work.” Leaning in, I gave him a kiss on the cheek as we began to head for a tree by the pond. Big Macintosh was a year ahead of me in school and while he wasn’t as muscular as he would be by graduation, the tall earth pony still had enough muscle to be part of the Ponyville High hoofball team. Sitting down together against the tree, we watched the moonlight reflect off the water, the cool night air making me lean against him for warmth. Or at least that’s what I’d tell him. Truth was that I loved how he smelled after he’d finished his farm work for the day. The mix of sweat and earthy smells was so heavenly and relaxing for me that I felt I’d found heaven on Equus. But don’t all teenage colts? Unfortunately, like most teenage love, it wasn’t meant to last. But in that moment that I was there with him under the stars, I had never felt happier up to then. “Hey Mac?” I finally spoke up as I looked up at the taller stallion. He looked down at me and I couldn’t help but melt into him as I looked into his beautiful green eyes. “I, uh, I was…uh”
“Little tongue tied there, Sugar Cube?” he asked me as he looked back at me, smirking and only making my heart pound harder in my chest. “Ah know what’ll solve that.” My cheeks and ears burned red as he leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. My first real kiss. And to me, it was the most amazing moment in the world to be under the stars and getting my first kiss from the handsome farm pony. We melted into each other’s embrace and I suddenly found myself under Mac, the bigger stallion having pinned me down and sloppily making out with me. But our make out session was suddenly interrupted as we heard somepony walking through the park, making us quickly take cover behind a bush. As we watched another couple walk by slowly, we breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t anypony out looking for us. Once they were out of sight, Mac and I made our way back over to the tree where we sat snuggling and watching the moonlight reflect off the little ripples in the surface of the pond. “Oh, before ah forget...” Mac reached in his saddlebag and pulled out a satin blue piece of silk. “Ah got that for ya. Ah know how much ya like blue,” he said as he gave it to me, with me immediately rubbing the fabric on my cheek. One thing Mac and I had found out about one another, we loved the feeling of soft fabrics like silk or velvet against our fur. And I’ll admit that this was what got us both into wearing dresses when nopony was around, though Big Mac was lucky enough later on that he was able to wear one of his dresses in public for the Sisterhooves Social.
“I love it, Big Mac,” I said with a smile as I continued to rub the fabric against my cheek. He only smiled and kissed my other cheek as we resumed our snuggle session. But alas, before too long, it was time for us to both return home. “I’ll see you later, mio amore,” I told him with a kiss on the lips, his lips surprisingly soft and smooth compared to mine.
“And ah’ll see you later, my little Sugar Cube,” he replied as he kissed me again, though everything began to fade as I started to wake up from the dream.
“Hello, Equus to Swing...” Fang said as he gently shook me awake. I looked over at him groggily and smiled. “You have a nice nap, sleepy head?” Fang asked as I looked around the shop, trying to get my bearings.
“Yeah,” I replied with a smile as I leaned over and kissed his cheek. Looking up at the clock I saw that I’d only been asleep for a half hour. With a groan as I stretched, I stood up and walked around the shop slowly, looking for what I wanted to fiddle with. Finally I found what I wanted. Grabbing the Telecaster off the wall, I plugged it into a nearby amplifier and leaned back against the wall as I began to play the rhythm to various songs that popped into my head. I smiled over to Fang as I played and saw him watching me with a smile on his face. “Any requests?” I asked with a smirk as I began playing some of the rock songs I’d listened to in high school. Grandma and grandpa always hated hearing my albums from some of the bands I liked. But that was typical teenager stuff, right? At least I knew Luna and everypony else around me liked my rock albums. Fang shook his head that he didn’t have any requests as he rested his chin on the counter, just seeming content to sit and listen to whatever I played. Finally, I grew bored of messing with the Telecaster and put everything back, instead grabbing a D-35 acoustic guitar off the wall and sitting down with it, strumming little tunes from my childhood. “Wanna see something neat?” I asked as I looked up at Fang who sat up and nodded with a smile. “Okay, bring me a five bit note from the cash register.” He looked at me odd but did as he was told, sitting down with me as he gave me the bill. “Now, you heard how the guitar sounds regularly, but if I take this bill...” I carefully weaved the bill between the six strings of the guitar and smiled at him again “and put it between the strings, we get this.” I began playing another tune, the bill making the guitar sound like a snare drum rather than an acoustic guitar.
“That’s awesome!” he said as he looked at the guitar, trying to figure out how the paper bill was able to do that. I smiled as I continued to play.
“It’s an old trick I’ve seen plenty of ponies around here use. In fact, it was actually Big Macintosh’s dad, Bright Mac, who taught me that trick. He worked wonders on a guitar. Probably the only pony around here besides maybe Big Mac or Applejack who could hold your attention for hours just by playing a guitar,” I told him as I slowly played random notes to make my own music. Pulling the bill out of the strings, I stood up and smiled down at him. “How about we close up early and grab a bite at a nice little café on the square? It’s a good day for it. And I know the perfect one.” Placing the guitar back in its place on the wall, I helped Fang up and trotted over to put the bill back in the cash register. Just as I was about to tell Fang to turn the sign to closed, a tan pegasus mare with a turquoise mane and tail walked in. She looked away from the instruments on the wall over to the counter where I was.
“Hi. I was hoping I could speak with Swing Rhythm?” the mare asked as she slowly walked towards me. Her voice sounded like a mixture of sad and tired. Like she’d lived a lifetime already and she looked to be even younger than me.
“You with the department of revenue?” I asked her with a raised eyebrow. She shook her head that she wasn’t which made me smile slightly at her. “Then in that case, I’m Swing Rhythm. How can I help you? Looking for anything in particular?”
“Actually, you’re what I’ve been looking for. Would it be possible for us to talk in private?” She questioned as she stole a quick glance at Fang.
“Sure. Fang, go ahead and turn the sign around.” The lavender bat pony nodded and headed over to turn the sign to ‘closed’. “Fang’s my coltfriend so whatever you need to tell me it’s alright to say it in front of him.” I told her with a small smile to reassure her of whatever concerns she might have. We showed her upstairs to the apartment where we all gathered in the living room, myself going into the kitchen for a soda. “Would you like anything? We have water, sode, beer.” I called out to her.
“N-no thank you. I’m alright,” the mare replied. “I never did introduce myself. I’m Gypsy Jazz,” She told us as I returned the living room with my drink. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for months but you’re moving around so much that you’re always a step ahead of me.” Gypsy sighed and then chuckled as she looked up at us. “Sweet Celestia, I had this all planned out in my head but now that I’m here I don’t know what to say. I guess…I guess I’ll just be blunt. Your father was Flying Vee, correct?”
“I didn’t know him, but yes, he was my father. Why?” I felt a bit of dread and like a pit had opened up in my stomach. Rather than give me an answer, she opened up her saddle bag and pulled out some pictures and an obituary clipped from a newspaper. I looked up at her before leaning forward and looking at them. Under the picture of a middle aged stallion in the obituary was his name, Flying Vee. Looking over at the pictures, I saw him with Gypsy Jazz and another mare that I could easily assume was her mother, my stepmother.
“He…he was my father too.” In the pictures I could see him smiling and playing with Gypsy when she was a filly. My chest began to ache and my throat stung as I felt a rush of emotions; anger, sadness, jealousy. Here was a mare who’d gotten to have everything I’d been denied. And I couldn’t stand it. Standing up, I silently left the room and went into the bedroom. I locked the door behind me and began quickly pacing the floor as tears began to run down my cheeks. As the rage built up in me, I grabbed a lamp and hurled it at the wall, shouting in anger as I did so. As the lamp shattered against the wall, my scream died off as I began sobbing. Outside of the room I could hear Fang trying to get in but to no avail. A moment later I heard the window open and I saw Fang entering through the window. He quickly wrapped a leathery wing around me as he embraced me, letting me sob into his shoulder. After a few minutes I’d finally calmed down enough to talk through my sobs.
“He…he was there for her. He was an actual father. He…he loved her.” I buried my face even more into Fang’s shoulder as he rubbed my back. “W-why didn’t he love me?”
“S-Swing?” Gypsy’s voice called out from the other side of the door as she knocked. “I-I’m sorry for springing this on you. I’ll just see myself out.” At hearing this, I quickly stood up and hurried over to the door. Opening it, I grabbed her and pulled her into a hug, both of us breaking down and crying into each other’s shoulders as we held each other. “I-I know this can’t be easy for you. But I want to be a part of your life. I-if you’ll let me.” She cried as she leaned back to look at me. I looked up at her and saw she was genuine about her desire to be in my life as my sister. I sat for a moment as my mind raced, trying desperately to process what the last fifteen minutes.
“Tell me about him,” I said quietly as I looked into her eyes. “Tell me about dad. What was he like?” Gypsy hugged me with Fang joining in a moment later.
“Well, he absolutely loved to play his guitar in the backyard. He’d just lay there for hours in the hammock playing and watching the clouds. He never raised his voice unless he was singing; said he’d done enough screaming when he was young. He said he wanted to try to help other ponies, because he’d made so many mistakes before he met mom.” She gently rubbed my back as I listened, using her shoulder to rest my chin on. “He mentioned you to mom when he got sick. Told her that he wanted to reach out to you, but he knew that you’d hate him for leaving you like he did. When he saw you in the newspaper, those last few months he had, he was so proud of you. I didn’t know you were my brother but it certainly felt like you were with how much he talked about you. He’d read every little thing that mentioned you, even if it was just your name in a list. After he passed, I found a box with all the newspaper clippings in his closet. And at the bottom of it was a letter. He addressed it to you. Would you like to have it?” I nodded and she quickly pulled an envelope from her bag. Breaking the hug, I took the letter from her and carefully opened up the envelope, my eyes looking over the letter that he’d written.
Dear Swing, if you’re reading this, then Gypsy probably snooped through my stuff now that I’m dead. That part got a small smirk from me before I continued. I just want to start off by apologizing for running off on you like I did when you were a foal. It wasn’t fair of me to deprive you of a parent and for that I can never truly forgive myself. I was young, scared, and stupid, so like any dumb twenty year old, I ran. I wished I could’ve reached out to you when I was still here among the living but I knew that you would only hate me for what I did. But now that I’m gone, I want to tell you how proud I am of you. To see you build yourself up in the world despite what happened speaks volumes about how strong you’ve grown up to be. A wet spot hit the paper and I quickly realized that it was a tear that had fallen from my cheek. Setting the letter aside for the time being, I wiped my cheek and looked up at Gypsy who looked ready to give me another hug.
“Yes,” I told her, making her raise an eyebrow in confusion. “Yes, of course you can be my sister.” She smiled and grabbed me in a hug, practically lifting me off the floor as she smiled. I wrapped my forelegs around her and smiled as it finally struck me. I have a sister. And while I was still feeling conflicted about dad, I did know that none of what happened was Gypsy’s fault. Besides, the big brother is supposed to love his sister regardless, right?
We all sat around the living room eating our dinners as the radio in the corner played whatever music Fang had tuned it to. To my right on the couch was Fang and to my left was Gypsy, who’d gladly accepted my invitation to stay with us as long as she liked. Though she did seem a bit nervous when Drum and Luna showed up for dinner too. Luna insisted to her that she didn’t need to be formal with her after we’d explained the events that’d gone down earlier in the day. “So, Gypsy, where’re you from?” Drum asked as she looked up from her slice of pizza at the tan mare next to me.
“Applewood.” She replied with a smile as she took a bite of her pizza. “Dad and mom moved there before I was born because he dreamed of being a famous rock star.” Gypsy quickly swallowed her bite of pizza and looked back to Drum. “Of course, that didn’t happen but he made enough money to help pay the bills by playing with bands in clubs. Of course, mom had to work too but most of her work she could bring home with her.” We were waiting on her to continue when a knocking came from the back door. We looked at each other in confusion as to who it could be with me finally getting up to answer the door. Cracking it open, I saw a familiar dark grey unicorn standing on the steps outside the door. My stomach sank as I laid eyes on Test Tube for the first time in months, the stallion’s blue eyes looking up at me from where he stood.
“Hey, Swing,” he said with a smile. I quickly stepped outside and shut the door behind me as I glared down at the stallion. “It’s been awhile.”
“Not long enough,” I growled as he took a step up closer to me. “What the fuck do you want?”
“Can’t I just come by and see how my old friend is doing?” He asked, putting on an innocent looking smile. I knew he had to be up to something and I didn’t like it one bit.
“No, you can’t. Now get out of here before I call the cops.” He frowned and took another step closer, forcing me to backup, my hind end bumping into the railing behind me.
“Swing, I thought you were better than this. Come on now, can’t I be friendly? I even thought maybe we could get back together.” He reached up and ran his hoof across my cheek, making me flinch in response to his touch. While he was nice most of the time during our relationship, he still had his moments where he would get rough. Mostly things like slapping, which at the time I believed were my fault. How couldn’t they be? But then, a saving grace came into my life in the form of a lavender bat pony. And my love with him showed all the flaws in Test’s love with me.
“There’s no way in Tartarus that we’re ever getting back together, Test,” I told him, making him growl in response as his horn began glowing.
“Why do you always have to be so stubborn, Swing?” He asked as I felt a pressure snaking its way around my neck. It suddenly occurred to me that it was his magic and it was beginning to slowly squeeze my throat. “We were so good together. And you let one mistake ruin it.” The door suddenly opened and his magic instantly vanished from around my neck as Fang popped his head out.
“Everything alright out here?” he asked with a bit of concern in his voice as he looked at us.
“Of course! Just catching up with my old friend, Swing,” Test replied with a smile as he put a hoof on my shoulder. “Though it is late, I suppose I should be going. See you around, Swing.” Test descended the stairs and I watched him as he turned the corner and disappeared down the street.
“Who was that?” Fang asked as I stepped back inside with him, everypony turning to look at me.
“Just a stallion I knew from awhile back.” I told him with a forced smile. “So, what’d I miss?” I asked with fake enthusiasm as I retook my spot on the couch.
I sat in the shadowy corner of the shop, the moonlight reflecting off the snow outside and making the shop have an eerie glow to it. In my hoof was a bottle of scotch I kept stashed under a false floorboard in the corner. From the stairs I could hear creaking as somepony came downstairs. “Swing?” Gypsy’s voice whispered loudly, her eyes trying to adjust to the lighting in the shop.
“Yes, Gypsy?” I replied before taking another swig from the bottle. She slowly made her way over to me, careful not to bump into anything that might disturb Fang upstairs.
“What’re you doing down here? Are you drunk?” she asked as she looked at me with concern.
“No, I am not. And you know why? Because I don’t need to hang onto the floor yet to keep from falling off it.” I told her as I took another swig of scotch.
“Alright, I might not have known you for very long, but I have a feeling this has something to do with that stallion that came by earlier?” The tan mare looked to me for confirmation, with me slowly nodding that she was correct. “So, who is he?”
“An ex. I guess you could say he was my first big, serious fling. I’d had a couple coltfriends before him but he was something else. From the moment I saw him, he took my breath away. I was so happy. It seemed like I’d found my prince charming but he’s more Jekyll and Hyde. And while he was mostly a Jekyll, he had his moments,” I explained before taking another drink. “There was one night in particular that I remember. I was late coming home from work. By the time I got home he was already passed out in bed drunk. And when I got into bed, he woke up and wanted to get frisky. When I told him I wasn’t in the mood, he forced himself on me. It lasted almost until daybreak. When he was finally done, he passed out and all I could do was cry myself to sleep. All day that day I had to pretend that the previous night hadn’t happened. And I’ve been pretending it didn’t ever since.” I knew I had tears running down my face but in the low light of the shop, I knew Gypsy couldn’t see them. From beside me I heard her sniffle and I knew she was crying too. “There were a few other times he just did other things like slap me or even choke me. He said it would help to make me more of a suitable coltfriend.” Just as I was about to lift the bottle up and take another drink, I felt two forelegs wrap themselves around me in a hug. Gypsy sniffled as she hugged me, her tears hitting my shoulder.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Swing.” I gently wrapped a leg around her and held her as she spoke. “Just remember, we’re all here for you. To support you, love you, and protect you. I’ve only known you barely a day, but I know I’d do anything for you. I love you, Swing.”
“I love you too, sis,” I replied as I squeezed her in my embrace. Outside, the horizon began to take on a lighter shade of blue and the birds began singing as they sensed the approaching day. “Let’s get some sleep. We have a busy couple of days ahead of us.”