The large mansion seemed even bigger when nopony was around. Empty most of all. The hoofsteps of the filly echoed unnaturally loud through the hallway. Today, Glass Slipper had arrived well before the others in their new home and being alone gave her the creeps.
It was different when the twins were around. They always had something to talk about and their happy voices filled the tall rooms with laughter all the time. There was also Crystal Note. The mare wasn't much of a talker, but she had this warm presence that filled the home when she was around, no matter if she was cleaning, playing with the twins or just sitting in the living room with a book. Of course, when Crystal Note was around, there was always a melody nearby. As a professional musician, she spent a lot of her time playing her instruments or composing, although Glass Slipper liked her singing most of all.
Ever since their trip to Vanhoover, Crystal Note sang a lot more around them or at least hummed a little tune to whatever she was doing. More often than not, the fillies would join in. Although the teenager would never admit it, Glass Slipper often tried to find things to do so she could be in hearing range to the mare. Sometimes, when she was sure nopony was watching her, she even swayed along to the music and fell into some of her dance steps instead of walking.
Today however, the house was empty. Glass Slipper hadn't planed this, but it was an opportunity she had been waiting for. Crystal Note had taken the twins to a meet-up with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders and since Ocean Waves had gotten her cutie mark recently, Glass Slipper knew they'd be staying until late. Meaning she had a lot of time to investigate.
During their trip to the big city of Vanhoover, she'd gotten glimpses of Crystal Note's life from before she had become their guardian and caretaker. From before she had lived in the Crystal Empire even. She had listened to stories from Bonne Voyage and her sister Haute Nuage. The pegasus mare had taken her to a big music store and Glass Slipper had seen records and posters with Crystal Note's name on it. The biggest one from a musical performance in Manehatten, which was a very big deal as Haute Nuage had told her. Of course, she'd also seen the fans who had stepped up to Crystal Note in Vanhoover and even asked for her autograph.
It had ignited Glass Slipper's curiosity to a point where she had to find out more.
From the many rooms in the old mansion, Crystal Note had chosen two for herself. The ground floor only held the big kitchen and the large sitting room where the fillies spent most of their time. They also shared the biggest bedroom in the middle floor, which was big enough for two beds, two desks and some cupboards. The upper floor belonged entirely to Glass Slipper. She only used a medium-sized bedroom and a bathroom, but it was hers and she cherished the little isle of privacy Crystal Note had helped her set up.
Crystal Note mostly used the living room as well, she had a small desk set up for the music sheets she worked on but often also occupied the dining table. Which was okay, most of the time they had their meals at the kitchen table anyways and so far they hadn't had enough visitors to really need the extra space yet.
In the middle floor, the mare had picked the smallest room as her bedroom. It was just the other side of the twin's room and just had enough space for a comfy bed and a dresser.
The second room she had claimed was the study. Glass Slipper knew she had a much larger desk in there as well as some more bookshelves. She also knew that her instruments where stored there, as the musician always had to fetch them when she played downstairs. Other than that, the door to the room had always been closed.
Just like the twins, she had come to like the new place. But while Sweetie Tooth and Velvet Heart just could enjoy the home with their typical carefree attitude, Glass Slipper still had questions nagging in the back of her mind. Like, how did Crystal Note know about this mansion in the first place? Where did all the new furniture come from?
She learned in Vanhoover that Crystal Note still received some bits each time one of her records was bought. She knew that other ponies asked her to write and compose songs for them and that Crystal Note received a share of their earnings.
It wasn't like Glass Slipper ever had been in need of anything. Her dad earned enough for his family and they didn't really need that much to be happy. But the way she had seen Crystal Note perform in Vanhoover and everything she heard about her, she couldn't deny she was very intrigued to find out more.
Hopefully, behind the closed door would be some answers.
She carefully pushed the door open and peeked inside. The left hand side of the room held a few shelves with instruments she had seen on earlier occasions, the old violin, a well-used guitar and a newer one right beside it, the strange guitar Crystal Note had received as a gift from her friends of Ponyville and that she hadn't played yet, as far as Glass Slipper knew. So far, nothing new.
The wall was also covered with posters like she'd seen in the music store. All of them had Crystal Note's name on them, most of them also mentioned the Ponyville Music Ensemble. Some had dates that reached back some years. Surprisingly few actually had a picture of Crystal Note on them, though.
Glass Slipper looked at all of them for a while, but something else drew her attention. The large desk in the centre of the room and on the other side of it, more shelves. Those were filled to the brim with music records, a simply record player was set on a smallish table next to them. Glass Slipper stepped closer and carefully pulled a few out. Some still had Crystal Note's name, but most of them only had titles of songs or ponies she didn't recognize. She pushed away the urge to play one or two of them, fearing somepony might hear her. So instead, she focused on the large desk.
It was covered with papers and some books with even more documents. Glass Slipper took the spot behind the desk and browsed through them. Names and numbers she couldn't really get at first, but after a while she understood what she was looking at. She opened one of the books and slowly worked through every page. One name kept coming up regularly with an ever-increasing sum added up next to it. She looked up at the big poster on the wall, where she had seen the name for the first time. Apparently, the musical from Manehatten was still very popular and Crystal Note, as one of the composers and performers, had received a small fortune from it over the years.
It made sense, in a way. Crystal Note had dedicated the years of her adult life to music, travelled all over Equestria to perform, hold concerts and work with other musicians and singers. She had played and sung on the biggest stages, even for the Princesses if what Melody Fusion had told her was true.
Glass Slipper had read about famous singers like Countess Coloratura or Sapphire Shores, how they lived a life of fame and fortune, with bodyguards, managers, fancy dresses and hordes of fans wherever they went. Crystal Note didn't have any of this, despite all the things she had created, enough to fill an entire wall with records. Instead of living in fame, she lived in the Crystal Empire where she was just a street musician. A popular street musician who gets invited to the palace, but still.
No matter how long she thought about it, she couldn't figure out why anypony would give up on something like this. Why didn’t Crystal Note embrace her fame more?
"And what happened to all those bits?"
The last words, she had mumbled under her breath with her eyes fixed on the page with the most recent royalties.
"I keep them on a bank account in Canterlot. Most of them, at least."
Glass Slipper's head jerked up from the sound of another voice nearby. In the doorway stood Crystal Note who must have heard those mumbled words. Which meant she was probably standing there for a while now.
Glass Slipper gulped and backed away a few steps out of instinct, as she'd been caught red hooved. She kept her eyes low to stall some time, time she used to make up a few excuses for why she was here and why it looked like she was snooping around.
When she looked up again to try her luck with her hastily made up story, she saw Crystal Note's eyes. She didn't see anger like she'd expected. Crystal Note was not looking like she wanted to yell at her at all.
Instead, what Glass Slipper saw was disappointment and hurt. The teenage filly winced as her guts suddenly felt like ice. It looked so wrong on Crystal Note's face and Glass Slipper's ears pressed against her head in shame that she was responsible for it. She would have preferred anger, she knew that now.
The breath she had gathered for her excuse turned into a long sigh. Lying wouldn't help her out this time. Lying would only make things worse. There was no other way, unless she wanted Crystal Note to get only more disappointed in her.
With her head hung low, she walked around the desk to stand in front of her caretaker, ready to accept any punishment the mare would set upon her.
She felt a hoof gently lift her head and her eyes met Crystal Note
"You could have simply asked me, you know?"
Glass Slipper flinched again but the hoof kept her from looking away. Her ears flopped down as she mumbled
"I... you never talk about yourself. I didn't want to make you angry. I'm sorry, Crystal Note."
The mare just sighed and pulled her hoof away, which Glass Slipper used to take a step backwards
"I'm not angry, Glass Slipper. But I am disappointed. I know you're curious, but snooping around is not the way to do it.”
Glass Slipper closed her eyes tightly. Although Crystal Note’s voice was soft as always, her words cut deeper as if she would be yelling. Crystal Note had done a lot for her and her sisters and now she felt like she betrayed her
“I’m sorry.”
She heard Crystal Note’s hoofsteps coming closer again, but then she walked past her. Glass Slipper dared to look again and found the mare glancing through the papers the filly had been looking at
“You know, if I didn’t want anypony to read this, I should have put my stuff away. If I didn’t want anypony to come here, I should have locked the door.”
She turned her head to look back at Glass Slipper
“I don’t want to lock doors and hide things in our home. And I especially don’t want to lock you out. Please don’t make me do it, Glass Slipper.”
Crystal Note turned to face Glass Slipper again who just stared at the mare, unsure how to respond
“I don’t like talking about things from my past, that's true. But that doesn't mean I won’t tell you if you ask me."
When Glass Slipper trusted her voice enough again, she finally pushed out what was on her mind with her eyes fixed on the floor
"I didn't want to make you sad by saying the wrong things."
She felt a gentle hoof directing her gaze up again towards Crystal Note's sad smile
"Knowing that you don't trust me makes me far sadder than some old stories would, Glass Slipper."
Again, the teenage filly ended up struggling for words, so Crystal Note just stepped next to her. They ended up looking at the posters together and Glass Slipper noticed a melancholic smile from her caretaker. She gently leaned against the mare's side and the smile softened up
"I should have told you more, Glass Slipper. You're old enough to understand. This isn't an excuse for what I've done, but your sisters and you had to go through so much recently, so many changes good and bad. I just didn't want to add even more weight for you to deal with."
Glass Slipper said nothing and just stared on the biggest of the posters. She half expected for Crystal Note to pull away, but the mare didn’t seem to mind having the teenage filly leaning against her. In fact, she shifted a little so they’d both be in a more comfy position, both pairs of eyes fixed on the opposite wall
“That musical was the biggest project I ever worked on. I had made myself a name as a decent songwriter already and I’ve tried my luck with some solo performances back then. I was floored when I received mail from Manehatten.”
Glass Slipper nodded and mumbled
“Why’s that?”
Crystal Note’s smile gained more of her usual warmth as she told her story
“They wanted to make a musical on the Crystal Empire and its history. I was a crystal pony outside the Empire and a musician on top, so they asked me for some advice. They got more than they wanted at first.”
She giggled and Glass Slipper turned her head to look at her caretaker. She didn’t look that different from the picture on the poster, the same smile and sparkling eyes. Also, she was halfway in the background, behind three ponies in costumes Glass Slipper didn’t recognize
“So, what happened?”
Crystal Note giggled a little more and grinned
“Let’s just say, their ideas of the Crystal Empire didn’t really match up with reality. I showed them some old songs I knew from back then and they asked me for my help. In the end, I was part of the team. I still remember the day of the premiere so clearly. It was a lot of hard work, but so worth it in the end. Some of the most exciting months of my life.”
Glass Slipper smiled at the giddy excitement in her caretaker’s voice
“Did you perform as well?”
She felt the mare nod, still staring at the poster
“I was part of the choir and had a few solo lines, nothing too big. But since I helped write many of the songs, I was also backup for one of our main protagonists. I only had to step in twice, luckily.”
Glass Slipper listened as Crystal Note told her about working through nights and days to create a perfect song, endless auditions for all the performers and her first serious case of stage fright. She even sung a few passages for Glass Slipper and tried to explain how it felt to be on stage in front of thousands of ponies, including all four alicorn princesses.
Since the twins would be on a Cutie Mark Crusader sleepover, the two ponies had all the time they wanted to indulge in Crystal Note’s reminiscence.
Seeing the mare smile so much, Glass Slipper felt brave enough to ask a few of the questions that nagged on her mind for a while now
“So you’re really famous, all over of Equestria, like Melody Fusion says?”
Crystal Note laughed and shook her head
“After the musical was definitely the time when I couldn’t walk through Canterlot or Ponyville without some ponies pointing at me. Some obsessive fans even travelled from far away towns to talk to me or hear me sing. It was so awkward. I decided to keep a low profile for a while after then. I guess Melody Fusion is one of the few ponies that still remember me that way.”
Glass Slipper bit her lip
“Haute Nuage said you made a fortune with your music even today. Is it true?”
Crystal Note sighed and looked at her charge
“You’ve seen the numbers, Glass Slipper. Ponies still enjoy my music and even if I don’t perform on the big stages anymore, I still write songs and lyrics for other musicians. I can certainly carry my weight these days.”
The teenage filly snorted in laughter
“I’ll say. I mean, how many ponies can just buy a large mansion like this?”
“I didn’t buy it. The new furniture, yes. But the house technically belonged to me all the time.”
“Huh? How? Why?”
Glass Slipper stood up and faced Crystal Note, both surprised and excited by this revelation. A look on her caretaker’s face quickly washed that away though. She could tell that this would be one of the things Crystal Note had avoided so far because she didn’t want to talk about it. Glass Slipper felt a stone drop into her guts as she took in the sad look on Crystal Note’s face
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked and…”
“No.”
Crystal Note’s voice was calm and collected, despite the sadness in her eyes
“I don’t like talking about this, but for you I will. You deserve to know.”
Crystal Note stood up and walked around the desk. With a glow of her horn, she opened a drawer and levitated a large tome towards the teenage filly. It looked very old and smelled like centuries of dust. Crystal Note took a seat next to the filly again and browsed through the pages with her magic. Once she found what she was looking for, she started talking.
Glass Slipper listened mostly silently. From time to time, gasps of surprise or fear broke out of her. More than once, she found herself close to tears, just like Crystal Note as she relived her childhood for her charge.
She heard stories of a cruel and unforgiving father who became nothing but a tormentor over the years. She listened how Crystal Note found a loving family and a sister in the ponies next door. As Crystal Note browsed through the book and her memories, Glass Slipper imagined all of it happening within these walls. It sounded so amazing how the crystal unicorn had turned the darkest place of her childhood into a new home for her and her sisters.
When she said that to the mare, Crystal Note just smiled and pulled her into a close embrace
“I didn’t do any of that. You and your sisters made this house into a wonderful home, a place where I feel safe and a place I enjoy coming back to. Ever since you three came into my life, you’ve made everything special, Glass Slipper.”
Glass Slipper leaned into the embrace but she couldn’t hold back a snorting laughter
“That’s so cheesy, even for you!”
Crystal Note joined in the laughter and gently nuzzled her oldest charge
“It doesn’t make it any less true.”
Glass Slipper closed her eyes and nodded. She had been given a lot of food for thought during the last couple of hours, but something she needed to say right away
“Thank you for telling me all this. Thank you for trusting me.”
She was rewarded with another nuzzle
“Anytime, Glass Slipper. I might not open much on my own, but if there’s something you want to know, feel free to ask. I hope you and your sisters know you can trust me and that I’ll do everything I can for you.”
The teenage filly just nodded. It still felt strange hearing the mare she’d only known for some months say such things and it was even stranger how it made her feel, even if it really made her happy.
Crystal Note slowly released her filly from the embrace and Glass Slipper suddenly found a stern gaze fixed at her
“Now that we’ve got your curiosity stilled, I think we should set up some rules.”
Glass Slipper’s ears dropped a little as rules sounded less fun, but she nodded. It would probably help avoid getting into situations like this
“I don’t want to lock doors in my home, including the door to this room. Please don’t snoop on my desk. And please don’t play around with my instruments. They are very valuable to me and I’d hate for them to get broken by accident.”
Glass Slipper nodded, that all sounded reasonable so far. Crystal Note smiled and continued
“That said, feel free to browse through my records and play them, as long as you treat them carefully.”
Immediately, Glass Slipper’s lips curved up again, eliciting a giggle from Crystal Note
“Of course, if you respect my privacy, I will also respect yours. I won’t enter your rooms without your permission, Glass Slipper. But…” some of the sternness returned as she fixed the filly again “that means you need to take care of keeping your rooms tidy by yourself, of course.”
The teenage filly smirked but rolled her eyes
“Sure, Mom. I’ll clean my room from now on.”
Crystal Note's eyes opened wide for a moment, but when Glass Slipper’s sarcastic tone sunk in, both of them started to giggle.
“And since this is the first time you broke these rules, I’ll go easy on you. Let’s say, you’ll be doing all the dishes for this week.”
“What? But Mom!”
Crystal Note laughed as the teenager turned the last word into a long, pouty whine. She grinned back at the filly and used her best sternest voice she could manage
“As long as you’re living in my house, you’ll follow my rules, young lady!”
Neither Glass Slipper nor Crystal Note could keep it together anymore and their guffaws and laughter filled the house.