//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Pretty Strangers // by Avellana //------------------------------// The girl on the stage took her seat quietly, barely looking up as she nervously tuned her guitar and adjusted the capo. Her eyes glinted in the dim golden light, and a small, nervous smile graced her face as set herself up. She flicked her long, multicoloured hair over her shoulder once she had finished, her eyes darting over the small crowd that had gathered at Sugarcube Corner that evening, her gaze soon landing on her flamboyant flat mate who gave her a huge, over the top wave and a grin to go with it. She’d known ever since she’d moved to Ponyville 6 months ago that the restaurant held an open mic night at least one a month, yet it had taken her all that time just to pluck up the courage to take part in it. That, and the near constant, incessant pestering her flatmate had been subjecting her to ever since she revealed her interest in singing. Four long, long months of Pinkie Pie constantly chipping away at her defences, until two weeks ago when Dash had finally caved and agreed to sing here tonight. Dash waved back at Pinkie with a smile of her own, watching as her friend skated towards the bar to serve a woman who had just taken her seat there. She watched as Pinkie chatted away to the woman, laughing and smiling as she fixed up her drink, smirking to herself before tearing her attention back to her impending performance. Despite her outwardly portrayed confidence and blasé attitude, Dash was nervous; she’d never sung in front of an audience before. Sure, she’d practiced in front of Pinkie, and occasionally Twilight, but they were friendly faces. This, a crowd of people she barely knew, was a completely different ball game and as much as she hated to admit it, she was scared. She took a shaky breath, and looked up over the crowd, before starting. Dash’s fingers danced delicately over the strings of her acoustic guitar, the gentle, melodic picking amplified over the speakers to reach the back of the room. She’d chosen Romeo and Juliet to play, as it was one of her Dad’s favourite songs, and she’d heard it countless times growing up, eventually learning to play the tune herself, albeit an altered version to suit her voice and guitar. “A love struck Romeo, sings the streets a serenade Laying everybody low, with a love song that he made Finds a streetlight, steps out of the shade Says something like “you and me babe? How about it?” The chatter and buzz of the bar slowly died down as Dash began to sing, the patrons and staff alike pausing to listen as she sung. Her usual rough, scratchy voice was still prevalent, but it was now laced with a smoother, more gentle undertone. Dash smiled as she glanced up from her guitar, completely overjoyed as she noticed how the whole room seemed to have paused once she began singing. Juliet says, "Hey, it's Romeo, you nearly gave me a heart attack" He's underneath the window, she's singing, "Hey, la, my boyfriend's back You shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that Anyway, what you gonna do about it?" A pair of green eyes watched the woman with the rainbow hair singing, focusing on her effortlessly quick, precise movements on the fretboard of her guitar, to the way she held herself on stage seeming to become more confident the further she got into the song. Applejack knew a lot of people; it was a small town after all. She’d grown up there, been to school there, and currently worked there. When she wasn’t on the Farm, she was making deliveries of cider to the various pubs and bars across town and outside Ponyville. Despite this, Applejack had no clue who the girl on the stage was. She took another sip of her drink as she leant back in her chair, watching the way the light seemed to bounce off the girl on stage as she sung. She could tell the girl hadn’t grown up near Ponyville, as her singing had a subtle Canterlot accent to it, one which Applejack was all too familiar with thanks to her friend Rarity. Applejack smiled again, taking another small sip of her drink, the sound of the guitar creating a beautiful backdrop to the girls delicate singing. “Damn she’s good” Applejack remarked quietly to the bartender with the messy pink hair, who simply smiled back at her. “She sure is” She replied, before quietly continuing to clear the empty glasses from the bar top with a happy grin on her face. "Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start And I bet, and you exploded into my heart And I forget, I forget the movie song When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?" ———————————————————— The entire room erupted in applause as Rainbow finished her song, the last note from her guitar hanging in the air delicately before fading into the thundering applause and cheering voices of the bars staff and patrons alike, including that of Applejack, who had watched Dash’s performance from the back of the crowd in awe. Rainbow’s face had on it the largest smile possible as she set her guitar to the side and bounced her way over towards Pinkie, squeaking and blushing as a wave of compliments washed over her. Applejack found her reaction to the praise endearing; she’d clearly never sung for people before, and receiving a reception like that on your first attempt was sure to go down well with the girl. Rainbow skidded over to Pinkie and wrapped her arms around her in a massive hug, which the bartender returned while giggling. “I told you Dashie! I told you everyone would love it” Pinkie squeaked, releasing Dash from the hug so she could clear the small table of glasses. “Heheh, I uh... Wow” Dash stuttered, following Pinkie as she made her way back to the bar to put the glasses in the washer. “I really didn’t expect that” she continued, her face still bright red from the applause she had been given. Dash took a seat at the bar as Pinkie loaded the dishwasher, taking a small sip from the lemonade she’d left there while giving a small smile towards the blond woman across from her. The woman smiled back and tilted her glass towards Dash’s, her green eyes sparkling in the dim bar light. Rainbow felt her heart flutter a little as she returned the favour, the two gently clinking their glasses together before drinking. The low buzz and chatter of the bar began to build back up, as Dash had been the last performance of the night, and the pair drank in a comfortable silence as Pinkie raced across the room to take final rounds. “That was an amazing performance” the blond women commented, causing Dash’s face to heat up once again, the women merely chuckling at the girls reaction. “I uh... I... thank you” Dash replied quickly, taking another drink from her glass before looking back towards the woman, who was chuckling at how flustered Dash was. “Thank you very much” Dash continued, “It was my first time performing for a crowd larger than just my friends, so I’m really happy with how it turned out”. The woman chuckled at Dash again, before setting her drink down and turning her chair to face Rainbow. “I could tell, you looked absolutely terrified when you first went up there” she spoke while continuing to giggle, causing Dash to join in with her. “Aww it wasn’t that bad was it? I have a reputation to uphold” Dash replied while laughing along with her. “Like a deer in headlights” The woman replied, causing Dash to chuckle some more as she laid her head on the bar surface, her long hair falling from her shoulders and down her body. “Well crap” Rainbow said simply, smiling at the women as she lifted her head from the bar and flipped her hair over her head once more, the woman across from her still giggling as she emptied her glass. “I’m Applejack” she said, looking up from her drink towards Rainbow. Dash smiled. Applejack. She liked it. “I’m Dash” she replied, their gazes meeting across the hazily lit bar. “Rainbow Dash”