The last dismissal tone of the day sounded from the speakers scattered throughout the halls of Canterlot High, and Flash Sentry found himself heading towards the music hall after tossing the books he didn't need into his locker and grabbing his backpack and guitar case, remembering to grab the case of picks that Sunset had given him a few days ago.
His hands full, he continued down to the practice rooms, which were sparsely populated in the middle of the week. But there were some who always took advantage of the practice space that CHS made available six days a week, 3-6pm on school days. He went to one of the largest rooms, where he was supposed to meet his two bandmates for an hour or so of jamming, and heard a muffled guitar in the back corner, in one of the smaller, isolated practice rooms. Leaning his guitar case against the closest empty chair, he walked quietly over to the closed door, and took a peek in the window.
There sat Sunset Shimmer, tapping her foot and strumming a series of ascending and descending chords. Her guitar was hooked up to a splitter, which went to both the small amp in the corner, and the laptop that currently sitting on top of it. He instantly recognized the interfaces on the screen as the open source recording software that most novice musicians used to record their music. He stood there silently, watching the young woman strum the chords as they went up and down, leading to a definitive conclusion instead of a fade-out, and she reached over to pause the recording and let the software begin to compile everything she had just input. She turned and saw Flash through the window, and waved him in.
"Afternoon, Flash. I'm just about done in here, you need the room?" She asked.
"Nah, I'm here to practice a bit with Brawly and Ringo, they should be here in a few minutes. Just came over here to see who was playing. It's sounding pretty good, you probably haven't lost a step."
"Thanks. I still have a bit to go, though."
"You writing a song or something?"
"Yeah, or trying to at least. Rainbow Dash has been talking about getting a band together, and while I'm not anywhere close to asking her to join, playing again has been a great way to, well, de-stress from everything that I've been dealing with."
"Well, it's sounding like it's coming along great."
"Well I'm coming up to an impasse. I've got the guitar down, but coming up with the lyrics is a bit slower, and that's not even considering anything else like drums or bass. I figured if I got far enough along, I could see about buying a cheap loop or two off the net."
Flash scratched the back of his head as he considered the next thought that came to mind.
"Well, do you mind if I take a listen to what you've got so far? I could give you some pointers, you know, let you know what loops to buy or something."
Sunset looked up at him.
"I wouldn't want to waste your time, Flash."
"Nonsense. Waste what time? I didn't have anything else planned after practice this afternoon, and like I said, you sound like you've barely missed a step in the months you stopped playing, so what's the harm in helping you along a bit farther? I know those picks weren't cheap, so think of it as just paying you back."
Sunset mulled it over, glancing back to her laptop as the recording finished compiling and was loaded over to the USB drive that was plugged into the side of the laptop. She unplugged it and held it in her fist for a moment.
"Well, if you insist," Sunset said, tossing the drive to the blue-haired guitarist as she unplugged from the laptop and the amp. "I guess I don't have to bother Rainbow then. She's pretty occupied with Pinkie trying to find a drummer, anyway."
"Anytime. I'll let you know what I come up with as soon as I can."
"Thanks again. I'll get out of your hair, I've got some homework to take care of when I get back to my apartment."
With that, she set her guitar back into it's case, quickly latching it up, and closed up the laptop, slid it into her backpack, and coiled up the cords and set them neatly on the amp, ready for the next person to come in ready to record. By the time she was out of the recording booth and headed out towards the hallway, Ringo and Brawly had come in, and she regarded them with a curt nod as she left silently.
As another school week had come and gone, Sunset found her nights at home a bit more relaxing. Playing her guitar again did wonders for her stress levels, and her nights had become much less sleepless as well. She found herself getting up in the morning well rested more nights than not now. The rest of the student body hadn't come close to letting her forget her past actions, so far Flash was the only one beyond Twilight's friends that had said more than two words to her.
She had just sat down at her desk with a heated prepackaged microwave meal, and was just about to make sure that all of her assignments that were due tomorrow were ready to turn in. Rainbow's band recruitment was going well, and didn't quite go as far as she was expecting; the line-up was all of their closest friends. Pinkie on drums, Rarity on piano and keyboard, Applejack on bass, Fluttershy on tambourine, and Rainbow herself on lead guitar and vocals. Sunset wasn't sure that her skill was up to be a part of the Rainbooms, so for now she was content to attend their first rehearsals to listen to them, and continue practicing and improving on her own time.
A chime tone emitted from her speakers, and an email notification popped up in the bottom right corner of her screen.
Subject: A Little Surprise
From: flashsentry@chs.edu
Intrigued, she clicked the corner notification, and it took her to her email inbox, opening up the email in question, where there was a body of text along with a couple attachments.
Hey Sunset,
Sorry it took me almost all week to get back to you. I was able to call in a favor from Vinyl. I'm a bit rusty at bass, but I'm hoping it's not too forward of me. Listen for yourself.
Best of luck, have a good weekend, and keep up the practice.
-Flash
Sunset saw that the attachment was an audio file, titled 'SunsetsSongV2.mp3'. She clicked on it to quickly download it to her PC, and opened it.
Her desktop's media player launched, and her eyes widened when it wasn't just her guitar opening the song, but a bass drum and synth notes from a keyboard. At ten seconds in, her guitar chords were muffled, but still noticeable; perfect for pairing with the opening vocals... When she figured them out. Over the next fourteen seconds, it slowly returned in clarity, and a crash cymbal, snare, more keyboard, and a bass guitar joined in at the first bridge.
The first chorus was around the forty-second mark, with synth backing the other instruments. The guitar, bass, and drums stayed clear for the second verse and bridge.
Sunset felt a lump grow in her throat as she realized that Flash's 'favor' he had called in had resulted in her song being nearly finished. Everything sounded perfect, and all she needed were the lyrics. When the last guitar chord faded and closed the song a little after two-and-a-quarter minutes, she immediately restarted it, and jumped out of her chair to run over and up to her bedside to grab her notebook she had been writing in, quickly returning to her desk, grabbing a pen, fighting back tears as she put it to the paper.
'When I began to fall,
and lost the path ahead
That's when your friendship found me
And it lifted me instead'
She also took a second to look at the second attachment, another audio file, but with the guitar part isolated and removed; it was the perfect way to practice along with the other parts.
Flash leaned against the wall of lockers in B hallway, earbuds letting him tune out the morning hustle and bustle around him. He figured Sunset would be by sooner than later, and he'd rather hand off the USB drive now before he forgot about it later.
He spotted her come around the corner from C hall, and pulled out his earbuds with a light yank. He noticed that she bit her lip and averted her gaze upon coming up to him.
"Hey," He began, digging into his jeans pocket. "Just wanted to get this to you before it slipped my mind."
Flash's right hand came out with the USB drive she had tossed to him a week ago, and reached out to offer it to her. Sunset's right hand let go of her left forearm to take it.
"I... I got your email, and... I don't even know what to say, Flash. You have no idea what that means to me."
"Yeah, I know a gift is a gift, but I wanted to thank you for those guitar picks, and I figured you could use some help, what with all the hours you've been putting in in the practice rooms."
"I'm not just talking about the song, you know. I mean... This. A regular conversation with another person. My friends are amazing and all, but they are the same five people every day, you know?"
Flash smiled at her.
"I know you're doing what you can, Sunset. I think you're doing the right thing by just concentrating on your new friendships, your music, and letting everyone else be. You probably wouldn't do much good if you try to force things or be overbearing. But if it's worth anything, I've noticed the changes in you, and even if they're not ready to act on it, or change their minds, I know some others have too."
Sunset gave him a small smile in return, knowing all to well that any hesitation in with the student body was because of last year; because of how she played nice right up until she got what she wanted. That was not going to be an easy memory to overcome.
"Thanks again, Flash. For everything."