//------------------------------//
// The Lessons Begin 
// Story: Fluttershy's Voice 
// by Stratocaster 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 3: The Lessons Begin

“Okay, I can do this. I can do this. I think I can do this. Can I do this? Yes, yes I can.”
Strolling through town, Fluttershy mumbled to herself in anticipation. It was taking very ounce of her brainpower to summon up courage.
“I’m going to do it today. I’m going to show him and myself that I’m not scared. This is the new and improved Fluttershy.”
She walked through the Ponyville marketplace where farmers and merchants were out and about exchanging fresh produce and fresh bargaining.
“This is it. It’s time for me to shine!” said Fluttershy whispered reaching her destination.
“Miss, can I help you?” asked the grain vender.
The little pegasus snapped back to reality. “Oh yes, hello. Um, I’d like to buy a sack of birdseed. It’s for my little cardinal friends.”
“Coming right up!” replied the elderly earth pony stallion as he lifted a burlap sack onto the counter. “That’ll be forty bits.”
“Oh, uh, I don’t mean to impose but, last time it was only twenty bits.”
“Well, demand suddenly skyrocketed. Forty bits, please.”
Fluttershy looked sheepishly at her saddlebag knowing that she did not have enough money. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and faced the farmer again trying to rekindle her courage.
“Um, could I maybe give you twenty five? I mean, if that’s okay.”
“Ma’am, I don’t haggle.” The farmer now looked at her more sternly. “The price is forty, no more, no less.”
“Uh, how about thirty?”
“Nope.”
“Thirty two?”
“Ain’t happening.”
“Thirty two and a half?!”
“Now you’re just being ridiculous! Forty bits, or no birdseed!”
“Uh…uh…” she quivered nervously and then sighed. “Okay, never mind. Sorry.” She left the stand with her head hung low. “One of these days.” She whispered to herself.
Fluttershy walked toward Sugarcube Corner planning next to visit Stratocaster. She saw the studio up ahead next to the familiar bakery where Pinkie Pie lived and worked. As she continued down the road, she heard a rowdy voice call her name from behind.
“Howdy, Fluttershy!”
“Oh hi, Applejack.” She replied. “I thought you weren’t selling apples until tomorrow.”
“Nah, Ah’m just headin’ over to Pinkie’s for a visit. We’re both gettin’ ready for the Stratocaster concert.”
“Yes, I heard you were going with the girls. I didn’t know you like rock music, AJ.”
“Well it’s certainly not like good ol’ fashion country, but Ah can get used to a little city pony music. Are you comin’ too, Fluttershy?”
“Actually, as a matter of fact…” she paused to take back her words. It had escaped her that her friends would find out about her singing with Stratocaster. But she knew better than to lie to the Element of Honesty, so she only said what was technically true. “Um, yes I’m going to be there.”
“That’s great! I’m proud of you, sugar cube, goin’ to a loud crowded concert and all.”
Fluttershy gulped at the very idea. “Yup, it’s going to be…fun. Um, Applejack, can you tell me what Stratocaster’s music is like exactly? I honestly never heard his songs before.”
“Well shoot, why don’t you just borrow this?”
The orange earth pony pulled something out from her saddlebag and gave it to Fluttershy. It was a plastic CD case with Stratocaster on the cover standing on a lighted stage; the title read Stratocaster Comes Alive. On the back was a track list of twelve songs.
“This is his first album.” Applejack continued. “You can take that home and listen to it if ya want.”
“Oh thanks, AJ. But, um, there’s just one little problem. I…don’t have a CD player. I only listen to vinyl records.”
“Tarnation, you really are out of it. Alright, I’ll let you borrow my CD player too later. By the way, where are ya headed?”
Fluttershy looked quickly at Stratocaster’s studio and chose her words carefully. “I, uh, I’m just going to visit a friend of mine.”
“Well if it’s Rarity, tell that pony to return my Stratocaster t-shirt. I’m pretty she already has one. Ooh, Ah almost forgot.” Applejack then conjured a small bag full of birdseed. "Here's a little somethin' fer your bird friends."
"Oh thank you so much, AJ! These are just what I needed."
"It's no trouble at all, sugar cube. I'll see ya at the concert!"
“Yeah, see ya!”  Fluttershy sighed and turned toward the studio as soon as Applejack left.
It seemed that the entire town was swept up in Stratocaster fever. Some of the merchants in the marketplace were even selling tour shirts, bobble heads and other novelties of the rockstar pegasus. Fluttershy approached the small rickety looking building that was the studio not knowing what to expect. Looking around for anypony she knew who would get suspicious, she knocked on the door. After a few moments, she was met with no answer. Hesitantly, she opened the door and entered slowly closing it behind her. Fluttershy found herself in a small empty hallway leading down to a room where the sound of tuning instruments could be heard. She walked nervously in the direction of the music and entered the room.
“Fluttershy, glad you could stop by!”
There sitting in what appeared to be an open recording room was Stratocaster and his signature guitar. He and three bandmates had been busying themselves with their instruments and other recording equipment. Stratocaster put his guitar down and walked over to his shaky visitor.
“Hey guys, this is the mare I was telling you about.” He said to the band. “She’s the one with the awesome voice.” He then turned to her. “Fluttershy, I’d like you meet my bandmates. That’s Moog, Gibson, and Ludwig.”
He pointed to the keyboardist, the bassist and the drummer respectively and all three of them gave an apathetic wave. Fluttershy tried her best to put on a friendly smile despite her tension.
“Um, should I come back tomorrow, Strat?” she asked him. “I don’t want to bother you if you’re busy.”
“Oh don’t worry about it,” he replied. “We’ve actually been waiting for you all day. Right, guys?”
No response cam from the band except for Gibson who only yawned; Stratocaster stood uncomfortably awkward.
“Uh Strat,” said Fluttershy again. “Didn’t you say you have a song for me to learn?”
“Oh yeah! Why don’t you take a seat? I’ll be right back.”
Stratocaster walked off into a back room as Fluttershy sat in an open chair. She noticed the band staring blankly at her and gave them a casual little smile and wave. The three sluggish ponies turned their attention back to their instruments and Fluttershy simply hid behind her mane. She could hear some distant rummaging from the room Stratocaster disappeared into. He came back holding a few pages of manuscript.
“I really think you’re going to like this one.” He said to her. “It’s a song called ‘Try’.”
“Try?” repeated Fluttershy.
“Yup, parenthesis, ‘Just A Little Bit Harder’. It was written by one of the greatest mares in rock n’ roll history: Janis Cloplin. She’s been one of my idols for a long time. That’s her photo on the wall there.”
He pointed to a framed photograph on an adjacent wall. It showed a bright green female earth pony with a wiry red mane who sported yellow tinted sunglasses and a dress splattered with tie-dye. The mare was standing on a lighted stage and singing vigorously into a microphone. A caption beneath the photo read Janis Cloplin at Hoofstock. Fluttershy couldn’t imagine singing like that.
“So, you ready to get started?” asked Stratocaster.
“Right now?” gasped Fluttershy. “But, I don’t know how this song goes.”
“Don’t worry, once you get an ear for the music, it’ll be a lot easier. I’ll also show you some other songs afterward.”
“Gosh, you must really like how I sing, huh?”
“Soon, everypony in Ponyville will too. We have a lot of work to do for the concert.”
“So, I’m going to be singing this…onstage?”
“That’s the gist of it. Now, can you read sheet music?”
“Actually yes. I sometimes borrow manuscripts from my friend Twilight, so I can sing along to my folk albums.”
“Perfect. Let’s start this thing.”
Fluttershy cringed and looked away from him.
“What’s wrong? Still nervous?”
“Yes. Um, I ‘m just not comfortable singing in front of other ponies.”
“Oh don’t worry about them; they wouldn’t know singing if it bit them on the flank.”
“I heard that, you hothead!” blurted Ludwig.
“Come on, Fluttershy,” said Stratocaster. “I’ll help you out along the way. We’re going to make this a concert to remember, I promise.”
Fluttershy saw the affectionate sincerity in his brown eyes again. She figured that all she would have to do to regain her confidence from then on was to look at his trusting face.
“Alright, let’s do this.” She smiled.
“Okay guys, we’re doing Try, let’s take this from the top. Ready…one, two, three, four!”