Part 3 & 4
Track 4 : Ghost Town (3:43)
The usual stuff here….. Proofreaders/ponies/not my property, etc, etc,
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There was a deafening silence that hung over the auditorium. The echoes of the last song they played still rang softly in many pony ears. Treble could see the glare of the lights on stage the fresh tear tracks on many of the faces in the audience, and the smiles that graced them all. After all had been said and done, Treble wasn’t sad at all. He would have thought that the almost crippling depression that had gripped him for the past month would finally win out and his body would collapse under the weight of its own sorrow. Instead, he felt light, almost free. He looked out and back up to the box where Ditzy sat. He was worried that his grand move, his final play, had not failed entirely.
Ditzy just sat back in her box, stunned. She wasn’t entirely sure how to feel. On one hand, she was elated that the guy of her dreams had just performed a song about her. On the other, she had only ever had horrible luck in relationships, and with Dinky to care for, she wasn’t sure if she had the time either. She wanted it, and she wished that it could have been easier, and that she hadn’t run away when they’d first met. She wished that things could have been different the whole way around. She turned to look at Dinky who was quietly dozing in a chair, a small bubble at the side of her mouth growing slowly as she dreamed on, oblivious to the outside world. Ditzy couldn’t have ever wished for more at that moment. If she could put the happiness that she was feeling into a jar, she would.
Rainbow Dash sat in her seat stunned. It was awesome that somepony liked Ditzy and seemed to really care. And it wasn’t such a bad thing really was it? That the last song that the most awesome band ever would ever play was all about somepony else, not the amazingly extreme awesomeness that was Rainbow Dash? Rainbow set it to the side of her mind, her ego not needing to be stroked at that moment. She took her time to look around. Everypony else in the box seemed just about as stunned as she was. As Rainbow looked around, she noticed that Fluttershy wasn’t there at the moment. She looked harder around the theater and other than finding a flash of yellow and pink in the way back, she wasn’t sure she’d seen her. If it was a more dangerous place than a concert, Rainbow would have been concerned, but since it was Fluttershy, and she was probably freaking out about the loud music or something, it wasn’t a priority.
From this ghastly silence that hung over the theater a cry began to ring out. It was a few voices at first that gradually grew into a deafening uproar. One word over and over. Even Ditzy and Rainbow joined in towards the end. “Encore, Encore!” The crowd cried over and over, the small group on stage sporting huge grins on their tear streaked faces. Treble sighed, watching the members the band stop as they walked off stage. Every single one of them shook their head. As much as Treble wanted for the band to continue on like nothing had happened, the rest of them seemed to want to let this be their final note. Treble steeled himself and prepared to address the crowd.
“My friends! We are honored at your request, but this was our final song. Tonight we leave this stage together, and open it to our successor, the great DJ, THE LIVING TOMBSTONE!” It was short and maybe not the epic speech that he should have given, but he was tired, and the words just wouldn’t come. He still gestured off to the side as the white stallion walked on stage. His blue hair and red tips caught the light as the turntables were raised up from beneath the stage. The stallion stopped at the turntables, and placed his hoof on top. Treble began walking off the stage and without any ceremony, or words, just the silence of the shocked crowd, he began to play.
It wasn't long before the beats began, and the music picked up it's tempo. Treble walked towards the back of the stage as the music began to get a little more intricate, and at last Tombstone began to sing. It wasn't the catchiest of his tunes, but Treble knew that those would come later. The flashing lights on stage, and the way the audience seemed to be dancing along to the beat gave Treble a little hope that his friend would be a bigger success than he and his band had ever been.
Treble turned and watched for a moment as his long time friend rightfully took over the show that was really his after all..Treble smiled a bit and walked off stage for the last time, the curtain closing behind him with a gentle swish.
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The concert had ended a couple of hours later, and the lucky ponies that held VIP tickets were escorted backstage. Many of them went to see and meet DJ Tombstone, but a few went to see Victory Cleft. Ditzy was among those going to see Victory Cleft. She had the still sleeping Dinky across her back, and as she joined in with the rest of the group headed that way, she was quiet and deep in thought.
Rainbow Dash felt bad for the first time in a long time. The only ponies that she could see headed for Victory Cleft’s dressing rooms were herself and her friends. She felt bad because so many of the ponies that had come here to see Victory Cleft were abandoning them in what she felt was their hour of need.
Inside that dressing room, the air was not as gloomy as one would have expected. The members of the band were sitting around, happily recalling stories of other shows, other times. The only one not really participating in all of this was Treble. He was happy that the band was happy, but he was worried about how things had gone over with Ditzy. He was the type to fall in love quickly, and this did often get him into trouble. That’s why he had never really gone out with his brother. His brother was much the same way, and the Tabloids had had enough to say about him. In just a couple of minutes, the fans would be walking through that door, and while there were security ponies about, they did nothing to help Treble feel any better about what was going to happen.
The door did open, but there was not the large press of people that were expected. Twelve ponies total walked through that door: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Phantom, Silver, Ditzy, Dinky, Luna, and Bubbles. It wasn’t what the band had been expecting, but it was better than Nopony coming at all. In fact, it was partially better than they could have ever hoped, with Princess Luna being there.
“Welcome everypony!” Bass greeted the lot of them cheerfully, getting up and breaking the little circle that had formed in the corner of the room. Treble just sat and stared at Ditzy as she walked into the room.
Ditzy noticed that Treble was sitting a little bit off on his own and headed towards him. She intended to find out why he’d written the song about her. It had been a long time since anypony had done anything that nice for her, and she also wanted to thank him. She came close to him, and with deft and gentle motions of her wings and her back, managed to lay the still sleeping Dinky on a couch next to Treble.
“Hey,” Treble said in a near monotone. The enthusiasm that he’d shown on the stage had drained him physically, and the monotone was more from his exhaustion than it was nervousness on his part.
“Hey,” Ditzy replied. She smiled at him and sat down in the closest chair. Her voice was quiet, mostly so she wouldn’t wake up her sleeping daughter. There was an uncomfortable silence between the two ponies, neither one knowing what to say. All sorts of things raced through Ditzy’s head as she waited to hear from the stallion in front of her.
Treble wanted to say something, anything really. He just didn’t know what to say. Everything that he could think of to say wouldn’t be right, and he found that after just a couple of days, he’d come to care for this mare, and he didn’t want to screw things up like he’d done with the last mare in Manehattan. The silence persisted for a few moments, punctuated with the occasional burst of laughter from the other group in the room. It wasn’t long, but for the two ponies sitting there, it seemed almost like a lifetime.
“Well, ummm, you guys were great on stage.” Ditzy mentally slapped herself for so common a statement. She really wanted to know what was up with that song, but she couldn’t bring herself to actually ask about it.
“I guess we were,” Treble replied with a sheepish grin. He’d been worried that Ditzy would have started grilling him for answers about the last song. “Although, it was really more the rest of the gang.”
“Oh no, you were great too. You were so full of life and enthusiasm; it was hard to believe that you guys were ending. Well, right up until you announced it anyways.”
Treble sighed, the breakup of the band was still weighing heavily on his mind. “Yeah. The part with the old hymn wasn’t planned, but it seemed right. I had no idea that it would have such an impact on the audience though.”
Neither one of them noticed Luna and Lt. Bubbles walking over to join them. Their conversation continued on the topic of the mysterious hymn and the impact it had on the ponies who’d been at the concert. They did finally take notice of Luna and her guard when Luna spoke to Treble.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Luna said quietly, “But I just have to ask, do you know where that hymn you played came from?”
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The main group of ponies in the room had a much cheerier discussion going on.
“… and then Viola here took out the heckler with a well placed bow shot. Who knew that you could use a cello like a bow and arrow?” Bass said with a hearty chuckle. Viola blushed but the rest of the group roared with good natured laughter.
“I had no idea that you guys were all so talented,” Rarity said. She was grinning and staring at Bass, her eyes twinkling mischeviously.
“Well, from what I hear, some of you guys are just as famous as we are,” Beat added.
The bearers of the elements nodded, trying to seem humble. Well most of them at any rate. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand could always be counted upon to boast of what they’d done.
“Well of course some of us are famous. It’s not every day that Nightmare Moon is Vanquished, a twisted Draconequis stopped, and the kingdom saved from an invasion by the same group of ponies. And even fewer have done all that and won the Best Young Flier competition to boot!” Rainbow puffed out her chest as she recounted all her accomplishments.
“Well Ms. Best Junior Flyer, it seems you forgot the name of the completion, and I for one know a pony just like that who couldn’t even keep up for a few dozen laps around the reservoir!” Bass smiled at his little jab.
Rainbow blushed and blustered. “I was… conserving my energy! Yeah, I couldn’t win them all, then you might not have hung out with me!” Rainbow internally sighed with relief. She’d come close to unleashing her terrible secret; the she was a girly pony when it came to having a celebrity crush, and what was worse, she’d almost admitted TO that celebrity.
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Ditzy and Treble sat enraptured as Luna told them the story of the mysterious hymn.
“You see, I was loved by many of the ponies. The stories that told of the time I became a terrible tyrant aren’t entirely accurate. There is a fourth member of ponykind that, while not as prevalent today, was as common a thousand years ago as unicorns and Pegasi are today. They were called Sarosians, and they were mainly active at night. They were similar to Pegasi, but their wings closely resembled those of bats, and sunlight actually hurts them.
Now, to understand where that song came from, you have to understand that at that time, my sister and I were very different regents from the way we are today. We were proud and vain, and many ponies openly worshiped and praised us. Much of it was done in song. My sarosians raised me up and worshipped me, leaving my sister out of the picture. Many of the other ponies worshipped my sister and ignored me completely. It’s only recently that my sister and I have ruled and been accepted together truly.
Back then we didn’t even share the same advisors, we each had our own group of hand picked ponies to lead and advise us. Just a few years before I became Nightmare my top advisors started to try and convince me that my sister was out to push me off the throne.
Naturally, at first I wouldn’t hear of it. But as time went by, my advisors continued to try and convince me, and I started to notice things that I thought proved them right. At the time of the war, my Sarosians tried to defeat Celestia’s Royal guard, and a great many died in battle, the majority dying at the same time as I was banished to the moon, thanks to the sudden fear and hatred of their kind.
While I was banished on the moon, I lost my contact with almost every pony. All but my Sarosians. I could still hear them in my mind as I plotted and planned. Then one night, not long after my banishment began, I heard the hymn. It used to have words, but they aren’t necessary here. It was a song of mourning. Mourning for me, mourning for the thousands of lives that had been lost, mourning for the fact that most Sarosians were banished from Equestrian society.
So it seems, that even though you did not know the history of the song, Treble Clef, you managed to use it in the proper setting. We thank you.”
Luna’s story had Treble and Ditzy in a minor form of shock. Neither one knew quite what to say, nor had they had the chance to cover the other topics that they wanted to discuss. Bubbles sat impassively off to the side, a worried look in his eyes as he stared unblinkingly at Luna.
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While Luna had been telling her story to Treble and Ditzy, a much more heated conversation was going on with the rest. Riff, Viola, Fluttershy, Phantom, Applejack, and Silver had steered the conversation away from Bass and Rainbows counter boasting, into a discussion of their love lives. Bass and Rainbow had immediately gotten fed up with the mushy talk, and to avoid having to hear any more of it, moved away to continue their one up session.
“I still can’t believe that he asked me to Marry him. It was such an amazing moment.” Viola gushed over the memories of her engagement to the other ponies.
“Ah know what you mean partner. When I first met Silver here, I could barely believe that he was a sane pony, and now we’re datin’!” Applejack smiled and leaned into Silver’s side.
The conversation continued like this for a bit, and only Pinkie Pie, with her amazing Pinkie Sense had any clue of what was about to happen. After all, it wasn’t normal for a pony to twitch as much as that was it?