//------------------------------// // The Sunset Festival Play // Story: Man in a Pony’s World // by Nugget27 //------------------------------// Over the next few weeks, Bob found himself helping Apple Jack or Twilight the most out of the six mares he was supposed to be serving. Granted, when he worked with Apple Jack, he did so quietly. As Twilight said, any time spent at Ms. Cheerilee’s schoolhouse ended up going towards his community service hours. While at school, Bob did work and served as a second tutor during math, which was the one subject that he had truly excelled in compared to everyone in the class. Equish had so many similarities to English that Bob could easily do assignments and then receive marks for using his version of English; it technically wasn’t wrong according to Cheerilee, but it wasn’t proper Equish. History was what had Bob excited every time he had come into class.  None of Bob’s classmates really approached him. Apple Bloom and the Crusaders would greet Bob in the morning and get a few ear scratches and belly rubs. Sometimes Bob would help a student with a math problem they were struggling with, but nobody really approached the human at all. Every Tuesday and Thursday, due to an incoming play for the Sunrise Festival, which occurred a week before Nightmare Night, history class would be skipped over by Cheerilee in exchange for the class to brainstorm ideas as to what the Play should be about. A filly or colt would raise a hoof and give toss an idea, while Bob simply went along with whatever his classmates went with. He wasn't paying much attention; he didn't care about the play. Eventually with enough idea tossing, they decided to do a play on the battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon and the events that had led up to it. While they were discussing what parts each foal should get, Apple Bloom raised her hoof. “Bob should sing a song during the play! He’s great-” “Why am I playing a song? Nobody’ll want to see, or hear an ugly, stupid ape sing. I don’t sound that good either.” Bob tilted his head. “Besides, what would the song be about? How lonely Celestia was after the battle? The fight itself? What Luna felt before she fell to Nightmare Moon?” Bob asked. With the knowledge of what the play specifically had to be about, and some help with Twilight, he had caught up with the events before, during and after the rise of Nightmare Moon.  “I agree,” Diamond Tiara said. “I mean, he can barely play the piano-” “Diamond Tiara,” Cheerilee eyed the filly as she stopped, she casted her glare on the only human in the room. “Bob, do not call yourself ugly or stupid. You can play the piano well enough. If you would like to write a song and play it during the play, that would be nice. You don’t even have to be on stage if that would help you. You’ll even get full credit for performing your song in the play! Nopony will even have to know that you were a part of it!” She paused “I don’t know how well two pianos would sound though, since my contribution to the play will be directing and playing the soundtrack throughout.” Bob paused for a moment before hopping out of his seat and over to the piano. Bob sat down on the bench. “I used to play in a band back home. I was the only member, so I had to play multiple instruments and sing, and nobody really listened to me, but I can play the guitar. I’ve played the drums, though I can’t do that while playing the guitar. I can play the piano. I’m not classically trained, but I have some idea of how to use a violin and transitioning to a cello or viola with that knowledge isn’t too hard. Though…” Bob shrugged. “I never got a lot of practice with the violin though, so I’m more prone to screwing up.” Bob hummed again before pressing a few keys. “I can probably rework a human song into something that can begin at the start of the play and finish around the end.” “Or I can come in towards the end and sing, it doesn’t matter to me.” Bob shrugged. “Though I’m still not sure if I should even get to play a song at all for the play. Nobody’ll wanna hear it if they know I wrote and performed it.” Cheerilee smiled. “Well, I had a new student coming in sometime later, his name is Pip Squeak, and I know he will love a part in the play. You can probably sing behind a curtain and he can lip sing; you both will still be credited at the end of the play.” Bob nodded before going to his desk, writing down notes and lyrics on scrap paper while the rest of the discussion went on without him. He dropped the quill as he groaned; class was being dismissed and he couldn’t even come up with anything. So, while Bob sat during recess, he was approached by a few foals for once. Well, actually, he was surrounded by them now. He looked up from the notebook he was still writing notes and lyrics down in, to no avail, and at the group of foals. “What’s up with everyone looking at me?” “We wanted to see if you had anything written down yet?” A filly said, a random one. She was a light, almost pale blue unicorn. If he recalled, her mother was a derpy looking pegasus that also delivered mail. “Apple Bloom was telling us all about how great you are with music. And-” Bob covered the filly’s mouth. “...I can play songs from my… homeland. I can sing those songs as well. Writing a whole song is a different beast,” Bob shook his head. “First you need to know the tone of the song, the tempo, the melody, the chords, the lyrics, how you want to sing the song, and then once that’s all said and done, practice and perfect the song.” Bob turned his notebook around. “I’ve got plenty of ideas, but we didn’t really talk about the tone of the play at all…” He trailed off. “I have nothing to work with, and then I’m pretty inexperienced with songwriting.” Bob chuckled. “I wish I could just sing somebody else’s song, that’s way easier.” “Can you sing one of your ideas? We could base the tone of the play on the one that we like the best.” “Well, I made one for how I believe Celestia felt about defeating Nightmare Moon.” “Wouldn’t she feel relieved?” Apple Bloom asked. “Imagine this, Apple Jack suddenly became a mass murderer,” Bob said slowly. “And the only way to deal with her was to lock her up in a prison you, and nobody can reach her, not even you. If I were Celestia, I’d be borderline depressed; I couldn’t imagine losing a sibling, and I’m the youngest of mine. It was probably worse for Celestia since she’s the oldest…” He trailed off for a moment before clearing his throat. “I’m shocked Celestia managed to make it a thousand years, if she is actually that old, with those emotions dwelling in her head. That can’t be healthy.”  “So what’s the stupid song idea?” Diamond Tiara asked. “Well, I titled it Millenium Alone, and had a chorus for it,” the human shrugged. “I’m not singing it though. I might just not even write a song for the play.” “I am rewriting a song from my homeland, I can sing that since I have a melody to work off of…” Bob cleared his throat. “They say there was a jealous mare.” Bob only got through the first verse before stopping. “I only got that far, so far this is the one I’m liking the most; I can begin with that verse at the start of the play, say… Have the second verse play during the next act, so on and so forth. From what I’ve read, Luna, or Nightmare Moon, has returned from the moon, so why not also capture the reunion of Luna and Celestia? That, that had to be something worth seeing.” Bob reclined slightly. “I only have what Twilight told me though.” “That…” Sweetie Belle hummed. “Would be a great idea! I bet I could be a great Celestia! Then I can sing one of the verses!” When Bob got back to the Library, the first thing he did was sit down at one of the tables scattered around the main floor, and got to work. No matter what he tried, even a remake of Hallelujah, he just couldn’t come up with anything. Nothing he played on the guitar sounded right, none of the lyrics sounded right in his head. The human groaned and slammed his notebook into the table and leaned back into his chair, only to nearly fall on the ground, since pony chairs didn’t have anything in them. “Bob, are you alright?” The sound of a chair scooting on Bob’s left, and a purple hoof reaching out to him in his peripheral vision. “What… is in your notebook? This looks like…” “We’re hosting a play for something big, something just before Nightmare Night, and… The class expects me to write a song for it, or something. I tried to tell them that… I wouldn’t be super good at writing a song, but after they’ve heard me sing a few times, they think being okay at singing would translate to being an amazing songwriter.” Bob leaned into his palms. “I can’t get an idea to stick, even though I did find one I liked, and tried to stick with it… only to get lost stuck on a verse or two, and then I threw that idea in the trash!” Bob sighed. “I don’t even want to perform for the play, but it’s expected that every ‘foal’ in the school has some part in the play. “I guess I have to play my part, even if I don’t want to.” The human finished and leaned back in his chair.  “This one is good,” Twilight pointed to Bob’s ponified version of Hallelujah, or the beginnings of it. “Why did you get stuck on writing this? I can even help you if you want the help.” “You… would?” Twilight nodded. “I’m partially interested in the song you’re borrowing this from, since it sounds like a human song.”  “It’s a song I used to sing… I was in choir for my church, which was a building that would come together to worship a deity. I never was very religious, but I did enjoy singing in choir. It made Mom happy, and I got to learn how to sing just a little better.” Bob chuckled. “Which makes rewriting this song for the play all the harder; it’s hard to rewrite this song…” He sighed before putting his pencil down and pointed at the second verse. “Does this look a little confusing?” “Some will tell you otherwise,” Twilight began to sing. As she sang, Bob noted how she was perfectly in line with the melody. She hummed after singing. “So you’re saying Celestia missed Luna?” Bob nodded. “I thought the first verse could be a precursor to the play, and the second verse could be sung when ‘Luna’ gets sent to the moon.” Twilight nodded. “You could make the play about the return of Nightmare Moon; I can even help you with that even better. Since I was there for it,” Bob nodded, and the two of them slowly, but surely worked out a second verse. Soon, Twilight was laying in Bob’s lap and it was nearly midnight. “I can get the girls to let you off of working for them for the week so you can complete the song. The play is next week, isn’t it?” Bob nodded and yawned. “Yeah, we’re supposed to have a script by the end of tomorrow and begin practicing during and after class is over. Meanwhile, I got that same time to write a song, practice it and…” Bob sighed. “Playing the song instrumentally won’t be difficult; I’ve only had to play it on piano, and sometimes guitar every Sunday.” Twilight nodded. “Well, if you need help, I’ll be free most of the week; we can write the song together!” Twilight yawned again. “We can probably get the third verse done by the time we go to sleep and…” “It’s twelve in the morning. I think we should go to sleep-“ Twilight was already snoring away, her head was resting on his thigh, he shrugged before picking the unicorn and taking her upstairs. After some thought… He laid Twilight on the bed before climbing in it with her. Soon, he had a Teddy Twilight Sparkle to snuggle with throughout the night. The next day, Bob was sitting on a bench during recess. The class had worked out a script, so Bob took a copy so he could possibly use it to help write his song for the play. He sighed. Tonight, it was Fluttershy’s turn to give him a task, which usually involved him helping with her animals or helping to clean up her cottage which was already spotless. Fluttershy did agree to let Bob have a few hours before he had to go help her with that, so he could ‘hang out with some friends’ or something.  The human had heard Diamond Tiara yell at somebody, but it wasn’t the usual mocking tone she used on the Cutie Mark Crusaders, no she sounded like she was insulting a kid, viciously at that. “And nobody will come to protect you, because nopony, not even the Cutie Mark Crusaders, wants to be friends with such a useless, absolutely worthless Blank Flank!” Bob looked around the playground to… Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon kicking dirt at a small colt, an earth pony, who was balled up on the ground and crying from their verbal and physical abuse. Usually, Bob steered clear of the other kids. He sometimes played with the Crusaders when they felt like including him, but most of the other foals stayed away from him. And also started rumors that he ate foals or something. Today, however, Bob set his notes in his backpack, a gift from Rarity(as a gift for helping her out on a day that he was supposed to be free of work), and speed walked over to the three foals. “Yo,” Bob calmly said as he walked forward. “Why are you guys kicking dirt on that kid?” “And why does it matter to you, Ape? I bet you just want to-” “Move,” Bob grabbed the mean pair of fillies before shoving them behind him. “Poor fella’s had enough of his daily dose of bullshit from little retards like you, so leave him alone.” “Don’t put your paws on me, you brute-” “Shut up, your arse is jealous of the shit your mouth spews out.” Bob flipped off Diamond Tiara as she sputtered and stuttered while she asked what ‘arse’ meant before she and Silver Spoon ran off to probably cause some other foals some misery. Bob placed then turned his focus onto the crying colt before him. “Hey kid,” he placed a hand, which made the tiny pony cringe and cry more. “I’m not gonna hurt you, and I’m not going to make fun of you.” The colt raised his head and turned his tearfilled eyes to the human. And immediately buried his face in his hooves. “Please don’t eat me!” “Hey,” Bob started rubbing the foal’s back. “Look at me,” Bob reached under the pony’s chin and turned his gaze back up to him. “I won’t hurt you, I’m not going to eat you. If I wanted you to keep hurting, I wouldn't have come and stopped Diamond Tiara. Why were they making fun of you?” “I’m a blank flank, so nopony wants to be my friend. Not even that club of blank flanks wants me to hangout with them.” He sighed. “Why are you still here?” Bob pointed a thumb at himself. “I’m also a blank flank; I’m just as worthless and friendless as you are,” he paused. “Okay, that wasn’t the right thing to say. But I’m here… Say, you wanna be pals? I’m a blank flank, you’re a blank flank, we’re both talentless, aren’t we? We can help each other out, just like the Cutie Mark Crusaders help each other out. I can even introduce you to them.”  “You want to be my friend?” The colt asked. “I do,” Bob rubbed the kid’s back. “What’s your name?” “I’m… Golden Arrow, you’re Bob, aren’t you?” “How’d you know that?” “You’re the talk of the class, some of the other foals say you eat foals, others are talking about you because you’re writing a song for a play…” Arrow looked up at the human. “But you’re my friend now!” His little, tear stained face broke out into a smile, so Bob plucked the colt up and laid him in his lap. “Now, I was going to flip your frown upside down, because it has no place being on your adorable, little face, but I see you bounced back pretty quickly,” Bob said. Before long, Bob was idly petting and scratching the foal’s head. “Why shouldn’t I be happy? I’ve got a new friend, and… that feels nice. Can you move your paw a little to the left? I’ve been trying to get that itch for weeks and…” “Arrow!” A mare trotted up to the two boys a, one Bob hadn’t seen before. “Why are you covered in dirt…” She glared at Bob. “Did you-” “Mom, don’t get mad at Bob! He saved me from a couple of bullies! He’s my friend!” Arrow pawed at the human who sat silently. “And he’s actually kind of nice,” he nuzzled into Bob.  “Darn you ponies and your overtly cuddly behavior,” Bob chuckled as he nuzzled his cheek into Arrow’s, and held him closer. “You want your kid back, miss…” “So you’re that human everypony’s been talking about…” She hummed. “I’m Venice Arrow, Golden’s mother. You’re… really not what everypony’s chalked you up to being.” “As in?” Bob asked. “A murderer?” “A lot of things, evil, mean, hates ponies.” “I’m not the biggest fan of ponies, yeah,” Bob was now holding Golden Arrow in his hands, like you would with a puppy. The foal’s tail was wagging back and forth and Bob coddled him. “But I can’t hate foals; they’re adorable, dangerously so… And… Your son just licked my cheek. God dammit, I think my heart just melted into a puddle in my chest.” Venice giggled. “My my… I don’t think I’ve seen my little Arrow warm up to anypony, or any creature so quickly.” She hummed. “Would you like to stop by my home for a few snacks? Then I can escort you back to Golden Oaks Library. All the rumors say you live there, so I assume you live there, correct?” “You’d be right… and if you’re okay with it, then I wouldn’t mind following you and Arrow home. I wanna get to know my new buddy just a little more.” The three of them had gone to The Arrow Family’s home for tea, and after Twilight had told Fluttershy about the upcoming play, decided to let Bob not work for the day so he could work on his song. Golden Arrow even threw in his own thoughts on what the human had written so far. The days had turned into a week, Nightmare Night was two weeks away… meaning the play was happening tonight. Bob was rubbing his forehead in class. He had gotten the song finished, but he wasn’t a fan of it. Not because he thought it was bad, but because he felt like it wasn’t good enough. He spent a week, a week straight on this song, and yet it was nowhere near as good as it was supposed to be. On top of that, Ms. Cheerilee had him practice songs so he could help her ‘soundtrack’ some of the scenes. So Bob was lent a guitar, a violin and a set of drums. All were instruments that Bob could play, but wasn’t a master at. For one, he barely used the violin while recording in his garage band, and he really only used a guitar, an electric one at that, and the drums. Since Cheerilee would be playing the piano, that was the only instrument that Bob was very familiar with up to her, and not him. And he only had a day of practice… Wait, the piano parts were also piled on Bob. “At least reading sheet music isn’t too hard.” Bob grumbled to himself as he read them over. He had barely gotten any sleep last night, due to him and Twilight running overtime to finish the song. Once the play’s over, he’s going to have to hug that mare. Despite some of the things she does that upsets him, or gets on his nerves, she is… at least nice to him, and has helped him with this huge project. Bob would be playing behind a curtain and performing behind a curtain with a microphone, but at least he would be credited for his efforts. The play was happening on Saturday, and Bob had finished singing the ponified version of Hallelujah to Twilight. It felt a bit wrong, to be singing a song he sang in church, same chords, same melody, different lyrics and different pitch. Twilight’s friends had stopped at the library to hear Bob sing before the play, and were listening with interest. When he was finished with his demo performance, the mares clapped. “Darn nelly!” Apple Jack patted Bob on the shoulder, but he flinched away. The two hadn’t really interacted much after Bob got injured while working for the farm pony, and neither had worked to amend their ‘relationship’.  “That was nice,” Fluttershy said with a small smile. “It was very relaxing.” “Well, Twilight did help out a lot. I wouldn’t have gotten the song done without her…” The human sighed and looked at another lyric sheet. “And Cheerilee gave me a song to sing when ‘Luna’ turned into Nightmare moon… Jeez I have a lot of ‘parts’ in this play.” “But you aren’t doing anything but playing instruments and singing,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “You’re good at that-” “Rainbow, I have to play a guitar at the start of the play, switch to a violin and back to the guitar a few times. And then I also have to play the drums. We have several other kids in the class that can sing, or can play instruments, yet almost all of that was put on me so those kids could be on stage and be in the spotlight.” Bob sighed. “It’s just so fucking much, and I’m only awake right now because Spike brewed some very, very heavily concentrated coffee for me this morning.” Bob sighed. “I’m just lucky that I wasn’t told to play the cello as well; that would’ve been a nightmare…” the human paused. “Well, more of a nightmare than this was already gonna be.” “Wait a second,” Rainbow paused. “I thought you were just going to play the guitar and sing a few songs behind a curtain. “How…” “I made the mistake of saying I can play several instruments and Cheerilee skipped over the fact that I had to record each instrument separately, and then used a machine to overlay each recording and use digital instruments to help fill in any gaps.” Bob sighed. “The play starts in a couple of hours… I am so screwed.” Bob got out of the chair and stretched. “Let’s get this over with. I’ll at least get credited so all this work won’t be for nothing.” The eight, since Spike wanted to come and watch the play too, agreed and all went out the door. Bob sat at the corner of the stage. All the colts and fillies in his class were either making last minute checks on lights, or in their costumes and chatting away. The new colt, Pipsqueak, who got the role as narrator, peeked out the curtains for a moment before quickly being pulled back. “I bet the whole town is out there!” Pip, as the colt liked to be called, whisper-shouted. “I can’t wait!” The human shook his head as he kept making sure his instruments were tuned properly. “We’re about to begin, position everypony!” Ms. Cheerilee began directing her students around, while Bob remained in place, in a spot where he would remain hidden from the crowd. “Bob, whenever I hold up a green card, begin playing, when you see a red card, stop, alright?” The human flashed a thumb’s up, before taking a deep breath. “Ladies and gentlecolts!” Pipsqueak, at the center of the stage, started. “Thank you for coming out tonight during the Sunrise Festival. Ms. Cheerilee’s Schoolhouse of Ponyville presents the Tale of Nightmare Moon; the betrayal, the return, and reunion!” With that, Pip opened his mouth to begin lip syncing with Bob. Cheerilee flashed a green card and Bob began to sing and stopped the moment he saw the signal to stop playing. As the play went on, Bob heavily focused on his sheet music when he played an instrumental and focused very, very heavily when singing Luna's villain song. The play went on without a hitch, except for when the crowd laughed at Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon, the former was playing as Princess Celestia, when one of the fillies spoke in a tone that was completely out of character for how their Sun Princess usually presented herself. Bob, having next to no practice with any of the sheet music for the ‘soundtrack’, messed up here and there, but he quickly covered up any mistakes he made, and the audience didn’t really notice when he did mess up… Thankfully. Though whenever he had to play a part with a violin, it was sloppy at best, and probably would make actually trained violinists angry. To the average pony in the crowd of many, he sounded good enough, if they weren’t ‘boo’ing at his mediocre performance with the violin was anything to go by. By the end of it, Bob was a shivering mess, but his voice held up as he sang the last lines of Hallelujah, and he almost passed out from the sheer stress he was feeling.  The crowd cheered as the curtains fell, and Bob felt a weight lift off his chest. It was a struggle, especially when he had to scramble to switch from instrument to instrument, sometimes in the middle of a song, but it was over!  “Excellent work, Bob!” Cheerilee congratulated her otherworldly student. “You’ll get A plus for theater for your efforts! Now, I must go and credit everypony involved!” Bob silently nodded and fell on his butt after just getting out of his chair. His legs were too shaky to stand. As his teacher called out each actor’s name, she then moved onto the foals that were responsible for lighting and costume designing. Then, she got to the soundtrack part… “The lead singer, Pipsqueak, performed Hallelujah, a song written specifically for this play,” Bob froze. She listed a bunch of other students off, who helped write the sheet music used, but didn’t say Bob’s name a single time. Not even to credit him for writing Hallelujah. And… then the class congratulated their teacher for directing and producing the play in the first place and that was it. Bob sat there, completely flabbergasted as his classmates all chatted as they filed back into backstage… He slowly stood up as they also began leaving backstage through the back entrance so they could go see their, probably very excited, parents. “Ms. Cheerilee,” Bob stopped his teacher as she stopped by. “Why the actual fuck was I not credited at all at the end?” “Didn’t you just get a grade like you wanted?” Cheerilee asked. “Because I thought you said you just wanted a grade, and not have anypony know that you performed any of the music used throughout the play.” Bob’s jaw opened to respond only for it to slowly close. He thought for a moment before anger took over his mind. “I… Fucking worked my god damn ass off to perform in this stupid play!” Bob shouted. Any and all chatter offstage, or backstage had come to a halt as ponies, adults and foals alike stared at the pair. “I fucking sang a damn song, that I wrote, that I didn’t even want to make in the first place for this play because my classmates, and you, wanted me to do it! Myself, with the help of Twilight, rewrote that song for this play and you couldn’t even be bothered to mention my name? Who played the damn violin during the play? Who played the fucking guitar? Who played the fucking drums? It wasn’t my sheet music, but it was my fucking performance of that sheet music.” Bob yelled. “And I didn’t even know we were getting a grade for this shit! I did this because I was asked to, and found myself enjoying it,” he said calmly. He stared down at the pony, whose head came up to his chest. “Yet you couldn’t even at least say I had any part in this play.” The human was now crying.  “Bob!” Cheerilee hopped up on her hindlegs and was now leaning on the human. “You should’ve-” “Get off of me.” Bob snarled. “Get the hell off of me, and get the ever living hell away from me. I’m going to go on a walk before I punch somebody in the face.” Bob walked past the curtains and hopped down from the stage. “I ain’t going to school anymore, not your school at least!” He shouted as he stormed off. Grumbling to himself about how a night that was going to end with a small party from Pinkie to celebrate his part in the play, had soured.  He walked straight towards the Everfree Forest without a care in the world.