//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Music of My Soul // by BronyBrozly //------------------------------// The upbeat and soothing notes of jazz floated within the diner as my hooves danced on my saxophone’s keys. I shook my head in a beat to the melody, smiling as I saw ponies were dancing to my music. Everypony in the diner were either tapping their hoof to the song or dancing their hearts out on the floor. Ponies in all age and sizes were letting themselves go to the sweet melody with smiles on their faces, filling the diner with laughter. My head bobbed rhythmically, looking at Cotton who was swaying her hips to the song beside me. I closed my eyes, smiling as I kept the song as upbeat as I possibly could. The notes floated and rolled around the diner like excited puppies in the meadows, bringing more life into the diner. As I slowly opened my eyes, dancing to the melody, I saw a small crowd of passersby were looking through the window, listening to my music as they bobbed their heads to the song. I gave them a smile and an inviting nod. Without any second thoughts, all the ponies who stood outside immediately entered the diner and started to dance to the song. Then, I closed my eyes once again, as I immersed myself into the music. I felt as if I was floating in midair, playing my saxophone without a care in the world as I listened to the smooth melody and rhythm. Then, I felt the soft touches of hooves on my shoulders. I opened my eyes and saw Cotton was standing on her hind legs in front of me, facing me with a smile plastered on her face. She swayed her body side to side with me as I played my sax. I smiled as we danced together to the song and to the beats of our hearts. When the end was nearing, I quickly gave Cotton a twirl as she let out a hearty laugh. I let out a long and steady note into the air, declaring my masterpiece inside the diner as I closed my eyes. Then, silence followed. I heard a massive wave of stomps as I opened my eyes. A crowd of ponies stood in front of me, hollering their cheers into the air. “Play another one!” A voice shouted in great vigor echoed at the back of the crowd, making the other ponies to nod in agreement. “Sorry, guys. That’s all for tonight,” I said with a sheepish smile as I scratched the back of my mane. My answer created a wave of despondent sighs as I saw the ponies in front of me hung their heads low in disappointment. To be honest, I wanted to play another song but I was getting tired. But I also didn’t want the quality of my music to deteriorate because of fatigue. With that, I had to restrain my own desire to play for the sake of better quality music. “Are you going to play again for tomorrow night?” another voice spoke up within the crowd. The pony’s question made the others to nod in agreement, looking at me with pleading eyes that were filled with hope that I would play again in another time. I looked at Cotton who was standing next to me with a sheepish grin, not knowing what to do. She turned her head, looking at me with a smile as she nodded in approval. “I-I guess so,” I replied with a sheepish smile as I looked back towards the crowd. “Yeah!” A gruff voice cheered from the back. “I’m going to go here every night!” A mare’s voice spoke up from the far corner of the crowd. Then the ponies let out a series of cheers, stomping their hooves in excitement. “Free apple cider for everypony!” I heard Cotton declared as she opened her fore hooves wide into the air with a wide smile plastered on her face. With that, the ponies broke into another series of excited stomp. I saw Cotton gave one of the workers behind the counter a nod and the pony immediately entered the kitchen. Not long after that, big barrels of apple cider rolled into the diner as multitude of mugs were arranged along the counter. Each mug was filled in a generous amount and passed around the diner. From there, the diner had become much livelier from before. Ponies were enjoying their free drinks as they chatted among each other. I was sitting at my usual spot while Cotton was sitting on the stool on my right as we looked into the happy faces of the crowds with smiles on our faces. “You don’t mind if I play here tomorrow night?” I asked as I turned my head to look at her. She shook her head, smiling. Then her brown eyes looked into my eyes, gleaming with pure joy. Suddenly, I felt my head slowly approached hers, looking onto her pink lips. The drums in my heart were beating in a fast rhythm and I felt her hot breath caressed my nose as we closed our eyes, inching closer. “Hey, hey,” A familiar voice chuckled; making our eyes widened in shock as we quickly backed our heads away, looking at opposite directions. I felt a river of blood rushed into my cheeks as I tried to hide my blush by lowering my head. I tentatively looked up to see whom the voice belonged to and saw Vinyl and Octavia were standing in front of us. The white unicorn mare had an amused smile plastered on her face whereas Octavia had a blush on her cheeks as she looked at other directions to avoid my gaze. “I don’t think we should disturb them like that, Vinyl,” I heard Octavia whispered behind her hoof as she kept her head to other places, tentatively looking at me. She was also blushing at that moment but I didn’t know why. Maybe it was because she witnessed something that should’ve been a private matter. “I think it’s lucky that I stopped them. Because things might get spicy if I don’t,” Vinyl replied as she gave me a grin. I felt my cheeks flushed even harder, lowering my head in embarrassment. “Vinyl!” Octavia shouted, glaring at her friend while she was still clearly blushing from witnessing something she shouldn’t have. “Okay, okay,” Vinyl chuckled with an amused grin on her face, raising her hooves into the air. “Sorry to ruin the moment with your girlfriend,” she continued as she trotted next to me, nudging on my side with her elbow. Even though she was wearing her purple shades, I had a feeling that she was giving me an encouraging wink. “O-oh!” I gasped, looking at Vinyl with a sheepish smile. “W-we’re not...” I trailed off, tentatively looking at Cotton who was sitting next to me. She had a smile on her face, playing with the skirt of her uniform as her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “It’s kinda complicated,” Cotton continued in my behalf as she looked at Vinyl with a sheepish smile, blushing. For some reason, I felt a slight twinge inside of me as I heard she said those words. “Wait a minute,” Vinyl mumbled as lowered her shades. When she lowered her shades, a brick of realization hit me at the back of my head. It was the first time that I saw the color her eyes. She had deep magenta eyes which were staring at Cotton with an inspecting eye. Then without uttering a word, an amused smile slowly crept onto her face as she put back her shades. “You got eyes for accessories, my man," she said, nudging me on my sides once again with a wide grin tugged on her lips. Upon hearing Vinyl’s words, Cotton immediately let out a soft gasp, clasping the newly-bought necklace with a blush and a shy smile on her face. I knew it was not out of embarrassment, it was out of joy. I was happy to know that she liked her gift. “Oh my, such beautiful necklace,” I heard Octavia gasped, her eyes sparkled in interest as she trotted closer to Cotton. “May I?” she asked as she looked at Cotton in the eyes, tentatively reaching for the necklace. Cotton gave a soft nod, smiling sheepishly as she slowly lowered her hooves from it. The sunflower-shaped jewel glimmered under the light, creating a dim orange glow. “This is such a beautiful necklace,” she commented, looking at the necklace with an inspecting eye. “It is a first that I saw a stallion bought something this beautiful for a mare,” she chuckled as she backed away, looking at me with a wink. I felt like I was going to melt with all of these embarrassing comments. I lowered my head so much until to a point that my head was almost touched the surface of the counter. My mind was reeling frantically as I tried to search for another subject to talk about. “Oh!” I exclaimed as I raised my hoof into the air, smiling sheepishly. “W-what are you doing here?” I stammered, looking at our new friends with a nervous grin. “Oh, right,” Vinyl started with a chuckle. “We were asking around if anypony knows where is the closest diner from the park around the city and somepony we met along the way said that ‘this’ diner was probably the closest. And so, here we are,” she explained with a smile. “Why?” I asked, looking at her with a questioning eyebrow. “To give you this,” Vinly said, levitating me a letter. “Inside this is a reservation card for ‘La Lush’ restaurant. We told the music producer about you and we got him interested. You’ll be meeting with him tomorrow night at the restaurant around eight o’clock,” she explained. I took the letter and gave it a tentative look. “Don’t worry. You don’t have to pay for the food. It’s on me. Just show the waiter at the reception desk the card and he will take you to the reserved table,” she spoke up, noticing my worried expression. “I don’t know how to repay you for this,” I said, looking at her with a worried expression that was still plastered on my face. “You don’t have to,” she chuckled as she waved a dismissive hoof with a smile on her face. “We’re all friends after all.” “Thank you,” I spoke up, looking at her with appreciation beamed from my eyes and a wide smile plastered on my face. She just chuckled in return. “I think it is time for us to take our leave,” Octavia spoke up as she trotted next to Vinyl, smiling warmly at the both of us. “We have should spend some time together in the near future,” she continued as she gave a bow. “Yeah, we all should do something fun together,” Vinyl spoke up, grinning. “Sure,” I chuckled as I gave a nod. “It would be nice to see you two again,” I heard Cotton said softly next to me. As I looked at her, I saw she gave them a timid wave. With that, Octavia and Vinyl returned the wave as they trotted towards the diner’s exit. The bell on top let out a cheerful ding, marking their leave. “That was... fun,” I spoke up as I looked at Cotton with a sheepish smile. She just giggled behind her hoof in return as her eyes slowly moved over to the door, looking at the clock above it. “It’s almost closing time,” she whispered as she jumped off the stool next to me. I took a look at the clock and saw it was almost ten o’clock at night. “I’ll wait outside,” I spoke up as I picked up my saxophone case. She nodded with a smile as she trotted towards the kitchen. I was lying on the leather couch back in Cotton’s apartment as fatigue slowly washed over me. I had performed for three hours at Cotton’s diner that day and I’ll tell you what: performing for three hours straight was certainly an exhausting experience. I looked at the orange light above me as I listened to its monotonic buzz resonated in the room. I felt my eyelids were getting heavy in each passing second. As I slowly crawled into the land of slumber, I heard a whisper echoed the main room. “Saxy,” Cotton’s voice rang inside my ears. “H-huh?” I slurred as I sat up, groggily looking around the room. I saw Cotton was standing in front of her bedroom door with a blush on her face, biting her bottom lips. I noticed she had already taken off the necklace. “Y-yes?” I asked as I tried to smile, looking at the mare through sleepy eyes. “C-could you stay with me in my room tonight?” she squeaked as her ears drooped on her head. Cotton’s eyes were glistening and she was still biting her lips as she looked at me with her cheeks that were in a delightful shade of red. To be honest, she was very cute. I felt my heart was beating so fast that I almost blacked out. “W-why?” I stammered as I slowly stood up, trotting towards her with a questioning eyebrow. At that moment I had butterflies in my stomach. I really didn’t know why but I was feeling anxious all of the sudden. “I need somepony next to me,” she squeaked softly, lowering her head in embarrassment. I tried by best to lower my head as well, trying to look into her eyes. When our eyes connected, I felt sadness were radiating from them. “Are you okay?” I asked softly as I gently lifted her chin with a hoof, gazing deeply into her glistening eyes. She looked away in response as she silently walked towards her bed, silently beckoning me to enter. Her bedroom door was wide opened and I saw the light wasn’t turned on as her room was only lit by the silver glow of the moon that streamed through her window. I saw she slowly climbed into her bed, sitting on it with a wooden box sat in front of her. She had this... solemn look on her face as she gazed at it. I hesitantly entered her room, looking at the framed pictures adorned the walls as I trotted towards her bed. “Hey,” I whispered as I sat beside her bed, taking several quick glances at the box while I tried to look into her eyes. After a second of close inspection, I noticed that it was an old music box that had a golden heart painted at the top of it. The wood was slightly moldy from age and the key as well as the screws that held it together were rusty. Then, I heard a soft sniffle from Cotton. I lowered my gaze to take a better look at her and saw her eyes were red and her cheeks were dampened by tears. Pearls of tears rolled down her cheeks in rivulets, wetting the bedsheets below her. Cotton’s eyes had an empty stare as she kept her gaze to the box. “What’s wrong?” I whispered as I sat next to her on the bed, rubbing her back gently. She just shook her head in response, pushing the music box away gently with a hoof. “Don’t worry, I’m here,” I said softly as I scooted closer, grabbing her by the shoulders. Her head softly leaned on my shoulders as I felt her hot tears rolled down my coat, wetting my fur. Then we just sat there... in the silence that was accompanied by Cotton’s soft sniffles. “Tell me a story,” she croaked as her eyes looked into the distance in front of us. “I don’t have any stories to tell,” I admitted softly as I followed her gaze, gently rubbing her back in attempt to calm the mare. “Tell me how you got your cutie mark,” she sniffed, wiping tears away from her eyes. I had no idea what was happening but I also don’t have the courage to ask yet. The best thing to do at that moment was to calm the mare in any way. I had a sad smile tugged in the corner of my mouth as I tried to remember my younger days. “Well,” I started, looking at the dark ceiling above. “When I was still a young colt, I had this weird passion for music. I love listen to all kinds of music, regardless what kind it was. If it has meanings to it, I will certainly listen to it. So, from there, I figured that maybe my cutie mark might be related to music,” I continued, chuckling at the precious memories. “One day,” I began once more as I looked at Cotton, smiling. “I decided to try every instrument that was displayed at one of Ponyville’s music store. I tried the drums, the trumpet and even an accordion but something felt missing. I didn’t feel my soul mixed well to them. So, I carried on, trying each and every instrument available. Also the store owner’s patience was almost at its end when I played the tuba too loud. But before the owner decided to drag me out of the shop, I saw a saxophone sat on its display case in front of the store display window, silently beckoning me to play. I pleaded and begged to the owner to the point I had to use the ol’ puppy dog eyes trick. “I heard owner let out a long defeated sigh, and then told me that I can only play it once and after that I had to leave. I agreed and immediately dashed towards the saxophone in a speed of a bullet as my heart was pounding in my chest with excitement. When I first laid my hoof on it, I felt tingles of excitement and glee jolted into my spine as I rolled my eyes in bliss. Then, without wasting another second, I began to play the saxophone with my eyes closed. The first note that came out from it was smooth and soothing as I felt my soul mixed to the melody. The sound of sweet jazz filled the store as I swayed my hips in trance. When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw the store owner and a couple of customers were listening to the music with their eyes closed and their hooves tapped in a beat. I was overwhelmed with joy as ponies were entertained by my music. Suddenly, I felt a tickle sensation on my flank, revealing my cutie mark. From there, my dream to become a famous musician started,” I concluded as I let out a soft chuckle, smiling softly at the mare. Then a soft smile cracked from Cotton’s lips, looking at me with a spark of joy in her eyes. “That was a nice story,” she said softly as she gently pushed herself away from me, sitting with her head lowered. “How about you, how did you get your cutie mark?” I asked as I tilted my head to look at her. I felt that it was a bad move to ask Cotton about her past during times like that. But I had to take a chance to see if she wanted to tell her story or not. I saw her gaze slowly fell at the music box that silently sat in front of her. She reached out a hoof and slowly pulled it closer. Her gaze was unreadable as she looked at it. I felt the air around her had a mixture of sadness, joy and fear. The sound of her fragile heart cracked echoed in my mind as time went on in silence, seeing her lips were quivering and her eyes were brimming with tears. “My father...” she started as her voice went raspy, looking at the box with teary eyes. “My father and my mother were talented chef who worked at a local cuisine hotel here in Manehattan. One day, while I was still a filly, my father wanted to create a small diner in my name. At that time, I didn’t know why but I was happy that my parents decided to create a diner with my name on it. They had quit their jobs at the hotel and decided to work full time at the diner in hope to create a steady family business. As time went on, the business began to bloom,” she continued, looking at me with glistening eyes. I quickly scooted closer, gently leaned her head onto my shoulders as she let out a soft whimper. “One day,” I heard her voice cracked in my ears as she looked into the distance. “When my father was busy tending to the customers’ orders, I noticed that he was completely tired; his mane was disheveled and he had dark lines under his eyes. Then I decided to make him something to cheer him up. I immediately rushed into the kitchen and decided to make something simple yet had meaning to it. So I tried to make him the best pancakes he ever had. After I finished making it, I wrote ‘Best Daddy Ever’ on it with chocolate syrup and decorated it with strawberries. I saw his eyes widened in surprise when I first showed him the pancake that I made. As I watched him took the first bite, I saw his eyes beamed with joy and glee with a wide smile on his face. I was happy that I was able to cheer him up with my cooking. Then, at that very moment, I got my cutie mark,” she continued softly as I felt her body shook. She was trying to hold back her sadness; hearing soft whimpers escaped her mouth. Then, the next words that escaped my mouth might be the biggest mistake I ever made. “Where are you parents now?” I asked as I gave her a questioning eyebrow, looking at the music box in front of her. “They’re dead,” she answered as her voice choked on sadness, solemnly looking at the item in front of her. I felt my heart dropped into my stomach and I immediately held my breath in shock. Why did you ask her that question, idiot! I inwardly screamed at myself as I mentally bucked myself in the head, looking at the saddened mare next to me. At that moment, I didn’t see a fully grown mare crying. No. I saw a small and fragile filly who was weeping for the lost of her parents. “I-I’m... sorry,” I stammered as my ears drooped onto my head. I felt guilt started to boil in me as I looked at her glistening eyes. Her brown eyes were locked onto the box. Then, I saw she shook her head in response, wiping her tears away. She looked at me with a smile etched on her face as pearls of tears rolled down her cheeks. “It’s okay,” she sniffed with her eyes closed, smiling at me. “If you’re with me, then everything’s alright,” she said softly as she looked at me with glistening eyes and a cheerful smile. I felt a twinge in my heart, seeing her like that. She lost everything that she ever loved and yet, she kept herself strong and looked at the better side of things. In all honesty: I don’t think that I will ever be that strong if I experience what she had experienced in her life. I felt all of my heart went for her, silently supporting her as I tried to hold back a tear. “That’s right,” I coughed, trying my best to hide my sadness. I was slowly chocking in grief, looking at the saddened mare before me. “I’m always with you,” I said softly as I wiped her tears away, smiling. “Thank you,” she whispered, holding my hoof to her cheeks. “It’s time for you to go to bed,” I whispered back as I slowly climbed down her bed. I noticed her horn let out a brown glow, levitating the music box away as she slid into the covers. “Good night,” she said softly, looking at me with a smile. “Night,” I replied with a soft smile as I trotted towards the door. I gave her a final look as I turned around, listening to her soft snore. I slowly backed away, closing the door with a soft click. I turned around once again and immediately dropped onto my haunches with an audible thud. My ears drooped as I hung my head low. I felt a shuddering sigh escaped my mouth, feeling the sadness in me started to burst. I felt warm tears rolled down my cheeks as I looked at the floor through blurry vision, sniffing. I felt my heart was aching as I cried in silence. I didn’t cry for me, no. I was crying for Cotton... and for her parents.