Parts 3 & 4
Track 5: It Became A Lie on You (4:29)
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The conversations in the room had begun to die down, and it was obvious that while the band was tired and a little down about the break-up, they were still happy to have such devoted fans. Luna and Lt. Bubbles had left a little bit earlier, claiming that the flight back to Canterlot was a long one. The rest of the ponies in the room kept up a spirited conversation that seemed like it wasn’t going to end anytime in the foreseeable future.
“I still don’t understand where you could possibly draw the inspiration for these songs,” Rarity stated matter-of-factly.
“Actually, they come from real life situations.” Treble was relaxed, leaning against a chair. He was letting Ditzy be at the moment as she attended to the sleeping Dinky.
“But most of them don’t seem to apply to situations that work in real life.” Rarity went on. Twilight nodded in agreement.
“Well, I can explain them. Let’s just look at the songs from this show. The first song, Money for That, it’s in the chorus. It’s a lament about what we wish we could change. When we say if there was some way we could go back we’d pay for it, it’s our lament that we can’t always change what happened.”
“Okay, that makes sense, but what about the next one?” Twilight was asking now. The room was silent as Treble explained the meanings in the songs. Treble seemed like a wise mystical figure as he responded, with a lilting and almost singsong voice that had an ability to captivate his audience. Bass smiled a private smile since it had been almost five years since his brother had sounded like this. It was the sound of Treble being passionate and, more importantly, happy.
“Okay. This one is almost entirely self explanatory. It’s titled I Owe You a Love Song and it is about a relationship that Viola had years ago. She and I wrote it together, shortly after she’d had a break up that almost ruined the band. It was partially her plea for the two of them to get back together, and partially our way of giving the words to everypony that lost a love and wanted them back. The words, so much I could say, and words I can’t say reference the feelings that people have but don’t want to or find far too hard.”
The room was silent, and every eye was on Treble at that moment. He had a smile on his face that was obviously genuine, and Nopony wanted to say anything. Fluttershy and Phantom were holding each other, and even Bass and Dash seemed closer to each other than most would find usual. Applejack and Silver had slid closer together and were now sitting with a foreleg across each other’s shoulders. Before Rarity or Twilight had a chance to say anything more, Treble continued.
“Ghost Town, admittedly, has a meaning that is harder to understand. It’s more about breaking free and living life the way you want than anything else. The reference to a Ghost Town is about the almost invisible things that keep us back and stop us from trying the things that we enjoy. It could be a friend, or a job, or even a feeling that we owe somepony, but everypony has something. The references to death are about the spirit. Next time you listen to the song, listen for the words we don’t have to live like that. It’s almost a rallying cry to free yourself of those invisible ties. The train is a metaphor for the feeling most ponies have like they missed their opportunity.”
Ditzy walked over and sat next to the lump that was a slowly intertwining Fluttershy and Phantom. Pinkie turned and smiled at her. The form of the band’s manager, Blaze, could almost be made out in the doorway. Ditzy was the one who spoke up next, “What about Don’t Cry Out?”
“That one is a little hard to explain. It was one of the earlier songs we wrote. I wrote it mostly myself, in a rather moody depression. Bass had just gone through a really really nasty break up, and I was wondering why the girl had been as mean as she had been. It was more my attempt at trying to understand what had happened during their final fight. The man’s parts are what I imagined to be going through Bass’ head as she berated him, and the girl’s are what I imaged her to be thinking. I got the idea for the Don’t Cry Out a few weeks later when she started complaining loudly to some friends we knew about the fact that there were no decent stallions available in town.”
Ditzy smiled. It was her favorite song, and even though the explanation behind it wasn’t anything like she’d expected, it was still a beautiful song.
“Before anypony can ask, Season of Love wasn’t one that I wrote really. I helped but it was truly a full collaboration. We wrote it entirely in celebration of Riff and Viola’s engagement. They got engaged about six months ago, just before we recorded our last album. They didn’t’ want the engagement to go public, but we all wanted some little way to share that loving feeling with all of Equestria. The answer came one day when Bass asked Riff how he could have proposed, and all Riff said was…”
“Love, Love, Loove man.” Riff chimed in with a hearty chuckle. “I can still see the horrified look on your face Bass.”
“Hey dude, that’s only because you sang it then too.” There was some laughter at this. The longer this conversation went on, the harder it became to believe that this was a band that had just played together for the last time.
“Excuse me, but what about that violin song you played?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“You mean Nearer My Goddess To Me? That’s an old old song. We didn’t write it, but rather found it. It is an old hymnal, back from the ages before Nightmare Moon. It was a song to Luna from some of the Sarosians. It was a lament that they couldn’t come closer to her at the early part of the evening when the sun still shone, which was the time they felt she needed the most support. You see, the Sarosians…” Treble was cut off by a quick outburst from Rainbow Dash.
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t come here for a lecture on ancient pony species that aren’t even around anymore.”
Treble nodded, trying not to correct Rainbow. He knew full well that there were still living Sarosians. From there the conversation started to go back to the scattered little groups that it had split into before. Then suddenly, in a general lull in the conversation, a quiet and tiny voice in the background asked one more question.
“You never explained the song about my mom.”
Everyone in the room turned to look at Dinky. She was sitting up and sleepily rubbing at her eyes. Ditzy looked horrified, having hoped that Nopony would ask that question. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to know the reason behind that song. Treble took a deep breath and began to explain.
“Well, not everypony knows that I met your mother a couple of days ago. I politely invited her to dinner with me, but some unicorn at the restaurant was terribly mean to her, and I didn’t see her after she disappeared then. I thought about it, and realized just how much I hated that unicorn for butting in like that. I like Ditzy, and I really had hoped to have a pleasant evening, but somepony got the idea that because Ditzy is different and I am famous, that we have no business knowing each other. The next day I went out for a walk and saw Ditzy and Dinky playing in the park. I had gone to try and think of a song that would make an appropriate ending for our final concert, and instead ended up marveling at the beauty of the leaves here in Ponyville at autumn. It hit me suddenly as I thought of the words to the song. It started with the trot with me line, and just sort of grew from there. That evening as I put the finishing touches on the song, I remembered the awful name that the unicorn had called Ditzy, Derpy Hooves. I threw it in to the song as a sort of slap in the face to that unicorn. Just so there was no question that this song was for her. “
The silence in the room was so oppressive that it could almost be described as loud. Nopony knew what to say. Ditzy fidgeted uncomfortably as many of the eyes in the room turned her way. She could tell that her eyes had gone crossed as they often did when she was nervous. She turned to Treble. Before she could say anything Treble started up again. This time he was speaking directly to her.
“Ditzy, I really do like you, and I would like to get to know you better.”
Ditzy almost fainted, it was like a dream come true, and all too suddenly. She looked at all the faces in the room while nervously stammering.
“I…I…Ihavetogo!” Ditzy stumbled out the last words, and grabbing Dinky, ran out of the room. At that moment everypony looked anywhere but the crestfallen face of Treble.