//------------------------------// // Forgotten Song [1] // Story: Stories in Stone, Lost Empire // by TDR //------------------------------// Stories in Stone Lost Empire By TDR Forgotten Song [Ten Years after the war of Gods] “Alright, take it from the top, one more time.” There were a few groans of annoyance, though they were quickly quieted by a scowl from the instructor. A brown earth pony in the back of the room fiddles with some dials on a board in front of him before waving to the instructor who nods, signaling the group to start. A single violin begins playing a rather mellow, if slightly repetitive tune. After a single cycle, a set of drums and wood blocks get added to the mix, the singer chimes in next, singing without words, her voice simply adding to the beat for a few cycles of the tune. Her voice cuts off as she inhales to begin singing. “When in the springtime of the year When the trees are crowned with leaves When the ash and oak, and the birch and yew Are dressed in ribbons fair.” “Adjust your tone, bring down the volume of the instruments a little, raise the main mics, she's trying to sing over them again.” “When owls call the breathless moon In the blue veil of the night The shadows of the trees appear Amidst the lantern light.” “Good, good, pick up the tempo more now.” “We've been rambling all the night And some time of this day Now returning back again We bring a garland gay.” “Jasmine, slow it back down, keep the time with the drums, this isn't a race.” “Who will go down to those shady groves And summon the shadows there And tie a ribbon on those sheltering arms In the springtime of the year” “Good keep it up, that's it.” “The songs of birds seem to fill the wood That when the fiddler plays All their voices can be heard Long past their woodland days” “Watch your pitch, your voice is cracking. Don't force it. Ease it out.” “We've been rambling all the night And some time of this day Now returning back again We bring a garland gay.” “Alright big finish, almost there.” “And so they linked their hooves and danced Round in circles and in rows And so the journey of the night descends When all the shades are gone” “Last of it.” "A garland gay we bring you here And at your door we stand It is a sprout well budded out The work of the spirit's land." “Alright give us the slow exit, good! Go take a sip of water and rest you throat, you're starting to strain there. Alriiiight, let it trail off….and great! Okay, drop the blocks and drums…now the rest… Brilliant, that's a wrap, almost perfect. One or two more sessions and this will be down pat ready to go for graduation. Everyone, break for the day, you earned the time off.” Bleu smirks, baring a rather impressive set of fangs that nopony pays any mind as they relax. Sweetie Belle exhales, blowing a strand of her mane from out of her eyes before stepping off the stage with a sigh, her mane bouncing lightly as she moves. She nods to the other band members, offering a few brief compliments back and forth. Though after grasping a glass of water in her magic she moves around them and the pony sized blue dragon instructor, heading to the back of the room where the young stallion was fiddling with the sound board. “Did you get it?” Sweetiebelle asked, taking a drink. “Yeah I got it, I wish I could have gotten it without thunder tail over there speaking over everything, but I got it.” the colt sighs. “Jeez that sounded perfect to me, I don't know why she's got to get all perfectionisty here.” “Well, this IS the honors class, she's harder on us because she knows we can do what she wants.” Sweetie Belle chuckles. “Besides, your opinion doesn't count Button. I could scream into a tin can and you'd love it.” Button Mash smirks. “Yeah maybe, though I might ask for that one day as a sound byte, so don't tease.” Sweetie Belle smiles, if she was told ten years ago that she would be dating the geeky loner of Miss Cheerilee's class, she likely would have screamed “Ewww!” then denied it savagely. Of course a great deal changed in ten years. She and Button hit it off fairly well after being set up on a date during a crusade gone awry, as if there was another type, the two had been dating for the last six years at least. Button even switched what he planned to major in, to follow her into music. She thought it was sweet, if foolish to do that, he had no talent with any sort of instrument and his singing sounded like the time she had tried to give her sisters cat a bath. That he was going to try to get into the most prestigious music school in the the world was almost a joke. He found a loophole somehow and submitted an application for a technical scholarship to run the sound equipment. He was the predominate party working the lights and soundboard during the school talent shows, so he knew his way around the devices. His application had even attracted the attention of one of the Platinum School of Music's founders, a one Vinyl Scratch. After some debate he was accepted and would be joining her here full time when the classes began in the next fall. She herself had been personally invited by the Dean of the School, Bleu Scale, after a talent show entry the crusaders put forth a few years ago. She remembered Scootaloo was going to sing again though she caught a cold and was a little hoarse when the time came. Applebloom couldn't remember the lines at all, so Sweetie had to take over. Not only did they win with their rendition of Platinum's song, Last Dance, but she also gained her cutie mark finally. Two lavender music notes with a classic silver microphone in front of them. Bleu had been willing to take her along with some others for some training before their school year ended, which is how this small group wound up here. The song they were preparing was going to be preformed at their graduation from primary school. This was the last year for both Button and herself, though the others still had at least a year left with Miss Cheerilee. “So, what exactly are you doing tonight Button... or do I have to ask?” Sweetie Belle chuckles. “Same as I always do on a Friday, playing games til dawn, then, sleeping all day to do it again!” Button chuckles, fiddling with the control board as he starts to shut it down. -Typical Button – thought Sweetie. He hadn't changed much since she first met him. She had been worried for a little while that he was going to wind up being overweight from his inactivity though he had instead filled out rather nicely. He wasn't overly muscular, but he wasn't lanky either, he never really had an awkward teenage phase, he went from a slightly pudgy colt to a smaller version of his dad in only a year and a half. When asked he would claim it was from all his time playing some dancing video game, though his Mom let it slip to her that he had been doing a lot more exercise to remain in shape so Sweetie Belle wouldn't dump him. While rather surprised Button of all ponies would worry about that, she secretly enjoyed the fact that he was willing to do so much just to keep her attention, she rather liked him as he was, though she did slip on that and get him to give up that silly beanie of his. He switched it for a official X-Pony UFO Defense ball cap, but unless some pony knew what the symbol on it meant, it would just seem a random design. He had invited her to the Prom earlier in the year as well, thankfully Rarity managed to convince him that a bright orange tux was not going to work, thus sparing her a bit of embarrassment. Still he did turn out to be a better dancer than she thought too, even though most of his moves seemed based on either video game dances or some sort of techno mosh pit thing. Well, he was better than Twilight at any rate. Judging by the reactions of most of the colts around her age, the glares they gave Button, and the glares the other fillies gave her, she had filled out decently as well. Of course her sister took advantage of it and had her modeling her new dresses whenever she could. She became sorta famous for a little while, though the novelty wore off quick and she started to loath going anywhere near Rarity's for a few years. Something she was not sure her sister ever quite realized. Still she couldn't help remember being compared to the famous model Fluer De Lis, who had vanished and was presumed dead after the end of the war. “I mean, of course, unless you wanted to do something else. I can always wait and play Colt of Duty later.” Button quickly added. He hadn't changed much, but what did change was for the better, still, he needed some prodding every so often. “I think teach is playing somewhere down town, we might be able to get in with their underage deal if you wanted to go dancing“. She thought about that a moment before shaking her head. “No, go ahead and play your game, just make sure you get me a copy of the song for mom before she freaks out about it.” “Sure! No problem, I can have that done in an hour or so,easy!” Button smiles, trying to hide a bit of relief that he was getting free time to himself. Still, he wasn't going to say that in front of her, he preferred to stay on his marefriend’s good side. ”What are you gonna do then?” Sweetie Belle smirks, leaning over the soundtable and kissing Button lightly on the cheek before turning to trot towards the door, grabbing her bag with her magic. She glances back to see her colt friend still frozen in place from the kiss and she giggles, loving the effect she had on him. “I think I'll just do a bit of crusading.”