//------------------------------// // Love of a Beautiful Melody // Story: Tales of Another Ponyville // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// We're the ladybugs! We're the ladybugs! Here's our ladybug song! Rat tat tatat doo doo doo We love to play for you! The Ladybug jamboree are a wonderful backup band, playing their instruments as I sing! Pinkie and her band are always amazing when they join me in song, making the performance much better than if it were just me singing. Pinkie has been a great influence on me though, helping me to get over my shyness so I can sing for everybody. I always have the jamboree play for me during my concerts in Ponyville! "Totally awesome singing, Starsong!" Sunny Daze called out, stamping her hooves and cheering " You were even cooler than before!" "We love you, Starsong!" Sparkleworks called out, whistling and clapping. "You're the best singer in all of Ponyville!" "Thank you, thank you all!" I declare bowing to the other ponies as I flew off the stage. "I just love performing for you all!" My name is Starsong Melody, Ponyville's resident Pegasus singer. They all love my singing, though I can't really understand why. See, I'm a Pegasus pony; the only one who actually lives in Ponyville with all the earth Ponies. I used to live on butterfly island as a filly, but I never really liked being there, because my singing sounded horrible. Yes, you heard me right. The other Pegasus ponies thought my singing sounded like a car ran over my voice box. That's because all Pegasus ponies are really wonderful singers, and my voice really wasn't that good. Now, normally being a really lousy singer wouldn't be enough to get me to leave the beautiful island I grew up on, but I have another little problem... singing is my special talent, it's the thing I love to do the most. Yep, I'm really lousy at my special talent. How's that for a cruel trick of fate? As I trot away from the stage and the admiring crowd, I hear the sound of musical bells playing. Hearing my tummy rumbling, I immediately zoomed through the air towards the jingling sound, and came to land in front of a white and pink ice cream truck, with a big plastic cone on top. The Ice Cream Dream Supreme, Ponyville's musical sweet treat vehicle on wheels. As I trot up to the side, the blue driver pony with the rainbow mane moves to the back to greet me. "Heya Starsong! Good to see ya again!" Rainbow Swirl greeted me, pulling out his scoop, and opening the cooler. "What'll it be today?" "Gimmie one scoop of every flavor!" I cry happily, as the surprised pony prepares a giant cone with twenty scoops stacked on top of it. The giant ice cream is barely in my hooves before I begin to greedily devour it. "Om nom nom nom nom nom nom!" "Wow, you sure have a big appetite, Star!" The stallion chuckles, putting his scoop away. "I've never seen a pony gobble a sundae like you Pegasai do!" "Mph-mph mph- soooo good!" I squeal in delight, finishing the last ice cream scoop before crunching the cone in one bite. "Yep, and the best thing of all is we don't get brain freeze!" Pegasus ponies are addicted to ice cream; Spring Fever tells me she thinks it's because we burn the sugar and calories at such a high rate through our flying, making us crave the stuff like a bee or a breezie craves pollen. All I know is this stuff tastes great, and I would feel half as alive as I do when I eat it! And Rainbow Swirl always gives me lots of this stuff, without asking anything in return! "How'd your concert with the Ladybug Jamboree go today? I bet you were amazing!" Swirl smiled at me, giving me a funny look I didn't quite understand. "I really wanted to go, but Sweetberry stuck me on ice cream truck duty this morning!" "That's a real shame, Swirl. You missed a really great concert!" I told him excitedly flying around in a circle over the truck. "I was so awesome, I really had em' stamping their hooves along to the music with me!" "Wow, you're the only Pegasus pony I've ever heard sing, Star." Rainbow Swirl complimented me, wiping off the counter and closing up the cooler. "If the others Pegasus ponies are half as good as you, I'm gonna drop everything here in Ponyville, and move to butterfly Island!" I only respond with a shallow laugh, trying to hide my own nervousness. If the other ponies in this town knew how well the other Pegasai sang, I'd be forgotten and ignored just like I had been at home. Having a special talent that every other Pegasus pony is good at kind of leads you to not being very happy, despite the fact they treated me like a friend there. But when I moved to Ponyville, I was shocked at how well the earth ponies took to my singing, once Pinkie Pie tricked me into singing in public. I became a star because of my 'wonderful' singing voice. The truth is they love me because I sing better than any earth Pony can. I may be a poor singer by Butterfly island standards, but here that singing voice is as beautiful as tinkling chimes to the harsher voiced earth ponies. Seeing how happy I am living here, Queen Starcatcher has commanded the other Pegasus not to sing for the other pony tribes, so I that I have a place to be happy... and I don't look bad to the others by comparison. "You know Starsong, the only thing I love more than making and serving ice cream, is beautiful music." Rainbow Swirl said with a sigh, staring at me with that weird grin again. "If you were around me all of the time, I could praise your music and give you free ice cream whenever you wanted." I suddenly looked back at him in shock, and I finally understood why he longingly gazes at me all the time. He's in love with me and my music, and is offering me ice cream and praise for my special talent in exchange for my companionship and returned love. Isn't this what I wanted, to feed my special talent and get attention? He's offering me quite a lot in exchange for dating him.... "I'd be happy to hang out with you for awhile, Swirl!" I exclaim, flapping over and sitting in the passenger seat of the ice cream truck as he got ready to drive off again. "Say, did I ever tell you about the time a cranky flutter pony came to Ponyville, and tied me up and impersonated me? It was really the craziest thing...." After a lifetime of being ignored, sometimes it's just nice to be appreciated and be loved.