Zest for Life!

by AppleJTZ


Two's a start

Despite the decline of physical sales in the recent due to the booming internet market, Lemon’s favorite music store in the city was still running very well. The several shelves in the rather large room were filled with all the latest singles and albums, alongside copies of every important performer of the last decades. Though the place wasn’t bustling with life, a handful of costumers were still going around through the narrow alleys, rummaging through CDs as they were either in search of something specific or just browsing.

Lemon, however, wasn’t searching something or browsing. Instead, she was resting her head on one of the shoulder-tall shelves. Her chin on the wood it looked like it was the only thing that kept her from falling forward, her whole body buckling with her arms hanging down. No music was coming from her headphones, placed loosely around her neck. Every once in a while she let out a sigh, bearing a look on her face that radiated apathy and depression.

A sudden vibration in her skirt pocket made her straighten up. Eagerly she pulled out her smartphone, quickly unlocking it. When she looked at the screen however her smile quickly dropped upon seeing the message on the display.

Sorry, no time

She dropped her head back on the shelf, sighing again. An aura of bad mood seemed to be wailing around her, as if black smoke emitted from her head. Sunken in her melancholy, she almost didn’t notice when she was tapped on the shoulder, and didn’t hear someone clearing their throat.

“Excuse me?”

Raising her head Lemon turned to the direction of the voice. Holding a CD with a piano on the cover a girl her age was standing next to her, looking a little concerned at her. Her skin was grey, her black hair reached down her back, and her eyes were shining in a bright, though not glaring hue of purple. She was wearing a white blouse without sleeves, but slightly puffy shoulders. Above it was a purple vest above, with a round cut below the neck so deep it made the vest look a little like a tank-top. Her skirt, neither very long nor really short, was in a pink brighter than Lemon’s skin, matching the bowtie she wore around her collar. White socks going up to her knees were lying beneath black shoes. “I am sorry if I interrupted your thoughts or anything” the girl apologized with a polite smile, speaking in a somewhat sophisticated, but not overly up-high manner. “But you seem as if something is troubling you. Are you feeling alright?”

Lemon forced herself to return the smile. “I’m fine” she told her, straightening herself up. Her eyes cast to the ground she murmured. “Just feelin’ a little down…”

Seeing the crestfallen Lemon the girl put a finger on her chin. After hesitating a moment, she held out the CD in her hand to her. “Well, I am not sure if it will help, but if you are looking for some music to cheer you up, I can really recommend this album here to you” she tried to comfort her.

Lemon looked at the cover of the CD, with its piano and a guy in a tuxedo playing on it, then at the girl. After staring at her in confusion for a moment Lemon took a quick look at the shelves around her, and realized they were all filled with classic music – in her apathy, she hadn’t noticed WHERE she had fallen into apathy. “Yeaaah, really not a fan of that flute-piano-violin-stuff” she admitted, sounding somewhat embarrassed as she rubbed the back of her head. “More into guitars and drums.”

To Lemon’s surprise the girl chuckled, seeming amused. “Dear, if you say you are not into classic music, then you have simply not yet found the right song yet” she told her.

Lemon stared back at her, hands on her hips. “Sorry sister, but one of my friends has forced me to listen to, like, a hundred of her favorite songs - and I dozed off at every one of them!” she laughed.

Tilting her head the girl crossed her arms. “What did she play to you?” she asked in curiosity.

Lemon rubbed her forehead. “I think one was called ‘Quiet of the night’, and another ‘The serene Flower in the garden’” she said, speaking slowly as she tried to remember the names. “And then there were quite a few with the words ‘Peace’ and ‘tranquility’ in ‘em.”

The girl shook her head. “Ts, ts, ts” she mumbled, taking out a music player from her pocket. “Who seriously tries to convert a rock fan with ‘Quiet of the Night’?” After fumbling around her player a bit, she offered one of the earplugs to Lemon. “Here, try this one.”

Lemon took the plug, glancing a skeptically at the girl. A little hesitant, the Crystal Prep student put it on her ear. At first, she couldn’t hear anything. She was about to ask the girl to turn up the volume when a sudden thunder almost jump-startled her. While the first still resonated inside her body more bolt of thunder hit her ear, banging heavily from the plug. Even though Lemon was used to loud music, for the first few seconds each time she heard the beat one of a classic drum it caused her to jolt slightly. After a few slow, very loud impacts the drums sped up, creating a quieter, but more aggressive rhythm.

Once she had recovered from the shock, Lemon soon found herself grabbed by the beat, bopping her head to it with a smile. Other instruments played in the same fast pace joined in. The wild melody made her tap her feet, while she bopped her head a little harder. Closing her eyes, she felt like she was standing on a windy plane, under a dark sky looking as if it was just about to shower her in thousands of gallons of water. A powerful gale was blowing into her face, her long green hair dancing in the wind, while the air and land around her screamed in a mixture of joy, agony and fear. Though she enjoyed the music, a part of her was shocked upon recognizing the instruments: The wild gales lashing against her face were actually piccolo flutes, and the shrill screams turned out to be violins and cellos. Despite this, the music continued to pump adrenaline through her body, sending electric shivers through her muscles.

Eventually the music calmed down, slowly coming to an end. As Lemon took out the earplug out the girl smirked contently at her. “So, What do you think?” she asked.

Lemon shrugged. “It’s okay” she replied as she handed back the earplug. “I still prefer E-guitars and REAL drums though.”

Receiving the plug the girl nodded. “That must do for now, I suppose” she said, putting the music player back into her pocket. As she pulled her hand out of her skirt again she suddenly paused. “Wait… aren’t you one of those girl that competed in the friendship games against our school?” she asked, looking more thoroughly at Lemon.

Lemon lifted her eyebrows. “You’re from Canterlot High?”

The girl nodded. “I am indeed! So, you really are from Crystal Prep?” Inspecting her clothes she added a little sheepishly: “Though I guess I could have figured by your uniform.” Coughing, she held out her hand to Lemon. “My name is Octavia. Pleased to make your acquaintance!”

“Lemon” she replied, gabbing Octavia’s hand and shaking it with quite some strength. “Nice to meet’cha too!”

Octavia stroke her hand as Lemon let go of it. “Vinyl told me a bit about you” she said, to which Lemon gave her a puzzled look. “White skin, blue hair? Wears headphones all the time? And pink sunglasses?”

“Oh yeah, I remember!” Lemon snapped her fingers with a grin. “She let me listen to some of her sick tunes!”

Octavia chuckled. “You really are like she depicted” she remarked, shaking her head slightly. An uncertain look suddenly crossed her face, looking like she was hesitant about saying something. “Pardon me if I’m meddling into your private affairs, but… was there are reason you were sulking a moment ago?” she carefully asked.

Lemon’s mood dropped a little again. “Oh, it’s no biggy” she assured Octavia, though the smile on her face looked somewhat forced. “I’m trying to round up a band at Crystal Prep, but…” Letting out a huge sigh she turned back to the shelf, crossing her arms on top of it. “…I’m kind of stuck with one member – me” she murmured, nestling her head in the sink between her arms.

Turning up her mouth Octavia looked at her in sympathy. “What about those other girls that were with you at the friendship games?” she asked. “Granted, you didn’t seem like you were the best of friends, but-”

“They ARE my best friends” Lemon interrupted her, before letting out another sigh. “But they don’t want to. I then tried to ask some guys and gals from my music class and some other Preps, but they all either weren’t interested or don’t have any time for rehearsals.” She took in a deep breath, before burying her face in her arms. “Guess I’m left to jam on my own.”

Octavia looked at the depressed girl. One hand on her hip she cleared her throat, trying to look as reassuringly as possible at her. “Well, I am usually a solo player, but I do assist the school orchestra from time to time” she told her. “So, I understand the urge to engage with others sharing the same passion for music. As such, I think you should not give up so easily. I am sure you will find others who share your dream of performing music together, and once you find these people, I am absolutely certain you will form a great band!”

Lemon, still seeming rather down but feeling a bit better smiled weakly up at her. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Rolling her head so her cheek lay on her arm Lemon looked up at Octavia. Suddenly, the eyes of the rock fan opened wide, while a large smirk spread out over her face. “Hey, how about you join my band?” she asked, straightening up.

Octavia took a step back, looking dumfounded at Lemon. “M-me?” she repeated, putting one hand on her chest while waving the request off with the other. “But I-I’m not even going to Crystal Prep!”

“So what?” Lemon countered. “Who says all members of a band must go to the same school?” She took a step towards Octavia, folding her hands in front of her. “Come on, pleeeaaase!”

Octavia bit her lip. “I guess I would have the time” she slowly said. “I just don’t know if we would… get along. Don’t get me wrong, you seem to be a really nice girl!” She hastily made some embarrassed gestures. “It’s just that our tastes in music obviously are very different, so I don’t know if it would really be wise-”

“You just tried to get me into classic music” Lemon cut her off.

Octavia gulped. “Well yes, but-”

“And I said I liked it! Or at least that it was okay - point is, our taste in music maybe isn’t that different.”

Arms crossed Octavia put on a stern look. “That is a big maybe…”

“Yeah” Lemon nodded. With a serious, slightly sad look in her eyes she said: “But that doesn’t mean we can’t try!”

Raising her gaze to the ceiling Octavia thoughtfully stared at it for a moment. Lemon nervously watched as the gears in her mind were turning. Eventually Octavia looked at Lemon again. “Alright” she sighed, not sounding too excited. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try...”

The corner’s of Lemon’s mouth rose up so far she had to squint her eyes.

“AWESOME!!!”

Everybody in the store turned towards her as she jumped into the air, raising both arms to the ceiling. Taken aback Octavia retreated a step, feeling slight regret. Before she could speak it out however Lemon suddenly lunged herself forward, nearly knocking Octavia over as she embraced her in a bone-crushing hug.

“Thank you SOOOO much!!” Lemon screamed, squeezing her even tighter. With the air being pressed out of her lungs and her internal organs slowly being crushed Octavia could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel when Lemon released her. “Come to Crystal Prep tomorrow at three pm” she said, still giddy and excited while Octavia was catching breath. “I’ll pick you up at the entrance. Bring an instrument if you have one, but I’m sure we find something in the music room.” As Octavia’s blurry vision returned to normal she saw Lemon heading for the exit, waving a hand at her with a big grin on her face. “Gotta go. See ya tomorrow!”

Octavia didn’t even have the chance to call out to her when Lemon had already rushed out of the store. The door still swinging she took a look around, seeing everyone else in the store was staring at her. Octavia’s cheeks turned red, the girl smiling in embarrassment at them. “Hehe… she is rather impulsive, isn’t she?”