What's With the Hook?

by CP Benedict

Singing Foal 2

CHAPTER 2

It's been a few months since my last post, and before we begin chapter 2 of Singing Foal, I just want to explain why. Upon working my day job, I've been in Canterlot for a few weeks. It was Princess Twilight Sparkle's wedding day recently, and she invited all of Ponyville. After that, we had a two week stay-in at Canterlot. While I was there, I came across some old friends. Including the same three mares I was in the middle of writing about; isn't that convenient. I didn't meet them all at once thought, which was rather odd, because if you knew these three as fillies, they were almost never seen without any of them missing. I met Sweetie Bell at Twilight's wedding reception. We talked a little about what's been going on since we graduated. I told her about how I've spent the last few years writing stories, and how I plan to get them published soon. She told me about how she's pursuing in a singing career. We talked a little about how the show has portrayed her, and she seemed pretty indifferent to being portrayed by child star, "Cotton Cloud."

Shortly after, Sweetie Bell reintroduced me to her sister, Rarity. I'm just going to say right now, I take back what I said about her in the first entry. If you don't recall, here's what I said: "Sweetie Bell has a dress designer for a sister, anypony who can have a relative like that and act the she did must have some significance." I'll admit, that was harsh and judgmental. Rarity is a sweet, loving mare with a heart of gold, and she did, indeed, fight in the Battle of Harmony, representing the Spirit of Generosity; something, from just her outer presentation, I never would have associated her with, and I apologize greatly to anypony who knew Rarity personally, or even any history buff who was offended by the previous remark. Instead of one always looking up to the other, it was pretty surreal to see them both standing next to each other at almost the same height.

I debated on whether or not I should've told them I was writing a story about her and her friends, and how they got their Cutie Marks. It took a while until I finally built up the gumption to do so. When I did, Rarity gave a fascinated smile. Sweetie Bell, on the other hoof, gasped quietly. I was a little nervous to what she was going to say, and whether or not she would approve of that. Then, she gave a nostalgic smile with her eyes watering a little. She then asked if we could see each other after the reception.

I was hesitant to what she was going to tell me. Did I get too personal with her? But nevertheless, after we did some dancing and ate some cake, I met Sweetie Bell and Rarity outside, near the fountain. I heard Sweetie Bell blubber to her sister, "I know, I just miss them so much." I stammered by them at the fountain, worried I'd be bothering them, but when they noticed me, they both smiled, as if looking forward to tell me what really happened. Sweetie Bell stepped forward, and here is where we continue her story.

Sweetie Belle trotted along home after the show ended; she and her sister lived in a large, carousel-shaped boutique. She hoped that Rarity, who would commonly be slaving over her sewing machine, mannequins, jewels, and other such, would have enough time to talk with her before she fell asleep in the designing room again. Luckily, Rarity was more than happy to be talking with anyone after all the work she’s been doing. Similar to how they portray her in the show. (You see, Crystal Clarity, the mare who plays Rarity in the show, was one of the first to figure out that portraying her or anypony as just a fashion-obsessed wench would be what the old minstrel shows would do. She knew the characters needed a more relatable feel.) Back on track: Sweetie Belle confidently asked her sister if she knew anypony named Icarus. She wanted to find out as much as she could about this “Singing Foal”, as that seemed like the perfect nickname for somepony just as mysterious.

“I’m terribly sorry, darling, but I’ve never heard of such a name.” Rarity said, sympathetically. “You’ll have to ask Pinkie Pie sometime tomorrow, we both know that she knows everypony in Ponyville.” And that, she did. Pinkie Pie was one of the youngest Harmony Warriors, representing the Spirit of Laughter for her deep passion to bring joy to even the most miserable of ponies.

Sweetie Belle was disappointed to have to wait so long, but she simply agreed, for she didn’t want risk making things difficult already, as they have done in the past. Sweetie then went up to her bedroom and crawled into her bed, hoping she wouldn’t grow more curious about the Singing Foal, which of course was all in vein. Questions kept coming to Sweetie, “How in Equestria can that little colt be twelve years old? How come I’ve never seen him before? In fact, what kind of name is Icarus?” The more questions she asked herself, the more discouraged she felt. But the one question that frustrated her the most was, “Why couldn’t I be that brave?” I could only assume she was referring to her being too timid to sing at the fare. She couldn't help but let all of the times she backed away from any opportunity to sing slither into her memory.

Sweetie dozed off with the colt's voice remaining constant in her mind. She felt she could use those tones in her head to lull herself to a good night's sleep, but with every question she subconsciously raised, the more the tone of the voice in her head warped lower in pitch. By the time the question concerning her most reentered her mind, the tune sounded very somber, like the choir you would hear at a funeral. She dreamed of the colt singing for Chestnut Drone's funeral, which she dreaded would occur in the near future. She is watching the event from the back seat, remaining completely silent. She was thinking she should be sad, but she felt suspended in the position she's been staying in since she got in bed. By the time her mind started to take full notice of that... she was back in her warm sheets.

The next morning, Sweetie woke up bright and early, eager to greet the previously mentioned, Pinkie Pie. She hurried down to the kitchen, and fixed herself a small cup of OJ. Upon finishing her drink, Sweetie was relieved to find her sister walking into the kitchen, so she didn’t have to redundantly try to wake her up in the designing room, which she has done many times before. She wanted to get out into the bright blue dawn as soon as possible, now all she had to do was ask politely, and she was free. Must be nice not having to startle someone in their sleep and then wait until they can understand you once in a while.

Sweetie scampered out the door and wandered around the neighborhood in search of her friend, Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was an excitable, social young mare, always smiling, always twinkling in her eye, and always making sure anypony has a good time. As stated before, Pinkie knew everypony in Ponyville (literally everypony). She’d have to know someone as peculiar as this Singing Foal. Successfully, she tried one of her and her friends’ favorite joint, Sugar Cube Corner. She saw, not only Pinkie Pie, but her two best friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

“Howdy, Sweetie!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

Sweetie was confused why only Apple Bloom and Scootaloo would be with Pinkie Pie at Sugar Cube Corner, but before she could ask what was going on, Pinkie quickly blurted out the explanation. (Also, I should mention that when I said that this “tick” I said was fictional belonged to the character of Pinkie Pie in the show, I should’ve realized that it was inspired by the real Pinkie’s ability to know everypony’s problem by will. Pinkie in the show was played by actress, Pepper Zing, and she insisted on adding a little more of a sense of absurdity to this plotline to further fit the character, which I guess works out alright. By the way, don’t worry. There won’t be too many comparisons to the show. Onward!)

“You’re trying to find some cute little colt who sings like an angel, and you really want to see how he can stand in front of so many other ponies without messing up once, which I think I get the subtle feeling you might be afraid of, but that a bunch of silly-willy because you're AWESOME!!!" Pinkie screamed into Sweetie's face, causing her mane fly back and conveniently shape back to the way it was.

“She knew you were gonna come look for her here and she invited us.” said Scootaloo. She then gave Sweetie with a sneaky look, “So, who is this cute colt?”

“Uhh, his name's Icarus.” Sweetie answered insecurely.

“WHAT?!” yelled both Apple and Scootaloo, surprised.

“You know him?!” Sweetie Belle asked anxiously.

Apple Bloom answered, “No, but that kid works here late at naht.”

“Yeah, isn’t he kinda young to be working a job, let alone like way passed his bedtime?” There have been a few fillies and colts who have left Sugar Cube Corner close enough to closing hours to come across the
night workers as they began their shifts.

Sweetie was quick to correct her, “Well, did you know that he’s almost a teenager?”

“Yer kiddin', raht?” Apple Bloom asked, giving a beguiled smile. “He’s so small, he looks lahk a li'l foal.”

Pinkie informed, “No he’s not, he'll be thirteen this Fall! He and his family just moved here a month ago. They came from a teeny-tiny village called Saddatevka. I tried throwing a party to welcome them to Ponyville..." as Pinkie would often do with newcomers, "but for some reason, they wanted me to 'stay healthy' I mean, I probably wasn't planning on eating all the food there." she mumbled on "probably." I've heard the phrase "stay healthy" before, and I'm guessing the times that I've heard it had the same connotation as when it was delivered to Pinkie. It's a way of telling somepony to keep their sanity together. I would say that's a pretty nasty thing to say to the Warrior of Laughter, but Icarus's family at the time was adamant about no-nonsense attitudes and I'm sure they could handle any of Pinkie's parties anyway. Oh, who am I kidding? That was horrid!

"But either way, they didn't want a party." Pinkie appeared sad for a split second and then immediately continued her exposition in her previous manner. "Icarus is pretty shy because he’s so little, but I think he’s just adorable!” She’d always like to blab out as much information as possible about ponies she knew.

Sweetie quickly asked, “Do you know where they live?”

“They live in a HUGE house about half a mile north of here.” Pinkie answered.

“Have you ever heard him sing?” Sweetie asked.

Pinkie answered “No” in a gloomy tone, but then quickly continued in her usual jumpy resonance, “but if you say he sings like an angel, it must be true.”

Sweetie uncomfortably asked, “Why do you say that?”

“Oh, I’ve heard you sing your little theme song before, you sound…” Pinkie then remembered that she wasn’t supposed to let her know that she’s heard her sing before. She then rapidly shouted, “I’m coming Dashie!” creating an agitation to avoid explaining herself, and then thundered out the exit. She knew that Sweetie didn’t want anyone to hear her sing, but if Pinkie heard anything secret, she heard it for a reason.

Author's Note:

The real reason this chapter has taken so long (not that a lot of you were wondering by the time I wrote this) is because college has really been piling on me. Now that the holiday season is around the corner, work's slowing down a bit, and I finally got the time to finish the second chapter. As a matter of fact, the whole opening in the present day came from my idea of having a fictional reason why this chapter took so long as a little in-joke. However, as I continued to write that portion of the story, I started to notice the benefit this scene could offer. When we meet with grown up Sweetie Belle, as we'll see the other two crusaders, I saw this as the opportunity to give the reader a glance of what's going on while the story is being told. This will be revealed near the very end. Without giving too much away, it emphasizes that "Stand By Me/Rudy/Sandlot" feel I want this story to have. As for the actual story in this chapter, the part about Pinkie's psychic abilities in the show not being entirely false actually came from a plot hole I stumbled upon, and that's how Pinkie knows Sweetie Belle's current problem. Plus, the plot device where she heard Sweetie sing her song, (referring to the first time we hear the Cutie Mark Crusaders theme song in the episode, "Showstoppers") will be expanded upon in later chapters. I actually added the dream scene after I finished chapter 4. I thought I'd sort of give my take on experiencing dreams, how I viewed them as a child, guess I should have thought a little sooner. Just a side note, I know equines are poisoned by oranges, but then again, we've seen Twilight Sparkle eat a sandwich with daffodils in episode 3, which are also poisonous to equines. If you're a Broadway or musical fan, you may notice that Icarus's birth town, Saddatevka, is an equestrian take on the fictional Hebrew village, Anatevka, from the musical, "Fiddler on the Roof." This hints that Icarus's family is a pony equivalent of a Jewish family (that is without going too stereotypical), alluding more to the character's inspiration from Al Jolson, who was born in Lithuania. That's all for today. Hopefully, I can get chapter 3 finished soon. See you later, everypony.