18 Months

by Regis-Th3-Lesser

Summer

Hello. My name is Forte Piano. I am twenty five years old and I live in Manehattan. There isn't much to say about me except...

I put my pencil down and buried my face in my hands. My friends told me that if I were to keep a diary my thoughts would be clear, but they are more blurry than ever. I picked up my pencil.

I am a fourth generation musician.

I stopped, biting on the eraser while tapping my foot.

I don't know where to start so I'll just go back to when all my problems started.

---

One year and six months ago

I was out on a street corner trying to make a couple of bits. It was summer, time for ponies of all shapes and sizes to come and tour the Manehattan city life. Usually when I performed on the street I would only get a momentary glance at whoever was kind enough to throw some change my way. I can't even remember what song I played that day, but it drew a decent crowd. All I heard was the sweet melody resonating from my guitar and the sound of change colliding as it fell. When I finished my song everypony left except for her. Some believe in love at first sight, well if that was the case then I fell head over heels for this one.

“Wow, you're really good.” she said with a smile.

“T-thanks,” I stuttered.

“What's your name?”

“I...I ah umm,” I cleared my throat. “I'm Forte, Forte Piano.”

“That's an interesting name. Well, I'm Sunset Shimmer.” she replied.

We stood in awkward silence, not one of us daring to utter a word.

“It was nice meeting you Forte, but I have to get going.”

“Bye!” I yelled. Till this day I don't know why I felt so connected to her from that first moment. Maybe it was here smile, or her eyes, and the cute way she laughs and. Okay, I need to slow down. Now the next day was much like the last. I was out on my corner playing soothing melodies for anypony that wanted to hear.

“Hey Forte.”

I looked up and saw those beautifully brilliant blue eyes upon me. “Sunset Shimmer, right?” I asked, trying to play it cool.

“Yeah, I see you're down here playing again.”

“A musician has gotta make a living somehow.” I chuckled.

“I guess, well I'll see you later.” she began to walk away.

“Wait,”
She turned to me.
“Are you doing anything later?” I asked with a quaking voice.

“I'm free tonight at seven.”

“Great! Um,I mean. Great, I'll see you later tonight.”
She giggled and went on about her day. The moment she was out of sight I jumped and cheered right there on the sidewalk. I was so caught up in my celebration that I didn't notice a woman with her young boy watching me.

“Heh, you know sometimes you just have one of those days.” I chuckled sheepishly as she shook her head and walked away. I sat back down on my corner and picked up my guitar, preparing to sing a song full of happiness then I realized that I didn't tell her where to meet me or where we were going. I thought about chasing her down, but she was already long gone. “I guess it'll have to wait till
tonight.”

---

I stood on the corner waiting to see if she would meet me there. “Seven forty eight.” I mumbled down at my watch. I was just about to go home when I heard someone calling my name. There she was on the other side of the street waving to me. Without so much as a second thought I bolted onto the open road, narrowly avoiding a truck.

“Be careful! That guy nearly flattened you.” she said while checking me for injuries.

“I'm fine. It isn't the first run in I've had with a car.” I jested. “Where would you like to go?”

“I don't know. I'm not all that hungry, had a big lunch.” she shrugged.

“Yeah, me too. Do you wanna go to the park?”

“Sure, where is it?”

“It's a few blocks away.”
We walked in silence occasionally glancing then looking away. “So... What are you up to in life?” I asked, breaking the ice.

“I'm in school right now.”

“Ah, a college girl.” I poked. “Where at?”

“The University of Science and Magic in Manehattan.” she sighed, hanging her head low.

“Hey, why the long face? I've heard that USMM is a nice school.”

“It is, but it's not the school I wanted to go to.”

“Where did you want to go?”

“Octavian University of Music.”

I looked down, shocked at what I just heard.

“Forte, what's wrong?” she put a hand on my shoulder.

“Nothing, I used to go there.” I said in a low tone.

“You did!” she asked, shock present in her tone.

“Yeah...”

“Why aren't you there now or are you?”

“...I'm not in school...” I replied quietly. She stopped me and looked into my eyes.

“Why not?”

“Because of my dad...”

“Does he work there?”

“In a sense. He kinda owns the school.”
She looked as if she were going to explode with joy.

“Oh my gosh, your dad is Crescendo! Why wouldn't you go there?”
I looked to the ground while messing with my keys.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...”

“You did nothing wrong. I don't want to talk about it right now.” She smiled and pulled me into a tight hug.

“Thanks Forte, now weren't we going to the park?”

“Right, we should hurry up before it gets any darker.”

We made it to the park, walked around, talked, scared the life out of a cat; poor thing went belly up, and for the most part we had a great time just being in each others presence.

It was around eight o'clock when we left. The streets were starting to empty as people rushed home.

“Hey yo taxi!” I yelled at an approaching car. I knocked on the window as he pulled up.

“Watcha need?” the large driver asked.

“If you could take the young lady home please.”

“Alright, where does she live?”
I motioned for her to step forward.

“I live on forty fifth and Jackson.” she said politely.

“Alright li'l Missy, that'll be thirty bits.”
I handed him the money.

“You don't have to pay for me.” she whispered.

“I wouldn't be a gentlemen if I didn't.”
She smiled then kissed me on the cheek.

“I'll see you later.”
With that the cab for shut and she was off.

---

I can't recall much after that. We started to hang out more and she began to sing with me. She would always come down to my corner and sing along with me before she went to school. Back then, when we first met, I felt a real connection like this is the girl I would love to spend my life with. After knowing each other for about three months I asked if she would be my girlfriend. I can still feel that one. She was so excited that when she gave me a hug she teleported the entire bottom row of me teeth somewhere. She tried to get them all back into their correct places, but I can feel a molar where my incisors should be.

Nothing much left to say so I'll close this entry out. Bye...

Author's Note:

This is just an idea that popped into my head that I thought was great, but I'd your opinion differs I won't hold it against you. Hope you enjoyed the read.

~Motm

Comments

[BrotallySwagical]

Just reading the bio of the story and a song comes to mind. Calvin Harris - Thinking About You

[BrotallySwagical]

Aww. Many feels

[themouthofmush]

this isn't all that bad. it has a good set up for the events that should come.

[Aurelius]

Due to the Alternate Universe tag, it seems Sunset returned to Equestria a while ago, or she never met Celestia. Just my opinion. Im great with ideas but horrible at explaining them.

[HapHazred]

Reviewed story for goodfic bin, and I'm rejecting it simply due to me not having enough to really make a decision on. When more is written, do give me a call.

Detailed explanation is here.

[Super57]

Loved it.

Nice work man :)

[MLai]

While I see the Alt Univ tag, I don't think Alt Univ means OOC, and I don't see how that is Sunset Shimmer.
Also, your 1st chapter needs a lot of clean-up to remove all mentions of hands, feet, men, women, whatever.
Lastly, I don't think Manehattan has cars. The last time we saw the city in the show, the cabs are all pull-carts.
The entire story just doesn't feel very Equestrian at all. I feel like I'm reading about a human city with the names changed.