Sweet and Delicate

by Nordryd

Ch.3: The Outsider

Time: 1:00 PM, Saturday, Coppermane's Cottage, Days Until Celebration: 14

Well, here he was…Ponyville. The mayor was gracious enough to provide accommodations for Coppermane till the Celebration was over. Princess Celestia had a lot in faith in Coppermane, and he didn't have any intentions of letting her down…but…he couldn't help but worry. He's never performed in front of anypony else before, and he couldn't help but picture himself frozen onstage, completely in shock at the number of ponies watching him. The Summer Sun Celebration was only one of the most important events in Equestria right? No big deal…right?!

Okay, Copper…deep breaths…deep breaths…

On top of all this…there was a secondary objective. Princess Celestia sent him here in order to "make friends". Considering the fact that he's never had any true friends before, "making friends" was a very foreign concept him. Not that he's never tried, but it never worked out. He would always come off as a geek and/or loser, and everybody would treat him like an outcast. And especially after the…incident…it got so much worse. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to other ponies…he was just scared. On the bright side, he could at least have a fresh start here in Ponyville. Was the Princess right? Could he make friends here?

But how does he start talking to somepony else? How does he begin a conversation? Maybe it would happen on its own…?

For the time being, he decided to focus on his primary objective: the Celebration. He had a vague idea of what he wanted to sing, but he began to feel sick to his stomach with the thoughts of him frozen onstage creeping back into his mind. Also, even if he didn't freeze onstage…would they like the songs he picked? Would they even like barbershop style music? Would they like him? What if, during these two weeks preceding the Celebration, everypony in Ponyville came to hate him?

Coppermane's head was going crazy. Maybe a nice walk and some practicing would help him calm down. Some fresh air and singing…yeah…that should help. He'd have to find a location, but that shouldn't be too hard. He could also get the lay of the land. Taking a deep breath, Coppermane opened his door and walked out into uncharted territory…

---

Time: 1:30 PM, Saturday, Ponyville

The only thing Coppermane knew for sure would relax him was rehearsing his music. He needed to find a place to practice though. More importantly, he needed to find a place to rehearse that was relatively low-traffic. He didn't want anypony to hear him practicing. Ponyville seemed like a small enough town, so it shouldn't be that hard to find a low-traffic area to practice in. Where to start though?

I guess I could just wander around the outskirts until I come across something. I don't really know what else to do.

Coppermane started walking through town, making his way past a lot of shops and homes along the way. As he walked, he could feel everypony looking at him. He should've known that a new face in a small town would attract attention. Some of them may or may not have seen him with the princess too, which was bound to spark interest.

Why do I always make a big deal out of everything? They're not judging me…they're just curious. Just keep walking, and focus on your objective: finding a practice spot. Everything will be fine.

Coppermane kept walking around and eventually hit the outskirts. After a while of organizing his thoughts, panning around trying to find a good spot, he came across a hill. It wasn't too big, and there was a nice little clearing on top. A decent distance from the road too.

This is perfect! It's not too far from town, it's a decent distance from the road, and I can get a great view of everything. Hopefully now I can practice in peace.

Coppermane turned around to look at the view on the other side…and what he saw took his breath away. It was the most beautiful view he's ever seen. There were miles and miles of rolling hills, and dotting those fields, were apple trees as far as the eye can see. Copper had never seen such a huge apple orchard in his life.

Wow…

Off in the distance, Copper spotted a big barn with a house next to it. That must be where the owners of the orchard live. They must work their flanks off to manage an orchard this big. It made for one great view. Remembering why he came here in the first place, Coppermane turned away from the view and switched his mind over to work-mode. He began this session like he begins every session: summoning three other clones with his magic. First, they needed to decide which songs they were going to do. As odd as it sounds, and as odd as it is, Copper found that discussing things with his clones helped him to sort things out.

"Oh hi, Copper," one of his newly materialized clones said (we'll call him Copper1), "what's going on?"

"Yeah, and where the hay are we?" said the second one (we'll call him Copper2).

"I don't know," replied the third clone (Copper3), "but wherever we are, it's gorgeous. Look behind you."

Copper1 looked behind him and his jaw hit the ground. "Woah, you're right!"

The Copper2's reaction was similar. "Look at all these apple trees!"

The original Copper just chuckled. "I know right? Alright, I need you guys to focus here. We have a big task ahead of us."

"Yeah, we know." said the Copper1.

"We need to figure out what songs we're doing for the Summer Sun Celebration right?" asked Copper2.

"Exactly, but I think we need to warm up a bit," said the original, "Let's just start by going up and down a major scale okay?"

"Ugh…can't we just do some tags to warm up?" asked Copper3.

Coppermane sighed, "In a bit, but we need to warm up first okay?"

Copper3 rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat.

Coppermane took out his pitch whistle, blew a C, and the quartet began to go up the scale.

"Okay," Coppermane said, "now we can do tags. Happy now?"

"Depends," said Copper3, "what tag are we doing?"

"Umm…how about 'Midnight Rose'?" asked Copper1.

"Sounds good to me," said Coppermane, "any objections?"

All three of the clones shook their heads.

"Alright then. You all remember your parts?"

"Well, hopefully," said Copper2, "we're clones of you, and you know all four parts right?"

Coppermane rolled his eyes and played a Bb on his pitch whistle, and the quartet began to sing the tag.

{Song: Midnight Rose (Tag)}

"Alright, that was fine," said Coppermane, "but I think you could've gone easier on the tenor note."

"Hey, cut me some slack!" said Copper3, "I have to use falsetto for that note. Maybe you could use your magic to shift my range up a bit?"

"You know that's not how I roll," Coppermane said, squinting his eyes, "I don't cheat."

"Well, that's your prerogative." Copper3 said.

"Well, we need to move on so we can get to work," said Coppermane, "What should our warm-up song be?"

"How about we just do Loveland again?" suggested Copper2.

"That's an easy song. Maybe we could do it for the concert too." said Copper1.

"Eh…I don't know…maybe?" said Coppermane, a little unsure about using it in the concert. "We'll see, but it would be a good warmup song. Let's do it."

Coppermane blew an Ab with his pitch whistle, and the quartet began.

{Song: I'd Love to Live in Loveland}

"Great job guys!" praised Coppermane, "couldn't have done a better job myself."

The clones rolled their eyes at the pun.

"Land sakes!" said a mare behind Coppermane.

Coppermane gasped and practically jumped out of his skin when he heard the random mare's voice. He suddenly dismissed his clones, trying to cover up what he had been doing (as if that was going to help at this point). He looked behind him to see an orange mare with green eyes and a freckled face. She had a blonde mane, wore a hat, and was carrying bags loaded with apples on her sides. She was looking at him with a big grin on her face.

Copper was completely dumbfounded. "Oh…um…uh…I…well…um…" said Copper, stuttering and sweating uncontrollably. His heart was pounding.

"Oh, I'm mighty sorry, Ah didn't mean to frighten ya. Ah was just buckin apples when Ah heard some ponies singin, and Ah just had to check it out." said the mare. "Were those…copies of ya Ah just saw?"

Copper was still trying to collect himself, still shaking in place with only his head turned towards the mare. "Um…well…maybe. How…how long…h-how have you been standing there?" he asked nervously.

"Only for a little while, but what Ah heard was amazin'!" the mare said, approaching Copper slowly. "Boy howdy, Ah reckon Ah scared ya more than Ah thought. Don't worry, Ah ain't gonna harm ya none."

Coppermane could at least bring himself to turn around completely towards the approaching mare, but was growing increasingly nervous. Why did he have to be so nervous around everypony? It wasn't unusual for ponies to be shy…but this took it to an unnecessary extreme…jeez. Unfortunately, this is just how Copper's brain is wired. He couldn't stop shaking…why?!

"Ah don't think Ah've seen ya 'round here before. Ya new ta Ponyville?" she asked nicely.

Coppermane nodded. "Y-yeah. F-first time here."

"Well welcome ta Ponyville!" said the mare. She looked at him quizzically, noticing how nervous he was. "Hey, sugarcube, let's calm down a bit kay? Ah ain't gonna hurt ya none. Just take deep breaths, okay?"

Coppermane tried to compose himself, closing his eyes, and taking deep breaths. Eventually, he calmed down and could form some coherent thoughts.

Coppermane sighed, and rubbed his neck in embarrassment, "Hehe…um…s-sorry. I'm not used to…um…other ponies hearing me sing." he said, with his hanging a bit low.

The mare just giggled, "Ah understand. It's probably my fault for scaring y'all."

Copper managed for force a small smile. This pony seemed nice enough. “Y-You’re fine.”

"Y’all seem like a nice colt. What’s your name?" she asked.

“I-It’s…Coppermane,” he said nervously.

The mare reached out and shook Copper's hoof, catching him a little off guard.

"Well, Coppermane, y’all don't have to act so shy around me," the mare said with a small giggle, "Ah ain't a bad pony."

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. Th-That's just how I am, y'know?" Copper said.

The mare chuckled. "Name's Applejack. Nice ta meet ya Coppermane!"

Author's Note:

I hope those links worked. PM me if they don't. Please take the time to listen to some of those. Barbershop is very under-appreciated.
Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment, and if you enjoyed it, like and share! I'll see you all next chapter. The chapters will get longer too. Much longer. Until next time...peace!

Comments

[KingJoltik]

This is an interesting concept, the whole clone and music thing. I'm surprised this story has so many dislikes...sure, the story is a little stilted and awkward, but over 70 percent of stories on this site are like that! Here, have an upvote!

[Just Defender]

6825798 Nothing new to me. Saw it used in this video before reading this fic.

[Applejack224]

Well, then.. that turned into Deadpool for a bit, not bad

[psvitafanboy222]

"Well, that's you're prerogative." Copper3 said.

"Well, that's your prerogative." Copper3 said.

Here's some random text, because if I just leave this comment as those two quotes, it looks like I'm just being a dickfaced grammar nazi.
img0.etsystatic.com/044/0/9316280/il_fullxfull.605232598_xcjk.jpg

[John the brony and yknow]

Heck! I cant listen to the songs 'cause im in phone! >:( meh, i will re-read the chapter on my pc when i can

[Pete_Bagheera]

I like barbershop too. I once recorded myself four times singing a short barbershop tune and put it together on the pc, and got my own little cloned performance that way. Just I didn't have the score, I only had a recording of the song, but it worked fairly well. I think I still have it somewhere...

[Witchrblizzad]

From here

"Oh hi, Copper," one of his newly materialized clones said (we'll call him Copper1), "what's going on?"

to here

"Great job guys!" praised Coppermane, "couldn't have done a better job myself."

I was so confused.

[M30_Q0_L1T4M_875]

I must admit that it was incredibly amazing 👍 Very well

[Speedbreaker715]

Including the songs was a nice concept, but exiting the story to listen to them kinda ruined the immersion for me. Otherwise, well done!

[Nordryd]

9933983
First fanfic, janky-ass ideas lol