The Rhythm of Love

by lockheed

22: Moon Beam

“And this,” I said with a small smile as I flung open the door to a dusty, abandoned looking store, “is A Gentle Rhythm, my music store.” I slowly trotted inside, holding the door open for Fang to follow me in. He looked around at the dusty instruments and cobweb filled corners, remaining silent the whole time. “I know it ain’t much and it’s not in the best shape right now, but once it’s cleaned up, it’ll look like a whole different store. Now the upstairs, that’s all been kept up. I’ve had Missus Ink Well across the street come over and clean once a week and in return I send her a few bits.” We climbed up the stairs from the shop to the apartment and stepped into the hallway. “Up here is where we’ll be staying this week. Not a whole lot here since I had most of my stuff shipped to Canterlot but we still have some stuff to keep us entertained,” I explained as I looked around the now pretty bare apartment. Fang slowly walked through the living room, looking around at the room. He stopped by a small end table and pulled the drawer open, quietly nosing around in it. He pulled out several sheets of paper and looked at them curiously.

“You never told me you write music,” he said with a look over at me.

“I did. Haven’t done it in several months. Don’t really know if I ever even played any of these songs either,” I replied as I trotted over and looked over the papers he held in his hooves. “I remember writing this one. It was a slow day so I wrote this after taking a walk around town.” Grabbing the sheet music from the pile, I began to trot over to the stairs and waved for Fang to follow me. Trotting down to the shop, I lifted the lid on the keys of the grand piano and sat down on the bench, looking over the ivory keys. A gently breeze flowed through the shop, reminding me that we’d forgotten to shut the door after we’d entered. Fang sat down next to the bench and watched me look over the keys with hesitation. “Now that I’m looking at it, I’m not sure I’m even still any good.” I poked one of the keys with my hoof, the sound of the chord being struck echoing through the empty shop. “You know what, let’s get something to eat,” I said as I suddenly stood up. “I know a great little sweet shop near the center of town we can go to. I know the owner. She lets me try her taffy for free all the time.”

“Is that code for something?” Fang asked with a smirk. “Cause if it is, that’s my fetish.” He said as he stuck his thin, pointed tongue out at me. “But in all seriousness, let’s go. I love me some candy.” We trotted out the shop, making sure to actually shut the door this time, and headed for the town square. We looked rather out of place in our dark blue, purple, and grey colored uniforms compared to the bare ponies that wandered the streets. We finally stopped outside a sweets shop on the town center and stepped inside.

“Bon Bon? You here?” I called out into the seemingly empty shop and quickly looked behind me to the shop window to make sure the sign had in fact been turned to read open. A crash in the back room made Fang and I jump but the sound of galloping hooves made me relax as I realized it was simply who I’d come to see.

“Swing?!” Bon Bon and Lyra’s voices said in unison as they appeared behind the counter, their manes and coats covered with pink taffy. They quickly came around the counter and scooped me up into a hug. “We haven’t seen you in forever. We tried to get ahold of you after we heard what happened in Vanhoover but they wouldn’t let us through,” Bon Bon said as they released me.

“Don’t worry, nothing more than a scratch,” I assured them with a small laugh. “And I don’t believe either of you have met my coltfriend, White Fang,” I said as I stepped back slightly so that Fang was slightly ahead of me.

“What happened with Test Tube?” Lyra asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

“We do not speak of that low-life, son of a bitch,” Fang growled, slightly baring his fangs in the process.

“Hun, relax,” I said as I placed a hoof on Fang’s shoulder. “He admitted to me that he’d had an affair so I dumped his ass like a ton of bricks,” I told them as I looked over to Lyra and Bon Bon. “But thankfully I’ve found this handsome stud of a stallion and we’ve been happy as clams,” I stated with a chuckle.

“Speaking of that, are we going to see you at the ball at Princess Twilight’s castle tonight?” Bon Bon asked.

“Well of course. We’re on Luna’s personal staff. Of course we’ll be there.”

---

“I have to admit, you look very handsome and sexy in evening dress,” I commented as I adjusted Fang’s white bowtie. The gold and white sash around him stood out against the black tailcoat and the medals on his chest gleamed in the light of the room. I was dressed very similarly to Fang, though I had an additional sash that was made of a silver silk and a few more medals that’d been awarded to me from other nations and the royal guard from my longer time on Luna’s staff. “Now, let’s get downstairs. I’m sure everypony is waiting on the soon-to-be new members of the royal family.”

“Yeah, now let’s just hope we don’t embarrass ourselves,” Fang mumbled. “Has there ever even been a bat pony in the royal family?”

“Not to my knowledge. You’re the first that I know of but if there were others, Luna would be the one to ask,” I replied as we left the library of Twilight’s castle and made our way downstairs towards the ballroom. “This place is a lot bigger on the inside than I imagined,” I remarked as I recalled how small it appeared from the outside.

“That it is. It’s a wonder she ever even finds her way around,” Fang said as we neared the ballroom doors. “Now just one really quick question.” I raised an eyebrow as two guards opened the doors for us: “do you know how to waltz?”

---

“This ball is boring as whale shit,” I grumbled as I sat and watched the ballroom. Reaching a hoof into the inside pocket of my tailcoat I grabbed a small breadstick cracker that I’d snagged from the bar. Putting it in my mouth, I sucked on the end of it, letting the bread get soft before chewing it up and sucking on the next little bit.

“Is that a cigar?!” Fang asked, alarmed as he finally took notice of the breadstick.

“Nah, you remember those little breadsticks they had at the bar?” Fang nodded that he did indeed remember them. “Yeah, I stuffed about twenty of them in the inside pocket of my jacket.” Fang stared at me before shaking his head.

“What in Tartarus is wrong with you?” Fang asked as he looked at me.

“Well, would you like the short list or the long one?” I asked as I stuck my tongue out at him. As we sat there at our table we noticed two ponies approaching us; a grey stallion and a light yellow mare.

“Hello gentlecolts,” the stallion said in a posh, high class voice as he bowed slightly “I am Jet Set and this is my wife, Upper Crust.” The mare bowed a bit as well and I immediately found myself not liking these two. While I normally try and have faith in ponies, I know with power and money come “friends” and “long lost family”. And these ponies certainly didn’t seem like the kind to interact with a stallion like myself unless they saw some way to profit from it.

“Jet Set, let me stop you right there,” a white stallion said as he trotted up to them. I recognized him as Fancy Pants, the stallion from the ball before in Canterlot.

“But Fancy, can’t I just be friendly with Luna’s new heirs?” Jet Set asked, his voice carrying a slight annoyance in tone.

“My dear Jet, take no offence, but you would steal the straw from your own mother’s kennel.” Fancy said as he wiped off his monocle in his magic. “For you, there is no ‘just being friendly’.”

“You can’t talk to Jet like that!” Upper Crust exclaimed at Fancy as he set the monocle back on his face.

“Upper Crust, you finally speak. I was beginning to think you weren’t yourself today. I must say it would’ve been a rather lovely improvement.” She gasped and harrumphed before both her and Jet Set stormed off. “Don’t mind them,” Fancy told us as he sat down with us. “Jet Set is such a cheat he could be a politician and there’s a word for Upper Crust that we don’t use in high society. At least not outside of a kennel.” He took a sip of his champagne before looking back over at us. “A bit of advice for you: in Canterlot, trust nopony. In that town, everypony is out for something to boost them up whether in social status or wealth. They mistake money for power. Money is that mansion that sits on the hill and starts crumbling after a decade.” Fancy motioned his hoof around us at the castle walls. “But power, it’s what stands for centuries.” I raised an eyebrow at Fancy but made sure to not look very judgmental. His knowledge of how Canterlot works would make him a powerful ally, particularly now that Fang and I were about to be royalty.

“So how do we handle ponies like them?” Fang asked. I knew he didn’t want to be ‘rude’ like Fancy Pants was to Jet Set and Upper Crust.

“Fang, darling, I’ll handle them. Okay?” I said with a small nuzzle to his shoulder. He nodded and nuzzled me back. “Now, why don’t you go and find Moon Butt. I’d like to talk to Fancy Pants for a moment.” Fang nodded and happily trotted off to find Luna. “So Fancy,” I turned to face the older stallion, “what is it you want? I already know ponies of your status don’t offer help unless they want something in return. I’m guessing something with power?”

“Access to the palace, make me nothing more than an advisor. It’s something to get my hoof in the door and close to the princesses. It’d help me both with power and money. Because everypony wants to do business with somepony close to royalty, right?” Fancy gulped down the last of his champagne and set the glass back on the table. “And in return, I’ll teach you two everything I know about high society. Deal?”

“Deal.” I replied and shook his hoof before Fang’s voice grabbed my attention.

“Swing! I found her!” Fang shouted and I looked at him with Luna and Drum following close behind. Several ponies around them bowed respectfully before Fang grabbed my hoof and began pulling me away from the table. “Can we go outside and look at the stars now?” Fang asked with puppy dog eyes.

“Of course we can, mo chuisle,” I replied as I gave him a small peck on the cheek. We slowly made our way outside, the cool air proving a nice change from the stuffiness of the ballroom. Few ponies seemed to realize that behind Princess Twilight’s castle, was a small garden that she kept as another source of relaxation aside from books. Okay, so it was mainly Spike who went out there to actually garden but Twilight did go out there to relax in the sun. But also to read. Damn that mare reads a lot. Forget I said she did that besides books. As we strolled around the small garden which included several types of flowers, trees, and even some small crops just like a regular garden; Fang and I had small discussion. Like whether the word “y’all’d’ve” is a real word. Which it is. Or whether Soarin’s coat color was light blue or a grey. Which it’s blue and nopony is going to convince me otherwise! But other than our lighthearted debates, it was a rather peaceful walk. Several times we stopped to look up at the sky and gaze at the stars, Fang pointing out different constellations and telling the stories of them that were passed down in bat pony culture. Like Orionem, a warrior stallion who died in battle and ascended to the heavens in the form of stars to protect all those under the night sky. Or Callidus Unus, a mare who was a prankster and one day angered the creators after she played a prank on them and so she was sentenced to an eternity imprisoned in the sky.

“So bat ponies have a large range of things when it comes to mythology?” I asked as we started walking around the garden again.

“Yep. Basically just as much as every other culture. Ours is just a lot more focused on the night.” Fang replied with a smile. The sounds of the band inside the castle floated out the open ballroom windows and made me smile in contentment as we continued to walk. Then, a new song began. I smiled as I stopped and turned to Fang, holding my hoof out to him.

“Shall we dance, my little moonbeam?” He nodded his head as a small blush appeared on his cheeks. We stood up on our hind legs and began to slowly waltz around the garden to the song, all the while blissfully unaware of Luna and Drum watching from a nearby balcony.

“They’re so cute together, aren’t they?” Drum said with a happy little smile.

“They are,” Luna replied. “But you’re wrong and I still agree with Swing that Soarin’ is blue.”

Comments

[Shadow_Quill]

Update!
I was thinking of this this morning.

[lockheed]

8526544
Yeah, I finally got around to updating it. I've already got over 2,000 words of the next chapter too.