Seconds Late

by FerociousCreation

Entrance

Seconds Late

Ch. 1

The hot, high noon sun baked Alto’s caramel coat as he briskly made his way through the Canterlot High School courtyard. His magic was barely gripping his violin case, the black carrier dragging in the dirt path, and his backpack was slowly slipping from his shoulders.

I need to get to class early to meet up with Harp Hearts, Alto repeated in his head as his heart started to turn from nervousness and his stomach twisted with nausea; most likely because he had downed his lunch a little too fast. The lines in the cafeteria were almost too long for the stallion’s liking. Normally he would not have cared for their length, but because of Alto’s “little” surprise for Harp Hearts, the long string of ponies seemed to stretch on forever. Thankfully, the line for soft tacos went a lot faster than the others, so luck was on Alto’s side.

His hooves knocked on the tile floor, the noise echoing in the empty hallways while he briskly walked alone. A turn here, and a flight of stairs there, Alto felt like he was on a wild ride as he made his way to the band classroom. Alto’s heart began to race faster and louder as he grew closer to his destination, knowing who was waiting for his arrival, and it was not the teacher.

The stallion walked down another hallway that had the Hearts and Hooves Formal posters littered across the walls, lockers, and anything else that was a plausible surface for a paper to stick to. They reminded Alto the reason for his early meetup with Harp Hearts, which was not helping him relax in the slightest.

Rounding the last corner, Alto saw a blue plaque stuck to the wall that read, “Band Hall.” Slowing down his pace, Alto started to coach himself internally. Alright Alto, this is it. When you enter the classroom, walk straight up to Harp and tell her you wrote a song. And just before you play it, tell Harp it is dedicated to her. Easy.

Alto’s ribs began to cramp, his breathing too quick for comfort. The unicorn tried to keep a calm facade before telling his best friend his true feelings for her. Ever since he met Harp Hearts, the lovely earth pony was there from the start of their high school year.

As he grew up, Alto had a hard time dealing with his obsession of always being perfect. No matter what, he wanted to make sure he played and sang with no flaws in his abilities. And whenever a flaw did happen, Alto would lose focus because of his simple mistake and create more to follow. Alto would sometimes smack his forehead against his music stand with brutal force, one time gashing a nasty cut over his left brow, leaving a permanent reminder of his lingering frustration.

And then came Harp Hearts, a mare moving from Manehattan to obtain her schooling at Equestria’s famous Canterlot High School Philharmonic. The earth pony was very soft spoken and extremely modest about her skills with the harp. Despite her modest nature, Harp Hearts was very skilled for a harpist, especially for the fact that she was an earth pony. Unicorns and pegusi have it much easier when playing such a difficult instrument, be it the magic from unicorns to the wings of a pegasus. Playing with just hooves was not only a skill, but a natural gift.

The day the two were assigned to perform a harp and violin duet was when Alto gashed his brow. Even though the blood from cut stung at his eye, the stubborn unicorn wanted to resume their practice. But Harp was not going to allow her partner continue to hurt himself all because of a false note. They were practicing in school after all.

Instead of getting angry with the hot-tempered unicorn, Harp was gentle as she cleaned Alto’s wound. She told him he needed to accept the presence of failure and how it will strike at any moment, no matter how skilled a pony is. From there on, Harp assisted Alto in controlling his perfection obsession, and the two grew to become close friends. However, Harp Hearts could only change so much of her friend's habits, and a few traits still clung to Alto. Thankfully, it wasn't his old destructive behavior.

Now at the door of the band hall, Alto pulled on the door handle and then paused. A light reflection on the classroom window cast back the stallion’s face. He looked at the scar above his left brow and smiled, a reminder of the day he made an amazing friend. Of course, Alto was not proud of his past lashing at himself, but was glad somepony was there to help him fix his destructive habit.

With a pull, Alto opened the door and stepped inside the room. The classroom was like an indoor amphitheater, but much smaller to fit in a compact room. Mr. Tenor payed no attention to Alto as he entered.

Alto wasted no time to find Harp Hearts sitting on the far right of the classroom at the front row. Thanks to the elevation of the classroom’s rows, Harp was having no difficulty tuning her large instrument. Her light-pink fur stood out from the plain light-blue paint from the walls. Harp’s short pink and white mane curled in a beautiful twist as it always did. On her flank was a cutie mark resembling a harp with a heart with wings flying away from the gilded instrument; a cutie mark so appropriate for her name.

Seeing Alto on the approach, Harp stopped her adjustments and walked over to her friend, giving him a nice hug. “Enjoy your lunch?”

A knot in his stomach and heart quickly turned, reminding Alto his haste and nervous attitude. “Almost as much as I did waiting in line,” he responded sarcastically. Harp let out a cute giggle before the two walked over to her harp.

“So you said you had a surprise,” Harp asked suspiciously, spinning around to stop Alto in his tracks. “Did you ask somepony to the dance?” A wide smirk almost touched Harp’s lavender eyes as she leaned in toward the unicorn.

“I may have somepony in mind,” Alto responded nervously. “I just think… the moment has to be perfect.”

Harp hopped onto the stairs, looking down at Alto and snorted, “You do remember what I told you when it comes to being perfect, right?”

Alto rolled his eyes and replied sarcastically, “'There is no such thing as perfect…'”

“Unless you are the perfect stallion of course,” a pompous voice exclaimed, causing Alto’s ear to twitch with irritation.

As he turned to face the doorway, Alto caught a glimpse of Mr. Tenor who was also not happy with the sudden entrance of High Brass. There at the door, the white coated and blonde maned earth pony pridefully strode into the classroom with his group of mares in suit. He wore his Canterlot High School letterman's jacket with patches about band littered the sleeves and back of the apparel. His bare flank that bore a trumpet as a cutie mark that had three small light-violet diamonds surrounding the instrument, creating the illusion that the image was sparkling.

High Brass was known in the school for being quite the lady’s stallion, and for being harsh toward other stallions, specifically by being quite the mare snatcher; in a matter of figurative terms. No matter how hard the guys at the school try to say to their lady friends how much of a jerk High Brass can be, the mares counter argue by stating how much of a sweetheart he can be to them. Maybe he just hated stallions for some stupid reason.

Standing beside High Brass was his bodyguard, who also happened to be a mare as well. Her name was Bastion, a tall sturdy pegasus with a purple body color and short magenta mane. Bastion was once apart of Princess Celestia’s Royal Guard, but now she was hired to protect a stuck up rich boy. Alto wondered how much money his parents shelled out to get her to protect High Brass.

No longer wanting to gaze in his direction, or cause High Brass to come near their vicinity, Alto turned back to his friend. “So as I was saying, my surprise is…” To his distaste, Alto noticed Harp Hearts staring at the rich stallion with wide googly eyes, trying to hypnotize him in coming over to her. “Umm, Harp?”

Her focus was broken and blinked at Alto. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

“My surprise. Would you like to hear it?” Irritation was overshadowing Alto’s nervous attitude, so there was that to help him getting out his sentences more clearly.

“Oh!” Harp smiled, her attention focused on the unicorn. “Sure. What is it? You said you were interested in a mare, right?” Alto forgot all about the presence of High Brass and was suddenly flustered by the question.

“W-well, I… I want to ask this... mare to the dance by playing her a song.” Unable to contain himself, the caramel unicorn shivered as he stared at the pony he was planning to ask to the Hearts and Hooves Formal.

Harp’s eyes grew even wider than when she was staring at High Brass. “Oh my gosh!” she squeaked. “How sweet!” The mare stepped down from the steps, hugged her friend, then grabbed his shoulders. “Tell me, who is it for!?”

Alto opened his mouth, his heart racing. He leaned forward to whisper into his best friend’s ear to tell her the truth behind his song. But it was short lived when High Brass from behind spoke, “Yes Alto, who is this mare you wrote a song to?”

Author's Note:

I have been working on this story for nearly seven months now and am nearly finished with the story. Because of the already finished chapters, I will be posting new chapters every three days at around 10am PST (subject to change). Of course, if people like it, I might have a chapter up every other day.

If someone does ask for a chapter two very nicely, I will post it just for you. (but only for this chapter!)

This crazy idea was inspired by Blooming Romance, by Enigmatic Otaku. The story is not yet finished, but many ideas can spawn from anything. Here is a link to their story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/347347/blooming-romance