Broken Family, Healed Family

by Amos Anon

Chapter 6; Music is Good for the Soul (Edited June 15th, 2021)

Thump! Apples rained down around me, and I rubbed my sore hindquarters as Eren trotted around to gather the apples that had fallen from the tree. We had decided that I would do the bucking until I ran out of steam, at which point we would switch places.

“Ugh. I think I ate a bit too much at lunch.”

“Yeah. Granny sure filled those bowls to the brim, didn’t she?”

My stomach shifted, making an odd gurgling noise, to which my brother-in-law chuckled. I turned to the tree again, and lined up my next kick.

“The soup was good, although...” Thump! “It could’ve used some meat.”

Eren once again ran around doing his best to catch as many apples as he could, before setting the basket down as the two of us began picking apples up off the ground.

“Oh, I asked granny if we could, but she looked horrified by the idea. I guess Ponies are herbivores... Who knew?”

“Well, I guess we’re just going to have to get used to the idea of never eating meat again. Dang, I’m sure going to miss it, though.” I backed up to the next tree, and prepared another kick. “Hey Eren, you mind if I sing while we work?”

The red stallion shrugged, and picked up the basket, balancing it on his back. He gave me the signal that he was ready, and I lunged forward...

Thump! As the apples came down again, I began to sing...

...I was born in the land of the sun
Of tall green grass...

As the last note faded into silence, I sighed.

“That... was beautiful. Did you write that?”

My head jerked sharply up to see an emotional Coloratura watching us work.

“I wish I had.” I laughed sadly, trying to hold back my own tears. “It brings back memories.”

“Memories of home?”

I nodded. “I started learning that one just before the war started...”

The musician trotted up to me, and pulled me into a hug. I stiffened, but didn't pull away.

“It’s okay to grieve, you know.", Rara whispered. "I spoke to Starlight. She told me everything... and everyone your family left behind in that other world.”

I sighed, voice shaking slightly. I felt another set of hooves encircle me, and I attempted to smile my thanks to Eren, whose expression was wavering as well.

Coloratura rubbed a comforting hoof over my back, and spoke into my ear. “But you have memories of them. Those memories can still give you joy, long after they’re gone.”

I sighed, and we separated. I blushed slightly, and smiled. “Thank you.”

She flicked her tail in embarrassment. “It... was nothing.”

Awkward silence.

"A-Anyways, I should probably get back to work."

Coloratura smiled. "Then I'll leave you to it." She turned, and started making her way to the farmhouse.

"Oh! Rara?"

She paused mid-step, and turned her head questioningly.

"Thank you."

She smiled, nodded, and trotted away.

---

I wiped the sweat from my forehead. Eren and I had switched places shortly after Coloratura had left, and we slowly had caught up to the rest of the group, his enviously stronger body able to clear all the apples from each tree in one go, rather than the multiple kicks it took for me to do the same. Admittedly, I was far better at catching the apples than I had been at bucking them, and we slowly became better at working together as a team.

“Alright, y’all! Nice work today! We got over half the orchard cleared!” We all sighed in relief as Applejack directed us to collect all the full barrels of apples and bring them to the barn, where they’d be stored until they were sold at market.

‘Winter wrap up, winter wrap up.’ ...Dang that song is catchy.

I hummed the tune to myself as I stepped into the barn, prepared to drop my cargo of apples that were presently precariously balanced on my back.

“So how was your day?”

“GAH!” Apples spilled everywhere as I jumped at the voice, who proved to be a certain Cyan pegasus mare with a rainbow mane. “Rainbow Dash. Good grief, you scared me.”

She chuckled. “Sorry. Here, let me help you with that.” She helped me pick up the apples that I’d dropped, placing them back in the basket.

“Thanks.” I studied her from the corner of my eye. “Is there a specific reason you decided to surprise me... in the barn?”

The boastful mare rolled her eyes, and pointed at my wings with her hoof.

Oh. Right. I have those.

“Twilight asked me to train all the pegasi in your family how to fly. I’m going around and trying to figure out who here are all pegasi so I know who I’m training.”

I frowned in thought. “Well, there’s me, Hawk, and Anima for the adults. As for the kids... there’s Grove, Chwerth, and Ente, though Ente is probably too young for flying yet.” I glanced up to see the glazed-over look in the mare’s eyes. Yeah, we’re probably going to need nametags. “You know what, it’s probably better if I just show you.” I placed the basket of apples on the stack, and waved a hoof for Rainbow to follow, beginning the short trek to the house.

“You know you’re lucky to have a full blown Wonderbolt showing you how to fly, right?”

I rolled my eyes. Modest as always, I see. I humored her by smiling back at her. “And we’re very thankful to you for taking a break from napping to help us out."

She took on an offended expression. “Hey! An athlete needs their rest!” She glared at my amused glance before her lips slowly curled upward in a mischievous smile. “You know, I happened to see a certain someone hugging Rara a short while ago..."

Ohhhhhhh, no. I facehoofed. “You saw that, eh?”

“Yup. Real smooth, buddy.”

“... It wasn't like that, okay?”

"Sure it was."

"...Look, can we just drop it? I don't want to talk about it."

Rainbow shrugged, and followed me to the farmhouse door.

We made our way inside to a very busy living room. We’re going to have to find places of our own soon. This is getting ridiculous. I nearly tripped over Chwerth as he zoomed by me, little wings buzzing away.

“Heh. Looks like someone’s an early learner.”

“Yep. And smarter than most rainbow-maned pegasi, too." I got a smack to the back of the head from her wing for that comment. I smirked, and rubbed where she’d hit me.

The sound of a piano filled the room, and I froze. Wait... that sounds like Mom’s playing. I followed the sweet notes, ignoring the protests from Rainbow Dash, whose legs had become entangled with a rather clingy Vivid. I passed through the dining room, making my way into the living room, where I distinguished Panara at an old upright piano, Coloratura standing beside her giving her instruction. I sidled up beside Mom, laying a hoof over her shoulder. She smiled, and returned the hug.

“Practicing?”

“Yep. I’m getting some pointers on how to play with these things.” She held out a hoof, swirling it around in the air before placing it on the piano in front of her. “Turns out it isn’t overly difficult. There’s some sort of magic that allows me to imagine fingers spreading out from my... appendages.”

“Well, that’s mostly right. For you it’s easier to imagine it that way, but for me it was much more difficult.” Coloratura played a few notes, her hooves dancing across the keyboard.

"It's been too long since I've heard that." Otto stuck his head into the room, and smiled at the sight of his wife on the piano.

“Hi honey.” The two trotted up to each other, and shared a quick peck.

“I thought I heard a piano in here.” Percy trotted into the room, grinning at Mom and Dad. He greeted me before turning to Coloratura. “Was that you playing a minute ago?”

The earth pony nodded, a graceful smile adorning her features. “Yes. I was teaching Panara here how to play with hooves before she got distracted.” I chuckled at the hint of annoyance in her voice.

“Cool. I didn’t know you played, Coloratura.”

“Didn’t Motodrop tell you...?”

“He neglected to mention that to me.” Percy regarded me with a raised eyebrow.

“Hey, you can’t expect me to recall every little detail at once. I’m only human, you know.” I said the second part with mock dramatic flare.

“Hoo...man...?”

Oh yeah. Different world. “That’s what we called our species on Earth.”

“Oh.”

Panara and Otto separated, and trotted back into the room to join us.

“Except for Motodrop here, I don’t think any of us have heard any of your songs, Coloratura.” Panara gestured to the piano. “Do you think you could play one for us? If you don’t mind, that is.”

The mare smiled, and took up a position at the piano. “Most of my music needs a larger band to play, but there’s one song I wrote a while back that only needs piano.”

She began to play a few notes, and I immediately knew which song it was. As her voice filled the room, I joined my own voice to hers, much to her surprise. I sang with her during the verse, but split off to harmonize on the chorus.

While the two of us had been singing, the rest of the family had filed into the room, watching us perform arguably the best song in all of MLP. I was so lost in the enjoyment of the music that I didn’t even notice the crowd until I heard applause at the conclusion of the song. Embarrassed, I rubbed the back of my head as Coloratura approached me.

“That was pretty good. I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting anyone to join me for that song, but I’m glad you did.”

I coughed, and smiled gratefully. “It happens to be a song that I like a lot.”

“I can tell. You know, you have a nice voice. With some coaching, you could make a career out of performing.”

I smiled my thanks... ...Wait... is she offering...?

At that moment, Panara sat down at the piano, and looked at Ixisten, Percy, Otto, and myself. “You guys want to sing ‘The Rose’?”

Saved by the Momster.

We all gathered around the piano as Panara began to play the familiar chords.

The room filled with the sound of stomping hooves and cheering voices.

Ah, it felt good to sing like that again.

“Y’all are mighty talented. Why, you fellers ought to sing more often.”

“I’d say!” Rainbow Dash staggered into the room, Vivid still clinging to her legs. “You guys sounded awesome!”

Coloratura concurred. “I agree. Families’ voices often blend together well, but you guys have the skill to back it up, too. It’s nice to hear a quartet every once in a while. The only other group I know of that sings like that is the PonyTones. You’ll have to introduce yourselves to them some time.”

Ixisten tilted his head. “The PonyTones? Are they based here in Ponyville?”

“Yes. Actually Rarity is in charge of them. Big Mac and Fluttershy are both members, as well. Isn’t that right, Big Mac?”

“Eeyup.” We all chuckled at the eloquent stallion, and then Applejack spoke up.

“Y’all know any country western music?”

Someone shoot me now.

Author's Note:

(Updated June 15th, 2021) Yet again more dialogue changes here, as well as fixing some of the hyperlinks. I'm sorry that "The Rose" Isn't the one my family did, but we ran into some technological issues, and unfortunately it's been deleted from both my channel and my computer (it's a long story. Let's just say I lost a bunch of stuff a few months ago). All of the original music that was on my Motodrop channel was moved to another channel because I wanted to keep the focus of my channel just on blogs and reviews, so the music was uploaded to a different channel. If you want to see the music that my family and I have put together, here is where I've been uploading it: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEjqsf0FzzDVGJGK8XiX_Zw

You also may have noticed that the song my character sings in the beginning of the story is different. I decided that the lyrics of this song more strongly connected to the emotion my character is feeling at the time, and I've been a huge fan of Toto for a few years now, so I thought it would be fitting.

I'm Motodrop, and a unique perspective is oddly difficult to maintain.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is that Rainbow's mother in the cover art?

[Amos Anon]

9001589
The cover art is all oc's. The one you're probably looking at is Panara. She's based on the personality of my mom.