This story is a sequel to Cupcake Therapy
Just how far is a pony willing to go moved just by the power of music? Dainty Tunes, who's just getting acquainted to his life in Ponyville, is about to find out. After a chance meeting in a pub, he comes across the mysteriously alluring music of a mostly forgotten band, which might awake him to his true calling in this magical world.
This story is many things. It's an ode to the transformative power of music. It's an homage to a band I've loved since my teens. It's the emancipation of a throwaway OC into a full blown character. It's a story of love, camaraderie and self-discovery. It's also a story about the magic of friendship, but I guess you might've seen that coming.
Cover art by myself.
Chapters (9)
Alright, so I admit, I presume that The Town Troop is a real band, or at least a version of one. I presume that they are the band you mentioned in your blog post.
I’ve personally never heard of them. I also can’t find anything when I look them up. They probably just aren’t popular in America, and I’m used to American bands and artists (and of course, the British Invasion, that was an American event too).
That being said, I’m excited to see where this goes.
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Thank you for the interest in the story! I hope it stays exciting as it goes along. This is a story that sprouted spontaneously, with very little planning ahead, so I hope it's as fun to read as it was fun for me to write.
The real life band actually existed in Brazil, which is where I live. I didn't want to give away too much right off the bat, as I thought it would be fun if eventual Brazilian readers would put the pieces together on their own (and if you've never seen how a Brazilian reacts whenever they find a compatriot online, trust me, it's a lot of fun.
) In either case, this is the song that's played in this chapter. "The Town Troop" is a horse pun on the band's name.
Yeah, Grunge copied Punk, Punk copied Rock and Roll, and Rock and Roll copied Country and Jazz. Music is literally just a series of rip-offs with slight altercations to them, but it keeps it alive.
Would The Healing happen to be The Cure by any chance?
Sort of a Queen + Adam Lambert deal.
(Apologies if I’m bringing up too much American bands and British bands, it’s really just me using my own experience.)
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Hey, no worries about bringing up American and English bands! Most music I listen to is from English speaking countries, and this chapter does have a couple of references to such bands (you're correct about The Cure, and "Jolly Section" is also a pun on another post punk band from that period).
What you say about genres copying other genres is also how I think. Other than some very specific cases of straight plagiarism, I don't really worry much how "original" an artist is. Originality is good, but there are many other things that are more important to me. Taste is a very personal thing, after all!
Ohh, it's me! I'm here now!
I still don’t use a metronome. I’ve been playing an e-kit for 3 years and I still don’t use a metronome. As one would expect, I’ve gotten some criticism over my tempo consistency, but who needs one? (I request that you actually use a metronome.)
Also, the whole band rehearsal thing, it’s incredibly accurate. You managed to just include every element of a timed band rehearsal and wrap it up in a little bow. This story is so incredibly realistic. I appreciate that.
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The bit about the metronome was a little bit of mea culpa on my part, as I hate practising with one. When I record my own stuff and with my band (that is, before the pandemic rudely suspended our activities), I'd rather let the tempo drift feely was the song goes. It makes the song more alive, you know? I only play with a click in case of real necessity. But, if I were to play in a band like the one in this story, having a sloppy tempo would be quite a bit of a problem.
I'm glad the story feel realistic, because I really wanted the feeling of putting the reader there with the band, getting a feel for how the process really is. The process of music tends to be quite oversimplified in fiction, or exaggerated for drama; but I wanted that feeling more or less like when Steven Tyler watched This Is Spinal Tap and didn't see what was supposed to be funny, because that's just what playing in a band was really like for him.
I’m glad Dainty realized that the best bands don’t rely on bossing each other around. He was getting incredibly painful to read about for a moment there in the middle of this chapter.
Honestly, I really like this story, I feel like I’m discovering the music along with everyone else. It actually got me interested in actually listening to the band that this story is about, I’ve listened to the first two albums of their stuff, I don’t understand a word of it, but the music’s pretty good.
I’ve been playing the songs on drums as I’m listening to them... and Honey Drop has his work cut out for him. The songs aren’t necessarily technically complicated, but a lot of them are incredibly fast. I’m ready to learn how much his legs are going to burn when they get to the faster stuff.
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It's very rewarding to read your comment! It's odd to think that the chapter being difficult to read should be a good thing, but that was the moment when it started to transcend from a tentative sketch into a real story (keep in mind, I was pretty much improvising the whole thing until this point). It was a fun to write Dainty in this chapter, but rereading it, his conversation with Steel Strings makes me wanna punch him, you know?
It's really lovely to see how you're checking out the band's material because of the story! Legião Urbana is virtually unknown abroad, so I often wonder how someone from outside would hear them with fresh ears (there are translations of the lyrics in external sites if you're curious). The thing with the songs being fast actually kinda shaped my image of Honey Drop as this young stallion with nearly limitless energy, just raw, untamed passion. I love that kid.
I had my suspicions, but the fact that Dainty Tunes and Steel Strings are into each other made me incredibly happy. I always love it when LGBT+ ponies appear, which may have to do with the fact that I’m trans.
Anyways... I’ve never been formally trained on drumset, instead being formally trained in glockenspiel. My justification is basically, if I’ve been playing drums wrong for 3 years, I don’t want to learn how to play them right. I also didn’t expect Pinkie Pie to be the drum teacher, but it makes a lot of sense, honestly.
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You know, what made the thing with Dainty and Steel so beautiful and appealing to me is that it was a completely spontaneous development in the story, which was never planned beforehand, and just struck me as I was mentally sketching out chapter 5 and just seemed obvious after I thought of it. When I started writing the story, Steel Strings was imagined as a very different character, and I didn't imagine he'd grow to be so important. It all happened naturally, and came straight from the heart, but it also has symbolic importance: Renato Russo (the real life Deep Voice) was a bisexual man (and an ardent defender of the rights of minorities), and I am a bisexual man, so the ending of this chapter is a communion of those two facts. It was a very special, beautiful moment for me.
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That's kinda what I love about writing some things spontaneously, sometimes you get a really cool idea and it just makes so much sense for you to implement.
About Renato Russo; I know he died of AIDS, so I figured he was not straight, but I could never figure it out because the English Wikipedia page for Legião Urbana (and Renato Russo) leaves something to be desired, but it's really nice that that. It's quite nice that you included that.
Ah, so they’re being The White Stripes.
This is one of the songs I haven’t listened to yet, is he vocalizing a train beat?
Those ending paragraphs are adorable, but otherwise, I’m very happy that Dainty Tunes can remember some semblance of a past. He’s becoming a real pony!
I love Honey (totally not biased), but there’s no right way to hold a drumstick. I don’t know why he’s been told that, if it works, it works.
I don’t like Honey’s uncle, not only because I’m biased, but because Jazz Rock exists. In the United States, there was a minor movement in the 90’s called Neo-Swing, which is basically Swing Rock, and those drummers are some of the best I’ve heard.
22,000 words, and you kept me interested for every one of them.
I’m starting to really like the members in the band, especially Honey Drop, they’re very distinct in character. It definitely feels like The Ponyville Rag is a band, and I think your experience might help with that, write what you know, I guess.
I also can’t help but wonder if Macramé has some form of high-functioning Autism.
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I must say, the scene with Honey Drop might be my favourite moment in the whole story, not only because Honey became my favourite character of the group, but because there's a powerful message about the responsibility that one carries when they're in a position of "authority". Unfortunately, there's a lot of very traditionalist people out there who will tell you that you're doing something "wrong", and belittle the things that mean a lot to you. The thing with the drumsticks, for example? I've seen something similar happen in real life. Luckily the person took it in stride, but for someone less mature and less convincing, that can be pretty damaging. Overall, I fully agree with you, especially about the different styles of jazz. There's a crazy amount of stuff out there, that it makes no sense to keep thinking of "right" and "wrong". We just have to have open ears and always listen.
It flatters me that the story is so interesting to you, and that you enjoy the characters. I put a lot of my heart in this story, so I'm glad to see it paid off. Regarding Macramé, I took artistic liberty with whatever condition he has, but his communication disability, lack of reciprocity and unpredictable behavior (considering things Hard Fiber has said) put him more on the "low-functioning" end. For me, trying to depict a real world condition in fiction is a very delicate matter (I don't want to misrepresent anything and create wrong impressions about real people), so I was thinking more about his uniqueness in the story and his relevance to Hard Fiber's emotional development and the theme of music (and art in general) as a positive force.
Oh, come on, they’re pretty good. I really enjoyed them, I’ll have to listen to the last album or two of theirs soon.
(Yes, part of the reason I’m called ‘Dashie’ is because I can pretend that people are talking to me when they’re actually referring to Rainbow Dash as a character. I chose this in association, pretty much.)
So, I guess it’s time to give my concluding thoughts.
I really enjoyed this story. It’s one of those stories I know came from a very personal place. The characters are great, and it was nice to see a band so obscure in primarily English-speaking countries (so obscure in fact, I had to rely on the Portuguese Wikipedia page and Google Translate to get a vague, but more complete idea of what Legião Urbana was like when they were around).
It’s very well-done as to actually get me interested and into a band I’d never heard of before. It’s disappointing that this story has so few views, I think you did a very good job.
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Well, thank you for making it all the way through the story, and for making those thoughtful comments. I enjoyed seeing your thoughts, and it's quite awesome that you went out to look for the band because of the story. I suppose I could try advertising the story in some other groups out there, but still, I understand that the appeal of the story is a bit too specific to attract wide attention. Getting genuine attention, like yours, is more important.
About the Dash thing, I just couldn't avoid including that bit, because it was just funny in my head, especially because Pinkie is super funny when she's deadpan. But this also serves another purpose, showing that Dash is the kind of pony who simply is not a fan of the band, and doesn't act like a jerk because of it. And I wanted her to have a humorous bit too, because she's amazing.
All in all, thank you!
just wanted to let you know that ive been reading a lot of fanfic (which i dont normally do) cause im very sick and trying to take my mind off it. although there were times in this story that the pacing was slow and i got frustrated, i still found it incredibly interesting and had no issue finishing it. to me, a person who deeply loves music but has no musical training or education, it was fascinating to read about the minutiae and all the things related to music production and playing and coordinating and creating this wonderful thing we call music.
actually, because so few people seemed to have commented or read it, i was inspired to stop procrastinating making a fimfiction account so i can tell you this. as a writer and artist i know that even one person's validation can mean a lot and affect what you do next.
i don't know if it's my place to give critique, but i think you're a really promising writer, but it's your dialogue you need to work on most. this was a very emotional story and though the emotions were conveyed, when it came to dialogue it felt a little detached or disjoined sometimes. again, sorry if you were not looking for critique, i can't stress enough that this is still a positive comment.
also! i was pleasantly surprised to discover Dainty was LGBTQ (like me). i have a character too that i didn't even realize was LGBTQ+ til it made sense "in the story"
finally, thanks for introducing me to this band, i listened to a couple of tracks and i can see why you love them.
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I apologise it took me so long to reply, as I got considerably sidetracked in the last month or so and didn't check out the site again. But I wish to thank you for the interest in the story, and reassure you that, yes, this is totally the place for critique! I can't tell exactly what you mean with the dialogue being disjointed, so I'm guessing it's just a matter of style? Either way, you're right in sharing your thoughts, and this is the right place to do it, so don't worry!
In fact, Dainty's status is something that wasn't planned, and I realised it during the writing process. I like those decisions that are spontaneous and just make sense when they hit us. When we have those moments of realisation, it's usually better to stick to them!
Anyway, thank you a lot!