Migraines

by SwiperTheFox

Chapter One Part Eight

“EEP!” he squealed. He heard a familiar sounding voice whispering, “Guess who?” Raspberry shifted over and twisted around. Knack stood in front of him, leaning upwards and making his typically devious expression.

“Great to see you again,” Knack said, “I’ve been looking around for a while now. But we’re just in time.”

“You!” Raspberry remarked, and he tapped Knack’s right shoulder, “You set me up for a freaking concert… in just ONE WEEK? Already? When I haven’t even met the band?”

Knack shrugged, and then he leaned a bit closer. He said, “I’m in the business of giving people what they want. And you’ve already got set up with room and board as well as a cushy job, haven’t you?”

Raspberry stared at the ground. Well, damn, he’s got me there…

“And you would have met the band a while ago if you weren’t spending all of this time sightseeing,” Knack said, and he leaned against Raspberry’s right, “So why don’t we get started, already?”

They walked down Market Street back towards the music supply store. Raspberry could keep down all of the butterflies in his stomach. So what, if I don’t perform well— then I’m going to be booted right out homeless and penniless on the street? I guess that’s obvious. He’s a freaking manager, not a charity worker. It isn’t kindness that lets you bend the bitches backward.

“You’re really going to like them,” Knack said, “I just can sense it immediately. You’re all cut out of the same cloth. I know you’re like them, call it instinct.”

Instinct... if I’m supposed to trust my instinct above all else, then I’d say that this whole damn thing is a total waste of time. And I should be getting my ass to Everfree Forest. Raspberry replied, “Okay, sure…”

Before too long, they faced the storefront. Knack paused, and then he motioned his front hooves as if doing a magic trick. The door seemed to open up by itself. Impressed, Raspberry walked through. He then spotted that Dawn was just there behind the door holding it open.

“Now then,” said Knack, “Feast your eyes on… The Attractions!” Raspberry looked blankly at the two ponies standing in the middle of the store.

“First,” Knack said, “Say ‘hello’ to Scouse. He’s on drums, but he also dabbles in both bass and guitar.”

“Though, I more than ‘dabble’,” Scouse muttered, and the shook his left hoof with Raspberry. Scouse looked much shorter and a bit younger than most colts Raspberry had seen. Light gray spots littered all across his darker, charcoal gray body. He had a flat looking dark brown mane. He wore nothing except for a black belt with two large dark grey pockets, both crammed full. Scouse’s cutie mark seemed to be nothing more than a white circle with a white arrow pointing to it, which Raspberry found perplexing. Something about his accent also stuck in Raspberry’s mind— a light, chipper sound combined with Scouse’s emphasis on his ‘t’s.

“Second, give a friendly ‘hi’ to Spirit Flash,” Knack said, “He can do things with a bass that other ponies wouldn’t even dream of. Fine guitar player as well, of course.”

Flash gave a pseudo-salute with his left hoof, and then he shook his right hoof with Raspberry. Flash’s seemed exactly the same height, age, and size as Raspberry. He even wore a fancy sort of vest with that same peculiar shiny white, creamy color as Raspberry’s suit— although without any chest hair poking out. Flash had a short dark yellow mane. Bright orange-yellow stripes looking like a flurry of lightning bolts coated his otherwise pale yellow body. In Raspberry’s mind, Flash appeared like Willy Wonka’s take on a zebra. His cutie mark, which was a white tower shooting out three lightning bolts designed in a way that the whole thing looked like a peace symbol, fit pretty well in Raspberry’s mind.

“And last, but certainly not…” Knack said, motioning to an empty spot on the floor beside the ponies. “Not… least…”

“Hey, hey, Leo’s on break,” Flash said, and he seemed to Raspberry to have this bouncy, poppy quality to his voice, “Remember?”

“Break…” Knack muttered, and then he turned around and shoved his face right up against Flash’s. “Since when have I paid you to just sit on your rears and stare at the wall? Since when has he— oh, for crying out loud—”

“Didn’t we agree we’d have…” began Scouse, and then Knack spun around. Knack glared at Scouse, who had went on, “The mid-evening before dinner as… break… time…”

Scouse’s voice had grown more and more faint. “BREAK!” yelled Knack, “Oh yes, since he’s too shy to bother to show up here whenever something is ACTUALLY HAPPENING. He’s fine with hanging out when it’s totally dead, oh yes, when clock-milking is the song of the hour. But not moments like now. Oh, yeah…”

Raspberry tuned out very quickly as Scouse popped a few words in between Knack’s rants. Raspberry waved his right hoof in the air softly to Knack, who glanced back and seemed to wave him away. It looked clear enough like an invitation to leave, and then Raspberry backed away through the back exit. He stood in the corridor in-between the stairs to the apartments and the entrance to the back alleyway. Raspberry detected some kind of fluffy, feminine giggle.

He moved over to the back door, and then he opened it a tad. He didn’t see or hear anything. He went back inside, and then he stepped up the stairs back into his room. He leaned himself against his bed and took a deep breath.

“You know…” said a voice from outside. Raspberry walked out to the window, and then he spotted a filly and a colt in the alleyway right below him. They seemed to gaze ever deeper into each other’s eyes.

“The key is that, after all, you just have to think and feel it— then it happens,” said the colt, and Raspberry strained to have a better look of him, “It’s not really the pressure. It’s technique. You have that thing you want so close, you’re rubbing it so deeply in between the edges of your hoof—”

“Surrrrrrre,” the filly squealed back. She wore a bright blue dress with a short, frilly blue skirt that seemed to hike ever up her legs as she shifted in place. Raspberry thought it complemented her soft, pale blue body perfectly. Even from a distance, he thought that mellow looking color appeared so silky and so delicate. Her dark blue mane was cut short, and with her solid white hat on as well she seemed to have this tomboy aura.

“Rubbing it, poking it, prodding it,” the colt said, “Making sure that it’s as close and intimate to you as possible. The lines blur. And then that thing you want is totally yours.”

“Of course,” replied the filly.

“Then,” the colt said, and he motioned his front hooves, “You just flutter from fret to fret, totally in control. It looks fast, but in your heart it feels perfectly smooth and slow. Your flesh is pressed in so deep—”

“So deep,” the filly said, rubbing her legs together and putting on a huge grin.

“So deep, and yet thrusting so powerfully. And that’s what it’s all about,” he finished, smiling back at her. “So, I take it you’re convinced that you want private lessons.”

“Of course I do,” she replied, and she tilted her head back. “I just can’t really come over in the daytime, and at night I know that my brother doesn’t want me to hang out with another band.”

“That’s…” the colt muttered, rubbing his head with his hooves.

“Tell you what,” she said, and she turned around to face the rest of the alleyway, “Come on by at twilight or so at the bakery. Crush is nothing if not bored out of his mind at closing, so he’ll wander away. Then, I’d love to see absolutely everything you can teach me after he’s gone. Everything.”

“It’s a—” the colt started to say, and then he paused.

Raspberry muttered to himself, “So she’s so damn skittish that you’re not even going to say ‘date’? Hahahaha… silly girls with the appetites of boys…”

The filly walked away down the alleyway, and her skirt continued to hike up with each step. He leaned out for a better view. He could see that the colt also wanted a good picture of that plot. As she stepped off into Market Street, pausing a moment to right her clothes back, Raspberry turned straight down.

The colt’s body was a combination of light grey and light brown. He didn’t wear a thing except for a small black satchel-like thing on his right side. He had a curly, thick brown mane with a huge tail of the same color. Most of all, Raspberry noticed his cutie mark. It seemed huge, covering so much of the colt’s flank. It was a big black musical note, some kind of fancy clef, with a red rose going through it. Hmmm… Fitting, I guess…

“THERE!” yelled a voice right beside Raspberry’s head. Raspberry screamed a little in surprise.

“There’s the little weasel,” said Knack. Then, he leaned far out to holler, “HEY! LEO!”

“WHAT!” Leo screamed back.

“This is the colt I was talking about!” Knack yelled. He clamped Raspberry with both of his front hooves, and then Knack held part of him like the window— as if Raspberry was some kind of trophy. “It’s Raspberry Star!”

Leo stared up without saying anything for a moment. Then, he cupped his mouth with his hooves and yelled, “You look pretty cool!”

“Thanks!” Raspberry screamed back.

“I can’t wait to burn through some riffs with you and also hear you sing myself!” Leo hollered.

“Why are we yelling instead of you coming here and us talking?” shouted Raspberry.

“Because I’m stupid!” Leo replied. He made a duckface and then shrugged. Leo sped back into the building. Knack and Raspberry trotted down the stairs. Leo gazed at Raspberry, who was about the same size but rather taller than Leo.

Leo seemed to like what he saw, and they happily shook hooves. Knack wordlessly prodded them back over to the door into the main room. Raspberry and Leo moved over to the center of the space, and they sat next to Flash and Scouse.

“Get ready!” yelled Knack. He leaned down and braced himself in suspense. “For!” He bucked himself into the air. “MAGIC!” He swung his front hooves to make an imaginary rainbow in the air.

The four colts looked blankly back. Knack stepped backwards towards the exit. He popped himself halfway through the door, and then he stuck his head and front hooves back out again.

“MAGIC!” he repeated, and he made another imaginary rainbow. Then, he shut the door and the colts heard footsteps going upstairs.

“I wonder what he’s doing up there…” Raspberry asked to nobody in particular.

“I’m sure he’s going to have sex with Blackberry June again,” Scouse replied quietly. The three members of the Attractions then all turned and looked at Raspberry. He felt himself cornered, and he seemed to almost shrink a few inches. Their eyes felt like laser beams cutting up his insides.

“My…” Leo began, searching for words. “My friend, what do you play?” Leo flashed what looked to Raspberry like a ‘winning smile’ in the vein of Charlie Sheen.

“Uhhh…” Raspberry began, “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Flash repeated.

“Nothing,” Raspberry said again. The colts kept staring at him. Leo’s smile had been wiped off. Scouse made a quite cough.

“Ummm…” Leo began, glancing downward.

“Look, do you guys have a triangle I ca—” Raspberry began, and then he spotted it atop a stool to his right. He picked it up with his right hoof and clanged it around. “I can do this. Plus, I could…” He glanced around, and then he spotted some maracas on the floor in front of the drum set that was behind him. Raspberry tossed them over to himself using his magic. “I can shake these.”

No response came from the colts. Raspberry let the triangle and the maracas go— continuing to clang and bang in the air with his magic. “And… I can… do… squiggly arms,” Raspberry said, and he stood up. He threw both of his front hooves to his sides, and then he twisted them rhythmically in the air as if he was being wrestled by a giant anaconda.

“Oh, yeah. Squiggly arms. Oh, yeah,” he said as the maracas and the triangle starting flying about his head, “Let’s do it. Squiggly arms. Oh, yeah. Go Squiggly. GO SQUIGGLY!”

Flash made a snorkeling sound, and then the three colts burst out laughing. Scouse almost seemed to keel over from his giggles. Leo reached over and tapped Raspberry on his right side.

“I just, I just knew I’d like you,” he said, smiling again from ear to ear.

“Sure…” Raspberry replied. AUUUUUGH! What the hell am I supposed to do?! I’ve never played drums, bass, or guitar in my entire life. Except for in the past hour. But that TOTALLY doesn’t count! The members of the Attractions had all walked over to their instruments on the stage in the back of the room. Raspberry then stepped over, taking big strides. Okay… okay… think, dumbass, think! Put that master’s degree in use! Oh sure, it was in economics… but still, THINK!

Raspberry had walked right beside Leo. Leo had sat on a small, faded red chair with several tears in it, and Leo had the Flying V clutched tightly in his hooves. Leo tipped his head at Raspberry. Okay… nope. He seriously looks like he knows what he’s doing. I’m not going to step on his toes. Flash stood up on his hind hooves a few feet to their right, and he shot a glance at Raspberry.

Raspberry walked back past him as well. He looks… hungry. Geez, that face. It’s like the face of a goddamn rapist or something… No thanks! Raspberry looked right in front of him. The process of elimination left drums. It seemed somehow to feel right. Well that’s… got to the easiest, right? I mean, all you do is sit and bang things with sticks. It’s so easy caveman did it. No, dumbass, it’s not that easy! Well, I don’t have much choice now do I!?

Scouse stood beside the drum set with an excruciatingly bored expression on his face. Scouse waved over his left hoof like a consort welcoming a king to his throne, and then Scouse sidestepped a few feet away. Raspberry hopped on top of the large black stool.

“Piano,” Scouse said flatly. Leo and Flash repeated the word in monotones. They then looked back at Raspberry. Raspberry had been staring at the two sticks resting on top of the kick drum in front of him. How... the HELL… did I pick these up with the first time? When I have a pair of… goddamn hooves… He reached out with his right hoof and then rubbed the sticks.

He squinted a bit. Nothing seemed to happen. He took a deep breath, and then he tried to curl the tips of the end of his hoof. He picked them up a half an inch, and then he dropped them again. He tried a second time, and then they managed to stick to the end of his hoof. He motioned over with his right hoof, and in just a moment he had managed to hold both sticks up. He took a sigh of relief.

“So… how do you want to get started?” asked Leo, who had been swinging left and right in his chair.

“How about you guys start!” Raspberry sputtered. He calmed himself, and then he went on. “I’ll try to go along. Just... Just… start with whatever tune you want to run through. We’ll just be doing this right now for fun.” Fun, oh joy… what fun this will be…

“How about Mare-Do-Well?” Scouse asked— randomly plinking some of the C keys.

“I. HATE. THAT. SONG,” Flash yelled, and he held his bass away from himself. He recoiled as if the bass was some kind of alien monster.

“Take a deep breath, okay,” Leo said, “I’m sure that we already knew that the three-thousand, two-hundred and eighty-sixth time you said it.”

“You play that again, I’m just doing arpeggios for the entire four minutes,” Flash said, and he strapped the bass guitar back on.

“Look, it doesn’t have to be anything,” Leo said, “We’re just seeing how we sound together.”

“Of course it has to be something,” Scouse replied, still plinking those keys, “It doesn’t matter how well we like each other. We still have to perform together, and that’ll be playing super known pop songs.”

“It’s NOT EVEN that well known of a blasted song!” Flash screamed.

“Okay, okay!” Leo said. He jumped out of the chair and faced Flash and Scouse. “We don’t— we don’t have— we have literally all of the songs in the blasted world to choose from here!”

“Life in Manehatten then,” Flash muttered, and he plucked a few strings.

“Oh, wow,” Scouse said, and he stopped plinking to put his head in his hooves. He raised his voice, and went on. “You know, you and your girlfriend are the only ponies in the entire city who like that song.”

“There’s no accounting for taste,” Flash replied, folding his hooves.

“It’s not even fair to call it a ‘song’,” Scouse said, looking over at the two colts, “It’s a funeral dirge with a smattering of mindless solos.”

“Whatever!” Flash hollered.

“You are not seriously considering making at attempt at that monstrosity,” Scouse replied, “In front a shopper’s crowd, are you?”

“That’s not important at the moment,” Leo said, “At the moment it just… it…”

“What does it matter about the blasted shoppers and their PATHETIC little dresses and their PATHETIC little hats and their—” Flash interrupted his own ranting, and then said, “Look, we play good music, don’t we? That’s why we’re here.”

“But we—” Scouse began.

“We play good music, right!” Flash yelled.

“We—” Scouse began again.

“GOOD blasted music with a GOOD blasted sound of a GOOD skill and GOOD ability, don’t we!” Flash yelled, and he started hopping up and down in anger.

Scouse slammed both hooves on the piano, and then he turned to face Flash directly. “Now wait…”

“We…” Flash began.

“Wait just one moment!” Scouse interrupted, “We play pop music for the shopping masses. Okay?” Scouse stepped over by Flash. “For the masses. Got it?” He clenched his teeth with the words.

“Look, just,” Leo said, walking over with his guitar still in his hooves, “Just wait…”

“We play,” Flash said, clenching his teeth and restraining a huge scream in every word, “Good music.”

The band-mates were locked in a staring match. “Flash, for crying out loud, you already know he’s right,” Leo said, ruffling his thick hair with his right hoof.

“You don’t tell me what to do!” Flash said, twirling around.

“I’m not telling—” Leo began.

“Yes. You. ARE!” Flash said. He picked his bass up and held it atop his head. “This is a crying example of what I’ve been saying over and over again. Here you are, pretending as if you’re the band leader.”

“I’m just not… at ALL… trying to do that,” Leo muttered, scrunching his hooves in front of him.

“We’ve just left the train out of bossy-town, and now we’re all the way to passive-aggressive-ville,” Flash said, and then he pumped his left hoof up and down with a ‘Whoo-Whoo’ sound.

“Flash, you know he’s more than got a point,” Scouse said.

“There you go again, sucking up to bring it all back over again. Oh wow,” Flash sputtered, and then he turned back around to stare face to face with Scouse. “You just don’t understand… that all I can…”

“How about Mirror, Mirror?” Leo interrupted.

“NO!” the colts screamed simultaneously.

“Uh,” Leo hesitated, scuffing his head pretty hard with both hooves, “What about Yellow Stuffin’?”

“No!” Flash yelled.

“Romp in the Hay?” asked Leo. Scouse dropped his head down to the floor, and Flash smacked his head.

“Mare in the Moon?” Leo asked. Scouse puckered his face up while Flash let out an angry sigh.

“Blue Sugar Sky?” Leo asked. Scouse stared blankly while Flash hopped upwards. Flash stepped over and headed right to where Leo stood.

Leo pressed the sides of his face together with his hooves, squeezing down. He said through his fish-face, “Okay, seriously, look… maybe we should just suck it up and do Mare-Do-Well.”

“How about,” Flash said while smacking his right hoof against Leo’s left side, “You. Just. Shut. Up.”

“Well. How. About—” Leo began.

“Oooooh,” Flash cooed in a fake girly voice. He jumped up in the air, twirled his arms, and began prancing. “Ooooh… Mare-do-well!”

“Mare-do-well, mare-do-well, prissy little mare-do-well” he sang, and he stood running in place, “Mare-do-well flies and Mare-do-well cries, OH MY!”

“I know the song sucks!” Leo hollered, “Of course it’s for little fillies so it has to suck. BUT, why don’t you just go ahe—”

Flash snapped out of his reverie and flung back into Leo’s face. He yelled, “And, twerp, why don’t you—”

Leo yelled back, “WELL, MORON, YOU SHOULD—”

A rolling crescendo of drums sounded. With a loud ‘tap-thump- tap-thump- tap-thump- tap-thump- tap-thump- tap-thump- tap-thump’, the colts all sat back down. They turned around to look at Raspberry.

“Guys, seriously!” Raspberry shouted, “What is this— the freaking Troggs Tapes? Aren’t we here for just a little practicing?”