Chapter 3
While I was slowly returning from the land of sweet dreams, I heard voices were whispering nearby. “Look at them,” I heard a mare’s voice whispered that had a wild and lively tone to it as I felt a cool breeze brushed lightly on the fur of my belly.
“Don’t be like that. They’re just having some peaceful time together,” another voice whispered. But this one had elegance and maturity in her voice.
“Yeah, right,” the first voice chuckled.
“W-what?” I slurred as I slowly opened my eyes, seeing at the dark starless night sky above through the thick branches of the tree that I was under. When I raised my head to look, I saw two ponies were looking directly at me. I squinted my eyes as the streetlights and the lights in the buildings lit behind them were blinding me. After a few moments of blinking, my eyes finally adjusted to the surrounding. When my vision returned to normal, I saw a white unicorn mare with a lively spiky blue mane who wore a pair of purple shades was grinning at me. The other mare who stood next to the first one was an earth pony who had a light grey coat and long flowing black mane, looking at me with her purple eyes questioningly. I also noticed the second pony wore a pink bow tie.
“W-what time is it?” I groggily asked, looking to my left. I realized that I was lying on the grass on my back as Cotton was soundly asleep in my hooves, resting her head on my shoulders. The drumming of my heartbeat increased at the sight as she too slowly awoke from slumber, groggily looking around her surroundings. Then her eyes locked into mine and a smile cracked on her lips.
“Hi,” she whispered as she let out a small yawn, clearly still in a state of half-asleep.
“Hi,” I whispered back, smiling sheepishly at the mare.
“So,” I heard the first pony’s coughed, gaining my attention as I turned my head to look. “Having fun, huh?” she asked, grinning.
“Vinyl,” the second pony scolded, glaring at the first pony.
“Come on, Octavia. I’m just kidding around,” the mare who I assumed ‘Vinyl’ replied as she let out a chuckle.
“Oh!” I heard Cotton’s voice gasped next to me as she jumped onto her hooves, her face turned into a shade of red. “I-I’m sorry,” she squeaked softly as she looked away with a coy smile on her face.
“U-um,” I started as I slowly stood up; my cheeks were as the same shade as Cotton's. “N-no problem,” I continued as I had a sheepish smile on my face, scratching the back of my neck in embarrassment. Cotton’s horn let out a brown glow as she levitated her white sundress back onto her head, hiding her eyes under it.
“Sorry to intrude your slumber,” ‘Octavia’ I assumed spoke up nervously as she took a step forward. “My name is Octavia,” she continued as she raised a hoof for a hoofshake. “And the unicorn next to me is Vinyl,” she added, smiling.
“I-I’m Saxy Tone,” I replied as I gave her hoof a shake. “And the mare next to me is Cotton,” I continued as I shyly looked at the soft pink mare next to me. I saw Cotton gave a nod upon hearing her name being introduced.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Vinyl spoke up with a grin on her face. Her lips were quivering from stifling something as I looked at her with a questioning eyebrow. “Y-your name is ‘Saxy’?” she asked as she snorted a laugh, trying her best to stifle her giggle.
“Vinyl,” sighed exasperatedly to her partner’s impoliteness, glaring at the white unicorn.
“No, it’s okay. I’m used to it since some ponies think the name is ‘funny’,” I said with a dull grin on my face. “Yes,” I replied, looking at Vinyl as I gave her a nod. “My name is Saxy.”
“Bahahaha!” Vinyl barked out a laugh as she fell on to her back, clutching her side. “It... It... It sounds like ‘sexy’,” she said between laughs, the corner her eyes were tearing up.
“Vinyl, don’t be like that. That’s rude,” Octavia hissed, glaring at the laughing mare.
“No, it’s fine. I’m used to it. Trust me,” I said with a small smile tugged on my lips as I looked at Octavia.
“Forgive my friend,” she said as she gave her head a slight bow apologetically while her eyes still stabbing daggers at the laughing mare next to her. Then, I felt something tugged on my tail. I looked next to me and saw Cotton was standing beside me. Her eyes were still hidden under the sundress hat but I saw she was biting her lips as I heard a soft grumble emanated from her. We haven’t had dinner yet, I thought to myself as I also felt hunger slowly came crushing down on me.
“We better get going,” I mumbled to the other ponies as I picked up my saxophone case which silently leaned against the tree.
“Wait,” Vinyl spoke up as she slowly stood onto her hooves, wiping a tear from her eyes. “Let us buy you guys some dinner,” she offered with a wide grin on her face.
“Good idea, Vinyl,” Octavia finally beamed as a smile spread onto her lips. “Yes, we were just about to head to get some dinner when we accidentally came across with you two,” she explained as she looked at us, smiling.
“But I don’t have money on me,” I replied, looking at them with a worried expression.
“You don’t have to, we’re paying,” Vinyl spoke up as she brushed her mane with a hoof, grinning at me.
“Why?” Cotton finally spoke up next to me; her face was riddled with questions.
“Well, for disturbing such a cute couple in their sleep,” Vinyl chuckled with an amused smile on her face.
“W-we’re not...” I started, nervously spoke up but... I went silent because I didn’t hear any protest from Cotton. When I looked at her, she was lowering her head as she silently blushed next to me with a smile on her face.
“So, we’re eating in that place,” Vinyl said as she pointed at a building behind her. I looked over her shoulder and saw there was a small and expensive looking restaurant just across the street. There were ponies who wore expensive suits and dresses trotting in and out the restaurant. The sign ‘La Lush’ were nailed on the front roof of the restaurant.
“Are you sure?” I asked, looking at her with a questioning eyebrow.
“Positive,” Octavia answered with a nod, softly smiling at us.
“Alright, let’s go,” Vinyl cheered as she walked towards the restaurant behind her. I saw Octavia gave an inviting nod as she followed her friend from behind.
“Come on,” I whispered to Cotton. She gave a nod and began to follow the other ponies. I picked up my saxophone case that was sitting next to my hooves and walked towards the fancy looking restaurant.
The sound of the soothing piano song chimed into my ears as we entered the restaurant. The song was light-hearted and cheerful yet it had a hidden emotional depth in it as I could see the notes rolling around in the air like excited puppies running around in the lush green garden. The song kept on playing in the background as we continued to walk into the restaurant. I looked around the room that we were in and noticed it was certainly a fancy and expensive restaurant. The walls had white wallpaper and gold-trim along the bottom and the top of the wall. The ceiling had a big picture of Celestia’s golden sun and Luna’s silver moon painted in an artistic style onto it that only can be done by a very talented painter.
Golden chandeliers hung throughout the restaurant and a small statuette of the two rulers of Equestria stood in the middle of the room. There were rows of tables in front of us that were decorated into perfection. I saw lots silverware glimmered under the light. “Let me handle this,” Octavia spoke up as she walked towards a pony that stood behind the reception table. The pony wore a black suit with a black bow tie. He was a light yellow coated earth stallion with a sleek black mane.
“Octavia could get us a table,” I heard Vinyl whispered as she looked at her friend.
“May I help you with that, sir?” A voice popped out behind me as I quickly jumped, turning around with my eyes widened in shock. I saw a unicorn stallion who looked almost just like the one who stood behind the reception table except the one in front of me had a grey coat and a white sleek mane, wearing the same uniform. The stallion had the same surprised expression that I had on my face.
“H-huh?” I mumbled as I felt my jaw began to sore from carrying my saxophone case.
“Your case, sir,” the pony replied as he regained his composure, standing in a professional manner with his head held up high and stood as high as he can.
“O-oh,” I said as I set the case down. He nodded and his horn let out a gentle green glow, levitating my case into the air as he trotted away. “W-wait, where is he ta--,” before I could finished, I was interrupted by a giggle from Vinyl.
“He’s just taking your stuff at the baggage area at the back,” Vinyl explained with a grin, looking towards me over her shoulder.
“Right,” I heard Octavia spoke up, approaching us. “The waiter will take us to our seat,” she continued as she gave us a smile. Then she turned around and followed our waiter to our seats. We all nodded to each other and followed behind.
Our table was exceptionally big. Cotton was sitting to my left and across from me was Vinyl whereas Octavia was next to her. Our waiter from before set the menu on our table and pulled out a notepad from his jacket, waiting for our orders. To be honest, it was the first time I ever been into a fancy restaurant and I was completely dependent to our new acquaintance to help us settle the things in the restaurant.
“Just give us your special salad and the best bottle of wine you got,” Vinyl said as her horn let out a purple glow, levitating the menu back towards our waiter for the night.
“I-I don’t drink,” I stammered, raising a hoof in protest with a sheepish smile on my face.
“Well...” Octavia started, looking at me with a questioning eyebrow. “What do you want to drink then?” she asked.
“Just a glass of plain water would be fine,” I said, looking at the waiter. He nodded and trotted passed me – assuming the kitchen was behind us.
“So,” Vinyl started as she rested her head onto her hooves, exchanging looks between Cotton and me. “What do you do for a living?”
“Vinyl,” Octavia whispered slowly with an angry tone, glaring at her friend.
“It’s fine,” Cotton spoke up, smiling as she kept her gaze on the table. “I work as a manager and owner of a local diner,” she answered with a sheepish grin, tentatively looking at our company. Well, I don’t blame her. We were in the presence of somepony who might be a celebrity or somepony important. Paying for four ponies in a restaurant as fancy as this can't be cheap.. If an owner of a local diner would have a slight embarrassment in stating her job, it would be even more shameful of me as I was a beggar who played saxophone to earn money on the side of the street.
“I see,” Octavia mumbled as she nodded in thought.
“How about you ‘Saxy’?” Vinyl asked me with an amused grin.
“I’m... a.. saxophone player,” I admitted, blushing as I kept my stare on the table.
“Oh, really?” Octavia spoke up; her eyes sparkled in interest as I saw Vinyl nodded with her grin still intact.
“Yes,” I nodded.
“Who do you work for?” Octavia asked, looking at me with a questioning eyebrow and an inspecting eye.
“I don’t work for anypony... yet,” I answered as I played with the tablecloth, keeping my gaze away from them.
“Are you looking for somepony to work with?” I heard Vinyl asked while I twirled the tablecloth underneath.
“Yes!” I exclaimed excitedly, my head instantly perked as I felt a big smile tugged onto my face. But then... I suddenly felt every eyes in the restaurant bore into me, making me uncomfortable. I slowly sunk back under the table with a sheepish smile on my face as I heard a soft giggle from beside me.
“Well, I know a music producer who wants to find a musician with talent lately,” Octavia mumbled, rubbing her chin in thought. “Do you have a demo record?” she asked, looking at me questioningly with an eyebrow raised.
“A-a demo record?” I asked return, giving her a confused look that was plastered on my face as I tilted my head slightly.
“Yes,” Octavia nodded.
“I don’t think I have one,” I mumbled, my hope quickly deflated as my ears drooped onto my head.
“How about this,” Vinyl started with a smirk on her face, raising an eyebrow. “You show us how beastly you are with a sax right now, and we’ll give the producer a letter to give you a chance,” she continued as she leaned closer on her hooves. I nervously looked at Cotton next to me and I saw she was smiling. She gave me an encouraging nod with a warm smile plastered across her face. I nodded to her in return, nervously swallowed a lump in my throat.
“Fine,” I said, looking at Vinyl. At that point, I felt my fore hooves were shaking and my heart was hammering in my chest. My eyes darted in every direction in anxiety.
“Good,” Vinyl chuckled as she leaned back onto her chair. I saw her head quickly scanned around the restaurant for our waiter. “You!” she yelled, pointing at the waiter pony who startled me earlier. “Grab me his saxophone,” she continued as she yelled with a grin on her face. I think she knew that everypony in the restaurant was looking at her but for some reason... she liked the attention. I heard Octavia sighed as she shook her head in exasperation.
“Good luck,” Cotton whispered to me, leaning towards me with an encouraging smile on her face.
“Thanks,” I whispered back, trying my best to smile under the massive pressure.
“Here you go, sir,” the waiter pony spoke up, startling me once again as I jumped on my chair. I clutched my chest as I felt my heart nearly popped out from my chest, taking deep breaths to calm my nerves.
“T-thank you,” I breathed as I jumped off the chair. The waiter nodded and trotted to the other patrons in the restaurant behind me. I bent down and opened my case with a click. My bronze saxophone glimmered under the restaurant’s light, making me slightly more relaxed. I put on the strap over my shoulder as I stood on my hind legs. I placed my hooves onto the keys and my lips onto the mouthpiece. I heard whispers of ponies broke around me, closing my eyes.
I took a deep breath and slowly poured my soul as the notes started to flow out from my saxophone. The notes floated throughout the restaurant, gracing them with a slow and soothing sound of sweet jazz. I felt myself getting calmer as I played my instrument, recollecting the precious moments that I had with Cotton under the tree. I swayed side to side, mixing my soul, my heart and music into one with a wide smile on my face as I imagined Cotton’s warm smile.
I bobbed my head in a beat as I was immersed fully into the melody and rhythmically tapped my hoof. My hip swayed as my slow music progressed into a much livelier tone as I poured more and more soul into it. I opened my eyes and saw all the ponies were dancing on the restaurant floor with smiles on their face. I smiled and looked at Cotton. She was closing her eyes, swaying her body side to side as she listened to my sweet sweet music. I noticed Octavia was doing the same thing while Vinyl looked at me with a grin, bobbing her head. I closed my eyes once again, preparing myself for the big finish. I shook my head as I was feeling the melody caressed my body, sending chills up my spine. Then, I slowed down the melody, returning once more in a slow and smoothing pace. I gave a final blow as I ended the ended the song in a smooth finish.
I heard the sound of ponies stomping their hooves and cheering around me as I opened my eyes. All of the ponies in the restaurant were standing around me, praising me on my performance. I gave them a bow, smiling at their response. With that, all of them returned to their seats as I heard they were whispering about me. “Well,” I heard Vinyl started as I carefully placed my saxophone back into its case, closing it with a click. “I think the producer is going to like you,” she said with an amused grin.
“He certainly will,” Octavia chimed in, smiling at me.
“That was wonderful,” Cotton purred as she looked at me with an excited smile plastered on her face.
“T-thank you,” I stammered, grinning sheepishly at the praise that I got from them. It was the first time that I ever performed in front of that many ponies even if I played at the side of the streets. I felt... fulfilled. I sat back on the chair next to Cotton with a wide grin on my face.
“That was a good show, sir,” I heard the voice of the waiter who stood at the reception table spoke up next to me as he picked up my saxophone case with a smile on his face.
“Thank you,” I said as I nodded, grinning sheepishly.
“No, thank you,” he nodded back with a wide smile as he trotted towards the baggage area.
“It seems you got yourself a few fans,” Vinyl commented as she leaned back, smiling. “We’ll have to keep in touch,” she continued as her horn glowed with purple magic, levitating a business card towards me. “I’m a local Dj and Octavia here,” she began as she pointed to the mare next to her. “Is a well-known cellist.” I nodded silently and took a look at the card. It has their names on it and an address that I didn’t know about.
“Do you know where this is?” I whispered as I leaned closer to Cotton, showing her the card. She gave the card an inspecting eye, nodding in thought.
“It’s a place not far from here. I think they live in a hotel nearby,” she explained as she whispered back, looking at me.
“I see,” I replied as I gave the card another look. “Fantasia Castle Street,” I muttered under my breath, reading the address.
“Your dinner, fillies and gentlecolts,” I heard a voice announced. I turned to look and saw the previous waiter was pushing a food cart next to our table. He placed our food in front of us as well as our silverware. Honestly, I don’t know why fancy restaurants even need such large numbers of silverware. All I saw was different sizes of forks, spoons and knives set in front of me. Then the waiter placed wine glasses to the mares while I got a glass of water – not that I am complaining since I never drink. Then I heard a soft pop as the waiter uncork a wine bottle. The powerful scent of wine wafted into the air as he poured it into the waiting glasses, filling them in equal large amounts.
“To new friends,” Vinyl announced as she raised her wine glass in a toast.
“To new friends,” Octavia repeated, lightly touched the glass together with a clank. From there, dinner started. We all had a few chat while we were eating our dinner but... things got crazy when Cotton and Vinyl started to drink a tad more wine than they should. They began to converse in a language that I never heard as they slurred every word from their mouth, giggling and laughing for no apparent reasons. Octavia and I were hiding our face behind the menu as the shenanigans continued into the night.
After we think that we had enough of the two drunkards making a fool of themselves, we decided to part. Octavia and I had fair share of difficulty of carrying two drunken ponies to their homes. I had to let Cotton rest on my back all the way to her apartment. I’ll tell you: it was hard to unlock a door with a key when I had to carry my saxophone case and an asleep pony on my back who often moves in their sleep.
After an aggravating moment of fumbling the keys, I finally unlocked the door with a click as I quickly switched on the lights. I carefully set my saxophone case down next to the door as I didn’t want to wake Cotton up and swiftly headed into her room. Cotton’s room was almost as big as the main room. Across from me were her double bed which had pink covers – go figure -- and a large window above the headboard. The moon’s silver glow streamed through it, lighting the interior of the room in a soothing and gentle bluish glow.
Along her soft yellow wallpapered walls on my right were more pictures of her and her family. I gingerly trotted next to her bed as I slipped her off of me. She was mumbling something incoherent, rolling in her bed. I smiled, shaking my head. As I turned around and started to trot away, I felt my tail was tugged for the second time today. I looked over my shoulder and saw Cotton was sitting up as her glistening eyes looked at me and her lips quivered under the moonlight that beamed from the window behind her. Cotton’s horn had a brown glow around it, magically tugged my tail towards her.
“Stay with me,” she said softly with her head lowered. I still felt her magic was still wrapped around my tail, pulling me closer. I let out a sigh as I trotted next to her. She still had her white sunflower gown and white sundress on as she kept her gaze onto the bed with a solemn look on her face.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered as I tried to look at her eyes.
“Are you leaving me?” she asked in a raspy voice. I could see a pearl of tear dropped from her eyes as it reflected the silver glow of the moon.
“No, I’m just heading to the living room. That’s all,” I whispered as I pulled on her chin to look at me, gazing into her glistening brown orbs. “I’m not going to leave you,” I said with a smile. Then, without any warning, our lips touched and my eyes widened in shock. My heart skipped a beat and I felt blood rushed into my cheeks as I saw her face was so close to mine with her eyes closed. I felt her soft lips touched mine, tasting the taste of wine on her lips and her hot breath brushed against my cheeks.
She broke off the kiss with a smile, looking at me with half-lidded eyes. “You’re mine now,” she whispered as she backed away. With that she flopped her body onto the bed, soundly asleep. I was just... standing there. I didn’t know how I should react. I knew I liked her but this... this was too fast. I slowly backed away, didn’t know what I should do or even to feel. I softly closed her bedroom door and absentmindedly trotted towards the couch. I flopped my body onto it, looking at the orange light above me. I closed my eyes as I let out a shuddering sigh.
“What should I do now?” I asked nopony in particular. The feeling of happiness, confusion and fear started to mix into one. “I think she was just drunk, that’s all,” I said to myself, trying to convince myself that whatever happened in her bedroom was just the wine acting on her mind, clouding her judgments. But somehow... that reason made my heart to ache even more. With that, I forced myself to sleep and tried my best to whisk the feelings away.
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The music that inspired me during writing this were:
Just Be Friends -Piano Ver-
Kobayashi Kaori - Nothing's Going To Change My Love For You
As before, good chapter! Also, I have a song that you might like for jazz, http://open.spotify.com/track/4jwB4Q1p6Pu3NkpxPKC4xR
It's a more club jazz cover of All the Things You Are by Dizzy Gilespie
1860444
Thank you, my good man.
Did you listen to the song? It's pretty good, but it's jazz, so what can be bad about it?
1860550
I did, it's pretty good. I bobbed my head to it.
But then, I headbanged to this. I'm pretty much interested any instrumental that grab my attention longer than 1 minute.
Have you considered listening to concert Cello?
1860565
No, I haven't.
Give it a try sometime. Anyway, I'm eagerly awaiting chapter 4!
1860570
I'll give it a gander or two later on.
Well, I'm just waiting for inspiration to strike me in the ol' noggin.
Allow me *smacks over the head with the back of my hand* anything?
1860581
Sorry
I...I just wanted to help....I just don't know what went wrong....
1860598
1860609
Forgiven.
Well, I guess it is time for me to roam youtube for some inspiration. See you around, lad.
Fondest of partings
and one more for good measure