Melodies of a Valorous Vagabond

by Smooth Tones

Reunion

So after three years, a few other ponies that I were my friends decided to try and help out my... em... condition I believe is the word they used. I don’t know the exact details but what I do know is that they somehow got in touch with Color and arranged to have me go stay with him. It was meant to be a temporary arrangement as simply as way to get my mind back on track, but of course that didn’t turn out to be the case. In my mind at first I thought this was just their last ditch resort of getting rid of me before I did something really stupid that they would need to take care of. So I boarded a train bound for Canterlot, with only the knowledge of a house number and that there was a “surprise” waiting there.

Just thought I would give you a heads up that this is where my part in the other story comes in. From here on out I will be retelling the events of the family I’ve come to know over the past... who knows how long it’s been now. If you would like to continue reading, by all means do. There are times in here I’ll be able to reiterate or even explain for the first time. Bottom line is, you may have read some of these things before. Then again you may not have. Anyway... where was I?

So after a long train ride from Fillydelphia I arrived in Canterlot. It was my first time in this city and as much as I had traveled before, I was disoriented. It didn’t help either that it was so close to Hearth’s Warming that the ground was covered in a HUGE amount of snow. It was more than I had seen in a really long time. Anyway after about an hour of walking around the city getting my bearings I came up to the house. I took in a deep breath, then rang the doorbell eagerly. The response filled me with uncontrollable levels of joy.

“Eh? Who thar?” my old friend Color Burst called from the inside of the house.

Completely overwhelmed I simply yelled back to him, “It’s Tones! Just open the bloody door! It’s absolutely freezing out here!”

Of course, this is Color Burst that we’re talking about and absolutely nothing he does makes any sort of sense. So rather than opening the door, he decides to just appear outside, just above me so he would drop down onto my back, causing me to fall to the ground.

“Ohai!” He yelled in my face, “Long time no smell!”

I pushed the unkempt pegasus from my back and got up laughing. I wasn’t even thinking, I was just so happy.

“So... are we going to sit out here in the snow or are you going to let me in?” I asked Color as I began to shiver from the cold air.

Thinking about it for a moment, Color finally responded, “Makes sense,” and opened up the door.

It took me a minute to take it all in. The home was huge, much bigger than anywhere I had stayed before. There were five different levels, plus a basement. The first floor was mostly living space, the kitchen, and a bedroom for a pony I didn’t recognize, or even meet, until later. The second floor was Color’s. This was made obvious by that it was... well... a cloud. And also the random assortment of items contributed to this. The third floor was for bedrooms of three other ponies. I was a little taken back by all of the other ponies that lived in the home, it almost seemed like some crazy bunk house. Anyway, the fourth floor was dedicated to a small library. I wasn’t much of a reader, I’m still not, but I will admit the collection was quite impressive. The last floor had a hot tub in it which I assumed was just for relaxing. I never really used that hot tub much anyway.

Anyway, the basement was suited up just for me, awesome recording station should I actually have decided to pick up my guitar and play it again. There were bunk beds over by one of the walls, which I didn’t understand if I was in the basement alone, plus I had plenty of storage. It was nice to have a place to stay to get away from the life of Fillydelphia. And a whole heck of alot better to have a place with my best friend.

It didn’t take long to become acquainted with the other ponies living in the home. There was Marshmallow, a uh... what’s the word... normal... unicorn. I stress normal because you will soon see that being “normal” was extremely uncommon. She was very kind and especially tolerant when I first came in. There was Bubblegum, her earth pony sister. Bubble was a DJ, so naturally we got along to at least a musical extent. Next on the list was Color’s significant other at the time, Cherry Treats. I never really saw her on more than two occasions, one of which where she was threatening me with a sword. But that’s for later. And of course, last but not least, Silver Mane. She’s a vampony, which honestly took some adjustment on my part to get used to. I’m not about to lie to you, I was never really on all hooves with vamponies. This whole experience living with Color and friends changed that. But let’s get back to the story.