The little carriage bobbed along a path, being led by a dark-coated pegasus as he was leading his family along in the transport.
Stormrider bounced in the carriage with her mother, a white pegasus who played her violin surprisingly well whilst their transport moved so. The little gray filly looked forward to watch her father pull the carriage along the winding road, then she looked ahead to watch the ever-encroaching view of a giant mountainside city loom closer. Not understanding where exactly or how far away the city really was, Stormrider reached with a hoof towards it, cooing. Her mother giggled and continued to play as she watched her daughter's curiosity.
Stormrider's father called back as he listened to his wife and life mate play her tune: "Your music is beautiful, love. How do you play so well in there?" A quiet giggle escaped Stormrider's mother before she replied. "You have to remember that I have practiced all my life. Just like I am teaching our little Stormy."
At the mention of the tiny filly's name, Stormrider yawned and shifted in her spot, her mind elsewhere (as was natural for one so young). Then, as if like clockwork, her father stopped walking abruptly, his ears twitching to the left side, as if he had heard something.
"Honey... Take Stormy and hide her..."
Stormrider's mother heeded her beloved's advice and hid the little filly under a sheet before asking her to be very quiet. Stormrider made a whining noise before quieting down, her little hooves reaching for her mother's muzzle.
Stormrider's mother nuzzled her filly's hooves before dropping the sheet, ensuring her daughter was safe before galloping outside of the carriage to join her husband.
The next several minutes were spent in silence, Stormrider straining her ears to listen for her mother. All of a sudden, the silence was broken by a piercing scream that would haunt her for the rest of her life: a cry of pain from her mother.
Stormrider, after a few minutes, managed to force off the light blanket, fluttering her tiny wings as she struggled to stand up. After she had managed to balance on her teeny hooves, she wobbled to the back of the carriage, where the back was open and down.
As the tiny gray Pegasus tried to climb down the wooden plank, she tripped, sending her tiny body falling to the ground faster than intended.
Fortunately for Stormrider, she had been fluttering her wings, which caused her to lose momentum, allowing her to land on the dirt road with surprising grace. The filly looked about with curiosity, searching for the parents which were so dear to her. Instead of finding them, however, she found nothing but drying blood puddles with trails leading away towards the roadside, toward one of the forests which surrounded the pathways.
In one of the blood puddles laid a violin... Stormrider's mother's acoustic violin, a rosewood instrument which was handcrafted by her mother herself, laid there in surprisingly good condition, considering the blood the stringed instrument was soaked in, its bow lying next to it.
Stormrider picked up the violin (though with extreme difficulty, as it was as tall as she was), and began to play her own tune, using every ounce of her knowledge. She played a somber, melodious tune, as if trying to call her parents back to her. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she played, and when it seemed as if forever had been since her mother had last spoke to her, and she felt as if she would never see her mother again, she broke down. She cried, cried for parents that would return to her.
Parents that she would not remember.
Stormrider sat there for nearly a day and a night, falling asleep once or twice, due to her required naps, but she did not move from that spot, expectantly waiting for her mother and her father to return to her.
Then, as if all hope was to be lost to her, she spotted a couple of ponies traversing the road toward her, as if they too were travelers heading towards Canterlot. The duo were not her parents however, and they froze in shock as they trotted closer, realizing the situation of the carriage.
The little filly watched as the two mares looked at one another before galloping up to her, one of them calling for the carriage owners, the other taking Stormrider into her forelegs, swaying her gently back and forth.
What Stormrider did not realize that day, was that she was going to be taken in by those two mares, who happened to be a recently wedded couple that were going back to their home in Canterlot.
The filly cooed up at the mare, and the mare somehow understood the small one's noises: she was hungry.
As Stormrider was given a bottle of warm milk (which had been in a baby bag on the carriage), the two mares discussed what to do with the little filly.
"We should take her to Canterlot, raise her ourselves," one mare asked. The second mare was a bit reluctant in her reply: "Shouldn't we at least look for her parents?"
The couple had a short debate, which was settled by the first mare as she drew the line: "We can't just leave her here on the side of the road! Do you not see the state of the carriage? Of the filly?"
The second mare did not argue with the logical explanation, and ultimately agreed that they were to take the filly in.
The mares quickly fashioned a carrier to hold Stormrider in, and they took her and her violin towards Canterlot, a place that would be known as home for the little filly.
Little did she know, was that she was going to become a mare with a talent for song and music, as well a traveler.
Stormrider would become a bard.
And days stretched into weeks, weeks into months. Years passed, Stormrider grew from a foal into a young filly. She met new ponies her age and more, not all of them friendly, and few willing to speak with a pony with two mares for foster mothers.
Fortunately for Stormrider, she didn't listen to those who would cause her emotional harm. She even surpassed most of her classmates when she [eventually] went to the Canterlot Elementary.
Stormrider did not know how to fly when she first joined her new classmates. Luckily, one of the instructors at her new school was a pegasus, and soon enough (after weeks of training), Stormrider too was able to enjoy the wind in her wings. She practiced every single day, until she could quite literally dance on the breeze.
Even after it seemed everything would go amazingly for Stormrider's life, only two years after she got into the school, her foster parents passed. She wasn't sure how they had passed, or when, but she learned from one of the school counselors.
Heartbroken from the news, the little gray filly left the room before the counselor even finished explaining the situation. Storm flew at top speed to her home, where she quickly packed her most valuable possessions before leaving for Ponyville. She was small enough not to be noticed as she had hidden underneath one of the compartment seats.
Eventually, she got off the train at Ponyville, where she met an elderly stallion. He took the filly in and taught her more on playing stringed instruments (as Stormrider asked him when she saw his strings colloection), and even learned her the trade of the bard. He became her mentor, and he eventually sent her back out into the world, now very educated in the arts of literature and as a strong musician.
~several years later~
Stormrider sighed as she walked the familiar road towards Ponyville, her hips swaying slowly as she rethought her newest tune. "Why is it so difficult to find words to this melody?" She shook her mane from her eyes as she continued along the pathway, smiling as Ponyville came into view. "There it is..."
The young mare stopped to admire the view a little longer before proceeding down the hill once more. She carried with her a saddlebag of provisions including a couple canteens of water, foods and snacks (not very much, as she was used to conservation), and a tent, with a few pots attached to the pull strings. Strapped across her back was her mother's violin, well taken care of, still as new-looking as the day it was made. Stormrider checked the case's strap, making sure it was tight before taking off from the ground, determined to fly the rest of the way to the familiar little town she knew so well.
The pegasus landed next to the town hall, and breathed deeply as she took in the scents of a nearby baker's freshly baked pie. Stormrider then trotted over to a large inn, nodding her head to a passing colt, who was trotting past, and blinked several times before continuing on. The young mare pushed open the door to the resting place, and walked up to the bar, her hooves thudding quietly against the wooden floor.
The gray pegasus waved at the bartender, who walked over to her, a grin on his face. "Stormrider! Long time no see. How has your bard routed been going?"
The mare replied rather quietly, shyly, even: "Well... not well, actually. For some reason, there is not many travelers on the roads this month.
The stallion brought a hoof up to stroke his stubble. "This doesn't happen often... otherwise, I would've heard about it." He chuckles as he passes Stormrider a mug of fruit juice. "I know you don't drink, so here is a mug of unfermented juice blend. Just keep it, you don't have to pay."
Stormrider smiled gratefully. "Thank you very much."
The mare took a sip of the multi-flavoured drink, then went ahead and rented a room. She then bid the bartender goodnight before climbing the stairwell to the top floor of the small inn, stepping into the room before locking the door behind her. She took in the silence, smiling softly before unloading her burden, yawning softly.
I should go to bed... I'll work on the song lyrics tomorrow. Nodding to herself, the small pegasus hopped on the bed and curled up, yawning once more as she allowed herself to relax.
She wasn't sure when she started to sleep and when she woke up, but she found herself on the floor the next morning, looking up at the ceiling. Stormrider groaned as she sat up on her haunches, shaking sleep from her head as she attempted to stand. She succeeded, and stretched out before going to look in her mirror.
"Oh, not again..." She realized that her mane was a mess, her coat the same. "I should clean up."
Nearly an hour later, after bathing and grooming herself, the bard stepped out of the inn, her violin strapped to her back as she began to wander about Ponyville. Humming to herself, she approached a stall vendor that was selling flowers. The mare at the stall was one Stormrider knew from over the years: Roseluck. "Hello there, Roseluck. Mind if I buy a sprig of lavender from you?" Roseluck, who was lost deep in thought, snapped out of her daydream and started.
"Oh, Stormrider. Yes, I do have a sprig left. That'll be... five bits." The Earth pony raised an eyebrow. "Or was it seven bits... no, no it was seven." Stormrider giggled to herself at Roseluck's confusion. "It was seven. Here's the bits, Roseluck."
Stormrider paid for the flower plant, and rubbed herself with the flowers as a perfume before trotting towards the town's fountain. Her intent was to draw inspiration, and sing to her heart's content (while at the same time, gaining some bits for herself, even though she despised getting paid for something she loved). So the pegasus sat in a bench set in front of the large decorative fixture, and thought. She had no events of which to sing of anymore, and that made her lose a bit of her motivation. However, despite of this, Stormrider began taking notes of her favourite subject in all Equestria: the weather.
To other ponies, the changes of the skies' weather patterns would be nothing more. To the bard, they would be a source of emotion and inspiration. The rain was her particularly favourite type of forecast. She liked storms, thunder, lightning, even the heavier rains were not bothersome to the mare. Stormrider had always found that she loved the fresh, cool air that came before rainfall, and the colours that came after the rains had past. She thought about this as she worked on her song lyrics.
When she was set and done, she began to test out her new lyrics by picking up her violin, tuning its pitches, and letting out her voice as she saw clouds begin to flow above her. Her voice rung out soft but clear in the day's quiet streets:
"You know that feeling that you get,
As you watch children gallop amock, getting wet?
Do you remember when the rain first fell,
On your brand new life?
I'm sure you believed that it was just to keep you,
From going outside, from being with friends.
But the truth is...
That the droplets are there to heal the land."
Stormrider began to play a slow, but louder tune from her violin, closing her eyes in deep concentration. She smiled to herself as bobbed her head to an invisible beat. One that could only be heard by her. The bard continued to play her song, her voice steadily getting louder and slightly stronger as she vocalized. She then let her voice grow soft again as she produced more lyrics:
"They want the rain to go away,
They don't really know how nice it is,
To watch as the grasses grow..."
Stormrider began to feel aware as ponies started to turn to watch, and she blushes as she quiets down. A few ponies trot up to her and hand the pegasus oa small stack of collective bits. "A bit of money for you, miss. We have seen you about before, and we know how difficult it must be for you to stand up and sing in front of crowds." The pony who spoke these kind words was a mare whom gave her a kindly smile before dropping the bits in the bard's instrument case.
"Th...thank you." Stormrider smiled in embarrassment, and the visiting mare only nodded before turning and leaving. The rest of the crowd gave the gray pegasus a round of applause, clopping their hooves against the ground. They then, one by one, began to leave.
Stormrider, now feeling a little better, and with higher self esteem, placed her violin and bow back in its case. She then took her coinpurse, and dropped in the stack of bits, then tied it before replacing it in her saddlebag.
Now... what should I do next?
As if to answer her thought, she heard a nail being hammered on wood nearby. Stormrider turned toward the sound to find a unicorn using his magic to drive a poster into a wall of a nearby store.
When the colt finished with his work, the bard trotted over to the sign, reading it carefully. She found that the poster was a missing pony sign, showing a young mare pegasus. She had a lemon chiffon coat, with a turqoise mane and tail, and had a deep blue eye colour as well. The name that came under the picture of the mare was shown as Sweet Lotus, of the age of 17.
Stormrider felt a sort of empathy for the missing pony, and decided then and there that she would go looking for her, just as soon as she was ready and able.
