Score, a pony who struggled in the past, moves to Ponyville to see if he can start over and hide.
Deciding to get away from his troubles from his success, maestro Score, retires to Ponyville at the young age of 22. His troubles destroyed his love for music and his love for his brother. Will his retirement rekindle his love for music and, maybe, somepony?
-------------------- Thank you to Peregrine Caged for editing this.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of this music and all rights are reserved to its respective owners.
I walk onto the stage--for what is to be hopefully the last time--to see it filled with empty chairs and instruments. Such a sight was highly unusual for an orchestra, but I knew why they were there. The show was sold out, at it always was, but this time was special.
This was my last show, the conclusion to my young, but spectacular, career. I started my career when I was 14 and toured regularly, earned the title of maestro within five years, and became the youngest of any conductor by at least 30 years.
And I'm about to give it all up.
Some call me crazy or idiotic, but I don’t care. Every hell I've gone through has been because of this damn orchestra, but now it's coming to an end. I never went to a real school, never had a real friend, and never had any of the usual life experiences ponies my age go through. I guess I’ve no one to blame but myself--I wanted to be a conductor so badly that I gave up everything to achieve it.
Well I got what I wanted with a few extra “bonuses”. I've met liars, assholes, and…her. I thought she was the last pony that could keep me sane, but I digress.
I walk up to the stand with the score and baton. With my magic, I pick up the baton and the rest of the instruments to begin playing my finalcreation (you don’t have to go through the whole thing. Actually I hope you don’t). I fill it with all my anger and frustration. It was the usual grand music, but I put as much emotion behind it as I could. Though it was to be my final piece, I wasn’t going to cut corners. No, I intended for this to be the most dramatic orchestral piece yet.
The music comes to an end and the audience stands to applaud. Of course, I turn around and face them and take my bow. I look to the audience and a smile comes to my face as I see that the Princesses are not in attendance. I can make my final speech. It takes some time for the crowd to stop, but that was to be expected. They had always loved my music. Many of them had stated that they wouldn’t know what to do if I quit. I hope they figure it out real fast, because they are about to recieve a big shock.
“Thank you for that,” I begin, as the last of the crowd put a few final claps in. “Thank you for supporting me for my short, but marvelous career.” I could already see confusion spreading as the implications of what I just said hit them. “I would like to thank those who have loved me and stood by me through these good--but mainly bad--times. Of course, by that, I only mean my parents and my parents alone. To those who lied to me, used me, caused me pain and suffering, and made my love for the orchestra fade into the darkness….Buck you! I hope you rot in the grave sooner rather than later.” And with that rude but to the point statement, I leave the stage. As I was walking towards the back, I could hear the crowd whispering in shock amongst themselves, and I couldn’t help but smile.
I walk to my dressing room to see my mother and father waiting for me. They’d been in the audience, but had been shown to my room upon my request. Probably the last request my manager would ever grant, too. As I walked into the room, I immediately ripped my bow tie off my white coat and threw it on a table in front of a vanity mirror. As I stared into my deep blue, bloodshot, eyes and my ragged yellow hair in the mirror, my parents begin talking.
“I can't say that I'm proud of what you said,” my father says.
“Yes, but you know it had to be done,” I state simply.
“I agree. But it could’ve been handled very differently. Perhaps with fewer insults and more thanks?” I could hear the sarcasm simply flowing.
“It could have, but it wouldn’t have been me.”
“So where are you moving to now?” my mother asks, sensing an oncoming argument, and attempting to stop it before it started. I don’t hesitate to answer.
“A small town called Ponyville. Have either of you ever heard of it?” They both shake their heads. “Good. I don’t want anyone to know where I’m going. They would probably try to track me down otherwise. I already payed the moving company extra to make sure my new location won’t be revealed. And please don’t tell my rat-bastard of a brother.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call him that, Score,” My mother says sadly. Ever since the ‘incident’, I had disowned my brother. He wasn’t worth the fur on his coat.
“Please mother, for what he's done to me, I should call him worse things.” My mother just remains quiet.
“We know he's done some bad things but he's still your brother,” my father says sternly.
“If he was my brother, he wouldn’t have done that to me.” I start to raise my voice. Just the thought of him makes my blood run cold.
“Please, son, calm down,” my mother pleads, “I know you can't forgive him now, but I hope you will later on in your life.”
I scoff. “That will be the day. He could be banished to the moon for all I care. I’ll probably never forgive him, and you know it.”
“But you can’t go on hating him like this! It’s tearing the family apart! Why can’t you just forgive him already? It’s not as if he destroyed you,” my father argues.
“You know I can't do that, dad. Even with what I've gone through, I'm still a stallion of my word. And he has simply done too much for me to ever possibly forgive him.”
“I see. Well when are you moving to…um…Ponyville?” My father, stubborn as he was, knew a lost cause when he saw one. He’d try again eventually, though.
“Tonight.”
“So soon?” my mother asks in shock. She almost looks as though she were about to cry. I hated doing this to her, but it was for the best.
“Yes, I want to move in the cover of darkness so nopony will see me.”
“What about your instruments?” my father asked.
“They’re being put in the moving wagon as we speak.”
“You're taking them with you?”
“Yeah. Even after the hell I’ve gone through, I still love music.”
“Will they fit into your house?”
“Yes, it was just finished being built to my liking. Though, it now is the largest house in the town, so I’ll probably not be leaving the house much. I want to avoid as much attention as possible.”
“Well, please tell me that you're going to enjoy life now.” my mother asks me sadly. She’s always wanted what was best for me.
“I’m going to try. That’s why I'm retiring and moving anyway.”
“Well, I hope we can visit you soon.”
“You can visit me anytime,” I say as I hug my parents. We spend the next hour or so simply sitting around quietly while the moving ponies load the last of my equipment into the moving chariot. As soon as they finish, we exchange a heartfelt goodbye, and then my parents depart.
I finish changing into my casual clothes and head out through the back door. Standing just outside was another carriage meant to carry me specifically to Ponyville. I nod to the stallions pulling the chariot and hand them the money necessary to pay for the move. They nod back and gratefully take my bits. I then climb into the chariot and begin my long flight to Ponyville. I sure hope it will be better than the life I had here. One can only hope, though.
The trip from Manehattan to Ponyville only takes about two and a half hours. As we go through the streets I see that there are no ponies walking about. It’s a relief to see that, coming from a big city there were ponies up at all times of the night. It only takes around five minutes to go through the town. We arrive at my new house, which was even bigger than I originally thought.
Damn now everypony will be wondering who lives here. Well whatever, this is a small town so hopefully no one will recognize me.
I see that the moving ponies are almost done with placing everything inside. These guy are quick, better make sure they get a good tip. As they leave, I light a cigar in celebration of my new life and look up into the sky. “Never saw stars in my old life.”
AN: Disclaimer: I do not own any of the music used.
Twilight Sparkle was studying in her tree house, as she did most days. What made today different was the fact that she wasn’t studying for anything in particular, but rather for the fun of it. After reading all the books she had scheduled for the day, she had tried to go sleep but she simply wasn’t tired.
Sighing, she said, “I guess I could stroll around Ponyville for a bit and use up some of my energy.”
She walked outside into the cool spring night. She saw two empty moving wagons pass by her and said to herself, “Who’s moving in at this time of night?”
Deciding to quell her curiosity by searching for the new member of the town, Twilight looked around town. She knew about every vacant house in Ponyville and went to every single one of them but it seemed no one had moved in.
“Hmm, where did those moving wagons come from? Oh, I remember Rarity saying that there was construction on a new house on a trail a bit past her boutique and the noise of it was driving her crazy.”
Twilight decided to head towards the direction of the boutique. She passed it and continued on the trail for a little while. It lead her to the top of a hill where she saw the new house. It was humongous, bigger than any other house in Ponyville.
“This pony must be rich,” she whispered to herself.
She then noticed a white unicorn with a blue mane not far off, a cigar in his mouth. She edged a bit closer to get a better look.
“He seems about the same age as me,” she said, surprised.
She’d tried to whisper but it came out louder then she wanted. The unicorn looked over to her, but she was quick to go into hiding. Taking a quick peek, she saw the unicorn head inside the house.
“Whoever he is, I’m sure he’d appreciate one of Ponyville’s fine welcomes!” she thought to herself, evident glee filling her. She then walked back to her house, the excitement of greeting the new pony tomorrow coursing through her thoughts.
“I guess it was just the wildlife, better get used to that,” I said tiredly.
Deciding I had enough of the cigar, I put it out--I was pretty tired from the day’s activties. Despite the nap I took on the way here. Deciding it was time to head to bed, I headed off to my bedroom.
-----------
*ding-dong*
I let out the most irritated vocalizations I could muster.
*ding-dong*
“….Uuuggghhh…What time is it?” I look over to the clock. “Eight…fuck.” I was never a morning pony.
“Hello?” I hear a faint voice call.
“Coming!” I yelled with annoyance as I walked down the stairs, careful to put on some clothing to cover up my cutie mark. It wouldn’t do to be recognized so quickly.
I open up the door to reveal a lavender unicorn mare, her mane a similar color with a pink streak through it.
“Good morning! My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm here to welcome you to Ponyville!”
I cocked my right eyebrow, “How did you know I moved in?”
“Um…well…I ….um…”
I was pretty sure I had figured out how she knew, so I moved on, “Anyways. Is there something you need?”
“Actually I would like to welcome you to Ponyville and take you on a tour of the town.”
“Well as you know I got here late at night--”she blushed and gave an apologetic smile at that--“and I'm rather tired. So I would like to get some sleep.”
“Oh…sorry for bothering you,” she said, turning to leave. The disappointment and sadness in her voice was impossible to ignore.
Damn. I hate to make ponies sad... Well, innocent ones at least.
“Wait.” She turned back to me as I looked at the clock on the nearby wall. “If you come back around twelve, I’ll be happy to take a tour.”
“Sounds great!” She waved at me as she left.
“Well, at least she seems nice. But for now... back to bed.”
I collapsed back into the bed, having set the alarm for around 11:40. It took the barest of seconds for me to find sleep again.
I woke up to the alarm in a better mood than before. Grabbing a shower and brushing my teeth before heading downstair, I was very aware of how hungry I was for breakfast. As well as my usual pick-me-up to start the day; searching through one of the kitchen cabinets, I found a bottle of tequila and a shot glass. Filling the glass, I stared at the filled shot glass for a while, heavily considering. I reached a decision and declared, “Screw this. I'm here to find a new life, I don’t need this anymore.” I picked up the glass and chucked it at the wall.
Twilight was walking back to the new pony’s house when she looked up and saw a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane sleeping on a cloud. “Hello, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash awoke from her shallow dozing and looked down at Twilight.
“Hey Twi, what you up to?” she called with a wave.
“I'm about to go and see our new neighbor and take him on a tour of the town.”
“When did we get a new neighbor?”
“I saw him moving in last night.”
“Yeesh Twi, in less than 24 hours you're stalking the guy and now you're going on a date?” Dash said jokingly. Twilight blushed.
“It's not a date, it's a tour! And I was curious when I saw two empty moving wagons in the middle of the night.”
“I don’t know, Twilight--he sounds sketchy. Movin’ in in the middle of the night like that.”
“Well he seems like a nice guy.”
“Maybe. I think I better go with you.”
Twilight tilted her head in confusion and asked, “Uh...Why?”
“Just to make sure he doesn’t try anything funny.”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Dash.”
“Come on Twi, I just want to make sure you're safe.”
“Fine. Whatever! But be nice.”
“C’mon, it’s me. When am I not nice?” Dash responded with a smirk.
They walked all the way to the house, where Twilight opened the door. “Hey are you rea--“
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
The shot glass broke on the wall next to the front door where Twilight entered.
“Damnit, Twilight are you oka--“ But I could finish since, next thing I know, a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane had tackled me to the ground.
“What's your deal pal!?” she said while she pinned me to the ground.
“It was an accident!”
“Yeah right! What’d you throw it for anyways, huh?!”
“I threw it at the wall!”
“Why!?”
“Because old habits die hard.” I sighed, turning to look at the bottle of tequila on the counter.
“Dash, it’s alright,” Twilight said
“You sure about that Twi? I could rough him up a bit.”
“Dash!”
“Ugh fine.” She got off me and I pushed myself back to all fours. “You're lucky I'm nice,” she said, the heat evident in her voice.
I wanted to say something but I didn’t want to escalate things.
“You okay Twilight?” I asked, ignoring the rude pegasus altogether.
“Yes, I'm fine. But I'm a bit worried about you.” Her gaze turned to the tequila.
“Yeah, like I said--old habits die hard. Sorry again.”
“Apology accepted! ...um…what’s your name?”
Shit! If I tell her my real name she might know me. Gotta come up with something...
“Um…” I remembered a song and said, “Bright. My name is Bright Side.” I mentally groaned as I said it--how cliche could one get?
"Well, Bright, we would like to officially welcome you to Ponyville!” Twilight gleefully said. She nudged the pegasus and mumbled, “Right, Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah, welcome," she plainly said.
Come on Score, play nice.
I look her in the eyes and ask, as politely as I can, “And you are?"
"I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria."
"Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash."
"Yeah," she says, monotone again.
Keep cool.
“Well. Come in, do come in! You girls get comfortable for a bit, I'm gonna go up and get some bits to buy you girls brea…um…lunch as a token of my apology.”
“Thank you, Bright, but you don’t ha--“ Twilight was silenced by Dash’s hoof in her mouth.
“Sounds great!” Dash exclaimed.
Figuring I shouldn’t waste the excitement, I ran up stairs to find some bits.
“Dash, why did you do that?” Twilight asked in a whisper.
“Hey, free food.” She shrugged. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she decided to look around the house. It wasn’t long before she found a black case on the floor--opening it revealed a violin inside.
“Dash! What are doing? You shouldn’t go through his stuff like that!”
“Well then he shouldn’t throw glass around his house,” she responded, looking the instrument over.
Twilight look at the violin. “Careful with that, Dash. It looks old. And expensive.”
“That’s because it is.” Bright said as he came down the stairs. That startled the girls a little.
Blushing in embarrassment, Twilight thought quickly to save face, “How old is it?”
“If I remember correctly, about 650 years old.”
“Whoa,” both mares said in unison.
“Can it still play?” Twilight asked.
“I should hope so: I play it all the time.”
“Well do you mind if we hear some?”
“Do we hav--”Dash said before being interrupted by Twilight’s glare. “Er...I mean that sounds great.”
“Don’t worry I'll play a quick one,” he said, an amused smile on his lips.
Score placed the instrument in position and was about to begin, when Twilight interrupted, “Couldn’t you use your magic?”
“I could but I like the feeling with it under my chin and using my hooves to play it.”
With that being said, Score prepped the instrument and played a song he thought Twilight and Dash couldenjoy.
“Pretty cool? That was remarkable,” Twilight said, her eyes aglow with enjoyment.
“It was nothing,” I replied.
Damn me and my swag.
“You mares ready to go?” I asked.
They nodded, and we left the house towards Ponyville.
“What's the first stop?”
“We’re going to stop by Carousel Boutique to introduce you to my friend Rarity.” Twilight answered.
Rarity...why does that name sound familiar?
We walked up to her store to see a sign and it read: “Closed due to inspiration. We’ll be open soon.”
“Huh. Well I guess we shouldn’t interrupt her. Lets go see Applejack,” Twilight said, turning to head back out of town.
As we walked, she asked, “So, Bright...where did you learn to play the violin?”
“My father taught me some basics before enrolling me in professionally instructed lessons. My teacher there took me much farther.”
“Where did you move from anyways?” Dash asked.
“Manehattan.”
“And why did you move here?” she asked, the suspicion clear in her voice.
“Dash!” Twilight tried to hush her.
“Its alright,” I said. “I moved down here to get away from the hussle and bussle of the big city.”
Technically not lying.
We walked on in silence to the town center, where several pony vendors were calling out their goods. We passed many stands until we reached one filled with apples. The vendor was a beautiful orange mare with blonde mane and a cowboy hat.
“Howdy Twi, Dash. Whos yer new friend here?” the mare asked.
Twilight answered, “This is Mr. Bright Side,” I mentally groaned again, “who just moved in from Manehattan.”
“Nice to meet you, Bright.” She shook my hoof with tremendous force.
“Likewise,” I replied a little shakily.
“Ya’ll wouldn’t happen to know the Orange family, would ya?”
“Hmm...oh yeah! They’re big fans of the orchestra, right?”
“Eeyup, that's them. Ah never really liked the orchestra myself, but they get a real kick out of it.”
“You just have to find one more to your liking,” I offered.
“There’re different ones?”
“More like different styles.”
“Ah never knew.”
“Of course--even Dash here has found a style to enjoy.”
“Really?” AJ looked at Dash.
“Well, yeah. It was different, though! It was…um…” Dash seemed to be struggling for a way to describe it to her liking.
“Epic?” I suggested. I like to use that to describe my music.
“Yeah, epic!”
“Maybe I can play some records for you?”
“You have a record player!?” Twilight interrupted.
“Um, yeah. Don’t you?”
“No, they’re way too expensive.”
“Well I’m pretty sure I have an extra one laying around that you can have.”
“Oh no, I couldn’t take something like that from you.”
“I would feel greatly dishonored if you didn’t accept it.”
“…In that case, I graciously accept!” she said, a mix of defeat and joy in her tone.
Always works.
Then we heard Dash’s stomach growl with hunger. She blushed and gave a weak smile as we laughed. Then my stomach growled ten times louder and the laughter turned to me. As the laughter died down I turned to Applejack.
“Would you like to join us for lunch?”
“Ah would love to join y’all but Ah gotta stay here and work.”
“I understand. Offer still stands to listen to some records, later, when you have some spare time?”
“Ah’ll hear ‘em at ‘ur party.” The second the words left her mouth she covered it with her hoof.
“Wait, what?” Before I could get a response Dash pushed me away.
“Hey I'm pretty hungry here. Let get something to eat,” she said nervously.
“But –“
“You wouldn’t want to keep us mares waiting, would you?” Twilight interrupted nervously.
Beaten at my own game.
I let out a slow sigh, smile and say, “You're right. Lead the way.”
Twilight and Dash led me to a café not far from where we were, though that was probably true with anything since the town wasn’t that big. It was such a beautiful day outside that we decided to eat on the porch. After the hostess sat us and left, Dash asked me a question.
“So how did you get so loaded?”
Shit!
“Dash!” Twilight glared at her.
“What!? I know you want to know, too.”
“That’s not the point! You just don’t as--“ I stopped paying attention and started thinking furiously.
Damn, what do I say? Inheritance? No, too spoiled. Lottery? No, don’t wanna sound like a lucky loser. Pimping? Hehe. Oh! Got it.
I interrupted their argument, “I worked with my dad. I helped his company get up off the ground and become one of the biggest in Equestria. I then sold my 30 percent of the company and retired here.”
“What company was it?” Twilight asked, clearly interested.
“Moonlight Bank.”
“You mean the 24 hour bank?”
“Yes.”
Half lying. My dad is the founder and CEO.
“Why did you retire?” Dash asked.
“I. Hate. Numbers.”
“Well, what are you gonna do now?” Twilight asked.
“Enjoy life.”
“Well, I hope we can help,” Twilight said with a genuine smile.
I smiled in reply and a dark orange unicorn mare with a brown mane came over to us.
“Hello! I’m Ginger and I’ll be your waitress for today. Can I start you guys off with some drinks?”
“Iced tea for me please,” Twilight answered
“Cola,” Dash responded. Ginger looked at me waiting for a response.
“OK. Is everyone ready to order?” We gave her that ‘we have no idea’ look on our faces. “That’s alright, I’ll give you guys a minute.” She left.
We were debating on what we should get when Twilight saw a friend.
“Hey Fluttershy, over here!” Twilight waved at a pegasus whose coat was cream yellow with a pink mane. “Hey Fluttershy, meet our new neighbor.”
“Hello Fluttershy, I'm Bright Side.”
Is it still too late to change my name?
“Pleasure to meet you,” she said quietly.
“Would you care to join us for lunch?” Twilight asked
“Oh I would love to, but I have to pick up some food for the animals…sorry.”
“It's alright. Hope to see you soon,” I said with a friendly smile.
She said her goodbyes and left. The waitress came back and we ordered our food. While we were waiting for it to show up, I asked the girls where they lived. Twilight said she lived in the tree house library while Dash stayed in a cloud house she built by herself.
After more small talk, the food arrived and we chowed down. It was surprisingly good but not as great as Manehattan.
Midway through our meal, there was a commotion going on three tables over.
“You moron, I said no onions!” I looked over and saw a dark gray stallion with a yellow mane yelling at Ginger. “Now get your stupid flank back there and make it right.”
I walked over and gave him a look, growling out, “Lay off her pal.”
“Shut your trap you stupid filly.”
What!?
“The buck you say!?”
“You heard me.”
“….I’ll kick your fucking ass,” I said in my Manehattan accent. The stallion got up and threw a left hoof at me, but I ducked and avoided it. I then grabbed his head and slammed it onto his table. I held it there as I spoke to him. “Listen to me, you ignorant prick. You’re gonna pay the bill, give the lady a 100% tip, apologize to her, and leave. You got that?”
“Suck my--” *wham* I slammed his head against the table again.
“I’m sorry. What was that?”
“I-I got you.” I let go of his head and pushed him towards his seat. I see Ginger hand him his bill, which he quickly paid as I hear him apologize and leave. I turn back to the girls, whom had shocked look on their faces.
“Sorry about that girls. I’ll get out of your mane.”
“Wait, what?” Dash said.
“Why would you do that?” Twilight asked.
“I might’ve gone too far?”
“You probably did but you had good intentions.”
“And it was pretty bad flank,” Dash added.
“You stood up for that mare and we can't be mad at you for that.”
“Thank you ladies, it's hard to find good friends these days.”
“Well, I don’t know where you normally meet your ‘friends’ but I’ll tell you that there are plenty of good friends here!” replied Twilight.
“Thanks girls.”
I sat down and we continued our meals. When we’d finished, I asked for the bill. Ginger and an older blue mare with a green mane walked up.
“Hi, I'm the manager of the café and I heard what you did. I would like to thank you for standing up for Ginger here. As a token of my gratitude your meal is on the house.”
“Thank you, I really appreciate it, but I would like to pay.”
“You will not and that’s all there is to it,” she said with a boisterous laugh.
This mare is almost as stubborn as me. I like that.
“If you insist... Thank you.”
“No, thank you.”
With that she left and the girls and I did the same. We walked in silence for a bit when I spoke up.
“Can you girls keep walking the same way? I’ll meet up with you in a sec.”
“What are you planning on doing?” Twilight asked.
“One thing you’ll learn very quickly about me girls; I’m a very stubborn stallion.”
I walked back to the café and saw Ginger waiting on the table next to the one we had been at.
“Hey Ginger, catch.” I took out a 50 bit piece and tossed it at her. As soon as she caught it I ran back outside, returning to my companions. They both gave me an odd look, but I just smiled back at them.
We walked around the town for about an hour or two until we decided to see if the boutique was open.
Damnit, where have I heard the name Rarity before?
The close sign had been removed, so we walked on inside. Though it showed the signs of habitation and use, we couldn’t see anypony around.
“Hey Rarity, are you here?” Twilight yelled.
“Why, yes darling, I’ll be out in a second,” a voice yelled back from a room.
I looked at some of her dresses before she came out. They seemed so familiar but I couldn’t put my hoof on it.
“Is there something you want Twi--“ I looked over to see a white unicorn with a stylish blue mane staring at me.
I now know who why she sounds familiar and she clearly knows who I am.
Rarity and I kept staring at each other as the silence stretched on. Dash cleared her throat and broke it.
“So...uh...do you two know each other?” Dash asked.
“Do you girls know who this is!?” Rarity asked.
“Um…Bright Side?” Twilight answered with uncertainty.
“Who? No! This is Score. He’s one of the greatest composers in Equestria!”
“What!?” Twilight and Dash yelled in unison. They looked at me and I gave them a weak smile.
“Wait, he didn’t tell you?”
They both responded with flat looks.
Twilight looked over at me, “Is this true?”
“Well... Yes…it's true.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Dash asked.
“Because I didn’t want people to recognize me. If they did, word would spread and it would bring unflattering people here to look for me.”
“Why would people look for you?”
“Let's just say I didn’t retire on good terms.”
“You retired!?” Rarity was surprised. “Why did you retire?”
“The orchestra isn’t all peaches and sunshine. It's filled with liars and deceivers who are only looking out for themselves. I was just so tired of it.”
“Wait a minute,” Dash interrupted. “Aren’t you our age? I thought it took years for composers to get recognized.”
Before I could answer Rarity asked Twilight, “Twilight dear, haven’t you heard of him?”
“Not really. Should I have?”
“Well everypony should, but I thought his ability would impress you.”
“Why?”
“Oh, silly me--his magic ability! He can operate about one hundred instruments at the same time. He is his own orchestra.”
“What!?” She looked at me. “Is that true?”
“Y-yes.” She just stared at me.
“…that’s amazing. That must take an incredible amount of magic, plus the difficulty of remembering every individual note each instrument uses.”
“Well it got easier as I got older.”
“How long did it take you to master it?”
“Hmmmmm…Lets see. Learned to play strings at 7, woodwinds and most everything else at 9, composed at 11. And I guess I learned to play all of them at one go at 13 and then started touring at 14.”
“Wait, you toured at 14?”
“Yeah, my biggest mistake.”
“You seem pretty well off to me,” Dash said.
“Money isn’t everything, obviously. I never had the school experience, never had friends, and never enjoyed any of my childhood. Almost everyone I met used me for their own gain and, finally, I just got sick of it. Can you girls promise me you won’t tell any pony?”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye,” they said in unison, pantomiming the declared movements. I gave them a confused look while they giggled.
“So how do you know Rarity?” Twilight tried to change the subject.
Rarity replied, “We met while I was in Canterlot with Fancy Pants, before your birthday last year.”
I continued, “I was doing a concert for the Princesses at the time. After meeting with the Princesses, I met Fancy Pants and his friends--Rarity included. Fancy Pants is one of a very few ponies I would call a friend. He's a great pony and we’ve done a lot of charity work with each other.”
“So what will you be doing here in Ponyville?”
“Well, I just moved in last night and I plan to relax.”
“Oh! What house did you move in to?”
“The one over the hill.”
“Wait...the one on the trail?”
“Y-yes. Is there a problem?”
“Oh, no problem, dear. Just the noise was unbearable when it was under construction.”
“Well, I do apologize for that. Is there anything I could do to make it up to you?”
“Well…It would be nice to see you perform, but there isn’t a stage in this town.”
“Well I do have a room I could play in. I’d prefer that at any rate”
“That room must be humongous!” Rarity said, surprised.
“All that construction wasn’t for nothing. Would you like to go now?”
“Sounds marvelous. Let me just grab a few things.”
Rarity went upstairs and came back down a minute later. As we were about to walk out the door, I heard somepony singing.
“We are the cutie mark crusaders.”
I stopped in my tracks and headed back inside, determined to find the source of the voice. Rarity follows me.
“On a quest to find out who we are.”
I finally find the room where the voice is coming from and I look around the corner. There’s a light gray unicorn filly with pink and purple mane and she’s writing something on a piece of paper.
“And we will never stop the journey. Not until we have our cutie marks.”
I stood there in awe of her voice--very rarely had I heard such beautiful singing.
“She has a beautiful voice doesn’t she?” Rarity said. I didn’t notice she was next to me so I yelped in surprise. I quickly regained my composure.
“Very. Is this your daughter?”
“NONONONONONO! This is my little sister Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie Belle heard the commotion and saw us.
“What are you guys doing?” Sweetie asked.
“Just talking,” I replied. “You have a beautiful voice there, Sweetie Belle.”
“You heard that?” she blushed.
“Yes and it's nothing you should be embarrassed about. In fact, I think you should practice more and see what comes of it!”
“I guess not...but still...I don’t know”
“Well if you ever find out, I live a bit down the trail. If your sister lets you, I can teach you a thing or two.”
“Thank you,” she replied, seeming to really like the idea.
I smiled and then headed on out. Rarity, Twilight, Dash, and I left the boutique and went on the trail towards my house. As we reached the top of the hill before the house the sun was setting. I stopped in my tracks and looked at the sun.
“What’s up?” Dash asked.
“I've never seen the sun set. You girls mind if I sit here and watch?”
They gave each other a sort of funny, adorable smile, but nodded. We sat there a couple of minutes until the sun completely disappeared.
“….so is that it? Everypony said it was the most amazing sight ever,” I say, disappointed.
The girls just giggled as we kept on and arrived at my house.
I started to feel rather hungry, “One song and we head back into town to get something to eat?”
“Sure,” Twilight said nervously. I gave Twilight a suspicious look.
She’s up to something.
We get to my front door and I open it. It seemed darker than usual inside.
Suddenly, the light turned on to reveal a whole bunch of ponies.
“SURPRISE!” they all yelled.
“BWWAAAHHHH!” I screamed, falling on my flank. Then a pink pony with a cotton candy looking mane ran up towards me.
“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and I threw this party just for you!” she yelled as I just laid there, stunned. “Do you like it? Well you’re surprised, right?” She giggled and said, “Thanks for letting me know about the new pony Twilight!”
I looked over to Twilight.
“You told her?”
“Yes, sorry.”
I let out a slow sigh and say, “It's alright, you didn’t know.”
“Uh oh, did I do something wrong?” Pinkie sounded worried. I look at Twilight.
“Good friend?” She nodded and I looked at Pinkie, “Do you know who Score is?”
“Hmmmm, oh! DJ PON-3 is always saying how Score is a stubborn overrated pony who can only play boring cheesy music.” She smiled as my left eye twitched.
That bitch doesn’t know real music if it bit her in her ass.
“You know Vinyl?” I ask, my eye twitching again.
“Yes. She sometimes DJs at my parties. How do you know her by name? Only close friends know her by name.”
“We’ve met.”
More like argued.
“Ooo, you must be an important pony. What’s your name? Twilight didn’t tell me.” Pinkie asked.
Do I tell her I'm Score? If I do, I know she’ll feel horrible after what she said.
Twilight stepped in, “His name is Bright Side.” She then turned to me and mouthed “later” and I nodded.
“Oh, like the song!” There was that mental groan again.
“Yes, just like the song,” I said, not bothering to hide my annoyance, as Dash, Twilight, and Rarity looked at me funny.
So close.
“It's a good song! Well, have fun at your party. You should go mingle.”
I agreed, so I went off and mingled. I met plenty of nice ponies at the party like Carrot Top, Derpy Hooves, and Berry Punch. I told them I was Bright Side and the same fake background story I told Twilight and Dash before. Luckily none seemed to know who I really was. Weird thing though, the female/male ratio was way off. The usual ratio is 5:3. Here is like 10:2 probably less. I've only seen around 5 stallions at this party of a total about 60 ponies.
Well I guess this works in my favor, haha.
I also saw that Applejack and Fluttershy were attending. I talked to both of them and learned that Applejack works and lives at her farm and Fluttershy takes care of animals and lives just outside of Ponyville. I also told them about my fake background story. Fluttershy seem to accept it, but Applejack looked like she had her doubts.
“How about that offer?” I asked, trying to throw her off my trail.
“Oh yea, Ah almost forgot," she replied.
I turned to Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy, would you like to join me and Applejack in listening to some concert music?”
“That sounds nice,” Fluttershy said.
So we left the main room and went in to a different one with a bunch of boxes. I levitated one and placed it in front of me and opened it. From the box, I levitated a record player and a record onto a small circular table. I placed the record on the phonograph andplayed it.
The music ended as I picked up the needle and I turned to the girls, “Well what do yo--….where did Fluttershy go?”
“I'm here.” Fluttershy poked her head from behind the door frame. “The music was sort of frightening.”
Huh, haven’t heard that one before.
“Sorry about that. I guess it's not for everyone.”
“Well Ah thought it was great.” Applejack walked to the phonograph and pick up the record with picture of a circle of musical notes.
Damn!
“Who is this Score fellur?”
I tried to think of a reasonable response, but my mind was a total blank.
“Uuuuummmm.” Pinkie Pie came out of nowhere.
“Hey Guys.” Pinkie said, “What are you up too?”
Thank Celestia, saved by a Pie.
“Just playing some music,” I say nonchalantely.
Pinkie looks at the boxes.
“Oh an unpacking party! Can I join?” Before I could respond she was already going through boxes. She was somehow transporting from box to box and popping out of them without seeming to have gone in. I was too much in awe to even care about her going through “Score’s” stuff. “Ohhhhh what’s this?” She pulls out some music sheets.
“…uuummmmm….”
“Did you write this?”
“…”
“Can you play?”
“…”
“You should play this.”
“What!?”
“It would be a great way for people to see you.”
“I'm not that good.”
“Don’t be downy-wowny pants. I bet you’ll be great.”
“Well I don--“ She grabbed my foreleg and pulled me to the other room, up to a makeshift stage in the middle of the main room.
The hell did this come from?
“Hey everypony!” Pinkie called to the whole room, “Bright Side is gonna play a song!”
I walked up to Pinkie and whispered, “Um, Pinkie. I don’t even have my guitar.” In one quick pink flash she disappeared and reappeared with my guitar. “Wasn’t that in a box?”
“Not anymore.” She giggled and left me on stage. I looked at the crowd and I felt something I haven’t felt in a long time: nervousness.
As I was tuning my guitar I thought to myself, Come on Score, this isn’t your first time. Why the hell are you so nervous? ...maybe I actually care about what these ponies think? Dammit Pinkie.
The crowd applauded as I took a bow and left. I went back to the same room I was in before and started looking for the guitar stand.
Dammit. What box was it in? Pinkie took less than a second to find my guitar and it's gonna take the whole night to find the stand.
As I was going through the boxes I heard a voice from the entrance.
“Quite some voice you got there,” Ginger said, standing in the doorway.
“Thanks Ginger. Glad to see you made it to the party.”
Ginger walked towards me. “How else was I going to give back your 50 bits?”
I paused in my search, “…clever mare. Did you just get here? I haven’t seen you all night.”
“Thanks. I've been here since it started but I got lost.” She said looking at some of the boxes.
I cocked my eyebrow as I looked at her. “Sneaking around I see.”
“What, no!” She looked at me, shocked. “The bathrooms were being used and I went around to find another one. I found one but when I left I didn’t know how to get back so I followed your voice back to the main room.”
“Sure,” I said sarcastically while going back to my search.
“Whatever. What’s in all these boxes?” She said looking at my collection of boxes.
“My music collection and some other stuff.”
Ginger walked toward the record player that I used before.
“You're a fan of Score too?”
I went wide eyed while thinking of escape plans. “Yes…are you?”
“Not really. He's alright, but not my style. My old man loves him though.”
I turned around and Ginger was taking a long stare at me. She was freaking me out.
“You alright there?” I asked.
“….take off your pants.”
Well that was quick.
I shook my head. “Wait, what!?”
“I want to see your cutie mark.”
“Why?”
“Just take it off!”
She tackled me and pinned me to the ground, trying to unbutton my pants.
“No means no!”
“Oh stop being a baby!”
“You’re stealing my innocence!” I turn my head to see an embarrassed Twilight in the doorway. “Oh, heeeeeey Twilight”
Ginger turned to see Twilight and got off me immediately.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Twilight said, blushing.
“You're not interrupting anything, I assure you,” I said, rising and wiping off some dust.
“I just wanted to see his cutie mark,” Ginger told her, innocent as a foal.
“Hmm, what is your cutie mark, Score?” Twilight placed her hoof in her mouth.
“Aha, I knew it!” Ginger pointed her hoof at me. I sighed and took of my pants, revealing my cutie mark. “Just like the one on the record.”
I looked blankly at Twilight who only gave me a week smile.
“Sorry,” she said.
I sighed, “It's alright. Ginger is a clever mare and she already caught on.”
“I can't wait to tell my dad,” Ginger said.
“Ginger, please don’t.”
“Why not?” I told her the reason why I retired and moved here to Ponyville. “Well, that sucks,” was her response.
“I know. If a lot of ponies found out, word would spread and those same ponies that drove me to retire would come back for me to compose again.”
“I promise I won’t tell anypony, then.”
“Thank you, Ginger.”
I decided to say fuck it and I left the guitar standing against the wall and continued with the party. I wore my pants again to hide my identity from the other ponies. Many of the party goers praised me and I felt embarrassed the whole time. It started to get me thinking.
This feeling again. Should it feel like this every time I play? Maybe I should play my new songs. These ponies here seem to like it. Wait, I'm here to get away. If I play word would spread and I don’t want that.
I decided to keep my head down for the rest of the party. Luckily for me, it was a weeknight so everypony left around nine, leaving me Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack. We were in the main room, cleaning up the mess.
“Bright, I told you, we threw the party, so we clean it up,” Twilight explained to me.
“So what? I can’t help?” I replied.
“Of course you can but--”
“Well, there we then.”
“Ugh,” she groaned, but she didn’t sound like she really meant it.
Applejack spoke up, “So Bright, who are you really?”
“Um...” I started to sweat bullets. “I’m Bright Side,” I said with no confidence.
Twilight had a panicked look on her face as she turned to Pinkie. “Hey Pinkie, aren’t you suppose to feed Gummy his nightly cupcake?”
“Excuse me darling, but how did you know Pinkie had to feed Gumby?” Rarity asked.
“I didn’t. I thought it’d be something Pinkie would do.” Twilight giggled as did the rest of us.
Applejack turned to me. “Back to the question. Who are you?”
I sighed. I didn’t want to go through it again. I turned to Twilight. “Trustworthy?” She nodded. “Do you mind if you tell her? I’m just tired of explaining it to people.”
“Its fine with me,” Twilight responded. She told Applejack the truth about me, while I finished cleaning.
Applejack turned to me. “So you were a-”
“Yep.” I interrupted her, know what she was going to ask.
“And you’re here beca-”
“Mmhm.”
“Well Ah say you’re yeller.”
“That’s ri--wait, what?” I turned to her, not expecting that.
“That’s right, you’re a coward. You’re running away.”
I sighed. “I was just tired of fighting. I wanted to get away and I did.” Even to my ears, I sounded depressed.
There was a moment of awkward silence.
Applejack spoke first holding a bottle of window cleaner. “Um, where do you want me to put this?”
“Under the sink,” I replied.
Applejack went behind the counter and disappeared underneath it. “What is this?” She rose up with a bottle of rum in her hoof. She unscrewed the cap and took a sip and then shook her head. “This is filly stuff.” She looked over at me. “Come over to mah farm one day and I’ll show you something worthy enough for drinkin’.”
I chuckled, “I’ll hold you to that offer.”
We finished cleaning a short time after. Twilight and Applejack left, leaving me to myself. I was thinking about the new friends I’d made and then I realized something: this was one of the greatest days I’d had in my whole life.
