A Pluck, Strum and a Slide.

by Ice

First published

To this very day, music is something that brings Equestria together, with strangers far and wide being able sing and dance in perfect hamrony without a moments practice. Though one has to wonder, what type of being brought about this constant anomaly

Phillip is your standard example of a teenager, with all the troubles that accompany such a period of a human's life. Puberty, dating, school and trying to fix that annoying little sound his guitar every now and then, without having to pay for new strings.
Of course, it's just when our little musician finds himself ready to strike at least one of those issues off of his list, he finds himself being put at bat against the universe as he finds himself diving head first into a minefield of colourful ponies, emotions and more than a few rumors regarding his arrival on land known as Equestria.

Chapter 1: The First Verse

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Chapter 1

Phillip resisted the urge to pat down the bead of sweat that was currently making its way down from his forehead and traveling across the vast landscape known as his cheek, after all, maybe she wouldn't notice, or would it be a bad thing if he didn't try to wipe it away, would it seem like he didn't care about hygiene or something like that?
The she in question was a girl that Phillip had spent the past few months trying to get to date him, well, a more accurate depiction would be that he had spent about a two solid weeks simply trying to work up the courage to talk to her in the first place, but her playing hard to get sounded better to him, so that's what the lovestruck teenager was going with.
Despite his initial nervousness, the two had struck it off on a high note, occasionally losing track of time as their conversations went on and on, more than a few times one of them found themselves being dragged away from their phone or computer as tired siblings and parents demanded they simply shut up for the evening.
As one could imagine, the time came around when the pair found themselves on a date, heading out to a nearby hill, having lunch and simply spending the latter part of the day together, talking, laughing and for a time simply sitting together, watching as the sun began to set, only breaking apart for a moment for a series of "Yes, yes, we're fine, yeah, I'll be back in an hour or so," from both parties, and that's when he pulled his hand away.
Grabbing his guitar, he turned towards her, playing a sequence of chords as a grin appeared on her face, the pair starting to starting to sing in time with the changing chords, Phil swaying side to side like a metronome as they continued, his movement becoming a little less animated and becoming more of a slight swing of his head as the song began to end, shuffling ever so slightly closer together as the last few chords were played, the pair drawing together, Phil swearing that under the moonlight was glowing just as he closed his eyes as they drew themselves into one another, or rather were about to. The glowing that Phil had seen began enveloping the would be Casanova as he was denied his first kiss by mere moments, being unaware of his almost instantaneous travel through reality, having leaned forward just a bit to much, as he found himself kissing the curb instead of his date.

* * *

While Phillip had been pursuing the teenage dream, in another world, while he was having relationship blossom, another one, much stronger by its very nature was being torn apart.

Princess Celestia, one of two Monarchs that presided over Equestria, was locked in a duel to the death with what was her sister, now however, for her own sake, she was convinced that her younger sister had merely been a catalyst for the creature that currently possessed her younger sibling, the Solar Princess being forced to restrain her own powers, The Nightmare playing off of her own fears of bringing harm to her own sister but also the suffering that would be inflicted upon her little ponies should she fail to slay The Nightmare.
And then it came to her, be it through brilliance or desperation, Princess Celestia had found her solution. Sending another golden blast of her magic at her foe, she dashed away, the various insults and claims of cowardice growing in volume as she felt herself being hit from behind, crashing into the castle, the mocking laughter of The Nightmare resounding throughout Canterlot as it claimed itself the victor and began to make its plans of eternal night known to all.
Rising up, the white alicorn resigned herself to seeing her plan through to the end, her horn glowing as part of the ground matched the golden hue of her magic, peeling apart as a column rose from the space, carrying various jewels of assorted colours. Stepping forward, Celestia surrounded herself in the jewels, a brilliant spectrum of light surrounding her as she rose from the castle, confronting The Nightmare one more time. Without a word being exchanged between the pair, they let their magic loose, Celestia being aided by the Elements of Harmony quickly gained control, banishing both The Nightmare and her sister to the moon.
Descending slowly, tears staining her coat, the now singular Monarch of Equestria returned to the room which had granted her the power to defeat the being known as Nightmare Moon. Her horn glowing, a confused look gracing her features as the jewels left her, simply falling to the ground, seemingly rejecting her attempts to lift them with her magic being met with a violent shaking as they refused to be moved, the Celestial Monarch beginning to realise just what was going on.
"Am I.. no longer worthy?" she mutters to herself, gently tapping one of the lifeless jewels, trying to invoke some sort of reaction from the Elements, Celestia starting to piece together why she was being rejected. She and her sister had found the stones, they both had used them to defeat Discord, they were day and night, sisters, the perfect idea of harmony... and now the day had relieved itself of the night, there was no harmony to be found with a lone mare.
.
.
.
.
But then it happened, the faintest of sparks, but more than enough to catch the attention of a mare, alone in the dark, the jewels swirling around her for a moment, a faint glow as a strange sensation took over the alicorn, her magic begin to stir without her command, an unfamiliar bond was being made, she was confused, almost scared as the elements worked, her body ready to run, fearing that she was being punished for her actions, that was until the first stream of light broke through the destroyed roof, her eyes opening in awe, piecing together the events that were unfolding before her, the elements had granted her harmony within herself, she was now the sun and the moon, she was what Equestria now needed, standing proudly as she willed the moon back to where it had been before her sister had... departed. Following the return of the sun, the Celestial Monarch could hear the cheers of her ponies or at least those that were aware of what had transpired.
And the elements acted once more, floating away from the monarch, glowing brightly as they created an orb between them, simply sitting in place for a moment before lowering it to the ground, floating back to the column as the light vanished, leaving an odd figure in its place.

Celestial stood in silence as the creature slowly began to press itself up from the ground, a number of colours adorning its body, blue, peac and black, with only small amounts of hair covering what she assumed to be two of its limbs and and particularly short mane. Groggily, it took a step towards her, limb outstretched as it muttered something before collapsing again, the alicorn catching it before it hit the ground, leaving her with a single question, "What in the name of elements is a cock-blocking Frutti Tutti coloured horse?"