Walking to Practice

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Sweetie Belle looked towards the sky, a clear brilliant blue cloudless sky like always. It was rather disgusting to the filly as she enjoyed the clouds more than the sun itself as it was high in the sky. Maybe when it finally did cloud over and rain her sister would leave her workshop. The mare had been locked inside of the room working on clothes for the past week, making Sweetie responsible for herself. Now normally Sweetie would love the chance to prove she's responsible and can take care of herself, but this was simply too much. Her horn ached a little from the heavy magic she had been doing the past few days, making breakfast automatically, washing the dishes, making dinner, doing the laundry, and even caring for Opal.

"Fillies should not be an adult or act like one at my age." She was exhausted and didn't even wanna know what it would be like if she had school atop of it. That thought alone made a strand of her mane pop out of place and dangle down by her left eye. After a long sigh she flicked on her magic as her whole mane started to rearrange itself. Soon she had a straight mane, hanging down around her shoulders and the right half folded behind her ear. The left hung down covering her eye before she whirled a small tornado through all of it. She had curls for days as it fluffed up around her head and hung down her back, the straight lengths brushing itself back behind her ear to give a more refined look.

A giggle from nearby startled Sweetie as she looked over and saw a mare laying down under a tree with a book between her hooves. Soft red furred ears twitched as the mare kept giggling. Sweetie was frowning already as she stalked over towards the mare. "And who are you? What's so funny about me doing my mane?"

The mare smiled and hide her lips behind a hoof as she kept lightly giggling for a moment. "Well you talked about not being an adult but you did your hair better than any mare I've met. You must of been taught by a mare well versed in beauty and fashion. Color me impressed." There was a smile that reached up to her piercing cat green eyes, a joyful smile though a hint of mischief mixed in there. Sweetie Belle felt a bit weirded out by this mare but stayed by her still.

"Well my sister taught me how to do a little bit with drying my mane while styling it. After that I started doing the small tornados to curl the hair and give it a nice firm bump to it." Sweetie held a hoof to her mane a bit before turning her head to show off a bit.

The mare was smiling as she folded her book and set it down. "Well that is advanced for some pony your age. What other kinds of spells have you developed yourself?"

"Well recently I perfected an automatic breakfast spell for pancakes, waffles, or omelets. I also worked in the ability to turn everything off and even feed myself. Then I have the dishes wash themselves. After an hour resting on the rack they put themselves away. I don't even need to focus on the dishes anymore or activate my magic as I made the spell linger with enough power to sustain itself. I did the same for the laundry as I prefer hoof washed bedding to machine, to me it gives it a bit of extra fluff and coziness." Sweetie was smiling as she sat on her haunches, happily talking about the new spells she mastered and developed.

Velvet smiled as she nodded her head a bit. "Those are complex spell matrices, to be so young and have the ability to deliver enough stagnant power and the sentience to activate itself after so long. Now what is your name if I may be so kind to know who I am speaking with."

Sweetie's tail wagged a bit at the praise. "My name is Sweetie Belle, and yours?" She held out a hoof, not noticing the horn mixed in the azure hair atop the mare's head.

"Mine is Velvet Rose. It is a pleasure to meet you Sweetie. You can call me Velvet if you wish." Velvet smiled as she reached out her magic and softly shook the offered hoof. The color of her magic was so red that it almost was black.

Sweetie stared down at the magic before softly shaking with her own hoof. "A pleasure to you Miss Velvet. What brings you to Ponyville? I know it isn't a very exciting town."

"Well I am on a small break from work and came to town for a little bit of shopping and to enjoy the country. It's a vast difference compared to the city, and besides the food here is delicious." A smile crossed her lips as she turned her head and levitated a small bag with a candy on the front. "Who knew bon bons were so good." She levitated one of the small candies out of the bag before unfurling the wrapper. She began sucking on the taffy for a moment before offering the bag towards Sweetie.

Sweetie smiled as she took a candy herself and soon laid herself down under the shade of the tree. After a few moments of rolling the candy around with her tongue she settled into the side of her cheek. "What kind of work do you do Velvet?"

Before Velvet could answer a cyan streak blurred past as Rainbow was still on the hunt for the mysterious mare she never heard a description of.

"Heh well I don't have Pegasus who blur past people. Do you know she's in such a hurry? I've seen her go past me several times and she never apologizes. Just the other day actually an orange mare knocked me aside in the mare. I recognized her as an Element of Harmony but she was rather rude. I thought hero's of the nation were supposed to be kind and respect the citizens." Velvet had a little bit of a frown as she talked, looking towards the blur moving around the skies.

Sweetie folded her ears back a little as she looked down a little towards the grass. A small breeze brushed the stalks of green a bit to the side before she finally spoke. "I'm sorry, they are on a search for a mare who asked my sister out. She fainted because of the admission of love. Apparently she had a dream during her fainting spell, but she won't talk about it. She's locked herself away for the past few days and has been working on some sort of dress I think she saw in her dream."

Velvet looked towards the boutique for a moment before sighing softly. "I will be honest with you Sweetie Belle. I am terribly sorry for that, and I wish to ask for your forgiveness. I just wanted to get all my feelings out and well it wasn't the most graceful like I was trained to be."

Sweetie blinked her eyes before looking towards Velvet as she tried to form words but just kept opening and closing her mouth. Her brain working a bit as she realized who she was talking to the whole time.

Velvet saw the filly fumble for words and it just made her giggle a little as she smiled and reached over to push the jaw closed. "Heh well I see you are at a lose for words. I can understand why, but I do ask you don't go spreading my identity to everyone and I will pay your sister a visit tomorrow so as to help pull her out of her stupor. "Though I think you had somewhere to be before you stopped to talk to me. Why don't I walk with you to your destination?"

Sweetie felt the hoof and looked down at it as she realized she wasn't acting like a proper lady. She kept her mouth closed as she thought for a moment on what to do. After hearing the offer she nodded and began to stand up, watching Velvet rise up and finally let her have a good look at the cutie mark she had. A black briar rose curled around a longsword, the flower opening where the pommel would be. "Alright Velvet. I was actually heading to a rehearsal."

"Oh well could I possibly sit and listen to your rehearsal? I simply love music so much, it gives ponies a different way to express themselves. Every chance I get I try to find a new place to go when I'm off that has music. Well I would understand if you didn't want me to attend because it is sudden and you barely know me." Velvet stretched a bit as she arched her back and looked at Sweetie. A hopeful smile all over her face as she eagerly waited.

Sweetie thought for a moment, weighing the options in her head as the benefits of having Velvet go with her. She didn't want to seem rude but she also wanted the song to be a secret to the mare if she went to the Gala with her sister. It was a good minute of deliberating before she finally came to a decision.

"Well I thank you for the offer to walk me but I don't know how the others in rehearsal would react if I solely decided to bring someone else in. I mean they are professionals so they may not like viewers before the actual performance. Although your perfectly welcome to come and meet them before my practice starts. I'm certain everyone would love to meet you, though we'll leave the Elements out to spare you any trouble." Sweetie smiled as she looked at Velvet as they began walking.

The mare didn't seem to agitated and even had a smile as she nodded her head in an understanding manner. "I can understand that now. It was semi selfish of me to just invite myself to a single member. A group vote is always needed to decide things of importance."

Sweetie smiled and let out an internal sigh at the response. Soon both mare and filly are walking down the lane towards Octavia and Vinyl's home.

Rehearsal

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The house was eerily quite as the ponies who lived there went about their morning. Neither of them said anything to each other as they made breakfast. A quite morning was not a normal thing in this house, the neighbors actually were scared since it was so silent. Even the mice that lived in the house were shaking in their holes. Something was brewing and no being in the vicinity wanted to see the end result.

The silence was finally broke by the hiss and crackle of a fire in the stove as they cracked eggs into a pan and soon their sizzle filled the air. The clatter of plates and silverware soon followed as they were wrapped in a blue aura as four spots were set. Coffee and tea both hissed on the stove as the kettles boiled over. Finally after setting the food out the two mares took their places at the heads of the table, slowly sipping their coffee.

There is some sort of mystic ancient magic infused in the bean, that is unleashed when one drinks it. It allows those who ingest it emerge from their own mind and greet the day. It even allows mares' manes and tails to self groom and style themselves as they drain their cups. Such an event was happening as each mare sipped at their cup, their manes grooming themselves with the magical power as strands of hair crawled into place and soon it was as if they had never spelt at all.

The white furred mare had on a pair of sunglasses, resting just above her horn as she looked at the clock as her magic served a bit of food onto both their plates. Enjoying silence was a rare event and she didn't usually like it, but today seemed the best time to feel the soft noises of their house creak in the breeze. The wood shifting a bit under the weight of it all. Her eyes closed as she leaned back and sipped her coffee, savouring it as she did the silence.

Her partner was in a similar mood as she sipped at her own brew, it had some sugar and cream inside. Never would she understand the love of drinking black coffee, sure the smell was delightful but she needed a sweet drink to wake herself up. The black mane of hers curled a bit to resemble her treble cutie mark. Her fur petting itself down somehow like a brush flowed through it as she kept sipping her black nectar of the princesses.

Neither of them wanted to break the silence that lasted for almost an hour as they ate. Though they assumed a small filly who loved close by would of disturbed their peace by now. Neither of them were concerned as nothing bad was going on outside, just a beautiful morning filled with a few clouds and neigh birdsong. Even they understood the musicians desire for silence. Both of them ate their breakfast before cleaning up, they set two plates filled with the normal amounts of food their friends ate aside. Along with a tall glass of tea with two sugars, and a mix of half coffee and half tea, quarter cream and three sugars.

After cleaning all the plates, pots, and pans they adjourned to the living room, each pulling out a different book to sit down and enjoy until their guests arrived. Vinyl had a vampire novel curled between her hooves, unlike most novels it was focused a vampire living in modern life. No they didn't sparkle in sunlight but could walk in it but not be able to use any special powers. Octavia read a similar one but this one concerning wereponies, not just wolves but tigers, lions, bears, goats, elephants. Every species possible. Both were riveted into their stories they couldn't bring themselves to put them down and didn't even hear the creak of the door as a teal unicorn let herself in.

She peered around the quite house and walked around, following the scent of food she walked into the kitchen and found her plate and cup. She sat down and enjoyed the meal in her own silence with the occasional turn of a page coming from the living room. Her drink was softly sipped, the bitterness enhanced by the tea as it was a good mix. Her hooves curled a bit at the sips before she finished her food and took her drink in to join the other mare's reading. She selected a romance novel from the shelf, one where the stallions were buff and toned, muscles rippling as they walked. Hooves big enough to crush skulls, it was enough in the descriptions to make her shiver at the images in her mind. Some of the thoughts weren't safe for public commentary or even private commentary. So she just had her cheeks pure red in blush as she kept reading on.

Finally the last member arrived, slowly walking inside the house as she peered around for a moment before walking in the living room. Sweetie peered around for a moment before smiling softly as she coughed a bit into her hoof. "Heeellloooo."

All three mare's looked up from their books before smiling in unison and calling out. "Sweetie Belle!" They all closed their books and walked over to hug the filly before noticing the mare standing slightly behind the filly.

Vinyl was the first to talk as she roamed her red eyes over the red furred mare. "Hello there pretty mama, what did the filly bring auntie Vinyl." She licked her lips and made to walk forward to introduce herself before a hoof was jammed between her own. The DJ soon was seeing solid floor boards as she went flanks up and face down.

"Down girl, remember you're happily taken." Octavia's voice was somewhat cold as she used her hoof to press lightly on the unicorn's horn to keep her down as she bowed a bit. "Hello there, its lovely to meet you. My name is Octavia and this brash mare is my wife Vinyl. She's a bit of a mareizer as she tried to go after every attractive mare she sees."

"And I'm Lyra, friend to all three." The teal mare had walked around the lovers and held out a strand of magic to shake with Velvet.

Velvet took the strand in her own and happily smiled as she looked at the three mares, her eyes lingering on Octavia the most before she shook her head. "You're fine and its wonderful to meet all of you. My name is Velvet, I assume you are all musicians aiding Sweetie Belle in her venture for song? I simply have to say that I truly appreciate the art form of what you all do and that I know just like fighting that music is as difficult to learn as the sword but to master it takes years of practice, dedication, and love of the art." The three musicians puffed out their chest at the compliment and all smiled at the new mare.

In unison they replied. "Thank you Velvet." The two standing bowed as best they could as Vinyl simply waved a rear hoof and moved to sit up and soon stood.

Velvet smiled as she shook Vinyls magic and went actual hoof to hoof with Octavia. "A pleasure ladies but I actually think I'm needed to talk to a mare today. I've been putting it off for a while and she's been expecting a visit from me."

Sweetie looked up for a moment before it dawned on her who she meant and a wide smile spread across her face. "Alright Velvet. I hope the visit is fabulous for you."

"Thanks Sweetie. Now I bid you ado madams." Velvet bowed and walked of, swaying her hips as she entranced all three mares with the motion.

Lyra was the first to react after the door shut. "Dibs! I call dibs on that mare. She's mine, you two back off." The others frowned and each stalked up to look the harpist in the eyes.

"What make you think you can have dibs, she entered our house first. So clearly she's ours." They seemed to both talk, saying the next word in the sequence for the other.

Sweetie just started giggling at the three before they all turned to eye the filly up. All speaking in unison. "What you have dibs on her?"

"No she's the one who lost you all a hundred bits each." Sweetie watched as each and every jaw dropped as they stared at the filly then back toward the door. Today seemed it was going to be a slow practice, which just made Sweetie giggle as she walked to grab her food and cup of tea.

Figuring Out What Love is

by Devela

Walking to Practice

Rehearsal