Broken Strings and BPM's

Broken Strings Ch. 3: No Commitment

The next morning, I woke to the sound of snoring. I felt a pair of legs wrapped around my upper body, as well as something else. Something feathery. I opened my eyes to see a sleeping cyan mare, a look of satisfaction on her face, with her wings draped over me. I smiled, and closed my eyes, just in time to open them again, as I heard the front door open. There was a series of hoofsteps, then the bedroom door opened. I looked to the door, and saw Twilight bucking Sparkle staring at me, an eyebrow raised. "Well, I never expected this. Well, not from Rainbow Dash, at least."

I wriggled my way out of Dash's embrace. "By Celestia, does everypony think there's a sign above my door that says 'Come right in'?"

Twilight rolled her eyes at me. "Whatever. I was just coming to check up on you. I saw Vinyl leaving yesterday, and decided it was best to stay out of it, but eventually decided against that. So, what happened?"

I rolled off the side of the bed, landing on my hooves, and stretched out my stiff joints. "Vinyl and I are through, Twilight. She cheated on me, then acted like nothing had happened."

Twilight's face turned to a look of sympathy. "That's horrible! Why would she do that?! I'm so sorry, Bass. What are you going to do, now?"

I looked out the window, at the hillside. I  didn't usually bother to take in the view, and that still hadn't changed. The only reason I did so, this time was to gauge what time it was. Upon realizing that it was a few hours till noon, I rolled my eyes. "I don't know… I feel so strange…" I wasn't just saying that. I felt very strange. Almost as if some part of me was happy that Vinyl was gone. And the other part of me hated that part for feeling that way.

Twilight nodded. "Well, when Rainbow Dash wakes up, tell her that Applejack needed her help on the farm, today."

I shrugged. "Alright." Honestly, her first statement was finally starting to sink in, as she trotted out the door. I didn't know whether to be offended or not. Was everypony expecting me to be the kind of stallion who sleeps with every mare under the sun? Nah. Maybe it was just Twilight. I looked around, stretching, again. It was rather quiet around the house, which was strange. I had never quite gotten used to waking up and not hearing Vinyl's music from the living room. But now, it was a sad silence. I had just given my fiancé the hoof, yet I was coping with it all too well... Or so I thought.

I was heading for the door, when I heard the bed rustle. I looked back to see Rainbow Dash sitting up, her rainbow mane a shambles. She rubbed her eyes, and smiled at me. "Good morning, stud," she giggled. "Last night was amazing! Let's do that again, sometime. I mean, it was fun, and all, but I'm not exactly ready for any serious commitment."

I was shocked by Dash's nonchalant manner about all this, but could only nod in response.

"Cool," she said, hopping up, and shaking her mane out. "Well, I'm pretty sure Applejack needed me, today, so I'll see ya later, okay?"

I nodded again, as she trotted out the door. I stood, dumbfounded, as she left. I don't know how long I stood there, but I knew it was at least a few minutes. Once I finally broke free of my stupified shock, I trudged aimlessly around the house, trying to decide what to do with myself. Up until then, everything I did had something to do with Vinyl. Needless to say, I was clueless. I debated for a while, as I continued to wander aimlessly around the house. I found myself in the bedroom, looking at the pictures of myself and all of my old friends. I spent a moment on each one, as if one of them would come to life, and tell me what to do. I wandered between every picture. There was the picture of myself, and Rythm as foals, the picture of my first show with my band Fasthor5, a picture of myself, and Princess Luna. Looking back, I'm kind of surprised at how unprofessional I acted after being introduced to one of the princesses. I continued scanning through the pictures. I thought about talking to Treble about it, but she had only been in one relationship before her current one, and that one wasn't even that serious. Just as I passed the picture of Treble and Octavia, the answer practically jumped off the wall and smacked me in the face. It was a picture of myself, and Mic completely hammered, with a myriad of neon lights behind us. I didn't even give the idea a second thought, as I galloped out the door. Within a few hours, I found myself landing on Mic's balcony. Granted, the usual trip to Manehattan takes almost a day, by road, I have wings, so fuck roads. Plothole filled.

I knocked on Mic's balcony door, and waited semi-patiently for him to come to the door. The door opened slowly, as I saw the unicorn peek out from behind it. Once he recognized me, the door swung open. "Bass! I wasn't expecting you to come back so soon. Is everything alright, bud?"

I shook my head, trudging into the penthouse. Yes, I'm going to do a lot of trudging throughout the story. Get over it. I instantly sat down on the couch. "No, everything isn't alright. She really was cheating on me. I kicked her out, and the worst part about it is that I don't know what to do now." I looked to the ground, as I felt a hoof softly patting my back.

I looked back, and saw Mic shooting me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, little buddy. Everything's gonna be alright. Just wait. You'll see." He always called me little buddy. It wasn't because he was older than me. In fact, we're the same age. It was really because I was always small for my age.

I looked up at him, uncertainty written all over my face. "I sure hope so."

Mic walked toward the kitchen, and came out a few minutes later, levitating two drinks in front of him. "Drink up, Pal. We're gonna go see the city tonight."