Blue and Bass

by Brandon Sky

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 3933

A pegasus mare is introduced to the promising young clarinetist that will be her new roommate in her small Ponyville apartment, where she will show him the ins and outs of his new home.

Bass Treble is a young musician, taking nothing but a few bits and his clarinet to his new home of Ponyville, where he hopes to find the building blocks to a career in music. Before he can do that, however, he needs to get accustomed to the town.

That's where Blue Sky comes in. Even though she's only been around for a bit more than a month, she's quickly adapted to the place and is willing to give the new arrival a tour of the place and get him just as adjusted to Ponyville as she already is.

My first original pony work, obviously involving a couple OC's and whatever shenanigans they get themselves involved in. As with the fan-made Apple Scratch story, criticism is welcome and encouraged!

Published 2013-09-06 00:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-09-09 13:54:30 UTC

Chapter 1: Turning over a New Leaf

On a train headed for Ponyville, a cream-colored, black-maned stallion watched the scenery go by, a bit fascinated at how different the clean, open environment looked compared to the bustling city of Manehatten. A soft “Hello there” disrupted the quiet trip as the stallion turned his head towards the voice. A dark blue-coated, white-maned colt stood in between the aisles with a very bright smile.

“Is it okay if I sit here? It’d be nice to have someone to talk to so I can pass the time.” The polite colt asked.

“Sure, go ahead.” The stallion replied, agreeing that it’d be better than sitting all alone.

“Sweet, thanks!” The colt said back, taking a seat opposite the stallion. “So, what’s your name?”

“I’m Bass Treble.” Bass responded.

“That’s a cool name. It’s pretty fitting for a guy like you with that Cutie Mark.” The colt commented after he noticed the clarinet on the stallion’s flank.

“It’s also the instrument I have in this case here.” Bass added, addressing the brown case next to him. “Speaking of Cutie Marks…” He said, wondering if he could guess the colt’s name from his mark alone. It was a green leaf; not quite descriptive enough to make him think of a name.

“Trying to guess my name with that, huh? It’s actually not as hard as you might think it is.” The colt said, sounding like he was used to ponies trying to guess his name.

“Nope, my mind’s drawing a blank.” Bass replied. “I dunno, Leaf Storm? Hidden Leaf?” He took a couple random guesses.

“Nice try, but nope. Those both sound really cool, though. But, my name’s New Leaf.” The colt answered.

The name made Bass want to chuckle a little, but it also drew some fascination. He always wondered how parents could possibly come up with names that either predicted the future of their child, like himself, or manage to perfectly represent a catchphrase that they would eventually embody. “Ah, I get it. That’s a nice name.”

“Wow, you’re the first person I’ve met on a train that didn’t laugh from that.” New Leaf said, making Bass instantly regret the near-chuckle he had. “Hey, I don’t mind when people do it, I just laugh along with ‘em! They all turn out to be nice people anyway, so I just seem to luck out with that.”

“Do you ride the train a lot?” Bass asked.

“Oh, I’ve lost count by now. It’s just so exhilarating to meet new faces every day. And the feeling when you see someone you’ve seen on a train ride years ago…man, nothing beats that for me. I feel like I’m the first step to people turning over that New Leaf!” New Leaf explained, laughing at his own pun. His good mood allowed Bass to laugh along with him. “So, where are you headed?”

“Ponyville.” Bass replied.

“Ponyville, eh? It’s a nice place, I hear.” New Leaf nodded. “So, what are you going there for? A music tour or something?”

“Actually, I’m moving there.” Bass answered.

“Ooh, a moving trip! Oh, it’s been so long since I got to greet someone doing that!” New Leaf replied, quite excited at the response. “Actually, it’s only been a few months, but it’s felt like…I dunno, 11 YEARS or something!”

“Well, you’ll get to see me off, then.” Bass said, smiling at the colt’s positive attitude. Between his somber departure from his parents and the somewhat boring train ride, he was really enjoying having a friend to talk to.

“Speaking of which, we’re almost there! Look!” New Leaf said, pointing a hoof outside to the approaching town of Ponyville. New Leaf’s expression, however, quickly went from excited to a frown. “Aww man…I just realized you’re gonna have to leave in a couple minutes. And we just met, too!”

“I take it these good-byes are always a bit tough for you?” Bass asked.

“Yeah…especially when I don’t know if I’ll see any of them again.” New Leaf said back, picking himself back up again. “But, that just make the reuniting that much better! Hay, the last person I reunited with said they became the MAYOR of their new, little town! How’s THAT for a story to tell?”

“That sounds pretty awesome.” Bass said as the train started to slow down. “Well, I gotta go.”

“See ya, Bass. Say, what were you moving here for anyway, before you go?” New Leaf had to ask as Bass got up.

“Well, I came here for some quiet space to practice my music. I’ll need a good first step to work at getting into the Canterlot Symphony Orchestra someday.” Bass explained, hoisting his clarinet case onto his back.

“Whoa, now that’s dreaming big!” New Leaf said, amazed at the confidence of reaching for the top. “I hope you make it, Bass.”

“Thanks. You know, as soon as I got that in my mind, I’ve been taught something I’d want to call my mantra.” Bass told him as he walked to the door as the train came to a stop.

“How about you leave saying that?” New Leaf suggested.

“Sure. ‘Go and reach for the stars, even if they look pretty far. You’re gonna find your own way, as long as you take a chance on today.’” Bass said as he waved good-bye to New Leaf. He stepped off the train, turning to see New Leaf waving good-bye as well. “Sweet Celestia, that kid’s happiness is contagious.” He said to himself with a chuckle as he trotted towards his new home. He did make one note before he left the train station, however. “Wow, it’s kinda windy today.”

Author's Note

I've been a little hesitant about uploading this for a little while, but after summoning the courage to do the Apple Scratch side-story, I thought "You know, I have two chapters ready, why not just do it while I'm on a roll?"

So, I did. And yeah, you can probably tell what this entire chapter was a reference to. Good thing I manage to shake that temporary addiction to New Leaf, or this would've made me go right back to it. XD

Anyway, thoughts? Feelings? Angry rants? Let me know! ^_^

Chapter 2: She's Blue and Cyan

Several hours earlier…

A medium-blue pegasus woke up a bit early in the morning, ready for her share of work in setting up the weather. Shoving her light-blue mane out of her eyes, she got up and hovered out of the door to her room, looking over at the empty room opposite hers. “Didn’t someone tell me that room got reserved recently?” She pondered as she exited the front door of the small cottage.

Her name was Blue Sky and while she loved flying just as much as the next pegasus, there was one other thing she loved more than that: the wind. So much so, that altering the wind speed of Ponyville was her job as part of the town’s weather patrol. The good news about her initial job was that she was the first one to get her job done before having the rest of the day to do anything she wanted, but it came with the obvious downside of having to wake up very early in the morning, before most ponies even woke up.

Although Blue Sky had gotten used to waking up early after a few months of living in Ponyville, there was still one consistent annoyance about her job: Actually getting her assignment from her boss, Rainbow Dash. Sometimes (read: all of the time), she was quite difficult to make her stay awake just long enough to get the exact wind speed for the day before she immediately fell asleep again. It doesn’t help that she has a reputation of napping at sometimes inopportune moments. But, she’s the boss for a reason, and a blazingly fast reason at that, so Blue Sky puts up with it since her work only gets easier from there.

Blue Sky flew up to the window of Dash’s cloud house that revealed her sleeping in her room as per usual. “So, how many times does it take to wake her up today?” She asked herself. “Let’s find out!” She said, first knocking on the window. “One.” She said, proceeding to call Dash’s name to no avail. “Two.” She muttered, taking in a deep breath with a mental “Three” going through her mind. “I GOT YOU SOME MAIL FROM SPITFIRE!” She yelled, watching the cyan pegasus inside shoot right to the cloud window and passing through it.

“Give it here al-oh, it’s you…” Rainbow Dash said, facehoofing. “Are you SURE you don’t want a late morning assignment?” She asked Blue Sky.

“As kind as that offer is…no, thank you.” Blue Sky replied with a smile. Waking Dash up like this in the morning essentially gave her free reign for minor pranks while working at the same time.

“Alright, then…I don’t know how you put up with this sleep schedule.” Rainbow Dash said back, hovering back into her house to retrieve the to-do list for today and flying back outside. “Okay, so…just enough wind to have frequent breezes throughout the day, got it?” She read from the list.

“You got it, boss! Oh, and good night.” Blue Sky said, flying off for her daily wind generation.
Rainbow Dash hovered back inside and flopped onto her cloud bed with a yawn. “I should just leave her assignment on the window tomorrow…” She made a note to herself as she nodded off.

“A nice spring breeze today? Sure, I’d like that a lot.” Blue Sky repeated the job to herself as she hovered in place over the center of Ponyville, generating the necessary wind with her flapping wings. Once enough was generated, she started to fly all across Ponyville to spread the wind around. While she worked, she sung a couple songs to herself, one song about falling free in the wind and another about being some knight of the wind.

Once she finished her wind job, she went to Sugarcube Corner as it opened for the day to grab a quick breakfast before her morning nap. “Please don’t see Pinkie, please don’t see Pinkie, please don’t see-“

“And our first customer of the day iiiiiiiiiis…” A loud, feminine voice rang out through the store.

“Go away, go away, go away, go away, go away-“ Blue Sky repeated to herself as she was almost able to trot out with her bought muffin.

“Miss Storm Pegasus, herself…BLUE SKY!” Pinkie Pie’s voice cheered with confetti flying everywhere.
Blue Sky sighed, turning around to face the music. She’d get her nap soon at least.

“How does it feel to be Sugarcube Corner’s thirty-seventh-“ Pinkie Pie heard a meow in the background. “Thirty-eighth-time first customer?” She said, completing her interview question.

“I’m pretty hungry and pretty tired, Pinkie. You can throw a party for me later, alright?” Blue Sky told her.
Pinkie gasped. “I was gonna wait for you to hit forty times in a row, but thirty-eight is a good number for one, too! I mean, you NEVER heard that number for anything and you get to make it super-duper special!”

Blue Sky couldn’t help but smile. There’s no way anyone could be in a bad mood for long with her cheerful attitude. “Thanks, Pinkie.”

“You’re welcome as always, Blue!” Pinkie chirped. She was about to trot back to the kitchen when she suddenly paused. Her legs made a motion of wheels turning while she made train noises. Afterwards, her tail twitched followed by a gleeful smile with a hoof covering her eyes from non-existent sunlight from within the store.

“Pinkie Sense?” Blue Sky guessed, to which Pinkie zipped back up to her.

“A train impression, twitchy tail and environment adoration means someone new is coming off the train today! Oh, I wish I could meet them and throw them a Welcome to Ponyville party, but I have work!” Pinkie frowned for all of two seconds before brightening up in front of Blue Sky. “Blue, could you do me a really, really, really-

“-I’ll see who it is and tell you later.” Blue Sky replied as Pinkie proceeded to tackle-glomp her and hug her. “Just to be safe, I’ll Pinkie Promise.” She told her as Pinkie got off of her. “Cross my heart and hope to fly…” She trailed off for a second, hovering in the air. “Stick a cupcake in my eye!” She finished, doing the Pinkie Promise motion as well and leaving.

Blue went back home to have her muffin breakfast in a jiffy and let herself fall asleep for about an hour. She wasn’t the heaviest sleeper, sure, but she could at least fall asleep relatively quickly, which is very useful for naps.

About an hour later, she stirred from her nap, giving a loud yawn. She trotted outside, taking to the skies to get to the train station where she would await the supposed new neighbor. It’d be lucky if said person was the one who reserved the room in the house next to hers, so she could get introductions over with quickly. “Plus, I can save him or her from Pinkie’s party onslaught for at least a few hours so they can adjust.” She added to the rest of the explanation.

She watched a train slowing down near the station before coming to a full stop. Only one pony had gotten off the train here, so she hovered over to him to introduce herself. “Hey, new guy. I’m Blue Sky, who are you?”

The young stallion turned to her after she nearly interrupted his comment about the area being windy. “I’m Bass Treble.”

Author's Note

So, the two finally meet. Apologies for throwing two chapters at you so quickly, but I did say I had both chapters ready at first. So, opinions? Concerns? ...Perhaps a little too many references that I'm making far from subtle?

Oh, and I'm curious as to what you guys think of Blue's job. Does needing a wind-setting pony make sense a little? I thought perhaps maybe someone like Rainbow Dash would have that automatically with her own workload, but maybe someone with a dedicated wind-setting time might split the work up a bit more to make it easier on the rest. So, enjoy!

...And I promise I won't toss up two chapters in a row like this again unless I really can't help but write two. ^_^

Chapter 3: Welcome to Ponyville! (Party not included, but recommended)

Chapter 3: Welcome to Ponyville! (Party not included, but recommended)

“How did you know I would be here?” Bass asked as Blue landed in front of him.

“A friend of mine gave me a tip of someone new arriving today, so I thought I’d see if that was true.” Blue replied. “I swear that friend might be a bit psychic sometimes. I’ll introduce you to her later.”

The two walked alongside each other, away from the train station and into Ponyville proper. Their first stop was where Bass’ new home, across the hall from Blue in the small cottage apartment.

“Huh, so the one I’m sort of roommates with was the one to have a psychic pony find me. Small world, isn’t it?” Bass commented.

Blue shrugged. “Well, it IS a small town. You can leave your instrument in there for now if you want.”

“Actually, I like taking it with me wherever I go.” Bass declined the offer.

“Doesn’t it get tiring to hold that case?” Blue wondered. “I mean, I know it’s not that heavy, but it might hurt after a while, right?”

“I’ve slowly gotten used to that slight soreness. An Earth pony’s gotta be strong in some way, right?” Bass laughed as the two left the house to continue the tour.

Blue pointed out the various buildings and the people who run them, including Sugarcube Corner, the town Library, the Carousel Boutique, among plenty of others. She then pointed out the Everfree Forest and its many dangers, with the not-totally-ironic shy, animal loving pony being the one living right outside of it.

Bass hadn’t thought much of the names of most of the “Mane Six” as the town apparently liked to call them, but Fluttershy especially let the naming discussion creep back into Bass’ mind. He thought he might ask Blue about it sometime later, but not now, for he had a tour to finish.

“As a tip for later, I suggest you go check on that cottage.” Blue pointed out, referring to a single cottage in the middle of town. “Two of our town’s most notable musicians live there, so you might be interested.”

“Ponyville musicians, huh? What are their names?” Bass asked, curious of who they are.

“Oh, their names are-sweet Celestia, get down and cover your ears.” Blue deadpanned, seeing someone in the window with a grin on her face, though it wasn’t directed at them.

Bass tilted his head at her, seeing the windowed mare raising a hoof up as if she’s about to slam it down somewhere.

Blue, seeing her instructions failing, quickly backed up and charged at Bass, taking to the skies and grabbing him on the way up.

“Wha-what are you doing!?” Bass yelled.

“EARS!” Blue merely said, to which Bass merely followed instructions this time. Right as he did so, the window below opened, bellowing an insanely loud set of what the mare in the window would call “wubs.”

Blue retreated to their house, letting Bass down once only a ~~foot~~ hoof above the ground. She panted for a few seconds, hoping that clarinet hadn’t added extra weight to the flight.

Bass was a little bit shaken up, having been suddenly flown at a fairly decent speed. He sat where he landed, sighing in relief. “I guess that would’ve been ten times louder up close?” He asked Blue.

Blue nodded. “Sorry, I didn’t know her dishwashing time was right now…” She said, seeming to baffle Bass.

“D-DISHWASHING!? What kind of dishwasher produces DUBSTEP of all things!?” Bass shouted, more than a little worried about the status of those musicians’ state of hearing if they can survive that.

“Vinyl Scratch’s, that’s whose kind of dishwasher can.” Blue told him. “She insists on cleaning with…wubs.” She said, placing extra emphasis on the wub. “I hope that doesn’t deter you from meeting her, though. She’s really cool, as is her more classical roommate, Octavia.”

The latter name seemed to ring a bell to Bass. “Octavia…Philharmonica?” He confirmed.

“Oh, you know her?” Blue said, not sure whether to feel surprised given the whole musician thing.

“I have a record of her ensemble’s performance at the Grand Galloping Gala a couple years back. I had no idea she lived in Ponyville.” Bass said, realizing something in horror. “M-my records, I FORGOT TO BRING ALL OF THEM!” He yelled, attempting to resist saying something else. “…HORSEAPPLES!” He yelled to the sky.

Blue blinked at him, her eyes a little widened by his sudden despair. She got why he was upset, but this might’ve been pushing it on easily-replaceable records. “Maybe you can ask to have PegEx ship it to you?” She asked.

“I either have to wait to ride back to Manehatten and embarrassingly say to my parents ‘Hey, I forgot my music’ or wait too long and spend too much to ask them to ship it. I think I’d rather buy replacements ASAP…” Bass said, his face covered by his hooves.

Blue smiled. “Well, good thing I know a place for that! I’ll take you there tomorrow! You can get some other things for your instrument there, too.” She said, happy to keep up her tour guide routine for a second day.

Bass smiled, uncovering his face. “Thanks, Blue. I’d probably manage to get lost in this small town without you.” He said, taking Blue’s hoof and being lifted up when prompted. “Actually, just this once, I’ll travel without the clarinet. Just let me put it away.”

“Go right ahead.” Blue waved, waiting outside. She noticed the inside was dark after Bass opened the door and found it to be odd. “I didn’t turn off the main lights…BASS, DON’T HIT THE SWITCH!”

Too late.

“SURPRISE!” A large group of ponies yelled, scaring the clarinet right off Bass. He fumbled with the case as he tried to catch it, managing to eventually keep it in his hands, but falling to the ground to do so.

“That one was really good! We were like “SURPRISE!” and you were like “AHHHH!” and then you tossed the box up and caught it like a hoofball star and it was super exciting!” Pinkie Pie said, lifting Bass up off the ground.

A little frightened by the pink pony’s surprise, he hesitantly responded. “Wh-what’s…this about?”

“It’s a party for you, silly! My patented Welcome to Ponyville party! ...Patent pending.” Pinkie replied, mumbling the last two words.

“Do you do this for everyone?” Bass asked her.

“Eeeeeeeeeeevery last pony in Ponyville! Even the ones that were here before I came here, I gave them all parties, too!” Pinkie beamed, hopping around. “I’m so happy I got to do one of these again, Blue was the last one for a WHILE and that made me super-sad because-“

“PINKIE, I think he gets it!” Blue sky said, putting a hoof over her mouth. “I forgot to warn you about this, sorry.”

Bass looked around at the waiting crowd of ponies in the main hall, then back at Pinkie and Blue. “I guess I have no choice but to accept.” He said in a fake lack of enthusiasm as the crowd cheered and dispersed throughout the room to chat.

Bass trotted over to Blue and Pinkie, who were still waiting for him. “Are you the ‘psychic pony’ that Blue told me about?”

“I don’t know, am I Psychic? I thought I was a Normal-type, being an Earth pony and all like you!” Pinkie said, confusing Bass a little bit. She made an “Ohhhh” response when she got the point. “A lot of ponies think my Pinkie Sense is psychic, but it’s just that, a sense! And I’m ‘sensing’ you’re gonna have a lot of fun here, Bass!”

“Wait…how did you know my name?” Bass asked, wondering if this was another ‘psychic’ trick.

“Blue told me, silly filly!” Pinkie said, muttering an “Oops” when she had to change the gender. “Huh, I forgot I never made one like that for boys! I need to make one right away! Enjoy the party, and I hope Ponyville is your Forte!”

Bass smiled as he watched Pinkie trot away. “I think it will be.”

Author's Note

I had to resist making a certain name joke more obvious, because I knew I had to make the joke at some point. If you get the joke, you'll also get why I named the story the way I did at the same time, since it's related to that. XD

So anyway, Blue's a helpful tour guide and can think quick on her ~~feet~~ hooves to save him from the wubs. Honestly, I see Vinyl's wub-washing as at least a weekly thing. It also includes free earbuds for anyone living too close to her to prepare for it, since that was brought up one time during some...meeting...thing...committee, I don't know, it was a good idea, alright?

Enjoy!

...Oh, and does everyone here who rights pony fics have a real issue with Word throwing a fit with pony-changed words? HEY WORD, EVERYPONY IS A THING NOW, DEAL WITH IT.