Mezzo Piano woke up in a daze; the room was spinning and blurry. Where was he? Was he dead? No, but it was just as bad, he was still in math class.

He grumbled in despair, how much longer does he have to bear this? He looked at his wrist and let out an unpleasant sigh, he was only 15 minutes into the lesson.

‘Hey, Sleepyhead, Come back to reality!’ A high pitched voice screamed down Mezzo’s ear, he flinched in response and turned around. There she was, a radiant smile on her face, Pinkie Pie, Mezzo’s closest friend, looked into his groggy eyes. ‘C’mon, liven up a bit, gosh!’

‘Sorry, Pinkie, but this class is so fucking boring.’ Mezzo responded in his rather quiet tone.

‘I second that, but at least it’s the last lesson of the day,’ Pinkie made a cheering gesture with her hands, she chanted ‘plus, we’re going out on the town with the buddies tonight!’ Pinkie shook Mezzo uncontrollably.

The buddies Pinkie was referring to were Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Sunset Shimmer. Mezzo transferred to Canterlot high after running away from home (let’s just say that his family couldn’t stand the constant Piano playing and singing.) He remembered that his childhood friend, Pinkie Pie, moved to Canterlot high with her family, so he decided to follow the same route as her. He’s only been to the school a week, and is finally meeting Pinkie’s friends for the first time.

Finally, the school bell rang out, and Mezzo was out of the classroom like a speeding bullet. Pinkie followed behind swiftly. She could barely contain her excitement.

‘OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD! I’M SO EXCITED!’ She burst out, skidding down the hallway.

‘Wanna meet at mine, in about an hour?’ Pinkie asked Mezzo as he finally caught up with her at the school entrance.

‘Sure thing, see you then.’ Mezzo gave Pinkie a quick little hug as they walked in the opposite direction.

Fortunately, Mezzo Piano’s apartment was only a 5 minute walk from the school. As he got in, he sprayed deodorant to temporarily block out the permanent smell of shit, sweat, and some kind of fish like smell that lingered in the apartment. It was rancid, to say the least.

Mezzo stripped naked and took a long shower. It felt nice, considering how much of a strain it was to get through today. He washed all over thoroughly, and stepped out of the shower, slipping a few times on the grimy floor. ‘Note to self, Mezzo,’ he said to himself. ‘If you convince a girl for sex, don’t invite her here.’

He looked at his clock, 4:00pm on the dot; he had to be at Pinkie’s in half an hour. So he got changed into a navy blue top, a black pair of jeans, and his signature greeny-grey trench coat, which fell to his ankles. He added a scarf to go with the look, sprayed some deodorant and cologne, and grabbed his keys, wallet and phone. Finally, at 4:15pm, Mezzo had left his unhygienic apartment. He sent a text to Pinkie.

‘On my way now, see you in a minute.’

Pinkie quickly responded.

‘Okee dokee lokee.’

I presume you want to know who Mezzo Piano is by now, I mean, you’re 546 words into the story, and we don’t know a lot about our main character. Well, he’s a singer, performer and pianist, soft spoken, but can really impress crowds of thousands with his unique voice. Of course, he’s rather introverted when not on a stage, and so he has very few friends. Pinkie were the best of friends back when they were in Kindergarten, because of this, they grew up together in the same elementary and middle school together. She left to go to Canterlot high, he went to go to the Manehatten Academy. Well, I don’t think he liked that much as he dropped out. This made his parents pretty pissed off, so they kicked him out the house and forced him to stay with his Uncle until he sorted out his act. Mezzo had that ‘stereotypically creepy uncle’ so he passed on the offer, and so he caught a train to Canterlot. He joined the school last week after gaining the keys to his apartment from that same ‘stereotypically creepy uncle’.

Mezzo gave 4 short knocks on the door to Pinkie Pie’s house, a lot of crashing noises were made, and a few yelps from Pinkie herself. However, Pinkie didn’t answer the door; it was her sister, Maud.

‘Oh, hi, Mezzo Piano,’ She said in her signature monotonous way. ‘Pinkie will be with you in a minute.’

‘Alright, sweet.’ Mezzo waited at the foot of Pinkie’s home, it was rather big, but then again, she does have 3 sisters.

Finally, after about 5 minutes, Pinkie appeared in front of Mezzo, she wore skin tight pink jeans, and a baggy black T-shirt, she looked quite beautiful, at least to Mezzo.

‘How’s it going, MP?’ A classic nickname she’d usually him.

‘I’m doing alright,’ the 2 of them started walking down the street. ‘Where are we meeting your friends again?’

‘Oh, Sugar Cube Corner!’ Pinkie replied hastily. Pinkie was being rather calm, but he knew that would change quickly after she was reunited with her friends.

‘So, what should I know about these friends we’re meeting up with, Pinkie?’

‘Let’s see,’ Pinkie started to think for about 10 seconds before answering. ‘Well, you've got Applejack, she’s a redneck.’

‘Is that it?’

‘Yeah, duh! Rainbow Dash is a bit cocky, but very good at sports. Fluttershy is really shy, like, shes worse than you, but she’s lovely. Rarity is quite a Prima Donna, but she always is a generous person. Lastly we have Sunset Shimmer, who… well… she used to be the school bully.’

‘How did you become friends then?’

‘She’s reformed since then! She’s really quite a nice girl now.’

‘Oh cool.’

They walked in silence, until they turned into Canterlot city centre. Pinkie started chuckling to herself.

‘What is it now, Pinkie?’ Mezzo pretty much knew it was something to do with him, or something sexual, or both.

‘I was just thinking about if you hooked up with one of us.’ Pinkie sniggered. ‘I’m placing bets on either Fluttershy or Sunset. I mean, Fluttershy is like a female version of you, Sunset is really hot though, get the pun?!’

‘Pinkie, I haven’t even met them yet, so hold your stinkin’ horses.’ Mezzo said jokingly.

‘Ok, but fates are tied. REMEMBER WHEN YOU AND I DATED IN THE 6TH GRADE?!’ Pinkie was laughing so hard that she stumbled on her own 2 feet, and pedestrians started to give weird looks from across the street. Mezzo took back the whole ‘Pinkie being calm’ thing he thought earlier.

‘How could I forget, Pinkie…’

‘Ew, we kissed, didn’t we? How gross!’

Mezzo was going to say something about how Pinkie lost her virginity by the time she was 15, being the ‘party animal’ she was, and still is. He held back, he knew it would totally kill the mood.

‘Yep.’ That was all that came out of Mezzo’s mouth instead.

It took Pinkie about 2 minutes to stop laughing; she wiped the tears of joy off her face. She looked at the time on her phone and gave a face of horror.

‘Oh, shit, we’re five minutes late.’ She started to pick up the pace.

‘No thanks to you splitting your sides about 6th grade.’ Mezzo tittered.

Pinkie and Mezzo finally got to Sugar Cube Corner, and sure enough, the rest of the gang were there.

‘Guys… this… is… my friend… Mezzo…Piano…’ Pinkie was panting quite a lot.

‘Ah, so this is Mezzo,’ A girl with red and yellow curled hair approached him and looked him dead in the eye, applying a little smirk at the same time. After a moment of eye contact (which felt like a century to Mezzo) she added: ‘I’m Sunset Shimmer, pleased to meet you. We've heard a lot about you from Pinkie.’

The rest of the girls, bar Pinkie, nodded in unison.

‘Oh, right, well, Pinkie’s told me about you girls as well.’ Mezzo responded.

‘Oh, they weren’t bad things, were they?’ Fluttershy muttered, looking at the ground, then to Mezzo.

‘Oh, no, of course it was all positive!’

Pinkie had finally collected herself. ‘Alright girls, (and boy) tonight is going to be amazing!’

There was a cheer that came from the 6 of them. Mezzo wasn't sure how to react. Surely, this night could go amazingly, or terribly.

‘We’d like 4 chocolate milkshakes, and 2 vanilla milkshakes, and a strawberry one for the gentleman over there please.’ Rainbow Dash took the order from Mr Cake.

‘Coming right up!’ He responded cheerfully.

She walked back towards the round circular table, were the rest of the group sat. Mezzo seemed to be getting on with Sunset and Fluttershy, coincidentally what Pinkie had said.

‘So, Mezzo, what about you?’ Sunset laid back on her chair, giving a small smile to him.

‘Well… I sing and I play piano.’ He responded, rather shyly.

There was a chorus of ‘Ooohs’ from the girls.

‘That’s mighty impressive, ah like that.’ Applejack beamed to him as well. Mezzo felt quite happy being the centre of attention here.

‘I must say, a pianist is quite amazing in my books. Being a pianist myself of course, it’s nice to meet someone who’s on the same page as you.’ Rarity seemed to be interested in the conversation.

‘Thanks, it’s always something I've enjoyed to do.’ Mezzo started to explain, suddenly he felt a vibration in his pocket. He looked at his phone; it was a text from Pinkie Pie, (the girl who was sitting directly across from him, mind you.) It read:

‘Pulling it off well, I see.’

Mezzo looked at Pinkie, pulling a shit-eating grin right at him. He responded with the same smile.

‘Who was that from?’ Fluttershy asked curiously, moving the giant fringe of hers out of her eyes.

‘Oh, probably his girlfriend, or something.’ Sunset giggled at him.

‘Me? A girlfriend? Nonononono… I couldn’t.’ Mezzo shook his hands towards her.

‘Oh, why not, darling?’ Rarity gave a sympathetic look and asked politely.

‘Dunno, never had the confidence to ask anyone out before.’

Pinkie finally piped up: ‘OH, MEZZO, REMEMBER BACK IN 6TH GRADE WHEN—’

‘Leave it, Pinkimena.’ Mezzo raised a single eyebrow which caused Pinkie to reply with a similar face, surprisingly, nobody seemed to take notice.

‘Wow,’ Rainbow Dash chimed in ‘you have the confidence to perform in front of audiences by singing, yet you can’t ask out a girl. I know those feels.’ She bumped her chest and made a peace sign.

There was a small gap of silence, not long enough to be awkward, but not short enough to go unnoticed.

‘So, anyway,’ Applejack broke the silence. ‘How have the Rainbooms been doin’?’

‘Oh, it’s been going great!’ Rarity didn't even hesitate. ‘The other day, my mother and father moved to Baltimare. They've let me have their old house until I graduate!’

‘Wow, Rarity.’ Fluttershy got a little excited. ‘How much convincing did that take?’

‘Oh, none, they knew I was old enough to look after myself, I still need to look after Sweetie Belle though.’

‘That sounds like a hell of a lot of work.’ Pinkie admitted.

‘It probably will be, but its fine, I’ll get used to it.’

Mezzo seemed very distant from the whole conversation. Fluttershy got his attention however.

‘Are you ok?’ She whispered to him.

‘Of course, why wouldn't I be?’ He replied.

‘I’m sorry if I haven’t been speaking to you a lot tonight like everyone else,’ Fluttershy cowered a little whilst speaking. ‘I get a little nervous whilst speaking to new people.’

‘I know that feeling, Fluttershy. I’m not exactly the best speaker either; I've just been nodding most of the time.’

They both chuckled a little.

‘Order up!’ The group turned their heads to see Mr. Cake carry a tray full of milkshakes. He passed them around to the girls. He gave Mezzo the strawberry flavour, just as Rainbow asked.

The group spent the night wandering around the streets of Canterlot, looking in clothes shops and fashion shops, which Mezzo Piano had to tolerate, but he wasn't too fussed. The girls seemed to be going on rather well with him, Fluttershy always stayed within his vicinity, Rarity seemed to speak to him in 5 minute chunks about performance. Sunset Shimmer liked to check up on him from time to time.

Finally, there was a time were the six girls started speaking about girly stuff (as a guy I wouldn't have a fucking clue). Pinkie Pie stepped back from the rest of the group to speak to Mezzo.

‘So, how do you feel like to be a pimp?’ She said, arms folded, raising an eyebrow.

‘If by “to be a pimp” you mean “meeting new friends”, well it feels pretty good.’ Mezzo had a warm grin on his face.

‘Oh, good, I’m glad you can get along with them!’ She pulled a happy face, which quickly turned into a seductive one. ‘Now, which one of them do you want to FUCK?!’

‘Shut it, Pinkamena. I don’t like any of them in that way…’

‘Oh that’s a lie, you’ve got 5 attractive girls here, of course you’ll want to plow one of them!’

Mezzo facepalmed for a solid 10 seconds before muttering: ‘I’m honestly questioning your sexuality.’

‘Oh, yeah, isn’t this the street where your apartment is?’ Pinkie looked at the crumbling apartment building.

‘Huh, so it is. I might as well leave now, before we end up on the other side of town.’

Pinkie wolf whistled to get the rest of the girl’s attentions.

‘Guys, Mezzo’s leaving!’ She yelled.

‘Well, we might as well walk you to your apartment.’ Rainbow stated.

‘Oh, you don’t need –’

‘It’s ok, darling, unless you've got a weird S&M sex dungeon thing going on.’ Rarity said jokingly, the rest of the girls giggled in unison.

‘Fine, but don’t say I warned you…’ Mezzo uttered under his breath.

The elevator just about fit the seven of them in. But the giant metal box moved at the equivalent of a snail’s pace. When they got to the 5th floor, Mezzo walked slowly to his apartment, unlocked the door, inhaled heavily, and halfheartedly opened the door.

The girls were overwhelmed that Mezzo lived in such a shit-hole. They inspected the small room. There was only a bed and some kind of rat family inhabiting the corner of the room. The smell was as prominent as ever. There was a variety of faces coming from the girls, some tried to conceal the horribleness, such as Sunset, Pinkie and Fluttershy, some were obviously showing their hated towards it, such as Applejack and Rainbow. Rarity, however, burst out into tears.

‘How, could you live in SUCH FILTH?’ Rarity had mascara running down her eyes, and she looked like a Panda bear. ‘No offense, Darling.’

‘None taken.’ Mezzo hid his head in his hands, embarrassed. Pinkie went to comfort Rarity, whilst Fluttershy went to confront him.

‘Right,’ Rarity stopped crying all of a sudden, but her voice was still cracking slightly. ‘There is only one solution to this. You’re moving to my house!’

The girls, and Mezzo, gasped in genuine shock.

‘Really, Rarity, that’s too much! We've only just met, and I’m fine—’

Rarity placed a single finger over his lip, it smelled of some kind of hand sanitizer. ‘Darling, you are really not fine in this hell hole. Plus, my parents are not living with me. It would be nice for some company as well.’

Mezzo was quite flattered that a girl he had just met was offering him to live with her. ‘Will we be like… roommates?’

Rarity nodded her head. ‘Oh, and I own a piano, so you can go wild on that. Have I convinced you now?’

Mezzo’s face lit up, it’s been weeks since he’s played the piano! ‘Fine, I’ll stay with you.’

So Mezzo, with help from the other girls, packed all his stuff into a duffel bag, and they started a collaborative walk to Rarity’s house.

‘I’m sorry dear, but you’ll have to sleep on the sofa. I have my parent’s bedroom, my sister Sweetie Belle has mine, and I've turned her bedroom into a workplace of sorts.’ Rarity brushed back her hair as she talked.

‘Eh, that’s ok. I was expecting to sleep on the floor.’ There was a wave of laughter from the girls.

‘No, I’m not THAT mean.’

Finally, they arrived at Rarity’s house, it was compact, but it looked beautiful from the outside.

‘We should do this again sometime.’ Rainbow Dash smugly said as Rarity was unlocking her front door.

‘Oh, definitely.’ Fluttershy chirped.

‘Guys, you do remember we have that rehearsal tomorrow?’ Sunset brought up.

‘Oh shit, yeah!’ Pinkie put her hands into her hair and somehow pulled out a pair of drum sticks.

‘We still meetin’ at the stadium for 12 noon?’ Applejack asked.

‘Of course, see you girls there,’ Sunset smiled. ‘Oh, I think Mezzo should come along for the ride, don’t you?’

‘Depends if he hasn't trashed up my house or not.’ Rarity said, followed by a few more giggles.

The girls said their goodbyes, Pinkie made a gesture of her texting on an invisible phone to Mezzo, obviously signifying him to text her. He nodded as he and Rarity walked into the house.

Author's Note

I kinda had to do some revising on this chapter, it definitely needed to be improved upon before I could work on any other chapters. Slight modifications were made, such as spelling errors and improvements to some descriptions that originally didn't even make sense.
I would love to hear your opinion on the story (as long as its constructive criticism and not a slew of insults), so please comment on what you enjoyed and didn't enjoy, it will help me not only on this story, but as a writer in general.
See you in Chapter 2!
-TheOldRedHills