"Sorry Sunset, we don't have enough tickets for ya."
"Oh that's alright Rainbow. I understand."
Sunset actually wasn't "alright" with it, but she did understand the reasons. After her "Fall Formal Demon Disaster" it was clear that she was not popular among the students at CHS. It was reasonable for her new friends to pick each other with limited amount of tickets and not pick her. It was no act of malevolence as they all appeared to regret only having five tickets to the concert. So Sunset hid her frustration and simply smiled.
"I'll just find something else to do tonight."
These words were only to reassure her friends that she, really, really did not mind. Of course, the amount of truth in this statement was lacking severely. What she actually meant was that she'll do what she always did in these situations: get as close as possible to the concert without actually buying a ticket.
"Ya sure you'll be fine, sugarcube?"
Sunset nodded, keeping her false smile on her countenance. Applejack was obviously skeptical since she had her usual raised brow. Applejack was always the hardest to lie to, but this time she had bought the smile and so nodded in comprehension.
"Well, don't get too bored."
Oh, don't worry, she won't. Sunset waved them goodbye as her friends left the Cake's Bakery, leaving her there alone. She leaned back on the cushion of her bench with an aggravated sigh. She knew her friends meant no harm, but that did not mean she felt dejected. The Outsider was a band she wanted to see live ever since Flash told her about them.
Sunset let her gaze wander to through the window, where she watched her friends walk down the street. It must have been swell for them to have enough money to purchase tickets.
"I need a job..."
After muttering this to herself, her thoughts went instantly back to the concert. She was going to the concert somehow. She had snuck her way into concerts before, like the time she and Flash got close to Arrow Smith. However, that was an outdoor concert. This one was indoor. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Her thoughts were interrupted as rain started to glance off the window.
"Well....That makes it easier..."
"Oh...Why couldn't this be easier?"
The question to herself almost went unheard as the rain and thunder swarmed over the sky above her. She climbed on the wet boxes that sat next to the square building of old brick. Her goal was a window that was more there for letting fresh air and sunlight in than being able to see inside.
"C'mon, just a little higher."
She took a careless step and slipped down the boxes, rolling all the way to the cold and neglected pavement. Luckily, she landed softly and the pain she felt was only slight. She was used to pain anyway, so this was nothing. However, the pain of failing her current objective was more troubling than any small cut on her palm.
"Great....Now I'm not going to see them," she growled at nothing in particular.
The crowd from within the building could be heard from the outside. The band must of arrived on stage. This disheartened Sunset as she realized this. She could not come up with a ticket in time for the show. Now that her box-climbing plan was finished, what would she do now? Her mind hoped that she could just purchase a ticket at the front door, but then she remembered it was sold out show.
In this fit of hopelessness, she found herself wandering over to the backdoor where the stage staff would come and go. It was locked of course, as they knew that people like Sunset would wish to sneak in by such a way. So, as the rain poured on, she placed her wet head against the metal door. There was a little awning over the door, giving her much needed shelter.
As the crowd became louder, she could picture the scene in her mind. The Outsider walking on stage, being as epic and cool as they usually were. Her friends cheering in excitement, even Fluttershy adding with her pitiful cheer. Rainbow roaring with high-pitched voice which was common when she screamed. Pinkie jumping up and down and making the people behind her frustrated. Applejack clapping modestly as rock was not her favorite musical genre. Rarity, with her extra-dark eyeliner, clutching her perfect hands in mad fists. Not many people knew she was actually quite the rocker. Then, as the crowd roared, the lead guitarist would play that first chord.
Her eyes opened and she audibly gasped as that first chord reached her ears through the door. There were not any words to describe it. Perfection? Awesome? Amazing? They all seemed too plain. A visible chill flew from her fingertips all the way to her legs. She did not have time to recover when the second chord followed in quick succession. Such skill, she thought.
She pressed her ear to the door, trying to savor every moment of it. Her heart raced as the guitarist played his beautiful song. All her past frustration, all her past mistakes, all her roguish ambition was being quenched by this incredible music. Even though she laughed at those who thought one could "relieve the soul" she was experiencing that right now. The song, barely seconds into its life, had already left an impression on her.
"I want to do that!" she whispered.
This guitar, put simply, blew her away. She never knew such skill could be displayed in such harmonic fashion. Another gasp left her lips as a vision emerged from her head. A vision of her with a red flaming guitar, her fingers flying across the neck; her other hand plucking every string perfectly. She was performing a solo. A solo in front of her friends and maybe in front of the school, proving to all of them who she actually was and letting them forget her eventful past. They would all cheer and they would shout her name. They would all see her and accept her for the very first time.
She sighed in satisfaction and leaned completely on the door. The music played on and the stars in her eyes faded. She was back in the real world. The world she had only held Flash's guitar in disinterest. He had tried to teach her, but she rejected it. Her hands struck her face in self-frustration. She should of listened to him. She should have learned when she had the chance! Now he was overseas with his family and out of reach for the upcoming weeks. Sunset removed her hands from her face when the music came soaring back to her ears.
"I can teach myself!" she gasped. "If there's anything I got in loads, it's determination. I'll teach myself how to play guitar!"
With that statement that only she and the rain heeded, her body relaxed. The music played on, the crowd cheered on, and she hoped on. Her eyes closed and the music overwhelmed her in its brilliance. It was going to be a long concert, but at that moment, she didn't really mind at all.
"This is it."
Sunset stared through the filthy glass of the music store. Clutching the few dollars she could come up with, she entered the old and worn down store. She had been at much better music stores with her friends, but the instruments there were far too expensive for her. This was her only option.
The store smelled slightly of mold and other unpleasant scents. Sunset tried her best to ignore this fact and walked straight over to the guitars. Most of the six-strings were beat up or missing some vital components. They had a wide selection, but Sunset only saw one that looked functional.
She took this guitar in her hands. It was clearly a used guitar that was traded in. The back had stickers from around the world, it already had a strap, and the clean finish was all but gone. This guitar, even though she did not know how to play it, felt good in her hands. This was her tool. No, it was more than a tool to her. This was her path to using her ambition to do something good for once. It was her catalyst for moving on from her past mistakes, and just maybe forgiving herself for them.
So she purchased this guitar with the money she had. The creepy store clerk barely noticed her when he took her money. He didn't even check the price and uttered it instead. She was most likely ripped off, but she could care less about that. She had her instrument, now she needed some method to learn it.
"Let's do this."
She sat on her aged couch with her laptop in front of her and the guitar resting on her thighs. Her right hand fumbled with the pick. She may have been living as a human for some time, but she still had the finger coordination of a six year old. She cursed as she had to force herself into the proper position.
When she was ready, she pressed the play button on the Youtube video that was on her laptop. It was a video on how to properly tune one's guitar. Since her guitar was from that secondhand store, it was most likely not in prime condition. As she watched the video, the guy on there being clear and concise, she plucked the strings of the guitar to receive a pathetic moan in return.
"Oh come on!"
After an hour or so, she had tuned it. The pathetic moan became a weak cry instead. It was certainly an improvement. Her mind flashed with her vision once more. At the moment, it felt far away and almost unreachable. This thought she crushed by her sheer will. Doubts were a part of life, but they were foreign to Sunset. If she wanted it, she got it. Nothing was ever given to her, not even when she studied under Celestia. If she could make a whole school fall under her control, then she could teach herself guitar.
"That was probably not the best example..."
She started with simple chords and notes. Some being much tougher than others. Each one she would do ten, twenty, thirty times over until she could do it easily. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. That was her motto under Celestia. When she learned new spells, she would spend the whole day doing it until it was natural. This was no different.
The following days, she kept quiet about her guitar playing. Rainbow was trying to form a band for the Showcase, but that was four months in the future. Now Sunset had a deadline. If she spent her free time learning, then she could be good in four months right?
A couple of weeks went by. She was already progressing well. With the laptop as her teacher and her own determination as her schedule, she powered through the chords and notes. She took Rainbow's strategy of playing songs from professional musicians. In a conversation she had with her, Rainbow said that just chords and notes won't help unless you can play them in a song.
So Sunset would listen to songs by her favorite bands. The first song she learned was "Cashmir," by Copper Airship. Once she got the gist of the song, she could play it with her eyes closed. She often found herself playing it when she was alone in her home. The old guitar held up against the new abuse she played on it. Or was it abuse? Now that she thought about it, her buying it and using it was probably the best thing that ever happened to the carved piece of hope.
Every second she played, every minute she focused, every hour she learned felt amazing to her. She was finally using her ambition for something worthwhile. Her fingers, which started with the coordination of a drunk hippo, could fly across the neck with precision. She would still mess up, of course, but then she would repeat the whole song again until she got it right.
However, her friends did not notice. She did not want them to. When they visited her, she would hide the guitar. The instrument never left the apartment unless she was going to the park without her friends. She just did not want to tell them. Whenever she thought about it, she felt embarrassed. She never understood why, but that feeling kept it a secret.
A month went by. Her eyes became tired with the late nights practicing. Every time she slowed down, she remembered her vision, she remembered that night she listened to the guitar that changed it all for her. She needed to keep playing, she needed to keep pushing herself. It was the only way, she thought. If she wanted to be a guitarist in the Showcase, then she needed to keep playing!
She plucked the strings with the skill she acquired. The cool cement she sat on was uncomfortable, but she was in her element. The opened guitar case laid beside her with a few greens resting inside it. As she played an acoustic version of "Home Sweet Home," the people in the park would gaze at her as they passed. They mostly saw her hat that shielded her eyes from the sun and her face from recognition. Some would stand there and watch her play until they grew bored or more pressing matters took hold of them. She didn't mind that. She was using this as a display of her skills. She considered it a test.
The dollars that lined the case were nice and all, but it was the fact that she impressed these people with her music that was the sweeter of the two. Most of the runners, joggers, and nature lovers stopped by her just to listen a second longer. All of her work thus far was rewarding her with such happiness. It was the first time strangers wanted to stay a while longer next to her. It was the first time she did something people enjoyed and loved. It was the first time she did something to help people with their day instead of further ruining it with her tongue or fist.
This bliss made her start humming the words to the song. Soon she began to whisper the lyrics as she played. She knew the song well, listening to it every night in preparation for this very moment. Her boot tapped the sidewalk to the beat. The old guitar sung with every note and every chord. People began to glance her way more and more often as the harmonic rhythm rung through the trees and bushes of the park.
Then, as the heat of the moment reached her, she began to sing the words. Those words, written years before her time in the human world and even before her time in Equestria, emitted from her smiling lips with passion. The voice, unfamiliar to her usual quietness, sounded through the park and fell on listening ears.
"You know that I've seen too many romantic dreams..."
The lyrics, a message of passion and memory, were told beautifully to the newly formed crowd before her. Sunset's fingers began to move without a thought across the neck. Every finger pressed exactly where she trained them to go. The repetition of the same movement over and over again let her play without focus. She was no longer there, but far off, in front of a vast crowd of six girls and a dog. Each one of them cheering her on softly.
"Up in lights, fallin' off the silver screen..."
The seven friends before her were all she saw. Each one of them looking at her like a true companion for the first time. Sunset was relieved and peaceful for the first time in her life. Nothing felt better.
"My heart's like an open book for the whole world to read..."
As the chorus approached, her fingers moved quickly to every note and every chord. Her eyes were now closed, taking in every sound of music she created. Her guitar began to rock up and down in her arms. Everything was at it should be.
"Sometime, nothing keeps me together at the seams..."
Her voice paused. A deep breath filled her lungs with much needed oxygen. The moment was less than a second in reality, but an eternity for her. She was still aware of those strangers around her, all made polite friends by her new musical skill. But this was not just for them, but for everyone she knew, even the ones not present in her current world.
"I'm on my way, I'm on my way! Home sweet home!"
Her fingers slammed over the strings as she hit the chorus. Her boot tapped on the sidewalk with the beat. Her head bobbed up and down as the music took over fully. Her wrist hit the guitar below the strings as a makeshift drum.
"Tonight, tonight!"
The crowd before began to clap in awe. Her friends faded in her mind as the people who were listening appeared again in her sight. However, her friends were still there. They were always there.
"I'm on my way, just set me free..."
Her voice finished the song with a strength she did not know she had. Her fingers played the song with such a sweetness that was worthy of those who composed the notes. Sunset strummed a bit harder as the final chords were approaching. The crowd cheered her on. She was a one-woman band. This was a massive step to her goal. She was rocking on. She was reaching her vision of becoming the girl in her dreams.
"Home sweet home...!"
"So, Sunset, how's life?"
"Hmm, alright. Nothing much has happened. Are you still making a band?"
"Yup! I'mma call it the "Rainbooms." What ya think?"
Sunset shrugged at the suggestion. To her, it sounded rather cheesy and worse, dumb, but she would never reveal such thoughts to Rainbow Dash. The rainbow-haired girl that sat with her at the lunch table squinted at her skeptically.
"What?" Sunset shrugged even more.
"Well, I just want an opinion."
"Uhh...It's fine," she lied. "I'm not good with names, so I doubt I can help you make a better one."
Rainbow shook her head and munched on her turkey sandwich. Her electric guitar leaned against the table beside her, the rainbow stickers that covered it gave the blue guitar a very spunky feel, just like the one who played it.
"So, am I going to be in the band?" Sunset asked.
"Sorry, but you don't play any instruments. And Rarity and I got vocals," Rainbow answered.
"Oh, right..."
She felt like telling Rainbow about how success at the guitar. Two months of constant practice had made her a fantastic addition to the park she played at. Lots of people waited for her in the evenings these days, just to hear play. She had done a rendition of "Sweet Child of Mine" the day before. She probably should have been doing her class studies, but that guitar made her feel so good.
However, Rainbow was looking forward to being the lead guitarist of the band. She had been practicing hard as well, often sleeping in the day because of her late nights practicing. She was also much more experienced in playing than Sunset. Despite her natural skill, she still knew she couldn't beat Rainbow at a solo-off. That and she didn't have an electric guitar and would have to buy one.
"But you can hang with us while we audition. You know, be a cheerleader. Just, don't be like Pinkie. I rather have you not dress like a cheerleader. It just wouldn't fit ya," Rainbow rambled.
"Heh," Sunset chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll be with you guys throughout it. You guys already sound great. I've heard Rarity took up the keytar. Funky instrument for her."
"I know right? She's still off on the beats though. Kinda slow on her playing, but we'll have it good in a month. And besides, who in this school can beat a band with me in it? Flash's? Naw. We already got this won."
"Heh, I'm sure."
"Well, who cares if they play without me?"
Sunset absently played a solo as her thoughts wandered. The past three months of intense practice paid off. She could have wasted all this time thinking on her past, never forgiving herself, and maybe even falling back into temptation. The guitar, in much better condition than when she found it, was emitting a happy tune with as much joy as she had at that moment.
She had to keep playing it. She had to keep playing on the streets, giving people the side of her she wanted them to see. It couldn't have gone better. But she needed to keep rocking. She had keep on top not only for those who were now expecting more from her, but also for herself, to keep her drive alive and focused on something worthwhile.
She chuckled as she was blasted by the memory of being out in the rain, listening to that concert that changed it all. Hearing the words that ordered her to go out and become a "Jukebox Hero." The time since flew by quickly. Almost like a blur. She hardly believed that she taught herself guitar in that short amount of time. But, then again, she learned expert spells faster.
She did not know when she would reveal her skills to her friends. They probably wouldn't treat me differently. She smiled as she pictured Rainbow's face when she would randomly play a riff from "Barracuda" and swing the guitar about like a pro. Yeah, she would be in for a shocker. Then she would laugh at Flash being so surprised, especially after she refused to learn from him.
"Or he'd be like, 'I told you so.'" she grumbled to herself.
Her eyes wandered over the sticky-notes that covered the back of her laptop. They were mostly about her homework schedules. She had used this technique to remind herself of her chores ever since she studied under Celestia. She scanned over most of them until one in particular caught her eye.
"Oh yeah, I gotta show those girls around the school tomorrow..."
Author's Note
This is to all you self-taught guitarists! 
(And yes, Outsiders is off of Foreigner, which I thank for the brilliant song this story is based off of.)
-Cheers for That!
