Author's Note

Here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for! A romance clopfic starring your favorite singer, the mare, the myth, the legend, give a round of applause for the singing sensation we all know and love: Songbird Serenade

Drawn to the Music

Songs of Love and Harmony

Written by Israel Yabuki

Edited and co-written by NineTailBeastBall

You always wondered how much different life could have been for both of your parents if you were never born. Of course, this was quite a negative thought, as your mother would be heartbroken knowing that you would think something like that. From the day you were born, you lost your mother and the only one who raised you was your father.

A kind, devoted and loving man, your father never lost sight of what was most important: raising you to be a great man and supporting you through thick and thin. He gave you a childhood that you cherished to this day. He would always drive you off to school and even picked you up at the end of the day despite his busy schedule. This was mainly because he didn’t trust you riding the bus with other kids, as he worried that they might pick on you. Your father worked at a pub as a bartender. The people at the bar were friendly enough to strike up a conversation with your father.

Despite working there, he didn’t really drink all that much. He’ll have one or two shots a months, but that’s just about it. For a long time, you wondered what it was like to be on stage and able to perform in front of millions of people. There was only one problem, even though you were a good singer, you had a very bad case of stage fright. Most of the time when you would sing, it would be in a secluded place like the shower or in your room.

Your father told you how you had an excellent singing voice and you were too embarrassed to even admit it. He said he could help you cure your little stage fright problem, but you had your doubts about that.

Seeing that even with your father’s help your stage fright wasn’t going away, you reluctantly pushed away the dream of being on the spotlight. Instead, when you were done with college, you got a job working at a casino. You took up a job as a bartender, just like your dad. Anytime someone’s on a losing streak, you gave them tips on how to win a few extra bucks. Different strategies for different games.

Just about 65% of the people who played these games ended up going home with big smiles, laughing all the way to the bank. Other customers just came by for a few extra drinks, telling you how you were right about the tips you gave them. It seemed only your father knew that this career wasn’t the one you really wanted.

As much as you wanted to become a star, your stage fright kept getting in the way. You wished your stage fright would just die so you could finally be able to achieve your dream. True to your father’s assumptions, you continued practicing your singing during your moments of privacy. However whenever he brought up such a conversation, you did all you could in order to avoid discussing it. Your job at the casino may not have been what you wanted, but at least it paid still the bills. Working in a casino has another good side to it. Being that you had yourself a nice house to live in.

Anyways, it was almost time for your shift to end and you were cleaning up shop, putting away the alcohol and cleaning up the cups. You said your goodbyes to the customers as they head on home to get a good night sleep.

Just then, you received a phone call from your father. You answered it right away after you got done with cleaning up. “Hey dad, what’s up?”

“Eh, nothing seems to change around here, kid. Speaking of which, it’s never too late to find a way to get you on stage without getting-” you stopped him right there.

“I thought we’ve moved passed this dad, I’m fine with working at a casino. I mean, yeah, there’s lots of people there, but I’m still able to get by and strike up friendly chats with them. Heck, some of them laughed themselves all the way to the bank, probably pissing themselves a little,” you said. You had no problems with cursing ever since reaching adulthood and your dad didn’t see any reason to not allow you. Though, he did remind you to watch what you say when in the presence of kids... unless they got potty mouths.

“Kid seriously, I can tell you’re not happy with your current lifestyle. It’s clear you wanted to be a star, yet your stage fright is causing you to be in denial. You and I both know this,” he argued.

“Yes, but I’m not sure you understand that I’ve long given up on trying to overcome my fears. Some people just don’t have the courage of performing in front of others without feeling like the pressure’s weighing down on you. I really tried my hardest to overcome my fear, but the last time I did, I fainted! I just can’t hack it, dad,” you sighed, almost feeling tears coming swelling in your eyes. That day you fell unconscious on the stage was possibly the most humiliating day in your life.

You were just about to hang up when something caught your attention. You ran outside the casino, which you would later regret doing. In the distance, you can see the police chasing after a vehicle with armed gunmen shooting at them.

“Oh shit!” you exclaimed before running to take cover. By the time you chose to get down it was too late. A sharp jolt of pain coarsed through your body when a stray bullet hit you in the chest. You collapsed to the ground, shouting in pain. “Son of a bitch...!” you groaned before coughing up blood.

As life began slipping away, your vision was failing you. It was only a matter of time before you would pass on and join your mother unto the heavens. Suddenly, you felt someone moving your body, laying you down on your back.

“Just stay with me, I’ll help you!” someone said. You couldn’t see their face and your hearing was failing you as well. Though the person who tried to save you succeeded in getting an ambulance, you gave in and slipped into the darkness, no longer having the strength left to keep yourself alive.

At first, you were surprised to see that you were surrounded by light, instead of a dark void. But it only made you feel more at peace, knowing you’ll be able to finally say hi to your deceased mother and give her the biggest hug. The next thing you knew, gasps and sounds of panic were filling your ears. All too quickly, the light faded and your eyes were exposed to what looked like the night sky.

Your eyes weren’t used to the sudden change in lighting, so you were left to rub your eyes as you sat yourself up, placing a hand over your chest. Now that your vision was clear, you saw that you were at the last place you’d want to be... on a stage in front of a huge audience. You were hit with a serious case of stage fright and backed away from the audience.

Trying your best not to freak out, you suddenly ended up bumping into what felt like someone’s legs behind you. Slowly looking up after turning around, you saw this humanoid horse with wings wearing a beautiful black dress. It was hard to see her eyes because her mane was covering them. Overcome by your stage fright, you didn’t notice it before, but when you looked at the audience again, you saw they too were horses.

“Uh... s-s-sorry for the i-interruption, I’ll just...” you stuttered, unable to finish your sentence. You just rose to your feet and ran off the stage, covering your face to avoid more humiliation. Though if you looked closer, you would have seen that the audience was more concerned than amused, especially the mare you bumped into on the stage.

This was too much for you to handle and you just wanted to get away from it all. However, before you even had the chance to get away, you felt a hand touch your shoulder. You slowly turned around to see who stopped you. It was the very same pegasus mare whose eyes were covered by her mane

“Hey, what’s the matter, are you okay?” she asked. Rather than answer you shook yourself out of her grasp and ran off the stage. You didn’t even look back, you just kept on running as far as your legs would carry you. It wasn’t long before the sounds of cheering rang out from the direction you fled and the sound of distant singing.

Taking your mind off that embarrassing incident, you focused more on the place you were at and how you ended up here.

“What the hell is this place? This can’t be Manhattan... can it? But if it is, how did I wind up here when I was clearly shot in Los Angeles? Something’s not right here.” you said to yourself, rubbing your forehead in frustration. It was a bit hard to think with the singing that was coming from down one of the streets. But you had to admit, that was one great singing voice.

Unable to think straight, you headed on back to the street where the show was being held. The crowd was going wild from watching the pegasus mare perform. Having to keep your distance since you didn’t have a ticket for the concert, you couldn’t get any clear lyrics from the mare’s beautiful singing. Even so, you were impressed by her performance. It made you feel a little envious to see how courageous she is up on that stage. Watching her sing, not at all afraid to be in the spotlight.

If you weren’t convinced before that this was an entirely different world, then you were now. From what you could hear at this distance, the mare was singing things that weren’t even remotely familiar to you.

After a few minutes went by, the crowd cheered as loud as they could. You clapped silently from afar so you wouldn’t draw attention to yourself.

“Alright everypony, you’re in for a real treat. This next song wasn’t made here in Equestria, but rather a land that was once the home of the lovers of Equestria’s protectors. So, sit back, relax and enjoy the show! Hit it!” she shouted gleefully.

Right away, you recognized the song that was going to sing judging by the beat. It was unheard of for this mare to be singing Sia’s song, Chandelier. Questions began to fill your mind. Who were these “lovers of Equestria’s protectors,” and how do they know about these songs that you only heard back in your world?

It didn’t take a genius to put it all together. There had to be other humans in this world. But being able to find them would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Who knows how far they are and how long it’ll take you to find them.

At that moment you saw that bigger problems were coming to you, both literally and figuratively. Talk about bad timing as these security guard horses spot you and make their way towards you. Only one option popped into your head and that was to make like a banana and split. However, the security guards gave chase and you were in full panic mode at this point. You couldn’t really blame them for wanting to catch you, considering you did interrupt the star’s performance.

You weren’t going to stick around to find out what they were going to do to you and got as far away as you could. Thank god for all those jogs you took with your father. Who knew they would come in handy... and in the most embarrassing way.

Each turn you took, each and every path you took, you made sure to keep on moving without looking back, fearing getting caught. When the coast was finally clear, you slide down the wall you were leaning on in order to catch a break and gather your thoughts.

“Okay, now I just gotta find some place to hide. This whole place is like one giant labyrinth...” you breathed looking left and right. Then it hit you again, even if you lost the security, where would you go then? Sleeping out on the street is the farthest thing from comfortable. But what other choice do you have? It’s not like you could spend the night at a hotel. Your only option was to find a cardboard box and an old cloth.

You take a deep breath and just go with it. So, you explore this unknown city, in search for any sort of alley with a cardboard box big enough to fit you and any sort of cloth to cover yourself up. It was so frustrating how your life got this degrading so quickly. First, you lost your life after getting shot by a few cowardly robbers, now you’re in some other world running away from a few guards and searching for a place to sleep. Talk about a run of bad luck.

Even as you laid on the hard ground, you couldn’t get that singer out of your head. Songbird Serenade... you learned that name from how much the audience was saying and chanting it. You had your mind so set on Songbird, that you failed to notice someone in front of you and ended up bumping into them.

“Oof, sorry about that, are you alright?” you asked, turning your attention to the one you bumped into by accident.

“I... I’m fine, really,” she replied, dusting herself off. When she looked at you, she gasped as she saw you weren’t a pony. Likewise, you took in the mare’s appearance, seeing that she was a cream coated pony with a blue mint colored mane. You realized hours ago that there were different ponies in this world, and unlike Songbird, this one didn’t appear to have wings.

‘It’s gonna take some time to get used to this place...’ you thought before sitting back down. Judging from the mare’s reaction, even though humans lived in this land, they weren’t very common in this city.

What started off as an awkward meeting, turned into an opportunity as you were now sitting on a comfortable couch rather than the cold pavement. When the mare stopped freaking out, you were able to introduce yourselves and you learned her name was Coco Pommel. Turns out your assumptions were correct and that such behavior was due to few humans appearing around here in Manehattan.

“So... you want to know what this world is and how you ended up here?” Coco asked. You made a note to yourself to be careful and watch the language, as she was clearly the timid type.

“Yeah, I want to be able to grasp the situation I’m in right now,” you nodded.

“Alright. Well, as you may have guessed, this isn’t the world you were born in, but a completely different world altogether. This land is known as Equestria, which is mostly populated by ponies and other mythical creatures not found in your world,” Coco explains.

“Strange... I thought that when I died, I would end up in heaven, but... instead, I ended up here in this... how do I describe it... parallel world where there’s no conflict? Is there a reason to why I was brought here?” you asked.

“Could be. Most of the time, when a human arrives in Equestria, they usually get a second chance at life when life was unkind to them back on Earth. And it mostly happens to humans who had traumatic experiences, bad childhood, and sometimes have wounded hearts that they’re trying to heal through any means necessary. In any case, how did you end up in this current situation?” Coco asked.

“I… I can’t say much, other than I was shot and killed when I was heading home,” you said, placing a hand over your chest, specifically your heart. “It hurt so bad, I couldn’t bare to live with the pain.”

“You were shot? With what?” Coco asked.

“You mean, you don’t know about guns that humans use?” you asked.

“No... are they bad?” she asked.

“In my opinion, they’re the worst. They’re these metal objects with a curved trigger underneath the barrel. When you pull the trigger, these little things called bullets come out and they pierce right through a human’s skin. Depending on where you got shot, it’ll either hurt a lot or it’ll give you a slow and painful death. I got shot in the chest, so I bled out pretty quick. Someone did try to save me, but I didn’t make it,” you explained.

Coco was shocked. “Wh-Why would humans carry those things?” she asked.

“Most of the time, they use them to establish power and dominance. Others use them for... “protection,” but in reality, it’s just so they would have their way with society. Guns come in many different shapes and sizes, including names,” you breathed in deeply and sighed. “Anyways, changing the subject, what was that concert that was playing earlier?”

“Oh, that was Songbird Serenade’s concert. Not only is she famous, she also happens to be the best singer in all of Equestria. Why do you ask?” Coco asked. You decided not to mention being chased by the concert’s security as you prepared to answer the question.

“No reason, I just wanted to know what the concert was and who was singing, that’s all. So she’s that well-known and that famous, huh? I’m kinda jealous,” you said, feeling a bit down.

“Jealous? Why?” You bit your lip, thinking you may have said too much.

“N-Nevermind, it’s nothing to worry about,” you said.

“So, does it still hurt? I mean, when you got shot?” Coco asked.

“Hmm, now that I think about it, when I ended up here, my chest didn’t hurt. I’m not sure why, it just feels like I was never shot at all. Guess my wound healed the moment I set foot on this land or something,” you shrugged.

“I see. Well, I might as well get you some blankets and a pillow. I don’t have a spare guest room, so I hope you don’t mind sleeping on the couch,” Coco said.

“No, not at all. Thanks for your hospitality,” you replied.

“You’re welcome.” With that, the nice mare collected the refreshments that she was serving you before she exited the room. Of course, she also made sure to turn off the lights before leaving.

As you laid there on the couch, you still can’t stop thinking about how amazing Songbird was and how she didn’t show any fear up on that stage. It felt like a slap in the face because you felt like you’ll never be as brave and talented as her. You hated yourself and your stage fright so much, you wished it would just leave forever.

‘Damn it! Why couldn’t I have been born without stage fright!?’ you thought to yourself as you slowly drift off to sleep.

Turns out Songbird Serenade wouldn’t be here in the big city of Manehattan for much longer as she had other places to perform and sing. She was only going to be staying here for at least one or two more days before hitting the road. You of course got this information from Coco Pommel who was allowing you to stay in her apartment for a while. In addition to a nice place to sleep, her generosity extended to giving you some fresh clothes. This was not at all a problem, since she happened to be a fashion designer.

With a map in your hand, you strolled through the busy streets of Manehattan, taking notice of how similar it was to New York. Tall buildings, a wide variety of civilians, not to mention that the map showed a Statue of Liberty wannabe. All this made you wonder how many other cities were like a perfect match to the ones back on earth.

Even though Songbird Serenade didn’t have a performance today, she was still a pretty big topic nonetheless. Every once in a while as you continued your little tour, you would overhear some ponies discussing the pop star’s concert from last night. Then came the subject of how you “crashed onto the stage in a ball of light” in the middle of the show. Was that even possible? Who knows, maybe the laws of physics work differently here.

In order for the ponies here not to recognize you, you kept the map close to your face. It may seem a bit dangerous, but it’s the only thing you could think of to avoid being spotted. Your plan seemed like it was working, until suddenly, you bumped into someone.

“Oof!” you grunted, backing up one step. You removed the map from your face. “Hey, sorry about that, I didn’t see-” you froze from the moment you realize who you bumped into.

“No worried, just be a little mo-” Songbird paused as she turned around and saw you. “Hey, I remember you! You’re the human who crashed onto my stage last night,” she said.

‘Yup… this day just keeps getting better and better,’ you thought to yourself before you felt yourself passing out right in front of the pop star.