My Life on a Cassette Tape

I was bored. How couldn't I be? I had been sitting in this dumb train for the last who knows how long - two hours, my dad always knew - and had nothing to do! My Joyboy had run out of juice, my phone was currently charging under the watchful gaze of my mom after I had received a less than polite text from one of my 'flings' as she put it, and I wasn't in the mood to read any of the lame magazines that the carriage had to offer. I let out another disgruntled snort at my situation, only to gain the less than patient gaze of my mom as she slightly lowered the issue of 'Troubled Children' she had in her pink magical aura.

"Honey, why don't you read one of the magazines instead of acting so down? We only have ten or so minutes before we arrive at the station, and I don't want you all grouchy faced in front of your Uncle and Aunt." My mom said in her well cultured way. She raised her reading materials before I could even respond with any of my many preprepared snide remarks.

The Uncle and Aunt she referred to were my Uncle - and her brother - Treble and Aunt Timbre, another musical branch of the orchestra that was our family. Despite being named for music, both me and my cutie mark, which currently hid under my cargo pants, proclaimed I was not so much inline with my parent's hope for my future as a violinist. Sure, I could play, they had made sure of it, but I had found my passion and mark with my voice. What rattled my parent's the most was the fact that though my mark was in relation to my voice, it wasn't for singing, but for simply being a good talker.

My mark was of one of those old mics you'd see in antique shops or specialty vendors being talked into by the silhouette of a pony. My teacher, much to my parents feigned delight, stated that during our oral exam, I showed great prowess in delivering my speech, during which she noticed a glow coming from my jeans. Discreet as always, she sent for the nurse and a school councilor who then asked me if I had had a cutie mark. Saying no, they asked that I check again, and sure enough, the bane of my parent's pride sat proud on my butt.

My parents, ever resilient, had taken this all in stride and had signed me up for a litany of courses for announcers, broadcast ponies, and any other conceivable career path for such a pony. My inherent talent carried me through all the courses with flying colors, and I was to be sent off to college for the same. This birthday trip I was on was the last time I'd get to stretch my legs in a free world before being rammed into some stuffy classroom to stretch my vocal cords instead.

The train eventually pulled into the station, and it didn't take long to spot the outlandishly expensive clothing of my unicorn Uncle Treble and pegasus Aunt Timbre, and the fairly modest military clothes of my unicorn cousin Double Time - who, like me, was his parent's unadmitted shame. Unlike me, his name sounded fitting for what his passion was, not to mention he was looking forward to the next few years. He would get to go off to boot camp and train to be part of the Guard, whether local or national. He had hated the sterile nature of the world his mom, my Aunt, had kept about him, and relished the opportunity to get down and dirty. After his cutie mark, a sword and rifle crossed like a plus sign on his flank, appeared, his parents felt tied to let him do what he wanted, but still his mom kept him clean and fretted over every scratch.

I was the last one of our group to step off the train, carrying the majority of our things as dad had helped mom in her failing health, leaving me to it. I didn't mind, I understood why things were the way they were, though I didn't like them. Her sudden onset of tuberculosis necessitated this trip to not just be a trip, but a moving of house. Our 'essentials' were what was being lugged out of the train by my scrawny arms, and still we were packing more than most families would when they moved.

"And this must be the birthday colt! Or should I say stallion?" My aunt said in her ever grating voice before hugging me and planting a kiss on my cheek that left a cold, red stain from her excessive lipstick. "How are you, Crescendo?"

"I'm fine, Aunt Timbre." I said with a small smile. I wouldn't want anypony to get the wrong impression. I honestly didn't hate any of my family. I guess it was just residual angst from my earlier teen years. That being said, they sure could get on my nerves with the greatest of ease.

"Timbre, dear, he is most certainly a stallion. Look at all the bags he was able to carry!" My uncle stated with his trademark hearty laugh that was infectious as always. I rubbed the lipstick stain off my cheek with my sleeve and navigated my way through our greetings with the usual level of awkwardness that was to be expected when our two branches of the family collided.

"Need some help there, Cresh?" Double Time asked me while my parents and his walked off towards the cab that would take them to the hotel where we'd be staying.

"Yeah, I think I might've strained something too much already." I replied, rolling my shoulders in hopes that that would save me the pain. "How are things with you and... Thyme was it?"

"Oh, Thyme? Y-yeah, we're... we're doing alright." He stammered as he hoisted several cases with little to no apparent effort, not even bothering to use his magic. "Let's get these over to the cab before we have to lug them all the way to the hotel!" He said, power walking away with most of the cases. Looking down, I could tell he had both left me the largest case on purpose to hold me up, and had likely broke up with what had been his special somepony for the last three years. I sighed and hoisted the case up and hobbled over to catch up.

Slidding the case into the rear compartment of the cab and stretched my back. It hadn't been as bad as carrying it all in one go, but it wasn't an easy task either. Looking over, I watched as the cab pony jotted down the address on a pad that was strapped to his wrist before harnessing himself into the cab. Though I, like him, was an earthpony - much like my father - I doubted that if he tried to harness me in like that that I'd make it farther than a few steps. The generalization that all earthponies were naturally strong was a load of bunk, or so I kept telling myself every time I refused to go to the gym.

"Now you two know where the hotel is," My dad began, handing Double Time a small business card for said hotel, "You both have your phones and a watch."

"Oh, here's your phone, dear." My mom said, holding out the phone that I too had begun to forget about. My father continued as I shoved it into my windbreaker's pocket.

"I want you two to head to the hotel by six, which gives you four hours to work with. Crescendo, I want you knocking on the door to be let in no later than half past seven." I nodded, as did Double. "Alright, you two enjoy yourselves. And, Crescendo," I cocked at my eyebrow at him, waiting for how he'd end this, "Here's some extra bits to spend. Happy Birthday." He passed me a small pouch of coins, which I took with a nod and a smile. "Have a great time, no getting in trouble."

"Yes, sir." We both said. The cab departed with a honk of the horn by the cabpony, leaving us two to our own devices.

We walked along the dry and dusty streets, looking about the many curiosity shops. There wasn't much to do because of the town being more of an 'old pony's town', but I honestly didn't mind. It gave me time to talk with Double; not to mention that it was the towns where old ponies wouldn't buy much beyond the essentials where you were more likely to find interesting stuff at the corner stores. Meandering through one such store, I think it was called the 'Bottom of the Barrel' or something similar, I finally asked what I was meaning to since the train station.

"So, Dubs, what is the real situation with Thyme?" He looked at me, suddenly going a tad paler, probably having thought he had avoided this line of questioning. He set down an old portable CD player that had a few too many stickers on it for my taste, and licked his lips while looking about at anything but me while stepping down from the toy section, which was set about six inches higher than the rest of the store for some reason. If I were to guess, this used to be a house, and the owner hadn't cared to change how it looked. Looking over the player once more, I found a toy laser sword and grabbed it as the beginnings of an idea formed in my head.

"Don't try and wiggle out of this." I cautioned him, flicking open the plastic laser sword I had found. "I have the high ground, you won't win." Double blinked a few times, and then broke out in laughter as I triumphantly collapsed the plastic sections of the old toy, setting it back from whence it came. Letting him settle down a tad, I put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a smirk. "Come on, man, just tell me."

He finished off his bout of laughter, which reminded me ever so much of his dad, and looked me in the eyes with a sad smile. "We broke up." He said simply, confirming my suspicions. "Well, she broke up with me, I should say. She said that 'oh, I don't know if I can do the military thing, I thought you were kidding, oh!' And so... boom, I'm back on the market." I couldn't help but snicker at his imitation of her, which was as terrible of an impression as could be thought of.

"That stinks man, but hey, maybe you'll meet a cute chick in basic, or whatever they're putting you in once you get out of high school." We both laughed at that. It was at that moment I noticed the mare attending to the counter. "Speaking of, check your four o'clock." Double turned nonchalantly to look. She was of modest proportions, not a supermodel by any means, but she had fire red hair that played well off her pure white skin. She was as pretty as any filly in high school, and by the look of her rather ample chest, she was more well endowed than them.

"She's a six or seven." Double said, returning his gaze to me. "Not to mention that I like my mares to have personality over tits." I chuckled at that. "Thanks, man, you're the only one that has really tried to help me."

"Beside Thyme and her friends, I'm likely the only one that knows, I'd assume." I shot back. "But you're welcome anyway." With that, we parted again to look over the random assortment of stuff in the place.

Moving over to the electronics area, which confused me due to a CD player being shoved over in the toys area, I inspected what was before me. My eyes settled on an old pen mic, or at least I thought that was what they were called. I grabbed it, thinking of all the old style recordings I could do with this, only to find it attached to something else, dangling from its cord was an old cassette player that had its share of stains and dings. Picking it up, I looked it over and saw there was a cassette already in the dock. Popping the player's door, I looked at the cassette, searching for a label.

Besides a old manufacturing label for 'Pony Audio', I was stumped as to what it was. I closed the player and pressed play, only to slap my forehead as I realized this thing didn't have an external speaker. Looking over the walls of electronics before me, I found an old pair of over the head earphones. Seeing as mine were in my suitcase, I would have to settle for these. I paused the machine, plugged in the headphones, scrolled the audio control wheel as far down as it would go and hit play, adjusting it as I went.