The Best Riff in Equestria

The Best Riff in Equestria
A story by Mr.Tibbz

Chapter One: Here I go...
Nervous, anxious and sweating like a waterfall I was waiting in the backstage of Fillydelphia’s Elementary school Talent show.

“Riff Track! You’re up next!”

I snapped out of my stupor by the sudden scream of our class teacher Mrs.Flower Light; she was strict, but she loved to teach. I remember I got scolded many times, and often I stayed alone in detention quite often with her. Once you get to know her, though, she was actually a nice lady.

“Now is the time to prove myself,” I thought to myself.

I was pretty confident I’d do well; I practised my technique day and night, I barely studied, I gave my all to be there.

“...I hope I don’t mess this up”

As if I jinxed myself, I managed to trip over my own hooves in the sudden rush of panic, and stumble onto stage. I at least managed to keep my magic focused on not dropping my guitar. I loved that thing ever since my dad gave it to me for my birthday; I remember going everywhere with it.

“And now, Riff Track is going to perform a musical number for the audience. Everypony, let’s give him a helping hoof!” shouted Mrs. Flower Light, enthusiasm oozing out of every word.

Everypony applauded; my cheeks turned red from the embarrassment as I saw my parents in the audience with huge grins on their faces. My mom was never fond of the loud practice sessions I had back home, but she was still really supportive. I mean, she’s my mom! Of course she would support me no matter what I’d do, right?

“...Well, no turning back now.” As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t chicken out at that point.

I took a deep breath and brought my guitar closer to my chest. I practised using magic in order to play multiple notes at the same time, to achieve an effect of more than one instrument playing... but that didn’t work out so well as I started losing focus.

One wrong note after another, the song started to sound more out of place, and I started to slowly fall into panic. The ‘plings and plongs’ sounded a lot more irritating than I had imagined; I had to think of something fast. That’s when suddenly I remembered the song I heard at my first concert. As though suddenly possessed, I just started remembering the melody note for note, chord after chord. I finally started playing my guitar in a way I thought impossible, and it all passed me in a trance. I closed my eyes to focus on the magic, manipulating the guitar to my will, when I reached the end of the song.

…

There was silence. I slowly opened my eye, afraid of the inevitable laughter and the feeling of humiliation striking me, but everypony just stared, jaw-dropped. I thought I saw my dad tearing up a bit before he began a slow applause. Soon after, everypony followed and starting applauding and cheering loudly.

It was amazing... this, I would remember for the rest of my life! It was all me right there!

I made it big time! A bright light behind me caught my attention, as an image of a guitar and a vinyl record materialized on my flank.

Then suddenly everypony started chanting my name.

“RIFF TRACK! RIFF TRACK! RIFF TRACK!”

“Riff Track”

“Riff...”

“Riff Track...”

“RIFF TRACK WAKE UP!”

“Huh?! WOAH!”

I felt confusion and pain as I fell off my sofa and onto the hard unforgiving wood. From the tone of that all to familiar voice, it seems I overslept once again.

I groaned in pain as I tried to make out who it was that interrupted my slumber.

Turns out it was my old friend, Sieg Musica. He helped me out way back when I was still starting my career as a travelling musician.

“Aww, Sieg c’mon, like, five more minutes...”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you oversleep again, we have work to do.”

His brown mane rubbed my face as he tried to get me back on my hooves. I wobbled for a few moments before finally waking up.

“You are a mess Riff; we can’t put on a show with you looking like that!” His light-grayish face was mere centimeters from mine.

“Alright, alright, sheesh...”

Sieg has been my manager for more than six years, since we met. He organizes everything for me, knowing I wouldn’t bother with it, and even though I’m deeply thankful to him for everything he has done for me, he can get pretty annoying at times.

“We have stopped in Ponyville. I heard it was a pretty nice place,” Sieg said in his modest fashion.

“And you think the ponies ‘ere will like my performance?” I asked, still drowsy.

“Depends; I do believe that a small town like this will appreciate true talent. The important thing is for us to put on a good show. Whether they liked it or not depends solely on them.”

“Umm, okay? ...I’m still not entirely sure what you meant by that,” I replied, confused by the sudden long answer. A simple “sure” or something would’ve been okay.

“Just try and have fun. The show goes way better when you’re having fun doing it... and not looking like you had covered your head in black lint!” Sieg chuckled as he parked the trailer car.

The trailer car was like a second home to me. We’ve been travelling all throughout Equestria, putting on small performances for years. Sieg, being him, organized the set up and stage whilst I handled the performance myself. My shows don’t always cough up many bits, but there’s usually enough to keep us going ‘till we get to our next stop.

As I stumbled on over to the bathroom, I saw my mane in a curly mess of tangles and my eyes still looking half-asleep.

“Ugh...I wonder...” I pondered, for the moment, if I could use my magic to straighten my mane to its former shape.

“Meh, might as well try. What’s the worst that could happen?” As I said those words I started to focus my magic, my horn began to glow, and for the moment I thought it was working...

My black mane was slowly regaining it’s spiky form, going downwards on the end.

“ACH-CHOO!!!”

My horn illuminated the room and a cloud of smoke sparked from it.

I got fried pretty badly, though not as badly as my hair.

“Oh, horse-radishes.”

I looked at myself in the mirror after wiping off the black dust that covered it, my hair and bits of my orange fur, completely fried. Now I’m even more of a spectacular mess.

I peeked out of the bathroom door.

“Hey-uh, Sieg? Ponyville wouldn’t happen to have a hair-salon nearby? Oh and I do think bits of my fur are-” I paused to take a look at my fur, slowly coming off in patches. “...yeah, my fur is falling out. Rapidly.”

This was going to be the longest stop I had in a while.

=====================================================================

As expected, Sieg tried desperately not to panic. I tried joking about it to avoid making a big deal out of it. I was sure that Ponyville would have some place where I can get my fur and hair back to normal in time for my show.

“Riff! How in the hay did you manage to do...THIS!” Sieg half-shouted, pointing an accusing hoof at the bald patches that began appearing on where my fur used to be.

“I have no idea. I tried to use my magic to straighten out my hair, and well... I sneezed.” I tried holding in my urge to laugh, realizing how stupid the words coming out of my mouth sounded.

“Well, we can’t have you walking around Ponyville looking like that,” Sieg almost chuckled, a smirk almost escaping his panicked face.

“Well, maybe there’s some kind of spa place for these kind of occasions? Maybe a ‘Boutique’ of some sort?” I suggested.

Sieg almost instantly lost his panicked expression in exchange for one of enlightenment as he went to the front of the trailer where the drivers seat is situated, reaching out for a magazine called “Ponyville Times”.

“I picked it up on the way here,” he explained, “maybe it can tell us where we can find the local fashion salon and get you back into your ‘normal’ shape.” The way Sieg said ‘normal’ made me question my appearance before; my hair isn’t that outlandish now, is it?

“Well let’s see what it’s got,” I said, curious about the local shops since I would probably require some extra supplies, what with most of my shampoo turned into dust.

As we turned the pages, I saw articles about local places of interest and events coming up. There was also an article about a travelling magician pony who claimed to have vanquished an Ursa major but was later found to have fabricated the whole story to gain popularity.

“Wasn’t that smart of her, eh?”

“Keep looking Riff... we don’t have a lot of time and- there!” He shouted excitedly.

“What did ya find?” I asked.

“Here, look.”
He pointed his hoof at an article that showed two very well groomed ponies that were apparently giving an interview about their Bath house and Spa in Ponyville, and how successful it has become over the years.

“That’s where you’re gonna go, Riff” Sieg said, as if commanding me to do just that, “but we can’t let you be seen in public in your current state.”

“You have any ideas?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yup. You can trust me to always have a plan in mind!” He exclaimed with a self-satisfied grin.

=====================================================================

“RAGS?! THIS WAS YOUR PLAN? TO COVER ME IN RAGS?!” I shouted at him in a playful manner, trying to understand how he saw this as a good idea.

“Hey, c’mon, it’s better than having your bald patches shown to everypony. Besides, nopony is even gonna know it’s you!” He excused his actions, but I still felt frustrated at the fact I’m now forced to wear rags in order to sneak into a Spa. I wouldn’t mind so much if it wasn’t so awfully hot!

“Dear Celestia, why?!”

“C’mon, it’s not too far now.”

As we trotted through Ponyville, I saw some ponies looking at me in a very weird way, but most seemed to ignore me. I mean, what’s so conspicuous about a pony that nopony saw before, covered in rags, walking beside another pony wearing a suit?

“I have no Idea how you can stand the heat wearing that suit. Aren’t you sweating?” I asked, honestly baffled by how he didn’t even break a sweat.

“It’s pretty thin, so it’s not really that hot actually. Besides, I like it.”

I guess that made sense, but was the tie really necessary?

After a while of walking through Ponyville, we finally reached our destination.

“There it is; The Bath House. C’mon Riff, let’s go!” He elbowed me in the neck.

“Why does this always happen to me?” I asked in a sigh.

Sieg seemed to ignore my comment and we approached the entrance of the Bath house.

He knocked on the door while I studied the building. The Bath House seemed pretty big from the outside, and the door was simple and stained with a darker shade of wood.

We heard a voice emanating from behind the door.

“Coming!” said the voice of a mare with a strange accent I had never heard before.

As the doors opened, we were greeted by two ponies who seemed like copies of each other. One was a pink pony with a cyan mane and a headband, while the other was cyan with a pink mane, also wearing a headband.

“Yes? How can we help you?” asked the cyan coloured pony.

“Well, you see, my friend here got himself fried whilst trying to do his hair with magic, and, well, the result is... this,” Sieg then took off my hood to reveal my fried, burned hair as well as patches of fur falling out.

“Eek! O’ no no no no no! This won’t do! Quickly! Inside!” Shouted the Pink pony, she and her possible twin dragging us inside.

“Uh, this can be fixed, right?” I asked nervously, having seen the horror in their faces back at the entrance.

“I’ll see what I can do...” Said the pink pony with determination. “We’re going to have to give you the full treatment.”

“Anything, please; just make my fur come back!” I pleaded with the pink pony, who looked at me with pitying eyes.

“Lotus! Handle the other customers! I will handle this one personally,” she gave orders to her co-worker. Then, after giving me a quick glance, she proceeded to give me the full spa treatment.

Sieg, in the meantime was sitting at the waiting room near the entrance, reading the magazines left on the tables, trying to find out what is up and about in Ponyville. He always wants to be ‘In-the-know’ and not feel uninformed.

“Hmm... this could work...” Sieg pondered aloud as he read an article about an outdoor rave party.

As I was taken from one bath tub to the next, I felt as if they were pulling me on a short leash. Each tub they threw me in was amazingly warm and relaxing, though. I never had enough of a moment to ask what each was for and how they worked.

The steam rising from the small circular pools were almost mesmerizing. It was like the steam just took all my worries away.

“Aww, yeah! I could just stay in this tub forever,” I said as I felt the pure ecstasy pulsing throughout my body, “This feels absolutely great!”

The pony who treated me was Aloe; she and her twin sister run this Bath house and spa place. A mighty fine job they’re doing, too.

“We are done Mr. Track. You can get out of the pool now,” Aloe said in a very calm tone.

“Oh? Am I done already?” I asked quizzically, having lost track of time.

“Yes, and here, take a look. You are absolutely astonishing!” As I got out of the pool they pointed me to a nearby mirror where my reflection showed me, with all my fur back where it should be and my hair glistening in the light as I tried to slick it back with my hooves.

“Wow! Amazing. How?” I was at loss for words. I looked just stunning; even I was surprised that was me.

“Oh, it is thanks to the natural herbs that we are supplied with by a zebra named Zecora. The herbal baths can do wonders for anypony!” She said excitedly, satisfied with another happy customer.

“Miss Aloe, I cannot thank you enough. How much do I owe you?” I asked, knowing that it would take probably most of my budget to pay for such a treatment.

“..Oh, do not worry Mr.Track. It was a pleasure helping a pony in dire distress. This is on the house,” She said, being absolutely honest.

“You mean that? W-wow! I mean, thank you so much! Maybe I’ll visit you again when I’m finished with my show, Aloe,” I exclaimed. I’ve never met such a kind pony before; not only did she bother fixing me up, but she did it free of charge!

“Oh? What is it that you do, Mr. Track?” she asked, a cheerful, curious expression on her face. “I don’t think my sister or I have ever seen you here in Ponyville before.”

“Oh, um, I’m a travelling musician. I go all over Equestria and put on rock performances,” I said with a proud look on my face.

“That is most exquisite! The graceful melody, the heart-stopping beats. I may not seem like it, but I have been to my fair share of music concerts,” she sighed, almost falling into a daydream.

“Well, I have to go now. We have a show planned for today,” I waved my hoof to her.

“Farewell, Mr. Track!” Aloe waved back in a gentle fashion.

I trotted over to the entrance where Sieg was pacing back and forth. I walked over to him.

“Hey dude, check me out!” I half-shouted in excitement.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s nice, Riff,” he said in a very disinterested manner, “I have something better than your new look right now!”

“What could be better than my awesome new look?” I asked completely oblivious to the fact he was smiling maniacally.

“Riff, I just read an ad. There is this Pony DJ that I think we could make an agreement with,” he said, even more excited than before.

“Go on?” I asked, being curious about what he had planned this time.

“And... she can get us in contact with some major record dealers! We’ll finally have a place to stay!”

“Awesome, but can we keep the trailer? I kinda like it,” I said in a joking fashion.

“When we go big, we won’t need trailers, Riff.”
End of Chapter 1