Tuned Too Low

Chapter Thirteen:The Set Up

    Cee and Coraline moved from his bedroom to the living room. Cee imagined that Red and Sky would be arriving soon and he's sure that they would want his help. Reluctantly, he waited.

    "So, how good are you three?" Coraline asked. Cee turned to her. "I mean, not that I think you're bad. I've never really heard a live band, not unless you count the plays I've been to with my parents."

    "Oh, well we used to suck." Cee laughed. "We would cover that up by playing faster and louder. I would slur the lyrics if I forgot them, Sky tries to jump around on stage to keep the crowd energized, Red throws his sticks INTO the crowd..."

    "Spike told me you write the songs." She said sitting next to him on the floor.

    Cee face hoofed. "Never. Again."

    "Why?" Coraline asked. "Did you try before?"

    "Yup. At my moms' anniversary."

    "Awww, that's so sweet!" Coraline gushed. "What was it about?"

    "STARS!" A voice said from the back of the house. "IN LOVE!!"

    "Shut up, Mom!" He shouted. Coraline laughed. Cee looked over to the front window and saw two figures in the distance.

    "Hey! It's them!" He said, but then he froze. "Uh...wow." Cee walked to the front door and opened it. "SKY! YOUR MANE IS BLEEDING!"

    "SHUT UP!" Sky yelled from the front yard. He walked to the front door with Red and the cart. "I don't wanna talk about it."

    Cee looked to Red, who had a grin that matched Pinkie's. "So...had a nice walk here, I guess?"

    Coraline went to the front door behind Cee. "Hey, colts!"

    "Coraline?" Sky looked at Cee with a sly grin. "You had her in your house...you sly, sly devil."

    "It's not like that!" Cee shot back.

    "My weakness may be my mane at the moment, but as long as she's near you, everything's fair game." Sky said, pointing his muzzle in the air.

    "Whatever." Cee looked at the cart, then the door away. "Here, pass me that..."

    And so it began! The four of them, Coraline offered, moved the equipment into the living room, one by one. They had a problem fitting the bass drum through the door, but Cee found a way to get it through. After a few minutes, a majority of the cart had been unloaded into the open space. Vinyl came in later to plug speaker and amps in. With everything in place, Sky, Cee, Red, and Coraline admired the finished stage.

   "And that's how we do it!" Red bellowed brohoofing Sky and Cee.

   Coraline looked at it all. "So...who plays what?"

   With that, the colts went to their positions. Sky picked up his bass, it had a new addition to it. A red star sat at the left of the dials. Red's drums were the same, but the drawing on the bass drum had been changed from a crudely drawn broken c.d., to a professional drawing of a broken c.d.

   Cee grabbed his guitar and plugged it in to the amp. He played a chord and grinned widely. "Yeah! Listen to that!" He looked to Sky who was tuning his bass.

   "Hey, Cee. Give me a E." He said. Cee plucked the top string of his guitar and it played a low note. Sky nodded and played his bass. "Okay, thanks. So what are we gonna play?"

   "You mean you don't know?" Cee asked nervously.

   "Well, you do usually have the set list." Red said behind his drums. He picked up a bottle and place it behind his bag.

   "I'm going to pretend you just hid cider back there." Cee said with his back to him.

   "Okay."

   "He has cider?" Coraline went wide eyed. "You guys drink?!"

   "Shhh!" Sky went. "We don't. It's just some old stuff Red found in his dad's cupboard that's all. "It taste like crap anyway."

   Coraline shook her head. "Just keep it away from me. Hey, Cee?

   Cee was really into the small riff he was playing. "Yeah?"

   "Can you play a song?"

   Cee's head shot up. "U-Uh, okay." He looked at Sky and Red. "Frenetic Amnesic?"

   The two shrugged.

   Cee pulled a small case from his guitar bag and opened it. He took out a pair of sunglasses similar to his mother's and put them on. Coraline smiled. "You have your own pair?"

   "We have our own, too." Sky said. "But only on stage."

   "Shhh!" Cee hissed and lowered his head. He began to play a distorted riff and nodded his head to it. After a few moments, Sky and Red join in with a mellow bass line and drums. Cee walked up to the mic and sang...

"...A black out they peel him off the floor...

(Frenetic Amnesic)

He's delirious, he thinks he's been here before...

(Frenetic Amnesic)

No recall, not one familiar face...

(Frenetic Amnesic)

The molded pony has been completely erased...

(Frenetic Amnesic)

Everypony's after me,

You could be the enemy,

You seem too happy to reveal yourself,

There's no resentment here..."

   Coraline listened to the lyrics and sung along. Cee played very well and seemed to be use to playing in front of ponies. Sky hops in place, but seems to stop to sing background vocals. Red looks to be completely focused on nothing but the drums in front of him. He had a mic sticking out at him so he can sing with Sky. Coraline loved how well they went together, all moving and swishing side to side with the rhythm. Soon she found her self doing the same while sing along with Cee...

                                                      "...Completely in the dark, trying to pave a way with no chance

                                                                              (Frenetic Amnesic)and no reason...

                                                    Not knowing who you are, trying find the truth it ain't there

(Frenetic Amnesic)you can't believe them..."

   "They've gotten better!" Coraline jumped as Vinyl walked to sit beside her. "Relax! This song is great isn't it? pKy may have written it, but man! Just a Scratch is owning it!"

   Coraline only nodded, trying to follow the lyrics.

   "So you like him, I see?" Vinyl nudged her. Coraline froze and turned beat red.

   "H-H-How-"

   "I didn't. You just told me." Vinyl laughed. Coraline hung her head in shame. "Listen, C.D.'s a good kid. Sure he's brash, not all there some of time and has more hits than I do-"

   "Hits?" Coraline cocked an eyebrow.

   "You can ask the other Mrs. Scratch that later. Anyway, he's charming. And you know..." She leaned into Coraline's ear. "You didn't hear this from me, but he likes you too."

   Coraline could have brightened the whole sky with the smile she had right now. 'Really?!"

   Vinyl shrugged. "I don't know. You didn't hear it from me..." She winked. Coralie nodded. "Wait! This is my favorite part!"

"...What you see is what you get...

(You Get)

Two seconds later I forget...

(Forget)

You seem too happy to reveal yourself,

There's no resentment here..."

   Meanwhile about a quarter mile away, Spike and the CMC's were walking to Cee's house when Spike heard the song.

   "...Frenetic...Amnesic.." He sung under his breath. They walked until they finally reached the front yard. Spike looked over to the side of the house and noticed one of Cee's neighbors shaking his head. "Haha! This is gonna be fun!"

   "I'll say!" Scoots said running past him and headed for the door. The rest of them followed. When they got inside, Vinyl and Coraline were moving to Just a Scratch. Spike walked in and joined them.

   "Spike!" Coraline shouted over the music. "What are you doing here?"

   "OHMYGOSH!" Vinyl yelled. "You're here yo play aren't you? This is going to be the best surprise party ever! Where is Pinkie?..." She walked outside, leaving the new guests to the band who were just finishing the song...

''....No recall, there's no familiar face!

(Frenetic Amnesic)

The molded pony has been completely erased!

(Frenetic Amnesic)...

(Frenetic Amnesic)..."

  Cee and Sky did a simultaneous jump on the last chord. "Yeah! That was great!" Sky shouted. He looked over and saw his brother and the fillies. "Cee, I believe you have guests. Oh, and there's a dragon in your living room."

  He looked over at his front door. "Spike! Wassup!"

   "Yeah...what?" Spike cocked and eyebrow.

   "Coraline!"

   "Scootaloo!" She hugged the filly pegasus. "How are you?"

   "I'm fine! Why weren't you at school today?" Scoots asked. The fillies behind her nodded.

   "Well...Uh..." She pointed at C.D. "He pretty much kidnapped me."

   Cee coughed. "It's hard to kidnap nowadays, so Pinkie helped."

   "Wow," Sweetie laughed. "You're still up to no good." She grinned. "Cool."

   "Hey, cool it, Sweets." Spike said. "He's already spoken for." He teased Coraline.

   "Oh, and I suppose you two aren't an item yet?" She pointed at Scootaloo and Spike. Their muzzles went red and they turned away at the same time. "That's what I thought."

   "Okay. Just forget about me and Sky!" Red bellowed from behind his drums.

   "Yeah, way to make us feel at home, Cee." Sky chimed in.

   Spike, Scoots, Applebloom and Sweetie agreed.

   "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't look at me." C.D. waved his hooves in the air. "I'm just the singer in a band. I have no responsibility over what goes on out side my jurisdiction."

   "Do you even know what you just said?" Red asked now standing next to Sky.

   "Or what 'jurisdiction' means?" Sky chimed in.

   "Don't change the subject." Cee said. Spike laughed out loud. The rest of the group caught it and laughed too. After awhile the laughter died down. "So, Spikey. You here to play?"

   Spike's attention snapped. "Oh, yeah. I was actually wondering...If I could rejoin Just a Scratch."

   Everpony in the group went silent. Cee looked at the rest of the band and raised his glasses. He mouthed something Spike couldn't understand, Sky and Red shrugged at Cee. He turned back to Spike.

   "I don't know." He said finally. "Did you ever really leave? I thought you were just doing chores."

   Spike's eyes went wide.

   "Yeah I didn't know you quit." Sky chimed in.

   Spike looked at the ground. He felt stupid for even thinking of leaving the band. They didn't even know he left. He suddenly heard laughing and looked up. Cee was bent over, giggling.

   "Welcome back, Spike." He said through giggling. "I guess."

   Sky walked over to Spike and laid a hoof on his shoulder. "Smooth. Real smooth." He said. "Next time try not to be so dramatic." Spike laughed.

   "Alright!" They all turned to see C.D. standing on top of the drums. "Now that I have your attention and everypony's here." He took a deep breath. "Tonight. Is my mum's birthday."

   Coraline giggled. "Mum."

   "Ahem." He continued. "She will probably be on her way soon with The Sparkles, Miss Fluttershy, and Pinkie said she'd meet Dash over by Sugar Cube Corner for something big. Real big." He stood straight up, almost falling over. "I've called you all here because you are the best of the best." He pointed to Sky. "Skylark Sparkle, you are the bassiest of all bassists."

   Sky squinted his eyes. "Wha-"

   "Red Bright!" Red stood straight up and saluted. "You...hit drums...really good! And you supply us with the ultimate of background bass!" He pointed at Spike. "You sir, you breath in fire and spit out the loudest, sickest rhymes I've ever heard! We need you to lay the hammer down! Can you do that?"

  Spike grinned and saluted. "Yes, sir."

   Cee pointed at the CMC's. "You three! You're all the best we can hope for! We need look outs, good look outs! Now what do ya say?"

   Sweetie looked at Applebloom, she looked at Scoots and they all grinned. "CUTIE MARK LOOK OUTS! SIR!" They shouted, saluting to Cee.

   "Awesome!" He looked at Coraline. "You...are very pretty from up here, actually. Can you see this, guys?"

   Coraline blushed and drew circles in the floor. The rest of the group looked and smiled.

   "Come on, guys!" Spike yelled. "Let's go before he screws up in front us."

   "He's trying!" Red said.

   "Trying what?" Cee said confusingly. "Look at her! Are you even listening?" They ignored him and walked out to the front yard. He hopped off the drums and approached Coraline, who was not looking up. "Now that they're gone..."

   She looked up to see C.D. take his glasses off and place them on his hatted head. "I kinda want to thank you."

   "For what?"

   Cee felt heat reach his cheeks and lost focus. "For um, you know, not beating me to a pulp for dragging you out of school and pretty much giving you a week's detention."

   Coraline laughed. "Oh, never mind that! We'll probably get suspended."

   "Yeah...are your parents going to be mad?"

   "No, I'm sure they'll be happy that I'm hanging out with such good ponies."

   "Oh I don't think 'good ponies' would describe this little clique."

   "Oh?" She moved closer.

  Cee eyes grew. "Y-yeah! I mean, we definitely wouldn't be called good by some of my neighbors, town ponies, my teacher, your teacher...Uh, Cory?"

   "Yeah..."

   "Our muzzles are...uh touching."

   Coraline had pressed her muzzle to Cee's while he talked. There was practically no space between them. Images shot through Cee's mind, all of them were of what could happen from here. The world around him appeared to be melting, everything; the band equipment, the furniture, the walls, even the world out side his home fell to a small puddle. He could feel Coraline's breath on his. He closed his eyes slightly, she did the same. They drew even closer, their eyes now completely closed...

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Authors Notes

*evil laugh* I have stolen your ending and left a cliff hanger! *twirls fake mustache* Now how will you sleep at night?...Oh, you will...Well! I never! *gets up and walks away* By the way, that huge space between 'be' and 'melting' in the last paragraph? Yeah I don't know what that is. Try to ignore it...if you possibly can. Also, I apologize for getting this out late. It was the fault of motivation, lack of energy...homework...smoking pot- I'm just kidding! I never do my homework! *evil laugh*

**Stay Tuned...~<3

-TLC