Tuned Too Low

C.D. was surrounded by darkness. He heard the sound of cheering in the distance and it was getting louder. He felt his guitar around his neck and suddenly a spotlight came on. As he looked around he saw he was on a stage. And surrounded by his friends. The stage lit up and the curtain raised, revealing thousands upon thousands of screaming ponies, one in particular who was in the front row, was Coraline. She stood staring at C.D. like he was everything she ever wanted. Her eyes pierced through his heart and made him freeze in place.

He then heard the drums behind him 'My Armaregeddon' he thought. The song was a fast 'punk rock' song he and Red wrote. The drum beat was fast and loud. And then C.D. and Skylark came in at the same time with distorted chords. The lyrics were pretty meaningless, because the song never had any. C.D. would usually make then up as he went along, but the chorus was the same every time.

"......It look's like! I'm on my! Way to my Armaregeddon! There's no way I'm getting out alive!

She's able to manipulate my every move! And there's no way I'll keep out of her eyes!

*pause*

It's only a matter of time! Before I'm her's and she's mine!

I'm on my way to My Armaregeddon....What a wonderful life!....."

When the song finally ended, epically might C.D. add, Coraline jumped on to the stage. She had her attention fixated on C.D.. She walked closer and closer. C.D. froze at the sight of her, as the sides of his mouth curved up into a happy grin. She get's so close to him, that he starts to back up to the point of being against the wall behind him. She leans in closer as she closes her eyes. C.D. loses control of himself and does the same. They get to about a point where they're muzzles touch when she opens her eyes and whispers "Wake up....wake up...."

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C.D. stirs in his sleep as Vinyl attempts to wake him up with pokes to the muzzle. "Hey, Cee...Hello! Agh!" She turns around to find his guitar, soon an evil grin appears on her face. Vinyl then plugs the guitar into the amplifier next to C.D.'s bed, turns the bass up, pulls one of the strings back, and lets go. Causing a heavy sound to shake the room as if an earthquake was taking place.

         Cee shot up out of bed and fell to the ground. Vinyl was leaning over C.D.'s bed and buried her face in it to silence her laughter. "OW! WHAT?!" Cee yelled rubbing his ears with his hooves.

         "It's Tuesday, and you gotta go to school...." She then walked over to Cee. She saw how he was blushing a little.

         "Hey, What's with the goofy smile?"

         "What goofy smile?" He said trying to get rid of the grin off his face

         "Uh-huh. Well, get up. You have school and I've got 'stuff' to do today." Vinyl said smiling.

"What kind of 'stuff'?" He asked.

"I'll tell you later. But now, you gotta go." Vinyl  was really trying to rush Cee out of the house.

"Okay, okay." He said annoyed that he has to get up so early.

         C.D. got ready for school and left the house. When he looked at the clock on the way out, it read 7:35. He was going to be early, again. *sigh*'I hate being early for school. It's just gonna be me and Red talking about nothing for thirty minutes.' He continued trotting one his usual path to school.

Meanwhile....

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Coraline stood on stage holding her violin in her hooves. She inhaled, then exhaled. She played a simple song on her violin, but how she played it had the crowd's attention locked on her. Her movements with the bow were fast yet appeared slow. The sound was soothing and peaceful.

But soon the spotlight around began to dim. The crowed began to disappear until only her parents seats were left. They were also empty. A single tear went down her cheeks as she slumped to the ground. The tears slowly began to flow out of her violet eyes.

"Alone.....Alone......" A voice whispered. She sat on her hunches crying, feeling a cold breeze hit her as the stage began to fall apart. She sat waiting for it all to end....Until something tightened around her chest. Coraline looked up to see that colt from the night before hugging her. He started whispering in her ear.

"You're not alone....You never were....And you never will be again...." C.D. said as he nuzzled her neck. She felt the stage crumbled under her and shut her eyes.

When she opened them again, she found herself and Cee in a field surrounded by flowers and a stream. They appeared to be on a small grassy island, surrounded by a stream. She was the birds fly above singing a song of joy and happiness. The sky was clear and deep blue and the sun was highlighted by it.

Coraline wiped the tears from her face and stood up. She turned around to find the white colt. standing right behind her, smiling warmly. Behind him stood everypony she knew, which was mostly ponies she hasn't talked to much. The CMC's, Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara, Twist, and all the children she has interacted with at school. Twilight Sparkle, Trixie, Spike, and a few others were all standing behind C.D., even his friends and his parents.

"See..." He said. "You're surrounded by ponies who care....They'll never ignore you, and neither will I." She tried to keep back the tears of joy from hearing Cee say those words, but she couldn't. She charged and hugged him. "Thank you. I want this to last forever...."

"I do too.....But you have to wake up..." He said sadly.

"What? I don't understand." Coraline said. And then a sudden realization hit her, causing her pain. "No. No! Please! Don't go!" But it was too late. He vanished. And so did everyone else.

"NO!!" Coraline screamed. She broke down crying until everything went white.

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"Coraline?!" Called Coraline's mother. She ran in and saw her daughter squirming in bed while screaming 'No' over and over again. "Coraline! Please wake up!" She shook her until the screaming stopped. Coraline sat up fast causing a sudden head rush.

"Wha....What....where am I?" She asked as her mother wiped the tears from her eyes. She then quickly grabbed her mother in a big hug and began to sob loudly.

"Oh, Coraline! What happened?" Her mother said as she hugged her back.

"It was awful! I was on stage...And then everyone left! And then it was dark and....and...." She just continued to sob more.

This was not the first time she had this type of dream. She would be somewhere, surrounded by tons of ponies, then they would all just vanish before her eyes, leaving only her.....standing alone. But it was the first time she had a dream that she was saved from loneliness by that colt. At that moment, of remembering about what he had said in her dream, she was no longer sad or crying. She was determined. Today was the day she would find out his name. And hopefully, become friends with him.

After calming down, she got clean and left her home. She started giving herself pep talks about even approaching him. 'Okay, Coraline. You can do this! You just have to keep calm. Relax. I'm sure he's just as nervous about you....' That thought made her remember the night before. 'That's right! He was all shy and was blushing! All I have to do is not become as nervous as him. Okay, just remember deep breaths...'

"H-hey Coraline!" Soon she was a mere two hooves away from the colt. She hadn't seem to notice since she talking to herself.

She stood there smiling warmly at him. When in her mind she was losing her mind. 'What do I do?!' she thought. 'What he thinks I'm ignoring him? Oh...curse my awkwardness....' She didn't know how in merely one night she felt something like that for somepony she didn't really know that much about. She didn't even know his name and yet...

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'Great.' Cee thought. 'Now I'm standing here like an idiot. Maybe she's still tired and didn't hear me, but she's smiling....That smile...ugh, what was I thinking about again...'

They stood there in a not so awkward silence for five minutes, meanwhile, ponies walked by and made their comments by making 'D'aww" sounds or making kissy faces. None of which snapped the two out of their dilemma. They just stood there gazing dreamily into each others eyes. It was only until Coraline soon realized what she was doing and looked away did there eye contact disconnected. C.D. snapped out of it, blushing wildly.

"Y-yeah. So, um, do you wanna.....Uh, h-hang out with me and my friend Red?" C.D. asked awkwardly. "I mean you don't have to! Or I could just, you know, hang out with you...Or... He was shaking slightly at the sight of her. C.D. has never talked to Coraline before last night. He's only been able to admire her from afar. But now he was talking to her and asking her to hang out with him....and Red. 'Crap.' He thought.

  'I would love to.' She thought with a slight blush. "Sure. Red seems nice." She moved in closer. "Um, I'm sorry. I never really got your name."

  "O-oh, It's uh...It's C.D., I think." Great. Now he's forgotten his own name. 'YOU THINK???' He yelled at his mind. 'How bad are you at this?!' He looked down in shame, causing Coraline to giggle slightly. She found confidence knowing he was having a hard time engaging in this conversation, too.

  "Aww, don't be shy." She said comfortably. "I forget stuff, too." Now she was right next to him. He was amazed how close she had actually gotten with out touching him. "So, why don't we walk to school together?" She said warmly, looking C.D. in his orange flame eyes.

  "Uh...Oh! Sure...sure.." He looked away to avoid eye contact. 'This is going smoothly. Now all I have to do is walk quietly until we get to school.' He shivered at the thought of her being this close to him.

  'He's so cute when he's nervous.' She thought happily. 'Too bad I'm more nervous other wise I'd try to calm him down!' She sighed. Now, with both of them freaking out in there minds, they began their journey to school.

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   'Hey, this isn't so bad.' Cee thought as they neared the school. 'Having Coraline around makes me feel better about getting up in the morning, but that dream-' He cut his thoughts off trying not to think about that dream. How closer they were to kissing...'Agh! Why can't I get this out of my head?!"

    Coraline was admire the day's weather until she saw C.D. fidgeting. "Are you okay?" She asked concernedly as she stopped and moved away. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

    C.D. came back to reality. "No! Uh I mean, I was just thinking about something that bothered me." He said quickly. "It's alright." He stopped and slowly moved back to where she was next to her. Causing her to smile and blush lightly.

    "Whew! I thought I me being this close was bothering you." Coraline said with a giggle. "But clearly, you were enjoying it." They continued walking until they were inside the playground of the school. As they were spotted by the other colts and fillies, they heard 'Ooo's' and 'Aww's' as they walked over to the crimson colt leaning over the water fountain.

     "Hey, Red." C.D. said poking Red in the side causing to spit water out.

     "AH!" He turned to Cee with an angry look until he saw Coraline standing next to him.

     "Oh, Hi. Cee, is this the 'Coraline' you gushing about last night?" He said with an evil smile.

     "You were gushing?" She said nudging him in the shoulder.

     "I wasn't gushing." He quickly defend himself. He turned and glared at Red who was laughing at the scene before him.

     "Dude. You were. SO much to the point that when I said you were lying you prepared to fight to the death about it."

      "I. Was. Not. Gushing." Cee said coldly.

      "That's so sweet!" She said.

      "Oh Celestia! Can we please change the subject?!" He said hiding away his blush.

    "Well, well, well." A snobbish voice came from behind the three. And standing there were the ungrateful two, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. "Silver Spoon, do you see what I see?" Diamond Tiara said. "The loner, the ragged, and the loud mouth." They both broke out into laughter.

      "What do you two want?" Coraline asked sternly.

     "Oh relax, 'Cory'. We just came by to see our old friend." Silver Spoon explained. "We really do miss you. You really fitted in with us....until you decided that we were too....Oh, what was the word?"

      "Snobbish?" Red added.

      "Nice, is more like it." Diamond Tiara shot back.

      "No, I think you two are more like snobby, spoiled rotten, stain on my far, pain in my flank, little fillies." C.D. shot towards the two. "Of course, with all do respect." This made Coraline laugh.

       "Oh, what do you know, Christoffer?" Silver shouted coldly. "We weren't even acknowledging you until you opened your mouth!"

       "Yeah, but I felt left out. I don't like to be the quiet one." He said with a grin. "Anyway, what you have to say to Coraline, you can say in front of Red and I." Red nodded in agreement and Coraline blushed. "Besides, it's probably just another petty insult. Like, you are like the biggest loser in the school!" He said in a snobbish tone similar to Silver Spoon's.

        "Yeah! Unlike us!" Red added with a heavier snobbish tone. At this moment, a crowd of fillies and colts surrounded the group as they continued bickering.

         "Coraline. Deary, why are you hanging out with these...these.?" Diamond couldn't think of a word to describe the two with.

         "Handsome stallions?" Red asked.

         "Statues of Greatness?" Cee added with a pose. The crowd around them were cheering at this.

         "Dorks." Silver Spoon answered. The crowd booed.

"They are not dorks. Just because they don't complain about everything that isn't at their standards." She walked over to Cee and leaned onto him making him turn a deep shade of crimson until he he looked like Red. "They're actual pretty cool." She said smiling warmly at Cee.

"Wow...Uh, hehe.." Cee stammered trying to find something to say. Red shook his head.

"Eh, gross. Let's go, Diamond Tiara." Silver Spoon scoffed as she turned and trotted off.

"Yeah." Diamond Tiara said started after her friend, but stopped and glared at Coraline. "But just remember, 'friend'. This. Whatever you now have with these imbeciles." She glared at C.D. and Red, who glared back. "Won't last. And you'll just end up alone...Just like when you left us." With that, she trotted off after Silver Spoon. The crowd dissipated and faded till it was just the three standing there.

"What was that suppose to mean?" Red asked Cee.

"I know. It sent a chill up my spine. What do you think it meant, Coraline?" C.D. turned to nopony standing there. "Coraline? Where did you go?" He looked around at the playground, but couldn't find her. He began to worry and ran away from Red.

  "Cee! Wait up!" Red yelled after running after C.D.

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Authors Excuses For Having The Chapter Up Late.(Among Other Things)

I couldn't find out what to do next! I was a mess. They went to sleep.....And I froze! The two dream sequences, I pulled out of my flank! The walk to school, sweet and adorable, 'I think.' And the school yard bickering was something that happened to me at school once. So, yes. The chapter is a bit of a mess. But The next chapter(Which I hope Will be up tomorrow)is going to be organized and neat. Maybe. Please tell me your opinion. Positive or Negative. But not TOO negative. I have feelings, too you know! BTW, the name of the chapter 'Equestria's Sweethearts' came to me, because I was listening to Fall Out Boy's 'America's Sweethearts' other then the fact it kinda fits in with the chapter itself.

-TLC