Staccato Dreams

Chapters

Chapter 1: A Different Kind of Fencing
Chapter 2: Let's hit the Beach! Part 1
Chapter 3: Let's Hit the Beach! Part 2
Chapter 4: With Friends Like These..
Chapter 5: Innocent Little School Crush

Chapter 1: A Different Kind of Fencing

Hello everypony, this is my very first fan-fiction. Featuring my OC Staccato Fortissimo. Um.. go easy on me? Am I allowed to say that? Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you for viewing my story and giving it a chance. Hopefully, you will like it? Maybe? If you have any criticisms please do tell. I can only get better from it. I hope you enjoy. This chapter was heavily inspired by Miyajima's Fleurdeliser. Go check it out!
Also, this was my least favorite chapter to write. It's too short, it has absolutely no substance, and I just don't like it. Please don't use this chapter as a medium for Staccato Dreams as a whole. Thank you.

As Celestia’s sun slowly sank over the horizon to the west, and Luna’s beautiful night sky became more and more crisp and clear. A raw chill slowly swept through upper Canterlot, as the land of Equestria was no longer bathed in Celestia’s warmth. As the sun whispered it’s last goodbyes, lights from the numerous mansions, small castles, and the expensive lamp posts that lined the long Caterlonean streets, flickered to life.

Many of Canterlot’s residents could be seen, wrapped in their expensive scarves, stylish coats, big hats and posh boots. Trying ever so hard to keep warm as the slow and lazy autumn made room for the rapidly approaching winter. Each of them either making their trip home, as their day came to an end, or leaving to enjoy the enticing and exciting night life that just began.

A soft blanket of snow slowly began to make it’s way down towards the ivory mountain side city, not quite touching down just yet. Curiously the pearl river running through was still flowing, resisting the freezing temperature, perhaps a work of the unicorns in charge of the legendary Canterlot weather team.

One humble structure stood stiff, almost completely hidden under the shadow of the two towering buildings that seemed to squeeze the smaller house to death. Simple and square in design, yet classic and antique in style, with it’s old faded wooden supports and cobblestone finish. Although small, the structure seemed to be bustling with visitors.

More high class ponies stood outside waiting for friends and acquaintances to arrive, shivering and shaking all the while. Although the gently falling snow seemed to change the minds of the pedestrians standing in the winter weather. Valuing the comfort of the warm house above the company of their colleagues, at least for the meantime.

Above them, a small sign also shook and shivered as the raw wind blew ever more rapidly though Canterlot. The sign was engraved with nothing more than a simple gavel and pedestal, the edges rounded, bare, and raw from the test of time.

On the inside, it was a much more comfortable temperature. Many trotted about, enjoying the small orderves, delicate wines and champagnes being served. While they conversed lavishly on previous events.

Every year, the Canterlot Auction House would host perhaps the most reserved and most expensive auction presentation in all of Equestria. The amount of bits collected here on this one day could almost buy the Canterlot Castle itself. Gathered here were some of the wealthiest, most successful ponies in all of Equestria, each of them could easily be picked from a crowd, as they all spared no expense from their attire or looks.

Although each were unique, with their unnecessarily cumbersome and intricate hats, dresses, and suits, one pony in particular stood out, and above, all the rest. Casually walking about, making small talk to familiar friends and adoring fans, a white-coated, pink maned unicorn, dressed in a very elaborate yet mysteriously simple gown, stood oddly taller than most pony residents in Equestria. Her figure was rare amongst most of Canterlot, but considered beautiful, as it mimicked that of the royal princess’s themselves.

Many would recognize her immediately as Equestria’s most famous rising star in modeling,
hailing from the royal family in Prance, Fleur de Lis, as she was called, was undoubtedly the brightest spectacle in the room. Towering a good hoof and a half above all the other ponies, she stood full of pride of her size, and did not attempt to hide her beauty nor her dignity.

She trotted about, making her way through the small auction house, weaving her elegant figure through small groups of patrons as she attempted to find a good place to stand before the actual auction began. Although she did not plan on making an actual purchase, contrary to popular belief, Fleur was quite the intelligent unicorn, and took fascination to the expensive pieces of classical art and small trinkets that would be for sale.

She glanced towards and antique grandfather clock, the swinging pendulum catching her eye for a brief moment.

“Five more minutes.” She whispered to herself, a twinge of excitement in her voice.

She closed her eyes, for a moment just taking in the atmosphere of the room. The room had a certain classical feeling to it, due to it being so old. Being somewhat of what one would call a “classy” pony, she felt obliged to appreciate and understand antique and finer things.

As she slowly inhaled to further feel the rustic aura of the area, a familiar voice called her name.
“Fleur?” Her eyes shot open and she turned to her left to see a young light brown stallion. Draped in a very simple black fleece jacket and a jet black mane with red ends spilling out under a matching beret. His shoulders, back, and hat covered in a light coat of snow and a small, tired grin on his snout.

“Ah, it IS you!” He chimed cheerily, confirming his hunch.

“Staccato.” Fleur responded, in a soft, regal tone, smiling, glad to see a good friend. “It’s been a while.” He smiled, gladly knowing that his friend had not forgotten him.

“How are you?” He continued. “Last time I saw you, you were back on your way to Prance. How was the trip?” Fleur beamed as much as her regal appearance would allow as she recalled the fond memory.

“It was very nice, pleasant to see my family again, as well as being back home.” A ghost of a smile returned to Staccato’s mouth, his usually half drawn eyes now fully closed.

“That’s good.” He finished as the snow on his coat now started to melt into water, unbeknownst to him. Fleur could only cover her mouth with her hoof as she tried to contain a chuckle. It was only when a few drops of water fell from the brim of his hat and onto the tip of his snout did Staccato realize the fountain forming on his head. He grinned sheepishly, as he quickly removed his beret revealing his unicorn horn and brushed it dry of any snow or water.

“How about you Staccato?” Fleur began, returning the question towards him.
“How have you been?”

Staccato’s smile faded slightly. He only gave a small shrug in response, a little reluctant to share with her past events. She shot him a worried look, he dropped his head, trying to avoid eye contact. Fleur sighed slightly before continuing.

“Still thinking about it?” She returned
He only exhaled deeply, his head now tilted towards the ground. He rubbed his hoof against his temple slightly before raising his head again.

“It’s been over 12 years.. it’s absolutely pathetic that I cannot move on..” He squeezed his eyes shut, then forced a small smile onto his face.

“Ah, lets not talk about that, okay?” She gave a sad smile, then nodded.

“I heard your company is recovering well from that lawsuit a while back.” Fleur continued onto
another subject. Staccato scoffed slightly, shaking his head.

“I would hardly call it “well” Fleur, we are still not out of the Everfree forest just yet. I still can’t believe that they still invited me here to be honest. Do they seriously think I can afford to spend money on things like this?” Fleur shrugged slightly.

“You are the CEO of Crescendo Studios, so they’re still keeping their eye on you I’m sure.” The stallion smirked.

“I guess they’re hoping that I give up on the company, retire early and spend the rest of my money on classical art or something.” He said jokingly

“But I know Staccato Fortissimo better than that. He wouldn’t sell his family’s company for the world.” The towering mare gave a small wink. Staccato chuckled and turned his head towards Fleur, smiling.

“Thanks Fleur.”

Suddenly, the auctioneer rose up to the small wooden podium located on the stage in the back of the house. The clicking of his hooves against the hard wood getting the attention of the two friends.

“It’s starting now.” Staccato whispered. He looked at Fleur realizing there was an empty spot right next to her. The stallion took his place next to the tall mare, before looking towards her once more, forced to tilt his head up due to her impressive height.

“I hope I’m not intruding on any planned engagements you had prior to our meeting.” He said, trying to sound as proper and regal as possible for her sake. Fleur just smiled again, seeing her friend putting considerable effort towards matching her sublimity, she decided to tease her old friend a bit.

“Nope!” She almost shouted, shattering her aristocratic image that she had worked so hard to gain. Staccato raised an eyebrow, or at least the pony equivalent. Confused for both the fashion in which the beautiful mare had responded, and the answer in itself. She was always a popular pony, what with always being near Fancy Pants and all. It seemed extremely unusual that she was without any company this night.

“Really? Fancy Pants isn’t with you?” She shook her head.

“He wanted to visit the Wonderbolts Race Track one last time before the season ended. So I am here alone tonight.” He smirked, still a little surprised.

“And you don’t have a date or anything?”

“Nope.” Staccato shook his head in disbelief, then turned to her one more time.

“Well, do you mind if I stay for the evening?” She turned to look at him, putting on a cheerful face.

“It would be my pleasure Staccato.”

Before the auction began, there were numerous amounts of introductions regarding the most prestigious and regarded ponies in the house that night. Everypony from the retired captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard, whom lived almost next door, to the Ambassador of Zebrica who had made the long trip here from across Equestria.

This lasted for thirty long, droning minutes, until Fleur’s name was also called, although, there was no need for the bright spot light that shined brightly on her. She was tall enough to be seen clearly from the other side of the room anyways.

“Fleur de Lis, hailing from the royal family of Prance, has quickly become the newest rising star in modeling. We are honored to have her here today.” The house owner announced quickly, not having time to give everypony a full introduction without the possibility of finishing two days later.

She only smiled and nodded towards the auctioneer, allowing him to move on to the next pony. The sound of hooves thudding against the wooden floor suddenly echoed through the room. Beginning a large applaud for the tall mare, slowly increasing as other ponies joined in, feeling the need to fall in with the crowd. Fleur blushed a bit, not used to this much praise and direct attention.

In truth, it made her a little uncomfortable. Sure she was probably the most famous mare in Equestria right now, save the princesses. But it was all in her pictures and modeling. In reality, the only direct attention she received was from the large camera and cumbersome lights and backgrounds.

Even the Photo Finish was not much of a talker. Just shouting out “oohs” and “ahhs”, “yes!” and “Ah! so graceful!” whenever she got a pose right. Which Fleur could never truly figure out what was right and what was wrong, with every “right” pose seeming to contradict each other.

She used her superior height to scout out the source of the applause, only having to look right beside her and see Staccato beating his hooves against the wooden finish, grinning jovially with devious accomplishment. Perhaps getting revenge on the tall unicorn for teasing him before.

She smiled and bumped him in attempt to make the stallion stop, but he only beamed brightly before halting, satisfied with the damage that was done. Finally the applaud subsided, diminishing to nothing more than a few golf claps, to silence again as the house owner continued his introductions. The two ponies in the back began to whisper with one another.

“You did that on purpose.” If it was possible to smile wider than one’s face, Staccato seemed fully capable of doing so.

“You tease me all the time Fleur, if you can dish it out, you need to learn to take it.” He replied in a sing-song tone, failing to contain a chuckle.

“Fair enough.” She then gave her own devilish smile.

“But of course you do realize that this means war?” Staccto gave one final laugh before replying.

“Draw your sword, and let the duel begin.”

“You know I’m a professional fencer, yet you still use that metaphor.” Staccato rubbed his neck nervously, recalling when he had first seen the mare wield a rapier. Not a particularly fond memory, probably due to the fact that he was on the sharp end of the sword at the time. Figuratively and literally. He disregarded the thought then shrugged.

“I thought it would be appropriate.” Fleur giggled under the cover of her white hoof.

“Very well, I accept your challenge, may the best pony win.”

And so the rest of the night went on as a raging battle flared between them, each of them throwing a witty comment towards the other, causing one of them to be in the spotlight of attention for however brief moments they were. Back and forth they countered and parried quick remarks with silver swords. It was all in good fun of course, neither of them ever went too far, they both wore body armor that would protect them from that. But fencing armor does have holes in it, so to punish those who cannot defend themselves well enough, as they did not hold back when the opportunity arrived. Never letting even the smallest chance to embarrass the other slip by without taking complete advantage of it.

“Ah yes! That reminds me of the time when Fleur de Lis had one too many drinks at the Wonderbolts Derby a long time ago, and danced on top of the table in her private booth and they caught her on the big screen.” Staccato shouted out for everypony to hear as they showcased a rare and valuable red ceramic vase. How he had managed to connect the two subjects together was beyond the thoughts of the ponies in the crowd, and in honesty, beyond him as well.

It did not matter though, as the crowd burst into laughter, trying to imagine the porcelian unicorn executing such a feat. Fleur began to turn a hot pink, as blood rushed up to fill the room in her cheeks, recalling the incident, as she was almost kicked out of the booth.

“My, what beautiful curtains! Don’t you have a horrible fear of curtains Staccato? Ever since your hooves got caught in one when you were just a colt and your parents were not home. So you were stuck for two hours, waiting for the “big scary monster” to let you go? Until your parents finally returned to find their son a sobbing mess hidden underneath their imported curtains.” The house began to fill with laughter once again, with Staccato only giving a small nervous chuckle, rubbing his neck shakily, gazing upon the silk curtains.

Eventually, the two fencers were asked to stop, as they were disrupting the auction with their constant shouting and joking. So, with an extreme amount of reluctance, in the end they formed a truce, and announced the battle a tie. For now. But now they had to find other ways to entertain themselves.

They looked upon the rich couples as the wife would scold the husband for losing the bid to a certain piece, and would snicker and laugh under their hooves.

The Ambassador of Zebrica almost choking on a toothpick caused the two unicorns to burst out whole heartedly, but Staccato was almost sure the Ambassador had heard them, as he gave a look towards them sharper than daggers after he downed a glass of champagne to clear his throat.

They scarcely paid little to no attention to the items being presented. They were far too preoccupied, snickering and quietly chuckling at the events that passed through them. Until one item in particular caught Staccato’s interest.

“Our next item tonight is this beautiful antique phonograph, a custom made piece crafted in 1899 for famous pianist and song writer Colt Porter of the late 1800s to early 1900s.” Staccato’s head shot towards the phonograph, his pupils shrunk in surprise and glee.

“Colt Porter? As in.. THE Colt Porter?”

“We also have another item that will be sold along with this one, as a set. If you will.” The light gray auction pony waved a hoof as a pair of stock earth ponies wheeled out a large cabinet, filled tightly with an amazing amount of vinyl records.

“Along with this antique phonograph, we will also be auctioning off this rare and valuable collection of records by Colt Porter himself. Almost his entire collection of songs are placed here as well as a few never before seen, unfinished projects he had started but sadly never complete before his death.” Staccato gave out a small shriek, a good portion of the room turned to glance at him, but he paid no mind, instead just continued to stare at the phonograph and record collection set. Fleur raised an eyebrow, she had never seen Staccato so excited for anything in his life before.

“But that is not all we have here.” The auction pony continued, laying a hoof on the large cabinet. Sounding more like an advertiser for a used car department rather than a posh and professional auctioneer.

“The contributor of this piece also managed to get his hoofs on many recordings of the infamous Horsegang Amadeus Mozcart, composer and pianist of the late 18th century. As well as a few of his unfinished compositions as well, including Requiem and many others, completely unheard to Equestria.“ It was then when Fleur felt a fainting Staccato fall against her side.

“Unfinished... Mozcart...” He mumbled, lost in thought. His pupils almost completely invisible from the size that they were reduced to. Fleur softly shoved Staccato back on his hooves. He shook his head violently, pulling himself out of trance.

“We will start the bid at ten thousand bits.” Staccato beamed.

“Ten thousand? Yeah! I can do that! I mean so long as nopony else decides to-”

“Twelve thousand bits!” A pony in the back shouted, interrupting Staccato’s train of thought thought.

“Oh buck..” He whispered to himself.

“Fourteen Thousand!” Another bidder attacked.

“Fifteen!”

“Twenty!”

“Twenty two!”

“Twenty five!” The price continued to escalate higher and higher. Just as Staccato was ready to place a bid, another bidder would place one higher. He unconsciously touched the pouch full of bits in his jacket. He had more than enough money to outbid anypony in his bank, but he had saved that money in case of emergency, in case Crescendo Studios began to fall.

He could spend that money.. Like Fleur had said before, the company was recovering rather well from it’s recent downfall. But still.. Crescendo Studio’s was not just his company, it was his father’s company, and his grand father’s company. They had left it to him, it was his family’s legacy, and his responsibility, he had to take care of it. He could live in a cheap apartment for all he cared, so long as his family’s business was still intact, he did not care about himself. No, he would not take the risk, not for his life. All he could do was hope that nopony would bid too high for him, but it was not looking good..

“Thirty five thousand!”

“Thirty seven thousand!” Staccato’s previously massive grin was now completely gone as the bidding rose to exponential rates.

“Thirty nine!”

“Forty!” A final voice shouted out. That was it, Staccato could not go any higher than that. The light brown unicorn hung his head in defeat. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but he would have to miss it this time.

“Phonograph and record collection set for forty thousand bits!” The auction pony announced.

“Going once! Going twice!”

“Fifty thousand bits!” A surprisingly close voice shouted out.

Strike

“Sold! To the light brown stallion unicorn in the back!” Staccato sighed, disappointingly.

“What a shame..” He mumbled.

“Such a treasure is just going to collect dust in the corner of somepony’s collection room..” A steady flow of clapping echoed through the room, congratulating the buyer.

Odd.. Staccato thought. He was light brown.. He was also a unicorn stallion.. and he stood at the back..

Staccato lifted his head, gazing around to see the entire auction house applauding in his general direction. It was only then when he felt that his right hoof was no longer supporting his body, but rather, raised high in the air by a long white leg. His eyes darted from the leg to the owner, seeing none other than Fleur with a bright smile on her snout.

Reprise

“Fleur!” Staccato shouted, yanking his hoof back down to the ground.
“Why would you do that?” Fleur cocked her head in satisfaction.
“I saw the look on your face. You really wanted that, I don’t know why you didn’t bid for it.” She chimed devilishly.

Feint

“Elizabeth.” Staccato said sternly, pulling her closer to him so he could whisper in her ear.
“I don’t have the money for this.” He said quietly through his teeth.
“Fine! If that’s the way you want to be then I’ll pay for half of it then!” She almost shouted pushing Staccato as he reeled back.
“No! No that’s not what I meant!” The shorter unicorn exclaimed waving his hooves back and forth as the two earth ponies from before wheeled the large case and phonograph towards him.

Trompement

“No? Well fine then! I guess I’ll pay for the whole thing!”

Finish

On Staccato’s face was a look of absolute horror.

“Please don’t do this Fleur, you know how much I hate owning people!” The porcelin unicorn only smiled brightly, her eyes drawing to a close.

“Yes I do, and that is why I do it.” Staccato groaned.

“This is why, Fancy Pants likes you so much.. He never liked yes mares.”

“Come on Al.. We both know how much you wanted that.” Staccato’s eyes shrunk from
surprise, to a scowl.

“Please don’t call me that Fleur..” Al.. Staccato especially disliked being called that. He had not been called by that nickname in a long time, and for that he was glad, for it brought back bad memories that he would have rather forgotten. Since the last person that called him that was..

“Hey! If you call me by my nickname, then I’ll call you by yours.” She smirked.

“Besides..” She started, a genuine look in her eyes
“It’s my birthday gift to you Staccato.” The brown unicorn looked up at her yet another look of astonishment on his face.

“How did you know?”

“I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t remember something as simple as your birthday would I?” Staccato was stunned, speechless, and above all joyful. It gave him so much pleasure to know that somepony had remembered his birthday without telling them soon before. In truth, he had been so busy as of late that he had almost forgotten his own birthday.

Staccato’s eyes began to water up, a smiled formed on his face once again.
“Thank you Fleur..” He managed to say, voice cracking and trembling uncontrollably.

“Happy Birthday Staccato.”

“Okay, at least let me pay for some of it!” Staccato shouted, following Fleur out of the auction house long after the bidding was finished.

“No! It’s my gift to you. Can you imagine how bad I would feel to make you pay for your own gift?” Staccato furrowed his eyes.

“Do you know how bad I feel that you bought a fifty thousand dollar present for me?” He responded as Fleur’s carriage began to pull towards the sidewalk.

“I refuse to accept any money from you.”

“Well, what if I send it to your Pen Pony? Then you have no choice but to accept it.”

“Then I’ll give you twice the money back, and you’ll have no choice but to accept it either.”
Staccato almost shouted in frustration.

“Half.” Staccato offered.

“One tenth.” Fleur responded.

“A third!”

“One fifth.” The tall unicorn retorted, not letting up. Staccato pouted.

“One quarter?” Fleur paused for a moment, opening the door to her carriage.

“Deal.” She accepted finally. Staccato exhaled, relieved that he could at least pay for a portion of
the extremely expensive gift.

“Okay. So that means I owe you..” Staccato did his calculations in his head quickly as Fleur entered her cart.

“Twelve thousand five hundred right?” The tall unicorn peeked her head out of the window, and shook her head slightly.

“Nope.” she said softly. Suddenly, Fleur’s horn lit up brightly as Staccato felt a small tug on the pouch in his coat. The string that was twisted tightly over the opening of the bag, loosened just enough for a single silver coin to float gracefully out.

“Just one quarter.” Staccato sighed, eyelids half closed.

“That’s not what I meant Fleur..” She smirked again.

“No, it’s what I meant.” She chimed.

“Thank you for the wonderful evening Staccato.” The unicorn shook his head.

“It was my pleasure Fleur, I will pay you back soon.”

“Then I’ll buy you something else with that money.” She said one final time before her cart began to pull away.

“Don’t you dare.” The carriage rolled away, clicking and clacking as it drove over the bumpy cobblestone road. Staccato sighed and stared at the night sky, still bright and crisp, illuminated under Luna’s moonlight.

“See what happens when I’m too nice like you taught me to be mom? It only comes back to bite me in the flank.” He thought he could see a single star twinkle in the distance. Staccato smiled sadly.

“Glad to know you’re listening Mom..”

Note 1: Fleur de Lis and Staccato are not in a relationship of any kind.
Note 2: Staccato is not Luna's son, that is not what the last lines imply.
Note 3: Staccato has an ask tumblr if anyone is interested.

Chapter 2: Let's hit the Beach! Part 1

Wow, interested enough to read into chapter two are you? I must be doing something right then.. Thank you for your time, please visit my ask tumblr if anyone is interested.

The bass throbbed and the synth sung together in glorious harmony. Beaming lights of various colors and intensities danced across the bar in seemingly random sways, yet oddly matching up perfectly to the tempo of the song. Lighting the dance floor much to the delight of the countless colts and mares, vigorously whirling, spinning and bobbing in unison to the heavy beats.

A light brown unicorn stallion stood upright on the front stage, taking control of the turn table station. The red highlights in his black mane glowing brightly under the black light hanging over his head. His eyes closed and a beaming expression that almost created it’s own light in the dark and musty bar. A pair of pearlesent white bulky headphones were clamped snug over his ears, the letters “V” and “S” inscribed in crimson ruby red on the side along with a backwards eighth note painted black on the bridge.

While the bass that was pouring obnoxiously out of the mountainous speakers was, without a doubt, enough to wake the sleeping dead from a mile away, upon closer inspection, anypony could easily see the stallion’s headphones quaking violently from the deep bass exploding through the high quality headset. One could only barely imagine the level of volume resonating into the unicorn’s ears, as he bobbed his head up and down to the bass, spinning the vinyl records to create that classic scratching sensation that everypony in the building adored so very much.

Staccato’s ear drums stung with abuse, his temples throbbing with pain beneath the snow white headphones. His body was slowly deteriorating under the blasts of sound beating brutally at his every sense. It could only cry out for mercy, begging to stop, but beyond his threshold for pain, in his mind, Staccato could never feel more at peace. He found Nirvana here, under the influence of the music he loved so much, and desired almost nothing else. Such a feeling was unknown to him in the past, but once he had found it, he became addicted to it, and named it “Gioia” Italian for joy.

He was tonight’s DJ, here at the N30N Lounge, and he wanted to share his joy with everypony in the house. As the latest song came to an abrupt stop, just as all songs of it’s type always ended. He carefully but firmly slapped his hoof on the edge of the record, flicking the disc so that it somersaulted high in the air, before catching it expertly on the tip of his horn. The crowed roared in approval, a little trick he had learned from an old friend. “Getting the attention of the audience is half of the job after all” He recalled being told.

A neon red aura surrounded the black vinyl circle, resonating from his horn, as he delicately floated the disc into a random empty case. It was too dark to be able to read the labels on the cases anyways. So the DJ’s that worked here were told to just place them anywhere, as expendable interns would sort them out after the party was over. He carefully slipped the headphones off of his ears, as a high pitched ringing noise echoed through them.

Staccato turned towards the clock on his station, just as it turned to 12:56. “Enough time for one more song” He reached under the turntable with his hoof, retrieving a jet black case that he had placed there earlier. He gazed thoughtfully at the cover with a smile on his face, it was his personal favorite, and he almost always played it during his shift. He continued to stare at the case, chills flowing up his spine in anticipation. It was only when the impatient growls and shouts of the party goers, as well as a beer bottle barely missing his head, did Staccato finally break from his trance and hastily began to place the record on the silver turn table.

As he pulled out the disc, the unicorn still felt the weight of another record in the cardboard container. Surely enough, as he peered through the case, he found another disc. Staccato retrieved the second black circle, giving a small, sad sigh. This song was supposed to be mixed by two DJ’s at once, and in the past, he had done it with somepony else. One pony in particular came to mind. He turned his head to his left, seeing a second turntable station, depressingly empty. His smile faded, and his joy began to fade as well. Another bottle barely nicked the side of his ear, but he refused to budge.

He kept looking towards the empty station dejectedly, almost believing that, if he watched it long enough, she would appear once again to take the space. Like she did with him before so many years ago. Finally, a bottle collided with the flat of Staccato’s shoulder, cracking slightly but did not shatter until it hit the ground, he flinched and recoiled a bit. Looking towards the angry mob, almost ready to attack him. He turned back to the empty turn table once more, gazing at it sadly. Then shook his head vigorously, in attempt to shake off the unwanted memories forming in his head as he moved back towards his station.

“Sorry guys, got a little distracted there..” He mumbled to himself softly as he placed the single disc on the turn table. One last time, he looked at the second record gloomily, before he slid it back into the case, setting it in a slot under the turntable. He set the needle carefully on the disc, the crimson aura of his magic surrounding the arm as it moved. Soon the song kicked off, with a quick succession of tapping snare drums, and the crowd turned back to it’s usual self. Dancing and drinking like there was no tomorrow.

Staccato took a couple of steps back, his smile now permanently wiped from his face. He turned and began to head backstage, deciding that he would not do any mixing to the song tonight. “It’ll sound fine on it’s own.” He said to himself. “They won’t be able to tell the difference anyways.” He slowly trotted towards the back when an unfamiliar voice blasted through the speakers, the music still playing without interruption.

“What?” The unicorn uttered, a little confused. “I don’t remember mixing a second voice into this song..” Staccato turned towards the tables once more, the voice was garbled and distorted, Staccato couldn’t understand it in the slightest. He pulled his headphones back up to his ears, listening to the song closely.

“What is that voice?”

“S-staccato.” It was barely understandable under the loud bass, but he could clearly hear his name being called, echoing softly.

“What in Celestia’s name?”

“..Wake up..” Staccato pressed his hooves against the sides of his headphones in attempt to hear more clearly.

“Staccato.. wake up..” It became more audible now now.

“Wake up Staccato.” His eyelids furrowed in confusion.

“Staccato wake up!” The stallion shook his head, completely dumbfounded.

“What? Wake up?” He spoke back to the voice as if it would respond more clearly.

“STACCATO! WAKE UP!” Staccato’s head popped off his desk abruptly, his light grey eyes now wide open and dilated, hyperventilating intensely. A neon green earth pony with a very bright red mane stood in front of him, a worried expression on his face.

“Sir, are you okay?” Staccato looked around, trying to recollect what had happened. He was in his office, seventh floor of Crescendo Studios. It was spacious, bookshelves lined the walls, and vinyl record cases lined the bookshelves. He could easily see far over the Manehattan city, the skyline clearly shown through the large window that took up the entire back wall. He looked down on his desk that was previously being used as an effective pillow. Hundreds of papers and files were laid out, uncompleted. Hundreds more were stacked high on the corner of his desk, precariously close to falling off the edge. In front of him, the same neon green pony stood with the same worried face.

“Did I fall asleep?” The earth pony nodded slightly. Staccato groaned, squeezed his eyes shut and smashed his head against the desk in frustration. The rebound echoing painfully throughout the acoustics of the room.

“AH CELESTIA BUCKING DAMN IT! HOW AM I GOING TO GET THIS PAPER WORK DONE WHEN I KEEP FALLING ASLEEP?!” He shouted, flailing his legs about, scattering papers everywhere. Immediately he picked up a quill with his magic and began writing again. Deep dark bags were hung under his half drawn eyes, blinking slowly as he fought off sleep. The green stallion didn’t leave, still looking at Staccato with a concerned expression.

“Sir, would you like to take the rest of the day off?” Staccato did not move, his focus concentrated completely on the thousands of pages of paper laid out on his desk. The assistant could see Staccato’s writing ability start to deteriorate, his hoof writing slowly becoming worse and worse. The speed at which he wrote slowing down considerably as his eyes began to close, on the verge of drifting off again.
He noticed the cumbersome pearl white headphones still on Staccato’s head. It helped him concentrate, whether he was listening to violent dubtrot, or calming classical. But it also seemed to help him fall asleep a little faster than usual, so the assistant considered it a little counter productive. He did not argue though, it was not his place to do so, after all, he could never figure out how Staccato could do so much work in so little time. He would not be able to get his attention by speaking to him.

The green earth pony tapped his hoof lightly on the desk, finally the light brown unicorn looked up to him, an annoyed, but thoroughly exhausted look downing his face. He took his earphones off, the red aura enveloping as they were placed gently down on the desk.

“What do you want Glowstix?” Staccato responded flatly, the young assistant brought a hoof to his mouth, clearing his throat before he spoke.

“I think it would be best if you took the rest of the day off sir.” Staccato paused for a moment, then merely shook his head quickly and started back on his papers.

“No no no, there’s too much work to be done, I can’t leave right now.” Glowstix furrowed his eyes, a little astonished.

“Staccato, you’re not going to get any work done if you keep falling asleep like this.” He retorted,
“Just take the day off.”
Staccato didn’t look up from his work, just shook his head again stubbornly. The earth pony rolled his eyes, now he was a little annoyed.

“Sir, you’ve fallen asleep three times today already, and it’s only 12:56.” The brown unicorn glanced at the digital clock on his desk, briefly remembering his dream. A memory that forever danced around his mind. He could not say that it haunted him, because of the joy it brought every time it began, the throbbing bass and the singing synth. The feeling of Gioia, locked in musical ecstacy. But he could not call it a beautiful dream either, for the ending would always leave a sour note ringing in his ears. Bringing back memories he would rather have forgotten.

He disregarded the thought quickly, it was unimportant at the moment, and other things were more urgent. He continued writing, waving a hoof towards Glowstix in attempt to dismiss him, but he refused leave, concerned for his workaholic boss’s, and, in truth, good friend’s well being. His eyes seemed to twinkle slightly as an idea began to slowly form in his head.

“Maybe you should take a vacation.” he suggested. Staccato shot a sudden glare towards his assistant a abnegated look on his face, startling him a bit.

“What?!” He shouted in disbelief, Glowstix took an involuntary step back, stunned.

“Have you seen the state my company is in? We are on the brink of bankruptcy and you want me to take a vacation?! Why in Celestia’s name would I leave now?!”
The earth ponies eyes narrowed a bit, becoming more and more aggravated every time his friend argued back.

“Have you seen the state YOU are in?! You look like a zompony for Celestia’s sake!” He snapped back. Staccato squinted as his vision blurred from exhaustion, a little surprised, did he really look that bad? He turned to a small mirror on the other corner of his desk. Admitting that he had looked better in the past. The bags under his eyes were deep enough to hold all the apples on Sweet Apple Acres. His mane was a complete mess, he would not be surprised if a live parasprite was making its summer home there. His coat was unkempt unwashed in several different places. He rubbed his head with both of his hooves, trying to massage his temples, but seeming to miss from the lack of energy.

“Besides.” Glowstix continued.

“You’re over exaggerating, we are not on the brink of bankruptcy, and all of us have you to thank for that Staccato. You pulled this entire business back up from the lowest point it’s ever been. One more day and we would have been shut down for sure. But thanks to you, we’re up and running, sure we’re not at full strength just yet but these things take time.” The unicorn dragged his hooves down his face only revealing his eyes, giving a defeated look. He sighed, releasing his magical grip on the quill, allowing it to fall to it’s side on the piles of paper.

“It’s just.. I had to lay off a whole bunch of hard working honest stallions and mares a few months back because of the state we were in... so many ponies now without any work, perhaps not earning enough to feed their families. My only excuse was, ‘I’m sorry, we just don’t have the money to keep everypony.’ and now I’m going off relaxing and taking lazy vacations while they scrap for jobs? That’s just not right..”
He laid his head on his desk, completely tired and now a little depressed. Glowstix looked at him sympathetically, now understanding the situation his friend was in.

“It’s not like you’re doing at their expense Staccato. And those guys all had a degree from some sort of musical college, I’m sure they all have providing jobs by now. Besides, you deserve a vacation.” Staccato stared at him, a little confused.

“Why do you say that?” Glowstix rolled his eyes again, but this time with a bit of a smile, just annoyed Staccato could not recall all of his hard work.

“You worked all through Hearths Warming Eve, the Summer Sun Celebration, and Nightmare Night. You refused to go to the Grand Galloping Gala and you skipped over the Garden Party as well. In fact, I can’t remember the last time you took time off.” Staccato shifted his gaze blankly towards the wall to his right, simply attempting to avoid eye contact.

“Not much fun to celebrate when you have no pony to celebrate with...” He muttered dejectedly.
Glowstix immediately regretted the last part of his statement, remembering sorely that Staccato had no family.

Seven years ago, Staccato’s parents were both lost in a carriage accident a year after he enrolled in Manehattan Musical College. His father was CEO of Crescendo Studios, a highly successful music mixing, producing, and publishing company all in one. Owned by a long line of Staccato’s forefathers. When he was lost, the company quickly began to fall apart. Was it not for Staccato taking charge of his family’s business, it would have surely fallen. It is still a wonder how somepony so young could have managed to get a company so close to destruction back on it’s hooves, even Staccato was surprised.

“Sorry sir...” The unicorn sighed.

“It’s alright Stix, but maybe you’re right..” The green stallion raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe I do need a vacation..” Glowstix brightened his expression, glad his boss finally agreed.

“Where am I going to go though?”

“You don’t have any place in mind?”

“I never traveled a lot Stix, except when I was still making music and we were on tour, but even then, we left so fast that we really never got a chance to dig our hooves in the sand.” He looked towards his old friend.

“Any suggestions?”

“Fillydelphia is always nice.”

“No.. I kinda want to get away from the big cities. Else I might as well just stay here and walk around Manehattan.”

“I hear Prance is nice.”

“It would be good to see Fleur again..” Glowstix’s eyes widened.

“Wait, you’re not talking about THE Fleur de Lis are you?” Staccato nodded, not really paying any mind to his assistant.

“You know Fleur de Lis?! That beautiful model everypony is talking about these days?!”

“When you don’t have family, you tend to make up with an excessive amount of friends Glowstix.”

“Wow that mare is gorgeous!” The green earth pony blushed a bit.

“D..do you think you could put in a good word fo-” Staccato laughed, interrupting Glowstix.

“I don’t think she’s your type Stix.” He said, trying to contain a laugh. The earth pony recoiled in surprise, then recovered quickly with rage.

“Hey! How do you know what my love life is like?!” Staccato gave a devilish grin.

“I may listen to music all the time, but that doesn’t mean I’m deaf. I hear things around the office.” The green earth pony’s eyes widened again.

“R-really? How.. how much did you hear?”

“From what I gather, you’ve had seven marefriends in the last two weeks, each of them not lasting more than four days.”Glowstix blushed hard red.

“Eight.. One and a half weeks.. three days..” The light brown unicorn gave an apologetic smile to his old friend.

“Sorry Glowstix, we’re very good friends, I honestly don’t think you could keep up with her quirky demeanor.” Staccato chuckled a little, remembering his previous engagement with that beautiful mare.

“Even I have trouble keeping up with her..” He turned to the corner of his office, where a priceless antique phonograph sat, next to it a special shelf, stacked tightly with equally rare and priceless vinyl records. A gift from the tall white unicorn from their last encounter.

“Still need to pay her back for those..” He whispered to himself absent mindedly. The green earth pony gave a disappointed look, then thought back to his friend’s last sentence. His curiosity got the better of him and a rush of blood returned to his cheeks, more red than Big Macintosh.

“Good friends?” He questioned with heavy emphasis on ‘Good’.

“D-did you ever-”

“No.” He uttered simply without another word.

“Oh.” End of discussion.

“But...” Staccato continued, getting back on track with their previous discussion.

“I want to stay in the country, so at least I can get back quickly if something does go wrong.” Glowstix exhaled sharply, looking up to heaven, a little frustrated.

“For the last time, nothing is going to go wrong Staccato, I’ll see to it personally.”

“That’s what I’m the most afraid of.” He muttered. Glowstix stood silent, an agitated look on his face.

“Either way, I want to be nearby, just in case.”

“Okay.. what about Hoofington?”

“Never was a big fan of Califoalnia..”

“Hoofululu?”

“When I said in the same country, I meant the same land mass.”

“Neigh Orleans?”

“During this time of year? It’s so humid it’s impossible to breath.”

“Celestia! You’re making this so difficult!”

“Now do you see why I don’t travel a lot?” Glowstix had one more idea, but he was certain it would never work. He shuffled his hooves on the ground, not sure whether or not he should suggest it.

“You know.. “ He started nervously

“There’s always Canter-”

“No.”

“Come on Staccato! What are the chances that you’re going to see her again?”

“You’ve never been to Canterlot have you?” He responded without looking to him.

“It’s not as large as everyone makes it out to be, it is built on the side of a mountain after all. Sure the mansions are huge and the castle itself is massive, but when it comes to public space, everything is quite small. The roads are cramped, the shops are tiny, and you could suffocate in those restaurants. If she and I decided to go outside at the same time, there would be over an eighty percent chance that we would bump into each other..” Glowstix rolled his eyes for the third time that day.

“Ugh! Fine!”

“Maybe I shouldn’t go at all..”

“NO!” Suddenly, Glowstix’s eyes lit up so fast it almost looked as if he shot lazar beams.

“I know! How about Foalida?” Staccato looked up thoughtfully, seemingly trying to come up with some sort of flaw.

“Come on! The cities aren’t too big, nice sandy beaches, good food, hot mares.” Staccato glared at him.

“O-okay, ignore that last part.” He said nervously. The unicorn looked to the Equestrian sky thoughtfully.

“Hm.. I’ve never been to Foalida before..” Glowstix leaned forward in anticipation, almost falling face first into the ground, but luckily caught himself. Staccato looked at himself in the mirror again, seeing the horrifying condition he was in. But then he looked back at his desk, the thousands of papers he had yet to finish. And of course, when he got back, there would always be even more arriving in his absence, stacking even higher. Again to the mirror, then back to the desk, then back to the mirror, then back to the desk. Finally he sighed deeply before looking back at his assistant.

“Maybe I should just stay here instead...”

Chapter 3: Let's Hit the Beach! Part 2

Chapter three, this was fun to write, I hope you enjoy it. Please visit my ask tumblr if anyone is interested.

Staccato’s carriage bumped and shook as it cruised over the dirt road. His ear buds blasted electric techno into his ears, and he liked to believe that every bounce in the road matched up perfectly to the bass. Even if he was too overly lenient on the timing. Dozens of raindrops constantly pecked at his window, he liked to imagine that those matched perfectly to the synth, and again, he was too lenient on the timing.

He took one ear bud out of his head, glaring at it with exasperation. Since Glowstix shoved him out of the Crescendo building and, quite literally, locked him out, he had left his favorite headphones at his desk. Now he was forced to use a pair of cheaper, low quality ones he had found in a general store.

“I am not letting you back into this building until the end of next week!” Staccato recalled Glowstix bark as he was shoved quite forcefully out of the front door.
“Two whole weeks?! I was just going to go for a couple of days!” Staccato wailed, horrified.
“No! You are going to take a long vacation and enjoy it!” Glowstix shouted as he slammed the front door, a loud click cracking through the air as he locked it tight.

“These ear buds sound worse than those garbage pop songs the fillies and colts like so much these days..” He grumbled, reluctantly shoving them back in his ear. He looked at his FiMPod, that he was luckily able to retrieve before he was “escorted” out of the building. He never understood why they were called “FiMPods” What exactly did the FiM stand for anyways? He guess that the “i” could stand for himself, because of the wide array customization options that it offered. But why the F and the M? And why the “pod”? It certainly did not look like a pod, it was very geometrical, not circular at all besides the couple of buttons. He then realized how bored he must have been to contemplate the purpose of a electronic device.

He gazed at the time, 12:56, just past noon. As if on cue, his stomach rumbled. Staccato now recalled that he had missed lunch that day, actually, he had missed breakfast that morning as well. The unicorn searched the inside of the carriage for something to calm his stomach, then remembered that he had packed all of his food in the trunk.

“Ugh! This always happens..” Staccato groaned as he slumped into his seat. The stallion cursed as his stomach growled loudly again.

“Shut up you.. I can’t find anything to eat right now, you’ll just have to wait until we stop in Mareami.” He muttered to his stomach, trying to feed it words instead of food. The organ shook and rumbled in argument, but he would have none of it. Staccato turned to a small window located in the front of the carriage. He slowly slid it open and looked through, seeing the two stocky earth ponies pulling his carriage.

“Hey fellas, do you know how long until we make it to Mareami?” The light grey stallion on the left turned his head slightly, not interrupting his pace.

“Still quite a ways a way, I’d say four more hours at most.” Staccato gave a small frustrated groan, making sure that the stallions could not hear.

“Thanks guys, great job by the way, I don’t know how you earth ponies do it.” He finished. The dark brown stallion on the right gave a small chuckle.

“It’s all in the pacing, so long as we don’t move too fast, we can keep going for hours, days even.” Staccato’s eyes widened, flabbergasted and thoroughly impressed.

“Days?” He repeated.

“If the job calls for it yeah, so long as we’re fully rested and well fed that is.” Staccato laughed.

“You guys are doing great, I’ll be sure to pay you well for this.” The grey pony smiled lightly.

“Much obliged sir.” Staccato closed the window and laid down on the length of the seats, he had the cart to himself after all, why let the space go to waste? He looked down at his stomach, rubbing it slightly.

“Hear that? Four hours... Think you can make it?” His stomach grumbled again in protest.

“Yeah didn’t think so..” Staccato stretched himself out on the seats and tried to get some shut
eye. But his stomach was empty and his mind was full, all he could think about was Crescendo Studios back in Manehattan. Was it in good hands? What if Glowstix couldn't finish the paper work in time? Maybe he should go back while he still had the chance.

No it wouldn’t do him any good anyways, Glowstix made sure that the security guards would not give him clearance into the building until next week’s end. How he managed to convince the security guards to not let the CEO into his own company was beyond him. ‘I’ll definitely have to dock his pay when he got back.’ He contemplated jokingly. The unicorn shrugged slightly. Although he did tease Stix a lot, he knew he could trust him. Staccato was just a little paranoid, all he could think about were the “what if’s”.

What if he couldn't finish the paper work? What if the company began to fall again? What if crescendo Studios was shut down? What if a giant meteorite fell from the sky and unleashed a hoard of giant parasprites all over Equestria, devouring everypony and every building in sight? All of these possibilites ran through his mind. Yes, even the last one, just.. not so much.

He readjusted himself on the seats and turned the volume of his music a little higher in an attempt to calm himself.

The other issue on his mind was, the dream. That dream he had when he had fallen asleep in his office, what did it mean? He had not been a DJ in years, and had not played that song even longer. Whenever he did play that song, he always brought his own personal disc, and he never took the second one with him, unless he knew he was collaborating with somepony that night. That empty station, the second disc, why was he dreaming of something he had left behind so long ago? Staccato knew exactly what the dream meant, he just did not want to believe it. He was in complete denial, trying as hard as he could to find, hell even if he just came up with some other scenario that made sense he would be happy, but the unicorn could find none. Nothing else could make any sense and he knew it. The second disc, the empty station, It all pointed to.. her..

When his stomach was empty and his mind was full, Staccato always found it difficult to sleep. Whether it was because that was what his mother always told him, in attempts to convince him to eat more alfalfa, or if it was actually true, he did not know. He only knew that he could never fall peacefully into comatose when he was in this state. Eventually, after quite some time of readjusting and the most calming classical songs he could find on his FiMPod. Staccato and sleep finally found one another.

“Where are you going?!”

“Huh?” Staccato uttered, standing in the exact place where he left off. A young violet mare with a light pink puffy mane standing in front of him, blocking his path to the backstage.

“What?” He questioned, sounding quite stupid, not completely understanding what was going on.

“You’re not thinking of leaving are you? Your shift isn’t over yet!” She pointed a hoof at a white clock on the far side of the bar.

“It’s only 12:56! Your shift is up at 3:00.”

“I- Uh..” Staccato stuttered, still completely confused. The young mare gave an agitated expression.

“What is there not to understand? Get back to work!” She shoved him forcefully back on stage, just as his song was ending. Staccato stumbled forward, almost tripping over his own hooves. He glanced at the turntable, quickly swapping the discs with two random records he had pulled from the shelves, in hopes of not starting a riot again, like he almost did before.

Luckily for him, the songs he choose mixed surprisingly well together. Staccato finally got his bearings again and began to mix the night away. He had not planned anything more for that night, so from then on he had to go improv for the rest of his, apparently extended, shift. Which was met with mixed results, sometimes he would mix the perfect bass and synth together, causing the crowd to explode in cheering and approval. He would have to write down these mixes for future reference.

Other times he would mix together songs that had absolutely nothing to do with each other. In his defense, what kind of techno bar has polka in it’s collection? the crowd would usually respond to this with booing and the usual beer bottles, but by now Staccato had become an expert at dodging the green containers of alcohol.

No sooner than he would have liked, Staccato’s shift finally came to an end as the clock struck 3:00. He smacked the final disc off the track and sent it flipping through the air rapidly, before catching it expertly in it’s specified case. The crowd applauded and cheered as he took a final bow and made his way backstage.

He pulled the curtain open and slipped though into the darkness of the backstage. The bright lights on the stage caused his eyes to have to adjust to the pitch black of the room, as he fumbled around trying to find his way to the exit. Suddenly, he felt something hit his shoulder slightly, It felt firm, yet had a soft texture like somepony’s hoof.

“Ah, excuse me.” Staccato apologized politely to the pony he must have almost bumped into. A smooth and familiar feminine voice responded quickly.

“Not bad out there, but I feel like you were going improv most of the time.” Staccato paused for a moment, trying to identify the voice but he couldn’t quite put his hoof on it. He shrugged and disregarded it, then continued to respond to the actual statement. He chuckled a bit.

“Actually, I was. I thought my shift was over at 1:00 tonight so I didn’t plan for too much. When I was put back on I didn’t have anything ready, so I just improvised the whole time. Who knew we had polka in our collection?” She giggled softly.

“It happens to the best of us doesn’t it?” Staccato smiled in response.

“I suppose so.”

“You didn’t do bad.” She started.

“But let me show you how we really drop the bass.” The light brown unicorn raised an eyebrow curiously.

“I’ll be watching.” He heard the soft sound of curtains being pulled back again, as the voice disappeared on to the stage. Almost immediately after, the crowed roared loudly to the mere appearance of the new DJ.

“Wow, she must be popular.” Staccato snickered as he finally found the exit leading to the main part of the bar. He fumbled around clumsily with the knob, slipping and falling without his vision. As he finally opened the door, the bright strobe lights blasted through the doorway, stinging his retinas slightly. He shut his eyes tightly, as he slowly adjusted again to the bright light. When he opened his eyes he found the violet mare that had pushed him back onto the stage, right at his nose. He reeled back suddenly, startled by her alarmingly close proximity.

“Not bad up there, although I did find your polka selection a little.. odd..” She said cocking her head slightly as she dropped a small pouch of bits into his saddle bag.

“Come again, the crowd seems to like you, just be sure that you have some songs ready before hoof please.” Staccato nodded, a little embarrassed. She motioned towards the bartender, a cream earth pony with a pink and violet mane in a small suit like uniform. A small martini being poured into a wine glass serving as her cutie mark.

“Drinks are free for the DJ’s after their shifts, feel free to get a glass before you leave.” With this final statement she disappeared backstage again, no doubt waiting for another pony to attempt to leave again. Staccato trotted briskly towards the bar, immediately catching the attention of the bartender.

“What’ll you have?” Staccato took a moment to browse the numerous amounts of drinks that she had on hand. Looking towards the back shelf with hundreds of bottles lining the wall.

“Got any Stagner's Pear Cider?” She nodded and quickly retrieved a small glass and a large bottle from underneath the counter. He had never actually had a chance to taste this drink before, but a friend spoke highly of it to him, so he thought he would give it a shot. No pun intended.

Although he had absolutely no reason to trust said friend, after all, she did introduce him to Pan-Equestrian Gargle Blasters. Staccato shuddered heavily, remembering the memories of the drink with a disclaimer notice that was longer than the actual bottle itself. Although he did not really remember anything about the drink itself, just the painful, agonizing, aching, pulsating, arduous, grievous, excruciating, and other synonyms for painful, hangover that pursued the morning later. He swore after that day that he would never drink again in his life. But he was in college at the time, and you can guess how long that promise lasted.

She placed the glass delicately on the table, but still rang out noticeably with a rounded bang. He thanked the bartender and picked his glass up, enveloping it in the red aura of his magic. He sniffed curiously at the drink. Well, at least it smells good..
He shrugged and took a small sip, a wide grin forming on his face as he swallowed, smacking his lips at the taste. Not bad, not bad at all.

Staccato took a generous swig before turning towards the new DJ. The lights were situated in such a way that it was impossible to actually see the mare, only her silhouette was visible. She was a unicorn, with a long frizzy mane and tail. That was really the only thing Staccato could distinguish about her. Something about that DJ felt oddly familiar, but he couldn’t quite put a hoof on it. She stood upright, as all the DJ’s kind of had to do if they were to do their job correctly, spinning records with magic seemed to mess with the sound quality, so it was custom to use hooves for that. She had already placed her records on the turntable, but the drop had not yet arrived, so the crowd was only getting warmed up. She shouted out, her voice clearly audible over the calm intro.

“HEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOO FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS!” Suddenly Staccato’s eyes widened, his hooves shook, and his magic began to dissipate as the glass of cider quivered.

“Wait..” He began, still not sure if his assumption was correct of not.

“There’s only one mare I know that does intros like that...” Staccato squinted slightly, trying to focus closer on the figure, still trying to identify her.

From the edges of her silhouette, he could tell that her coat was white.

Check.

Her mane and tail was long, frizzy, cyan and electric blue.

Check.

He could barely make it out, but the cutie mark on her flank was what seemed like a backwards
eighth note.

Check.

Finally, lights from the front broke though, revealing the mare from the shadows. She wore a pair of large round glasses with thick black rims and violet lenses that shielded her eyes from view.

Double Check.

Staccato’s magic zapped and sparked, his grip on the glass disappeared and it fell to the ground shattering into a million pieces as it hit the floor. He was lost in complete shock and disbelief, utterly speechless and befuddled.
It was her.

“LET’S DROP THE BASS!” She shouted at the top of her lungs as the drop finally crashed through the speakers, causing the building to shake and quake violently. The ponies began to jump and dance, seemingly unaware of the earthquake-like vibrations. The shaking grew stronger and stronger, but the volume of the song did not seem to match the vibration. Sure it was loud but not loud enough to shake the ground beneath their hooves! Staccato seemed to be the only pony affected by the quaking as it grew more and more. He tumbled and stumbled all over the bar as he hastily made for the exit. Suddenly, one massive bump lurched him violently into the air.

The light brown unicorn came crashing down onto the seats of the carriage. The air was knocked out of his lungs as he landed flat on his back. The carriage was rocking back and fourth overwhelmingly, whipping Staccato around like a rag doll. He tried to stand, but was quickly knocked back down onto his rump with a grunt. He instead crawled to the nearest window, it was raining heavily on the glass, Celestia’s sun was long gone over the horizon and darkness fell over the land. A thick forest of trees zoomed past the cart as they sped by. Only visible by the bright lantern that hung over the side of the carriage, shaking and whipping around equally violently as the cart zoomed at speeds that would make Rainbow Dash surprised. Staccato instantly became extremely alarmed.

“Why are we driving so fast?” He turned to the window in front, attempting to stand and reach for it. Another bump denied him and slammed him against the floor, knocking the oxygen out of him again. The cart took a sharp turn. Staccato slammed against the left door. Suddenly, he felt the door swing open from underneath him, due to the lock being unhinged previously. Staccato flew out of the cart. The feeling of vertigo echoing through his body, weightless as he saw himself fly farther and farther from the carriage. He crashed hard on the ground beside the road, and began rolling down a hill. Rocks and trees slamming into him. He felt and heard a sickening crack and he shouted out in agony, a new pain burning in his left leg. He slammed into a tree head first. His eyes rolled into his skull as stars formed in his mind. His vision slowly began to fade, the darkness of the night enveloping his sight. He felt nothing.

“Sir? Are you alright?” Staccato found himself sprawled on the floor of the bar, his face uncomfortably close to a discarded cup of booze and...
He shook himself vigorously as he stood up, the bartender pony at his side, a concerned look on her face.

“What happened?” Staccato groaned.

“You fell, it looked like you were a little salt-licked..” The unicorn gave a baffled look.

“Salt-licked? I’m not drunk. I only drank half a glass o-” He looked at the ground where he previously stood, the remnants of his pear cider still shattered against the floor.

“Oh. Sorry about that.” The cream earth pony shrugged.

“I don’t have to clean it up, it’s fine.” She looked towards him again, worried.

“Maybe you were drugged, would you like me to call a carriage for you sir?” Staccato did not pay attention to the bartender, his focus was directed towards the DJ still at the stage. Ponies falling in a bar was not an uncommon sight, so the party continued on without paying any mind to Staccato. The quaking seemed to cease, not that anypony noticed except for him. The music blared loudly as it always did, the strobe lights still flashing quickly to the beat of the bass. The familiar unicorn he had saw before was no longer there, instead it was now a different host at the stage. He sported a spiky black mane, black shades, and a blue-gray coat. A black shirt with a tie covered his torso, and three white stars made for his cutie mark.

“Who is that?” Staccato uttered, a little unimpressed by his appearance.

“MC W1SH, a bit of a favorite here at the N30N lounge. I’ve never seen him come back here with the same mare twice though..” Staccato scoffed and made his way towards the exit. The bartender followed him briskly outside.

“Sir, would you like me to call you a carriage?” She repeated, Staccato shook his head.

“No I’m fine, I’ll just walk. Tell Sparks that I’ll be back Wednesday night.” He finished referring to the violet pony that served as his manager for that night. Staccato made his way down the streets of Manehattan, briskly trotting towards his apartment complex, his hooves making a soundly clicking noise as it hit against the concrete road.

He needed to make it home as soon as possible, he had a big test tomorrow, and had to make up for lost time. He probably would not sleep that night, spending the remainder of the morning studying. The Manehattan Musical College was quite the prestigious university, it took true skill to be accepted. Even those with a lot of money could not bribe their way into the school. The headmaster was very strict on only accepting those with true talent.

He had barely managed passing the acceptance course, only by promising and begging that he would work exponentially hard did he manage win over the headmaster. If he intended to keep his promise, he would have to study the night away.

He retrieved his keys from his saddle bag and slipped it through the lock. As he flipped a switch, the lights in the house brightened and the small apartment lit up. Staccato threw his saddle bag onto the couch and retrieved a couple of hefty text books from table in his living room. Straining as he tried to lift them with his magic.

The unicorn disappeared into his room, crashing the books onto his desk, opening one as he pulled his headphones over his ears again. Advanced Music Theory, Chapter Fourteen, it read in big black print. Staccato wasted no time in reading through it, he could understand it exceptionally, but was struggling at some points, finding himself reading over the same section over seven times trying to comprehend.

He turned the page to find a small folded sheet of paper shoved tightly in the spine. He cocked his head curiously, taking the folded cream colored paper in his neon red magic, unfolding it quickly. Several lines of words, each of them in two different hoof writings and ink colors, were stacked on top of one another. He could recognize the first on as his own, as he read through the note.

Hey, I saw you preform today, you were really good!

Hey thanks, glad that somepony else around here appreciates good music

Well, I was taught to like mostly classical like the rest of the ponies in here, but to see something new like your style is great! I love it!

Ha ha, thanks! Whats your name?

Call me Staccato.

Cool, my name is-The next line was smudged heavily and completely unreadable.

Nice to meet you!, I just was wondering.. if you’d like to hang out sometime?

Sure! When I preform here I have to follow rules and regulations and junk if I take you to a bar I can show you REAL music!

Cool! Looking forward to it!

Staccato read the note, over and over, his expression static and unchanging. After about an hour of re-reading the small piece of paper, he simply crumpled it up and threw it over his shoulder, landing just short of a waste basket. He closed his textbook, slipped his headphones off and crawled into bed, no longer in the mood to study. Or to do anything for that matter. Sleeping was just the only outlet he had at the moment.

He attempted to fall asleep, but somehow could not drift away. He shifted around in his small bed, trying fruitlessly to find a comfortable spot.

“Why can’t I fall asleep?” he said to himself, as if he would receive an answer. Surprisingly, he did, his stomach rumbled softly and Staccato remembered that he had skipped dinner today, only a half glass of pear cider in his stomach. Great.. He thought to himself as he realized that..

His stomach was empty, and his mind was full.

Somehow during the night, Staccato had managed to drift off to sleep. But much to his delight, he awoke early, staring straight at his alarm clock, a few minutes away from ringing.

He laid in bed, contemplating his life, trying to understand why he couldn’t stop thinking about.. her..

All his life, he tried to hard to wipe her clean from his memory, and to some point, it succeeded. But now, it began to resurface again. He did not know why, he did not understand why, he did not want it to, and he wanted it to stop. Why could he not just move on? He closed his eyes, defeated.

Suddenly his alarm shot off, a loud, droning, high pitched beeping noise that rang out repetitively and continuously. He stared at it blankly, not having the energy or the drive to give an annoyed expression, much less to turn it off. After a while, the alarm would shut off eventually and the radio would play. He was fine with that, it would be good to hear somepony else’s voice anyways.

Oddly enough, the radio did play, but the annoying beeping noise rang over the familiar voice of the radio talk show host.

“Gooooooood *beep* morning,*beep* Equestria! *beep* The sun is *beep* up and so are you! *beep*” The agitating sound echoed through Staccato’s head, a headache formed and twisted tightly around his temples. This was not unusual, it happened all the time.

As he reached for the clock to turn it off, suddenly a massive pang of agony blasted through his head, Staccato grunted, holding his hooves up to his head, squeezing it.

“What the hell?!” The pain continued, growing more and more destructive. Suddenly, his left leg cramped up, stinging hotly. The unicorn was forced to take his free hoof off of his profusely agonizing skull and used it instead to apply pressure to his now equally painful leg.

Where was this coming from? Why is it happening? Staccato was suffering, twisting and writhing in his bed, and the still continuous beeping coming from his clock was not helping his cause. Without warning, Staccato felt a sudden sharp stabbing pain in his right shoulder, his body convulsed abruptly.

Nurse Purple Heart pulled the now empty syringe from Staccato’s shoulder. The brown unicorn’s body soon went numb, the pain faded, and his eyes watered extensively. Tears blurred his vision as he opened his eyes, trying to regain consciousness. Bright florescent lights lined the ceiling, walls were painted a bright boring white. Staccato could feel a soft pillow underneath his head, and a comfortable mattress under his torso. He could now recognize the loud beeping noise as a heart rate monitor. A heavy cast was wrapped tightly around his leg, and bandages were spun around the top of his head. His skull was still sore, and his leg likewise, he groaned softly in pain.

“Oh, you’re awake.” Staccato turned his head slightly, his brain immediately feeling the effect and pounded out heavily in protest. He winced a bit, raising his broken arm to hold his head, then immediately regretting his decision, placing it back down. The violet unicorn chuckled slightly, gently taking a small cloth to wipe away the tears streaming from his watery eyes.

“From the looks of it, you’ve never had a broken leg before.” Staccato shook his head, then promptly decided that he would never move his head again after his headache screamed out in agony again.

“Wh.. where am I?” He managed to squeak.

“Mareami City Hospital.” She said simply, wiping away the last of Staccato’s tears. Staccato rose an eyebrow in confusion.

“Hospital? What happened to me?” Nurse Purple Heart smiled, it was a question that she was asked on a regular basis. As she somehow was able to catch every new patient just as they awoke for the first time.

“You fell out of your carriage during the storm, rolled down a hill, broke your right leg on a rock, and received a minor concussion after hitting your head against that tree.” Staccato narrowed his eyes, trying to recall exactly what happened, but that only served to further increase the throbbing in his head. He decided he would never think again either.

“Two mares found you on the bottom of the hill. Brought you back to this hospital as soon as they could.” Staccato did not pay much attention, just trying to suppress the feeling of his brain about to explode.

“They visited you yesterday.” He narrowed his eyes, now even more confused.

“Yesterday? How long have I been out?” Nurse Purple Heart glanced at the clock that now read 12:56.

“About seventy hours as of now.” The brown unicorn’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Seventy hours?! Like, three days?!” He shouted. Nurse Purple Heart simply nodded without a change in expression. Staccato put his right hoof up to his head, bewildered at the time that had passed.

“Three days..” He repeated shaking his head slightly.

“We messaged your assistant. Said you were on vacation for the next two weeks.” Staccato scoffed.

“Some vacation this is turning out to be...” he said sarcastically. The nurse floated a clipboard off the end of the bed, jotting down a few notes quickly before placing it back.

“Well with any luck you’ll be out of this hospital bed with a few more days of bed rest. Then you can enjoy the rest of your vacation walking around the rest of Mareami.” Staccato broke out into a hearty chuckle, to which Nurse Purple Heart turned questioningly.

“Walk around Mareami? Don’t you mean limp around Mareami?” He said, lifting his broken leg in the air, then wincing, immediately putting it down. The nurse gave a small smile before making her way out the door.

“Get some rest Staccato. If you want to get out there and start seeing the sights that is.” A soft click sounded as she closed the door, leaving Staccato to himself. He gave a soft sigh, then stared up at the ceiling, not quite sure on how to entertain himself while he was sitting there in a hospital bed.

His saddlebag was no where in sight, so his FiMPod must have been lost. His heart and soul, as he called it. The only thing that could give him the feeling of Gioia while he was on the go. He never left the house without it, and when it was gone, the world seemed eerily and uncomfortably quiet. The only thing that could supplement it’s absence was the slight repetitive tapping that Staccato made when he was remembering a beat. But remembering a song only wanted the unicorn to listen to it even more. He writhed and turned, trying to get comfortable in his small bed. But now his problem was, his mind was empty, and his stomach was full.

Chapter 4: With Friends Like These..

OOC: Chapter 4, sorry about the long wait, been swamped with school and such. I'll be honest, this one is kinda boring, a lot of talking not a lot of stuff happening until near the end. But it's a slice of life story what did you expect? Anyways, hope you enjoy, please check out Staccato's Tumblr if you are interested.
Thank You.

As the dark clouds made their move out of Foalida, one small pony sat still under the protection of a single window in a small beach house on the coast of Mareami. She gazed up silently at the quickly traveling clouds, letting her mind wander as her eyes entertained themselves with the white puffs of precipitation.

“Still worried about that stallion in the hospital?” A soft, almost motherly voice called out. The mare turned to see her companion, a cream earth pony with a violet and pink mane. Three pieces of wrapped candies served as her cutie mark.

“You’ve been thinking about that since we left him Lyra.” The sea foam green unicorn smiled a bit at the sight of her best friend.

“Sorry Bon-Bon...” she said apologetically, trotting up to her and giving the earth pony a quick, soft nuzzle. “Just.. did you see how much he was bleeding?!” She squirmed and shivered heavily at the thought.

“And when we came back, he still wasn’t awake!” Lyra suddenly gasped deeply and brought her hooves up to her face at a shocking realization.

“What if he’s in a coma!?” She almost shrieked as other possibilities rattled around in her head.

“Oh my gosh! He could be dead! Or worse!” Bon-Bon rolled her eyes and brought Lyra’s hooves back to the ground before she fell forward on her face from the lack of frontal support. She looked meaningfully into the unicorn’s eyes before responding.

“Lyra, I’m sure he’s just fine. We can go visit the hospital again if you want. But I don’t want this to ruin our vacation before he have to go back to Ponyville.” Bon-Bon issued sternly, giving the sea foam green unicorn a soft hug, before pulling away to look at her again.

“It’s not often that we can go out of town for two weeks you know?” Lyra smiled brightly.

“I know, I know..” The two shared a soft and short kiss before breaking away.

“I’m just.. worried about him, y’know?”

“I am too Lyra, but we can’t have you moping about the house like this.” The mares finally backed off from each other’s hold, smirking at the other.

“Now that the clouds are finally gone and the sun is out, let’s go outside and enjoy the sights shall we?” Bon-Bon said with a grin.

“Then we can hit the beach and get some sun!” Lyra said beaming with joy.

“But first let’s go check up on that pony at the hospital.”

“Agreed.” Lyra quickly opened the door with new found energy and excitement, almost hopping out of the house like a small filly, with Bon-Bon following closely behind.

Since there was nothing else to do, Staccato had decided to get some work done. He sent a message to Glowstix back home via dragon fire, requesting that, while he was in the hospital, he might as well get some work done.

Reluctantly, the assistant sent him some low tier contracts and paperwork to fill out. After all, Nurse Purple Heart would not allow any strenuous activity while he was here.
Staccato stared down the small stack of papers in front of him, he had easily finished all of them except one.

A personal letter from Madeline Philharmonica, the Premier Conductor of the Birminghoof Hippodrome, requesting a recommendation for a guest instrument for this month’s performance. He was already sent a recording of the symphony, he was just in charge of deciding and finding what guest instrument would flow the best with the already existing harmony.

The whole piece was very heavy, deep, and it rumbled the pit of one’s soul, it was strung together very smoothly, a beautiful legato delicately sewed together the entire symphony. Any inexperienced pony would think that the song was spectacular and powerful to the core on its own. But Staccato knew better than that.

Even though he had tried all his life to be as modest as possible, as his mother always taught him to be, Staccato Fortissimo still developed quite a reputation as somewhat of a musical prodigy, and his diversity in music was even more well known. Although, it would be hard to run a publishing company if you were not open to all forms of music. It was not the first time somepony had asked him for musical advice.

He was lucky enough to even be able to listen to the piece in the first place. Nurse Purple Heart had advised again and again to refrain from listening to music while his concussion was still healing, but since it was for business sake, she allowed it just this once. Staccato made sure to savor this opportunity as much as he could, he had craved a feeling of Gioia for a painfully long time. He must have listened to the work in progress piece a dozen times, enjoying every single second of it, with the nurse returning every couple of minutes. Her irritated expression ever increasing each time as she continued to see the light brown pony continuing to listen to music long after she had told him to stop. His only excuse being; “It’s a symphony, Heart. It could last for over two hours.” When the violet coated nurse finally confiscated his music device.

He had to continue his search for a guest instrument from memory. It needed something simple, something soft, yet very dignified and defined. The violins seemed to be lacking a bit, perhaps a string instrument would suffice. After all, his father always told him you could never have too many strings.

A piano? His good friend Fredric would be more than happy to oblige. No, although Fredric could play absolutely beautifully and without par, a piano could simply become too complex too fast, and a piano playing a simple piece in a song like this seemed.. for lack of a better word, inexperienced. And he certainly did not wish to taint poor Fredric’s reputation because of his poor choice.

Maybe a cello? It was simple enough.. No, it needed something lighter than that. Besides, there was no doubt that there was plenty of cellists already in the orchestra, he just could not quite recall hearing them. So having a instrument that is already in the main selection as a guest would make little to no sense.

The cello was much like the song, very deep and powerful, shaking your nerves, give a magnificent shock to the bottom of your very soul. An amazing instrument indeed, but not what was needed, it would just blend in with the main selection anyways. Something fast, light, simple.

A harp? Harpo is always happy to accept a job, supposing he does not already have one at the time.
No, the harp was a beautiful string selection and extremely difficult to master at that, but unfortunately it shared the same issues as the cello and the piano.

It could very easily become overly intricate, much like the piano. It was also considered a bit of a heavy instrument in his opinion, to the point where it sounded almost hallow. If he had to compare the harp to any other string selection, he would immediately compare it to the cello. But he needed something lighter, a lighter version of a cello would be a violin or viola.

So Staccato just needed to find the violin equivalent to the harp, so to speak. What would that be? His mind was drawing a blank, completely unable to come up with any solution. Perhaps it was because of the concussion. He placed the paper and quill on the small white stand next to his hospital bed, deciding to come back to the project later. He did not wish to think of anything right now, as his headache proceeded to increase painfully.

But now what? He was banned from music, that was torture in itself. He was not allowed to read, write, watch television, not even draw. Anything that required brainpower was banned. all he could do was stare at the ceiling above him. The boring, white, pale ceiling, tiny black random dots sprinkled aimlessly all over.

He used to make little constellations with the specks, in attempts to entertain himself, until nurse Purple Heart caught him mumbling “Orion, Sagittarius, Ursa Major” and smacked his hoof with a ruler.

“Gah! This is so boring!” Staccato shouted, flailing his one good leg about in frustration. He planted his face firmly in his soft pillow in annoyance. Nurse Purple Heart rushed into the room in response to the frantic screaming, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“Staccato dear? Is everything alright?” Staccato simply waved his hoof in the air dismissively, not moving his head off the cloud like pillow.

“I’m so bored Purple Heart..” He said in a barely audible tone, almost completely muffled by the head rest. The Nurse had to take a couple of seconds to understand what distressed unicorn had said. Then shook her head and smirked.

“Well, you have visitors, perhaps they can keep you busy for a while.” She said as she walked off. Staccato turned his head off his pillow just in time to see her leave the doorway, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Visitors?” As if on cue, two mares entered the room side by side. The seafoam green unicorn, with a streak of white in her minty green unkempt hair, and the cream earth pony with a the swirl of purple and blue in her well curled mane.

“H-hello?” Lyra began hesitantly. Staccato’s face suddenly changed to a more relaxed expression, even a small smiled formed on his snout.

“Ah, so you two must be the two mares Nurse Purple Heart told me about.” It seemed that Staccato’s casual tone seemed to calm the two mares, as they easily shifted from their stiff and ridged form, to a more nonchalant posture.

“The two who found me at the bottom of a ditch bleeding profusely from the head if I’m correct.” Staccato continued. Lyra shuddered heavily, then shook her head violently in attempts to shake the image out of her head.

“Yep, that was us.” She replied, a friendly smile on her face.

“I’m Lyra Heartstrings.” She began.

“And this is my marefriend, Bon-Bon.” she motioned towards the cream earth pony as she nodded.

“Nice to meet you sir.”

“A pleasure.” Staccato responded with a curt nod as he began to introduce himself.

“I’m-”

“Staccato” Lyra interrupted. The stallion raised an eyebrow, a little bit astonished.

“It wouldn’t be very nice if we didn’t know the name of the colt we brought to the hospital.” The green unicorn smiled brightly.

“She wouldn’t leave the hospital until she knew you were taken care of, and demanded to know your name.” Bon-Bon added. Staccato smirked, chuckling softly.

“Wow, it’s been a while since anypony cared this much about me.” he mumbled softly out of the range of the two mares grinning at him.

“Hm? I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch what you just said.” Bon-Bon chimed. Staccato shook his head lightly, dismissing his last comment.

“Thank you both so much, I may not be alive today if you both never found me that day.” He paused for a moment, looking them both in the eyes with genuine appreciation.

“I owe you both my life, how can I ever repay you?” The two mares looked to each other thoughtfully, pondering for a while. Lyra suddenly turned to Staccato, a bright and innocent grin tickling her lips.

“Money is always nice.” The seafoam green unicorn felt a sharp slap as Bon-Bon smacked the back of her head, scolding her.

“Lyra!” She shouted.

“What?! He asked didn’t he?!” Lyra snapped back with equal volume, rubbing the back of her head painfully. Bon-Bon scowled at her marefriend, her snout crinkled in a way that Staccato found absolutely adorable.
Staccato could not hold back a soft laugh, then clutched his head painfully, feeling the aftermath of his concussion.

“It’s fine Staccato, really.” The stallion shook his head, then clutched it again in pain.
He needed to remember to never move his head ever again.

“No no, I hate owing people, and I have a need to repay my debts quickly. There must be something I can do for you both.”

“Money is always nice.” Lyra repeated, then feeling another slap to the head, to which Staccato responded by laughing again.

“Lyra stop that!”

“What?! He keeps asking! And we need the mrphrph..” Lyra was cut off abruptly from Bon-Bon’s hoof being forcefully shoved in her mouth. The cream earth pony lowered her head, pulling Lyra down to her level.

“Lyra..” She began in a hushed voice.

“Just because we are in a bit of a rut, doesn’t mean you can just ask anypony whose offering, for donations.” Lyra shook her head a bit, pulling the cream colored hoof from her mouth.

“Come on Bon-Bon, you know we need the money, and anypony planning to take a vacation to Foalida is bound to have a good sum of bits on him.”

“You don’t know that!” Bon-Bon snapped back.

“For all we know, he might not be able to pay for the hospital bills. Think before you speak!” Bon-Bon scowled. Lyra stood tall, looking as if she were ready to retort again, but suddenly, she sighed and her eyes found the floor as she shuffled her feet.

“I’m sorry Bon-Bon.. I guess.. Since I was the one who lost my job.. I feel responsible... for getting you into this mess..” She paused, trying to sum up what to say next. Bon-Bon’s look of irritation, now faded, and slowly turned into a look of concern and sympathy.

“So now I’m trying to earn the money back for you, by any means.” Lyra still hung her head.

“But if you don’t want me to take money from another pony, then I understand. I’ll just have to get a second job or something” Bon-Bon could not help but pull her forward, locking her in a tight hug.

“It’s okay, we’re both in this mess together, so we’ll fix it together. You don’t have to do anything by yourself.” Lyra returned the hug softly, smiling a bit. The cream pony released Lyra and pulled back to look at her, returning the smile happily.

“Sorry Bon-Bon.”

“It’s fine Lyra.” She gave the unicorn a quick nuzzle.

“Just don’t do it again.” Staccato gave a light faux cough, trying to bring the two mares back down to earth. Funny that neither of them were pegasus, otherwise the term would be taken literally.

“Sorry for interrupting, but visiting hours are almost up. We were discussing my payment to you right?” The two finally released each other from their grip, standing a bit awkwardly, blushing deeply.

“No Staccato, I must insist, I can’t let you sacrifice anything else after everything you’ve been through.” Staccato was about to shake his head again, but luckily caught himself beforehand.

“I’m afraid you’ll have no choice in the matter dear, I have not decided yet, but I will pay you two back. Whether you like it or not.” The light brown unicorn smiled to himself triumphantly.

So this must be how Fleur felt when she forcibly bought the old gramophone and record collection for him, even when he insisted her not to.
It felt.. good.

“You know what’s always nice?” Lyra began.

“Lyra.. I swear to Celestia, don’t you dare.” Bon-Bon started, looking daggers at the unicorn. Lyra flashed a devilish smile towards her marefriend, grinning an almost evil grin as she continued.

“Money.”

It seemed that the mares did not have to leave the hospital at the specified end of visiting hours. Lyra found herself lying unconsious on the hospital bed next to Staccato, being treated for a minor head injury to the back of her skull, and Bon-Bon resting an injured hoof on the chair to the left of Lyra’s bed.

Staccato was still laughing a good while after the incident, as painful as it was even to chuckle. It was an odd sight, seeing a stallion laughing is flank off while at the same time clutching his head and gritting his teeth painfully as tears rolled down his cheeks in both agony and delight.

Finally, when his unhealthy sense of humor died down to no more than a light chuckle, Lyra managed to wake herself from her short comatose, and Bon-Bon was finally able to walk on her slightly injured hoof again.

“So how long do you have to stay here?” Bon-Bon asked as she helped pull Lyra out of bed.

“Only two more days. Then I’m free to limp around Foalida as I please.” Staccato replied, chuckling a bit.

“Do you have a place to stay?” said Lyra, as she landed on ground, rubbing her head with her forehoof.

“Yeah, I’m staying at the Tempo Mareami resort for the rest of my vacation.” Lyra whistled.

“Wow, The Tempo? That’s a five star luxury hotel. Super expensive.” She shot a look at Bon-Bon that seemed to say; “See? I told you this guy was loaded!” Bon-Bon returned with another crinkled nose scowl.

“Yeah, a friend of mine recommended it to me, what with being of a musical background and all.” Lyra turned to Staccato, looking to him with a brightened expression.

“Musical background? What do you play?”

“I’ve been classically trained in the ivory keys and the violin since I was four. Started spinning records when I began college.” Lyra cocked her head, slightly puzzled.

“Classical and Techno? That’s an odd combination.” Staccato chucked and shrugged.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” He turned and returned a gaze to the seafoam pony.

“You seem to know your music.” Lyra gave a large grin, glad that her natural talent was noticed.

“Yeah, I’ve been playing the lyre since I was little.” Now it was Staccato’s turn to cock his head in confusion.

“The Lyre?” Staccato questioned.

“I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that instrument.” Lyra turned her body, giving a profile view, pointing to the cutie mark on her flank.

“This is a Lyre, it’s a like a miniature harp, one you could hold in your hooves, it’s much more simple, and much lighter, in more ways than one.” She finished, giving a giggle.

As she listed the attributes of the Lyre, Staccato’s eyebrows rose in fascination. Could this be the instrument he was looking for? The violin equivalent to the heavy and soul trembling harp? Well, there was only one way to find out.

“Interesting.. do you think.. you could play it for me?” Lyra’s face abruptly shifted from cheery to astonishment.

“Excuse me?”

“Do you think you can play the lyre for me?” Staccato repeated

“I would like to hear it. If that’s all right of course.” Lyra’s gaze stuck on Staccato, then quickly shifted to Bon-Bon, giving a quick, surprised smirk.

“Did you bring my lyre with you Bon-Bon?” Lyra squeaked, her voice quivering a bit. Bon-Bon turned to the table next to where Lyra originally laid during her small injury. A small saddle bag lying lazily halfway off the table.

“Yeah, I think so, let me go check.” The cream earth pony trotted to her small bag and fumbled around inside. Finally she revealed a small golden lyre adorned with eight matching gold strings. Lyra took it hesitantly, a small nervous smile tickling her lips.

“Nervous?” Staccato said. Lyra gave a trembling chuckle, trying to control her shaking body.

“It’s... It’s just... I haven’t had the greatest reviews for my playing..” Staccato waved a hoof dismissively.

“I’m not one to criticize. I’m sure you’ll be fine.” He gave a reassuring smile, Lyra tried to return it, but could only managed to keep her nervous expression. She began to stand on her hind legs, holding her instrument with her forelegs.

Odd, Staccato noted, for a unicorn to do anything with their hooves while they had full access to their magical powers. Perhaps she wanted to show that she did not need to use magic, she had no advantage over the earth pony artists, whom had to use their bodies to hold and play their instruments.

Sometimes in comical ways, take Beauty Brass for example, while she is an amazing sousaphone player, most of the entertainment of watching her play came from watching her take off and on the cumbersome horn afterwards.

Finally Lyra began to play, holding the lyre with the ankle of her left forehoof, while gently strumming the gold strings with her right. She started with a soft, simple introduction. Just as she had described, the lyre was much lighter and less intricate than the harp.

Beautiful, pure, crisp, and quite frankly, very refreshing. Staccato closed his eyes, so to fully absorb the music, with no distractions from his other four senses. It was not too complex or intricate, nor was it too simple or inexperienced.

It was... amazing, Staccato had to admit. Not a single mistake or flaw, it felt very old and classical, in a nostalgic way. Like listening to his Nonna’s silver music box when he was just a colt.

Oh how he adored that music box, he could not keep his hooves off of it. Every time he would visit his grandmother, the first thing he would do was find that musical device. Where ever they had hidden it from him this time. Opening dressers, cabinets, closets and drawers, it was futile to hide it from him, because he would not stop searching for it until he had found it. Even if it meant flipping the whole house upside down.

Holding the cold silver case in his hooves, opening the cover, gently twisting the knob, the clicking as the gears were set into place. Then, the release, as he let go, the music would play.

Light, simple, beautiful, pure, just like the lyre being played before him now. Staccato’s very first case of “Gioia” was experienced with that box, and it became the happiest part of his life. It was amazing, magnificent.

But.. something was.. off..

It felt.. empty. Lyra was a magnificent lyrist, at least, as far to his knowledge. But, Staccato felt that she played, without passion, without emotion, without spirit. It was something that could not be sensed by a computer or a recorder. It could only be heard, not with the ears, but with the heart and soul.

Staccato could feel that there was no feeling behind her hoof, gently stroking the golden strings, not by emotion, but by pure discipline and muscle memory.

She finished the piece, fully extending her foreleg with the final strum. A sort of final flare to the end of a simple song. Not completely necessary but appreciated nonetheless. The seafoam green unicorn stood nervously, shaking a bit, anticipating her evaluation.

“W.. What did you think?” She quizzed. Although Staccato had heard the emptiness of her performance quite clearly, he did not wish to offend the young mare with criticism, however light and harmless it might be.

She seemed sensitive towards the quality of her playing, whether or not that meant she was angered when pushed this way or became extremely dejected, Staccato did not have the heart, or bravery for that matter, to find out. So he would not tell her about it, at least, not yet. He simply nodded, a wide reassuring grin spreading across his face.

“Your performance was magnificent Miss Heartstrings, Truly an interesting experience for me, discovering a new sound in the world of music.” As far as the guest instrument was concerned, Miss Heartstrings would definitely be a possibility. But unfortunately, the Premier Conductor would definitely hear the lack of emotion in Lyra’s playing, if not even more than Staccato, and she would definitely be much more harsh than Staccato. Much, MUCH more harsh than Staccato.

Lyra’s face suddenly looked extremely flushed with relief. He legs stopped shaking, sweat stopped forming, but her nervous smile continued to quiver.

“Really?” Staccato nodded deeply, to further emphasise his point. Staccato had never seen a pony seem to inflate with happiness other than one certain pink party pony, but it seemed that Lyra was fully capable of it.

Staccato was a little taken back by the sudden rejoice, leaning back slowly in his bed, farther from the ballooning joy. His pupils shrunk and eyebrows rose sky high, as Heartstrings bounced about like a small filly, giddy with excitement.

“Thank you thank you thank you!” Staccato chuckled nervously, as Lyra’s energy became a little uncomfortable for him.

Conversations came and went with very little pauses between. There was an abundance of jovial laughing and smiling as subjects flowed endlessly between the three ponies.

Bon-Bon talked about her aspiring career as a baker and confectionist. Staccato recalled hilarious events in bars while he was a DJ. Lyra, mimicked the snooty attitudes of the Canterlotean ponies, remembering while she lived in the ivory city. It seemed that only a knock at the door seemed to interrupt their endless speeches.

“Excuse me everypony.” Nurse Purple Heart’s voice chimed in after her hoof had struck the door frame a final time.

“I’m sorry, but unfortunately, it would seem that the clock has almost struck one, and that is the latest I can allow for visitors.” The three all glanced at the nearby wall clock that hung above the door. 12:56, Staccato read with surprise.

“Wow, I apologize, I didn’t realize how much time we’ve spent.”

“Not at all Staccato, we had fun talking to you.” Bon-Bon replied cheerfully as Lyra helped her slip on her saddle bag.

“A shame we could not spend more time together.” Staccato said.

“Well, when you get out, Bon-Bon and I would be happy to tour you around Foalida.” Lyra suggested.

“That is, if you’re not too busy getting deep massages and spa treatment at the Tempo hotel.” She joked.

“I would love to!” Lyra grinned widely in response.

“Cool! We’ll meet you when you get out in a couple of days then.” The unicorn said as the two began to exit the room.

“Bye Staccato, get well soon.” Bon-Bon gave a final farewell before leaving. Staccato responded with a small wave of his left forehoof, wary this time not to raise his injured leg.

“Looks like you’re finally learning to not move that injured foreleg.” Nurse Purple Heart chuckled as she turned off the light in Staccato’s room.

“Get some sleep Staccato. You’ll need it.”

“Yeah..” He yawned and adjusted himself in the small hospital bed.

“Night Staccato.”

“Night Nurse.”

And with that Staccato began to drift to oblivion..

In more ways than one..

Staccato floated aimlessly in a sea of darkness, a scene he had seen lived many times before, but each time he was always surprised to find himself here. He could see nothing but black, and there was not a sound to be heard. Everything was empty and cold in this never ending void. Staccato floated about awkwardly, with absolutely no control over his movements.

“Ugh.. not this again..” he groaned.
Suddenly numerous orbs of light swirled rapidly around the light brown unicorn, leaving bright trails of fading radiance in their wake. They twisted and turned before Staccato, spinning into a small, tight, and compact tornado in front of him before suddenly imploding in a bright flash of light, blinding him for a moment.

When he reopened his eyes, there stood a black unicorn, covered from horn to hoof in a jet black cloak, making it even more difficult to see him in the darkness of this void. Staccato grimaced heavily.

“Solace..” He scowled, the black unicorn gave a wicked grin, his eyes hidden from view under his cowl.

“Greetings Fortissimo, are you enjoying your vacation?”

“Don’t call me that!” Staccato barked, Solace brought his hooves up in defense.

“Fine, Al.” The young CEO glowered heavily.

“What do you want?” The cloaked unicorn shrugged, his devilish smirk ever present.

“What? I can’t take some time to talk to my best friend?” Staccato was ready to slap the pony in front of him, but unfortunately, he was too far away to reach.

“We are not friends.. Why did you bring me here?” Solace grinned again and began trotting and pacing about. Although Staccato was helpless to the zero gravity effect of this void, Solace seemed to have free reign over this area.

“I just wanted to check up on you. Saw you were in the hospital. Got worried. Wanted to see how you were doing.”

“You mean protect your investment?”

“Hey! Don’t call it that, you’re making me sound like the bad guy!” Staccato stood silent, his glare growing darker and darker with every word.

“Seriously, why are you really here? Angry that I decided to take a vacation from work?” Solace turned around facing away from the other unicorn.

“No no, not at all actually. You deserved the break, if you worked yourself too hard you might have stopped all together. I’d rather you take some time off and refresh yourself than slowly overwork to death.” He turned back around to face Staccato directly.

“I just wanted to remind you that you still much more work to do before you reach your quota.”

“Yes I am aware, you don’t have to tell me.”

“Good. Also, I wanted you to know that you might not be alive right now if it weren’t for me.” Staccato raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“What? What are you talking about?” Solace’s grin became even wider than before.

“If I had not pulled the strings and led those two mares to your location when you fell out of that cart, you’d probably still be there right now, bleeding to death under that tree.”

“So what? Are you expecting a thank you?” Solace’s smirk disappeared now.

“No, I guess I would be asking too much from you then.” The cloaked unicorn turned away from Staccato, begining to walk away into the void before uttering one final statement.

“I won’t bother you for a while so you can enjoy your vacation Staccato, but as soon as it’s done, get back to work.”

“Wait, aren’t you going to tell me my fortune before you go?” Solace stopped and paused for a while.

“You will soon receive aid, from an old and forgotten friend.”

“Hm, I wonder what that could mean..” Staccato mumbled.

“You’ll find out in time Fortissimo..” Solace suddenly imploded into a bright white flash, just the same as when he came, blinding the Staccato all the same.

Staccato’s head popped off of his pillow, much to the dislike of his injured skull. He yelped lightly in pain as he clutched his head. Nurse Purple heart popped her head into the room within seconds.

“Staccato? Are you alright?” Luckily, Nurse Purple Heart was nearby and heard the unicorn squeak.

“Yeah.. yeah I’m fine.. Just a bad dream is all..” He scowled again. “A disgusting dream..”

Nurse Purple Heart cocked her head in concern.
“Oh.. okay, would you like me to get anything for you?” Staccato shook his head lightly.

“No, it’s fine, thanks Nurse.” Purple Heart gave a curt nod, and exited the room again, closing the door behind her.

Staccato stared blankly at his hooves. The right one was wrapped tightly in a white cast, the left, relatively unscathed besides some scabs and scratches from the tumble down the hill. The young CEO let out a long, deep sigh, rubbing his eyes with his left hoof and mumbled.

“Cazzo.. This vacation just got a whole lot less enjoyable..”

Chapter 5: Innocent Little School Crush

Staccato stumbled and tripped with every step he took. Walking on three legs instead of four proved to be much more difficult that he had originally anticipated. Nurse Purple Heart had put his foreleg in a sling for a while now, and he was trying to relearn how to walk. Having to hobble and limp around everywhere was not exactly his idea of efficient travel.

Every once and a while, Staccato found himself placing his injured hoof down to support the rest of his body like it should have, then immediately felt the consequence of his actions surge painfully back up his leg and then travel throughout his entire body. Often times causing him to tremble and collapse from shock. He had to make a mental note to never to that ever again. Ever.

Luckily, Staccato’s head was now free from any serious injury, although Nurse had advised to avoid strenuous thinking if possible. This meant he was free to do all those things he was scolded for in the hospital. Reading, writing, drawing, paperwork, okay maybe not paperwork because he was still banned from that thanks to a neon green pony. But above all else, music.

Staccato was giddy with joy, he could almost hop about like a small foal. But that would most likely result in unspeakable agonizing death. Of course Staccato was blowing this injury thing completely out of proportion. Immediately after his freedom from the hospital bed, he sought out his source of Gioia. It was only then when he remembered that his FiMPod was never returned to him, and was most likely lost while he was flung out of the carriage.

Staccato pouted, his heart and soul, his love and joy, gone forever most likely. If it had been tossed out of the carriage with him, it was probably too damaged to be salvaged. If it had managed to survive the fall then it was probably waterlogged from the heavy storm anyways.

That was a shame; Staccato loved that thing more than almost anything else. Never dared to leave the house without it tucked safely in his saddle bag. Purchasing another one was not an issue, he was CEO of Crescendo Studios after all, money was no object for something as small as that. If anything, if he had agreed to some sort of advertising contract with the company, he could probably get dozens for free. No, that was not the issue, the issue was all of the music he had carefully choose and selected over the course of five years was on that FiMPod, and was now lost, and he would have to replace all of it. A tremendous waste of time, if anything else.

Nurse Purple Heart was the one that helped Staccato down the stairs with his injured hoof. It was not that the hospital lacked elevators but rather, it was an exercise for injured patients to become familiar walking with their broken legs or hooves. Of course they were not forced to walk down the stairs after their injury; those who refused would be able to take the elevator without question. And of course, it’s not really exercise if one were bound to a wheel chair, nor is it at all safe.

Staccato took on the challenge by the horn and hobbled down the stairs, only managing to place his hoof down once when he lost his balance. Nurse Purple Heart was right beside him the whole time, guiding him and leading him carefully down the tall stairs, whispering words of encouragement to help him along, cracking a joke every once and a while to ease the pressure.

She was always there for him, from the very beginning, now to the end. Treating him softly and gently when he was in pain, and sternly and strict when he disobeyed her discretion. She did not seem bored or apathetic when she treated him, never speaking in the horrible monotone voice that a majority of the workforce did these days. She really did care for her patients, as Staccato could see when he peeked into the room next to his, finding nurse caring for a cranky old donkey, as he shouted profanities and other unspeakable things at the nurse as she attempted to guide the spoonful of syrup into his mouth.

The donkey just kept shouting and hollering, not giving an inch, but the nurse showed equal resilience, doing nothing more than slowly pushing the spoon towards her patient’s mouth, and then readjusting and trying again every time he moved away. After about an hour of yelling and screaming, the stubborn donkey finally accepted defeat with a grunt. Purple Heart gave a small smile as he opened his mouth and accepted the syrup, swallowing it disdainfully. In a flash, the donkey passed out and fell to the bed, snoring loudly.

Staccato could see other patients peeking out of their rooms at the mere sound of the noisy sleeping. Staccato looked at them with a smile, chuckling softly. He suddenly felt a sharp stinging sensation on the side of his good foreleg. At this he jumped and yelped suddenly in pain, landing by accident on his broken leg. He shouted out in agony, and then collapsed onto the ground.

He looked up and saw Nurse Purple Heart with a ruler in her mouth and a deadly glare on her face. Staccato smiled at her nervously, as he slowly tried to crawl back to his bed under the dagger eyes of the Nurse.

“Staccato.” She began with a stiff and stern tone.

“Get back in there before I break your other leg.”With that Staccato fled back to his bed as fast as a pony could with only three legs, which was never fast enough, and hopped back into bed.

Never before had Staccato seen a mare shift from such a gentle demeanor to a dead grim look in so fast except for…

His madre...

That’s who she reminded Staccato of, his mother. She had a motherly feeling about her, she was strict and commanding when she had to be, but loving and gentle when it called for it. It had felt so long since Staccato had felt what a mother felt like, he felt, cared for, indefinitely. From beginning to end, Nurse Purple Heart had been there with him, through every step of rehabilitation until he was fully healed.

It wasn’t a big deal, his injury, it wasn’t something to brag about or anything, but it mattered to him, and it seemed to matter equally to Nurse. It felt so good, to have a mother again, after Staccato’s parents both passed away in that carriage accident so many years ago, when he was so young.

Unintentionally dumping so much responsibility onto his shoulders when he still barely a stallion. Taking over an entire company soon after he had barely started college. He had no other real family, no support while he was in grief. He had ordered what little friends he had, away from him until he had fully recovered, and thankfully, they obliged.

Even after he had fully recovered, if he could really ever “fully recover” he never felt the same. Always felt an emptiness in his heart, a gap that needed to be filled, a mother’s love, and a father’s guidance. But now he experienced this familiar feeling again, it now he remembered what it truly felt like to have a loving mother again.

But now it was time to let her go, and Staccato would have to remember again what it felt like to lose a mother. Of course it was not nearly as horrific or bad, but it wouldn’t feel good nonetheless.

Staccato walked down to the lobby with Nurse Purple Heart at his side. To his surprise, an oddly familiar pile of suitcases and bags were stacked on top of each other, each marked with his name and cutie mark crest.

“Are those mine?” Staccato quizzed, wobbling towards the bag to inspect it more thoroughly.

“Yes, those stallions that drove you here felt extremely sorry for what happened, so they brought back your luggage and said that the ride would be free of charge.” Nurse Purple Heart said. Staccato scoffed.

“That would’ve been great if I didn’t already have to pay them half in advance...” Staccato fumbled through his bags until he found his coin purse at the bottom of the pile. It was notably heavier than he had last remembered.

“They paid you back for that as well.” Nurse said, noticing Staccato measuring the weight of the bag in his hooves. The unicorn smiled softly and chuckled.

“Well... My apologizes then, I suppose I was mistaken.” Staccato went back to shuffling through the bags, checking that everything was still in order.

Nurse suddenly heard Staccato squeal loudly, she had thought that Staccato managed to hit his fore hoof against something again. She rushed to his side and propped him up with her shoulder, hoping to ease the weight on his foreleg.

“Are you alright Staccato?” She asked, a look of concern on her face. She looked up to see Staccato’s eyes beaming and a wide grin on his face.

“They found it!” Nurse raised an eyebrow and looked towards his pointing hoof. It was his FiMPod, neatly placed on top of his saddlebag, the ear buds wrapped tightly around its length. Nurse rolled her eyes and quickly slipped out from underneath Staccato, allowing him to fall to the ground with a grunt.

“Don’t scare me like that!” Nurse was ready to pick Staccato back up if he was in pain but she found the Stallion still smiling, rubbing his face against his FiMPod with joy, spewing a mumble of endless, incoherent speech.

“OhmygoshI’msohappytoseeyouagainmyloveandjoyIwassoworriedthatyouwerelostwhenIwasflungoutofthatcarriageI’msohappythatyou’reokayIwassomiserablewithoutyou!”
Nurse looked to heaven and mumbled with a smile.

“He’ll be fine...”

Outside, a cab carriage was waiting for Staccato, ready to take him to the Tempo hotel as per his request. He had packed his bags into the cart and had already begun to put his ear buds back into his ears. He peeked at his FiMPod, checking the time.

“12:56... I probably should have eaten some lunch...” Staccato shrugged, disregarding the thought, he wasn’t that hungry anyways.

Nurse was there to see him off for the final time, Staccato glanced back to her, she returned with a small genuine smile. That’s what Staccato loved about Purple Heart; everything she did was genuine, no fake smiles or forced laughter just to humor a stubborn patient. She showed no favoritism, just like a mother among her children, and she was just as willing to punish a patient for disregarding her orders as a mother punishing a disobedient child. Although she would always feel a little guilty afterwards.

It would be very difficult to say goodbye.

Staccato trotted slowly up to Nurse with a small sad smile.

“Guess this is goodbye huh?” She started. Staccato nodded silently.

“Thank you so much for all your help Nurse.” The violet earth pony simply waved a dismissive hoof.

“It was no trouble at all, really.” Staccato shook his head.

“I can’t thank you enough.”

“It was fun Staccato. Now if you had only listened to my directions more often you maybe wouldn’t have hurt yourself so much.” The stallion beamed brightly.

“But it wouldn’t have been nearly as enjoyable now wouldn’t it have? I can tell you tried to hide a laugh every time I hurt myself.” The two shared a decent chuckle before an awkward silence was bestowed on them again. Staccato was never really good with goodbyes, he always hated them, and usually let the other pony handle the final words, and evidently, neither was Purple Heart. The Nurse pawed the ground softly with her hoof, trying to come up with something to say, and Staccato did much of the same.

“I... I guess I should be getting back to the hospital..”

“Yeah... I should probably be getting to my hotel...” The two didn’t budge for a while, simple gazing off into a random nonexistent sunset. Finally the two found each other in a light hug, obviously consisting of only one foreleg from each of them.

“Take care of yourself Staccato, as much as I’d like to see you again, I don’t want to ever find you unconscious in our hospital beds again. Understand?” The light brown pony chuckled.

“I’ll do my best Nurse.” The two finally released and smiled to one another. Staccato climbed into the carriage and closed the door behind him. He poked his head out the window and looked to the nurse again.

“I’ll see you around Purple Heart.”

“Bye Staccato.” The cab began to move and rumble on the road as he drove towards the Tempo Hotel. Staccato sat back down on the seats and gave a deep sigh. The cab driver looked back into the carriage at the unicorn.

“Marefriend of yours?” Staccato’s eyes suddenly widened in surprise and a deep blush formed on his snout.

“A-absolutely not! That hug was completely platonic!”

“Suuure...”

-Flashback-

The Manehattan Musical College was always a little quiet this time of year, when new students first arrived and seniors leave the younger fillies and colts behind to chase their own dreams of becoming rock stars or composing geniuses. There was always an air of awkwardness, as newer students try to find their social standing in the unspoken pecking order of the college.

Usually at the bottom as one could probably imagine. Older students had to find new friends to replace the ones that graduated a year prior or dropped out from the strenuous classes. With a mix of new students and older students looking for new friends, this resulted in many mixed ages in the small circles of friends located at the tables during lunch break.

Staccato and Glowstix sat alone together at a small circular table at the edge of the cafeteria.

“Anyone here you recognize?” Glowstix mumbled, shifting his fork though a plate full of alfalfa. Staccato looked around, taking a sip of milk that seemed to glow with radiation. He grimaced at the drink and tossed it in a nearby waste bucket.

“I think I can see Fredric Horseshoepin over there.” Staccato noted as Glowstix munched disdainfully on a small piece of a green carrot as he craned his neck, trying to spy the white maned earth pony from afar.

“Oh yeah, your mom told us he’d be going here didn’t she?” Staccato nodded in response.

“Do you think he’s better at piano than you are?” Staccato cocked his head and gave Glowstix a confused look.

“Of course he is, he strictly plays piano so he must get better practice. I play two instruments so I have divide my time with both of them.” Glowstix grinned.

“Excuses excuses, I bet you could beat him if you tried.” With that comment Staccato stole Glowstix’s milk from underneath his nose, wrapping it in his crimson red magic, although it wasn’t much better than the one he had thrown away before.

“Ke schifo... These lunches are horrible...”

“You’re just spoiled from all that gourmet food you Italians eat.”

“Ah but good food it is Il mio amico, good food it is.” Glowstix gazed off around the lunch room again, looking for any familiar faces.

“I think I see Philharmonica over there.” He said motioning towards a grey mare with a dark brown, well kept mane, sporting a light pink bow.

“Octavia’s here?” Staccato asked peeking over Glowstix’s shoulder.

“Yep, that’s her, snout up and everything.”

“Is she eating that meal one pea at a time?”

“She’s going to take forever to finish that...”
The two stallions continued to search the lunchroom with hawk eyes, spying multiple ponies that they were familiar with.

“So who do we have so far?” Glowstix said, craning his neck again to try to find more ponies.

“Let’s see...” Staccato mumbled, looking down to a small notepad where his radioactive lunch used to be.

“We’ve seen: Fredric Horseshoepin, Octavia Philharmonica, Harpo Parish Nadermane, Beauty Brass, still stuck in her sousaphone I should mention.” Glowstix snorted, trying to contain a laugh.

“Violina C. Sharp, Baritone, Noteworthy, Symphony D. Flat, and Jazz.” Staccato listed, checking off the names as he went down the notepad.

“That’s only nine ponies.” Glowstix muttered.

“Well what do you want to do? Go off and make some friends?” Staccato snapped. Glowstix suddenly flashed a devilish smile that made the light brown unicorn extremely uncomfortable.

“What are you thinking?” Glowstix smiled and rubbed his hooves together in an overly evil and theatrical way.

“Let’s play a game!”

“Wha- I don’t want t-”

“What mare would you do?”

“Oh my Celestia you are so immature...” Glowstix simply ignored Staccato’s comment and searched the cafeteria for “prey”.

“Let’s see here... That Octavia is actually quite a looker, now if only she pulled that stick out of her rump...”

“I can’t believe I’m friends with you...”

“How would you even manage with Beauty Brass?” Glowstix continued.

“I mean... that sousaphone would totally get in the way, how does she even lie down?” Staccato’s facehoof echoed loudly through the lunch room.

“Wait... who is that?” Staccato managed to peek out from underneath his hoof, which was now lodged into his face.

“Who?” Staccato gazed towards a mare in the distance, on the far side of the cafeteria. The fluorescent lights that lined the ceiling caused her coat to glow and shimmer from her pearlescent white fur. Her mane was an unusual unkempt style, as if she just woke up this morning and violently shook her head, and whatever resulted, served as her hairstyle for the day. Separated into stripes consisting of a shocking electric blue and a smooth cyan. But it was her massive shades that really caught Staccato’s attention.

Thick, contrasting, jet black rims, and intense violet lenses. They completely shielded the mare’s eyes from view, it gave her a mysterious feeling, but her wicked grin gave her an entirely different sense, spunk. Glowstix stared at the unusual figure, questioning almost every aspect of the pony.

“Are we even allowed to wear sunglasses in the building?” No response.

“Is she even a musical pony?” No response.

“Well her cutie mark is a musical note...” No response.

“A backwards eighth note I believe...” No response.

“Staccato?” Glowstix finally realized that Staccato had not been responding to anything he said. He turned to his friend to find him completely stunned and frozen, mouth hanging wide open, practically drooling, and his grey eyes shrunken down to the size of a pea.

“Staccato?” Glowstix repeated as he waved a hoof in front of his friend’s face, attempting to bring him back to Equestria. Unfortunately, it did nothing.

“What’s the matter with you?” Glowstix’s eyebrows furrowed in frustration and confusion. Finally he gave a sharp smack to the unicorn in the back of the head to wake him up.

“Oi! Wake up Staccato!” Staccato shook his head violently, pulling himself out of trance.
“Il mio dio.. Who is that mare?” Staccato mumbled shifting his head to the side, moving out of the way of Glowstix to look back at the pony. Glowstix raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“What? Staccato what’s wrong wit-” He stopped suddenly, then his expression abruptly shifted to that devilish look Staccato hated so much.

“Oooh! I see what’s going on here.” Glowstix bumped the unicorn in the shoulder playfully.

“Lil ol’ Staccato got himself a crush, doesn’t he?” He mocked stepping back in front of him purposely to obscure his view. Staccato complied by shoving him forcefully out of the way.

“Whoa! Hey now!” Stix shouted as he tumbled away. Staccato continued to stare at the mare as she walked around the lunchroom, floating a small tray of food in front of her with violet magic.

“Y’know...” Glowstix started as he popped up in front of Staccato’s vision, blocking his sight again.

“If you really want to know who she is, you could always go talk to her.” Staccato was taken aback by this statement. Immediately, his knees began to shake and his body began to tremble.

“N-no...” Staccato said nervously.

“I-I don’t even know her... I can’t talk to her yet...” Glowstix rolled his eyes.

“You’re never going to get to know her if you don’t talk to her you ‘idotia’” The earth pony mocked,
trying to imitate Staccato’s Italian tongue.

“It’s ‘Idiota’ you imbecille.” Staccato corrected. Glowstix simply shrugged, not really caring whether or not he pronounced it right.

“Point is, you need to go talk to her.” Staccato shook his head violently again.

“N-no it’s alright, she has the attention of all the other students as well, can’t you see?” He motioned around the whole room, now Stix could see that almost everypony was staring at the peculiar masked pony.

“I’m sure I can find out about her just by listening to the others.” Now it was Glowstix’s turn to shake his head.

“You do realize that if she has EVERYPONIES’ attention, that means she’s going to have every colt’s attention too. Right?” Staccato blushed deeply, and almost looked fearful.

“W-why would I care? I-it’s not like I...” he paused for a moment.

“L-like her or- or... anything...” He stuttered. By this point Glowstix was on the floor laughing, holding his gut tightly, and making quite a scene. After about ten minutes of uncontrollable laughing, and Staccato violently kicking his ribs while he was on the ground, Glowstix finally stood up and wiped a tear from his eye, still chuckling slightly.

“Staccato Fortissimo, you are the worst liar I have ever seen in my entire life.”