Rain drops of the past.
"Sweetie?" A smooth voice called over the classical music - her favorite, by a famous stallion who had apparently been tone deaf - that came from the study. It was raining outside now and he'd already taken his tuxedo coat off, though his bow was still on. He knew the music only played for a few reasons;
One, she was stressing over the newest photoshoot, which had finished weeks ago and she had received a copy of the published magazine just yesterday. Like always, the photos of her were stunning and she was normally allowed to keep her favorite dress from a shoot, in this case a low cut, deep purple and silver trimmed gala dress that suited her to a tee.
Two, she was simply relaxing while reading a book, and he hoped it was this one. And finally....he shivered heavily at the thought of it, but he knew it had to be. It was around that time of year that it had happened, after all.
"Dear? Are you alright...?" Stepping into the library, the unicorn was relieved to see his wife curled up by the fire in an overstuffed armchair, book in hoof and a glass of red sitting next to her with the bottle. Looking up from her book, he was once again reminded of her beauty when she smiled. Placing the book aside, the mare slid from the chair and within a few steps, was standing in front of him.
"How was the concert?" She asked as she settled on her rump and lifted her front hooves to undo the red bow tie around his neck. "I wished I could have come to see it but you know I haven't been feeling well......" He chuckled softly and captured her lips in a gentle kiss.
"I know and I hated every minute, knowing you were here while I was entertaining a bunch of rich fools," He mumbled as he pulled away, forgetting he was one of those rich fools too. "How are you feeling anyway? Any better?"
"Still a little queasy, but the doctor said it should be gone within a few days." She smiled weakly as she finally managed to tug his tie away from him. "I would rather like to be better but I'd be lying if I said I'd have loved to be there tonight beside you. Those upper classes are just so boring, I can't stand it. But at least you are home now." Nuzzling underneath his chin, she stepped back with a smile as little hoof steps could be heard running down the hall and soon enough, shrieks of "Daddy!" and laughter filled the large home as a little filly Pegasus tackled her father to the carpet.
Her mother watched on with a bemused look as the two rolled around on the carpet, only joining in when they turned on her. She playfully tried to run away, falling lightly when her husband caught her and pushed her to the ground.
Only later, when they were laying in bed together, with their filly fast asleep down the hall, did he ask about the wine.
'She never drank wine, only once a year did she drink it.' He pointed out. Both knew what it stood for and when she started sobbing into his chest, his hooves around her shoulders, nothing more was said as they fell asleep to her crying.
~*~
It was overcast and already wet the day they met. They were merely walking the streets of his neighborhood, she focused on her inner thoughts and he on the music sheets of a new song he was learning. He was a singer, though not a famous one and incredibly shy in front of crowds or new ponies in general when it came to an attempt.
Dizzily, he looked up into the worried face of the mare he bumped into. Her lips were pursed together as her eyes darted over his body to see if there were any obvious injuries. He couldn’t help thinking that such a beautiful mare like her must have been a model and thus caused him to wonder why such a high rise pony was in a scummy place like this.
His mind was jolted into reality when a small chuckle escaped his companion's mouth.
"I am not a model," She said kindly, her purple eyes twinkling. "But thank you for the compliment." His breath hitched when he realized he had said his thoughts out loud. She saw his distress and quickly said; "It was very kind of you to say so though." Breathing out a sigh of relief he hadn’t realised he was holding in, he smiled nervously and she offered a smile back, just as timidly.
With a sinking heart, he knew it was time to apologise and part ways. So he opened his mouth to say so, but she beat him to it.
"I would very much appreciate it if I could buy you a hay and daisy sandwich in apology." She said almost shyly as she felt heat rising in her cheeks. "I feel terrible bumping into you and making you drop your music sheets. It is the least I owe you." Standing there stock still, his brain still muddled from the fall and from her words, the thought processed as to why this mare, this beautiful not-model-but-should-be would offer to buy him a sandwich in apology and feel like she owed him that. That wasn't right. He was the clumsy one. The one always tripping over his hooves and stammering over his words when he talked.
She waited patiently for his reply, flicking her tail absently when a fly flew too close. Finally, words seemed to sprout from his mouth. Elation filled her heart when she heard them.
"That sounds delightful. But it wouldn't be fair for you to buy just me a sandwich. I am just as much to blame bumping into you as you are into me," He reasoned without falter, not noticing until much later that not once did he appear weak with his words or voice in her presence. "Why don't we split it? I'll pay for you and you pay for mine?" His ears flickered at the strange noise coming from her mouth, startled before realizing it was her laughter.
How he wished to hear it again once it stopped. Her eyes sparkled as the giggles bubbled down before she nodded.
"That certainly sounds fair to me," She agreed warmly to him, her head bowing as she reached around into her saddle bags. Drawing her head back after a moment of ruffling threw them, there was a piece of cardboard in her mouth. Leaning forward to take it from her, their noses brushing momentarily, he drew away and looked at her questionably. "That is my card. It has my address on it. Come by tomorrow morning around ten and we will see about those sandwiches." She explained with a smile. "But now, I really must be going. I am late for an appointment with my friend." With that, she trotted off around the corner and vanished without a trace. He stayed there in that stop until she did, the card tucked between his teeth and mind still reeling from what just happened as he stared at the ground in front of him.
was that a dream? His mind whispered softly. Was it indeed a dream? But there he was, a little white and purple card clutched between his teeth just as it was about to rain again, the first droplets hitting him on the head before he remembered what the cold water meant and bolted rest of the way down to road towards his home just as it pelted down and thoroughly soaking his fur, his saddlebags and contents and most importantly, the card with her address and name.
When morning finally came around, she was already awake and preparing for the day. He pulled himself out from under the covers, peering outside to see the rain had been cleared and it was now sunny. Heading for the open balcony doors, he took in a deep breath of cool air, loving the scent of freshness. The countryside rolled out before him, its greenery looking bright after last night's downfall. It had been lucky he had managed to get inside just as the rain had finally been released from heavy clouds. His tuxedo had been new and he didn't want to be ruined as he hurried indoors as the carriage was pulled to its proper place. Even with his tuxedo though, he remembered feeling the chill of the air in his breath and the mist that wandered from his mouth. that only meant one thing.....
It was only the faint brushing up against his side that he finally noticed her beside him and he smiled down at her.
"How are you this morning?" He nuzzled her mane, breathing in her smell. Wild flowers and clouds, if they had a smell. She obviously has been up since early this morning and flying, though how she always smelled of both clouds and wild flowers at the same time always baffled him, since he knew her shampoo and conditioner were nothing of the sort and neither were her many perfumes.
She leaned against him with a small smile.
"Better. I only felt sick and wasn't actually sick," She confessed to him. "I'll be glad when it's all over and I can get back to feeling and being normal. Hoity Toity Jr is supposedly meeting with the board executives next week and they want me to be there as an example of good employment." She felt before she heard his laugh and was reminded why she fell in love with it. It was deep but comforting and she sighed softly.
"And they can't have somepony else?" Shaking her head, she grinned up at him.
"Apparently, I have a way with words." She joked with a nudge to his shoulder.
"Which is true," He agreed with her, knowing that she always did. "Now let's go wake our daughter. We promised to take her to school together today."
~*~
The next morning, he woke up with a splitting headache and a soreness for not getting out of bed but he dragged himself out, not bothering to tidy up the linen on it as he slowly walked downstairs.
He currently lived alone in the great expanse, his old house mate, Jacob having moved out shortly after becoming engaged to his longtime girlfriend, GadFly*. She was a unicorn with the ability to give other unicorns and earth ponies wings, at least temporarily, so they could visit friends or relatives in places like Cloudsdale. He had always found her ability interesting and had once asked how she had found it, she had smiled as she answered;
"When I was a filly, I heard a story that one of The Elements, Twilight, had found and attempted a flight spell on one of her fellow friends, Rarity, so they could join Fluttershy in cheering on Rainbow Dash in a race that was being held in Cloudsdale. It gave her friend wings but being her first try, she could only do one pony and later found just a simple cloud walking spell to use on herself and the others. It worked but I found it fascinating, the ability to give a flightless pony wings to otherwise fly." A dreamy look had crossed her face by this point as she recounted how she gained her cutie mark. "Everyone told me it was impossible; walking on clouds belonged to Pegasus and the Princesses, not ordinary folk like ourselves and to get my head out of the clouds. Of course, that just drove me to keep it up there and prove them wrong. Which I did of course," At that, she finished her tale by showing him her flank.
He had blushed and looked away at that point, because Jacob had been with them and he didn't want any trouble. But both just laughed, Jacob saying it was fine to look just this once. So he did and saw her cutie mark. It was a black silhouette of pony rearing, white wings sprouting from its back.
She explained that the pony most likely represented a flightless earth pony and the white wings the fake bewitched wings that gave the pony flight.
His own was simple of course, just a single bar of music notes. He was a singer most of all, but he loved anything to do with music so he could also play a wide variety of instruments. But when up on stage, in front of all those ponies.....sometimes, all he could focus on was his singing.
Sometimes, at night when he couldn't sleep, he'd imagine what his cutie mark would have been had he taken his musical career further then just his singing. A Cutie Mark that showed how talented he was with everything musical? It sadden him sometimes, knowing he had a talent that crossed many things but every pony thought it was only singing he was good at.
But then, he'd remind himself that at least ponies got part of his talent. Gadfly had to explain hers to every new pony she met, not that she seemed to ever mind making herself breathless and dreamy eyed at the memories.
Author's Note
Italics indicate flashbacks/dreams, meaning you're reading what happened in the past.
The Husband is called Rhythmic Nightbeat (Deep blue coat/Blonde Mane/tail) and he's a unicorn while his wife is a Pegasus named Lucille Aria (Also nicknamed StarSong by friends/family. Light grey coat with curly dark grey and deep purple mane/tail) and their daughter hasn't got a name just yet (I've been tossing around a few but none fit yet). Rhythm (as I call him) is a Singer, while Lucille is a model, though she was something quite different when she was younger. That, however, will be revealed later in the story.
If anyone would like to offer name and/or cutie marks suggestion to the filly, then please do. I'm thinking that she'll be good at something along the lines of navigation or exploring. She has a short wavy blondish grey mane/tail and her coat is a light lavender, with red eyes.
Nothing belongs to me apart from the characters and this plot. All rights reserved to rightful owners.
*Guess where I picked this little treat up and you'll get a cookie from The Cakes!
Any wrong doings of grammar/spelling/etc, are more then happy to be pointed out to me!
I may/may not add onto this chapter at a later date, and story, depending on if this chapter is well received or not. The story is set several years after the show, as you've probably guessed by one name drop. So that explains Gadfly's story.
Laughter should always be with Friends
A knock on his door and he knows who it was before the voice filters threw the door.
“Curtain Call? You are needed on stage in 2 minutes!” His assistant called, knowing the Pegasus was more than likely adding the final touches to his costume before he emerges.
“Thank you Matineigh, I’ll be out in a moment!” Replied the pegasus from within, leaning towards the mirror for the last time to make sure nothing was out of place before he hurried out of his room, only to see his assistant’s tail whip around behind the corner. She obviously was running back to make sure the lights were in place and the ponies at the curtain were ready to pull it up when it was time.
Trotting quickly enough to make it in time but not fast enough to mess up his costume, Curtain Call allowed a smile as he felt his heart race. There was supposed to be a big time movie director in the audience tonight, scoping out ponies for his next movie.
“He’s looking at small town ponies with no name in any big works!” Matineigh had told him cheerfully this morning as she bounced in with the paper floating before her. She kept babbling as it was placed before him and he began reading it. “It says he’s only coming here because this is where he got his first big break as an actor and wanted to see if it could do the same for another pony!” It was indeed exciting. If tonight went well, somepony would be moving up in the world of acting, from theatre production to starring in movies!
It would be a dream come true for most ponies in the business but he wonders that if it was him chosen....would he forget his small beginnings in the big world? It had only been ten years out of school for him, a short while for an actor but it was his talent.
He shook his head. There were more experienced ponies on stage beside him tonight. One of them would surely be chosen, not him. Not a greenhorn.
Prancing onto the stage with only moments to spare, the pegasus took up his position-perfectly balancing on his hooves, the front ones that were crossed one in front of the other, his knees bent and his wings ready to spring into action- and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath as he did so. Soon, he hears the crowd beyond the curtain go all quiet and he smiles, counting down from 5....4....3....2....
“Welcome, everypony, to the opening night of The Blood Brothers!”
~*~
“Mama, can you believe it?” The little filly bounced around her mother’s hooves as they walk along the street, the shops in the streets beginning to close for the day. They had gone shopping for some new clothes for the filly, as all her exams had just finished and the winter holidays were about to start soon enough. “I got top marks in my flight test!” Her test had been at the start of the week and the test results had come this morning in the mail. The light grey pegasus smiled softly at her daughter, knowing how exciting it was for her daughter to see the marks on the paper, saying that she had ranked third highest in her age group of flyers. “Third! Can you believe it? I guess Ashton got first, seeing as his parents are both wonderbolts! But still! third? I honestly thought I’d be dead last, especially since I just know I messed up on the last turn....!” Lucille chuckled softly, bumping her daughter gently with her wing to nudge her away from bouncing straight into a pole.
“I know, sweetie, you’ve mentioned only a hundred times.” She laughed with a hint of pride. Take that you rich pansy, I bet your son didn’t even place. The thought was directed to an hated enemy of hers, the parent of a child that always liked to show off his cutie mark, one of the first in her daughter’s class and never did anything to curb her son’s vanity, despite his young age.
“What’s your daughters’ Cutie Mark Lucille?” she’d always ask if they passed in the street, her nasally voice always making her nearly flinch but she'd school her face before it would happen. “Oh? What do you mean she hasn’t got it yet? How terrible! My son found out what his was the first week!”
Did she forget to mention the child’s mother was as vain and boastful as the son? Where the father was in all this, she didn’t know. Lucille never saw the stallion at parent days or any other event for that matter and only knew that ‘his work is very important.’
“Can we get ice cream Mama?”
“Dear, it’s winter. It is cold. Why in Equestria do you want ice cream?” The mother in her instantly rose to the surface, not wanting her daughter to have something that could upset her stomach. She knew that when she herself ate ice cream on a cold day, her teeth froze and so would the rest of her, even wrapped up in a blanket indoors. The filly pulled a face at her.
“I know it’s cold. But Donut Joe's’ is just around the corner and they do hot chocolates too, for only three bits! Pleeease?” Sighing heavily, Lucille gives in, knowing she couldn’t win when a hot drink was offered.
“Fine, but don’t come complaining to me about brain freezes alright?”
“YAY!”
~*~
Looking at the card in front of him, the unicorn wondered if he was in the right place. The building in front of him called to his rational side that the pegasus was rich but his irrational side argued that even if she was rich, why give a random pony she bumped into her card and offer to buy him lunch? It just didn’t make sense.
Shaking off any doubts, he used his magic to knock on the door using the knocker and waited patiently.
And waited.
And waited.
Until, finally, after what seemed like an hour, the door opened to reveal the pegasus from yesterday standing there with a disheveled mane and bloodshot eyes looking as if she had just woken up.
“Oh, um....” He stumbled over what to say, thinking that perhaps he was early and she wasn’t expecting him yet. But instead, she just smiled at him and all thoughts flew of apologising flew out of his mind.
“I’m sorry, I’m not quite ready.” She gestured him into her house, using her back leg to slam the door closed once he was in. “My friends and I stayed up later then I thought we would but then Trick Shot brought a new game with him and we spent most of the night playing it, along with drinking apple cider, so I should have expected it.” They trotted along the hallway until they came upon a room he could only explain as a cave.
The door was open when they arrived and the curtains were drawn tightly in front of the windows, with pillows and blankets scattered every which way and he thought he spotted something slide under a particular pile of pillows and blankets before a tussled white mane streaked with red and blue poked out from underneath the pile. Purple eyes squinted at them, a beige hoof rubbing one eye.
“‘Song, whos’ tha’?” The pony asked with a dry mouth, his tongue somehow sticking to the roof of his mouth despite its dryness. The pegasus next to him, apparently named ‘Song’, chuckled fondly.
“This is....what did you say your name was again?” As she peered at him, another pile of pillows simply exploded outwards and a white unicorn emerged from it with flailing legs. ‘Song’ and the other pony just laughed at him, the beige pony pulling himself to his feet, pillows and blankets tumbling to his feet, and showing himself to be a pegasus like his friend. His cutie mark was a red velvet curtain, opened, with a spotlight showing in the middle.
“I didn’t,” he said quietly, lowering his head and ears as he watched the beige pegasus rear back onto his hind legs and pull at his friend’s front hooves, righting him onto his belly. Though it was at his balance’s expense and he fell backwards. “Yours’ is Song? It says on the card.....” Song smiled at him and he went quiet again.
“Song is a nickname. I have a good voice, according to these two.” She waved over to her now laughing friends. “Known eachother since early Flight School, me and Caller over there. And Trick Shot was friends with Caller when he joined the local drama group of ponyville a few months later.”
“Hey, Song, who’s that?” questioned who he assumed to be Trick Shot since the pegasus had to be ‘Caller’, from what Song had said.
“I....I’m called Rhythmic.” The blue unicorn stammered quietly, having a feeling that these three friends, who had obviously knew each other for years, were very good friends and he suddenly felt like he was intruding on their space.
“Rhythmic?” Song rolled her eyes, nudging passed him as she went to pick up a glass of water on a table. Downing the drink in an unladylike fashion-gripping the lip between her teeth before flicking her chin up so she could drain the water left in it-she tossed the glass expertly onto a pillow where it stayed. “Well, ‘Rhythmic’, I’m just going to go clean up while you, Caller and Tricks all have fun. And don’t break him, either of you.” She warned the two males still sitting over by the window where Caller had pulled Trick Shot up. “I’d like a working date, if you please.”
“Of course ma’am,” Caller stood up to bow deeply, only to nearly topple back over on to Trick Shot, who pushed him the other way and watched him fall onto his back where he flailed comically and made his friends snort with laughter.
“Let me rephrase-Rhythm, make sure they don’t break each other.” Song giggled as she walked passed him and further down the hall. He opened his mouth to correct him of his name before he realised what had happened.
Song had left, the only one he felt remotely familiar with, in a strange home.
Not only that but leaving him alone with two-presumably hungover- strange stallions.
He groaned in dismay.
Author's Note
PFFT, I'm tired and it took me just over two hours of writing to do this x.x 1751 words....just over two hours and I managed to get nearly two thousand words....(Btw, I still need a name for the filly. at the moment, it's okay to just refer to her a cute things like Sweetie and such but I really need a name. I nearly had a few, but they slipped my mind before I could write them down.)
