Chapter 1

The apartment door swung open as a light blue earthpony stomped into the room. He rolled his saddlebags off his back and onto the floor and gave a loud and obnoxious sigh. The pony had a light blue skin tone, like the sky on a spring day. His light gray mane was pushed up into a faux hawk, while his tail was un-combed and wavy. His round eyes are an emerald green, like the leaves of an apple tree. His head was rectangular, like most earthpony males. On his flank was a measure of notes, a quarter note, eighth note, and a rest, which resembled his talent in music.

The earthpony walked to his bed with his head down. A look of despair and anger covered his face. He lied on his well-made bed and looked at his largest saddle bag, a dark brown bag that was long enough to cover his side from neck to flank. He slowly walked to the bag and pulled out a paper. The paper was a complex piece of music for a piano player. He studied it for a minute and lazily dropped it into the bag once again.

"How in the world can those ponies play so well?" he said. "It's just unreal to me." He looked out the window to see the streets of Manehattan, filled with ponies of all kinds. He sighed once again, leaving a patch of fog on his window. He lifted his quill with his teeth and traced a face on the window with the tip of the dry feather. He looked at his artwork and chuckled. He strolled to his door, ready to go out into the town for some lunch with his friends, when a letter slid under the gap in his door.

"I got some mail for you, Treble!" called the voice. The voice sounded familiar. When he opened the door, he saw the local mailman, Speedy, at his door. The pegasus smiled at him.

"Good evening, Speeds. Is the mail business...uhh...busy?" asked Treble.

The dark green pegasus chuckled. "Eh, ya know. Same old, same old." He glanced at the letter he slid into Treble's room, and a surprised look appeared on his round face. "Oh man. That there letter is from Canterlot's Arts and Cultural Center. It could be important, for all we know." he nodded and started to walk away from Treble.

Treble snatched the letter up in his mouth and gentle kicked the door shut. He walked to his desk and grabbed his letter opener. He sliced the edge of the letter open and slid the pieces of paper out with the blunt edge of the blade. He unfolded the first piece of paper, which was a copy of an advanced piece of music. After looking over the parchment, he noticed that it was a song for the Sunstand Festival, a festival hosted every first day of summer at Canterlot. He made a confused look and slid the other paper into his point of view with his hoof. There was a red sticker that kept the paper folded in two parts. He pulled the sticker off with his teeth and unfolded the paper. The paper said:

Dear Treble of Manehattan,

The Canterlot Art and Cultural board of directors have noticed your talent in the art of music, mainly your performance in the Hearth's Warming Festival in Manehattan last December, and we would be delighted for you to perform a piano solo (See other paper) for the Sunstand Festival this year. The festival will be hosted in Ponyville this year, and with a lack of attractions available for this year's festival, we'd appreciate it if you would perform for us on this day. We await for your response.

From,

Redjack, head of the Canterlot Art and Cultural Center

Treble looked up from the letter with his green eyes wide open. His mouth slowly opened, as if to say something, but he just couldn't find the words to describe how...shocked he was at the moment. He grabbed his quill and ink and began to write a letter. After about ten minutes of writing, he folded the parchment and stuffed it into a pink envelope. He grabbed the letter with his mouth and ran to the door, opening it with a quick kick. He looked across the hallway to see Speedy walking by once again. Treble quickly walked to the mailman with a smile on his face.

"Speeds! I need you to deliver this letter as soon as possible!" exclaimed Treble. He dropped the letter into Speedy's now empty bag.

"I would ask ya what the letter said, but I think that face explains much more than I need ta' know." said the pegasus. He closed the bag and walked to the other end of the hall. "I'll get your letter delivered before sundown."

Treble smiled at Speedy and nodded. As Speedy walked down the stairs at the end of the hallway, Treble walked back into his room and closed the door. He jumped onto his bed and shoved his face into his snow white pillow and yelled as loud as he could. He's never felt so alive! This is what he had wanted for years, ever since he discovered his talent in music. At last, he get's to be recognized as a master of the art of music. He whipped the tears from his eyes and looked out the window to see Speedy flying east, back to Manehattan's post office. He giggled and ran back to his desk to start studying the letter.

Treble looked up quickly after he came along a series of questions.

Wait. Where is this Ponyville? And where will I get my own piano for this? I mean, I always use Manehattan's band's piano for concerts and recitals.

Treble looked up from his desk and into his framed Equestria map. He looked closely at it and saw a small dot between Canterlot and Manehattan labeled as Ponyville.

"Ah, THAT'S where Ponyville is. Not too far, I guess. I could just take the train there to save some time." he lifted the side of his lip into a half grin and nodded. He put the letter, the piece of music, his quill and ink, and his favorite pair of sunglasses into his saddlebags and began to walk out his apartment door. He giddily walked to the end of the hallway and down the stairs. He saw his neighbor, Flowerpetals, walking up the stairs as well. He smiled at her, and she responded with a similar smile.

When Treble opened the door to Manehattan, he began his walk to the Manehattan Railroad and Carriage Port to get a one way ticket to Ponyville, where he will play in front of hundreds of ponies for the Sunstand Festival within a few weeks.