Author's Note: A nostalgic story that ends on a somewhat-positive note. It was based on Dixie Road by Lee Greenwood, which does talk about a singer who leaves home to become famous, experiencing nostalgia in the form of the "dusty Dixie Road."
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Dixie Road
By: The Proc Writer
Starring…
Sweetie Belle
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"Gorgeous!" "Outstanding!"
These words and others were floating through Sweetie Belle's head as she settled down in her hotel room in Las Pegasus after another successful concert. As she sipped her sparkling water and smelled the flowers she received from her adoring fans, she felt strangely nostalgic.
"You have to ignore it, Sweetie Belle," she told herself.
"You're a star…you don't have time for distractions."
As she lay on her bed, though, the young pony's mind drifted back toward Ponyville – the small town that she left in order to make it big in the music industry.
She thought of her dear sister, who found a handsome stallion and decided to abandon her grandiose ambition to leave Ponyville, and her two friends, Applebloom and Scootaloo, who both have since succeeded within that small patch they all called home.
She then closed her eyes and, before she knew anything, she was fast asleep.
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Sweetie Belle opened her eyes and noticed that she was back in Ponyville again.
"What's going on?" she thought to herself as she saw Rainbow Dash, a friend of her sister, fly above her.
As she trotted into the city, she saw lots of familiar ponies that she hasn't seen in years. Seeing the ponies were all heading to one location, Sweetie Belle decided to follow them all to see what was going on.
As she neared the town square, she saw that it was herself in her first performance since gaining her cutie mark, which was in the form of a microphone.
She remembered that this one performance would later shoot her to stardom because her future manager was in the crowd watching the then-young pony sing her heart out.
Suddenly, Sweetie Belle's eyes became blurry and she fell on her hooves.
"What?" she thought before she blacked out again.
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Once she opened her eyes again, Sweetie Belle saw she was in the back of her old home.
As she circled her former haunt, she saw that there was a bus in front of the house.
Turning toward the door, she then saw Rarity hugging Sweetie Belle's younger self.
"Good luck and make us proud," her sister told her sibling.
"I'll come back," the younger Sweetie Belle responded with tears in her eyes as she boarded the bus.
As the present Sweetie Belle watched the bus leave and Rarity return into the house with soft sobs, she felt horrible that she didn't fulfill her promise.
"What kind of sibling am I?" she thought as her vision became blurry once more.
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Opening her eyes slowly, Sweetie Belle saw that she was back in her hotel room. She saw that night turned to day and that she was still in her clothes from the previous night.
After a quick shower and change, Sweetie Belle sat on her bed deep in thought.
Then, she got on her phone to talk to her manager.
"Since you're a star, you can do a concert anywhere you want," the manager said with energy.
"I want to arrange one in Ponyville," she responded and she heard her manager gasp on the other end of the phone.
"You know that place would not give you a lot of revenue?" he followed with a concerned voice.
"There are just some things that surpass money," she answered immediately.
After she hung up the phone, she took out a pad and began writing lyrics to a future song:
You left heaven waitin' down the Dixie Road…"
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