A STORMY PERFORMANCE
Sometimes, admitting your feelings to a friend doesn't go as planned...
It was a somewhat overcast day as the mid-day shadows rolled across Ponyville, created by the clouds looming ever so close to them. One particular pony had a job to keep them away, and she was doing quite well, considering the circumstances. There was a scheduled shower to happen in 3 hours, but she'd been told to keep the skies clear for long enough so that the 10th annual Ponyvillian Talents(Mind the s!) Show could take place.
She was a little miffed, naturally, at not being able to participate; as it was pretty much the only grasp on fame she could hope to obtain any time soon. But, after a couple of reluctant arguments, she gave in.
'At the very least, I can at least watch my friends,'
A particular Rainbow Dash thought. Only about 2 of them, however, were partaking in the event. The orange-ish mare by the name of "Applejack", and the Lavender unicorn mare by the name of "Twilight Sparkle". She'd known these 2 for years, and had a pretty good idea of what they might do. Twilight might show off a new spell, or disprove something using simple logic.
Applejack might show off some rope tricks; possibly show off her baking. It had been done before, and Rainbow'd seen it all, or so she thought. Something was to change that afternoon, whether for better or worse.
Applejack was eccentrically excited about the show; she had something special planned. Not only would she blow the crowd away to earn first place, she'd finally get a little recognition from a certain special somepony. She'd put the past month into learning how to play the guitar, and now she could play circles around anypony pretty much anytime. She'd also quickly discovered that, despite its usual strictness, and required adherence to the beat and such, often, music could be more freeing and soul-feeding than she thought.
As of now, she milled around backstage of a small curtained set erected near the center of town, listening to the crowd's mumbling. She took another glance at the number taped onto her flank.
'27', it read. She was the very last performance of the day, and it seemed kind of fitting, considering what she had in mind. She spotted Twilight off in another end of the stage, practicing reciting a couple of words which seemed to have no effect on anything. Her number was '21', it seemed as though the friends were close to dead last.
The crowd began to clap as the first performer trotted out onto the stage, after a brief announcement. A few seconds after, the sound of a bunch of thuds came vibrating through the floor, followed by a disappointed "Oohhhh...".
About 10 more seconds later, the ashamed colt could be seen nearly galloping through the behind-the-scenes area, heading directly for the exit.
After a couple of minutes, Applejack decided it was about 30, number 20 went out. Twilight noticed her friend, whose eyes were darting from side to side. A few drops of sweat lined her forehead.
"Applejack? Are you nervous?" she inquired.
Applejack gave a quick little nod.
Twilight smiled a little anxiously herself.
"Don't worry, I am too. This is just for fun, try to enjoy yourself! I'm sure everypony will love it."
she said, attempting to bolster her friend's usually infallible courage.
"Ah...ah hope so." Applejack replied, swallowing nervously.
"I- oh, I'm up! Wish me luck!" Twilight called, heading quickly towards the maroon curtains.
Applejack hesitated about 30 seconds, but then peeked her head out of the curtains briefly. Twilight had the crowd entertained with brilliant effects, currently she was causing bright sparks to ricochet around, even spelling words and phrases. Applejack looked up as an errant spark trailed off, where she saw one face she'd hoped to see, yet wished she also wasn't there. Rainbow Dash was flying above them, occasionally kicking a cloud loose, or descending down to the crowd before taking right back off.
'Oh Celestia...I'm gonna screw this up!' she inwardly moaned. The time seemed to speed up, and she hardly noticed Twilight come back in, who was confident that she had it in the bag.
Eventually, she heard her number announced as the final performance. She uneasily glanced at the guitar slung on her back, and at Twilight, who gave her a reassuring smile.
Applejack took a deep breath, and pushed outside. There, she found about 70 pairs of eyes staring expectantly at her, wondering what she was about to do. Among such pairs were the violet-red eyes of Rainbow, who also wondered, since she'd never seen her friend with a guitar before. Off in the crowd, Applejack spotted Twilight, who was with Fluttershy and Rarity. Pinkie was randomly zipping around, but also had her eyes trained on Applejack.
Applejack approached the stool that sat in the center of the stage, and lowered the makeshift microphone stand a bit.
She spoke up nervously.
"Ah'd like to thank ya'll fer' comin', and especially one pony in the crowd right now, who is the pony I will dedicate this song here for."
Pinkie, a little out of place, called out,
"OOH! IS IT ME?", before being quickly silenced.
Applejack rolled her eyes, heart pounding so hard she swore that everypony could hear it.
She instead sat onto the stool, unslung her guitar, and began strumming a lonely beginning, telling a wordless tale. Her head pounding, she let her nervousness and worries slip away, and began to sing in one of the best singing voices Ponyville had yet to hear.
"Ah look at those apple seeds,
Each with their own special needs.
And ah know, that with time, everyone it feeds.
A small blur decides to catch my eye.
Ah look towards the sky, and see her;
Flying fast, soaring hard,
Zipping faster than a star.
Sky blue coat, rainbow mane,
Enchanting me with her name."
The vast majority of the crowd, by now, were swaying slowly in time with the song, similar to the way a bunch of teenagers would sway their lighters and such in the air at a concert.
However, a couple of ponies' reactions were different.
Rainbow Dash couldn't help, but to point a hoof at herself, and mouth the word "Me?" in confusion.
Pinkie kept bouncing around, and Fluttershy shrank back a little. She could somehow sense something in the air, though it may not express itself quite yet.
Applejack continued, oblivious to the crowd.
"With your head up in the clouds,
Boisterous and proud,
Ah know you don't see me for who ah am.
But sugarcube, ya' make me different,
Ya' make my head pound,
Ya' make my legs weak,
Ya' make my stomach leap into my throat,
Ya' make my heart fly."
She opened her eyes finally, to see the crowd swaying. She knew that she had impressed the crowd, mostly...
She stole a glance upwards, in the form of a toss of her braided hair. She spotted Rainbow's confused reaction, but didn't catch much more.
'Well, ah've set the stampede...might as well finish it.' she thought reluctantly.
"On that first day, the beginning; you might say,
Ah couldn't half believe it, Ah'd been hit with a strange feeling.
Ah listened to mah heart, and it told me,
Ah'd fallen head over hooves, in that word they call love.
To this day, ah still can't call it that...
it's more, like a gift from above.
With your head up in the clouds,
Boisterous and proud,
Ah know you don't see me for who ah am.
But sugarcube, ya' make me different,
Ya' make my head pound,
Ya' make my legs weak,
Ya' make my stomach leap into my throat,
Ya' make my heart fly.
You stood there, eyes darting side to side,
Daring anypony to challenge your stride.
Ah looked at ya' again, and said to mahself,
'You're on, beautiful!'"
She now entered a slightly less musical tone.
"Now, of course, ah didn't SAY that;(a small chuckle here)
I kept it to mahself."
She re-began the enchanting rhythm, becoming lost in the words.
"After that there race, ah gazed into your face.
Ah looked at yer' eyes, if only for a quick second.
Ah knew we was made for each otha', no doubt 'bout it.
With your head up in the clouds,
Boisterous and proud,
Ah know you don't see me for who ah am.
But sugarcube, ya' make me different,
Ya' make my head pound,
Ya' make my legs weak,
Ya' make my stomach leap into my throat,
Ya' make my heart fly."
That time, she noted, the crowd had actually joined in singing. She smiled proudly, and began skillfully strumming a sequence of chords, in a rock-tempo-esque manner, in a way that slightly upset the beat, but held the crowd in the grips of music.
She began for the final time.
"Get your pretty eyes up off the pavement,
Search the depths of your soul,
Look at the things you've done,
The things you didn't do.
Ask yourself, right now;
"Am I happy with what ah've done?"
All ah can tell you..."
She said, finally meeting Dash's gaze.
"...is that ah am."
The air echoed with the final notes, and suddenly exploded with a whole uproar of cheering. A couple of ponies in the next town over, far away, swore they heard something.
The five judges present off to a side glanced at each other for a quick discussion.
They waited a full 2 minutes for the cheering to quell before one spoke into a small microphone.
"I think it's safe to say that we have an unanimous crowd favorite, and our winner!"
To this, the cheering was renewed, echoed by the booming of thunder just beyond Ponyville. Two fillies who looked as if they belonged in a fashion show trotted up, carrying a velvet cushion between them. On top of said cushion, rested a medium sized gilded trophy, emblazoned with the words, "Top Pony!".
She, proudly smiling, accepted the trophy, puffing out her chest in pride.
She glanced up, looking for Rainbow again, but she was nowhere to be seen.
-10 minutes later-
Most of the Ponyvillians had gone back to whatever they were doing, leaving Applejack and the others to discuss, and they immediately jumped onto the topic of her performance. Pinkie was excitedly blabbering so quickly, not even Twilight could come close to understanding her. Fluttershy desperately wanted to say something, but she swore that there was palpable tension in the air, almost as if something was about to happen; though technically it already had.
Rarity was already asking questions, such as,
"Applejack, darling, you said that you dedicated the song to somepony...who was it?"
Applejack, attempting to avoid the subject until she could talk to RD herself, replied with a,
"Well,ah can tell ya this: it ain't Pinkie, that much is obvious."
Twilight, being the inquisitive one, pressed on.
"But who is it? I don t really think it matters all that much if you tell us; it isn't like it s a secret...is it?"
Applejack took a breath, and was about to reply, when she spotted Dash off to the side.
"Hang on a second, everypony. Ah have somethin' to take care of."
She walked away from the group, and came up behind Dash, who was oblivious to her presence.
"Rainbow-" she began, before Dash flinched, and Applejack saw the preparatory muscles tense in her legs, and knew she was about to take off.
Applejack decided that, reluctant as she was, she had to do this. She quickly grabbed her friend by the tail, preventing her from escaping as she took off.
"Ah know you don t wanna talk about it, and neither do ah. But you may ve guessed it..."
Applejack began.
Rainbow sank to the ground, resigned.
"I-I... I know." She finished, a slight, barely noticeable wavering of the voice creeping in.
"The song's good, and that's what makes this next part, well...hard. I don't do emotional stuff, so I'm just gonna tell you."
Rainbow continued.
"I suppose I should be flattered...I mean, you're one awesome pony, and you have quite a few tricks up your sleeves, kinda like the guitar, which I did NOT expect. But that's beside the point. Applejack, I... I think you may've, you know...mistaken me for the wrong sort of pony."
She continued, now feeling slight pity for her friend.
"I mean, I couldn t care less whether you re lesmarian, or even biquestrial...but I think you went a little too far there. I mean, it was a beautiful song and all, but it was kind of... weird how you threw me out there. It took me by surprise, is what I'm trying to say. Come to think of it, you probably planned on making it a-"
She was interrupted from her rambling by a single word.
"Go." Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
"What'd I-"
Applejack glared angrily at her friend.
"Ah said go, go before ah do something else that ah regret!"
Rainbow opened her mouth, but from the look on her friend's face, filled with pain, regret, and loss, she thought better of it to keep her mouth shut. She took one last glance at her friend, and took off.
As if the clouds suddenly sensed the moment, a boom sounded right above the town. As the song had gone on, the clouds had gathered, and now they began to pour rain full force down. Once the weather began, though, there was no stopping it. Numerous ponies ran for cover, but Applejack simply sat there, hair becoming a soppy, tangled mess.
She glanced at the rainbow trail that her friend left behind. She felt as if all her emotion had left along with it. There was no Applejack anymore. Just a gaping, emotionless hole where she used to be.
"Diligo est unus res , amicitia est alius.
Ver unus super ceterus quoque nunc , quod totus est lost. ( Love is one thing, friendship is another.
Spring one upon the other too soon, and all is lost. )"
The end? It's up to you! If you prefer to continue this, or even alter RD's reaction, let me know! I'd love to see other versions of this!