Here we go with chapter two of Silly Love Songs - this one features a well-known deep cut by Wings that many claim sounds like something John Lennon could've written himself.

Sub-Volume 1 - Silly Love Songs

Chapter 2 - Let Me Roll It (McCartney, 1973)

Written by Zack Wanzer and James Riddle

EARLIER THAT SAME DAY

Sunset yawned as she got out of bed. Like Vincent, she too had a pretty rough sleep. At that moment, there was a knock at the door.

"Sunset, are you up?" asked Celestia.

"Y-yeah, mom," said Sunset, trying not to yawn. "What's the time...?"

"It's almost eleven, Sunset."

"Eleven?!" gasped Sunset as she fell onto the floor. "Holy crap, I overslept!" Sunset stumbled to her feet and ran to the shower, but not without a quick "good morning" to Celestia.

Once she was all showered and dressed, Sunset made herself some cereal for breakfast.

"Got any plans for the New Year, Sunset?" asked Solar Crystal, her younger foster sister, and daughter of Celestia and her husband Sombra.

"I've asked Vincent to hang out with me by the waterfall," said Sunset.

"What, is that guy your boyfriend?" asked Solar sarcastically.

"Sh-shut up!" snapped Sunset, blushing madly. "Vincent and I are just friends!"

"That's not what I heard," Solar smirked. "Were you dreaming about him last night?"

Sunset was about to tell Solar that it was none of her business, when she suddenly remembered a dream she had last night.

"I... did," she said at last. "Except it wasn't a happy one. It was about a world where I hadn't been born, and Vincent... was alone and unhappy."

Solar felt a little bad for teasing her now.

"Oh," she said quietly.

"It's alright," said Sunset, knowing Solar was about to apologize. "You weren't to know." The two foster siblings were quiet for another minute; their bond wasn't as strong as Vincent's and Fictionary's, but they still cared for one another nonetheless.

At that moment, Sombra came into the kitchen.

"Morning, children," he greeted.

"Oh, hey, dad," said Solar flatly.

"Morning, So- I mean, dad," Sunset corrected herself; she was still getting used to having a foster father.

"Have a good night's sleep?" asked Sombra.

"Not really," said Sunset. And she told Sombra about her nightmare.

"I'm so sorry you dreamed that," said Sombra comfortingly.

"Have you ever had bad dreams like that?" asked Sunset.

"I have," said Sombra. "It shortly after I left Rainbow Falls; I was afraid Celestia and the then-unborn Solar would get hurt by my ruthless father."

"No!" cried Sunset in disbelief.

"I'm afraid so," sighed Sombra. "The nightmares got so bad that I was almost driven to suicide."

"But what stopped you?" asked Sunset.

"Your foster mother."

"But she wasn't there with you...?"

"Heh. No. Not physically, at least," Sombra explained. "No, Celestia was with me in my mind. I imagined her at my funeral with a baby bundle, sobbing about how I was lost to her forever. I couldn't bear to hurt her like that. But I knew that if I went back to her, there was a chance my father would track me there and kill her."

"That's awful!" cried Sunset. "I'm sorry you had to go through this."

"It's alright, Sunset," said Sombra, putting a hand on her shoulder. In the last few months that she'd known him, Sunset saw Sombra as though he were a close duplicate of her deceased father Noble Shield.

"Well," said Sombra, "I must be off. Have a good day." With that, Sombra left. When he was out of the room, Sunset turned to Solar Crystal.

"What's with you and dad?" asked Sunset.

"He abandoned mom when she was pregnant with me," protested Solar.

"He did it to protect you," insisted Sunset. "He didn't want to, but if he didn't, it would put mom at risk of being killed, and you never would have been born at all."

"Rubbish," snorted Solar. "He probably just didn't want to take the responsibility of taking care of me."

"Well, maybe you should get to know him better," said Sunset.

"Even if I did, it won't take away that he wasn't there for me for sixteen years."

"You're just determined to hold onto this grudge, aren't you?" asked Sunset, losing her patience. Solar Crystal didn't say a word, and left the room. Sunset sighed and looked down, defeated.

"Why does she have to be so bullheaded and stubborn?" she asked to no one in particular. Then suddenly, she remembered something.

"I gotta meet up with Vincent!"

RIGHT NOW

Vincent and Sunset didn't know how long their snowball fight lasted, but both were starting to feel exhausted.

"Alright, Sunset," panted Vincent, throwing his snowball a rather limp five feet from him. "You win."

"That's another victory for Double S," giggled Sunset.

"How do you manage to do it?" asked Vincent, sitting next to her.

"Back in my darkest days," explained Sunset, "I would throw stuff at dummies and pretended it was Starlight and Trixie."

"Really?" asked Vincent. "You must've been really good at it."

"Took quite a lot of practice," said Sunset. "And it was good for to me to vent my frustrations."

"A good point," said Vincent. Both sat in silence for a few minutes before Sunset spoke up again.

"I had fun seeing you today," she said.

"Yeah, same here, Sunny," said Vincent, taking hold of her hand. This caused Sunset to blush. Both looked at each other and leaned closer as if they were going to kiss. Suddenly, a phone went off. Vincent pulled his phone out of his pocket to see that he'd gotten a text message.

"It's Flash," said Vincent. "It's his turn with groceries and he's asking if I need anything. No, I'm good," he said, replying to his brother's text. "Now, where were we again?" asked Vincent, having just posted his reply.

Sunset blushed madly again.

"I... I just remembered," she said. "I've to take out the garbage today. So, er, I'll see you around...?" With that, Sunset took off.

"Um, okay, Sunset," said Vincent as she left. "I understand... I guess...?" Seeing that there was no reason for him to hang around, he headed off for home as well.

JANUARY 3, 2014

Sunset was running as fast as her feet could let her. Her guitar was strapped to her back, and she was making her way to Sweet Apple Acres where she and the rest of the Rainbooms - Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie - would be recording some of the songs they auditioned back in the summer of 2013. Very recently, what was now called Sweet Apple Recording Acres had been given some recording equipment so the Rainbooms could put their music down to tape. Some protested that it would've been cheaper to simply rent a studio for about $50 an hour, but still, it would do the job.

By the time Sunset finally turned up, it was only Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie that were already there.

"Phew... hey there... girls," said Sunset, gasping for breath. "I'm not late... am I...?"

"Naw, yer actually on time, Sunset," said Applejack. "Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash ought to be here any minute. In the meantime, why don't we tune up our instruments?"

"Already done!" said Pinkie, who then did a drum fill. Her kit had been set up at the studio so she wouldn't have to lug it around between here and her family's rock farm. Rarity's keyboard, although not as awkward or time-consuming to set up, was also based at the studio. ("I would've preferred a keytar myself," she admitted.)

Still, whilst they waited for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, the present Rainbooms decided to jam a little by covering some of their favorite artists - David Bowie, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, you name it. Whilst they were in the middle of "Here Comes My Girl," Fluttershy turned up with her tambourine.

"Oh, I'm sorry for being late," said Fluttershy. "I was on my way when I saw a family of kittens who were too adorable for me to pass up."

"That's all right, Fluttershy," said Rarity. "You're here, and that's what matters."

"Eeyup," agreed Applejack. "We're givin' ourselves a bit of a warm up whilst we're waiting for Rainbow Dash."

"What's taking her so long?" asked Pinkie. "We've got some songs to practice!"

The first song the Rainboms did with Fluttershy was, appropriately, "Mr. Tambourine Man." A few songs later, Rainbow Dash finally turned up with her guitar.

"Look what the cat dragged in," said Applejack.

"My bike got a flat tire when I hit a stone in the road," explained Rainbow Dash. "Took me ages to fix the darn thing, and in the freezing snow! I like things to be cooler, but that wasn't what I had in mind."

"Well, at least you're here now," said Fluttershy. Without a reply, Rainbow Dash unpacked her guitar, plugged in and started playing the chords to "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," with the rest of the band following her lead.

The Rainbooms had made it clear that they wanted no outside producers or listeners whilst they were practicing; just the six girls themselves. In-between songs, they'd talk about the music they loved listening to. Right now, Rarity was talking about the solo career of Paul McCartney.

"Oh, he was certainly understated back in the 1970s," she told Sunset. "Paul's songwriting might not have been as memorable when he was a Beatle, but he could still hold a solid tune."

"I bet Vincent would go on for hours about the Beatles," said Sunset. "They may not be my most favorite band in the world, but I get why he likes them."

"I read somewhere saying that Paul dude died back in 1966," said Rainbow Dash.

"Don't believe everythin' ya hear, Dash," said Applejack. "It's all a load of baloney if ya ask me. Ya'll never find any other bassist like James Paul McCartney."

"Speaking of," said Sunset, "why don't we try one of his solo songs? What's the one that sounds like a 1970s Beatles song?"

"I know this one," said Rarity, playing a few chords on her keyboard. "I think Math Equation told me about it - it's called 'Let Me Roll It'."

Rarity then began to play the intro of the song, with Applejack and Pinkie as backup on bass and drums, respectively. After about half a minute, Sunset then played a guitar riff that would be repeated whilst she sang the lead vocals:

"You gave me something I understand
You gave me loving in the palm of my hand

I can't tell you how I feel
My heart is like a wheel
Let me roll it, let me roll it to you
Let me roll it, let me roll it to you..."

There was a brief solo before Sunset sang again:

"I want to tell you and now's the time
I want to tell you that you're going to be mine

I can't tell you how I feel
My heart is like a wheel
Let me roll it, let me roll it to you
Let me roll it, let me roll it to you..."

Then there was another solo, this one lasting for about half a minute with the same guitar riff being repeated.

"I can't tell you how I feel
My heart is like a wheel
Let me roll it, let me roll it to you
Let me roll it, let me roll it to you..."

Once again, the riff was played as the song's outro before Sunset stopped after another half minute.

"Do you girls feel it's time to start working on our own songs?" asked Sunset.

"Yeah, I think we're just about ready," said Rainbow Dash. "What do you say, girls?"

"Sounds fun!" giggled Pinkie Pie.

"Sure, Ah'm up fer it," said Applejack.

"Positively delightful, darling," said Rarity.

"Yay," said Fluttershy quietly, which was taken by the group as a yes.

The first song the Rainbooms voted to work on was one of Rarity's compositions, "Dance Magic." Sunset had helped Rarity out with the verses whilst Pinkie wrote the middle eight. Rarity had initially written the tune with a disco theme in mind, but it eventually evolved into having more of a pop rock sound. It had taken the Rainbooms five attempts before they got to a take that Rarity liked best.

"How'd we do?" asked Applejack once playback had finished.

"Fantastic!" cried Rarity. "We could make a music video for it one day."

"We'd probably need the right crew for it," said Sunset. She then turned to Fluttershy; the sixteen-year-old Indian girl hadn't spoken that much during the sessions apart from providing backing vocals.

"What's with Fluttershy?" asked Sunset to Applejack.

"It... kinda has to do with Big Mac," Applejack explained, trying her best not to upset Fluttershy in front of the others.

"It's okay, Applejack," said Fluttershy. "But things didn't work out between me and Big Mac."

"Why not?" asked Sunset.

"He fell in love with this girl named Sugar Belle."

"Oh," said Sunset. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay," said Fluttershy. "He and I still agreed to be just friends."

"Well, that's good to hear," said Rainbow Dash, but before she could continue, Pinkie interrupted.

"Speaking of love, how are you and Soarin getting on?"

"Let's just move onto another song," snapped Rainbow Dash, noticing that Pinkie and Applejack were trying to stifle some giggles.

"Rainbow Dash, don't you want to talk about it?" asked Sunset.

"No!" snapped Rainbow Dash.

"Denial is a river in Africa," joked Pinkie.

"I said, no! Now shut it!" snapped Rainbow Dash.

"Jeez, Dash!" exclaimed Applejack. "No need to be so blunt."

The next song being practiced on was one Applejack began called "Friendship Through the Ages." As they began their first take, Sunset's mind was on the conversation - and subsequent teasing toward Rainbow Dash - they just had.

What if things really don't work out between me and Vincent? she thought worriedly. What if we aren't good enough for each other? What if he goes for that... that big belly bimbo known as Blossomforth...?

"Hey, Sunset!" called a voice.

"Wha-? Um, yeah, Pinkie?" asked Sunset. "What is it?"

"Did you wanna get some lunch?"

"Oh! Um... sure. What'd you have in mind?"

"I was thinking pizza." The other Rainbooms all responded positively to Pinkie's idea, and on that note, they headed off together.

FOOTNOTE

The first segment takes place at the same time as Vincent and Flash's scene in the previous chapter. The second and third take place immediately after the previous chapter as well.