Melancholy
Chapter 7

Roth opened his dreary eyes and looked around his small house.
He let out a loud groan "It feels like there are fuckin' five midgets wrestlin' inside my head."

He carefully picked himself up off the sofa and walked carefully to the bathroom and eased open the medicine cabinet.
The bright light inside the cabinet forced his eyes closed as he just swatted at the shelf, knocking a few bottles of pills into the sink.
He clumsily closed the cabinet and looked at the spilled tablets in the sink.
He looked at the mirror on the closed medicine cabinet.
He was a wreck.
Bags under his exhausted eyes, a chip gone out of his left ear.
His mane, once well-kept and proudly worn, now lifeless and greying.
Even his coat had begun to fade a little.
He had wasted away his years since that day back in 2000.
He had lost everything, his fame and most of his fortune.
And everyone in his family.
Even the band, they left him to drown in his misery.

Every day he felt regret for everything he had done that lead to his self-destruction.
But he knew that now there was nothing he could do except drag himself along the path until he finally reached the end.

Roth reached his hoof into his sink and picked up some pills, His fetlocks were really the only thing he bothered to take care of now, he cut them when they got too long.
He thought that at least one of these must be an aspirin.
He stuffed them in his mouth and forced them down, coughing as some of them fizzed on contact with his saliva, making them difficult to swallow.
The blue pony coughed and spluttered and quickly turned the faucet, drinking hastily to wash the medicine down.
He crept back into his living room and slumped back into his couch.
He looked at the coffee table in front of him, covered in rings from bottles, ash and other residues.
Roth slid open his box of cigarettes, two remained.
He looked at it, disappointed.
He drew it out and stuck the filtered end in his mouth.
He struck a match, lighting his first smoke of the day.
Roth watched the smoke from the cigarette rise and twist, slowly fading to nothing against his cream ceiling.

The good memories were few and far between.
He should have stayed home more often, the amount of work he did was unnecessary.
But he could never let down the masses, and he truly did try to be there for his family when he had to.
Too little too late.
Panama. The Mare he once loved.
He closed his eyes and smiled, remembering her mane, like the sunshine, and how it went so well with her bright blue coat, and those beautiful ruby eyes.

May – 1976

A new band was on the scene, Iron Hoof.
They had made their first album nearly 1 year ago, and in that time it had caused quite the uproar.
They had been picked up in a bar they played a gig at by a talent scout from the record label New Eclipse.
They started to make their first album, but right from the get go the higher-ups in the company thought their sound had no marketability.
To them, ponies wanted happy songs, Iron Hoof offered their own brand of Hard Rock that could be up-beat, heavy, or even dangerous sounding!
But, taking a gamble, they allowed it published.
It was met with surprisingly positive from mainstream music critics, one of them even stating,
"Hard and Heavy Rock is no longer the domain of the freaks."

They pioneered the genre to unimaginable heights in the years to come, but here in 1976, they were playing the first gig of their first Equestrian Tour.

After the sound check, the band stepped out to a packed Canterlot Stadium full of roaring fans slamming their hooves off the ground.
Almost overwhelmed, an 18 year old Roth stepped up to the mic.
"Wow, what can I say really?", The crowd hushed to hear him speak, "You know, all my life I've been put down, told I'd never be anything! Just because I didn't like things other ponies like! I didn't like the music, I hated it! The kind of music I like was shunned when I was growing up! They said this kind of music is…"Impure!"", the sea of eyes cheered as Roth finished the line with disgust, "They told me that this kind of music condones violence, drugs, and all this other crap! No! I never thought of it like that! But it wasn't until I got together with my buddies, some of the best friends a pony could have," He gestured back to his band mates and they gave a wave to the cheering crowd, "It was only until I started making this music when I learned for sure this was art! It's an expression of feeling from the soul! And I knew that ponies would love our music, because I knew that I couldn't be the only one who's ever gotten angry before!" The attendance raised their voices in unanimous agreement.

Mumble's horn light up, using his magic to manipulate the strings on his Bass guitar.
His amplified instrument produced a low, steady groove.
Roth smiled and raised his head to the microphone again, "How many of you out there have gotten so fucking angry you wanted to just KILL somepony!? Somepony who just bugs the livin' SHIT outa you!" The crowed replied with a loud roar, "This is for you! The ones who aren't afraid to let your emotions show!"

In their gig, they played all 12 songs from their first album.
The crowd still wanted more, so they did some covers of lesser known artists who helped to inspire them.
From this the artists gained recognition.
Eventually they left the stage, and soon the ponies followed suit.

Roth, Asher, Verax, Mumble and Firestorm all went backstage, and walked proudly to the caravan they would be staying in.
"Sweet fucking Celestia! That was so sick!" Exclaimed Asher, slumping onto the couch, followed by Firestorm and Verax.
Roth chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, that was great! I can't believe we pulled it off! They loved us!"
Firestorm thrust his hooves onto the table in front of him "Gosh that got me so psyched up! When's the next show?" he said excitedly.
Mumble checked the calendar on the wall, "Ehhh, today is Thursday….Saturday! We're preforming again on Saturday!"
There was a knocking on the door, followed by a feminine voice, "Hello? You in there?"
Roth, being closest to the door, opened the door.
Before him was a young looking electric blue mare.
Her golden mane was tied to a singly pigtail behind her head.
Behind her she had a cart containing the bands encased instruments.
The drum set had its own waggon entirely.
"Excuse me sir, I brought your instruments, where would you like them?" She looked up at Roth.
He smiled and chuckled, the rest of the band snickered along, "Uhm, you do know that the gear gets its own carriage, right?", said Roth through a smile.
The mare's ears drooped as she was informed of the error and quickly turned around in an attempt to hide and embarrassed blush. "I-I'm sorry! I'll go find it and…sorry for bothering you!"
Roth rolled his eyes and grinned, "Here I'll show ya the way!", he said as he stepped down from the doorway.
"Would you? It's my first day on the job here and they just told me to put them away!" She said before putting the handle of the waggon in her mouth and began to drag it along its shaky wheels.
"Ah sure, too bad we didn't have you when we arrived, we had to unload the truck ourselves, 'twas brutal!" His horn emitted a glow, taking control of the carts for the struggling pony.
She spat the handle out, "Bah! Thanks! I wish I had a horn, I bet things are way easier!"
"Yeah, I guess!" The kept walking through the stadium grounds to the staff parking lot.
"So what's your name, missy?"
"Panama."
"Hmm, alright then Panama, my name is Roth Ironhoof, nice to meet ya!"
"Nice to meet you too Roth!"
They exchanged pleased looks upon reaching the carriage.
Roth dispelled his grip on the carts and they quickly came to a stop beside the pair.
Roth levitated each case, one by one, into the back of the truck.
"Gee, I bet you can do all sorts of neat tricks with that thing!" inquired Panama, nodding towards his glowing horn.
"Nahh, I'm not one for the fancy-shmancy magic thing. Grasp spells do you a world of good, it's all I know really!"
"A grasping spell, eh?" she smirked to herself, "I bet that's pretty helpful!"
Roth finished loading the guitar and amps and started to move the drum kit, "Oh it is!"
"When did you master that particular spell?", she held herself back from snickering.
"Well I say by the time I was 15 I was great at-" Roth stopped moving a box in mid-air and turned to look at Panama's leering face as she broke out into laughter.
Roth put the last crate into the carriage trunk quickly and shook his head laughing.
"Gosh I'm a fool for not figuring you out from the start!"
Panama calmed down and smiled at him "You're alright Roth Ironhoof. Even if your band name is egotistical, and even if you're not that great."
"Eheh, fuck you. We're the next big thing!" He said with a wide grin, closing the carriage and beginning to walk back across the parking lot.
She continued to walk beside him, "No way, I've seen "Alternate" acts like yours before, the only difference with you is that you've decided to exploit an emotion that a lot of ponies don't even talk about!"
Roth nodded his head, "I see your point, but by your logic, the happy crap must be exploiting emotions too!"
"Ugh, I suppoooose…"
"But hey, it's not about exploiting other people, it's about expressing your inne-"
"Alright! Alright! Your speech at the start had enough cheese for me!"
Roth chuckled and shook his head again, "Why the heck did you sign up for this if you don't like the music?"
Panama sighed impatiently, "I have to do this to pay for a place of my own! I just got out of school so I want to move out of my parent's house! I hate them so much..."
"Don't take them for granted, I never knew my parents, grew up with my grandfather, he passed a few months back. But I wasn't there, I haven't seen him for 2 years."
Panama was taken aback, "Oh, I'm sorry."
"Nah don't be. He raised me well I think, though he never approved of my music. That's why I moved out, I figured the atmosphere was too "oppressive", but I really should have stayed."
Panama nodded, "Yeah, I guess I could stay with them a little longer…"
"Nah get out while you can! My grandfather was nearin' his time by the time I was 13, he was lucky to make it as far as he did. Providin' your Mam n' Dad aren't old ones they'll be grand!"
"Heh, yeah I guess you're right!"
They reached the caravan, Roth turned to Panama, "So you're how old?"
"Oh, I'm sixteen!"
Roth was surprised, she looked young, but he wasn't expecting that young, "You're a bit young to be workin' this kind of business, don't ya think?"
"I can handle myself thanks! And work is work!"
Roth stepped up to the door, "So, are you gonna stay on with us for the rest of the tour? I'd rather have a friendly face handle our junk-"
Panama snickered at Roth, who just rolled his eyes.
"Hehehe, sure, I'll handle your gear! But you'll have to buy me dinner before I even think of going anywhere near your junk!" He giggled to herself.
"You're doin' a big mare's job now, stop actin' like a filly!"
"Fine geez! Go back to your flank-friends and leave me get on with it so!"
She turned and sauntered off towards the stadium, satisfied with her choice of words.
Roth sighed and opened the door to the caravan, where he was met with the amused looks of his friends.
"…What?" Roth asked, confused.
Verax chuckled to himself, "So, eheh, how was she?"
"Fuck you! I just showed her the way!" Retorted Roth.
"Oh I bet you showed her way more than that!"
They laughed, but Roth just shook his head grouchily and walked to the back of the caravan, to a small bedroom and lay down on it.
He looked up at the ceiling, and smiled.

Roth looked back down, his cigarette had burned up.
He let it drop from his mouth onto the table, the ash breaking off from it and crumbling like the finest dust.

-

Ok. Not dead. Just lazy.
This whole thing is a beginning to the real backstory of this Roth guy.
Expect a few time jumps in chapters involving him.
I intend to jump from present day Roth to him at important times in his life, many will involve his band and this Panama female.
So yeah, pretty long chapter.
"Woah, where the fuck was I?"
God Kahl not again, this isn't a chapter for you!
"I'm the main fucking character! How can you just NOT have me in a chapter!?"
To offer some insight into things that you weren't around to see! And I think your father would be an interesting character to explore!
"He's a fucker!"
Look, just shut up, get outa here!
"Fine, but I better be in the next one!"
We'll see.
Sorry, but yeah, I'm making the chapters longer to make up for the time gap.
I know it's not much of a compensation, bu-
"Hey what's this place?"
Wafflepaw, please leave, I'm trying to do a thing here!
"Why? I wanna say hi! HI! HELLO!"
Yeah great now cmon, get!
"Okeyy, bye guys!"
Yeah.
See ya guys, I'll try to motivate myself to write more, reviews and follows certainly help!

~Happy trails!