Strings and Keys in Prelude 2

Ponyville has had a rather small history of music. The only locally famous(ish) ponies everypony knew off today that played some sort of musical instrument were Octavia with her smooth double bass, Lyra with her delicate harp, and local DJ, Vinyl Scratch. All had gained a rather noticeable reputation within the community. But that didn't stop other talented musicians from joining the band wagon.

Forte, a light brown earth pony with a black mane, was just one in many musicians in Ponyville. Like every musician, he or she had a special talent with one particular instrument. In Forte's case, he specialised in playing the double bass, just like Octavia. However, he would notice that his talents could not match Octavia's in a lifetime. He just pictured himself as another random musician never going to make it big. Nobody really recognised his potential.

As for Forte's background, his life had been a rather mixed one. First, when introduced by his father a double bass, he became mesmerized by his father's skill in music and the fact that the double bass produced an emotional and passionate sound. His father instinctively passed on his wisdom of the double bass to his enthralled son. Soon, at a very young age, he became a talented musician specialising in a suitably scaled down version of his father's double bass. He had gained his cutie mark at an early age in the form of an F Hole - a part of the double bass.

However, during his years being taught at Ponyville's schoolhouse, things unfortunately took a turn for the worst. At first Forte was an enthusiastic little colt ready to learn. However later on, his skills brought the attention of the local bullies who often mocked him for playing a "stupid instrument". His confidence ever so slowly diminished throughout the years. He told his parents everything about the bullies and what particular things they were saying to him. His parents did everything they could to boost the confidence within him, but the bullies just kept on pressing their attack on the little colt.

But it was on one unfortunate day, after a wave of attacks from the bullies, that one statement took the final blow on Forte's confidence. A brown earth pony, with a group of mixed ponies, stood proud with his gang. Forte was about to walk away when the earth pony said something Forte would never forget.

"You listen to me and you will listen well. You are nothing but a 'broken string' in this world; useless to everyone!"

This hit Forte like a tonne of bricks shattering the last fragile bit of his confidence. The gang walked away laughing humiliatingly with the earth pony's statement. Forte waited until the gang were at least out of ear shot. With all hope gone from his heart, he sat down with his small double bass slung over his back. He tried to fight back the tears gathering at the edge of his eyes but to no avail. The waterworks went into overdrive as the tears flowed freely down his cheeks. He sobbed uncontrollably with the words clouding his head.

"A broken string". "Useless to everyone".

The words set into his mind. He was useless. He never would show the talent he had over the stringed instrument.

On his way home, he happened to come across the local music store specialising in the classical genre. He entered slowly and took in the shops surroundings. The walls, ceiling and floor were plastered with a mahogany wood, creating a calm atmosphere within the shop. Various records of classical music hung from the walls. However what really caught him was the music playing in the background.

He tried to muster up his confidence and asked the shopkeeper with however an extremely shy voice.

"Excuse me. What is that music playing in the background?"

"That is "Prelude 2" by Dusty O'Hoofran" the shopkeeper replied with a calm voice; he could tell the shyness in the pony, "would you like to purchase it?"

"Umm… yes please" Forte answered. He took in his sudden shyness and sighed, defeated by his own self.

The shopkeeper started to rummage through a small room behind the tills; Forte gathered that this was the storeroom for all the records. Eventually, the shopkeeper presented a record held within a hard paper case showing its distinctive album artwork.

"That'll be three bits please" the shopkeeper asked.

Forte counted the bits in his hoof and handed out three of them. The two ponies exchanged their offerings; Forte said thank you and both went back to their happenings.

Forte reached his home, still silent from earlier on. He opened the front door and as always heard the workings of his parents doing the chores throughout the house.  His father was the first to see Forte. However, he only briefly saw him as Forte suddenly rushed upstairs to his room. Father knew that something was up.

He gently came upstairs to see Forte's room door closed. He patiently waited outside for any reason of his son's problem. However, he could hear the sounds of his son's record player being used. What was he up to?

Forte switched the record already on the player to the record he just bought. He fiddled about with the player's workings until he let the needle rest upon the rotating record. A few moments later, a quiet piano solo came from the player's speaker. Forte had heard of this musical piece, and he knew where. While in his teachings of the double bass, he had been introduced to the particular piece which involved collaboration between the double bass and the piano. This was one of his all-time favourite pieces.

Outside, Father listened intently on the music. He immediately recognised the piece and set about pondering why Forte was in such a state.

That was when the roller-coaster began to bring back Forte's confidence. However, every attempt made by his parents failed with no results; they were worried about him. However, it was every night they heard the same piece of music just once being played on the old record player.

"Prelude 2" by Dusty O'Hoofran

It was currently the late evening within Canterlot – the capital of this part of Equestria. In the middle of the residential district, more specifically a building built specifically to house multiple musical recording studios, a group of ponies armed with their musical instruments waited anxiously by a single studio. They were auditioning to become part of a small orchestra playing in Ponyville in around 3 weeks' time. They would be judged on their fluidity, their skill, and by the emotional output from their instruments.

Our friend, Forte, exited the studio with an old look on his face. As he expected, due to his sad thoughts, he had failed to pass the examination. The other ponies took no notice of his expression.

Forte thought that entering this audition would increase his confidence and become a part of the community. But due to his thoughts clouding up his mind, the judges couldn't take him on. His thoughts on hopelessness increased dramatically.

He decided he would try and shake it off by entering one of the other studios located within the building. He entered a studio labelled "07" on the door. As he closed the door, a noticeable echo was heard from the closure - this was a rather big studio.

Standing in the middle of the room was a large grand piano; its black wood gleamed from the dim lights. A couple of seats were placed around the edges of the room. He sat down on one of them and readied his now bigger double bass. He thought he would play his signature song "Prelude 2" once more to try and lift his hopes up. But he knew it would just lead him into another day of solitude and misery. However, he persisted. He readied the bow and sighed, another round of "Prelude 2" was about to commence.

Suddenly, as he was about to play the string solo, he heard a small melody coming from the piano. He turned his head to see a filly delicately placing her hooves on the right keys in a completely fluid motion. However, the tune really caught him off guard as it was the piano solo from "Prelude 2".

"Coincidence" he thought as the filly continued the start of the piece.

He wanted to see the filly playing this piece of music, but he had trouble mustering the courage to do so. He wouldn't want to be intruding on the filly's piece, but the beauty of the piano solo greatly encouraged him to do so.

He slowly and quietly got up from the chair, being careful to not make a noise from the double bass as he placed it in front of him in a playing position. When he took a glimpse of the pony, it astounded him.

She was the most beautiful filly he had ever seen, playing a masterpiece with deep emotion set into her mind. Her very light tan coat shone from the dim lights as her salmon mane and tail moved silently with her motion. Her cutie mark portrayed a few keys from a piano, some white and some black. With her eyes closed, she had it set in her memory where each key was to play the piece. There was no error whatsoever as the sounds of the piano created an atmosphere full of passion and beauty. Her motion flowed with the timing of the piece with a hypnotizing fluidity. The quality of her playing in Forte's mind looked and sounded like it would match the quality of his record; simply amazing.

He then realised she was about to come to the part where the string solo would collaborate with the piano solo. He readied his double bass properly and set the bow across the strings. Perfectly in time, he matched the pace of the piano and began his solo.

The light tan pony didn't falter when the string solo come in; she just kept her fluid motion and played on. Forte was worried that she would stop, but she just kept playing and he closed his eyes – feeling the rhythm and the composure. It had taken him years to perfect the string solo but when he did, he was never accompanied by someone on the piano as he always imagined – until now.

The two parts harmonized to create the full piece, a calm and serene atmosphere showing love and passion. The constant magic in the air corresponded with the magic of the music. It started to shine out in different colours to create an almost rainbow effect around the two ponies. The barrage of light swirled in a gentle perpetual motion as it flowed with the music. Anypony viewing this would be absolutely astounded by this magical sight.

As the piano solo went into the final stage, Forte was just lost in thought of the beauty and soul of the music created by him and this pony. Both ponies didn't notice the magical occurrence drifting around them, but they could feel it inside them as the music started to slowly bring them together, even if they didn't know each other.

As both the last notes of the double base and piano chimed together and faded into existence, the magical barrier faded away as the sound disappeared slowly. Both ponies opened their eyes to reflect on their true masterpiece. They looked at each other to begin a long and awkward silence. Both had been carried away by the sheer pleasure of playing together that they hadn't even introduced themselves. Forte was the first to break the silence, shyly.

"Umm… I'm sorry if I intruded on your piece" he said timidly expecting a bad remark from the pony.

But he didn't expect the pony to get up and walk towards him, face to face.

"I… haven't heard any music so… beautiful in all my life" she said with a quiet voice silently struck by awe.

Her voice was so sweet and innocent in his ears. He immediately scratched the thought of himself intruding - but where was his manners.

"I… I'm Forte" he introduced himself.

The tan pony smiled sweetly at the brown colt. "I'm simply known as Piano" she then introduced herself, "and not just because I play the piano, but because I play with what they say "a most delicate touch"".

Forte couldn't help but smile from Piano's metaphor. But something else was released deep in his mind. This was the first pony he was able to fully talk to in an extremely long time. Was this really happening? Was his confidence really coming back?

"I must say that your skills with the double bass are just… amazing" Piano commented.

"Umm… thank you" Forte said trying not to blush so hard. Piano giggled happily, she was starting to like this pony.

"And I think your… skills at the piano are… are beautiful" Forte came back praising her. She bashfully smiled. "But that's not all that is beautiful" he said, romance was filling the air.

Piano blushed hard from Forte's last comment. She had never been praised for her looks, but it felt good. She really liked this pony.

"Umm… I don't suppose you would like to come to my house. W… We can play that music again if you like" she asked.

Forte almost couldn't believe it. He had only known her for around 3 minutes and she was already asking him to play more music with her. He stared into her ocean blue eyes looking for a suitable answer. "I wonder why?"

"Sure. I'd love to" he replied.

Piano smiled again. "Ok then. Follow me"

The two ponies smiled at each other and exited the studio.

For Forte, an unknown feeling was hanging inside him. Apart from the fact that this unexpected meeting was making him a happier pony, there was something else about her that made him feel him even happier. He couldn't help but admire this pony from behind. Her salmon tail swayed gently as when she was playing the piano. Those blue eyes would sparkle with beauty when he looked at her directly. Her sweet voice was just perfect for some reason in particular. Was this a sign of love? "No it couldn't be" he thought to himself, although he couldn't help but wonder.

As they entered the now silent night shining on the streets of Canterlot, they both took in the stars and the moon of the night beaming down on all of the land. It was such a peaceful time of the day.

A few minutes later and Piano had led Forte to her home near the edge of Canterlot. She unlocked the front door and let Forte enter first. Forte was hesitant at first because he didn't want to feel snobbish in front of the filly who wanted him to be first through. "Go on" she encouraged gently. Forte breathed in, breathed out and entered her home. She closely followed behind closing the door to her home.

Forte was amazed at the quality of the house since they were near the edge of Canterlot. The house consisted of four rooms: a study, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom.

The kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom were like any other rooms in residential Canterlot. But the study was something different. It had a grand piano in the centre similar to the one back at the studio, only this one was much more beautiful. A couple seats surrounded the piano.

"Nice place you have here" he said still feeling a little shy. Piano smiled happily.

"Do you want anything to drink" she asked politely. Forte knew that normally it would be the colt asking the filly if she wanted a drink, this was obviously but strangely different.

"Uh… yes please. Water thanks".

Piano nodded and entered the kitchen.

Forte took this time to inspect the grand piano standing proud in the middle of the study. He always thought the piano was kind of like a string instrument as pressing they key would cause a small "hammer" to strike the string an cause it to reverberate which makes the sound. Pianos were definitely one of the most beautiful and technical of instruments.

"I see you like my piano" Piano said holding two cups of water. Forte turned to look at Piano and couldn't help but admire her some more.

But seeing that he was possibly about to make a fatal mistake, he shook his head in his mind and continued talking.

"Oh, yes" he continued, "some of the details on here are exquisite". He hoped that his details fooled Piano. Though he couldn't help but feel slight guilt.

"Thanks" Piano replied bringing over the two cups. She handed one cup over to the brown colt. On instinct, he sipped at the water, slightly quenching a hidden thirst from before. "So... I would love to hear how you came to playing the double bass so brilliantly if that's ok with you" Piano said almost too enthusiastically.

However, Forte's happiness immediately turned to anxiousness. He would normally associate such a topic only to himself. But somehow, the way the words were being said by this very earth pony made him want to tell her about his life story. And so he began.

He told her about how his father introduced the very double bass he was playing – how the deep noises it made inspired him to carry on his father's work. But he also said how the bullies at the school house made fun of him and how his confidence slowly vanished. He hesitated at saying the very words that made him lose hope, but with a little bit of kind encouragement, he said them out loud.

Piano gaped in disgust of how the bullies were treating him and of those final words. But then she did something Forte wasn't expecting.

"Don't you even think about what they said" Piano said putting an arm around his shoulder, "just because they say that doesn't mean that you are. In my opinion, your skills would lead you to becoming a great musician".

Forte, in his mind had entered a whirlwind of confusion. He had never met a pony who cared for him in this way. Why was she being so caring? Maybe if he asked about her story…

He nodded in appreciation to hide his thoughts away. "Umm… I don't suppose you would like to tell me your side of the story" he asked anxiously.

Piano only smiled.

"When I was just a young filly, I didn't really know what I was supposed to do. I saw everypony get their cutie marks but like in most generations there were some fillies that got theirs much later on – I was one of them".

"However" she hesitated to bring back an unhappy memory, "my parents… passed away a few years ago. I couldn't bare it. I knew them for so long and they just had to pass away" tears started to swell up and she sniffed a bit, "I was old enough to look after myself back then, but I felt entirely hopeless. But then I stumbled upon this piano when I encouraged myself to find my cutie mark. I happened to enter a shop specialising in musical instruments when I came across it. The shopkeeper was a musician and gave me an example on the piano. I instantly fell in love with it. I wanted to buy the piano. My parents apparently planed an inheritance for me to take, which was one thousand bits. So I bought the piano for half of that".

"Afterwards, I taught myself and I would play the piece we were playing a moment ago to carry myself away from my memories. But all the time, I was lonely and had no one to go to for help".

Piano sighed as she let a tear flow down her cheek. Forte felt bad, he had an almost identical childhood to her, only she had suffered more than just bullies. He understood now.

"I'm sorry for your loss" he comforted her, "I wish I could make it up for you".

Piano stared into his emerald green eyes; a feeling built up inside her began to make itself clearer. It was love – pure caring love; a feeling she had never experienced since before her parents passed away.

She leaned in and brought a deep kiss to the lips of Forte with her eyes closed. Forte's eyes went wide like saucers as he felt the warm feeling of Piano's lips against his. His heart beat increased tenfold and his cheeks blushed with a deep crimson. His mind went completely berserk. What was going on? However, she never forced her kiss intently and in a few moments, he let go and closed his eyes with hers. The hidden feeling of love ricocheted within his body, and best of all, his confidence came back boosted dramatically by the filly.

Piano let her tongue slip into his mouth and feel his tongue. More warmth spread over them as their moment of passion and love increased with every second.

However, their embrace was sadly interrupted when Forte released to gain back his breath; being caught off guard by the kiss made him short of breathe. Piano looked at him worryingly thinking she may have done something wrong.

"That was… amazing" Forte exclaimed quietly due to his lack of breathe. Piano released a sigh, relieved that she didn't slip up. Both stared at each other for a long time before Piano spoke up.

"Do you want to play Prelude 2 with me again" she asked surrendering to her lover before him.

"Piano, I would love to" Forte replied before planting a kiss on her lips. She smiled in pleasure as she wasn't alone anymore. Forte smiled as well, grateful that he had someone he could protect and play music with.

And so they played in harmony once more - double bass and piano; two lovers surrounded by the magical barrier harmonized by their music. Their signature piece:

"Prelude 2" by Dusty O'Hoofran