Ch. 9

It was a quiet, somewhat cloudy morning, and the air outside was crisp and cool. Winter had come, and it was obvious that snow was coming. The previous night passed slowly in the small house on the edge of Ponyville, with the exception of the yelling from the basement, as well as the screaming and moaning from the bedroom. The morning was silent, as the two exhausted lovers lay sleeping peacefully in the mare's bed.

Bass opened his eyes, and looked down at Vinyl, who was once again laying with her head on his chest. He smiled, and looked down at the sleeping mare, stroking her messy mane. "Time to wake up, love."

The mare rustled around for a second. "Mmm. Can't feel my legs. Five more minutes, baby."

He leaned down, and kissed her softly on the forehead, carefully avoiding her horn. "Fine. Five more minutes, Vi."

About thirty minutes or so later, Bass nudged Vinyl softly. "Come on, babe. We've got a long day ahead of us."

Vinyl looked up into Bass's eyes, and smiled. "Good morning, my love."

"And good morning to you too, beautiful."

Vinyl blushed, and rolled off of Bass, scooting toward the edge of the bed. Bass did the same, and the two lovers went into the kitchen to prepare a light breakfast. "Baby, should we make some thing for your sister, and Tavi?" And that's when they realized that there was an odd silence about the house.

Bass's eyes went wide. "Oh shit… it's too quiet."

Vinyl's expression turned to that of worry. "Do you think they're okay, Bass?"

"I don't know, let's go check."

The two ponies headed down the stairs toward the basement, and Bass kicked the wood away from the door, and unlocked it. "Well, here goes nothing."

He swung the door open, to find the two mares cuddling together on the floor, the room wreaking of sex. Bass was blown back by the smell, like it had mule kicked him in the face. "I guess I was right about those two."

Vinyl buried her face between her hooves to escape the strong scent.

Bass hit his hoof on the door, creating a loud smack, which jolted the two sleeping mares back to consciousness. "Oh, uh… good morning Bass. Vinyl." Treble looked at the two at the doorway, and blushed. "Sleep well?"

Bass grinned and raised an eyebrow. "I should ask you two the same."

Octavia lifted her head, her straight mane a complete mess. "Oh, my… uh, Vinyl, we'll clean up, I promise."

Vinyl didn't even look up, still holding her nose beneath her hooves. "That's cool."

"And when you get done, we'll have breakfast ready. Just come up, and grab some. I can't wait to hear about this." Bass laughed, and nudged Vinyl, the couple walking upstairs, to finish cooking.

A few minutes later the two mares came upstairs, the musky scent clinging to their fur, and their manes complete messes.

Bass set two plates on the table. "Here, you two eat up, then go wash up."

Treble and Octavia nodded, and sat down, eating slowly, occasionally glancing up at each other and smiling.

Bass couldn't help but notice this, and nudged Vinyl, motioning toward the two at the table. She looked at the mares and giggled softly. "Baby, I'm gonna go wash up before they finish."

Bass nodded, and took his plate, sitting at the table.

"So, I take it you two settled your differences?"

Treble looked up at her brother, and blushed. "Well, yeah."

Octavia grinned. "I never knew guitarists were so quick with their hooves."

Treble smiled at Octavia. "And the same can be said for cello players."

"Okay, ladies, I'm trying to eat, here. The last thing I need to hear is how good my sister is in bed."

"Oh, there was no bed involved." Treble grinned evilly.

"Again… eating!"

Octavia picked up on Treble's little game. "Oh, there was definitely eating."

Bass picked up his plate, walking away. "Thank you, ladies, for ruining my breakfast, and possibly my whole day. Good job." He then walked back into the bedroom.

The two mares watched him walk away, and erupted in howls of laughter the moment he shut the door.

"That'll teach him to lock us in the basement." Treble grinned at Octavia.

"Indeed it will."

A few hours later, all five ponies were down in the basement, beginning practice once more. The show was the next evening, and Bass hadn't finished his song, yet. They had nearly perfected the other four songs for their setlist, and all that was left was Bass's "masterpiece."

Around noon, the group had dismissed for two hours so everypony could relax and enjoy a nice lunch. Treble and Octavia took Speed out into town to get something decent to eat, and Bass and Vinyl had gone back to Bass's house to find something to cook.

Vinyl was rummaging through the kitchen, looking for something to cook, while Bass was sitting on the couch with a pen and paper, trying desperately to put lyrics onto the sheet. After a few minutes, Bass tossed the pen and paper across the room, and walked into the bedroom, and began looking at all the pictures on the wall. Then he saw it. The picture of himself and Rhythm as foals, and the words from her diary played in his head like a broken record. "I know you're good at finding meaning in lyrics, Bass."

He quickly ripped the blanket off of the bed, and dug under it until he found what he was looking for. He dragged the box out, and set it in top of the bed, pulling the top off, and pulling out a small stack of paper. He spread all of the pages out on his bed, as he read each one of them, tears building in his eyes. Then he came upon one with a message on top. "Bass, if you're reading this, and I'm not around, I want you to know that it wasn't your fault. I've been fighting depression for a long time now. I've thought numerous times about ending it, but never had the courage. I'm always in so much pain. I love you, but I don't want my depression to drag you down as well. I wrote this song for you. Maybe one day, you'll find somepony who deserves it."

Bass wiped more tears from his eyes, then read the lyrics. His eyes lit up. "That's it!" Bass ran out of the room, and into the kitchen, where Vinyl had begun preparing lunch. "Babe, I found our last song!" He then excitedly held the lyric in front of her face.

Vinyl took a moment to read the note at the top, then the title. "'You Are The One?' So… you're dedicating this to me?" Vinyl was almost in tears.

Bass nodded, smiling. "I've never been quite able to put my feelings for you into words. And this song sums my feelings up entirely."

Vinyl smiled, and kissed Bass passionately, wrapping her front legs around his neck. "Then we're all ready for tomorrow. We just need to put music to these words. Then everypony will see the return of Lunar Black!"

Bass looked deep into Vinyl's eyes and shook his head slowly. "No, Lunar Black is dead."

Meanwhile, just outside Steedston, Silver Sky was just receiving a letter from the venue which was hosting her show. She opened it curiously.

"Dear Silver Sky:

In light of new circumstances, we have decided to add a few bands to the line-up for your show tomorrow. The new lineup is as follows:

-Skyleaf

-Silver Sky

-Bow to Beauty

Thank you for your understanding, and cooperation.

Sincerely,

The Management."

Sky shrugged. "Whatever. I'm in too good a mood to care about a few noponies. I wonder how Bass is drowning his sorrows right now… Eh, probably in half a bottle of pills, and a glass of booze."

She couldn't have been more wrong.

Next Chapter: Chapter 10: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge Estimated time remaining: 24 Minutes