SE Ch. 2: Harsh Notes

It was a mostly quiet night, and smooth jazz in the background could've put anypony to sleep. Thankfully, Treble had fallen asleep an hour ago. In her dreams,  she was on stage, just her and her guitar, an adoring crowd shouting her name. She began strumming her guitar, only to be played over by a strange sound. She stopped strumming, and looked around, only to see nopony else on stage. Oddly enough, the sound stopped at the same time she did. The crowd continued cheering her name, so she started strumming again. She heard the sound again. "Now, who the hay could be playing that damned Cello?" she thought, but continued strumming. It was a haunting melody, that strangely matched her strumming perfectly. She stopped once more, as she noticed a hole form at the front of the crowd, as a long note rang out. Then she saw a single pony standing in the open, slowly moving a bow across the stringed instrument. She moved to the microphone, and called out a challenge. "Alright, Miss Cello. If you think you're better than me, why don't you come up here and prove it?"

The silhouette pony with the cello smiled, and walked toward the stage. As she climbed up, into the light, Treble saw a grey mare with long, straight black hair, pink eyes, a matching bowtie, and a purple Treble Clef cutie mark, almost exactly like her own. She stood her cello up, and leaned against it, setting her bow on the strings, as Treble stomped on her distortion pedal. Her left hoof moved quickly up and down the neck, as she started a screaming melodic solo. She played the progression for about ten seconds, then ended it on an open low note. "Match that!"

The grey mare grinned, as she matched the solo with her own melodic playing, letting the last note flaunt itself, just as Treble did. Treble glared, and begin playing again. This time, faster, and more powerful. She didn't plan on letting up, and had been playing the solo for a few seconds, only to hear the cello begin, and blend itself with her playing. She decided it was time to pull out all the stops. She started going faster, almost breaking a sweat, as she pulled out super speed scales, arpeggios, and even a technique she called "hooftapping." But, even with all this, the cellist didn't let up.

Treble noticed the Cellist start to sweat, when she heard a loud knocking. She quickly shot up from the couch, shooting from her odd dream, and back to reality. The knocking g continued, and she could hear somepony calling her name.

"Treble! Treeeeble!"

Treble slowly peeled herself from the couch, not even bothering to look at the clock, and trudged tiredly to the door, slowly opening it. "Who is i- Rythm? What are you doing here, this late? Shouldn't you be in bed? Why are you crying?"

The white mare tried to muster words, only managing to let out a few between her deep, exhausted breaths. "Treble… Bass… Bad fall... Hospital..."

Apparently, that's all Treble needed to hear, because she was instantly out the door, Rythm close on her tail.

It didn't take long for them to reach the hospital, with the adrenaline, and all. As the two mares reached the counter, the receptionist instantly spoke. "Room 23C."

The two continued down the hallway, counting each room as they passed it. They had to slow down, however, with the place being a hospital, and all. As the two trotted, at a hurried pace down the hall, they stopped in front of the last room, as a doctor was coming out. The doctor looked at the two mares. "I'm sorry ladies… we did all we could.…"

Treble started bawling, without even thinking about it. The thought of losing her only living family member made her want to roll over and die. Rythm was crying, too, as she wrapped her front legs around Treble, and buried her face into Treble's fur.

Little did they know that the doctor was now looking at them with a look of extreme confusion. He was about to walk back into the room, when a dark grey stallion with a black mohawk walked out of the room, and looked at the two mares, and cleared his throat. The two mares looked at him, now only sobbing softly. "What seems to be the problem, here, ladies?"

Treble looked at the stallion, and burst to hysterical tears. "Bass is… Bass is…"

The doctor chuckled. "If you would've let me finish, I would've told you that we did all we could, but he's going to need to rest a few days."

The two mares looked at each other, and blushed, realizing just how much of a scene they had caused. "Sorry, Doc… I just couldn't stand the thought of losing my brother."

The doctor chuckled. "I understand completely. Now, you three are welcome to stay with him until he wakes up, if you'd like."

The next couple of days went by slowly, as the two mares waited for Bass to wake up. Treble rarely left the room, except to get something to eat, while Rythm only left once, to have a band meeting with Major Chords, the band's guitarist. Apparently, it wasn't a very happy conversation, because Rythm came back in looking rather distraught.

Treble sat silently, and thought to herself. "Well, I hope this changes Bass for the better. Who knows, maybe he'll finally sober up enough to see that he and Rythm are perfect for each other." She smiled sweetly, as she saw Rythm lean over, and plant a kiss on Bass's forehead. It was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. She was so happy thinking these two ponies could find love together, not to mention that she would hopefully have time during her busy day to go out more. Treble giggled at the thought that she, of all ponies, would have free time. And while she was on the thought, she realized that she hadn't been home to receive any of Twilight's letters. Then the thought came together. "Who knows, if everything works out, I could just move to Ponyville, and never have to write another letter in my life."

Just when she thought that everything was going to be better, Bass woke up… and all hell broke loose.