You awake in the morning, and sit up with a stretch and a yawn. You look around to see that there’s still nobody there. “Nopony.” you whisper to yourself before shaking your head with a small chuckle. “I’ll never get used to that.”. You stand up and put your jacket back on and pull out the pack of cigarettes you kept in it’s pocket before letting out a sigh. You’d been smoking for nearly ten years, and you knew it was going to catch up with you sooner or later. ‘I have no reason to quit, though.’ you think to yourself as you remove the plastic wrapping and open the pack, removing one cigarette and placing it between your lips as you sit back down. You hear kids laughing in the background, and look behind you to see three little fillies walking and talking. You turn back and pull out your lighter with a sigh, as they remind you that you’ll never see your own daughter grow to that age. You light the cigarette and take a deep drag on it before pulling it out of your mouth to inhale the smoke, letting it back out in a deep sigh.

“You shouldn’t do that, you know. It’s unhealthy.” you hear a voice say from not to far away. You look to your left to see one of the fillies you’d just seen standing there. She was an orange pegasus, and had purple hair. ‘a purple mane.’ you mentally correct yourself before letting out another sigh, then flashing a fake smile.

“I know, kid. I tried quitting before, but I never could.” you say before repeating the motion that had become routine for you.

“Then why did you start?” she asks as she takes a seat next to you, making you chuckle lightly.

“It was the ‘cool’ thing when I was a kid. A way to show your parents you wouldn’t stand for their rules anymore, a way to rebel.” you say shaking your head as you remember your parents. They were never the best parents, but they’d cared for you growing up. You hadn’t spoken to either of them since you moved out, and you regretted it. You look over to see the filly with a thoughtful look on her face and a hoof to her chin.

“In that case, can I have one?” she asks, almost making you choke on the smoke you were inhaling.

“No, of course not!” you say, not wanting to cause any problems in this world. “I wont be the cause of your cancer. Besides, I doubt your parents would appreciate me letting their daughter smoke.” you say, shaking your head as you look away. Then you hear the sound of slight tears, and look back to see her crying. “Hey kid, what’s wrong?” you ask.

“My parents don’t care about me. My dad can’t, cause he’s never around. He’s always working, and usually doesn’t come home ‘till I’m in bed, and my mom is always out drinking. They’re never around to care.” she says with a sniffle as she wipes away a tear. You look away, thoughtfully. Was this what your daughter would be like growing up? You sigh heavily, and then realize you’re smoking filter, and put it out on the concrete.

“your dad reminds me a little of myself.” you say sadly. “But just because he works a lot doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. Quite the opposite, in fact. He works a lot so that you can have what you have.” you say, ruffling her mane a bit. “It might not be much, then again it might be a lot, I don’t know, but whatever it is, your dad works very hard for it.” her sniffling quieted down when you were done.

“Y-you really think so?”

“Of course. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t work, now would he?” you say with a small chuckle.

“Y-you’re right. Thanks mister.” she says as she gets down and chases after her friends. You watch her run off with a smile, knowing you did something for someone else for a change.

“No problem.” you mutter long after she’s gone. You stand up again and walk into town, knowing you’ll need some form of employment if you’re going to last very long. You get the occasional odd look from the towns folk, but you pay them no mind. You’d do the same thing if you saw one of them in your world. You spot a sign on in a store window that says they’re hiring, and walk in to find it’s a music store, with guitars hanging on the walls, and drum sets set up around the room.

“Can I help you?” you turn to see a blue pony earth pony with a blue mane. ‘how original’ you think, before speaking.

“Yeah, I saw the sign outside that said you were hiring, and was wondering if I could fill the spot.” you say. He puts a hoof to his chin for a moment, looking you over.

“We’ll see. Name’s Blues.” he says holding out a hoof. You take it and shake it. “Come with me, we’ll see if you’ve got what it takes.” he says when the shake is over, and leads you into a back room. He turns on the lights, revealing some instruments. Namely an acoustic guitar, a drum set, and an organ. You chuckle lightly.

“You starting a band, Blues?” you ask jokingly.

“Actually I am, that’s what the sign was for.” he says with a laugh. You walk over to the guitar and pluck a few strings, trying to remember how to play it. “Well pick it up, try it out, and I’ll go get the guys while you do that.” he says as he walks out the door. You pick up the guitar and sit down. It’s not much smaller than the one you had as a teenager, but it’s still a little small for you. You play a few chords practice chords as Blues walks in with his friends. “Alright guys, here he is. Now, let’s see what you can do!” he says happily as he pulls up a chair.” you look up to see he is accompanied by a dark brown unicorn with a black mane, and a grey earth pony with a red mane. You sigh heavily before playing a song you knew pretty well. You fumbled a couple times to start, but soon got it pretty well, and started singing the lyrics.
“It’s been a bit of a while, since I seen you smile. It’s been to long, baby, what went wrong? Tell me how it got spoiled, tell me when it went bad, and how to get back to the times that we had. When we were both young, and our spirits were bold, now were just angry, and we act like were old, we can’t even talk it out, without on of us walkin’ away.” you sing, putting your heart into what your singing. “When you were eighteen, an’ I just turned twenty-nine, I was fresh out the coffin, girl, and you were so fine. The future was bright, and the world, it seemed new. I was with some other woman, but I was thinking’a you. I know how it hurts, and I know how it feels. I know how it aches, cause a heart never heals, we’re so busy screamin’, we don’t hear the words that we say. We’ve taken our lumps, and we took a few blows, we’ve hit a few bumps, had our fair share of woes. We tried to see good, through all of the bad, we put on our smiles, and pretend we’re not sad. We gotta be tough, and we gotta be strong, gotta be right, can’t afford to be wrong, it’s hard to shake the blues when your readin’ bad news every day.” you hear a couple of the others laugh at that line, and hear Blues tell them to shut up. “We worry to much for one couple to bear. Hunger so much for one person to care. Foolin’ our family, we’re foolin’ our friends, we pray that the pain and the frustration ends. Hope is a chance, hope is a dream, hope is drug, maybe hope’s a vaccine, in a race against time, I get down on my knees and I pray. I shout at the devil, I curse the lord. I offer them everything I can afford. I'd sell out my soul, I lighten to see, I tried to be righteous, I Tried to believe, Prayed every prayer, Kicked all of my highs. For hours I'd stare at those beautiful eyes. All of my problems seem to be melting away. The smile on her face says daddy everything is okay. In the race against time I get down on my knees and I pray.” you end the song, leaving it off on the last strum with a heavy sigh. You then hear a bit of clapping from Blues and his friends, and look to see smiles on their faces.

“He’s just what we need.” says the unknown earth pony, to which Blues nods.

“Yeah. Alright, Joe, we’ll let you know when we get a gig and how much it pays. That guitar,” he says, pointing his hoof at the one in your hands. “is now yours. Free of charge. However, I wouldn’t bet everything on us getting a gig anytime soon, so if I were you, I’d keep looking for an actual job.” he says solemnly. You simply nod and voice your thanks as you pick up the guitar, put it in a nearby case, which you then sling over your shoulder, and walk outside. As soon as you do, you’re stopped by a mint green unicorn, who puts her front hooves on your shoulders and gets very close to your face, looking giddy as a school girl.

“omygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” is all she says before letting out a fan girl like squeal

“Ummmm…… can I help you?” you ask slowly, uncomfortable with how close she is to you. She then blushes brightly and then gets back on all fours, smiling sheepishly.

“Sorry about that. My name’s Lyra, and-” she’s cut off by another pony calling her name. She looks back, and then quickly back to you. “Oh, sorry, I gotta go, talk to you later, bye!” and then she gallops off towards whoever was calling for her.

“The fuck was that about?” is all you can say.