[Canterlot] (Not) Facing the Music [Complete]

[Snowshoe]

Timbre Swing stepped up to the bar, looking around. A good a place as any to find some quick work for the evening, and enough money for dinner and a drink or two. His double bass was back in his hotel room...today would be all scatting, and hopefully that was enough. He nudged the door open with his nose, stepping inside. The young swing musician was only going to spend a few more days in Canterlot...and from there, who knows? Ponyville maybe. Or the coast, like Manehattan.

He had been humming, the musician always partially lost in his own little world, but came up short when he realized his humming sounded surprisingly like a piano. He was good at scatting but not THAT good.

But after a moment, the green pony stopped and came to his senses. It wasn't his voice...it was a real piano. And for once, it was...swing? He had never once heard anyone but himself do swing...he thought it was a mostly dead genre. A smile on his face, his horn glowed a bright blue as he tilted his black fedora back and stepped toward the group around the piano. It was then he noticed her...Sapphire Shores! Everybody knew Sapphire, her shows sold out in seconds. She was a bit of an inspiration to Timbre Swing, who loved her energetic performances as much as he loved his own.

Trotting over, Timbre smiled. With a slight cough to clear his throat, he began to accompany the piano player, mostly with the lower rhythm and bass notes as he didn't want to mess up with the lead stuff the pianist was doing. The nonsense syllables and words formed their own unique sound that added to the music...at least he hoped. Timbre Swing was a bit impetuous sometimes, and hoped he didn't offend the pianist.

[FredericHorseshoepin]

Frederic was caught off guard by a sudden introduction of another musician suddenly playing with him. Outside of the occasional parties, Frederic doesn't play anything else beyond classical and new age. Quite frankly, Frederic never really felt comfortable enough to play Jazz with other ponies as he wasn't confident in his improvisation abilities. Rules and structure is all Frederic has known,

Frederic quickly diminished his swing arpeggio into just a simple melody. Frederic typically didn't mind playing with other musicians but the improvisational aspect of Jazz was just too much pressure for Frederic. He suddenly felt as if he had to compete with the other musician for attention. Frederic knew this was a insecure of him, but he couldn't help it. His mind suddenly went back to Octavia and his cancelled concerts.

Alright, I suppose that's enough... Frederic thought to himself. He drew the session to a quick close with a cadence. Frederic didn't want to come across as rude, so he gave a polite and respectful nod to the scat vocalist. The tan stallion waved to the manager, and trotted off to his private room to get ready to leave.

[Snowshoe]

[Just an aside, he's not a pianist ^^ He's singing with his voice, scat-singing. So Frederic is still alone on his piano ]

[FredericHorseshoepin]

[Just an aside, he's not a pianist ^^ He's singing with his voice, scat-singing. So Frederic is still alone on his piano ]

((WHOOOOPS totally my bad. Excuse my brain fart. I'll fix my post))

[Snowshoe]

[No worries ^^]

Timbre Swing looked out at the stallion as he hopped down from his piano. He had quite enjoyed their little improvised duet, but suddenly he felt a little rude...he thought he'd somehow insulted the pony and caused him to leave his piano behind. He quickly gave a short bow to the audience, then trotted after the pianist. "Attendez!" he called out. He was still rusty when it came to Equestrian, and his native tongue often came through.

"I am sorry, I did not mean to uh...offend you." he said, his accent thick and sentence sprinkled with occasional pauses as he searched for the proper word in Equestrian. "I just wanted to...ah bien, c'est quoi le mot...ah oui! Accompany you." he said, mumbling the Fancy part to himself. "You 'ave talent, mon ami. Feel free to go back to zee piano, I will let you play tout seul. Alone." he corrected himself with a smile.

"Ah, zut! Where are my manners? Mon nom est Timbre Swing." he introduced himself as, extending a hoof toward the pianist. He pronounced his name in the Fancy way, sort of like tain-bruh.

[Dunes]

((Sorry y'all. Dunno if you caught my post in the OOC section, but I've spent the past couple of weeks making sure I don't fail out of a class. Crisis averted, I think, but I let my RP obligations slip all the while. Sincere apologies.))

Sapphire was having a sensational time. It had been a while since she did any free-form, just-for-fun dancing. Most of her dancing was choreographed, rehearsed for hours, rehearsed some more, and finally performed. By the time she had free time, which wasn't often, she only sometimes had the energy. This was nice.

"You're pickin' this up pretty well, cher." She nodded at her dance partner. "If it weren't for that cutie mark, I'd say you missed your callin' as a dancer."

Sapphire's ears perked at the addition of vocals to the song. Scat jazz? It had been ages since she'd heard good scat. She couldn't help but pump a hoof in the air. "Hell yeah!" A new enthusiasm sped up her dancing -- dancing on every other beat suddenly seemed too slow. A hoof touched the ground every beat, her hips, shoulders, and tail all wiggled on the upbeat.

With the song's end, Sapphire bowed at Pony Joe. "That was sen-sational, sweets!" She stood back on all fours, catching her breath. "I think that might be all the dancin' I have in me tonight, though. Hard to do all that after a show, I tell ya."

But almost instantaneously, she perked up again and looked over at the mystery vocalist. "I have got to go see who that pony is!"

Trotting over, grin as wide as she could get it, she directed her attention at the other two musician ponies. "Now that was a swingin' set, Fred." She looked at the singer. "And who might you be, cher? You got a fabulous voice!" She offered a hoof.

[Snowshoe]

Timbre turned, hearing a voice. He smiled, seeing the mare. Not just any mare though, Sapphire Shores, and she was coming to talk to him personally. "As I tell your friend, zee pianist, mon nom est Timbre Swing." he said, shaking her hoof for a moment before his manners kicked back in and he raised her hoof, kissing it quickly before letting it go. One of his friends was a huge fan of hers...he knew he'd get jealous is he heard Timbre Swing had kissed her hoof and gotten to talk to her. She was definitely a bit of an inspiration to his own works.

"Contrebassiste, and scat-singer." he added with a warm smile. He reached up with his hoof and tilted his hat back. "And you are zee famous Sapphire Shores, are you not? I 'ave been a fan for a long time, Madame Shores, and it is an 'onour to finally meet you." he said, feeling a little silly. She probably got that all the time. At least he wasn't fawning over her or anything. "It is also an 'onour to 'ave you compliment ma voix. I 'ave practice 'ard to get zis good."

[Dunes]

Sapphire blushed as Timbre kissed her hoof. It had been ages since anyone had greeted her so… politely! These days, introductions tended to be flustered, yelled enthusiastically at her, or utterly indifferent. And ohh, that accent… For a moment, she felt herself get weak at the knees.

Pulling herself together, she returned Timbre’s smile. “It is a delight meeting you, Mister Timbre Swing! I always love meeting fans, ‘specially when they’re as talented as yourself! I haven’t heard good scat stylin’ since I was practically a filly.” In truth, she hadn’t had much time to hear a great deal of other music since her career took off. Much of her time was taken up by writing music, rehearsing, recording, rehearsing, performing, and rehearsing again. Rinse, repeat. It ate up most of her free time, which unfortunately included her Go-See-Other-Musicians-Perform time.

Tonight had been an unexpected treat, meeting not just a talented pianist, but now a gifted jazz singer, too. She’d been up for at least eighteen hours, but the excitement of talking with other musicians had her positively buzzing. (The cider may or may not have had something to do with some of that buzz.)

“All that practicing sure hasn’t gone to waste, that’s for sure! A lot of ponies seem to forget how much work this business takes.” A strand of her professionally-coiffed mane fell in her face. She blew at it to get it out of her eye. Her appearance was probably starting to reflect the length of her day, she supposed.

“Where you hail from? That accent is lovely! I have been all over Equestria, but mostly dealt with venues and managers and crowds. Not sure I’ve come across such a sing-song tone before!” She had, she was sure of it, but she mostly saw trains, hotels, and concert halls; she couldn't place the accent with a geographic location. She did remember the acoustics at that concert hall being fantastic, though.

Sapphire stretched, willing some energy back into her limbs. “I think it’s either time for another round, or some coffee. Either way, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna end up singin’. Hate to think of myself meeting two sensational musicians and a new student dancer and not ending the night with a big production.” She laughed, excitement sparking in her eyes. “What do you fellas think of some more impromptu collaboratin’?”

[Snowshoe]

[i'll give it another day or two before making my other post, just to wait for the others. Edit: though I checked both Daft and Frederic's profiles and neither have been online recently. Should I just go anyways?]

[Snowshoe]

[Well, might as well.]

Timbre Swing felt almost a bit embarrassed to have Sapphire compliment him as she did. It was different than just a fan of his complimenting him. She was a professional, bigger than he was, and here she was happy to meet him, and complimenting his skills. He smiled happily, feeling like he was walking on air. If the great Sapphire Shores thought he was good, he would be able to make it anywhere.

"Indeed. Even zee ponies with...le talent naturelle..." he tapped his right hoof impatiently on the ground. What was the word? "Skill...natural talent! Even zee ponies with natural talent need to practice 'ard to keep as good as they are." he commented.

"Where do I 'ail from?" Timbre asked. He ran through the word hail in his mind, and figured it meant where he came from. "Right 'ere, in Canterlot. I wouldn't be surprise to 'ear you 'aven't 'eard of my accent...I used to be teased for it in school." he explained.

At the idea of a collaboration he smiled. "I would be 'onoured to sing with zee great Sapphire Shores." he said sincerely.

[Dunes]

[Hey! I plan to post tomorrow -- started my middle school round of student teaching and things have been nuts with testing and art club after school. I guess we can assume Frederic and Daft's characters are keeping to themselves until they come back?]

[Snowshoe]

[sounds good to me. And no worries, I know all about being busy ]

[Dunes]

Sapphire furrowed her brow. “Teased? For those dulcet tones? Honey, sometimes I don't know what goes through foals' heads.” She was all too familiar with the casual cruelty of foals – and the harsh judgment of full-grown ponies too, for that matter. A penchant for loud singing, combined with a passion for strange outfits, had long made her a frequent target for ridicule and the rumor mill. It hadn't really stopped when she got famous; it just stopped happening to her face.

Not that she really let it bother her. Attention was attention, whether it be adulation or ruffled pony-feathers, and she was happy to be the center of it.

“Best revenge is livin' well, so they say. And being good at doin' what you love, so I say. And I know you've got that second part down." She grinned. "Speakin' of...” She looked around for Pony Joe and Frederic, but they seemed to be otherwise occupied at that moment. They could always join in later.

“Looks like it's you and me for right now, Mr. Timbre. Let's show these ponies somethin' special!”

Sapphire hopped up on stage and cleared her throat. Jazz and scat-singing weren't exactly her forte, but she'd start simple and see where it went. Her hoof tapped in a slow six-eight, one and a, two and a. She started humming, emphasizing the down beats.

She nodded expectantly at Timbre.

[Snowshoe]

Timbre Swing laughed softly. He had no idea what 'dulcet' meant, but figured it was a compliment based on the tone of her voice. He smiled a little. If only she knew what he sounded like as a foal. His accent was thicker then, and he spoke barely a word of Equestrian, making his speech rather halting to listen to. He didn't mind though, he'd learned to enjoy his voice in his later years.

He laughed at her outlook on life, nodding. "That is a good way of putting it." he said with a smile. He truly did do what he loved. "And as long as you are 'appy, 'oo cares what others think?" he asked with a grin.

When she offered the duet, he smiled, a little nervous. He found it hard to believe he was actually going to be singing with her. It was almost like a dream come true, to be able to sing with someone as famous as her. He knew his parents would be proud that he'd gotten this far. He hopped up onto the stage right next to her, obviously full of energy, ready to go, and comfortable with the audience.

Even before she nodded at him, he was listening to the beat of her hoof, tapping out an identical one of his own to help him keep time, and trying to come up with a beat. It finally clicked, and he tilted his hat back with a bit of magic before starting to sing. The nonsense syllables formed their own kind of backing music, giving her room to try to sing if she wanted, either with her own voice, or try her hoof at scat-singing.

[Dunes]

Sapphire nodded at Timbre as he hopped up on the stage. She closed her eyes and swayed as he started to sing, humming in harmony with him as she got a feel for the rhythm. His strange syllables and nonsense words came in a fairly fast succession, hitting upbeats and downbeats and all the little beats inbetween. Words long and slow would be the key here.

“I can’t wait,

To be home,

a—gain…”

Each word hit the downbeat and held through the bar, her voice ringing like a bell, allowing Timbre’s singing to come through.

“With the ships

A – shore,

Light spills

Out your door…”

Crescendo gave way to decrescendo, and back again, never leaving a note without a direction. Her jaw trembled sympathetically with her vibrato – a bad habit she’d learned before training properly, and one she was still trying to kick.

“I’ve come a long, long way,

Just to see

Your face,

Come and warm my heart…”

She realized she hadn’t opened her eyes once since Timbre had gotten on stage. It was as if her entire world had become the lilted melody he was singing.

“But we’ll always be

So far apart,

I’ll just be off again

Come morning sun,

And that’s just the way

It has to be.

I’ll be home again,

Just don’t wait for me.”

Her eyelid tickled as a tear welled up, but she blinked it away as she opened her eyes. That wasn’t anything like her normal music, but the words had poured out of her. She wasn’t even sure who she was singing about. She felt startled at herself.

Shaking it off, she exhaled and grinned at Timbre. “Heck of a duet, Mr. Timbre. Heck of a duet.”

[Snowshoe]

The beat was relatively fast, but the song that Sapphire Shores added to Timbre Swing's scat-singing were slower, longer, and a little sad. It was different than Timbre was used to, and the Fancy singer fought to keep his brain from listening TOO much to the lyrics, lest he lose his own ability to keep up the rhythm. He looked over at her, not noticing she hadn't opened her eyes, and he grinned a little around the sounds and syllables of his own particular style of singing. When she finished off, he held the last, low note for quite a long time, letting it trail off. He turned to her and smiled. That was indeed a heck of a duet. He'd never heard this particular song but then again, while he was a fan, he wasn't able to say he knew EVERY of Sapphire Shores' songs.

"Superbe, Madame Shores." he complimented in return, his hat glowing with the soft blue of his magic and sweeping off his head. He bowed his forehooves a little to her as he did, smiling when he straightened up. Timbre Swing had actually done a duet with such a famous songstress...that was worth the stop by this bar, for sure. "I 'ave not 'eard zat one before. C'était magnifique. I can see now why you are at zee top." he said with a chuckle. He could come up with rhythm and beats on the fly, but a full song like that? No chance.

[Dunes]

Sapphire beamed at the compliment, and bowed in return. “You’re like to make me blush, Mr. Timbre. I’m surprised I only just heard of ya tonight, with a voice like that. Where do you usually perform?” That pony had some pipes – it’d be a crime if he didn’t have regular gigs. She knew jazz didn’t tend to be as popular as, well, pop, but a singing voice as good as his was hard to come by; that should count for something. (She knew all too well it often didn’t end up counting like it ought to, though.)

She hopped off the stage, shaking her tail with a flourish as she landed. “That felt just like bein’ back at home, makin’ up songs for Papa and the dock ponies.” She laughed and ran a hoof over her mane, trying to smooth it out of her eyes. “Well, except I got way better accompaniment this time.”

The crowd was getting sleepier, more drunk, or both, and the sticky floor was getting progressively stickier. The muzzy tang of alcohol hung in the air with the distinct smell of… breath. Sapphire yawned, inhaling deeply, and made a face at the nasal assault.

“Eugh. Smells like it’s time to wrap things up here. Care to join me for a walk around Canterlot? Oughta be a little more breezy and smell a little less sleazy out there.”

[Snowshoe]

Timbre Swing followed her off stage, though without a jump of his own. He set his fedora back on his head and shrugged a shoulder. "Wherever I can." he said with a chuckle. "I do not 'ave a regular stage to preform at. I may 'ave le talent, but not zee...reknow? Somes'ing like zat. You know, zat s'ing when everypony knows who you are? Zat, I do not 'ave. I travel around, playing in bars like zis." he explained. He laughed a little as she caught the scent of bar. Yep, it was bad, but he was used to it by now. This smell of alcohol and such was bad, but that was the background to most of his shows.

When asked if he wanted to walk with her, he nodded. Better than sitting around a tired old bar at night. He walked up to the door and stepped through it, holding it open once on the other side.

"I would indeed, Madame Shores." he said with a smile. "By zee way, you said back zere...dock ponies? For some reason I s'ought you were from 'ere, in Canterlot." he said, looking over at her.

[Dunes]

((Shoot, sorry this took so long! Been doing a lot of family stuff with my brothers both graduating and lost track of how many days had gone by!))

Ah, so he was still trying to break into the music industry. Sapphire nodded, a sympathetic look on her face. “Yeah, I remember how that is. It’s not a whole lot of fun, scraping by.” She paused to toss several bits in the direction of the barmare. “Tell you what, I’ll ask around. Dunno if my label’s interested in jazz acts, but they might know who is. You’re good though. One way or another, I got a feeling you’ll make it.”

She trotted through the door, raising an eyebrow at the state of the door. “Man, I dunno if bars in general are getting drunker or if I’m gettin’ more sober as time goes on, but either way I don’t think I wanna know how they got the door handle sticky. Thanks for holdin’ it open.” The cool night air was a welcome change from the damp, smelly stuff inside. She took a deep breath and let it out again, glad of the change in aroma.

She tilted her head at Timbre's question and smiled. Everypony always thought she was from someplace fancy. “Nah, I’m not originally from Canterlot. I was born and bred in Hoofington. My daddy used to work unloadin’ the docks.” She laughed, gesturing at her well-tailored, expensive clothes. “Not that you’d guess by looking at me now. My aunt let me stay with her once I figured out I had a taste for the musical. Not a huge music scene in Hoofington.”

Energized by the fresh breeze, she was practically prancing as they walked. “Y’know, anytime I come across musical types, I like to ask – how’d you get your cutie mark? When did you know music was your thing?”

[Snowshoe]

The night air was definitely an amazing change of pace from the bar. Even though TImbre was used to the oppressive yet warm atmosphere of bars, he still welcomed the literal breath of fresh air once outside. That, and Luna's night was probably his favourite time of the day...not many ponies out so you could walk along in quiet with your thoughts, and the night weather was usually nicer...not too hot, usually with a nice breeze going too.

He looked over at her when she answered his question and smiled. "Ah, je vois. I don't s'ink I 'ave ever made it to 'oofington. I 'ear it is tellement jolie. I should make it a point to visit." he said with a chuckle.

He followed along, keep stride easily with her and her energetic prancing. "Oh, zis?" he asked, looking back at the mark on his muted green flank. A bass clef entwined with a lightning bolt. He looked back at Sapphire Shores and smiled. "It was an accident, really. Ma maman, my mo'zer, she fixed instruments. And when she worked, she would 'ave a big pho...fono..." he said, stumbling over the word "phonograph." "Zat s'ing with zee records. When I was just a little colt, I would 'ang around zee workshop, and listen to 'er music. Some'ow, I started to do zee scatting to one of zee songs...I wasn't zat good at first, mais, avec la pratique...with some practice, I took my talent to a talent show." he explained. He lifted a hoof to tilt his hat back a bit. "It was just me, zee singing, and a record, but I made it...'ow did my mo'zer put it...tellement energique!" he said with a laugh. "Sorry, I am not zat good with Equestrian...very...energy...energetic? I may not 'ave won, but I earned my cutie mark zat day, which was enough for moi." he said simply, smiling.

" 'ow about yours?" he asked.

[No worries at all, I been busy myself. By the way if I go a bit overboard with the Fancy, just tell me and I'll provide more translations/tone it back.]

[Dunes]

(So apparently I've gone for months and months and months without knowing that the forums have a post tracking feature. >.> Hahaha. But the French is fine! Though I wouldn't say no to some OOC translations in a footnote or something, if the mood struck ya.)

As she listened to Timbre’s story, she couldn’t fight the urge to grin. It was just too precious; picturing this artistic stallion as a tiny colt, singing as he weaved around his mother’s workshop. He seemed to struggle with a few words, but somehow that just added to the charm of the story. “Your Equestrian’s fine, hon, you’re good enough at getting your point across,” she said, smiling. “And your mama came to watch your show? That’s so…” she struggled to find a word other than ‘aww.’ She failed. “So… aww!”

“It’s so awesome when parents encourage their foals. 'Cause then we get artists like you!" She nodded at him, smiling. "I dunno what I would’ve done if mine hadn’t, other than get stuck in Hoofington.” Her quick pace slowed a little as she thought what that would’ve been like. She probably would be playing in musty, stinky bars every night. She wrinkled her nose.

Gesturing to the three blue stars on her cream-colored flank, she laughed. “I got this by causin’ a ruckus, as usual.” Each step she took as she pranced along went just a little higher with the memory of it. “I knew I liked music, well enough, and I knew I liked singin’, even back in Hoofington. But I went for so long with no cutie mark!” She tilted her head dramatically and mocked a pout. “I started to wonder if I was gonna get it at all.”

“I came to Canterlot to live with my aunt, though, and then I saw this one singer. She sang, yeah, but that’s not all she did. She was just as much about the spectacle as the music.” Passion was stirring and swirling in her chest as she talked; her voice quavered. “It wasn’t just a performance for listening. It was for seeing, and participating, and dancing, and… and… being.” Pausing for a moment, she found herself blinking back a tear.

She took a breath, recomposed herself. “Anyway, getting’ out of that I just had to put on my own little number. I danced, I sang, I danced with ponies on the street. Pretty sure I wore a plant for a costume.” She laughed. “I had everyone lookin’ at me by the end. Got home,” she pointed a hoof at her mark, “and these babies were there!”

A thought occurred to her. Grinning mischievously, she asked, “You ever do any performance art, Mr. Timbre?”

[Snowshoe]

[Ha xD I thought, for a longest time, that feature sent pings to the notification system here on the forums, but then I realized it goes to the email I rarely use And gotcha. If I go on a tangent or use a word that's not immediately recognizable, I'll toss up a translation.]

Timbre Swing laughed when she 'aww'd over his mother coming to see his performance. Both his parent's had been there, actually. Still, it was kinda funny to see a famous mare like herself finding it adorable.

He smiled back at her and nodded. If his parents hadn't supported him he'd probably have ended up doing...well, something else. He had a feeling he'd have done swing eventually though...it was in his name, for one, and two, he figured that if you had a cutie mark relating to a special talent, you were going to, eventually, end up doing what you needed to do to get that mark.

He stayed quiet while she told him her story, smiling as he watched it put a spring in her step with each passing moment. He was moved a bit by her description of the performance, knowing exactly what that was like. Sure, there was singing, but there was so much more to performing, and that's why he liked what he did. He always made his performances electrifying, energetic, to get the crowd pumped up and tapping their hooves along with him.

"Performance art?" he repeated, thinking it over. "Non...well, not intentionally...I make sure my musique is catchy, 'oof-tapping to get zee audience involved...but I 'aven't s'ought of actually doing art with it." he said, not sure if he even entirely knew what she meant by it.

[Dunes]

Sapphire grinned at Timbre, wiggling her shoulders in excitement. “It’s one thing to sing where ponies are expectin’ it; it’s another to bring music to ponies had no idea they wanted it.” She grinned and winked at him.

She trotted a little bit faster, keeping an eye out for where there might be a group of ponies. This time of night, it was a mix of law enforcement, drunken ponies making their way home, and a grab bag varied, colorful night denizens.

There was a little area around a fountain, lit by flickering lamps. There seemed to be a few ponies milling around, with the occasional guard patrol. She grinned. “Art’s always a little more interesting to me when it’s in places it’s not supposed to be.”

“Whaddaya say to a little song ‘n dance number?” She beamed at Timbre, her eyes twinkling in anticipation. "Bonus points if you can get a stranger to dance with ya."

[Snowshoe]

She definitely had Timbre's attention. He tilted his head a little as he walked. Bring music to ponies who had no idea they wanted it? How could that work? He stayed mostly quiet, following her along and keeping pace rather easily until they made it to the small park. He looked around at the few ponies, mostly couples out on a walk to enjoy the breeze, but some others as well, and the occasional guard in the sharp, dark armour of Luna's Guard.

He chuckled at her idea, looking over at her and shrugging. "Is zis a contest, or a number togez'er?" he asked casually. A new song he'd been working on floated to mind...if it was a contest, or at least some kind of freeform duet...of course, it was in Fancy, but he figured she could pick up on it rather quick. Seeing as he'd come up with the words himself, he probably wouldn't be able to translate it properly into Equestrian, with his trouble with the language.

"I do see what you mean, 'owever." he said, looking around with a smile. "Zey all look a little...ennuyer. Let us liven up zee night, non?"

[Dunes]

((Aaa delayed again, sorry. The past few weeks have been a long slog of sending out endless resumes. Job hunting, ughh. ))

Sapphire arched an eyebrow at Timbre, grinning. “A contest, huh? I actually hadn’t thought of that, but I like the way you think.” What could they keep score over? Number of odd looks, number of strange ponies they could rope into dancing, or the first one to get arrested… Maybe not that last one.

Well, maybe it didn’t need to be quite as simple as that. Timbre had some chops, and he was quick on his hooves.

“Alright then, straight-up song contest? Let’s see who can get these sleepyheads and sourpusses goin’.” Sapphire beamed, wiggling in anticipation. “Whaddaya think, full songs, or swap off each verse and improvise? You got any more songs stirrin’ in that noggin?” She backed up a few steps, nodding towards the fountain. "I'll let you start. Let's see what you got, fancy pony!"