drama Music is not Allowed - Alternate Universe

[Phosphorous 135]

Setting: An Alternate Universe where ponies are ranked with unicorns being highest, pegasi being second, and earth ponies being lowliest. In this Alternate Universe, earth ponies are forbidden from playing music. 

Characters:

Officer Laurel

Officer Stonehoof

Copper Rose

Dr. Poppy

Realgar

Princess Golden Star

 

Story starts in next post

Part 1:

 

Officer Laurel strolled the streets of the earth pony part of town. Suddenly, she heard the pleasant sound of music. She flew towards the source of the music, the rooftop of an apartment building. There she saw a band of earth ponies sitting on chairs, playing their instruments.

“Guys. You need to go. If the other ones catch you, bad things will happen.” Laurel sternly warned. “And, leave your instruments here. I don’t want them to come searching for them.”

The earth ponies understood her warning and quickly went back into the building, leaving their instruments behind. Laurel left proudly, knowing that she might have saved the earth ponies a decade of pain and suffering.

“Officer L. You hear me.” A walkie talkie screeched. “Code grasshopper at 400 Steelworks Avenue.”

“I’ll be there sir.” Laurel held the walkie talkie button as she spoke. She flew back to the rooftop where the earth pony band played.

“Good thing you’re here.” Officer Stonehoof greeted Laurel. “Some roaches were disturbing the purity of music. They apparently left, but they left their instruments behind.”

Laurel tried to keep a straight face as Stonehoof spoke.

“Let’s bring these instruments back to HQ.” Stonehoof suggested. The rest of the crew agreed with the suggestion. “I’ll call a truck.” The pegasi carried the instruments down the building, and then loaded them into a truck.

 

“Why must we incinerate the instruments?” Laurel asked Stonehoof as she stood before the warmth of the incinerator chute. “Wouldn’t it be more useful to donate them to school children.”

“Are you insane?” Stonehoof said as his eye twitched. “These instruments have been dirtied by the hooves of some mud maggots.”

Laurel watched as perfectly good instruments were thrown one by one into the incinerator. Quickly, while nobody was looking, she grabbed a small shiny trumpet, and quietly stuffed it into her bag.

 

At home, Laurel held the trumpet, looking at how light reflected off the brass. The weight of the trumpet sat on her hands just as the weight of her feeling sorry sat on her heart. Once, she had been as naive as these earth ponies. As a filly, she had always wanted to help ponies in pain. This is why she wanted to be a pharmacist. Until, she found out that Pegasi couldn’t become pharmacists. Apparently, they weren’t trustworthy enough for the job. This is when she decided to become a police officer.

She moved the trumpet around in her hooves, feeling the weight and smooth texture. Suddenly, a sparkle caught her eyes. Laurel turned the trumpet around and saw a small heart carved in with a screwdriver. Maybe this heart was a clue to which pony the trumpet belonged to. Just as she had her dreams stolen from her by society, Laurel did not want society to take away another pony’s dreams.

[Phosphorous 135]

Part 2

 

It was early morning. Laurel stood in line at an earth pony bakery. In front of her was an old mare, a grey mare with a half-open duffel bag with a construction vest, and a scruffy young colt. The grey mare looked eerily familiar. Laurel took a closer look, and saw that she was wearing heart shaped copper earrings. Could this be the one she saw on the rooftop that day? Laurel jotted down a note in her notepad.

“What do you want?” The baker asked Laurel.

“Well, lets see. A pack of seasame seed bagels. Oh, and don’t forget today’s newspaper.”

The baker swiftly placed a pack of bagels and a newspaper in a bag, which he promptly handed to Laurel. “That will be one twenty-five.”

Laurel promptly paid the cashier and left the bakery. She took out the newspaper, the Daily Ironville Letter, out of her bag. She sat on a bench and flipped through the news until she found an interesting article.

“On Thursday, a band composed entirely of earth ponies decided to host a concert in an iron mine, at night, when it was after hours. Earth ponies from across the region gathered in the main shaft of Ironville North Mine to attend this concert. Unfortunately, at midnight, the mine ventilation system was shutdown for maintenance, which was overdue for eight months. Toxic gas reached fatal levels in the mine shafts. No survivors were found.”

What a strange coincidence. The mine operators were very irresponsible for not checking the shafts for any ponies. That is, if they did not purposely shut down the mine for ‘maintenance’ the same day that many musically inclined earth ponies were gathered around.

What was it about music, about melody, that made Princess Golden Star forbid it for earth ponies. Was it the joy of listening and playing music? Or, was it the true power of music, the power to unite ponies? It must be the latter. Officer Laurel wasn’t naïve, she had witnessed hundreds of earth pony fights.

 

Laurel saw a skinny earth pony stallion sitting on the corner of a brick building. He looked very sickly. Laurel decided that the best thing to do was to offer a hand. “Do you need any help?” Laurel asked as she offered her hoof.

The stallion put a pillow to his face.

“Don’t worry. I am not here to hurt you. I am here to help.” Laurel calmly said.

The stallion removed the pillow from his face. His face filled with pain glimmered with an ounce of hope. Suddenly, a bottle of pills fell from his pillow.

“I understand what you are going through, and I feel you.” Laurel saw the pill bottle. It was empty. She picked up the bottle. It had a scrawled-in label that read Relaxapony, the name of a prescription only medication that was only given temporarily for the worst pains. “Who gave you the pills?”

“Honestly, I bought them off the street.” The stallion confessed. He was feverish, and his eyes were red and teary.

When Laurel placed her hoof on the forehead of the stallion that was both immobilized and shaking of pain, her hand burned. She then decided to call an ambulance. As she was waiting, Laurel rhythmically tapped her hoof on the pavement and hummed. The stallion seemed to be saved from his extreme pain for a moment, and even brought out one of his hoofs to follow along with the tapping.

Could it be? Was music an opiate, a numbing agent of pain?

The ambulance arrived and loaded Laurel and the stallion into it. At the hospital, when the nurses were away, Laurel spoke for the last time to the stallion. “Remember, when you feel that you can’t the pain anymore…” She tapped out a tune with her hoof and a table. The stallion did the same.

Laurel walked out of the hospital with mixed feelings. She had hope that with the beat, the stallion could save himself. However, she also wished, but doubted, that the doctors and nurses would take care of him well.