Chapter 12
Twilight saw Midnight give a slip of paper to the cellist before he vanished. She tried to occupy her mind for a moment. What was her name..... Octa-something.... Octavia? That sounded right. In any case she motioned for the other musicians to stop playing for a moment. After a moment of tuning, she drew the bow across the strings, emitting a haunting, sibilant melody.
“Kuhuhuhuhuhu~” Zebra Mask's high-pitched chuckle filled the air. Once it faded, a deep bass voice started singing.
When the devil is too busy,
And death's a bit too much.
They call on me
By name you see,
For my special touch~
At that moment, Twilight, her friends, and all attending the Grand Galloping Gala that night beheld a chilling sight.
The shadow of Zebra Mask, grotesquely deformed, appeared on the ground. In addition to the four slender limbs that they all knew he had, the shadow had a multitude of dancing tendrils, with limbs and grinning faces of their own.
The split expression of Mask was clearly visible, a hole in the shadows, as the voice continued.
To the gentlecolts I'm Miss Fortune,
To the ladies, I'm Sir Prize.
But call me by any name,
Any way it's all the saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame~
The music stopped abruptly, as Mask himself materialized from the ground. When the music resumed, it was clear that the voice was his.
I'm the fly in your soup,
I'm the pebble in your shoe,
I'm the pea beneath the bed
I'm the bump on every head~
As he sang, various small misfortunes described by the lyrics punctuated each line: a mare screamed at a fat fly in her food; a stallion close to Mask suddenly drew back a hoof in pain, a pebble lodged in it, and at least two ponies hit their heads on some badly-placed piece of ornamentation.
I'm the peel on which you slip
I'm the pin in every hip
I'm the thorn in your side, makes you wriggle and writhe...
Mask vanished into his monstrous shadow, which seemed to continue the song by itself.
And it's so easy when you're evil....
This is the life, you see
The devil tips his hat to me
I do it all because I'm evil
And I do it all for free...
The shadow surprised all present by rising into the air; a smoky, obscure thing with the Zebra Mask's general shape.
Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need!
As the song continued, the dancing shadows conjured frightening images of monsters and demons that left many of the attendants in a dead faint. They recovered quickly enough, thanks to some offstage intervention.
When the song seemed to be over, the melody took a sad tone, and the shadows seemed to settle slightly. In addition, the faces were no longer grinning, but fixed in a mourning frown.
It gets so lonely being evil....
What I'd do to see you smile
Even for a little while.
And no one loves you when you're evil.........
The melody halted as the shadows melted to reveal Zebra Mask himself, completely black and bearing a frown. The seeming air of melancholy was infectious; Even Pinkie Pie had watery eyes.
An abrupt start of music and Mask quickly turning into a grinning white specter shocked them all.
I'm lying through my teeth!
Your tears are all the comforting I need!
The song came to an end, and Zebra Mask – and his terrifying shadow – vanished completely.
—
Midnight reentered the Gala in the midst of the shocked silence. He was completely worn out from the enormous burst of magic he just had to perform. He would clean out a section of the buffet, regain his energy, and continue his performance in an hour or so.
“The show must go on.... Even if that show is made of shadows.”