The Magic of Harmonies

by darksymphony

Chapter 3

Twilight groggily made her way downstairs, having gone to sleep even later than usual. She’d stayed up, long after Luna raised the moon, talking with her about a variety of topics from Princess Celestia (Luna certainly had some amusing stories about her sister) to the intricacies of the night sky. But talk had, for the most part, been dominated with discussion of their band.

It was very late by the time Twilight gave in to the need to sleep, but Luna still seemed wide awake. She explained that alicorns need very little sleep compared to other ponies, and elected to read up further on music to help get her up to speed. There were still about nine hundred and ninety years left to cover, after all.

Twilight entered the main library room, mid-morning sunlight streaming through the windows. She saw Spike with his back to her, a stack of books in his hands as he replaced them on the shelves.

“Good morning…” Twilight began, but Spike quickly turned, eyes wide.

“Shhhhhhh!” he said, eyes flicking to the other side of the room. Twilight followed his gaze, and gave a slight giggle at what she saw.

Slumped over a table, surrounded by stacks of books was Princess Luna, sound asleep. Furthermore, the record player was on the table beside her head, a teetering stack of records nearby. All in all, it was a picture seen before in the library, but one that normally starred a lavender unicorn rather than an alicorn Princess. By the looks of it, she’d passed out whilst reading about the history of the evolution of Classical and Romantic music, her gentle breathing causing the pages to gently rustle.

Twilight left her and headed into the kitchen for breakfast. She smiled as she saw two ready prepared dishes of fruit salad, obviously the handiwork of her dragon assistant. As she poured a glass of apple juice, she became aware of a presence behind her.

“Good morning,” Luna said, mangling the simple greeting as she yawned deeply. “Whoo, been a while since I stayed up that late. Before I knew it, Celestia was raising the sun. But on the upside, I learned a lot about Beethoofen, I’d love to get a copy of his fifth symphony, it sounds like it would be wonderful.”

Twilight passed her a dish, and the two sat down at the kitchen table for breakfast. Luna began telling Twilight further details of the previous night’s studies, when there was a sudden knock at the door. Twilight went to answer it.

“Morning, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash said cheerfully. Twilight was surprised.

“Rainbow! This isn’t like you, visiting the library without crashing through a window, or a wall.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Not to mention the fact you’re normally dead to the world at this time of day. What brings you here?”

“Well, to be honest, I’m here for a book.” At this Twilight raised an eyebrow. In all the time she’d been responsible for Ponyville’s library, not once had her pegasus friend come in search of literature.

“Ok, what are you looking for?”

Rainbow Dash flew up to one of the shelves, scanning the covers of the books quickly before plucking one out.

“This’ll do.” Twilight looked at the book.

“Learn to play guitar in 10 easy steps?”

“Yeah! I’m gonna be the guitarist in our band! It’s gonna be sooooo awesome!” Rainbow Dash said happily. Twilight smiled.

“Applejack was right, she knew you’d end up playing guitar.” At this, Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed.

“She might have more experience than me, but I’m gonna be way better than her in no time. I can learn to play in ten seconds flat,” she proclaimed confidently. Twilight left it at that. Arguing with Rainbow Dash was a lot like arguing with a brick wall.

After Rainbow Dash left with her book, Twilight had barely returned to the kitchen when there was another knock at the door. Opening the door once again, she was surprised to see the entire doorway blocked by boxes.

“Delivery for Miss Sparkle,” said a disembodied voice from behind the wall of cardboard. Twilight grabbed one of the boxes and set it down inside the library, revealing a walleyed grey pegasus who grinned at her. “Sorry about that. Here, I’ll lend you a hoof.”

Twilight and the delivery pony quickly moved all of the boxes into the library, Spike being mysteriously absent from the room. When the last box was stacked, and Twilight had singed for the parcels she handed the clipboard back to the pegasus with a grateful smile.

“Thank you very much…Ditzy, isn’t it? Would you like a drink of anything? A biscuit, maybe? I think we might have some muffins left over from yesterday…” At the mention of muffins, Ditzy’s eyes lit up, and Twilight gave her a box of the treats. After all, Pinkie Pie had provided enough for about ten parties.

As Ditzy flew off, box of muffins stashed in her bag, Luna emerged from the kitchen and saw the sea of boxes, giving off an excited squeak. She looked like an excitable filly as she bounded over to them, looking for her synthesizer. Spike reappeared at the top of the stairs, stopping as he saw the sheer quantity of cardboard that filled the room.

“Holy guacamole! How much did you guys buy? You do realise you can only play one instrument at once, right? Well, unless you’re Pinkie Pie, I guess, but she’s a bit freaky. Anyway, I’m done with my chores so I’m gonna pop over to Rarity’s. I’ll see you all later.”

Twilight absentmindedly said farewell to her assistant as she looked at a pile of large boxes that housed her drum kit. Promptly forgetting her breakfast, she strolled over to them and began pulling the first box open.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Across town, in the Carousel Boutique, a similar pile of boxes had just been delivered. Pinkie Pie bounced around them, chattering nonstop.

“I’m so excited! Even more excited than that time I first met Twilight! Even more than…”

Yeah, yeah, we get the picture thanks,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. However, she looked almost as eager as Pinkie Pie, despite being a little less vocal about it.

“Well then, let’s see what our hard earned bits have gotten us,” Rarity declared. Unlike the other group, they’d elected to order their instruments from a catalogue rather than go to a shop. Rarity had been brilliant; flaunting her status as a leading fashion designer, she negotiated a huge discount for their order, telling the music shop that she’d be able to increase their exposure through association with her boutique.

Rarity began opening a long, thin box that had her name written on it. She was halfway through neatly cutting the parcel tape when a blast of noise came from behind her, causing her to jump and rip a huge tear across the box. She turned and glared at Pinkie Pie, who was seated at a huge drum kit.

“Pinkie Pie! You gave me an awful fright there! Please keep it down whilst I’m concentrating!” Then it suddenly occurred to Rarity how impossibly fast the drum kit had appeared where before there was a mountain of stacked boxes.

“Wait, how did you…oh, never mind.” Rarity decided against further questions, knowing that with Pinkie Pie it was sometimes, if not most of the time, better not to ask.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh…” Rainbow Dash said, holding her new purchase aloft.

“Goodness, what is that…thing?” Rarity said with a look of distaste on her face as she wrinkled her nose up at the instrument.

“It’s called an Ironbird,” Rainbow Dash said. “Isn’t it awesome? It’s like, 20% cooler than anything else in that catalogue was.” The guitar was, indeed, unique, with a shape comprised seemingly of straight lines. At Rainbow Dash’s request, the body had been custom painted in a pale blue, bisected by a diagonal rainbow across the centre of the body. To Rarity, it resembled a fragment of shattered glass; chaotic and messy. Even worse, she recalled that this season had seen the rise of flowing organic curves, with hard edges and angular designs performing poorly in sales. Well, it was just like Rainbow Dash to choose something that was so unfashionable. Next to Applejack, the blue pegasus was the last pony that Rarity would turn to for fashion advice.

Rarity turned her attention back to the package before her, wrinkling her nose at the large rip that she’d made in the perfectly sliced box. Deciding she couldn’t make any better of it, she tore open the now destroyed box, before carefully unwrapping the bubble wrap from her purchase.

“What it the hay is that?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, eyes widened.

“This, my dear, is a cello. Well, technically it’s an electric cello, not that you would appreciate the difference.” Rarity said. The instrument was a polished white, with a deep but narrow body that was little wider than the neck. Rarity reached to the back of the instrument and folded down two arms, which gave the suggestion of the width of a traditional wooden instrument.

“As a well brought up filly, I learned to play when I was younger. It’s been a few years since then, but I’m sure I’ll be able to get back into it in no time,” Rarity declared. “I played in a few concerts, I’ll have you know.”

“This is so cool! We’re like a real band now!” Pinkie Pie said, smiling as always. “Well, at least we would be if Spike were here. What happened to him anyway?”

“I’m here! Sorry I’m late, Twilight left loads of books out again, and to make things worse it turns out Luna does exactly the same thing!” the exasperated dragon said. “Whoa, there’s as many boxes in here as there were in the library!”

“Uh huh! We should make a box fort! It’ll be super fun!”

Rarity fixed Pinkie Pie with a slight glare. “I do have to work here, you know.”

“SWEET!” came a sudden shout. Pinkie Pie and Rarity turned to see Spike kneeling over a large opened box, revealing a large electric blue keyboard curiously finished with varnished wood plates at the end, a stark contrast to the modern button and knob encrusted appearance and colour scheme. He eagerly turned to the three ponies that had gathered in curiosity to look at the instrument.

“Let’s play!” Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash’s faces lit up, but Rarity shook her head forcefully.

“I’m sorry, but I simply have too much work on the go to lose a morning! And I’m sure you both have work to do as well, being as we all did nothing yesterday.” Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash looked a little guilty at this; they had indeed neglected their jobs in the excitement of the previous day.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. It wouldn’t be fair to you for us to take over your shop. Anyway, I guess I’d better go deal with the clouds.” Rainbow Dash conceded, walking to the door.

“Ooh! I know what I’m going to make! Cupcakes! Loads of cupcakes! And I could make drum shaped cakes, and drum shaped biscuits and…” Spike and Rarity never did hear what other sweets their friend was planning on making as she cartwheeled out of the door and left them in silence.

“Guess I’d better be getting out of your hair too then,” Spike said, heading for the exit as well. “See you tonight!” Rarity bade her friend goodbye, mentally preparing herself for the work ahead. Closing the door, she looked back at her shop, and her jaw dropped.

It was an utter mess. All around the drum kit, shredded cardboard and fragments of polystyrene littered the floor, and chunks of the white foam were strewn everywhere, no doubt the result of Rainbow Dash’s eagerness to see her guitar.

With a sigh, Rarity horn glowed as she summoned a broom from a cupboard and began to sweep up using her magic. Maybe this whole affair was more trouble than it was worth.