One hundred years after Corona's banishment
Concerti Brilliante looked out at the audience and grinned. This was going to be the performance of his career!
Finding that score had been a huge stroke of luck; two weeks before the grandest celebration of the decade, him on deck to perform, and with nothing whatsoever to play, he’d been starting to feel a slight sense of panic. But he just did what he always did when he had no inspiration. He went to the music library, slipped into the back vault, and went to search amongst the old and forgotten manuscripts.
There was a lot of unsorted, unshelved, practically unknown music in that vault. When the Courts burned and froze in the fury of the battle between Luna and Corona, the music library had taken a hit from some spell or other and been more or less smashed flat. A lot of scores had been destroyed, and in the ensuing panic – followed by the twelve somewhat odd years that had followed, the near-abandonment of the capitol, and general chaos – nopony had bothered to keep track of music, old or new. Now that the land was finally healing, that was changing, but until about twenty years ago, most music – whether found in the wreckage of Canterlot, or written fresh – had just been dumped into the library’s back vault, waiting for the day when ponies could go through and catalogue everything.
The forgotten works of the past. Was there any better inspiration?
And as soon as Concerti had seen the score, he’d known this was the piece to play. Even setting aside that it was a lost work of the great Maestro, the theme of the work was perfectly suited to the celebration The party was to be a gigantic thank-you to Luna, a night to honor her victory over her psychotic sister and her saving of every pony’s life. And this was a piece about that very subject! Perfection!
Concerti raised his bow. Looking out at the crowd, he saw, to his satisfaction, that every important pony was there. The industrial leaders (at least, insofar as Equestria still had real industry), the rich ponies, the Night Court nobles, and, of course, Luna Herself. She would, Concerti thought, be so pleased to hear this rendition of the piece. She might well appoint him the Greatest Musician in the Land on the spot!
“Fillies and gentlecolts,” he said. “Thank you so much for your attention. The piece I will play has not been performed in a very long time. Though the date is inexact, judging by the style, I would estimate that it was written about twenty years after the victory that we are all gathered here to celebrate. To the best of my knowledge, it was never played subsequently. I am pleased to present for you this once-lost work of the great composer Maestro – the Symphony for Moon and Sun!”
Luna had a very… odd expression. Tense. Nervous. Concerti thought. She looked like she was worried. Well, that made a little sense – Maestro had been friends with Luna, he’d heard, and she was probably worried that he’d botch her companion’s piece. But that wasn’t a problem. He was Concerti Brilliante, and he had unparalled musical ability. He could play anything.
The piece went great. Concerti grinned as he drew the fourth movement to a close. This was the tricky part – he hadn’t been able to find the score for the fifth movement, so he’d had to write it himself – but he felt he’d done Luna justice.
And so he played.
It was a strong, almost blasting movement, but with enough skill to prevent it from becoming a wall of sound. Luna’s theme rose in strength (this was the point in the story when Luna obtained the power of the Elements) and beat back at her sister’s. Celestia’s theme flailed helplessly, but what could it do? Luna was righteous and strong – and that was what mattered. All Celestia had was her madness.
Strength, he thought, letting his feelings flow into his music. Yes, strength. That word, more than any other, describes Princess Luna. Let this song be a testament to her great might! Let her realize that we -- that I -- recognize her vast power and pay tribute to it!
Luna’s theme swelled even more, seeming to strain the limits of Concerti’s range, and then, with a dramatic cadence, moved up and crushed Corona’s. There was no hesitation in it, no sign of weakness. Princess Luna Equestris would fight evil, and win handily. That was who she was.
The piece finished on a glorious rising section, celebrating Luna’s victory and her triumph over the wicked day. Concerti played the final note, brought his bow up, and bowed.
There was no applause.
Instead, everypony was staring at Luna – Luna looking, Concerti thought, like she probably did when fighting Corona. She was wreathed in some kind of blue fire and her eyes blazed with wrath.
“Is that,” she said, in a low voice, “What thou thinkst of me and my sister? Is that what thou hast brought me here to listen to?!” Her voice was rising. “How DARE thee?”
“My – my princess?” gasped Concerti.
Luna turned around.
“Wait, come back! What’s wrong?” began Concerti.
“Speak not to me.” hissed Luna. “If that is all thou thinkst I am, then that is all I shall be to thee. Should thy life be threatened by some monster, Concerti, I shall defend thee.” She turned, eyes flashing. “And, should that not happen, I never wish to hear thee again!”
And with a flash of magic, she was gone.
Hmm. Looks like Luna doesn't like being depicted as some kind of heroic warrior that was all too happy, gleeful even, to kick her sister's butt. Imagine that.
Running tab: things that do not work playing the piece:
1. Making the story "Luna was pure, noble, and strong, and justly beat her sister into the ground."
975250: Well, she's handling things a lot better than AJ, at least. She's sleeping and eating, and she's maintaining some semblance of perspective. (None of the "I must play this piece or EVERYPONY DIES!") Isn't that a good sign?
Like I said, a dirge would suit Luna to a T.
975255: All I will say at this point is that I sent the 'correct' performance of the Symphony to RDD to check, and RDD said that it's fine and correctly captures the Luna/Corona fight.
More than that, you'll have to wait. :-)
975254
Given that the repetitive amount of "...or EVERYPONY DIES!" was a big contention point for me with that particular fic, yes, the lack of such in this fic is indeed a very good sign.
Seriously though, this first bonus chapter plays well enough and I'm getting a feel for the way subsequent attempts will unfold; I'll look forward to the rest. On a side note, I wonder how much effort you intend to put into showing the spoken language of each chapter progressing over the course of the centuries.
975373: Er... not very much, honestly. Language/linguistics is not my strong point.
Luna will probably use fewer 'thees' and 'thous' as we move on, but I'm not going to focus on keeping the other characters in period dialogue.
Glad you enjoyed the bonus!
Poor Concerti. Poor Luna, too. To an extent, it's kind of her own fault due to the whole turning Celestia into Corona thing and impressing on ponies that Celestia was long gone, and Corona was all that was left, when really there was no difference between the two except time. But, Corona has become the being that ponies can heap all of their fears and hate onto.
Now then.
"My" and "mine" in this sense is sort of like "a" and "an." "Mine" is used if the next word begins with a vowel, otherwise "my" is used. Ditto thee and thine
It should be "thee," in both instances here - you (or, technically, ye) is the plural form, except in the vulgar (low-class) forms of Equestrian at this time (the vulgar forms, of course, eventually becoming common Equestrian).
975568: Edited. Thanks for the olde-English help; I'm not very knowledgable about old linguistics.
975580
My knowledge entirely comes from Google...though it's worth noting that this isn't Old English.
This is Old English:
Fæder ūre þū þe eart on heofonum, sī þīn nama ġehālgod.
It's completely unreadable to a modern English speaker, excepting some rough cognates, like fæder (father) and nama (name).
975619: Ah. I guess by 'old English' I meant Canterbury Tales-esque English. I guess that would be middle-English or somesuch.
975628
Yup, Chaucer is middle English, while Shakespeare is early modern, and towards the end of early modern at that.
Old: Fæder ūre þū þe eart on heofonum, sī þīn nama ġehālgod
Middle: Oure Fadir that art in heuenes, halewid be thi name
Early Modern: Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name
Modern: Our Father in Heaven, hallowed is your name
975669: True, but it's still more than AJ did. Going through the motions on things like, say, sleeping, is a lot more helpful than just not doing it.
(Also, she's not just going through the motions on the music; she's genuinely trying hard to learn it. She's just not succeeding, but it's not like she's just doing it mechanically and without carrying).
Ouch. Bad decision Concerti.
975636
Hey! Someone else who has heard old english and understands just how ridiculously foreign it sounds in comparison to modern english!
975691: You think that's a bad decision, you haven't seen what some of the other ponies will try... (not referring to tomorrow, but at least 2 of the others are going to go completely off the rails... to the point where I think folks will be rooting for Luna to dropkick them to Mars).
Yeah, I can understand both why he thought that this was a good idea and why Luna was offended, which is good.
I've got some Middle English in the upcomming chapter of my own fic and that was a real mission to write. Yeesh!
975867: Thanks! I was trying to show both of those -- to show that Concerti's not just an idiot, he actually put thought into it, but at the same time Luna had a legitimate gripe with the performance.
Man, I feel really sorry for everyone involved in this story. Present and past.
And yet I also wonder how badly other performers can screw this symphony up.
Please tell me someone tries to go Avant Garde on it and turns it into a mess.
976254: Oh, trust me, we have barely begun to examine the ways in which this piece can be completely botched. :-)
(And does the 'everyone' include, say, Greengrass? I don't feel too sad for him. Maybe amused at his comical antics, but not sad.)
976276
I feel sad for him too, because he's shooting himself in the knee here.
976285: Yeah, I suppose the Mild West plan would have been better in the end. Ah well. It's not like he could have anticipated that Octavia would be able to handle the piece, when no other pony in recorded history (with reputations just as good as Octy's) could handle it.
Then again, she hasn't actually gotten it right yet... :-)
(Plus, Octavia classing up a wild west-ish saloon would be funny).
977306: Hmm. We'll get to that. Stay tuned! :-)
Oh, not good for that guy. Damn... *Shakes finger at Luna* Little explanation?
"Huh, never thought that I'd see a recording of that piece."
"Well, obviously, it has been seen," the zebra said as she approached the record shop's counter. "But just what is it that you mean?"
"Oh, sorry miss, it's just the Symphony for Moon and Sun has been the ruin of many musicians' careers.."
*snip long detailed back and forth that explains the history and ends in Zecora buying a copy of this performance.*
And then Corona gets a crack in her insanity armor.
977698: Corona's reaction to the piece would undoubtably be... interesting, and would probably vary a lot depending on how it was performed. The 'correct' way might get a very... powerful reaction.
And that's all I'll say on that for now. :-)
977815
.....If you don't write that, I would (after I actually see he correct way nyway)
This was a very good read. It is kind of annoying that we have yet another Duke plot...But as this seems like it's going to wrap up the whole Lyra/Octavia debacle that'll probably be fine. Overall, a very interesting work with what should be some great character moments. Very nicely done.
977962: It probably won't come up in this story (Corona isn't scheduled to make an appearance), but I would be very happy if you wrote that scene. :-)
I noticed something--not just in this fic, now that I think about it, but in all FIMfiction. You put 'capitol' instead of 'capital'.
Is this Hungry Games starting to get to you now, is it?
It's never good when you finish your concert and your primary audience member is wreathed in angry blue fire.
Did you intend to put a fullstop here?
Ah-ha.
Straightforward enough. Maestro had been close to Luna and knew her; Luna hated what happened to her sister and blamed herself for not stopping it sooner, and Mestro knew this. Consequently, she wrote the song as a sad piece to commemorate how Luna saw the event as playing out. Corona's... impression... on Equestria, however, left everyone else seeing her as psychotic tyrant and her defeat as an unambiguous victory, and the song has since been played as a grand triumph. Luna hates hearing it this way, and we know the rest.
Then again, Luna is at fault here too. Firstly, from what's been said, she's never actually articulated her reasons for hating the piece to anyone before, which... can't have helped, really. Secondly, it's also a touch unfair to expect everyone else to remember the events as she does -- she's the one who actually knew what Celestia was like; from everyone else's point of view, Celestia just tried to murder them all and then Luna stopped her. Of course they saw it as a triumph.
Plus, Luna's insistence that Celestia was gone and Corona was only an insane monster wearing her body probably didn't help there either.