“That was beautiful.”
“Yes, it was an intriguing sounding language to be sung in.”
“Did you hear that violin solo?”
“Now that was just what I needed after a long day.”
The choral piece was over, but the equine audience that came out of it was still talking away as they were leaving the theater. Beethoven looked down at the scroll, smirking at the comments he was reading as the ponies passed by him. So far, what he read was overall positive.
“Mr. Beethoven, I presume?”
Ludwig looked up to see the dark blue alicorn with her guards nearby. “I take it that you approve of my work?” the composer inquired.
“It was an excellent effort maestro. What we’ve heard tonight was something rather quite new regarding choral work. Coming from a mare that has heard quite a number of choirs in one long lifetime, which says a good deal I assure you.”
“So I take it that you liked it?”
“Of course we did, it was very good,” Luna smiled. “What we’ve heard has pushed the boundaries of what choir work can be capable of. Although... I would confess that the translated lyrics did keep us in the dark.”
Beethoven stood up from his seat, “What do you mean?” he asked before looking at the scroll.
“Now, please do not misunderstand me, I’m not saying that the original text you used was bad or anything of the such. Only, as beautiful as the music was, the meaning behind it seems rather a loss to us. From what we’ve understood, these prayers spoke of praising a god, yet, at the same time, it wasn’t clear as to why that god was being praised for.”
“Did you not read the Credo?” Ludwig interrogated. “It is the very soul of the whole mass.”
“But it still has left some unanswered questions.” Luna clarified, “Please keep in mind, Equestria has no knowledge of your beliefs or the contexts behind them. For all we know, there is a creator god, and a son that, for one reason or another, had gotten someone named ‘Virgin Mary’ pregnant. Then suddenly it talked about suffering at the hooves of some other individual, came back days later, to do… something. Do you see the problem here? Without letting anypony know who or what you are talking about, the full meaning of the lyrics are lost to all of us, and what is left behind is the music. Does that make sense?”
The old man stayed silent.
“Permission to speak freely Princess?” one of her guards asked.
“Granted.”
A Batpony in armor step forward, “Mr. Beethoven, I think I speak on behalf of everypony here that no one denies of the enormous effort you’ve put into this piece. There’s a sense of mystery in the language and text you’ve chosen. It has a mythology and a sound world of its very own. I would think after listening to that, Equestria would probably perform this for years to come because of its novelty.”
“Mythology?” Beethoven’s eyes narrowed, he steps forward, glaring down at the guard. “Are you calling my beliefs a myth?”
“Um… no sir, I wasn’t implying that at all. I was just-”
“Do you know why I wrote that?” Ludwig interrupted. “Do you!” the guard shook his head. “One of many reasons why I wrote that Mass is that it’s the only way I can truly worship the Almighty by the only way I know how, because, in case you have forgotten, I AM DEAF!” The Lunar Guard flinched, “When I could no longer hear those sacred prayers of the church, I had to turn towards myself, the church within the church to worship the memory of those prayers so dear to me. The only way I could do that was to write it down, for music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. So do you think, I so much give a damn of what you or anyone thinks?”
Luna lifted her foreleg between them, “Mr. Beethoven,” the Princess of the Night scolded while holding up his scroll in his face. “He was trying to give you a compliment.”
“And I, Madame,” he snatched the scroll out of the alicorn’s aura. “Am trying to tell your guard why I’ve written the Mass in such a way.” Beethoven paused before taking in a deep breath, “I am not sorry for what I’ve said. The Mass is perfect as it is, whether you ponies understand it or not.”
The Princess sighed before responding, “Perhaps, at another time, would it be possible to set some time to explain your piece to me. Not as a critic, but as a student. I do wish to learn and understand why these lyrics mean so much to you.”
Beethoven reached into his pocket to pull out his composition book, “Perhaps at another time. I am busy at the moment, my muse is calling me.”
“Perhaps you won’t be busy in your dreams?” Luna inquired, but the giant had already rolled up his scroll before the Princess could finish.
_*_
The Night Princess was able to locate where the composer was in the dream world. It took a while to find him given that his sleeping body was on its way towards Ponyville by train. To her relief, Ludwig seemed to be having a pleasant dream at the moment. After stepping inside, she found herself in a forest and realizing her tall legs were caught in a bush. It took a minute or two to get out of them, but once she did, she set out looking for the composer. After taking flight, she spotted two figures on a trail, so she flew behind them, softly landing in order not to disturb them. They were walking slowly but close by to one another, and as the Princess noted, this dream features Mr. Beethoven to be much younger for his curly hair had not a single strand of gray. Next to him was the same woman in black that Luna saw months ago.
“Ludwig, wann kehrst du nach Wien zurück?” the veiled woman asked. “Ich weiß, wie sehr Sie den Wienerwald im Frühling lieben.”
Ludwig, walking arm in arm, patted her hand, “Ich weiß ... Ich weiß ... Aber ich habe sehr hart gearbeitet, um meine neue Symphonie zu beenden, um Sie wieder zu sehen.” Looking forward on the trail they’ve been walking on, the oaks and birch trees stood proudly in the glow of dawn. Fresh green grass and buds of flowers slowly open up in the cold dew. “Ich hoffe, Sie fühlen sich besser, wie ist Ihre Gesundheit?”
“Meine Erkältung ist gegangen, zumindest - obwohl mein Arzt mir gesagt, nicht zu essen rotes Fleisch oder Rotwein für den nächsten Monat.” The veiled woman looked over to him. “Ungeachtet meiner Gesundheit mache ich mir immer noch Sorgen um dich. Herr Beethoven, wann erwarten Sie, nach Hause zu kommen?”
“Die ersten drei Sätze meiner Symphonie sind vollständig; Ich muss den vierten Satz beenden. Aber wenn Sie bedenken, wie einzigartig ein Ansatz für diese Musik, die ich tun muss, ist, meine Vermutung, dass ich in der Lage, es bis zum Ende des Frühlings zu beenden.”
At this point, Luna cleared her throat, “I hope I’m not interrupting something important.”
The couple sharply turned around, the veiled woman jumped with a gasp while Mr. Beethoven with a mild annoyance, “You again?”
“Pardon my ignorance on human physiology,” the blue alicorn began, “but is it me or have you grown to be much younger?” She then turned her head towards the woman in black, “Friend of yours I presume?”
“What do you want now?” Ludwig asked coldly.
“I was hoping if this would be a good time to talk a little further on the choir piece you’ve given us. But as I can see, it would seem that I’ve stumbled upon a much more… personal moment.”
“Ludwig, wer ist das Pony?” the woman in black inquired. “Wie kann sie sprechen und warum trägt sie eine Krone?”
“Sie ist ein einzigartiger Freund von mir.” Ludwig said as he waved a hand towards Luna. “Dies ist Prinzessin Luna, Herrscher der Nacht und hat kein Gefühl der Privatsphäre.” He then turned towards the Princess, “This here is someone that is very dear to me. I owe her quite a lot in my life to.”
“Really?” Luna tilted her head, “I didn’t know that you were married.”
Beethoven paused, “I’m not…” he shook his head, “Will you be staying here for long? I wish to continue my walk.”
“Could I join you then? I wouldn’t mind a little stroll through the woods when I ask a few questions. It won’t take very long; I should be out of your mane in no time.”
After asking the veiled woman, Ludwig allowed the Princess to walk with them further down the trail of his dream. As they did so, the trees started to take on different shapes. The Birch trees looked like clarinets while the oaks took on shapes of cellos. Even the bird calls sounded more like flutes and piccolos.
“Could you tell me please,” Luna began, “what are the origins of the god that you wrote in that choir piece?”
“That may take a long time to explain,” Ludwig pointed out.
“In dreams, time flows much slower, so please, begin at the beginning, go on until you get to the end, then stop.”
And so, Beethoven described to Luna, as much as he could, the story of creation, of Adam and Eve, of the tribes of Israel, of Moses, of King Solomon, and the prophets of the Old Testament. But when he got to the New Testament, however, when he described the atonement to Luna only did she suddenly raise a wing, “I have a question.”
“Over what?”
“About these parts of the crucifixion, when this Messiah offers himself to put himself into indescribable suffering from torture to execution, only after to come back afterward, for the sole purpose to give mankind a clean slate of the transgressions that their long-dead ancestors, Adam and Eve had committed, correct?”
“That is true,” Ludwig nodded but raised an eyebrow.
“Alright, now here’s my question: why does this God, who you said was all good, is better than its creation morally, who instead of simply saying the words to their ancestors ‘I forgive you,’ demands to have a human sacrifice on behalf of everyone, only for that sacrifice to come back to life which is not much of a sacrifice if you really think about it?”
Beethoven’s eye twitched, “What are you implying?”
“I’m saying that as clear as your devotion to this, isn’t this a little… what’s that word? Inconsistent? Don’t get me wrong, in Equestria, you can think as freely as you wish as long as it doesn’t harm anyone, but shouldn’t this have some consistency?”
“The Lord works in mysterious ways,” the composer replied.
Luna frowned, “You have no answer to my question, do you?”
“What do I look like? A priest? I just told you from what I know. Now I don’t want to discuss this further.”
“But what you have told me doesn’t make sense. For example, if this god knows everything, why would he let Adam and Eve eaten the forbidden fruit when he could just step in to prevent it?”
“Holen Sie sich die Hölle aus meinem Traum!” Beethoven shouted. “Get out!”
Luna stepped off the trail, recoiling from the response, “Alright! Alright!” she then tore a hole back into the dream world with her horn, “It never hurts to ask,” she added before she left the composer to his dream.”
“Was hat Sie gesagt?” the woman in black inquired.
Ludwig sighed, “Vergiss es,” he told her. “Ich schwöre, ich bin an einigen Tagen von Idioten umgeben.”
_*_
Ludwig woke up earlier than he intended to. With the ever-present ringing in his ears, his head turned towards the covered window of the train car. Sitting up carefully as to not to hit his head, he pulled away the blinder to see that they were not quite to Ponyville yet. They were passing through a forest.
The composer reached over for his pair of headphones and the tiny music machine to turn it on. After selecting the item, he laid back down, putting the speakers onto his cheekbone, closing his tired eyes to listen to the recording of birds singing. In his imagination, he could have sworn that the random, staccato chirps were the war cries of flutes.
‘Perhaps I could use that,’ his groggy mind thought.