//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Of Rehearsals and Lullabies // Story: The Second Life of Moztrot // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// Onstage, everypony blinked, “Who the hay are you? And why are you here, Princess Twilight?” “Everypony,” the lilac pony with wings and pointy horn said, “I think it’s about time you got to meet, Wolfgang Amadeus Moztrot.” “Hello!” I grinned widely and waved my hoof about. Many of the children looked at one another surprised, “He’s here!” one whispered. “The real Moztrot is here!” “Students,” the stallion pianist waved a hoof. “Don’t mutter to yourselves. In fact, let’s take a five-minute break.” He turned to me and hopped off the stage to walk over and shake my hoof. “It’s a huge honor to have you with us, sir! I’m Forte Waltz, the music instructor for the Crystal Youth Orchestra, and these here are my students.” “Call me Wolfgang,” I replied. “A very bright pink birdy with a crown told me that you lot were going to perform a concerto of mine.” He nodded, “Number twenty sir. As of right now, we are in the rehearsal process for the opening day of the festival, which is coming up in a week. So are you planning to come to the festival by any chance?” “Oh yes,” Twilight answered it for me. “If anything that was the reason he came here. And he also wants to perform as well. I’m just giving him a tour of the empire.” “And how lucky we are to run into all of you,” I said, directing my attention to the youth orchestra and climbing up to the stage. “Now quickly, who’s the youngest?” A hoof from the clarinet section rose up. It came from a rose-colored colt. “Ah, and how old are you?” “Thirteen,” he replied. “Then who’s the oldest?” A hoof from the cello section had risen up. This time it came from a mare in sunflower yellow. “And you?” “I’ll be turning eighteen in a couple of months,” she informed me. “Ah, and I take it that all of you are well trained in music?” they all nodded. I smiled and turned to their teacher, “I couldn’t have chosen a more perfect orchestra myself!” The music instructor and the bookworm glanced at one another. “Really?” asked Twilight, “How so?” “Back where I come from,” I explained, “critics said my music had too much spice, too much passion even. Only, that’s exactly the way I wanted it to be. And what other groups of ponies could be anywhere near as passionate as this group here?” I waved my hoof towards them. “If anything, all of this just makes too much sense.” “Well…” the teacher blinked, “Thank you for the compliment. You know you’re more than welcome to stay as long as you like-” “Ohh!” Instantly I rushed over towards Twilight's face, “Can we, Princess? Just for twenty minutes! I do want to hear this! Can we! Can we! Can weeehehee!?” I was literally hopping in place at this point, succumbing to my excitement. She craned her neck over, “What time is it now?” “Almost ten,” someone called out. “Okay,” Twilight held a hoof to pin down my vibrating body. “But only twenty minutes, I do have quite a bit of the empire to show you. So once that’s up, we have to move on.” I merely squeed as I plopped my plot in a nearby chair. After their break and me reminding them to up the tempo, the pianist returned to the instrument and began again from the start. Even after spending most of the day walking this way or that, up to the point where my hooves felt like they were about to blister, I had the notes of the rehearsal going around in my head. I do not mean the melody and harmonies of that particular concerto, but rather, all the things that I could help those young musicians improve. Please don’t misunderstand me; they were good from what I’ve heard. There were indeed signs of their skills as they went from one bar to the next. But to my ears, it didn’t sound quite right. As if those students were almost there, but they were missing just a few things. Hours after we had gotten back to the palace and eaten dinner, I went looking for one of the rulers of the Empire, as I wanted to ask them something. I was pointed this way and that, but as it turned out, all I had to do was to follow the wails of a certain face hugger to find not only the parents but the wizard as well. They were in what looked like a nursery, three ponies desperately tried to calm the crying (and rather loud) baby in her crib. “It’s okay sweetie,” Cadance cooed as she rocked the crib with her magic. “Mommy’s right here.” “I don’t get it,” Shining said, who looked as frazzled as if he had walked across a war zone. “She’s not hungry, her diaper doesn’t need changing, she doesn’t want the formula and we’ve even given her Whammy.” “Not to mention we tried reading her a bedtime story,” Sunburst pointed out. “But what’s keeping her from going to sleep?” “Have you tried singing a lullaby?” I asked, thus getting everypony’s attention. “Sorry if I’m intruding, I was looking for Your Highnesses but it looks as if you’re preoccupied at the moment.” The wizard adjusted his glasses, “What do you mean by a lullaby?” “You know, sing to her until she sleeps,” I clarified as I entered the nursery. Trotting over to the cradle, “Ah, the poor thing looks like she’s had a busy day hugging ponies’ faces. I bet what she needs is some music to calm her down.” “We already tried that,” Cadance told me. “But nothing seems to be working.” “Hmm…” I looked around the room. “I wish that I had an instrument with me because while I think I may have the right tune, I’m afraid that I don’t have the best singing voice in the world.” “Here,” Sunburst lit up his horn to cast a spell upon the cradle itself. When asked what he just did, he replied. “Put your hoof on the cradle, and think of the lullaby so she can hear it.” As strange an idea as it was, I obeyed. I gently rocked the crib back and forth while the little one was still in tears, while I thought of the lullaby that I played for my colts. Suddenly I heard clarinets, pizzicato violins, and violas before a cello sang my lullaby. All the while, I hummed the tune as the bawling alicorn slowed to a sniffle, clearly listening to the music. The crib vibrated with the exact harmonies and counterpoint from my head, as I continued to rock her. I noticed how the three adults were looking on, seemingly relieved that the filly was at last calming down. For a brief moment, I daydreamed that I was home again. In my head, the cello and clarinet acted as the mother who stood guard. The strings, winds and even the angelic voices were sending an invitation to the babe to come to Dreamland. To go to a world of peaceful rest until the sun comes up. Like my colts, Flurry Heart’s eyes had too fallen under the spell of sound – drifting deeper into a tranquil slumber. By the time had she closed those eyelids, I began it one more time, repeating the sleepy melody to be sure that she had succumbed to it. For a brief moment, as the lullaby reprised, I could have sworn that I was rocking my sons again. Watching them fall asleep. “Moztrot?” I heard Cadance say softly, “Are you okay?” Looking up, I didn’t realize that I was tearing up. Keeping a hoof to the cradle and using the other to wipe up what was running down my face, I let the melody play out before giving it its closing chords. I stopped for a moment to see if the baby had indeed fallen asleep; when it became evident that was the case, we all slipped out of the nursery. “Thank you for doing that,” Prince Armor told me. “We have been trying to get her to sleep for nearly an hour. So how did you do that in a matter of minutes?” “It’s a trick that my wife and I used when we wanted our children to go to sleep. We played out that lullaby until they dozed off. And forgive me for the tears, it was stupid of me.” “Are you really alright?” the pink alicorn asked again. “Of course I am,” I lied. “Anyways, I’m glad I could help. Since I finally found you both, I was hoping that I could ask one of you something.” They told me to go ahead, “Remember that Youth Orchestra that Twilight and I brought up at dinner? Well, I was hoping that since I’m here, I could ask two special favors of you.” “What’s that?” Sunburst inquired. “Well, for one, I was thinking that maybe I could do more than just help them out during rehearsals. So, if you would permit me, I’d like to actually play the piano part myself, just so I can reintroduce myself to my audience for the first time in centuries.” Cadance tapped a hoof to her chin. “I think I could have something arranged with the music teacher over there. Of course, that would mean that you’ll have to work with the teenagers until they perform.” “About that,” I added, “Which leads to the next thing I wanted to ask. For it has to do with my Requiem.” The hallway went silent, “And that being?” Shining inquired. “With your permission, Your Majesties, I’d like to have an orchestra and choir of my own by the time I write down the rest of the manuscript. For I think I may get it finished in a matter of days, but after that, I’d like to rehearse and perform it at certain locations in Equestria.” “So soon?” Sunburst asked. “Considering that pretty much every orchestra, band, and singer is needed for the upcoming festival?” “I’m not asking them to have them right this very minute when I haven’t written it all down. That’s just silly,” I laughed. “Of course, maybe get them after it.” “We’ll have to see,” Cadance told me. “After all, it’s not just our Empire’s musicians that are performing. You might want to hear several of them before making deciding who should perform whatever you want them to play.” She yawned before adding, “Besides, it’s time we all headed off to bed. So good night, Mr. Moztrot.” I wished them the same as I tried to retrace my steps back to the guest bedroom. However, that failed miserably as I ran into the orange wizard again. “Let me guess,” He said, “You’ve lost your way, didn’t you?” “I’m not lost,” I told him defensively. “I merely just… misplaced my room is all.” The walking orange rolled his eyes. “Here, let me show you before I head home.” I began to follow him through the increasingly familiar (if not identical) corridors when he said, “Between you and me, I didn’t know you wrote that lullaby.” “Pardon?” I raised an eyebrow. “What you played for Flurry. I had heard it before and I didn’t know that it was yours.” “Is that so? Where did you hear it from?” He frowned, “My mom used to sing it to me.” There was an uncomfortable silence between us. I was the one to break it with a sigh, “It’s rather funny how a piece of music can bring back certain memories. Take that lullaby, for instance, I wrote it for Karl after his first birthday, and how relieved I was.” “What do you mean by ‘relieved’?” I went silent for the longest minute, and I was self-aware that my ears folded back. “We lost our first child the year before. So after Karl turned one year of age, I was more than happy to write him a lullaby because, what would be the good of writing one if you don’t know if he’ll wake up in the morning?” “Oh…” Now it was Sunburst’s turn to look guilty. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” I waved it off, “Not even the ponies where I came from knew about it either. You don’t have to feel sorry for me.” At that moment we had arrived at the door to my guest room. Before I went inside, Sunburst told me that if there was anything that I wanted to speak to him as a friend, I was more than welcome to do so. After thanking him, I went to bed with a bottle of brandy at hoof. Tomorrow I would start rehearsing with those children, but that night, I wanted to drink until I fell asleep.