Somewhere, in a world known as ‘Symphony of Sorcery’, the curtains open revealing an orchestra stand.
It was empty at first, but not for long. The room begins to fill with people, all carrying different instruments while searching for their seats. One by one, they took a seat and began tuning their instruments. Today is an important day for these people. It takes two minutes for everyone to prepare, as a man with glasses and a fancy suit appears between two ladies playing the harp. He places a sheet of paper on a music stand and brought his attention to the camera.
“How do you do?” The man said. “My name is…”
“Mister Taylor! Mister Taylor!”
The man, Mr. Taylor, turns to one of the musicians, who plays the violin, who quickly approached the man in the glasses.
“Mister Taylor,” The musician said again.
“Yes, what is it?” The man with the glasses asked.
“You won’t believe this. But I have terrible news.”
“What? What happened?”
“It’s the sheet music; they’re gone! All of them!”
“Gone? Just like that?”
Yes,” The violinist nodded.
“But how can this be?” The man asked, confused. “We had them before.”
“I know! Each musician had one, even Mr. Stokowski. But now they’re just… Gone! Like they have a mind of their own.”
“That’s very strange. Have you searched anywhere else?”
“Every nook and cranny, but they’re nowhere to be found!”
“Hmm… There is a possible way that…”
Suddenly, before the man with glasses could finish, a bright light appears on the ceiling interrupting him. Everyone gasps as they looked up, as the light opened a portal and screams could be heard.
“What is that?” The violinist asked, surprised.
“I… I’ve never seen this before,” The man with glasses answered.
To everyone’s surprise, nine colorful individuals emerged and crashed in the middle of the room with a hard THUD! The portal disappears once more, as the musicians began to talk among themselves.
“Ow…” Rainbow said, rubbing her head. “Is that book playing with us or what? All this falling to the ground is getting on my nerves!”
“Well… That was special!” Vinyl said, shaking off her daze.
The man with the glasses and violinist watch in silence, surprised by what they see.
“Are those… Tiny horses?” The violinist asked.
“Looks that way, but I think they’re ponies,” The man with glasses observed. “They’re very colorful and look! There are two Unicorns, two Pegasi and three normal ones. That one must be an alicorn and the little guy must be a dragon.”
“Are they from the Pastoral Symphony?”
“I don’t think so. There are no dragons or normal ponies on Mount Olympus and those Pegasi are very small. They’re, without a doubt, not foals. Maybe it’s best you take your spot; I’ll talk with our new guests.”
The violinist nods and makes for his seat as the man with glasses approaches our Equestrian heroes. As the ponies and dragon slowly stood up from the floor, they looked around in surprise. They never expected to see so many humans at once. This was a totally new experience for Vinyl and Octavia.
“Wha-Wha-Wha-What are those?” Octavia asked, nervously.
“They’re humans, Octavia,” Twilight said. “Bipedal creatures that live on a planet called Earth. Don’t be scared; I don’t think these ones are hostile.”
“Cool!” Vinyl said, shifting her sunglasses.
“Are we in an… orchestra stand?” Spike asked, looking around.
“Looks that way,” Twilight answered.
Just then, the ponies saw the man with glasses approach and stop inches before them. Neither the ponies nor the man knew what to say upon first meeting till the man himself broke the silence.
“Hello,” He speaks, with a welcoming voice.
“Hello,” Twilight said.
“This is quite an unexpected surprise,” The man replied.
“Sorry if we disturbed you,” Twilight apologized.
“Not at all, little lady. Perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Deems Taylor. Composer, music critic and Master of Ceremonies.”
“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Taylor. I’m Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, and these are my friends: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Octavia, Vinyl and…”
Twilight then noticed that one of her friends is missing.
“Where’s Jiminy?” Twilight asked, looking around. “Is he still in Equestria?”
“No, he went with us through the portal,” Rainbow points out.
“Then why don’t I see him?” Twilight asked, looking around.
“Maybe some pony stepped on him,” Rarity gasped, checking her hooves.
The others looked at their hooves, but not a trace of Jiminy could be found. Twilight thought, when her eyes became small as pinpricks and faced her butt.
“Or sat on him?”
Every pony looked at their butt in panic, while Deems Taylor and the musicians just faced each other appropriately confused.
“Don’t worry, everyone,” Jiminy’s voice said. “I’m alright.”
“Jiminy?” Spike asked, looking around. “Where are you?”
Suddenly, the Cricket’s head pops out of Pinkie’s mane even to Pinkie Pie’s surprise.
“Up here! I’ve been hiding in Pinkie’s mane. Boy, who knew so many things could fit in here?”
“I know, right?” Pinkie asked, smiling.
Deems saw the little cricket, just by that look he knew who he is.
“Jiminy Cricket?” Deems asked.
“Yes?” Jiminy said, turning to Deems.
“’The’ Jiminy Cricket?”
“The one and only!”
“My, my,” Deems said, adjusting his glasses. “This is impressive."
“Wait, wait!” Twilight asked, looking at the two. “You know who Jiminy is?”
“I sure do,” Deems nodded. “He’s created by Walt Disney himself.”
The name, immediately, caught the attention of the ponies, cricket and dragon.
“Whoa, whoa, hold up a sec!” Rainbow said. “Disney? As in the ‘Book of Disney’?”
“That is correct.”
“So… You’re telling us that this person, Walt Disney, is the one who made the stories we went through?” Twilight asked, curiously.
“He’s a very well-known man,” Deems explained. “He, along with his team of animators, story writers and big dreams, made the Disney company as it is today.”
This sparked every pony’s interest in the matter.
“Gosh, well… Is he here?” Fluttershy asked. “We’d like to meet him, if he wants to.”
“Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it tonight,” Deems said. “He’s busy working on… Did you say a book?”
“Yes, you know about it?” Twilight asked.
“Mr. Disney said something about a book before he asked for my help with this,” Deems said.
“What did he say?” Twilight asked.
“He said he was creating a magic storybook that leads to many worlds where the characters really lived,” Deems said.
“Ooh…” The ponies said, in unison.
“So… I exist because of him?” Jiminy asked, surprised.
“Yes, I just can’t believe he actually did it!” Deems said, impressed.
“That Walt Disney guy must have a lot of imagination,” Pinkie said.
“That he does, Miss Pinkie Pie,” Deems nodded. “That he does.”
“Well, I would love to meet him someday,” Jiminy said.
“Me too,” Rarity said.
The other ponies and dragon nod in agreement, as Twilight observes the musicians.
“So, what are you all doing?” Twilight asked. “Are you playing a concert too?”
“We certainly are,” Deems answered, addressing another man in a fancy suit. “I would like to welcome you here on behalf of Walt Disney, Leopold Stokowski and all the other artists and musicians whose combined talents went into the creation of this new form of entertainment: Fantasia.”
“So that’s what Fantasia is,” Twilight said.
“But who are you performing to?” Octavia asked.
“For our very special audience, right over there,” Deems points out.
The ponies turned toward a camera he was pointing to, much to their confusion.
“Oh, I see them!” Pinkie smiled, waving. “Hello! Hi everybody! Hi Mr. Writer!”
*Sighs* Hello, Pinkie Pie.
“Oooookay…” Twilight said, awkwardly.
“But we now have a big problem,” Deems said.
“What kind of problem?” Jiminy asked.
Suddenly, the conductor, Leopold Stokowski, approaches the group.
“Well, one of the violinists said all the sheet music is gone,” The conductor explained.
“Ah yes, ladies and gentlemen, meet Leopold Stokowski,” Deems introduced, while Leopold bowed. “He’s the famous conductor who will compose the music for Fantasia.”
“Let me get this straight,” Applejack speaks up. “You were about to start a concert for an audience, and you lost your music?”
“No, we didn’t lose it,” Leopold corrects. “They’ve just disappeared, now we can’t find them.”
“That’s strange,” Vinyl said.
“So, we’re in the same boat,” Octavia replied.
“What do you mean?” Deems asked.
“We're preparing a concert back home,” Octavia explained. “I haven’t written any music because I found no inspiration.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Deems said.
Twilight pondered the situation when she had an idea.
“Why don’t we look for your missing music?”
“You will?” Leopold asked.
“We will?” Spike asked, before Applejack nudges him. “I mean… Yeah, sure! Of course, we’ll look!”
“We always help those in need,” Twilight added.
The others nodded in unison.
“We’ll be so thankful to you,” Deems said.
“But how are we going to find sheet music?” Rainbow asked. “You said they disappeared.”
“We might have a suspicion as to where they might be,” Deems said.
Suddenly, a bright light shone on the floor as a stand emerged with a songbook on top. Its presence took everyone completely by surprise. One by one, six additional stands with songbooks appeared. Each book had a different colored cover.
“Whoa!” Rainbow gasped.
“Well, Ah’ll be,” Applejack said.
They approached one of the songbooks, studying it with confusion.
“Songbooks?” Twilight asked.
"Yes, but these aren't your average songbooks,” Leopold explained. “Inside the musical score is a gateway to realms created by music. It’s where we get the source for the music we’re supposed to play for the concert.”
“Amazing!” Octavia smiled.
“But do not be deceived,” Deems warned. “There are beautiful things in those realms, but between those clefs and notes lurks danger.”
“Sounds familiar,” Spike replied, turning to Twilight.
“Ha! Danger’s my middle name!” Rainbow bragged. “Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash!”
The other ponies rolled their eyes at that, there were times Rainbow Dash gets on their nerves at time.
“What she meant to say is that we’ve dealt with many tough situations,” Applejack said.
“You bet!” Pinkie agreed. “We’ve dealt with an evil alicorn who wanted to make nighttime last forever but turns out she’s our ruler’s sister. Then there’s an evil Changeling Queen, a shadowy unicorn from which I'm not certain if he's really a unicorn, a centaur who stole magic from every pony in Equestria, a group of teenage dragons, a tyrannical satyr along with a unicorn with a broken horn, an evil queen who wanted to kill her stepdaughter, a…”
“You don’t have to name all our enemies, Pinkie,” Spike said, shutting her muzzle. “They get the point.”
“I want to thank you again for doing this,” Deems said, pointing to a songbook glowing red. “If you should proceed, I advise you to start with this one. Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
Twilight examines the book for a few seconds, then back toward her friends before making her decision.
“Absolutely!” She said, determined. “Bring it on!”