A week had passed in Trottingham, the trio’s trip coming to an end as the elegant city was doing its own winter wrap-up. Vinyl had to go back to Canterlot tomorrow evening, Octavia was moving back home to Trottingham and would be staying, and Twilight would need to head home to Ponyville in the morning to get re-situated there.
Twilight was honestly a little frustrated with Vinyl right now, though. They were parting ways tomorrow and she’d been off with Octavia all day today. After breakfast they were both off, but Vinyl had given her a place and a time. She was to meet them at Trottingham’s best concert hall at 8.
The Philharmonic concert hall was certainly magnificent, and her meeting Vinyl and Octavia there gave her a few good guesses at what this was all about. The posters advertising a once in a lifetime Philharmonic symphony performance got her curious ,as did the flood of ponies entering. She got in easily enough, but one of the door greeters directed her up a separate flight of stairs labelled ‘VIP balcony’. She was stopped by another greeter as she reached the door, though.
“I’m sorry, Miss Twilight, the VIP balcony is not ready to receive you yet. We should definitely have it ready by the time the performance is scheduled to begin of course.” The well dressed stallion said. Twilight just grumbled and was glad there was a small waiting area up here so she could at least sit down. She was mildly surprised when Harmonia and Chorus stepped up, with Record and Emerald in tow, and got the same message from the greeter. They chatted idly for around 10 minutes when Twilight was surprised to see Cadence and Shining stepping up and getting still the same spiel.
“Cadence? Shining? I thought you had let already?” She asked, having said her goodbyes to them that morning.
“We were invited to come here and I got the OK from my court by messenger that I could stay another day or two.” Cadence replied, squeezing into the now somewhat crowded waiting area. They all hoped the balcony was bigger than this room.
“When the last two guests arrive, the VIP box will be ready to receive all of you.” The greeter informed them before entering the door and swiftly closing it behind him. It sounded like the orchestra was doing some rehearsals or something as the audience filed in early.
“I wonder who the other guests are?” Emerald asked, happy to see the whole ‘family’ here. Dusk and Dawn Sparkle were missing, they had left before Hearth’s warming eve had started as they had obligations back in Canterlot.
“Wouldn’t it be something if Mom and Dad showed up? It’d be like a family event!” Shining said happily. There was a small knowing tone in his statement, though. Twilight gave him a look. Before she could question him on it, though, a voice behind her came first.
“Not quite, but I hope I’m good enough.” The voice said with a little chuckle at the end. There was only one voice that regal, and Twilight was immediately out of her seat and zipping over to hug Princess Celestia.
“Princess! I didn’t know you were coming, how’d you make the time?” Twilight asked. Luna stepped around her sister and spoke for her as the elder Princess hugged the young alicorn back.
“We told them we were going and that was final. Even politics can’t keep us from taking time for ourselves once in awhile afterall.” Lune said.
“And they agreed that we probably needed a vacation after the holidays.” Celestia finished. Everyone else was standing, though everyone but Emerald seemed utterly shocked to see Princess Celestia there, even Cadence and Shining.
“Whoa! Princess Celestia! I get to meet Princess Celestia now!” The little filly exclaimed, leaping off of her mother’s chair and bounding up to them. “Auntie Twilight can you introduce me?” She asked, at least showing a tiny bit of respect in her excitement. Twilight giggled and lifted Emerald onto her back.
“Princess, this is Emerald. Vinyl’s little sister. She insists on calling me Auntie and I don’t have the heart to ask her to stop.” She said, laughing as the filly clambered to her neck to get closer to the Princess. Celestia giggled and put her hoof out to shake. The filly, only now showing a bit of hesitation, shook it slowly before grinning and hopping back down off of Twilight’s back.
“Mommy! Mommy! I shook the Princess’ hoof!” She exclaimed, Record quickly picking her up as the rest of them trotted over. Record replied by patting Emerald on the head and kissing her on the cheek.
“I must say, I never thought I’d ever share a balcony with the Princesses of Equestria at one of my daughter’s performances.” Chorus said, the grey stallion giving the princesses a small but respectful bow. His wife soon followed.
“That would make you miss Octavia’s parents then?” Celestia asked. The two nodded. Celestia inclined her head respectfully and turned to Record, filly on her back. “And one Miss Record Scratch?” She continued. Record gave a bit of a bow as well, which was returned with a respectful incline again. “Very well, I think it’s time for the performance to start. Shall we?” She finished, turning towards the door. The group quickly filed into the, thankfully, large balcony and situated themselves as the conductor and the orchestra was doing their final tunings.
“Well then, I think that’s good enough. Let’s get this started, shall we? We have very special guests tonight, let’s not keep them waiting.” The conductor said and the Orchestra readied to play. It wasn’t until the third song that Twilight remembered that she was supposed to meet Octavia and Vinyl here. Octavia was obviously playing her cello on the stage, but Vinyl was nowhere to be seen. After half an hour of performance the Orchestra started moving around. It was like they were preparing for an entirely different group and the conductor took to the microphone again.
“We’re doing something special tonight, and for that we’ll need a randomly selected audience member. When the time comes, the spotlights will find you and you can come up to the stage. We’re experimenting with interactive performance, here’s hoping it doesn’t crumble.” He explained. Twilight liked the guy, he wasn’t pompous or overly professional. She had the distinct feeling the words he meant to say were something along the lines of ‘let’s hope this doesn’t go to shit’. Soft murmurs shot through the audience, and the VIP box, when the curtains went down to hide what the orchestra was doing. They were all surprised, or at least looked surprised in the case of a certain pair of princesses, as Octavia was standing there with her cello ready next to Vinyl. She had a Violin of all things.
They started playing, a wonderful duet. It wasn’t quite as impressive as the orchestra’s usual content, though, even if it was a DJ on the violin. They quickly realized it wasn’t as it seemed, though, as in preparation for the next section there were now two more bows being held in Vinyl’s magic. The Orchestra chimed in then, too, and it turned out they were playing an almost broken song. But it wasn’t broken. It was remixed. Twilight’s eyes widened and she felt her heart speed up as she realized what this was.
“This is… that song…” She stammered in awe as Vinyl let the violin continue playing itself as she practically leaped over to a mixing table that had been left in the corner. The electronic base and altered chorus kicked in then as well, now it was exactly that song. Being remixed live, and the music being remixed was also being played live. Once in a lifetime sounded pretty accurate right about now. Her reaction didn’t go unnoticed, but none of them really knew what it was so they stayed silent and watched.
And that was when the spotlights turned on and immediately focused on Twilight. She seemed almost horrified by that, but immediately narrowed her eyes at the stage. Vinyl was working her violin and the mix tables with her magic, now she was standing on her back legs with her wings splayed out to help balance. She was holding her hoof out in Twilight’s general direction.
“That clever little mare. She’s going to make me embarrass myself and I can’t help but love her for it.” She said as the music continued. This was at about the spot where she had started dancing at the club that night, and as she glided down on her wings to the stage they both started the dance like all those weeks ago.
“I told you we weren’t doing anything behind your back. We were perfecting this.” Vinyl said, just loud enough for Twilight to hear her over the music. Twilight rolled her eyes as they touched their horns together. They didn’t quite care about the murmuring in the crowd as their resonance peaked from the contact. They looked at each other, Vinyl gave Twilight a shit eating grin, and then they danced.
The audience was stunned into silence, the scandal of touching their horns on stage forgotten at the display. They danced together, perfectly in synch. It was even easier than last time, since they were both sober and they both had wings to stabilize their erratic movements. The song picked up again, and as such their movements became more elegant and warped.
Again, they went on until the crescendo, twisting around each other while their wings stabilized the both of them together. Twilight gave her that same stupid grin as that night, and Twilight couldn’t help but lean in and kiss her. She didn’t care that there were at least four thousand ponies in the room, especially when they all erupted in applause.
“Almost makes up for leaving me alone all week.” Twilight said quietly, flushing up slightly as the applause finally registered and then untangled themselves. Twilight laughed as the Conductor and Octavia stepped in line with them and motioned for them to bow.
“Oh don’t worry, I’ve got twenty year old whiskey and a fresh bottle of spiced applejack daniels for later. No way in hell I’m letting you leave without another wild night.” Vinyl replied as the entire orchestra bowed with them, this time Octavia snickering at overhearing. Twilight rolled her eyes as stood back up. The conductor took to the microphone again and Twilight couldn’t help but stare at him as he spoke.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been my honor to conduct this event- even if it wasn’t my idea- as it is the first event in the history of Equestria that has had all five alicorns present. The Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra thanks Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for making time to attend this not so humble performance, Princess Cadence and her husband Shining Armor for delaying their trip home, and for Twilight Sparkle and Veronica Scratch for giving us such a splendid finale.For the first time, and probably the last, this theater has seen a remixed piece that was not horrid.” The conductor announced, the last part jabbing an Elbow in Vinyl’s direction. She stuck her tongue out and the orchestra started packing their things up.
“Twilight, Vinyl, that was incredible! I knew you said the dance was spectacular, but I never thought you’d be able to replicate it!” Octavia said happily as they walked out of the hall ten minutes later, Octavia’s cello strapped to her back.
“Well I didn’t know I could do it either.” Twilight said, lightly slapping Vinyl’s head with a wing. Vinyl snorted in return.
“I had every confidence that it would have been awesome. It wasn’t the same though. It was better. I’m just glad the Princesses were able to make it.” The DJ said as they finally got out of the concert hall to see their families and the princesses chatting as they waited for them.
“You know, I was really wondering how a dance could start all of this. Now I’m wondering how you weren’t inseparable from day one.” Shining said.
“Did you not hear of it? They were. The press had a field day about it.” Luna said as they started walking, the snow crunching underhoof as it wasn’t scheduled to be cleared until the morning.
“Wait that was day one? I thought that was at least a week in. Twilight, I didn’t know you were such a flirt.” Cadence said, giggling slightly at Twilight unamused reaction.
“Nah, I’m the flirt. I was just surprised it was reciprocated.” Vinyl said, earning another winged slap from her partner.
“Well Veronica, I need to run back. Emerald fell asleep waiting and house hunting has exhausted me this week.” Record said, quickly hugging her daughter and saying her goodbyes to everyone else.
“We ought to head back too, it’s getting late. Don’t be too long Octavia, you know what your mother’s like when you wake her up at midnight.” Chorus said, Harmonia rolling her eyes and lightly hitting his shoulder. They too left after bowing to the princesses.
“We’ve got an early train to catch, and I’d rather not wake our hosts up either. Especially after they graciously let us stay another day.” Shining said, Cadence hugging everyone while he hoof bumped Vinyl and hugged Twilight. They inclined their heads to the princesses and left.
“I’ve got a date with the orchestra, we always go out for a drink as a group.” Octavia said, hugging her friends and bowing to the princesses and heading away where other orchestra members were walking
“I don’t know about you three, but it’s been entirely too long since I’ve sat down and had a proper mixed drink.” Celestia said, her horn flashing as she turned to a smaller unicorn with a pink mane and tail.
“Literally always a good idea.” Vinyl said, her horn flashing to take her usual disguise. Twilight took her own, rolling her eyes, and Luna took the form of a pegasus with a dark grey coat and a midnight blue mane and tail.
“It’s not like we do this twice a month.” Luna said as they started walking.
“Oh I don’t mean sneaking off for a quick bottle and bringing it back, I meant getting properly smashed.” Celestia said, her regal tone completely disappearing with the disguise. Vinyl and Twilight looked at each other.
“Didn’t you say you got a couple of good things, love?” Twilight asked. A few bottles appeared around Vinyl’s head, covered in her magic.
“Oh, you spoil me, girls.” Celestia giggled, the sound almost too sweet with her disguised voice. Especially considering they were about to get hammered.
“Let’s do this the right way then. We do an old fashioned late night pub crawl to get tipsy as hell, rent a hotel room for the night and finish with the good stuff. That way we’re not waking our folks up. OH, and we have to set up a camera just in case we don’t remember any of it. We can just destroy it afterwards if some real crazy shit happens but we can’t let ourselves forget a night like this.” Vinyl explained lowly, like they were planning a heist. Celestia grinned and Luna shared a ‘why are we doing this again?” look with Twilight. It was returned with a ‘Because we need a break’ look. Luna rolled her eyes as they reached the first pub and they all headed inside. It was going to be a long night.