“So is this all you need me to do?” asked Luna, standing on her Duel Board while wearing a single saddlebag full of paper. “Pass out these flyers?”
“Yep!” Blue Melody nodded. “For now, anyway. Sassy will be heading to the boutique she works at and bringing back some of the outfits there. Sour Note and I were planning on going there after having lunch at The Tasty Treat but… you know…”
“Oh…”
“I should probably stay here to keep an eye on the fillies. My boyfriend will be getting the stage all set up and ready to go for my performance. I’ll also be checking up on him every now and then to see how things are coming along,” Blue Melody sighed.
“May I ask something?”
“Yes?”
“Not to pry, but is something happening between you two?”
Blue Melody paused for a moment. “Not to worry. Whatever it is, we’ll get through it.”
“All right, then,” Luna replied. “I’ll be back later.”
As the human girl took off on her board, Blue Melody sighed once more. “I just don’t want to lose him…” the earth pony mumbled to herself.
“I can’t believe that just happened,” Leo thought, aimlessly riding his Duel Board through the streets.
His mind was still on the end of his Duel with Carter.
“Go ahead. Fight back. You’ll just have their death on your conscience,” Carter’s words echoed in Leo’s mind. “There’s still the pony inside my monster! I suppose you’ve consigned their life to Tartarus?!”
Leo remembered trying to retrieve the pony inside Carter’s mechanical monster, only to watch it explode before him.
“Did I… kill someone?” he wondered. Perhaps Carter lied. At the same time, Leo couldn’t deny the possibility of Carter telling the truth.
“Leo!” called a young female voice. Leo perked his head up to see his twin sister on her Duel Board, carrying a bag.
“Luna?” the brother replied, as they both stopped in front of each other. “What are you doing?”
“Passing out these flyers for the concert!”
“Concert? What concert?”
“And that’s everything that happened after we got separated,” stated Luna.
“I see…” the brother replied.
“Leo? Is something wrong?”
He paused before speaking again. “Well… in my Duel with Carter, he Summoned his Disharmony monster.”
“Did it have someone inside it?”
“I don’t know. I sent my Power Tool to try and check inside but… before I knew it, his monster exploded and the Duel ended.”
“Well, maybe there wasn’t a pony inside it?”
“Maybe…” Leo mumbled.
“Aren’t you supposed to be passing out flyers?” asked a male voice. The twins looked ahead to see Sour Note approaching them. “Great, now there are two of you…” the earth pony groaned.
“Oh, we’ll be right on it. My brother just got here and I’m having him help!” Luna replied.
“Whatever. The sooner this is done, the sooner I don’t have to see you and the rest of your species.”
“Hey!” yelled a female voice. “Sweetie! Don’t talk to them like that!”
Sour Note was silent as his girlfriend trotted up to them.
“They did save us, you know. And they’re still helping despite what the other humans have done!”
“For all we know, it could be a trick.”
Blue Melody paused for a moment. “Maybe it is, but when I look at Luna, the girl who saved us… I don’t see somepony who would betray us.”
“Some…pony?” Leo thought.
“That’s because they’re not ponies,” Sour Note retorted.
Blue Melody facehoofed. “You know what I mean,” she said.
“And you know I don’t think this concert is a good idea.”
“Sweetie, I want to do this. You trust me, right?” she asked her boyfriend.
“Fine.” Sour Note shook his head and turned away. “It’s always what she wants,” he mumbled as he trotted off.
“I just don’t understand him sometimes.” Blue Melody turned to the twins. “I’m so terribly sorry about him. You must be Luna’s brother. I’m Blue Melody.”
“Uh, yeah, my name is Leo,” the male twin spoke.
“Nice to meet you!”
“So what’s with that guy, anyway?”
“My boyfriend? I honestly don’t know. I’m just trying to do what’s good for everypony, even if it’s just a little bit.”
“Has he always been this way?” Luna inquired.
“We’ve disagreed on a lot of things before, but it’s never been this bad. He may not be the most agreeable stallion, but he’s been the only one that’s ever appreciated me for… me. Not just for my celebrity status.”
The twins glanced at each other.
“I just hope nothing bad happens between us,” Blue Melody continued. “So, you’re helping out with the concert, right?”
“Yeah, about that, what is this concert all about, anyway?” asked Leo.
Luna answered, “Blue Melody wants to try and bring up the morale of everyone here in Canterlot with her singing.”
“In fact, I was just on my way to the boutique where Sassy will be helping me pick out an outfit to wear for it!” Blue Melody said.
“Oh? That sounds pretty cool,” Leo replied. “Sure, I’ll help!”
“Thank you both very much!”
“Hmm, it’s too crowded,” said the man. “I’m afraid we can’t do much to get to the target, Slight Trace.”
“Not to worry, Drystan,” the unicorn replied. “You worry about the two Signers. By the way, you have the Element, yes?”
Drystan nodded.
“Good. I was told to let you know that, as soon as I bring our target here to you, you have the go-ahead as that is our top priority here. Hey. Hey!”
The man’s mind had been elsewhere.
“Hey, we have a job to do. I thought someone with your profession wouldn’t have an issue with following orders,” Slight Trace said.
“Not at all. I live to serve my master.”
“I thought so. Be ready for me when I bring the target to you.”
“Understood.”
“Twilight! You need to rest! Doctor’s orders, remember?” Spike pleaded, standing beside the alicorn’s hospital bed.
“I’m sorry, Spike, but I can’t right now,” Twilight replied. “Not when our friends are in danger.”
“But you haven’t fully recovered yet! I don’t think you’re in any shape to be fighting any of those guys right now.”
“What’s going on?” asked Starlight, entering the room. Quickly scanning the room, she noticed that Fluttershy and the Crusaders were not present in the room. “Wait, you’re not thinking of heading out right now, are you, Twilight?”
Twilight sighed. “Look, everyone. I appreciate your concern, but I need to go to Canterlot. Maybe I can find some clues there about where the rest of our friends are. I don’t think I can afford to lay around anymore.”
“What about the pendant? Maybe you can focus on that instead?” suggested Spike.
“What’s this about a pendant?” Starlight asked.
The alicorn answered, “When Fluttershy and I went to save everypony here in Ponyville, I met this unicorn. She and I fought and, when she left, she dropped a pendant.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s at the castle library,” Spike replied.
“Then why don’t we look into that? Won’t we have a better idea of who or what we’re dealing with?”
“That might be a better idea than goin’ in blind,” Applejack said.
The alicorn stopped to consider their words. “You’re right,” she conceded, as her friends breathed a sigh of relief. “I was going to check the Golden Oak library, but didn’t get a chance to because of everything that happened so far. Maybe I’ll head there.”
“Actually, I was thinking that maybe I should look there and you can double-check your castle library?” asked Spike.
“Hmm… alright, sure,” Twilight agreed.
“That’s the last flyer. Let’s go see if Blue Melody wants us to do anything else,” Luna said. “Leo?”
“Huh? Yeah, sis?” Leo replied.
“Still thinking about what happened?” she asked, with a concerned expression.
“…Yeah.”
“Well, like I said, maybe no one got hurt.”
“I hope so.” The twins started toward the concert stage on their Duel Boards. “Maybe we should stay backstage during the concert,” Leo suggested.
“How come? …Oh, right.” She agreed that, although Blue Melody was more than accepting of them as well as some other ponies, the vast majority wouldn’t be too happy seeing them. Hopefully, they can soon change the ponies’ views on them and their friends, at the very least.
They approached the stage to see Sour Note directing some unicorns that were arranging some last-minute decorations.
“Alright! That should do it!” he called out to them. The unicorns smiled and nodded before quickly running off. “Wha…?” Sour Note’s confusion quickly vanished as he turned to see the twins.
“Uh… hi…” Leo nervously chuckled.
“Oh, it’s you.”
“Do you really need to act like a jerk all the time?” asked Luna.
“I do not act like a jerk all the time!”
“Could’ve fooled me,” Leo retorted.
“If it was my choice, I’d have told you to get lost a long time ago. We don’t need you in our lives.”
“Hey!”
Sour Note sighed. “This concert is a bad idea. So was letting you both stick around. So was coming here. She never listens to me.”
“Why wouldn’t she? Aren’t you supposed to be her boyfriend?” Luna questioned.
“You’d think that, wouldn’t you? But every time she gets an idea in her head, she’s dead set on seeing it through. Me? I end up feeling like nothing I say matters. She asks for my advice and sometimes I agree, but other times… not at all, no matter how much I protest.”
“Maybe your attitude has something to do with it,” said Leo.
“…What did you say?” Sour Note immediately glared at the twin brother.
“Almost makes me wonder why she puts up with you. And I only just met you both!”
“Nopony asked for your opinion!”
“So what? I still think she deserves better than that!”
Leo braced himself as Sour Note raised his hoof. The three were still until Sour Note planted his hoof back on the ground. “She barely listens to me. Clearly, anything I say or do isn’t of much value to her. Maybe she is better off without me.” He hung his head as he walked away.
“Wait! That’s not what I…” Leo stopped, the earth pony undoubtedly ignoring him. “That’s not what I meant…” The twins exchanged worried glances once more.
Leo and Luna stood behind the curtains onstage at the crowd of ponies still trickling in.
“I’m surprised that this many came,” the brother commented.
“Right?” Luna said. “I didn’t think half this many would come considering what happened.”
“I guess it helped that all we did was knock and leave the flyers at their doorsteps.”
“Yeah. It probably would’ve spooked them if they saw humans advertising Blue Melody’s concert.”
“Too bad we can’t enjoy the concert from the crowd’s perspective without freaking them out.”
“This is probably better for you two, anyway,” Blue Melody said, approaching the twins from behind. “You’ll be able to hear me sing much more clearly.”
“You look beautiful!” Luna complimented.
“Yeah!” Leo agreed.
“Thank you!” Blue Melody replied. “By the way, have you seen my boyfriend anywhere?”
The twins shook their heads.
“Oh, dear. I hope he doesn’t miss my performance.”
“You ready?” ask the twin sister.
“You bet I—oh shoot! I think I left the headband that goes with this dress in the dressing room! Be right back!”
The two Signers watched as Sassy approached the microphone on stage.
“Welcome, citizens of Canterlot!” the unicorn greeted. “Thank you very much for coming!”
“I hope Blue Melody doesn’t take too long,” Luna said.
“And now, without further ado, the pony you’ve all been waiting for… Blue Melody!” Sassy continued. A spotlight shone just before where the twins stood.
Silence.
“Where is she?” asked Leo.
“Uh… just a moment!” Sassy said, frantically running behind the curtains. “Have you two seen Blue Melody? We can’t start the show without her!”
“Leo, let’s check the dressing room!” Luna said.
Leo nodded as he and his sister sprinted into the hallway. As they approached the room, they were startled as Blue Melody burst through the door, bawling.
“Blue Melody!” Luna called after her.
Leo quickly jumped onto his Duel Board and rode after her. Luna nearly followed suit until interrupted by a “Kuri kuri!”
“Kuribon?” she said.
“Kuri!” The image of Kuribon appeared before her, motioning towards the room.
She stepped inside, her eyes scanning the room until she noticed the scroll on the dresser, its bottom-left corner moistened by a small puddle of water. “What’s that?”
Luna picked up the scroll. “It says… ‘To my dearest Blue Melody, I hope that the concert went well’…” she began to read to herself. Her eyes grew wider as she continued to the end of the letter. “No… he didn’t.”