Chapter 4: Rehersal
The next morning came with a big and tasty breakfast in the main dining hall of the palace. The ponies from Ponyville sat together with some of the crystal ponies who worked at the palace and soon the two groups mixed up a little for some friendly chatter.
Octavia noticed Crystal Note was missing and stood up to question Lyra and Bon Bon. The two mares sat at their table, Bon Bon looked like she was going to fall asleep at any moment and Lyra was mechanically putting food into her mouth and chewing, obviously very tired as well.
Before she could reach them, the big doors opened and Princess Cadance walked in, followed by two crystal mares. The crystal ponies from the staff quickly jumped to their hooves to bow and Octavia who was already standing did the same in behalf of her fellow musicians. When she stood up again she smiled, one of the ponies behind Princess Cadance was Crystal Note and from the looks of it, the mare was in good spirits. Her coat shined and sparkled and her lips curved into a carefree smile.
The mare walking next to her was a little older than Crystal Note and Octavia herself. Her pink mane was bound up into a bun that would have given her a very stern appearance if it wasn't for the giggles she just shared with Crystal Note and the almost foalish way they bumped their flanks together when they walked in.
Princess Cadance quickly asked the ponies to get up again with a wave of her hoof
"Good morning everypony. I hope you all had a wonderful night at the Crystal Palace and got some good rest. I'm Princess Cadance and in behalf of the entire Crystal Empire, let me thank you for coming to join our crystal faire."
Octavia smiled and did the same formal bow she'd greeted the Prince with the day before
"And in the name of the Ponyville Music Ensemble, thank you for inviting us, Your Highness."
All the crystal ponies giggled when their Princess barely suppressed a roll of her eyes at the formal behaviour and then smiled
"I'm sorry I wasn't here to greet you at your arrival, but organising the faire keeps me rather busy. In fact, I'll have to get back to preparations right away. I'm leaving you in capable hooves though."
She turned her head and the crystal pony with the pink mane stepped forward
"This is Rose Quartz, she's one of my advisors and in charge of preparations when I'm busy. If there's anything you need or need to ask, she'll be there to help you."
Rose Quartz nodded and bowed her head towards Octavia with a smile. Octavia returned the gesture, finding a liking in the mare right away.
Princess Cadance nodded satisfied and her smile grew brighter
"Enjoy your breakfast, everypony. I'll see you all later."
With a wave of her wings, she left the dining hall again while Crystal Note joined Lyra and Bon Bon at their table, soon followed by Octavia and Rose Quartz
"Hey girls, meet my sister Rose Quartz. Pinky, these are Bon Bon, Lyra and Octavia, some of my best friends from Ponyville."
Rose Quartz smiled to each as Crystal Note pointed and said their names
"It's a pleasure to meet you all, Crissy keeps talking about you whenever she visits."
Lyra rubbed her head with a shy giggle
"Only good things, I hope. Nice to meet you too."
Crystal Note and Rose Quartz exchanged a grin and a wink
"Oh, real sisters share everything with another, you know?"
Lyra blushed and made everypony else laugh softly before they returned to breakfast.
Soon everypony was ready and Rose Quartz led them all to the room with all their instruments and props
"You can use this room all day for practice. Later tonight, we'll have some of the staff help you get the bigger things set up at the stage already. Miss Octavia, if you have time to go through the schedule for tomorrow with me that would be most helpful."
Octavia nodded and turned to the others
"Everypony get ready for rehearsal, I'll be right back. I want to go through the entire concert once before we focus on the parts that still need a little touch."
The ponies nodded and minutes later, their music filled the room.
Octavia smiled pleased. Rehearsal went fluently and everypony did their best, all they needed were some minor adjustments at most. At some point, Rose Quartz had been called away to take care of some other things. Through the open door, some of the staff ponies and even some guards threw in curious looks from time to time and Octavia was very satisfied to see them all smiling when they left. All the hard work seemed to pay off already as the crystal ponies enjoyed their music. Now they only had to bring it all together on stage.
Rose Quartz had left her a copy of the schedule and Octavia checked it once more with Lyra and Vinyl while the choir did another practice run. The day would start with a short greeting from the royal couple and the morning was dedicated to the traditional market, where the crystal ponies could offer their goods to the ponies from outside the Empire, and a few stands from other towns were to be set up as well. Stands with games and food and even a petting zoo were planed as well. An hour before lunchtime, the jousting tournament would start and last to about three in the afternoon. Next came Princess Cadance' official speech, followed by their own music performance that led right into the grand ceremony where every crystal pony would pay their respect to the crystal heart and fuel it with their love and light, just like they'd done since the very first crystal faire.
"I think it'd be best if we all meet up when the jousting tournament is done. We can set up most things today anyways."
"I'd say. We'll have enough time for your pep talk while the Princess is holding her speech, Tavi."
Octavia nodded in agreement and took out another list
"What about our own line up, though? If we want to change it up, now is our last chance to do so."
Vinyl nudged Octavia gently and grinned
"Stop worrying so much, Tavi. You've been working on this for weeks and everypony agreed on it. It's fine as it is."
Octavia smiled and nodded once again
"Fine as it is, got it. How about after lunch, the two of you get everything to the stage and help set it up. I'm not sure how much experience the crystal ponies have with speakers and microphones or even turntables. Could you do that, Vinyl?"
The DJ nodded and grinned
"No problem. We'll take Neon along and do our sound check as well."
"Good idea. You should take Bon Bon with you then. If she spends the whole day at rehearsal, I'm afraid she'll only get nervous again."
Lyra sighed and nodded
"We better have Crissy come as well. I don't think she'll get nervous, but better give her something to do than give her the chance to overthink everything."
The three ponies turned around and watched Crystal Note in the middle of the others. Her eyes were closed and as always, she was oblivious to the world around when singing. The choir finished practice their final song and everypony smiled satisfied at their performance. Crystal Note shared some words of praise and a few pointers to the others before the split up into pairs to work individually on their parts.
Crystal Note smiled, but it didn’t seem to reach her eyes. When she thought nopony was watching her, she bit her lower lip and a small frown appeared. A soft cough from Octavia had made her head snap towards the three of her friends and with a soft blush, the frown vanished as quickly as she joined them.