Some hours later, Crystal Note, Glass Slipper, Haute Nuage, Morning Breeze and Bonne Voyage walked into the club. In the dim light, they could see that about half the tables were filled already, most of them close to the stage that was set up at the far side of the room. Glass Slipper guessed that about fifty or sixty ponies might fit inside, perhaps a few more. Crystal Note had been worried about bringing the teenage filly along to a club, but now she saw that a good number of other fillies and colts her age or only slightly older were present already. One of the bigger tables was still free and Haute Nuage quickly claimed a seat from where she could see the stage. Glass Slipper sat next to her with Crystal Note at her other side. Bonne Voyage and Morning Breeze took the remaining seats with their backs to the stage.
The mares chatted for a while before a young earth pony mare approached them
"Good evening, ladies. I'm Grape Juice and I'll be your waitress tonight. Can I get you all something to drink?"
Bonne Voyage and Morning Breeze asked for a glass wine each while Haute Nuage ordered a cup of cider. Glass Slipper who was unfamiliar with those drinks followed Crystal Note's lead and went for cranberry juice. Just as Grape Juice arrived with their drinks, the lights on the stage went on. By now, almost all the tables were occupied and all the seats at the bar were taken as well.
A few ponies walked up on stage and set up some instruments. Glass Slipper threw a curious glance to Crystal Note who giggled and named the unfamiliar instruments for her. A set of drums, a bass violin, a piano, some guitars and a saxophone, next to some microphones were set up while everypony was watching. When they were almost finished, Glass Slipper noticed Melody Fusion near the stage, talking to some ponies who were dressed like the ones setting up the stage. The unicorn mare scanned the club and finally noticed them when Haute Nuage waved with her wing. She joined their table on the spot opposite of Crystal Note, staring at her idol with barely hidden curiosity
“Well, what do you think?”
Crystal Note giggled and shook her head
“They didn’t even start playing yet, Melody Fusion. I think we need a little more patience.”
The other mares at the table laughed gently and the unicorn blushed with a sheepish nod
“Yes, of course. I’ve checked tonight’s line-up, we have a few new performers I’m curious about. I’m one of the sponsors, you know, it’s great helping ponies get their first hoof in music business.”
“Oh, I couldn’t agree more on that.”
Glass Slipper watched and listened for now as she sipped her drink. The lights in the club dimmed down a little more and the ponies left the stage again. A stallion with a red bowtie stepped to one of the microphones and greeted the audience briefly, then introduced the first musicians. A duo of earth ponies climbed on stage, one of them picked up a guitar while the other one took the spot on the microphone.
The audience fell silent when they played a few short songs. The music wasn’t bad, but Glass Slipper still had Crystal Note’s song from earlier in her mind and the two just couldn’t compete. Their songs were more slow as well, not enough to make the teenager’s hooves itch.
The audience clapped politely and moderately, nopony seemed very excited. The two musicians bowed and left the stage, the audience fell into mumbled chatter again. Haute Nuage nudged Glass Slipper with her wing and pointed a group of colts who sat nearby which made the teenage filly blush. Crystal Note noticed this with a soft smile.
The whole procedure repeated with a few more bands, but none of them played more than two songs. Still, Melody Fusion managed to pull Crystal Note and Morning Breeze into a lively discussion on the different performance styles they saw, nothing Glass Slipper could really follow. Haute Nuage and Bonne Voyage seemed more interested on watching the ponies in the audience and whenever they found somepony with a daring fashion style, they’d giggle a little to each other.
The next band took positions and Glass Slipper noticed that this one was the biggest so far and the first one that took on all the instruments set up. Melody Fusion gushed out excited
“Here’s our main act for tonight, they are really something else.”
The mares watched as a young unicorn mare took her place behind the microphone and used her magic for some adjustments. She glanced to the band behind her and when she got hoof-ups, she tapped her hoof on the stage while counting. The pony on the drums picked up her rhythm and the rest of the band followed.
Immediately, the mumbling around them stopped and everypony watched the stage. The song they were playing had an upbeat and lively rhythm that just made Glass Slipper’s hooves itch and wiggle. She wasn’t the only one apparently, since she even noticed Crystal Note bop her head along to the beat.
The unicorn singer let the music play for a few moments longer before she joined in. Her clear and toned voice matched the music perfectly and Glass Slipper noticed the difference to the other bands right away. Those ponies definitely knew what they were doing and they were enjoying it a lot. Especially the lead singer performed with passion from the very first note she sang, even though Glass Slipper couldn’t understand a word of it.
She glanced to Haute Nuage next to her and whispered
“Is it just me or is that just gibberish?”
Haute Nuage laughed so loud that the ponies around them turned their heads, but she just smiled and leaned in to whisper back
“She’s singing in Prench. It’s not that common elsewhere, but here in Vanhoover many ponies still know it. My name is Prench too, you know?”
Glass Slipper looked around with wide-open eyes, and to her surprise, many of the other patrons seemed to get it. She whispered back to her pegasus friend
“So you understand what she’s singing?”
Another laugh from Haute Nuage followed
“Maybe every sixth or seventh word. But it’s still a nice song, right? Everypony seems to like it.”
And it was true, almost everypony was swaying or even humming along to the lively song, even Crystal Note next to her. Glass Slipper also noticed that wide smile on her caretaker. The same one from when she had been performing in the park.
The song quickly changed into another but instead of watching the stage, Glass Slipper kept watching her caretaker as she hummed and tapped her hoof in time with the tune. When the chorus set in again, Crystal Note even tried to sing along, even if she obviously didn’t know Prench either, but Glass Slipper giggled when she spotted a few bright sparks dance over her coat. Crystal Note was having a blast, and so was she. Her hoof tapped along with the rhythm of the song to relieve at least some of the itching in her hooves, the urge to jump up and just dance was definitely there.
The song ended and the audience applauded and cheered as the unicorn singer took a bow. She waited for the cheering to quiet down before she spoke through the microphone
“Ladies and gentlecolts, I’ve been told we have a special guest tonight, a pony who came all the way from the Crystal Empire visit our beautiful city. Everypony, please welcome with me, Crystal Note.”
A spotlight from the stage turned to shine directly on Crystal Note and the perplexed mare just stared until she noticed the magic glow around Melody Fusion’s horn. With a playful glare to the unicorn she called over the cheers from the audience
“You’re a menace, I hope you know that. You’ve planed this from the very start, haven’t you?”
Melody Fusion blushed but the wide grin on her face didn’t really sell her embarrassment
“Guilty as charged. But since you’re already here, why waste a chance to get on stage?”
Before Crystal Note could reply, the members of the band called her name and the singer spoke into the microphone again
“Please, Miss Crystal Note! We’ve been looking forward to this all day, please join us on stage!”
More ponies joined as the band called her name and even though Crystal Note tried her best to hide it, Glass Slipper noticed the smile that was about to break through. Just like it had in the park when she’d been playing for the twins and everypony else. Crystal Note blushed bright red and struggled a little when Bonne Voyage and Morning Breeze took her hooves gently to pull her from her seat. When she finally moved, it was because Glass Slipper gently nudged her towards the stage with her head. Crystal Note turned around and looked at the teenage filly, but when she saw the bright smile on her face, excited and happy, she stopped resisting and smiled as well. Under the cheers of the band, she made her way around the tables up to the stage.
Glass Slipper watched as the young singer and Crystal Note talked a few words away from the microphone. Again, the young mare tapped her hoof and counted for the band to pick up her rhythm. The song sounded a lot different to the first one, as it was now a different style of music. Crystal Note had her eyes closed and listened from her spot by the microphone, next to the unicorn singer. The young mare was the first to start singing and this time, Glass Slipper understood the words and recognized them. This was one of Crystal Note’s songs, one she had heard in the Crystal Empire before. Just then, Crystal Note joined in, perfectly attuned to the other singer from the first note. Their voices seemed to complement each other and both ponies seemed eagerly passionate about their singing. Glass Slipper grinned widely as her caretaker literally glowed and sparkled in her spotlight. There was no doubt that Crystal Note enjoyed being on stage, no matter how much she had hesitated earlier.
The ponies listened and smiled altogether, but this time nopony joined in the singing. Unlike the song before, this one almost told a story to the audience and the music only served to put more focus on the two joined voices. Unlike the first song, this one was slower overall and calmer as well. It still managed to capture the audience just as well and when the voices faded, the ponies applauded again. Glass Slipper realized that this must have been a special song, since Melody Fusion looked like she was close to fainting.
Crystal Note thanked everypony and was about to step away again, but the band immediately started playing a new song, another one Glass Slipper recognized. The band played it a little faster than she had heard it from Crystal Note and this time, the other singer just looked at the crystal mare with a broad smile. Crystal Note giggled silently and closed her eyes as she started to sing once more.
This time, she poured everything she had into the song and her voice fell in tune with the fast and lively music around her. The audience started to clap along and Crystal Note shimmered brightly when they joined in at the refrain of the song.
Glass Slipper watched, both amazed and surprised. This was a whole other side of her caretaker she had never seen before. Sure, Crystal Note sang a lot, sometimes to herself, sometimes for the foals who played at the market. However, she had never seen her with this much energy and enthusiasm before. The usually calm and almost shy mare easily captivated an entire audience with her song and brought smiles to everypony's faces. Most of all though, Crystal Note looked like she was enjoying herself beyond anything Glass Slipper had seen before.
Glass Slipper had seen her happy and joyful when she was around them. She had seen her patient and calm when she needed to be. Crystal Note was always kind and sometimes a little mischievous. Now on stage however, she was full of drive and her voice pulled everypony along. Even Glass Slipper could feel it and suddenly, all the stories she had heard from Haute Nuage or Melody Fusion made a lot more sense.
The song bridged seamlessly into the next and the ponies in the audience started moving. Glass Slipper scooted closer to Haute Nuage when somepony lifted the tables with magic and moved them to the side. Before she could wonder why, ponies streamed into the middle area and started dancing. There were only a few couples at first, but more and more joined in quickly. They didn't seem to follow any rules and just moved along to the music, but they were having as much fun as Crystal Note and the band on stage.
Haute Nuage nudged Glass Slipper with her wing and pointed to her hoof. At some point, both singers had joined again and Glass Slipper's hooves moved on their own. She blushed shyly for a moment, just as Crystal Note had when she had walked on stage, but then she grinned and just hopped right in.
She swayed her way to a spot where she could move freely and matched the fast-paced song with her steps. It took her only a couple of beats to get in sync with the music and soon her whole body was in motion as she danced by herself.
Glass Slipper could not hold back the huge grin on her face, she didn't want to hold back. Dancing was her special talent ever since, but it had been only in her bedroom to a tune in her head until now. She let the pulse of the music flow through her hooves with each spin, turn and sway of her body. The itch in her hooves turned into a pleasant tingle and she suddenly felt more alive than ever.
Ponies turned their heads towards her, but she didn't care in the least. She just grinned more and set up a complicated series of steps and twists that matched the music. A few ponies from the audiences clapped along while watching her. Glass Slipper felt amazing and showed it by letting her happiness bubble over, which made her coat and mane shimmer and glow. She heard a few gasps of surprise, but the music went on and so did she.
At some point, Glass Slipper even reared up to dance. Her rear hooves moved fast as she kept her balance with fluid motions of her fore hooves in the air as she spun around her on the spot quickly. They ponies around her just stared for a moment but then smiled and joined the ponies in cheering for her.
The current song reached its climax and ended rather suddenly, to which Glass Slipper sank back on four hooves in a dramatic pose. She looked up to the stage and saw Crystal Note with the biggest smile she had ever seen, directed at her. As soon as their eyes met, they understood and for Glass Slipper, it meant the world. Crystal Note smiled and cheered with everypony as Glass Slipper took a quick bow, like she had seen from her caretaker earlier. As she did, her body shined and sparkled with inner light, almost as if she was made entire of living crystal.
For the first time since the accident, Glass Slipper was just happy without any second thought or hidden guilt. On the stage, Crystal Note rubbed away a stray tear that had managed to sneak out while her heart went to the filly.
The moment passed, and Glass Slipper, joined by many others, called for another song. Crystal Note had never been happier to oblige.