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// Resonating Body (Feb 12 2021, "Lunar New Year") 
// Story: Speedwriting Anthology 
// by AuroraDawn 
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It certainly wasn’t the type of event that Fiddlesticks had ever expected to find herself playing at, but she was glad for the chance regardless. She had nothing against her usual fare of damp fields or musty barns—if anything she loved the comfortable sense of home their familiarity brought her—but she couldn’t deny that here was a step above.

She breathed in deeply, relishing the scent of the lotus flowers dotted about the garden. Behind her, the cool stonework of Canterlot Castle kept her back warm as it radiated away the last of the day’s heat. The garden she sat at the entrance to was bustling with socialites and court attendees, all dressed regally in either traditional suits or fancy silken dresses that shone with exotic and foreign elegance. She smiled, drawing the bow back on her instrument, relishing in the irony that must have persisted about her. Here she was, surrounded by the highest Equestrian royalty at the most prestigious of stages she had ever known, wearing her green jerkin and white stetson. 

If any of the others felt offended by her outfit, none felt strongly enough to mention anything. She suppressed a string as she sawed slowly, and looked up at the night sky as she did so. How accepting the ponies of this kingdom could be! It might have only been because she was the only pony they could find that knew how to play an erhu, but she appreciated the respect afforded her all the same. Jamming on a fiddle for bits might be thrilling, but at the end of the day, covering fancy events made much of her low-income lifestyle unburdensome. 

And what an end of the day it was! Above the tall hedges that partitioned the paper lantern-lit patio was a brilliant moonrise, illuminating the terrace with delicate shades of blues that seemed to marry the green bushes and trees as if they had been in love for a lifetime. Behind Luna’s glory were millions of stars, twinkling as strong as she had ever seen. She breathed in again, this time taking in not the scent of lotuses but the cooling air itself.

She could get used to night time playing, she decided, closing her eyes and leaning in to her movements as her hooves glided across the erhu. The notes echoed around the garden, calling a haunted tune Fiddlesticks recalled from her youth and adapted on the fly from her experience. She stayed like that for a while—for how long she couldn’t tell—rocking gently with her movements and simply living in the music and the expression and the comforting blanket of shadow that had descended upon the land.

When she finally finished her song and opened her eyes, she was surprised to find a single pony laying in the grass before her. Her jaw dropped in awe and adoration, shocked as she realized that the dark mare before her was none other than Princess Luna herself.

She was laying silent, her hooves tucked underneath her and her own eyes closed, lighting the alcove Fiddlesticks played in with a dim glow of her horn. As the silence persisted, a single eyelid slipped open, and as Fiddlestick’s grey eyes locked with Luna’s, she felt her heart skip a single beat.

“That was lovely, child,” Luna said, closing her eye again. “I felt drawn by a strong sense of compassion to this corner, and was compelled to stay by the beautiful melody that filled it.”

“I-I’m honoured, Princess,” Fiddlesticks gasped, struggling to bow around her instrument. “I uh, that song was, well,”

“Would you play me another?” Luna interrupted, ending her question with a sly smile.

Fiddlesticks cut off her rambling and tucked her head down, pretending to adjust the tuning to keep her welling eyes from being visible. “Of course, your Highness,” she said, blushing.

She took a deep breath, raised her head, and readied her bow. She looked once to the moon above, and then to the pony below, and then shut her eyes again and began to play.