“In the end, the Alicorn of All’s confrontation with the ancient evil ended in a triumphant victory, thus ending the 100-year war. With the evil’s defeat came the release of the four Alicorn Princesses he had sworn to protect.” I can barely contain my laughter. “Their return brought peace and harmony back to the land of Equestria and the four princesses he had sworn to protect professed their LOVE FOR-!” I wheeze out before breaking down into laughter, not even bothering to finish the page.
“HAhahaha, yeah right, like that’ll ever happen,” I say breathlessly while shaking my head and closing the tab. Standing up, I can feel a few joints pop. I yawn as I turn my gaze towards the rising sun out my window.
Holy shit, I can’t get over that! Hooh, me see pretty mare. Me want wife. Hooh me horse brain.
I brush my messy black mane out of my face and admire the view for a moment while still chuckling to myself.
What a stupid fucking story. So unrealistic! Like nopony would or, Tartarus, should be that powerful, let alone get four wives that were the leaders of the fucking country. What did that guy take them for, dipshits?
Whatever.
I’ll be deleting that sorry excuse for a story from my search history later. Maybe I can leave a bad review on it? For now, this fucking guy’s gotta check his email. I would just check my phone but the battery decided to die on me last night and now I gotta check my actual laptop and fucking “sign-in” to my email. You think they would abolish usernames and passwords by now, but nope!
Overdramatic and semi-sarcastic rant aside, I bring my wing up to the mouse to scroll down.
Junk, junk, don’t care, don’t care, oh great more pseudoscience from Mom, and-OH FUCK! I have a birthday party that I have to go play at this morning at 11:00 a.m. Who could’ve known? Me, that’s who should’ve known but there’s nothing I can do about my past failings now. Now I gotta reschedule my whole day. How did I plan it again?
Oh yeah! I was going to actually try and go to a service at one of the four churches for once but pfft I GUESS NOT! Then grocery shopping, a quick stop at the market, a quick and early lunch…Oh right, the magic plant raised my bill again this month despite the law change, so I gotta stop by and sort that out. Then the birthday party and then the wedding tonight.
I debate whether I should eat before the wedding but I shrug off the thought.
It’s a wedding, there'll be free food. Not paying for a meal is something I can get behind.
Phew, I’m freaking out for no reason, good. Deep breaths, deep breaths, you’re fine, you got this.
Satisfied, I close my laptop and let out another yawn.
Celestia, I love cracking my wings in the morning.
I then notice a few bent feathers on my left wing. It’s so tempting to just fix it right then and there but I’m interrupted by a blaring *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* that tears my soul from my body and immediately makes me start to sweat.
Alright, ALRIGHT I fucking get it.
“Fuck me, dude…” I grumble as I tap “Stop” with my hoof. I sigh and walk into the adjacent bathroom. When I get to my sink I turn the cold water on, look myself in my golden eyes, and throw water in my face.
Sick, my favorite part of the day.
I then repeat the process with my mane and run my hooves through it to get it as slick as I could while my left wing retrieves a towel from the rack beside me and dries my face.
Ha, I love my wing dexterity. Perks of being a musician, I guess?
I shrug to myself again as I reach a hoof under the sink cabinet and retrieve my mane-gel.
Thankfully, my hoof workings in my mane earlier made it slick enough to where I could run the gel through it without pulling my mane out. SCORE!
Groceries, market run, magic plant, lunch, party, wedding. Groceries, market run, magic plant, lunch, party, wedding. That’ll be my mantra for the day. The mantra of a busy day. Great.
Once I’m satisfied with the sick chad standing in front of me I wash my hooves and drift back out into my bedroom. With a deep breath, I wander over to my nightstand and retrieve my faux leather phone strap. I throw that puppy around my shoulder and swing the phone holder to the left side of my chest. Sliding my phone into place I then quickly throw on my saddlebags and give one last glance to my apartment before I step out.
Alright, groceries, market run, plant, lunch, party, wedding. Groceries, market run, plant, lunch, party, wedding.
“That’ll be thirty-two bits, sir,” The shopkeeper says to me as I finish fixing my saddlebags around myself. Nodding, my left wing dives into a small side pocket on the left side of my saddlebags and produces the required amount.
“Thank you,” he says cheerfully to which I simply nod. No need for excess words. Turning away I glance further down the road toward my next destination.
My plan is simple: see if I can find anything interesting to buy from some of the traveling sales ponies, swing around to the magic plant because of course they’ll only hear me face-to-face. Then I need to go back home and grab my equipment for the party, actually go to the party, and then do everything for the wedding.
Hoo-boy long day, I can already feel my hooves aching, but I can get through it. I always do.
As I approach the market square I groan as incessant shouting pierces my ears.
I immediately know what the cause is.
It’s those Celestia-damn Priests with their microphones and speakers, shouting to the sky about being “saved” or whatever. Not that I would ever buy into that religious stuff, courtesy of my paranoid mother.
Fucking NetMeTube.
“Join the Church of the Sun Goddess Princess Celestia Herself! Learn the skills required of a true leader from her own writings! Who knows, you may even get to meet her!”
“Join the Church of Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Harbinger of All that is magical, and feel yourself ascend to a higher plane!”
“Join the Church of Princess Mi Amo…”
Normally, something like this wouldn’t bother me at all but when you have not one, not two, but FOUR preachers all just fucking standing there acting all high and mighty, shouting at you to join their church with microphones and speakers, it’s enough to make me grind my teeth. Sometimes I wish there were less than four alicorns, then there would be fewer preachers to yell at me, but I imagine that’d upset some sort of balance.
Taking a deep breath, I ignore them as best as I can and make my way around the market stalls.
More food? Nope just bought some. Office supplies? Nope, I’m all good. Toys? I’m not a twelve-year-old. Oooh, electronics, definitely not toys. While I'm unable to afford anything right now, that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in them.
Want what you can’t have, right? Heh, yeah, I’m such an idiot. Whatever, let me just take a few moments to browse, act like I’m actually gonna buy something, and then just leave.
“Interested in anything?” The shopkeeper asks me as I lean closer to the display case. I glance up at the owner of the gruff voice for a split second. He’s a light brown pegasus with a chocolate brown mane, tail, and eyes. His welcoming smirk makes me relax my own expression.
“Nope, just browsing,” I reply. He nods and turns away to greet the other ponies swarming his stall as I return to my browsing.
Let’s see here...oooh the newest Port-A-Com model is out.
I give a disappointed glance at my own older model and move on.
Way too expensive, that’d have to be something I’d save up for the long term.
Next to that are the typical fakes that would break if you so much as breathe on them.
Skipping past them, my eyes land on the newest C-Plane laptop model from Macrohard.
That’s perfect for sheet music! Its detachable screen would mean I wouldn’t have to print my sheet music, and its dedicated GPU could handle my games...
I shake my head.
Alright, don’t get carried away, you’re not here to buy anything.
Glancing down at my phone, I notice I wasted twenty minutes staring at things I couldn’t buy. Not the most productive use of my time, so I quickly leave the stall to submerge myself back into the sea of ponies.
Sighing, I plop myself down on the rim of the stone fountain and take in my surroundings again. It all still feels so new to me, despite already being here a couple of years. The stone walkways and dull red brick closely connected storefronts and concrete apartment buildings are a far cry from the metropolis of Las Pegasus I had grown up in.
Not like it matters, I'm not planning on going back there in my lifetime.
The only reason I moved out here in the first place was to get away from that place, more specifically my parents. That and this relatively new settlement had cheap apartments for rent and I wasn’t going to say no to impeccable timing. Sure, I love my parents, but I swear they have some screws loose.
Shaking my head, I look down at what I had bought. Thoughtfully, I undo the thick paper wrapping and look at the instrument in my hooves.
The shopkeeper at the “Foreign Trinkets” stall told me it’s called “The Night” or “The Cricket”. I remember seeing one in my high school band class, but I never bothered to learn about it; it looks fairly easy to play. Based on the small handle, four small ball bearings, and the metal cylinder those bearings smack up against, I’d say this is probably just another background instrument, but one I’d treasure nonetheless.
I would’ve gone elsewhere but Twilight knows the local music shop would only carry snares, kicks, hi-hats, and rides because unfortunately, that’s what sells.
Woohoo, capitalism. Whatever.
Now that my hooves are sort of rested from walking all morning, I have one last stop to make before preparing for the birthday party. I mentally prepare myself as I start trotting in the direction of the hulking building engulfing ponies’ attention if they glance in its general direction.
Fortunately, my overthinking is interrupted when the building steals my own attention as well. I’m mesmerized by the copper coils and huge vents that pierce the sky and ward away sky traffic from its immediate area.
The pegasi and ponies with winged magical constructs risk a swift and painful meeting with Death if they venture too close to the coils. I grimace as a memory forces its way to the forefront of my mind.
No mom, of course, the magic plants aren’t putting out harmful radiation into the atmosphere that’s slowly killing us all. You’d think we’d all be dead by now if that were the case.
I roll my eyes.
“Oh, my apologies, sir, I’ll fix that right away for you,” the mare at the magic plant’s “Inquiries” booth says to me as she inserts her hooves into the two hollow hemispheres below the computer screen and begins to slide them around in a methodical pattern.
“Name?”
“Mezzo Harmonic.”
Apparently, according to what she told me, it’s a newer model of keyboard, although there weren’t any keys to press, so I guess “keyboard” is the wrong term. The user has to move their hooves around in certain combinations in order to type and make words and of course, move the mouse around on the screen. I think it’s a pretty ingenious way to change the keyboards we had before. I mean there’ve been so many times where I’ve hit multiple keys at once and it makes for an infuriating time typing and gaming.
Heh, I’m such a gamer.
“Date of Birth?”
“September 20, 1574.”
The plant companies recently struck a deal with the Crown to give lower rates to consumers. Of course, there are ponies who still refuse to pay for modern advances and protested the tax increase that came with it, but it’s cheaper for the country as a whole, so I don’t care. I mean, why even resist? At every point in history when ponies resisted change, they’ve never succeeded. Change has always happened sooner or later so I argue, why not cut to the chase? Historical precedent says you’re gonna lose, so why fight? Whatever, I’m sure there’s something I’m missing about the traditionalist argument.
Right? Probably not.
“Alright, sir, you’re all set,” she finally says, interrupting my thoughts. I chuckle and give my thanks.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” she continues. “The plant has been having some problems recently, releasing the occasional magic wave that’s been disrupting some of our electronics, but it’s nothing serious.” She says with a smile that turns into a frown when she thinks about it more. “Or so I’ve been told.”
“Ah, I see. Well, thank you for your help, l-let’s hope the plant doesn’t explode on us.” I say with a chuckle that got the mare to smile again. Score.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to let you know first if it does.”
“Oh thanks, that’ll give me time to get my anti-magic-plant-exploding cream ready so I can set up a snake oil rack in the town square and sell it to ponies with their legs crushed under debris.” Now we’re actually laughing, score again.
I simply smile and wave back to her after I turn to walk away.
Alright, now that that’s settled, it’s time to get ready for the party. Deep breaths, deep breaths, you’ve got this.
I trot into a sectioned-off area of the restaurant and pull out my sheet music from my saddlebags.
Happy Birthday? Already memorized. Piano Mare? Yep. See You Again? Maybe at the end. Mr. Clear Sky? Definitely, ponies love that one. Fly Me To The Moon? I could never not! Can’t Help Falling in Love With You? Maybe when everypony is thoroughly drunk.
I look over to the piano in the corner of the room and notice a table with an extension cord already set up.
I’ll need to remember to thank the restaurant staff for that one, it’s always a pain having to disturb them while they’re working and ask for it.
Arriving at the table, I throw my sheet music onto the stand above the piano, slide my keyboard off of my back, and plug it in.
Gotta be sure to change the sound on it to percussion if I want See You Again, Mr. Clear Sky, and Piano Mare to work the way I want them to.
My thoughts are interrupted when I hear somepony clear their throat behind me and I turn to face them. I'm met with a cocked eyebrow and pursed lips that quickly morph into a bright smile from a unicorn mare with a light gray coat and deep purple mane. I return the smile and clear my own throat.
“Hi, are you the one who hired me?” I ask, still smiling. She nods and extends her hoof.
“Yep! I’m Topsy Turvy. Do you need any help getting set up?” I chuckle while shaking her hoof.
“No, I’m good here, thank you. D-do you have any specific song requests?”
“Hmm, nope! From what the staff here have told me, you’ve done this hundreds of times before so I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”
“Alright, just don’t come up to me afterward refusing to pay because I didn’t play a specific song.”
“What? That seems a little backward,” she says as she laughs. I smile again.
“Yeah, well, it has happened before so I just like to put the disclaimer there just in case.”
As if it shouldn’t already be self-evident.
Topsy Turvy then dips her head and puts a hoof on her chin for a brief moment. When she brings her head back up, her lips are pursed and her brow is furrowed and she examines the brick and mortar wall to her right.
“Oh, I’ve been wondering, how do you play the piano? I thought it was always a unicorn thing since...ya know…” She trails off and rubs her hoof while suddenly finding the wooden floor very interesting. I just chuckle.
“It’s alright. I use my wings mostly, I’ve developed enough dexterity with them to use them to individually hit the keys.” Topsy’s mouth then goes “O” and her eyes widen slightly.
“Wow, that’s awesome! I didn’t think wings could-”
“HEY TOPSY, GET YOUR FLANK OVER HERE, MOM IS BEING ANNOYING!” A rather gruff voice yells from the opposite side of the room prompting Topsy’s ears to flatten.
I internally sigh in relief at the interruption.
“COMING!” She yells back with a slightly annoyed tone of her own. She sighs before turning back to me with pursed lips.
“Sorry, he’s been like this all day.” I just smirk at her predicament.
“Well, hopefully, my music can help lighten the mood.” I look over her shoulder at the chocolate brown stallion with a bright, fiery red mane, tail, and eyes who is staring a hole through the back of Topsy’s head.
As Topsy turns back towards the group of ponies around a table across the room from them I say “Have fun,” to which she just rolls her eyes. Smirking to myself, I turn back around and continue setting up my music and equipment.
Alright, that went well, hopefully, the rest of the party will be just as fine.
I only know piano, piano is all I know. I only know piano, piano is all I know. I just messed up a chord I think but whatever, it’s done now. Do better next time.
Oh hey, look! Next time! And I just messed up another chord, I NEED TO STOP DISTRACTING MYSELF. I shake my head slightly.
I’m feeling content with myself, something that will last me until I stop playing.
The entire rest of the night was a blur, and I know all too well why. While a good musician can read the room and tailor their playing to it, I got tunnel vision. It was the only way I could focus and get through the night with my nerves intact.
Some would think that after playing in front of others so often that stage fright would go away on its own. And they’d be right. If only that were actually the problem.
I’m sure the melodies and songs I played were alright but I wasn’t able to really get a read on the room while I was actually playing. If the lack of interruption and the smiling faces I briefly saw in between the last two songs were to be believed, everything was going swimmingly. But I was oh-so-wrong because that song was never meant to be the last one.
Even now, walking down the stone street toward my apartment in the warm spring sun, I still can’t understand what happened. One moment I was playing the restaurant’s piano, my wings flying up and down it as my hooves added the sparse percussion from my own keyboard. I was doing as much as I could with my already stretched thin concentration, and a strong force against my chest was what ultimately shattered it.
The next moment, however, a mare with a chocolate brown coat and mane like that of Topsy Turvy’s was yelling at me. I initially assumed it was because I had stopped playing but when I replayed the memory in my head at the moment, the music sounded terrible.
Without turning away from her, I played a quick major chord on both the restaurant piano and my own keyboard. The piano sounded awful and I was thoroughly confused. The fact that my keyboard didn’t even make a sound only further fueled my confusion. The other thing that was fueled more was the mare’s ranting. She was shouting at me about “Ruining her baby boy’s birthday” and “Tartarus’ interval had no place here.” How she even knew what that was or where she came across that false assumption, I’ll never know.
I tried to talk her down, to apologize, but the words got caught in my throat. I tried to force them out, but the dam kept the torrent of words from escaping. A brick wall completely and utterly destroyed the words before they even came out and I resigned myself to my fate. When she finished with “Out! Leave! Take your Tartarus worship elsewhere! You have thoroughly ruined this night for us!” I just sighed and turned away to start packing up my things. It was only then that I noticed that the curtains were still swaying in a phantom wind that had no place here and the utensils and other condiments on the tables had moved noticeably.
What the fuck happened?
Maybe if I hadn’t stammered I would’ve been able to talk her down? It doesn’t matter now, it’s all in the past. Usually, I’d say that I can just learn from it, but I can’t see what I can learn from this experience.
Maybe I can try to work with the fucked up notes? I know jazz tends to have a lot of funky chords and when I played that chord it sounded sort of familiar. Yeah, no, that's a huge stretch.
I sigh as I shake my head and place a wing on a small gray panel to the right of the door. After a moment, there’s an audible *click* and I push the door to my apartment open.
Whatever happened, it was probably my fault anyway, so I’d happily forgo payment for the night. I’ll get paid for the wedding anyway, assuming nothing like that happens again. It better fucking not.
I can brood about my guilt later, but now I need to go and help make a couple’s night. Just need to freshen up, throw on my bowtie, eat, and bring my equipment down with me. The band will need somepony on the drum kit this time, so I’ll be switching between that and the keyboard whenever needed.
Now, where are my drumsticks…
“Alright Mezzo, when we’re crescendoing after my solo, can you do an ascending riff on the toms?” A light blue unicorn with a deep black mane and tail tells me. He’s bent over a rectangular screen that is slightly larger than my laptop with a stylus. A guitar sits next to him with several wires protruding from it.
“Yep, I got you,” I reply while I cradle a pencil in my wing and write the note into my sheet music.
Damn how I wish I could just carry around something as simple and convenient at the Port-A-Com+. Damn guitarists have it better than us.
“And Intonation, are you able to accompany me every other beat while I’m soloing?” The same light blue unicorn asks as he turns to face a lime green pegasus with a faded yellow mane and a single black streak through it.
“Whatever you say,” I could hear Intonation roll his eyes as he too cradles a Port-A-Com+ in his wing and begins to write something in. If looks could kill, that thing would be ash by now and we all would’ve been dead from the explosion.
Luna-damn, that guy sounds tense. Hopefully, he can laugh at himself.
“Let’s just hope his hits on fuckin’ 2 and 4 aren’t too much for you, ay?” I say while chuckling to myself. Blistering Chops snorts.
Good.
Intonation on the other hoof…
“Are you trying to fuck with me?! I will fuck you up!” He yells as I visibly cringe.
Oh no, bad call.
“Woah, dude, calm down. I was just trying to lighten the mood!” I say quickly. He stops approaching me, but the scowl remains plastered on his face.
“My mood doesn’t need lightening, I am perfectly fine!” he spits back at me.
“Alright, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. Won’t happen again.” I extend my hoof with what’s hopefully an unsure smile on my face.
He glares at it for a moment as I hold my breath. Finally, he shakes my hoof roughly and glares a hole through the floor as Blistering and I let out the breaths we were holding in.
Note to self, don’t fuck with the bassists.
We all try to go back to practicing but the tension is so thick you’d think we’re breathing O3.
Dammit, why couldn’t this just be a pleasant silence?
It seems like Blistering shares my sentiment as the breath he takes in to speak seems to split the molecules we were breathing.
“Hey, guys, a couple of hours ago,” he begins slowly. The tension seems to melt away as he wipes his brow with a hoof and takes another breath to calm himself. “Do you remember feeling like a...a...I don’t know how to describe it other than like...a force that just...like...passed over you, or something? I know it screwed with my equipment while I was practicing.” His face seems to melt in relief when I nod.
“Yeah, I felt it, at least I think I did, this morning when I was playing piano at a party. It screwed with the tunings of the piano the restaurant had and my keyboard completely turned off.”
What the hell? So he felt it too...I highly doubt these are isolated incidents. I haven’t talked to anypony else since then so I wouldn’t have gotten anything from anypony else...hold on, maybe...
“Now that you mention it, I did feel something too,” Intonation adds. “I felt a force on my chest, nothing to make me move but my computer screen only flickered for a few moments so I just dismissed it.” They both just look at each other thoughtfully until I speak up.
“I did visit the magic plant this morning and the mare said that they were having some minor problems with their computers because of some problems with the plant. Although she did also say that the problems were localized to the plant itself and not the surrounding area so I don’t think that’s the cause.”
Intonation looks at me with slightly wide eyes before frowning.
“But I was on the other side of town when that happened.” He protests. “I highly doubt the plant could send out a shockwave or whatever that powerful.” His scowl returns in full force and it’s once again aimed at me.
“Huh, well then I guess I am wrong. Good. If it was the magic plant I think we’d all be dead soon.”
Intonation growls at me before turning away again to glare at his Port-A-Com+.
Were you expecting me to fire back?
Whatever. If it wasn’t the magic plant, then what the hell was it? A new God descending from the Heavens?
What the fuck is happening?!
I will never understand how ponies enjoy these kinds of social gatherings. It’s a large group of ponies who all have social expectations and enjoy fucking dancing; it’s really baffling to me. Like sure, go to the wedding, praise the couple for being together but fuck formalities dude!
Wait, no, that’s insensitive. They’re here because they genuinely care about the couple, just like the musicians.
The music can more than make up for all that, I guess. That's how I always got through marching band camp in the summer. Focusing on how everything comes together is too satisfying to let the rest of my circumstances get me down.
Oh shit, I missed a fill.
Come on! I’m so fucking stupid that I miss a fill while doing one of the simplest and most widely known drum grooves on the fucking planet?! Fuck, I hate myself.
Alright, Blistering is starting his solo, time to tacet. 1, 2, 3, 4, 2, 2, 3, 4…Oh look at me, the percussion section doing what we do best, counting rests! Oh boy! 6, 2, 3, 4, 7, 2, 3, 4...the crescendo is coming up, just one more measure.
And...fill on the toms! Keep going! I think the crowd is loving it, judging by the cheers that are already happening. And...cut! Done! Well, not done done, but done with this song. Heh.
I smile to myself at the cheer emanating from the dance floor below and start preparing myself for the next song. That is until I hear Blistering say “Take 5, guys,” to me and Intonation before trotting off to grab something from his lunch bag.
I sigh in relief and reach over to the table behind me to retrieve my water bottle.
Still cold, fuck yeah, thanks enchantments. It’d be so cool to actually use magic. Sure, I could technically manipulate clouds but I’ve never needed to, and being able to conjure shit and do rituals, it just seems really cool. With magic, I could theoretically play all my instruments at once! How sick and cool would that be?
Letting out a breath after removing the bottle from my lips, I take a second to examine the room around me. I hadn’t really gotten a chance since we came in a little late and had to start immediately, something that still ticked me off.
The elevated platform we’re on seems to be of a similar material to the stage from my high school auditorium. The kind that makes it hard to tap your hoof to keep tempo without sounding like my pounding heartbeat when I was at high school prom.
Bad times.
Chuckling to myself, I examine the room again. The lower floor of the venue seems to be hardwood, at least from what I can tell from only multi-colored disco lights. There are circles of ponies sparingly placed around the room with a few of them lingering around the white table-clothed snack tables in the back.
All the ponies in attendance are wearing some version of what they consider “formal attire”. But the most intriguing part of the room is the numerous multicolored-robed ponies. When I squint enough, I see lavender, pink, bright white, and I think a deep, navy blue. Curious, I’ve never seen them before. When I tear my gaze away from them, I spot the couple of the hour across the room, chatting with some friends while snacking on a carrot platter. A small smile graces my lips.
If I can help make their night special by providing the best Celestia-damn music I possibly fucking can then damn it, I’m going to do it! Yeah, let’s fucking go!
I ignore the small burning feeling in my chest as I get up from my small faux-leather padded stool at the drum kit and trot over to my keyboard adjacent to it. I grin as Blistering trots up to the microphone in the center of the stage, careful to avoid the minefield of wires.
“Mares and Gentlecoats, are we having a good time?” He says enthusiastically into the mic with a large grin of his own.
Even Intonation seems to be smiling. I wish I could radiate as much pure charisma as this guy.
The crowd cheers.
“While this will be our last song for the night,” he says.
The crowd gives a collective “awwww”.
“We do hope you all have enjoyed our music tonight and we hope that we have thoroughly celebrated this special night. Speaking of, this last song was requested by the bride specifically for the groom. With that in mind, we hope you enjoy Elvis Trotsly’s Can’t Help Falling in Love With You.”
In the back of the room, I can see a bewildered stallion being led across the hardwood floor towards the dance floor by a single mare, bright, multi-colored lights dancing across their faces. The stallion tries to look at anything else except for his wife and eventually lands on my eyes.
Yeah, I hate dancing too, bro. But you owe it to her to at least try.
I give a small smile and nod at him firmly. After a moment he nods and smiles back and seems to steel himself. Now with a more confident look on his face, he puffs his chest out and takes charge in leading her towards the dance floor.
What a chad.
Returning my attention to the instruments and musicians around me, we all nod before I see Blistering mouth “three, four” and exaggeratedly raise his head rhythmically on “four”. When his chin hits an invisible floor I play the first chord of the song and Blistering adds his embellishments under my melody.
I cringe internally at the sound of an electric guitar playing this song. I do not think an electric guitar’s timbre works at all with this song but everyone has to have a part, it wouldn’t look professional to just have one pony sitting off to the side just watching. Besides, it doesn’t sound half bad. I’d just prefer that and my preferences aren’t important.
Oh, there’s Intonation playing the same notes over and over again. Oh, great bassist, how could we ever survive without thee?
Relishing the fact that for the moment I could go through this section of the song through muscle memory, I allow myself to relax and listen to our sound. It seems Blistering has lowered his amp’s volume slightly before starting to sing the lyrics, and I am loving it. Where before his notes seemed to cut through what we were playing, almost like scissors through fabric, now he seems to be gliding feathers along the fabric, adding to the sound.
Ooh, that resonance, yes! This is perfect.
The feeling in my chest seems to grow hotter now and I’m not concerned at all! I fucking love making music, woohoo!
It seems Intonation shares my sentiment, as he begins adding his own silky smooth embellishments when Blistering starts to sing the second verse.
Oooh, listen to that fucking rich chocolate in my ears, YES! Perfect, absolutely perfect! I think I’m sweating now but damn it I don’t care! I haven’t felt this Twilight-damn alive in my life!
Thankfully, I haven’t screwed up anything so far so I return my attention to my keyboard as Blistering approaches the bridge of the song.
Time for some different chords!
Blistering relegates his guitar to a minor (heh) role while he sings the bridge, and I take the opportunity to add something special of my own to the song as well on top of Intonation’s beautifully rich bass playing.
I think I’m doing well, as when I steal a glance at the crowd they all seem to be staring at me with wide eyes.
Oh, come on! I’m not that important, dance! This is your night to enjoy yourselves, dance!
I roll my eyes in my head. Whatever.
I get really into playing and I now have to squint to see the keyboard.
Odd, did somepony shine a spotlight on me? Whatever, I don’t care! I feel burning butterflies in my stomach as we approach my favorite part of the song, the ending. And I’m not being sarcastic this time! Come on, we’re so close!
Blistering takes a breath before he starts to sing the last verse, but he never gets the chance to. Before that happens, I feel a huge force on my entire body. It almost takes the air out of my lungs and pushes me and the keyboard toward the edge of the stage. Intonation seems to lose his hoofing and falls to the ground with a resounding *CRRRR* as his hoof strikes the strings on its way down.
Blistering isn’t any better as he’s forced off of the stage and manages to land on his hooves in the middle of the dance floor, the guitar’s amp cord having long since made itself at home on the ground.
But worst of all is the resounding *CRASH* that the glass makes as it fucking spills out on the floor with reckless abandon. Unicorn members of the venue cleaning staff have already started the tedious work of removing the mines from the most populated areas of the room.
Looking at all the chaos below, I clench my teeth.
Nu-uh! This ain’t ruining my fucking night! You know what? I don’t care, this is happening whether the universe wants it or not! I take a deep breath and prepare myself. Alright, you can do this, you can-
“Shall...I...stay...would it be...a...sin…” I sing out into the room as the frozen ponies across the floor turn to look at me. I might be terrible, I might sound like a goddess-send, I don’t know, nor do I care. Blistering seems to catch my drift as he smiles and adds his own vocals to the performance. I hear shifting behind me to my right before rich chocolate once again pours into my ears.
Call me crazy, but is that melody I hear? What? I’m not on the keyboard? Why does my body seem to be trembling at an impossible frequency? Who cares! I have more important things to worry about!
“If I...can’t...help...falling in love…” We sing out as ponies start to join us. First, it’s a filly near the front, then the Mare standing next to her, and then it was the entire room.
YEAH! LET’S GO! Wait, what? The sun is coming up already?! How long have we been playing for?
The burning in my chest seems to grow at an exponential rate and I’m pretty sure by now I’ve spoiled my bowtie with sweat but I don’t care right now. This is too perfect!
“With...you…!” I shout to the heavens as I close my eyes.
Ohhh, that was so fucking good! I open my eyes and-wait no, my eyes are still closed. Then why is it getting brighter? And why do I feel like I’m on fire?
When I open my eyes, the light in the room seems to reach a critical point as ponies scream and cover their eyes.
What the fuck is happening?
At that moment my body collapses and I know nothing.
A searing pain.
A pond, a pool! No, a reservoir, an ocean.
Flora sprouting up around it.
A warm feeling in my chest, what is happening?
The small ocean waves crashing on the shore, the soft breeze, the birds chirping, and leaves rustling.
Paradise.
The sounds swelled into a consonant symphony, welling up inside me.
I smile, I think, and flare my wings out, finally taking a deep breath.
It’s the loudest breath I’ve ever taken.
My eyes shoot open as I groan while a splitting headache slowly recedes. It’s not fast enough for my tastes. I take a few deep breaths before I allow my eyes to wander. A grid is carved into the dirt and sand while trees are expertly dodging the grid as if they aren’t allowed to grow into it. But the weirdest thing is that I can’t hear anything. Nothing is making any noise! At that moment I become painfully aware of my own heartbeat pounding in my ears like an engine.
The trees themselves seem to tower into the sky, soaking up the rays of the hot sun.
Wait, sun? It was nighttime last I checked! I was playing at a wedding. Then, the shockwave or something, and now I’m here. How?
Right before I feel myself start to freak out, a gentle throat-clearing tears me from my thoughts. There, standing in front of me is Princess Twilight. How had I not noticed her? She is massive, more massive than I could’ve previously imagined. She stands almost a full two heads above me and her signature dark purple mane with a single fuschia streak flows behind her. She adjusts her golden regalia on her chest and smiles down at me with her vibrant lavender eyes.
Suddenly, rational thought returns to me for a brief second and my wings drop to the ground as the rest of my body drops into a bow. I think I hear her stifle a giggle before she speaks up.
“Please, Mezzo, there is no need.”
That isn’t so much a voice as it is a chorus of resonance that forces its way into my head to live rent-free for the rest of my short-ass life. Said chorus breathes life into the area. It seems to echo off each tree and resonate and ricochet off a million different things all at once. Slowly, I rise from the ground and fold my wings, my mouth agape.
I open and close my mouth several times in an attempt to say something, anything, but nothing comes out.
Ah, I see. It seems the brick wall has returned. Damn, I was hoping to go the entire rest of the night without that.
The Princess giggles, likely at my expression, and takes a breath, “It’s alright, Mezzo, just take a deep breath with me and calm down.” She folds her hoof up to her chest and I take that as my cue to copy her. Our breaths are completely in sync as we extend our hooves simultaneously, everything melting into a single sound. The pounding in my ears becomes less obvious.
“Where are we?” I finally ask.
She smiles at me again, “That doesn’t matter right now,” The chorus becomes a bit more playful.
I cock an eyebrow.
What is she doing?
“What does matter is helping you through this.”
I let out a breath through my nose.
“And what exactly is this?” I ask incredulously.
She giggles again, why does she keep doing that?
“Do you trust me?” She asks, her eyes boring themselves into mine as if to examine my very soul.
Why do I feel so exposed?
“I’m not sure, Princess. I don’t even know where I am or how I got here.” I tell her. My voice is almost deafening.
“I understand your confusion, Mezzo, but I need you to set that aside right now. The situation we’re in is very delicate and we can’t afford any distractions.”
“You still haven’t answered my question, what kind of situation is this? What’s going on?”
“I could tell you, but that would ruin the surprise.” I simply purse my lips in response.
“Are you really pulling this right now?” I deadpan.
“Mezzo, when have the four Princesses ever led anypony astray? Think about it.”
My ears fold back and I dip my head a little.
The four of them have kept Equestria at peace together since they all came to power 500 years ago. All the technological and magical advancements, all the ponies that they’ve helped, all the good the churches do, all because of them.
But remember what mom said!
My mind starts to wander but I ruthlessly crush those thoughts.
No! I refused to listen then and I refuse to listen now.
I take a deep breath and raise my gaze to meet Princess Twilight’s.
“Okay, Princess, I trust you.”
“Great, then follow me.” I simply nod and trot after her. I have to maintain some level of effort on my part just to keep up with her enormous stride. After what couldn’t have been more than forty seconds, we arrive at a clearing in the trees where the sun’s rays are focused onto a small triangle-shaped crater in the middle of the clearing.
What? Am I supposed to be in that spot?
“I assume you know what to do,” she states more than asks.
I hum in agreement and slowly walk into the clearing and sit on my haunches in the middle of the crater. Weirdly enough, I don’t immediately start sweating.
“Close your eyes,” she instructs, “and feel your surroundings. Let it flow around you.”
“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, Princess,” I say, slightly annoyed. But I try anyway.
She seems to know this as she doesn’t press the topic further.
I assume I have to ‘clear my mind’ now and ‘let myself go’ or something like I’m in a shitty novel or something. Sighing to myself, I try exactly that.
I guess it can’t hurt.
…
…
Alright, it’s been two minutes and I still don’t understand what she-wait, is that? I-I can see myself, what?! I am clearly here, but I’m also over there, in that crater, what the fuck??!!
Alright, calm down, deep breaths, remember what Princess Twilight told you. Trust her. Alright, I trust her. Now what?
At that moment, I see some sort of stream through the air.
What? I can only assume that’s magic but, how am I seeing it? I’m just a pegasus!
I feel drawn to it in a way I can never articulate and I can tell it’s my magic, that it’s a part of me. I’m not sure how, but I can only describe it as a feeling; just innate knowledge, like when I’m improvising and I just know what to play.
I reach a hoof out to one of the streams, certain that I can interact with it. When my hoof makes contact, I look over to Twilight who, to my surprise, is looking at me dead in the eyes with a smile. She simply nods. Huh, it seems she knew this would happen.
I turn to look away from Twilight but I’m slightly startled by the light gray pegasus in front of me with a black mane with a single blue streak running through it and piercing golden eyes. I look down and I can see my hoof tracing a line from the vertex of the crater to a part of the grid a ways away from me. What am I doing?
Again, I trust Twilight and let my body do its own thing.
Maybe it’s the magic streams in the air I touched that compelled me or something? I’m not entirely sure and I doubt I ever would be. Whatever.
When my hoof drops a little and hits the other side of the gridline I intersected, I blink, and suddenly I’m repeating the process on the other vertex. Then the top, making a pseudo triangle shape with me, my body, whatever it was, at the center of it.
What surprised me the most, however, was the water that suddenly flows in and slowly fills the grid and crater like a small irrigation system. I look over to Princess Twilight again, and she nods but doesn’t stay silent this time.
“Now, Mezzo, comes the final part of this. Spread your wings, you will know what to do.” Her tone makes me shiver as if her chorus has suddenly paused and was awaiting the cue from the conductor.
Alright, time to be the conductor.
I spread my wings and without thinking, I’m speeding as fast as I can toward the sun and its rays seem to focus on me. Though, I’m starting to think that maybe I gave the cue wrong to the chorus if Twilight’s fruitless calls were any indication.
“Wait, stop! Watch out!” She calls.
I think my cue was too forceful. But alas I can’t stop. I’m not in control.
Oh shit.
The last thing I remember seeing is a pillar of light and a familiar searing pain.