//------------------------------// // Presentation finally. // Story: Andante - The path of the dreams // by CaioCoia //------------------------------// The minute the orchestra finished the third act, the ponies who were listening to such a marvelous presentation started clapping from such wonderful play, and the orchestra as a whole felt proud of the way they played. For the ponies who were playing for the first time at the festival, the feeling of being applauded for the first time. It hit on their feelings that they never felt before. Such emotion of being accepted for their efforts, and being applauded made some stallions and mares shed some tears, knowing that such efforts were paid off. A little filly who couldn't help but see their parents smiling proudly at her, made her lift a weight on her heart for such the start of the festival, and from the dragon. Who's always dreamed about that? He finally could see in the front row, how it was. The feeling of being applauded was exactly the same way he was around the Equestria girls, but this time, he was being applauded by himself, all his dreams of being a violinist were in front of him, showing that indeed that was his dream, and how that feeling of learning music since as little dragon really paid off. He didn't regret anything since his choice from leaving Ponyville, it was his choice and he managed to leave without making something to regret, and now, he understands how it was even better. He was there for himself, and the ponies for the good music of the festival, and Spike came to a conclusion, it was indeed the way he ever wanted to live. The ponies got up to give a slight bow, the same way as the little dragon, in gratitude for all the applause he received, it was indeed an outworld experience, and he now really wanted to live like that from now on. Live by doing what you love, and without regretting your choices. Sharp Education too gave a bow and went to the background to thank all the ponies who gave their best to make everypony satisfied with their play. Spike turned his back and went back to see his group of friends, who'd been so happy to finish another act from the festival, now it would need the grand final before going to make everypony has a good week in their lives, waiting for the next weekend for another time of the festival. Octavia was drinking a bottle of water from the exhaustive play that she did with the orchestra, Lyra was chugging an energy drink and after finishing it, she used both her hooves to smash it before teleporting the can over the trash, which made Spike smile at both girls who seemed to be recovering from the event which happens on act 3. "Hey girls." Spike smiled as he sat beside them, and both girls gave a glance and smiled at the little dragon who seemed to be happy after such an outcome. "Spike, what you did was amazing, I never thought I would see somepony capable to play Bach King like that." Octavia used a tissue to clean the sweat from her face, while Lyra scoffed beside her, making her raise her eyebrow at her. "Spike is a huge fan of Bach King, you will never see a pony like him playing Bach King, anyway Spike, you nailed it. It was almost like the third month of our music class when you made professor Wood and Professor Education with so much low steam that they were on the corner almost crying." Lyra joked as Spike rolled his eyes, as she pointed at the teacher behind him. "Oh, professor Education," Spike said as the smiling stallion walked over to the group with a proud smile on his face. "Guys, I came here to tell you all that you have my gratitude, it was indeed a dream becoming true, and you all were amazing, Spike you are still a monster on violin, if it wasn't for the fact that I was your teacher, I would have been ready to give up my career as a musician." Ed gave a comment which made Spike facepalm himself while the girls behind him were giggling. "Oh come on, I wasn't that great when I was 3 years old. You are both exaggerating." Spike found it funny at first, but now two jokes on the same subject weren't that funny at all when they come in the sequel of one minute. "No Spike, you were that great. Still, you played like a true professional like we always dreamed of when you left the music class. It was indeed a pity for you to leave soo soon, but we understand that you have a mission for yourself." Sharp Education said as he looked near to the group, and especially the filly behind them. "Minty Cookie, I'm so glad that you managed to play these difficult songs, your parents seem to be really proud of you, a prodigy who soon will be stunting in the same way that this little fella here was to us. But enough talking, I hope you guys have a few minutes to relax for the final, I and Bret will be on the corner watching the final and you don't have to worry much. Opera Hooves will be singing the song which will end the day amazingly." "I hope so." Both Lyra and Octavia said as they both rolled their eyes, which made the maestro raise their eyebrows at them. "Oh, and by speaking of him, look who is coming?" Sharp Education smiled as both girls' eyes twitched annoyingly, from hearing the approach of such a stallion. "Stay back, let me pass. You must know that I don't have time for you all." A gruff voice, full of pride of himself, and boastfulness was enough to make the group turn their heads and see a big and chubby stallion walking in his suit with a red bowtie and a clean manecut covered in comb cream, the cologne was enough to make Lyra's nose twitch and her whole face become instead of mint green, to slimy green, which who followed for her holding booth hooves over her mouth. Octavia cringed so hard as she tried to not smell such terrible taste. Spike's nose twitched after smelling such strong cologne, and he was sure that it wasn't cologne at all, but Colon smelled as if he was sniffing it. Spike held his breath using both his claws over his face. "Ah Opera Hooves, I'm so glad that you are on time, you must be ready for the next minute, we've been waiting for you since the start." Sharp Education even knowing the smell from the singer, did his best to ignore it and smiled forcefully at the singer who scoffed. "You don't have to worry about that. I'm here now, if wasn't for the fact that stupid draconequus thinks of himself as a god above us ponies, I would have been here sooner." Opera Hooves mumbled as he scoffed at the idea, but from the words saying from his mouth, Octavia and Lyra's mouths dropped hard. "Oh, you've been talking to Discord? He asked me to tell you that you are owing him some money." Spike still holding both claws over his nose said it which made the chubby singer scoff at the little dragon. "Pff, that stupid guy thinks he can make me pay him? Nah, I told him I would pay him whenever I had the money. It's not my fault that he will not have one bit from me. Well, if you don't mind. I have a performance to make and a final to create for the event, ta ta." Opera Hooves scoffed as he turned his back and walked over to the podium, leaving the group of mares and the dragon staring at him in disbelief. Professor Sharp Education didn't know what to do after dealing with such a pony in front of his former students and decided to just smile and wave his hooves before leaving quickly. A few seconds later, the smell was gone and everypony could breathe again. But this time with other thoughts on their minds. "This Opera Hooves must have balls of steel." Lyra was the first pony to talk her mind, which made both Spike and Octavia stare at her in surprise. "Because just someone really courageous and stupid would say such words from the lord of chaos." "For my time living in Ponyville, I never found someone so full of himself, even dealing with someone like Discord. I remember one day he made the entire floor made of bubblegum and made everypony stuck on the street for 4 hours straight." Octavia still remembered the bad experience she had when the lord of Chaos reigned over Ponyville while Princess Twilight and her friends had to find the elements of Harmony to deal with the draconequus. Leaving the ponies from Ponyvilled dealing with such terrible shenanigans. "Well, I'm just glad that Discord isn't here to hear that because I know for sure that at the moment Discord deal with this guy, there will not be any chance for this pony to have any excuse." Spike narrowed his eyes, scoffing at the pony who made himself a target for his friend. "Well, I did my part, this guy was warned anyway. So let's prepare ourselves for the gran finally. So... what are we going to be playing?" Both spectators seemed to be preparing themselves for the next show in the stadium. Opera Hooves remained in his position dressed in a tuxedo with a bowtie. It was clear that he was preparing himself to be the vocalist of the grand final of the event. "Leopold!" Suddenly one of the musicians exclaimed in surprise and admiration, the pony playing on the large drums called what would be a name that brought the attention of his fellow musicians who stopped playing before starting the last show of the day. "Leopold!" Another stallion musician, this one playing the bassoon, echoed as he too halted playing. The reason for their surprising reactions was the fact of a rumor made for the whole Equestria, one griffon who was known as the best conductor around the whole Equestria seemed to have disappeared for years. A draconequus who whore a powdered wig and a tuxed who calmly walked down among the musicians. "OH MY GOSH IS THAT LEOPOLD?" Lyra exclaimed as she watched the large figure walking among them, and she stopped playing and directly pointed her hoof in the direction of the solemn maestro. But when Spike ceased to talk and turned his head to see... His mouth dropped hard... Watching a draconequus, which there was just one in whole Equestria, and it was so familiar that he gave a quick glance to Lyra to see if she was messing with his own mind. "Discord?" Spike stared at the Maestro who remained walking over the podium. Lyra who was so excited after seeing the legendary maestro suddenly froze in her place, and having a better look, her whole face became in dismay and disappointment. Octavia was surprised to see one of the most known musicians was now a whole farce made by the lord of Chaos himself. "Awww, I can't believe I fell for that. Just another prank." Lyra never felt so betrayed, since she wanted so much to see the griffon but was looking at the lord of chaos preparing himself into doing something. "Why the surprise?" Suddenly a voice appeared behind the trio who suddenly yelped in surprise. "AHHHH. Discord." The trio glared at the sudden lord of Chaos who didn't seem to be laughing. "I have to say, this is my first time meeting you two young mares, and you are already acquaintance enough to be glaring at me? Wow, it seems Spike has taught you well about me." Discord smiled he blinked sweetly as his dragon friend seemed to be rolling his eyes. "Discord, are you impersonating another person again? Isn't that illegal?" Spike had to ask his friend who this time waved his hand and scoffed. "Oh, that would have been a problem... If wasn't for the fact, that Leopold is indeed me." Discord smiled as the trio looked at him surprised and confuse. "What?" The trio once again said in stereo which made the lord of Chaos chuckle. And snapping his fingers, made the trio of mares and a dragon have their mouths zipped by a zipper. "Well, I will lend to you this secret, and if you hear that then you will create an outburst, but Leopold had a tragical accident over Gastle Gorge. And no, I have no influence over the accident." Discord was talking about the tragedy over the griffon, and the panic in their faces betrayed their thoughts which made the chaotic creature rolls his eyes. "It happened a few hours after my second freedom which I stayed with Fluttershy, I was enjoying my time seeing Equestria and I noticed that such griffon had a tragic demise... And for the sake of your innocent, it's best I do not tell you how I found him... But I found that he was with his bag full of his compositions and identity... So I did what was best for him... I took his mantle and I used his life to make ponies still love him as the legend." Spike raised both his eyebrows as he looked in disbelief at his friend. "I swear, it took me 2 years to make sure that his legend still would be heard. And now you three will witness one of my biggest creations... I name this, the punishment of the stupid fool." Discord snapped this finger and teleported away while the trio had their mouths freed once again. "What the..." Lyra was the first pony to recover from the shock and watched in silence with Octavia and Spike. Opera Hooves adjusted his bowtie while he whispered the name of the legendary Maestro Leopold. "So, Discord was Leopold all along... I don't know how to feel about it." "Well, in my experience, Discord is like Pinkie Pie, just ignores it." Octavia gave the advice, but without noticing one of the names made Spike cringe and then shake his head. "Are you okay Spike?" "Oh yeah, it's just everything is happening so weirdly, I just hope Discord knows what he is doing." Spike looked at the wig powdered draconequus who seemed so solemn and serious about the final he promised to give to everypony. Discord walked at the maestro who was orchestrating the music. More and more musicians called out Leopold in surprise and reverence as the maestro stood and looked at them in confusion before spotting Discord standing beside him with a bored expression on his face. "L-L-Leopold…" the stallion stuttered out, backing away from his position so that Discord could take his place. He noticed Discord holding out his claws and the pony offered his conducting baton to him, who accepted it, snapped it in half, tossed the two halves aside, and wiped his hands clean. Discord glanced at the background which made everypony even the trio get prepared with their instruments on their hooves and claws. And raising his left claw Discord commanded the ponies to play for only one moment and by trembling it was commanded by the trembles of the melody as well, both Spike and Octavia were doing vibratos in an understanding of his command before he dropped it, silencing them. And by using his right claw for the other side for an equally brief moment with the brass instruments. Staring at Opera Hooves, excited to see such a legend he adjusted his bow tie once again and fixed his mane, almost nervous by the stares of the draconequus looking at him. Discord held his hand low and raised it high. "Ahhh~, AHHHHHHH~!" Opera Hooves sang briefly before Discord had him stop. "AAHHHH~!" He sang again as Discord raised both claws fluttering motion for a second. "Ah~, Ahh~, Ahhh~, Ahhhh~, Ahhhhh~!" He sang yet again in a rising pitch before stopping Discord was raising the claw by 4 levels of height before hiding it inside of his pocket. Discord looked at the trio who seemed to hold their laughing, Spike had to give that to his friend, it was indeed something Discord would do. Looking at him, Discord waggled his eyebrows before having a bit of fun with Opera Hooves once again, by making him vocalize more bars with his hands before turning back on even with only one finger. He then proceeded to make Opera do a dramatic higher note upwards behind himself. He then had his arm downwards with his finger pointed up and transitioning to down before moving back with the stallion forced to sing along with the conduction, and all with a surprisingly eloquent voice fit for a professional vocalist. Discord leaned back far enough to curve his spin so that he could have Opera Hooves sing what should've been an impossibly low note before a turn and have the stallion sing from low to high in smooth succession and hold that high note for a moment. When he stopped, Opera Hooves was already having trouble catching his breath while Discord turned to the crowd behind him and bowed applause. Spike, Octavia, and Lyra were almost wheezing out from laughing, at seeing the poor stallion not catching even a break. Then they suddenly saw Discord raise both his palms to make the applause stop... And then turn his face again at the stallion, and not only a second later he cracks both his knuckles in a motion on how serious he was. He pointed at the orchestra which was an indication of the final, and all violinists, drummers, brass, cellists, everypony were ready as Discord was flexing his arms then with all emotion DIscord raised his left arm up as high as he could and. "AAAAAAAHHHHHH~…!" Opera Hooves sang once again, being forced to hold the high note while the musicians played fittingly dramatic m one would hear in a final chorus of a performance. Discord looked the stallion dead in the eye as the Opera kept singing, watching as his face slowly turned red from the strain of low oxygen clothing started to rip apart as his body was forced to take in more air to hold the note. His face went from red to purple, to blue. Spike understood the meaning of why Discord wanted to make that final, he was playing with both his claws craved on the violin without leaving any marks, but still, he was using almost all his strength and was praying for the strings don't break after he kept playing the violin the loudest as possible. Lyra was using both hooves to play his lyre in a such powerful tone which made it a good example of harmony. Octavia was playing and still was in shock on how wonderful and yet cruel was both seeing the Lord of Chaos creating a such beautiful song, from the suffering of the jerk who owns his bits. It was marvelous and yet terrifying. Discord propped his left arm with his right hand before inexplicably pulling his hand out of the glove that somehow stayed floating in and forced Opera Hooves to keep going. The audience observed as Discord then walked offstage with his hands covering his ears, disappearing for a moment before returning to soundproof muffs covering his ears. He retook his position on the conductor's stand and slipped his hand back into the glove while Opera whose face was changing into all sorts of colors, shades, and patterns, was writhing on the ground, and pounding his fists on the st futile attempts for mercy as he kept singing the high note. Meanwhile, the concert hall was breaking apart from the sound, reducing itself to rubble and internal parts as the stage was ensuring dust for a moment. When the dust settled, Opera Hooves was gone, there was a large pile of rubble and dirt, and Discord kept holding his another second before dropping it and turning to the audience who was in silence. Then ponies over the festival went into a frenetic and the cheers echoed, leaving Discord to bow to the ponies who watched the final act in such awe. Never in their own lives, they saw such a legend literally make an ending of the festival hall be destruction made by the song. And then Opera Hooves emerged from the rubble, and suffering from concussion started to bow as well. Discord around in mock surprise before looking up. Precariously resting on an exposed beam was a large, boulder-like piece of rubble and it was directly over the stallion. So, naturally, something had to be done. Discord raised his arm once more, and Opera Hooves was once again forced to sing a high note while the band played. The rubble fell off the and plummeted with a comical whistling sound that abruptly ended with a conk as the stallion took it to the dome and was knocked, leaving the lord of chaos then turned once more to the crowd and bowed with a flourish of his arm. He glanced at the bolder. "I will give you more 2 months for giving me back my money. Next time I will not be merciful like that." Discord then smelled the flowers he took with him, and walked away as the crowd was amazed. The orchestra was bowing from such an amazing ending, while the trio have one thought in mind. "The festival is awesome, but there is no way in Tartarus I will provoke such a monster like Discord." And just like that, the festival came to a break...