//------------------------------//
// Prompt #384-Trading Fours 
// Story: Ponywatching 
// by ThunderTempest 
//------------------------------//

It was well known by everypony that the magic of Equestria often manifested as music. Everypony, no matter how bad a singer or musician, had music in their hearts, and making a town break into song could often be almost disturbingly easy for the right pony. For this reason, musicians held a special acclaim in Equestrian society, sometimes regarded as the accompanists of the pony’s lives. But for the majority of ponies, this innate manifestation of magical music was simply a pleasant distraction every now and again. For a few conspiracy theorists, it was a sign of Celestia’s tyranny, but nopony really listened to them.

But for a very select few, the music wasn’t just music. For those with the aptitude, the focus and the passion, the music was a way to defend their home from whatever might come their way.

****

The pegasus was soaring over the streets of the city when a bolt of blue magic slammed into his side, as he fell, he tucked one wing in, extended the other all the way out for a brief moment, using the motion to stabilise his fall, and he hit the pavement hooves first. On his way down, he had caught a glance at his attacker, a yellow earth pony mare with a blue mane, and holding a fiddle. The pegasus’ eyes cut to the nearby rooftop as a jaunty tune began to ring out over the nearby streets, and then more bolts of the self-same blue magic began arcing out over the buildings, exploding on contact with the ground, and the pegasus took off, running down the streets, as the magic continued to pepper the ground around him.

On the rooftops, the mare with the fiddle gave a sombre smile, and began to move after the pegasus, leaping over rooftops, and unfortunately having to stop her playing momentarily as she leapt over gaps between the houses, but it was always resumed shortly after landing, and each stroke of her bow across the strings of her fiddle sent another bolt of magic screaming along the neck of her fiddle, and out the head, aiming for her winged target. 

The game of cat-and-mouse continued for some time, when finally the earth mare dropped to the street in front of the pegasus, and let loose a furious flurry of bolts as the pegasus slid to a stop, rearing up onto his rear hooves, and reached for something on his back. The magical bolts impacted, momentarily shrouding the pegasus in dust and smoke from the impact of the magic. As the smoke cleared, she saw that the he had pulled his own instrument out-a full-sized, magically amplified bass guitar, and it was this which he had used to deflect the magic at the last moment. Both combatants stared at each other for a few moments, each waiting for the other to make the first move, the pegasus still holding his bass by the neck, like a bizarre parody of a sword, and the mare’s bow poised over her fiddle. Eventually, it was the pegasus, unable to take the tension anymore, who moved first.

He rushed forward, letting the bass slide down his hooves, and switching it to a more traditional hold, more suited for playing, and his front left hoof wrapped around the neck, tapping several notes out even as he rushed towards the earth pony mare. Sparks of green magic flared around him with each note, amplifying his speed. The mare, for her part, the moment she saw the pegasus move, put bow to string and began playing, not the jaunty tune from before, but a slow, stately funeral dirge.

~~~time~~~

And rather than the quick bolts from before emerging from her fiddle, this produced long blasts of blue magic tearing themselves out from the bridge of the instrument. Utilising his wings, the pegasus flipped up and over the beams of magic, and for a single moment in time, he was suspended directly over the mare, his hooves already in motion on a tune of his own, a heavy bass riff. Green witchfire gathered around the magical pickups on his bass, and as he landed, it blasted out, smacking the earth pony in the back.

“Finis!” he cried, as the earth pony got back up onto all four hooves.

“By Celestia, you’re good,” said the earth mare, bumping the pegasus’ hoof.

“Only because I was in the exact same position as you more times than I can count. You’ll get the hang of fighting like this soon enough,” replied the pegasus, “It just takes practice, learning to channel your internal magic in this way. Still, you’re pretty good for a new practitioner at this.”

*****

The ponies who use the magic and music of Equestria as a tool to defend her borders all gather together in an organisation, where they can trade notes and practice tips, and help each other hone their skills.
They call this organization the League of Associated Combat Musicians.