//------------------------------//
// 32: The Music Man by SpinelStride 
// Story: Xenophilia: Shotglass Oneshots 
// by TheQuietMan 
//------------------------------//

The Music Man by SpinelStride

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"Are you sure you want to do this, Lero?" Rainbow Dash asked cautiously. "I know it bugs you that you can't hear the music, and this is pretty darn impressive, but... choreography? A marching band? It just seems wrong to organize something like this. It's supposed to just happen naturally."

Lero chuckled and ran a finger behind the cyan mare's ear. "At home, we have wild weather and organized parades. I'll admit to preferring nicely scheduled predictable weather, but a musical number where everyone knows in advance what they're doing isn't a bad thing."

Rainbow Dash leaned into the scratching, but she was far from mollified. "What if the song takes over and everyone starts jumping in, and it goes off on its own? You'd be stuck singing the wrong lyrics and doing the wrong dance."

Twilight piped up, "Actually, Rainbow, I'm fairly sure that even if a Spontaneous Musical Number develops from Lero's plan, since it's all pre-arranged then Harmony Theory says the SMN will accommodate itself to the design. It might go on after he's done, but there's no record of an SMN actually negatively disrupting a performance already in progress."

The blue pegasus was still fighting off her worst case of jitters since the Best Young Fliers competition, and she wasn't even in a starring role this time. "Well, what if a song doesn't start up, and things go wrong? Someone drops their instrument, or everyone trips, or something?"

Lero grinned at her. "I've arranged something for that, too. Just in case." He raised a hand to wave at a white pony to the side with a portable turntable around her neck and a decidedly disgruntled-looking gray mare carrying a pair of oversized speakers behind her.  "Worst comes to worst, we've got the needle-scratch all ready to go."

"Just like a real interrupted number!" Twilight added.

"I have never in my life so regretted not specializing in a more portable instrument," grumbled Octavia.

Rainbow Dash sighed and leaned against Lero's legs. "I can't talk you out of this, can I?"

Lero ruffled her mane playfully. "Come on, it'll be fun! Now, let's get this show on the road!"


*** *** ***


"One, two, ready, GO!"

Home is where the heart is,

that once was far away,

but now that I've departed,

in Ponyville I'll stay.

It's hard to make a clean break

from friends and family,

but you should make no mistake,

sometimes it works out perfectly.

Plain to see, it's Harmony,

running free with these ponies,

plain to see, it's Harmony,

Elements that welcomed me!

A rainbow was an illusion,

a dream to chase but never find,

but pegasi in azure skies

have brought me peace of mind.

Plain to see, it's Harmony,

running free with these ponies,

plain to see, it's Harmony,

Elements that welcomed me!



*** *** ***


The not-at-all-spontaneous musical number went off without a hitch. It later developed that Honeydew attempted to sabotage things multiple times over the course of the performance, but she ended up tangled up in a torn length of bunting with a stray wolverine inside. The general consensus was that the effort spent in writing everything out ahead of time and practicing had left the musical number with spare mojo for self-defense. Twilight wanted to study the process, but couldn't find anyone willing to be the attempted saboteur for the next go-round, what with the scratching and the biting and the ow-ing.

Rainbow Dash publicly thought it was totally sappy and then that evening held Lero close and sang just for him the verse Lyra had helped her put together.

I used to fly across the sky

untouched and alone

but you arrived and by my side

my heart has found a home.