//------------------------------// // 380. Joy by Subsolar Drift // Story: The Sun and the Stars: A Twilestia Prompt Collab // by Fuzzyfurvert //------------------------------// by Subsolar Drift *** Twilight hummed along with the gramophone, her eyes drifting shut as she listened to the melody gain complexity and fervor. Her body swayed, as if it were her and not the violins across which the bow moved. As the piece crescendoed, her own thoughts decrescendoed, the music flowing through her, sweeping away the other thoughts. "Jeez, Twi," Rainbow snorted, making Twilight jump, the music carrying on without her. "Go figure an egghead like you would listen to something like this. I mean, Classical music? Really? How can you stand that stuff?" Dash asked as she sorted through the unicorn's records for something more to her tastes. "You know Dash," Twilight sighed with a soft smile. "Once I would've agreed with you. For the longest time I couldn't stand classical music." Dash shot her a scathing glance. "Somehow I doubt that," she said, gesturing towards the stacks of classical records, in which there was nothing with so much as a hint of their century. Twilight just sighed and gave a shrug. "I guess you just need somepony to show you how to love it." She closed her book and her eyes and let the music take her back to when she had somepony do that for her. ~~~ "Can we please listen to something else today, Princess Celestia?" Twilight sighed as her mentor stretched to place a well used record on the gramophone. The alicorn stopped, surprised. She paused and gave Twilight an appraising look. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you weren't enjoying it, Twilight," she apologized, quickly sliding the record back into safety. "I never said I didn't like it!" Twilight protested, a guilty look on her face. At that, Celestia just laughed. "Nonsense, Twilight. It's clear and I should've seen it sooner. I'll let you choose instead of just going with my favorite again," she replied, stepping back and gesturing towards the shelf full of music. Twilight missed the gesture, still caught on something the Princess had said. "That one's your favorite?" she asked,with a frown. "Yes," Celestia replied, a soft smile on her face. Twilight's frown became deeper still, and it was a moment before she spoke. "Why?" Celestia laughed and sat down, beckoning the filly to her side. "Well," she began. "I wasn't always as fond of it as I am now. But when I was young, somepony I loved very much, loved it." Celestia's wing wrapped around the filly by her side as she spoke, Twilight listening raptly. "She always used to listen to it, and I would always ask her to play something else. Maybe some Bach, or Marezart, but she never listened. I could never figure out why she was so obsessed with that one piece, when there were so many other songs out there that I felt were better compositions, or more beautiful. It was only when I was older I found out that she loved it because.." the Princess broke off, nearly caught in her own memories, before shaking her head and continuing, "because it reminded her of me." Silence filled the study and the gramophone sat empty beside the two ponies. "That piece is 'Ode to Joy'. She said it always reminded her how I made her feel." Celestia's voice drifted off. She was only partly in the study. Part of her was back in another room, in another castle, in another time. She was brought back to the present by the stirring of a filly by her side. The unicorn removed herself from the feathers and made her way to where the record lay. Careful not to scratch the vinyl, she removed it from its protection and placed it on the gramophone, gently placing the needle on the outside of record. The strains of cello and bass flowed through the air, and the filly sat there still as stone, taking the whole piece in as Celestia watched, perturbed. Finally when the piece ended, silence fell over the study. After a minute Twilight turned to Celestia. After staring at her for a moment, she spoke. "I actually think I do like that song." Laughter burst from Celestia, and Twilight smiled. The gramophone stood still, but the music played in Celestia's laugh. "Well, I'm glad, but we've spent far too long on music for today, and far to little time with your studies." ~~~ "When a song reminds you of someone you love, how can you not love it?" Twilight sighed softly as Celestia's voice and laugh seemed to float through the air to her ears. She closed her eyes and imagined a warm body beside her, with a soft wing ever so gently caressing her back. Twilight smiled, and let the music carry her away.