“Why are we going so fast?” Inverno asked his teacher, who was struggling to keep up at his side.
“Remember that bit this morning about getting into trouble?” Professor Key asked, looking over his shoulder quickly. “Turns out we might get into it a whole lot quicker than I planned to.”
“Slow down! What do you mean?”
“The guards are looking for us,” he told him. “We need someplace to hide.”
“Like that place?” Inverno pointed out a wide, crystal stadium with a large seal of the Empire proudly hanging from its walls. Along with the banners too that displayed musical instruments, notations, and a pony waving a stick.
“Perfect!”
The two of them dashed up to the stadium to where the ticket booth was. The booth itself was really a table with orange, yet bored looking young stallion; with a box with a padlock and a stack of tickets.
“Here for the show already?” the ticket pony asked as they quickly approach. “You know the show won’t start in forty-five minutes?”
“Never mind that,” the Professor hastily spoke, reaching for his bit bag, “How much?”
The ticket pony rolled his eyes, “Ten for adults, and five for foals.”
Without thinking, he grabbed a hoof-ful of bits and dumped it in front of the teenager before grabbing the two tickets in his mouth. Before the orange stallion could process what happened, both Key Signature and Inverno rushed into the stadium.
“Hey!” He called out, “Do you need your… change?” But the two were already out of sight at this point. The teenager shrugged and opened up the locked box to dump the bits that were thrown at him.
Several minutes later, a small group of Crystal Guards came to the stadium, “Pardon us,” one of them said to the ticket pony, “Have you by chance seen an old yellow stallion with an orange beard with a white colt?”
“You just missed them,” the teenager replied, “They bought their tickets and went inside.”
“Come on,” the leader of the Guards cried, and just like that, they rushed in, completely ignoring the shouts of the ticket pony about paying their tickets.
The first place they looked was the restrooms in the interior of the stadium, the colt’s room of course. One of them peaked his head in and looked under the stalls to see if he could find any signs of legs. When he saw it was completely empty, he called back to his fellow guards to tell them that it was all clear in there.
They searched all over the stadium as the orchestra and choir were getting ready for their big performance. They went through every hiding place they could think of, only to find no sign of neither the colt nor the teacher. Plus, the open air stadium was beginning to fill in with its Crystal citizens. So eventually, they gave up and decided to search someplace else.
Not five minutes before the concert in the little colt’s room, in a place presumed empty, a voice whispered from one of the stalls, “I think they should be gone by now.” The empty stall materialized four legs from one stall, and another four from the other.
“About time,” Inverno commented as they stepped out of their hiding places. “I was getting really bored in there.”
“So, come on now.” Key said, signaling the colt to his side, “We have a concert to attend.”
_*_
The stadium was quickly filled up with the Empire’s curious citizens who were itching for something new. Inverno and Key Signature took their seats alongside the other Crystal ponies who were looking at the very center of the arena.
Inverno saw the curious instruments that he’d seen from the Music Room. Even more interesting, was the fact that the orchestra and the reserved part of the stadium were filled with ponies who were like him and his teacher. They were staring at their audience with wonder and awe.
“Why are those ponies sitting over there?” the young unicorn asked, pointing to the reserved area.
“I think that must be the choir,” the elderly Earth pony said. “I admit; they really have a huge orchestra here. Then again, this is a pretty big place so they need to generate a huge sound for everypony to hear.”
“What are they holding?” Inverno pointed to the orchestra itself.
“Remember, when I’ve said that over time musicians had combined into groups to produce a wide range of sound?” The unicorn shrugged. “Anyway, in every orchestra, each musician is divided up into a few groups. For example, there’s the percussion with all the drums that produce the beats of the melody in the very back. The ones who are holding the shiny golden instruments that look like pipes are the Brass. In front of them are the Woodwinds, which are usually made up of flutes, bassoons, clarinets, and oboes. And the ones at the very front are the Strings. They provide most of the music you’ll be hearing. This section is made up of other groups such as first and second violins, viola, cellos…” Suddenly, Inverno noticed his teacher trailed off. “Dear Celestia,” Key whispered, “She’s here.”
“Who?”
“My… My granddaughter, she’s there in the Cello section!”
“Huh?” Inverno looked at the orchestra at the String section, “Where is she?”
“Over there, with the group with the second biggest string instruments.” Inverno looked again, this time it was much easier to spot because there was only one mare in the Cello section. She had a gray coat and a well-combed black mane, which was flipping at the score presented to her.
Before either of them could say anything, suddenly there was a voice that spoke over the megaphone, “Welcome, Mares and Gentlecolts,” said a stallion’s voice. The two of them quickly located the voice from a lanky red stallion with his hair plastered back in a black suit.
“I am your Conductor, Quarter Note, and welcome to the concert of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra!” There was applause from the Empire. “Due to the recent news, (well, recent to us) that all of you have been gone for a thousand years, all of you are in luck because we are here to present the best-written music. You will be hearing memorable masterpieces that we hope all of you will enjoy. Up first, will be the First Movement from the Brandenburg Concerto Number Three. So for now, enjoy the music.”
The stallion who was speaking into the megaphone went up to the orchestra to the empty stand in front. He picked up the white stick in his hoof and tapped on the stand. The orchestra moved about a little, positioning their instruments to where they’re supposed to be, awaiting for the Conductor to begin.
Quarter Note looked around the musicians in silence for a moment, to which even the audience in the open air stadium waited for something to happen.
The Professor looked over to Inverno, as the music suddenly filled the air with an ecstatic like dance, he watched as the colt gave in the trance-like state. Perhaps once the music was over, he can ask what kind of world he was seeing.