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Dawn in Canterlot2,300 words
The Concert Hall Unicorn.1,261 words
Void1,772 words
Musician Horses2,491 words
A Decade of Fear3,002 words
The Performance1,446 words

The Performance

Chapter Six

Hushed crowds of well-dressed ponies gathered in the dimly-lit concert area with tickets in their hooves, awaiting the performance. The royal Princess Celestia was amongst the nobles who had come to watch the showcase; she sat at the back of the crowd on a high-top balcony with her armour and crown polished to the highest degree. The patterns intricacy carved on the wooden beams holding the platform in the air caught her eye as they shined and shimmered by the warm glow of her flowing, pastel mane and she smiled gently at the sight. The princess was hardly ever seen with emotion in her face, but in her empty magenta eyes held a distant memory of watching musicians perform brilliant melodies a thousand years ago, with her young sister by her side, her ears embracing every note that came from the stage. She couldn’t help but long for her sister, a million miles away from the place she once called home.

Princess Luna, dearest sister, you will soon return to my side. She inwardly sighed, before turned back to the stage.

Below the royal princess, the large crowd sat in puffy red seats awaiting the performances. Bonbon took a seat at the very edge of the rows of seats and gripped a program in her hooves, struggling to read in the dimly lit atmosphere.
“Need some help?” A gravelly voice whispered to Bonbon, and she jumped out of her seat in surprise, accidentally kicking the grumpy red stallion sitting next to her. Bonbon apologised profusely, only to have an indignant snort from the stallion in reply.
“Oops.” She whispered to Vinyl, who was struggling to keep in her laughter.
“It’s okay.” She replied, giggling ever so slightly as she lit up her horn and enchanted the pamphlet. It began to glow lightly in Bonbon’s hooves. She turned to thank the unicorn, but she had already left to return working. She saw the unicorn lead a pair of energetic pegasi to their seats, and she illuminated their chairs for them as they clambered in and settled down in anticipation of the show.

She must work here, She observed, I wonder if she’s run into that earth pony with the purple bowtie yet. She’d have a field day with the amount of unicorn magic in here.

Bonbon shook the amusing thought out of her mind and watched as more and more ponies arrived at the concert hall, taking their seats and muttering to each other. She took the time to read the booklet, drinking in the atmosphere of buzzing excitement and refined tastes that surrounded her; it all delighted her like a fine, vintage wine. She was drunk on the rich elegance of the moment, and she giggled tastelessly. She truly felt like an important pony, sitting amongst the rich and famous. Even the stoic and reserved goddess of Equestria sat behind her, waiting for the show to begin. It thrilled her to the bone, every minute of it. She had wanted so desperately to feel like these ponies surrounding her did, full of grace and elegance and poise. All her life, she’d wanted to visit the city of Canterlot and take in the sights of the famous city. She had catered to them before, with her candy-making impressing the posh fillies and colts of the fair city, and she had acquired a taste for the poise and elegance that was the Canterlot elite. Now, waiting for her marefriend to play her lyre in front of thousands, she felt so alive. She was bursting with pride, and cackled lightly to herself again. The sights, the smells, the tastes, the entire atmosphere of the moment; she would hold it with her for all her days.

Backstage, the commotion was deafening for Octavia Melody. Even though she was apart from the others, the noises around her were a stark contrast to the silence in the darkness that she had been trapped in for what felt like days. She clumsily wiped the sweat off her face with her one good hoof as a small, chubby nurse with a shining face who introduced herself as Nurse Snowheart wrapped her injury with padded gauze and sloppily-applied bandages. Nurse Snowheart brushed a piece of blue hair aside behind her ears and inspected the damaged hand, now bandaged to the best of her ability.

“I’m so sorry, but this is unfortunately the best I can do. I’m a psychiatric nurse, so this isn’t exactly my speciality.” She admitted with a whine, and Octavia accepted the apology with grace.

“I’m just glad there was an audience member to help.”

“Oh, yes, well I’m actually here for Lyra Heartstrings, you see. One of her dear friends is a patient under my watch, and I’m close friends with her.”

At the name, Octavia blushed and lowered her ears in embarrassment.
“Oh, you know her? That’s nice.” She muttered.

“Indeed. Now, hold still while I tighten these for you…” Snowheart said, garbled with the bandages in her mouth. Raising to her backlegs, she pulled them tight over Octavia’s injury, and tied them in place. She wiped the sweat off her brow and nodded to herself.
“There. That’ll keep.”

“Thank you so much, Nurse.” Octavia breathed, cradling her newly-bandaged hoof.

“Don’t mention it. I’ll have to tell Lyra Heartstrings I met you! She’s a fan, you know.” Nurse Snowheart cheered, and Octavia’s protests fell on deaf ears as she exited the hall in search of her Ponyville friend.

The performance, despite all the hardships and tribulations, went off without a hitch. The crowd sat riveted to their seats as music filled the hall with elegance that only musicians of the highest calibre could muster and the ponies on stage each took their turns playing for the adoring herd. Miss Hooves sat at the front of the audience and smiled gratefully at Lyrica and Noteworthy as they performed on stage for their efforts in rescuing their stranded musician friend; after all, it was Lyrica who suggested to Noteworthy to check her dressing room. Thanks to them, the performance felt like a success to her. A clumsy mare like herself was used to things going wrong with her in charge, so it was a massive relief for her to have the concert go perfectly. The brown stallion next to her with an hourglass on his flank and a green tie around his neck held her hoof through the concert and preened her wings in an act to calm her frayed nerves, and the ditzy pony was glad to have him by her side. The one who received the greatest applause, however, was Octavia at her cello, playing through the pain of her sloppily-bandaged hoof, and the loudest cheers, booming calls and stomping hooves came from the snow-white unicorn with the electric mane that saved her life.
Meeting her backstage, Vinyl galloped to meet Octavia and nuzzled her gently in congratulations. She hugged her tightly back, and the two shared a second show of affection.

“I heard you managed to perform tonight, Miss Melody.” A trying voice shimmered in the air in the pair’s direction. Octavia’s ears shot up from her skull and she pulled Vinyl off of her, brushing herself off and coughing awkwardly. Vinyl raised her hoof to complain, but quickly put it back when she saw the appalled look in both the mare’s faces.

“Hello, Lyra.” She smiled half-heartedly. A wave of shame engulfed her when she looked in the mare’s sad eyes and she lowered her ears, kicking at the ground gently with her hoof. Lyra could have sworn that this Octavia almost felt… well, humiliated. A very different pony to the one she’d run into that morning, that’s for sure.

Octavia spoke with her tail hanging low and her ears flat against her head. “I’m sorry for how I acted to you today. You were right; there was no need for it. I’m sorry I treated you so badly, Lyra Heartstrings.”

“It’s okay, Miss Melody, really it is.” Lyra’s eyes lit up and she smiled warmly, and Octavia felt a great burden lifted off her shoulders as she saw the light return to Lyra’s eyes. Maybe things were looking up for her now after all? She’d made a new unicorn friend, and a unicorn lover, all in the same day. Maybe, just maybe, she had been wrong all these years.

“Please,” She beamed, speaking in a harmonious tone, “call me Octavia.”

END.

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