My Little Pony: the Harmony of Friendship

by Godzilla313

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

As the moment approached, they were more and more nervous. Sure, they had performed before crowds, but this was different. There was about thirty thousand ponies out in the crowd. Granted, there were no lights on the crowd, but the fact that you just knew they were out there made it nerve racking. The thousands of flashes form the camera made it clear they were there, and made it quite intimidating. Worse, the What, and Purple Haze and the Expense went all heavy metal and destructo right before them, and they had to finish the show for this second night. They had a 40-minute set, and they had to follow…that. Now, Downy was having second thoughts. Quill was as well, but as she turned about, Quill grabbed her skirt and said, “Not even. You talked me into it, now you’re going out there.”
At that point, the host came out and announced the pair, “Okay, to finish night two, we have Equestria’s newest recording stars bringing back to us folk stylings in a new and fresh way, so let’s give them our full attention and support. Fillies and Gentlecolts, I give you Quill and Downy!”
The crowd thundered, but the pair did not go out right away. They swallowed hard and walked out as two stools were put out for them, as well as mics for them and their instruments, they all being acoustic. They came out with their guitars on their backs, levitating the other instruments out that they needed for their set…and that was it. Whereas the other groups had their big lights and displays, it was just them with a few instruments and a bare stage. If they felt small before, they felt microscopic now. They actually stood still there for a good ten seconds before bringing their guitars around and started off. They had spoken with the Seeking earlier, and the folk code being what it is, they gave the twins clearance to sing one of their own songs: Come the Day. However, this one was at a slightly faster pace than what the Seeking did, and helped them both get their nerves calmed and into the groove. This helped break the ice, as the crowd went nuts after the last chord was strummed out. Downy got out the autoharp and they went into “Me and Julio,” and that got some ponies dancing a bit. After some more mad applause, Downy took a turn to speak. She thanked the audience and said, “Okay, as you heard, we are Quill and Downy. We were going to go with ‘Downy and Quill’, but Quill convinced me that we should make it alphabetical.”
This got a good laugh from the crowd, and when they settled, she then said, “Tonight, we hope to make this not just a musical celebration, but visual as well. I know you may have heard some things recently in the press about the Bardics, and indeed, some of it was not so nice. Yet, we have to say that, first, forget the negative things you’ve heard. Second, we now tell all of you that we are both bards, and that we are not what they say. In fact, we both abhor war as the ancient bards had done, and indeed, if we can use our gifts to help bring peace, not just to Equestria, but all lands, then we will have fulfilled our high calling. We only use our gifts unto that purpose, and to entertain, as we intend to do this night. Therefore, we shall perform, and we leave it to all of you to decide if we are what we, or anypony claims.”
There was some murmuring among the crowd at first, but slowly but surely, applause started to grow, and became a thunderous sea of approval. If there had been those out there that felt any other way, they could not be heard. Quill then said, “Okay, we’re going to continue with a song that Downy and I have imagined as if she and I took a walking tour of this great land of Equestria. In fact, that is the title: Equestria.”
He counted off a 6/8 time and they started. Indeed, they had changed it so it reflected Equestrian cities, and changing it to where it would say, “I’ll be your brother,” instead of how it had been written, as well as references to smoking also eliminated. As they performed, they then started their magic and their voices soared in pure harmonies, as if their brains were linked together. Over the crowd was the images of their trip, being shown as if it was a music video, and it was three dimensional. The audience gasped, and then cheered loudly at the sight. It was unlike anything anypony had ever seen. Yet, there were three others who were taking some notes.

In the royal booth, the princesses sat, along with their friends, and among them was both Starlight Glimmer and Moondancer. Both they and Twilight were analyzing the magic, casting some analysis spells on it and picking random ponies in the crowd to scan their brain patterns in the same way an EEG would scan. They had to work to be sure they were not so caught up in it themselves that they could not work their skills in testing all this. The twins, by this point, had mastered much of the magic they had studied, and it was becoming second nature to them. Of course, they were not going to do this all concert, for indeed, they too wanted to enjoy the show. However, since the twins were nearly full strength, they wanted to see it in action, as well as get real time data on how all this was working. This would become valuable to Celestia’s school of magic if ever were a branch for Bardic magic were opened. Moreover, they wanted to test to see if standard magic unicorns as they could recreate what they were doing, though Twilight and Celestia both had played around with it. The truth was, they could do some of it, but it was nothing like what they were seeing. Moreover, the readings they were getting were amazing. It would take some going over, but they were able to see some obvious effects of what the music was doing.

The twins went into ballads, a few rockabilly numbers, some antiwar songs, and some comedy songs, as well as sing-alongs. By this point, their nerves were well under control, and they were having fun, connecting with the audience. Whey they did comedy; the images were side splitting. Some of the dramas had them in awe. When they did “The Great Mandala,” they were enraptured. They finally did the two songs that put them on the map, as well as their personal keynote songs, and finished with “The Sounds of Silence.” They knew, however, that this would not be the end of it. If they did well enough, they knew that an encore would be in order, and they would play some upbeat songs and then make the invitation for any unicorns of Bardic heritage or who had similar gifts not being a part of the bloodline to learn the craft themselves. As was expected, they crowd was cheering, and then chanting. Finally, the twins came back out and the audience went nuts. It was a musical and visual experience that was beyond anything they had ever experienced. Quill then stepped forward before they started to play again and said, “One of our goals tonight is to put forth a challenge. Tonight, you have seen what Bardic magic is all about, and I would be remiss to say that we know well we are not the only ponies that can do this. In fact, because so many ponies do not keep strictly to their subsets, we have discovered that there are some ponies with the Bardic heritage that have the ability to do these things, though in a limited sense, because, as we all know, magic affects each subset in different ways. To teach them these tricks may not be possible, but it could be learned one day to use such things in the ways each subset is affected by magic in general. However, if you are a unicorn that has a circle of fifths as part of your cutie mark, have skill in music, and have felt there was something more to burst forth from your music, we would like to get to know you, and find some way to teach you what we know. We could easily bring the bards back into the world, and hopefully, help to make this a more peaceful world indeed. I do not think we could ever rid the world of the scourge of war, but, if we can help prevent many of them, and bring peaceful solutions to conflict, it will be all worthwhile.”
That got a huge response from the audience, and Downy then said, “Right now, we don’t have an actual facility to teach in, but if enough comes into us, we shall work towards building such a place and then taking in pupils. The more who master the craft, the more we can find to aid in teaching, and we can expand. Please contact us by contacting our record label and they will send the letters to us. We look forward to hearing from you.”
They then jumped into some fun and upbeat songs, finishing off with “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing,” and some of the bands were either in the crowd or backstage watching from the wings, and some among them were unicorns so marked who felt their music could be more. They verily wished to speak to them at the after party and find out if it is possible that they too could do as they, and be a part of what they envisioned. The twins then left the stage to adoring fans who were also doing some deep mental examination of themselves, wondering if they were of the bards, and for some, it meant fulfillment, as they suddenly understood their goals in life and what their marks had meant. This ended night two of the festival, and it had in fact become the high watermark of the three-day event.

At the after party, the princesses sat at the head table as Starlight and Moondancer joined them, absolutely floored by what they had both heard and saw. Luna then said, “This has been an interesting festival, and there are some of the harder sounding popular acts that I did like, but some I found quite earsplitting and annoying.”
“Well, I guess that’s the point of the festival,” said Twilight, “Everypony’s personal tastes are on display, but it also exposes some to other forms of music, gaining new fans, or solidifying certain camps tighter to their preferred styles.”
“Still,” added Moondancer, “I am not sure anypony could top what we had tonight. The twins were using some very powerful magic.”
This caught their attention, and they all turned their attention to Moondancer and Starlight as they gave their reports. Moondancer continued, “There is so much to go over, but, one thing I can tell you, this was no mind control.”
“Yes,” agreed Celestia, “If that had been a part of it, I would have detected it right away.”
“Then, what was it?” pressed Twilight.
“The images were not put into their heads,” she said, “But the images were created before their eyes. In some cases, it became semi-tangible, as if it was such that one could literally interact with the story.”
Moondancer jumped in and added, “But, what was being affected was the emotional centers of the brain, not to control them, but to trigger responses and enhance them to get them into what is being sung or performed and enhance the whole experience.”
“Wait,” said Twilight, “That can’t be. I mean, those troops from the Crystal Empire…”
Moondancer interrupted and said, “What we saw there was that magic out of control. They had not yet learned to control it. They let go full force and caused, not them controlling their minds, but causing the emotional centers in their minds to be slightly seared towards a certain way. In other words, they locked off aggressive emotions towards war and fighting. If I remember correctly from the lore that I studied some months ago, this was a forbidden area among the ancient Bardics, as it would be considered aggression and against everything they taught. Moreover, by this point, the twins know what is too far, and knowing their hate for war, would never go that far.”
“That still doesn’t explain what happened in the human world,” reminded Twilight, who, by this point, had told them what had happened to those attackers. Starlight then said, “Ah, but you’ve said that, in that world, magic does what it wants. If they were letting loose with unicorn magic untethered, and considering the dangerous situation they were in, it impacted their emotional receptors so much that, well… Okay, I am sure you know what some narcotics do, and in this case, I refer to hallucinogens. I am sure you know what certain flowers, mushrooms, or leaves would do when eaten, yes?”
“Oh, sure,” answered Twilight.
“Well,” continued Starlight, “In this case, what must have happened is tantamount of taking in too much of those kinds of substances to the point where it affects the brain to where you take the trip from which you never come back. For those three, their minds are in La-La Land, enthralled by images and dancing colors that will never end. I tell you, this is quite powerful magic, and needs to be used for peace.”
“That is what frightens me,” Luna added, “What if there are some who decide that the ways of peace are not right? What could be done to stop them?”
“Ah, that is also covered in the Bardic Tome,” said Moondancer, “The bards did a very good job of policing themselves, and really, only a bard could stop a bard. Still, they had ways of stopping things like this. Had what happened in the human world happened here, they could reverse what they did. What they did was basically a sealing spell, and did not know it. We’ll have to mention this to them, and, if they can learn the magic behind it, if they have not already by now, they could help those former soldiers and fix what had happened. You see, if a bard went off the reservation, they could seal them until they could put them somewhere they could isolate them, and then work to help change their erroneous ways.”
“What about this school thing they want to do?” asked Twilight.
“You know, I started thinking when they mentioned that,” said Celestia, “And I think I could build a special annex to the school in Ponyville near your castle specifically for bards. Sine it would be connected to the school here, it would then come straight from the school budget, and therefore not be any more of a burden to the ponies of Equestria than what they already pay in taxes. We have to propagate this.”
Luna nodded, but then she had to address it, and said, “Still, I wonder about this Nero in Fillydelphia. I do not know how he does it, but he keeps me out of his, and his lieutenant’s, dreams. However, I did walk the dreams of some of his young foals in his school, and what I saw was not right. I warn you now: he is a danger. I fear he is warping their minds into some pretty militaristic ways. They also have hatred for the bards put in place as well, and it could be a danger on top of it.”
“Could it be…” said Twilight, letting the words dangle.
“Indeed, it has all the markings of the ways of Ponaeros,” said Celestia, “Yet, this does not mean that others do not have fears of what the twins can do. If enough of the legends are still floating about, they could easily be twisted to work towards this Nero’s goals. He does warrant observation, though, because he is doing something very key for those who have power in mind. First, he finds those in a bad state and rallies them to his side by him promising them the moon and stars, and then he finds impressionable youths he can get in lockstep with his way of thinking. Then, once he can get some kind of political sway, he can start turning things violent, though, more than likely make it look like needful actions. One thing, though, is that, in order to build such a following, many times it helps to find some kind of Bogeymare around which he can get his followers to rally, and in this case, it is the bards; something new and possibly scary. We shall keep an eye on him, but one thing I wonder is, where is Discord? I have tried to summon him over this matter for a few months now, and no response.”
“Well, he did appear before that time,” said Twilight, “And he spoke of something being up, and looking into it, but, as usual, he was very vague. You don’t think he’d be a part of that, do you?”
“I don’t think so,” said Celestia, “Not after what happened with Tirek. But, if he has been watching, I wonder why he has not reported back? Well, we’ll attend to it. But, for now, let’s put our minds on celebrating the twins’ triumph tonight.”
With that, they went to mingle, as the twins were talking with many of the unicorn artists who were looking at their own marks, talents, and wondering if they were as they had mentioned. Many were willing to be a part of any school if it meant they could learn the craft, even if it meant enhancing their live shows. The twins, however, were all pleased as could be, and hoped that this would be the vanguard of a new world.