Peering down, Flicker was somewhat surprised by just how good his vision was. All of the lights had dimmed, but he could see quite well, and he was a little mystified by it. The crowd had a strange silence to it, a silence that carried with it a demand. Overwhelmed by sensation, Flicker’s ears pivoted to face every sound around him. A cough, somepony breathing, the creak as somepony shifted in their seat, each little noise drew forth a reaction.
A trapdoor in the middle of the stage far below opened, and Octavia rose up on a lift. She was wearing a slinky black evening gown, and her mane was pulled back into a tight, severe looking bun, making her look a bit like a schoolmarm. She stood there for a moment, took a deep breath, and then addressed the crowd.
“Hello, and a fine how do you do to all of you. As you no doubt know, I am Octavia.” The prim little mare paused, cleared her throat, and then turned about on the stage so that she might have a good look at all of her audience. “Tonight, I must ask you for your best behaviour, as I have a very special guest with me. He’s a little shy, and it took me so much convincing to get him to do this. Please, I ask that you treat him with the same respect that you would treat me.”
The trapdoor opened again and the lift rose, bringing with it a short, squat, bipedal figure wearing a tuxedo. The crowd gasped upon seeing that it was a diamond dog, and Octavia made a gesture for him to come over to her. Flicker watched with great interest while all around him, the crowd reacted to the sudden appearance of a diamond dog on the same stage as Octavia.
“This is my friend, Johann Bark.” Octavia lifted her head and peered up at the nosebleed seats. “He’s quite young, timid, and shy. Just like I am.” She waited for a moment so that the crowd might laugh at her joke, then continued, “He and his family immigrated to Equestria from Germaney. They are hard working, industrious, and young little Johann here, he has a dream to play the piano. He’s quite good. The problem is, he is having trouble getting gigs because of his species… and I find this sort of behaviour reprehensible.”
Flicker leaned forwards in his seat and looked down. Much to his surprise, he was able to focus upon the expression on Octavia’s face, even from where he sat, which was quite a ways away. He ignored the crunching sounds from beside him as Piper snacked on some granola.
“Why, Johann, you look smashing,” Octavia said to the diamond dog standing beside her.
“Thank you,” he replied with a gruff accent.
“Are you ready to begin?” Octavia asked.
The diamond dog’s sharp inhale could be heard on the microphone, and then he nodded.
“Very well then, let us begin…”
After a brief swell of silence, the music started. A few notes came from the piano, and then Octavia coaxed something beautiful from her cello. She moved like a gardener tending some priceless, fragile rose, and her body swayed as she leaned into her cello with a tender embrace.
Johann was hunched over his piano, his ears bouncing as he struck his keys, his paws moving in a smooth blur. His tail wagged from side to side behind him and the spotlight faded, becoming dim. The diamond dog kept his head down, his nose almost to the keys, and his long arms allowed him an amazing reach of the keys.
The music crashed against the audience like waves against the rocks and a peculiar feeling of emotion overtook Flicker. He thought of his sister for some reason and was moved to some unknown, maudlin emotion that made his heart feel heavy. Like so many others around him, Flicker found it difficult to breathe—some unseen, unknowable force clamped itself tight around his barrel, and try as he might, he could not break the spell.
The music was as sad as it was haunting and Flicker had no defense against it. In moments, he was laid bare, his insides raw and exposed. His head felt heavy and it made his neck stiff to hold it up. Without even realising that he was doing so, he reached out, seeking comfort, and his fetlock wrapped tight around Hennessy’s foreleg, gripping it in a sweaty, fearful embrace.
Hennessy looked up, his mane spilling down over his face, and he said nothing as he glanced at Flicker. Then, the colt looked down at Flicker’s fetlock, his eyes glistening with liquid emotion in the faint, dim light. Sitting on the other side of Hennessy, Piper did the same, clutching at the earth pony colt, and she began to sniffle.
Octavia’s magic was inspiration, that was her gift, her talent, and it did not translate well to recorded form. For all of the times that Flicker had listened to various records of hers, he had felt nothing, for such was his talent, his gift, which gave him stoicism as a boon. But now, exposed to Octavia herself, the earth pony with, perhaps, the most powerful magical talent of this era, he bore the full brunt of it and was powerless against it.
Flicker was inspired. He had placed the last vestiges of his equinity into his sister as though she were a vessel. He had stripped himself of weakness, of frailty, and he had voluntarily made himself a machine made of meat, muscle, and sinew. In this moment, exposed to Octavia’s most powerful magic, Flicker was inspired to be a better pony. Not a machine that wore a mask and black body armor, not a mindless killer that obeyed every order, but a better pony.
All those things that Flicker saw as weakness and buried were now uncovered and exposed. Octavia, moving her bow across her strings, recovered those hidden treasures, those bits and pieces of Flicker that he had stashed away, feeling as though they were useless. And not just Flicker, either, but everypony (and everybody) in the crowd.
Hennessy and Piper were not spared either. Both hurt, both harmed, both of them were laid bare by Octavia’s magic and the two of them suffered the same reaction as Flicker. Sitting together, the three of them began soul-searching, with Piper and Flicker both clinging to Hennessy.
There was nothing that anypony could do but ride it out. Swept up in sensation, overcome with emotion, Flicker felt it far more than his companions because so much of himself had been lost. With each note, each resonant note of Octavia’s bow caressing the strings of her cello, Flicker could feel buried, long hibernating, even long-dead parts of himself waking up and springing to life. For Flicker, this was a frightful, turbulent spring after a long, cruel, unforgiving winter.
Unable to bear the onslaught, Flicker wept as Octavia poured her heart into his soul.
Weary, sweaty, shaking, and starving, Flicker let out a moaning whimper of relief when the music ended. Applause did not come right away, no, the audience was just as drained as he was, and there was a vast, smothering silence as all present tried to recover. The lights remained dimmed, and with there being no music, the sound of weeping could be heard in the dark.
A murmur passed through the crowd—the sound of many sniffles and snuffles all happening at once. The sound of bodies moving against themselves, against each other, of forelegs wiping eyes and bodies being embraced. All of these things had a sound, and they could be heard now in the melancholy dark.
Octavia placed her cello on its stand and slipped the bow into a decorative glass vase beside it. With both of her forelegs, she smoothed out her gown, tossed her head back to throw loose strands of her mane out of her face, and then dropped down on all fours, moving with a fluid, silken grace normally found in feline creatures.
Looking a bit dishevelled, his bow tie askew, Johann rose from his piano bench and then shuffled over to stand beside Octavia. He bowed at the waist, stiff, and when he rose, he tilted his head back to look up and around at the audience, who were still recovering.
At long last, some applause began. It was weak, weary, it was an exhausted but still somehow enthusiastic effort. Most were still too stricken to do much of anything and some were in a fugue-induced fugue. Up high, in his lofty seat, Flicker struggled to comprehend what had just happened and why he felt the way he did, just like so many others.
“I need some fresh air,” Piper said in a thick, sibilant whisper to the others.
Nodding, Hennessy agreed. “I do too.”
Ears sagging, Piper turned her head to look Hennessy in the eye. “I’m sorry if I was all sweaty while I held onto you. I feel rather awkward…” Her words trailed off with a nasal whine and she could say nothing else.
“Don’t mention it.” Turning about, Hennessy looked over at Flicker. “You okay?”
There was no reply from Flicker, who looked rather vacant. Hennessy poked him and there was no response, just a blink. Hennessy tried again, this time waving his hoof in front of Flicker’s eyes and even booping him on the snoot. Flicker remained unresponsive, and Hennessy sighed.
“He needs some air, I think. Think you can carry him outside, Piper?”
“Yeah, but first I really need to pee…”
It was now almost midnight, and in the chilly night air, Flicker revived. He sucked in a few deep lungfuls of air, snorted, and then took off at a hurried trot that startled his companions. They moved double time to catch up to him, and fell into pace with him as he hurried down the crowded streets of Canterlot, streets filled with other concert-goers departing the show.
“Flicker, where are we going?” Piper asked as she bumped against his side.
“There is a place I need to be,” Flicker replied, but he did not elaborate any further.
“I’m starving.” Hennessy sniffed the air as though he was hoping to smell food. It was late, but there were still places open and he looked around with a hopeful expression as he walked. “Flicky, that place you needed to be, can we eat there?”
“No.” Flicker’s voice was a flat, nondescript deadpan that offered no feeling.
“Dog farts.”
“Ew, gross, Hennessy, really?”
Ignoring his companions’ banter, Flicker moved like a pony with purpose through the crowded streets of Canterlot.
Pausing, Piper studied the building made from pale pink marble. To one side was a florist's shop and the other side, a chocolatier’s confectionary. It seemed somehow apropos, given the nature of the building. For the life of her, she could not figure out why Flicker would want to be here, of all places, and she was baffled.
Flicker didn’t seem to be the sort of pony that would visit one of Princess Cadance’s chapels.
Flicker moved through the door without pausing, and when Hennessy halted in the doorway to get his bearings, Piper shoved him through. It was rude to stop in a doorway, and she felt justified with her hard shove to get Hennessy moving. As she passed through the doorway, she saw Flicker go to Princess Cadance’s statue and sit down in front of it.
The statue of Princess Cadance was an odd construction, it showed the princess sitting on a heart-shaped pillow beside an open box of chocolates. A pink spotlight was affixed on the statue, bathing it in an almost labial pink glow. Just looking at it made Piper feel rather moist and she shuffled, embarrassed, curious as to why she had the reaction she was having.
She crept closer to Flicker, feeling almost afraid, and there was a peculiar sensation that she was intruding on something private in this most public of places. There were other ponies here, but not many. Glancing at Flicker, she realised that he was praying—his eyes were closed and his lips were moving, though words could not be heard.
Embarrassed, she felt a hot, searing flush move through her body, and she looked away as her ears burned from a keen feeling of awkwardness. She looked at Hennessy and watched his non-verbal response—he shrugged. An unwelcome sense of confusion settled over Piper and she tried to make sense of all of this. Why would Flicker come here to this place?
Even worse, it felt as though the statue of Princess Cadance was looking right at her. Piper tried to dismiss the feeling, but it made it worse, and she averted her eyes, staring down at the floor, hoping and praying that she had not offended any supernatural force. Princess Cadance’s eyes were now boring a hole right into her skull, into her brain, and drilling into wherever Piper’s soul was secured.
“Why are we here?” Hennessy asked.
Gritting her teeth, Piper hoped that Flicker had finished praying, lest the statue of Princess Cadance turn her stony fury upon Hennessy. She glanced upward for a moment, saw Princess Cadance looking down right at her, and she averted her eyes once more.
“It’s equinal,” Flicker replied, and he said nothing else.
Smacking his lips once, Hennessy was undeterred. “Is this about me?”
“No.” Flicker’s response was a husky grunt.
“But this place is about love, isn’t it?” Hennessy leaned in a little closer to Flicker and poked him with his hoof.
Saying nothing, Flicker looked up at the statue of Princess Cadance for a time, and then he returned his gaze to Hennessy as his face contorted with some unrecognisable emotion. Flicker shuddered, blinked once, and then turned away from Hennessy, unable to look the earth pony colt in the eye any longer.
“Don’t you dare shut me out,” Hennessy said with a surprising amount of force and anger.
Bristling for a second, Flicker looked at Hennessy, and Piper sucked in a deep breath without even realising it. She gnawed her lip, fearing the tension that was now thick in the air, and she could feel all of her stomach muscles contracting as her teats grew hard from fear. There was a weird energy in this place that Piper just could not deal with.
“I came here so I could let you in,” Flicker admitted, and then saying nothing else, he closed his eyes once more, bowed his head, and continued praying.
More than anything, Piper wanted to leave.
Wow... I do believe I'll have to reread this latter before I can truly apreciate it.
There's a lot coming at you in this chapter and I'm not sure I'm catching everything.
7925649
I've spent much of the day sorting this chapter out. Honestly, I'm surprised I got this out today. For a time, I did so much rewriting of the first half over and over that I though it would be released tomorrow, or maybe sometime after midnight.
The Suffocated Light.
On the brink of life and death.
Flickers brightly once more.
Surrounded by Love's embrace.
The Muse and the Conscience.
Hold fast forever more.
Did I just rhyme more with more?
Goddamnit.
Equestria is a very dangerous place.
7925667
???
7925673
You try and listen to some live music, and the next thing you know, your soul has been scrubbed raw and you're in church trying to figure out how to connect with your loved ones when for so long you felt like you didn't even need a soul.
Equestria is a very dangerous place.
7925728
Ah.
In our world; that is, a world without true fantastical magics, music is a conduit through which emotions are bourne. Music has brought nations together under one flag, one song, one meaning, and together we are stronger for it. Together we shall create beautiful peices which shall unite the peoples of the world, and then, in music we shall know peace.
Wyld Stallyons - seems fitting, world peace from music.
7925878
Yeah, I sort of had a feeling that you weren't going to make it that simple.
7925662 And the poetry went flying out the window so fast it broke the sound barrier and three houses plus a car.
Re-imagine Octavia as a city-walker civilization bonus that ticks every turn, and it works quite well.
Grogar has long been playing the attrition game, he should realize the danger of allowing the enemy player to keep full ownership of Australia in a game of Risk.
deep as hell
loved the fact of a diamond dog playing with octavia
So, Flicker's soul was found in Bach. Sorry, Bark. Still, classical music has a power that I have not found in the modern day, with rare exceptions. I had a similar experience once, though it was not with music. I've always seen the beauty of music, but poetry was nothing to me. Then I found Poe's Raven and The Bells, and something came alive. Now I need to go read them aloud to myself again. Damn you, kudzu. You make me feel things.
Very interesting chapter wonder if Rarity helped with Johanns outfit. It would be something that would interest her
Rat's Nest to Rolling Thunder, requesting a fire mission, grid Tango, Oscar, Papa, direction Kilo, Echo, Kilo. Target is two fleeing sides. Fire for effect!
*sides subsequently obliterated*
I haven't slept in two days and imagining these horses being inspired and sad has left me feeling a confused mess of emotions. Good job!
Good, Flicker. Good. Now you can sort yourself out and realize you actually have friends!
He was at the point where I thought he'd been lost forever... good on you, Piper!
7926102
I did not know you could put that much effort into a "top kek" post.
7926716
I have achieved a fairly high level of shitposting.
What a chapter. Captures the inspired catharsis very well.
I'm very curious what the last scene will lead to.
You know, given how large a role Flicker is likely to play in this particular battlefield in the fight again Grogar, this concert probably ranks pretty highly in the list of most impactful concerts that have been performed. I feel like the events of this chapter and the change to Flicker’s worldview could have a very significant effect on events to come.
But then again, considering Octavia's talent and how powerful we've just been told it is, maybe this was just another Tuesday for her.
7927047
Over five thousand in attendance.
This may be the first time we've seen Flicker absolutely humbled. Intriguing.
7925604 Aww yis
My, my, my. That is QUITE the reaction from Ms. Piper. Although now I have to wonder...is it possible that she is a Filly Fooler? Furthermore, why is it that Piper feels so threatened by the statute of Princess Cadence? Is it due to her own feelings of growing resentment towards her parents, is it the fear of Cadence disapproving of a sexuality unbeknownst to Piper, or....?
7927341
Or the fact that she and Flicker both have the same problem, though it manifests in different ways between the two of them.
Flicker wears a mask to hide himself, and Piper craves power. Both of these things are a symptom.
lh4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/UMlSX9PmGFm3woA7-rZ4rFBUDutG63yHWh9TEHXvKPH6_Xsq22zXDiKC7urwilF7jcB4ky9k4_UL7Rs372QlrRDLyuYo1mENK9YQ9wJ_xll6rFDKG8Fd8mAzovd1yiVGHR70Zlo0D595XiyOUUa5VnZKZE9sVhpi7Dvs07bb9A=w320-h322-nc
We are moving foward. Good!
7928642
I would hope so. Maybe with a little bit of help from Death, funilly enough.
7926026 But those feels are why we love kudzu's stuff so much, belike!
Shit. I just caught up. Now I have to leave this story for a month or two so I can have a backlog of chapters to read.
I love this story. I am hoping it has a sequel when its finished.
That was a really beautiful description of experiencing great music. I really liked the way you presented Octavia's talent. I could not have written it myself. You are awesome.
Flicker: