Chapter 9: Inspiration at the Dinner Table
As it turned out, my foalnapping -- or call it a “royal summoning” -- was ordered by the co-ruler of the Empire, Princess Cadance. Of course, when I first met her and what turned out to be her sister-in-law, I was surprised that they were both alicorns. Up until that encounter, I thought that only Celestia was the only one of her kind, so imagine my shock to find two of them! If anything, at first I thought that they were Sunbutt’s long lost daughters. After they’d managed to calm me down at my understanding of alicorns being turned upside down, the pink princess (named Cadance) told me not to worry about my things as they were being brought to the palace, and that I was welcomed as a guest.
The purple filly known as Princess Twilight explained to me that she had originally come for the music festival. However, when Celestia wrote them that I was coming, she wanted to see me for “research purposes.” In fact, right after she introduced herself, she grabbed a stack of paper in her aura, along with a pen and the simple demand, “Tell me everything.”
Sunburst and my crew of servants did eventually join us, along with the caravan of luggage that crawled up to the palace like a row of ants. Orange Beard was invited to dine with us, and my cook was given the opportunity to prepare a meal in front of the whole company. A table was set up with all of us on one side so that we could observe the skill of the young chef. But as I sat down, I noticed that the table was set for six, so I asked the towering pink princess whom the empty seats were for.
“They’re for my husband and our daughter,” she told me as she took her seat, “And I think that they’ll be here any moment now.”
“While we’re waiting,” Twilight took her seat next to mine, “Do you mind if I ask what you think of Modern Equestria, Mr. Moztrot?”
I shrugged, “What’s there to say? It’s different in so many ways, and I have only been around for about a week. Sometimes I feel like a little colt who wants to pull on somepony’s tail a couple of times to ask them what this or that is. (Not without getting a peek from underneath of course.)” I busted out laughing from this last remark.
“Moztrot!” Twilight and Sunburst scolded me simultaneously, not without making everypony within earshot blush. But even at the sight of it, I couldn’t help but laugh my flank off.
“Do you have any filter whatsoever?” Sunburst questioned.
“Sorry, I can’t help it. But anyway,” I continued, “As I was saying, this is a curious world. I have so many questions that I don’t exactly know where to begin. Like… Who is this Beethoven that everypony keeps talking about?”
“Well,” Twilight began, “It’s a rather long story. But given how much of an impact he made in the year he spent in Equestria, it goes without saying that he really was a revolutionary in his own right.” At this point, I was reaching out for a glass of tasty red wine when she added, “Considering the fact that he was completely deaf.” And that was when I spat it out.
“Pardon me,” I said between coughs. “Maybe my ears stopped for a moment there. But did you say that this Beethoven, a composer, (as in one who writes music) was deaf?” she nodded. “No no, I have heard plenty of things and seen marvelous things in the week I have been here, but that’s just asking far too much to suspend my disbelief. It’s impossible, pre and simple, that anypony that could compose even a simple tune without hearing it as they went. That’s like having a pony without hooves, wings or a horn play the violin – illogical ma’am, it can’t be done!”
“And yet, he did just that,” the lilac heretic assured me. “I was there. I saw him conduct symphony after breathtaking symphony. Now I know it’s hard to believe that such a thing is possible. But once you’ve heard what he wrote and even seen the recordings of him playing – I daresay that then you’ll believe in such miracles.”
I shook my head, “A miracle is hearsay unless one has seen it with their own eyes. I’m sorry, Your Highness, but until I have actually seen such a thing, I’m still going to have huge doubts over it.”
“A change of subject,” Cadance piped up. “So is it true that you’re planning on performing at the festival?”
“It’s part of the reason why I came here in the first place.”
She smiled as my chef placed a salad bowl in front of her. “You know, there’s a rehearsal going on; our talented youth orchestra is practicing your twentieth piano concerto. While the pianist they have is good, as far as I’m told, perhaps you might give these students a sense of, say, your personal touch?”
Now, this caught my attention. “Oh? Youth orchestra?”
She nodded, “It’s part of the legacy of Beethoven, that ever since his music became a hit with the younger generation, orchestras from across Equestria have been organized to take advantage of this renewed interest. In our land, for example, we have a few orchestras and choirs that have popped up with the intent of breathing new air into classical music by infusing it with passion and cleverness. The youth orchestra is a collection of the Empire’s talented students between the ages of thirteen to seventeen who perform the works of various composers, yourself included.”
My nose smelt an opportunity, partly from interest but mostly to reintroduce myself on a public platform for all to hear, not just reporters. Besides, how talented were these children, considering that they were rehearsing a concerto in which is no easy task for a professional orchestra? Then again, as I reasoned, I might as well take it in because, in the centuries that I had been gone, there surely might be something that had gone wrong.
Before I could reply, I was suddenly attacked by a pink fuzzy creature that gnawed at my face. As embarrassing as it was, I screamed like a little filly, running around the room in circles blindly while shouting for somepony to, “GetitoffgetitoffgetitoffgetitoffofmeeeeheeeEee!” Whatever it was grabbed my face and mane, nibbling at my ears, blocking my vision with a pair of nappies. I didn’t know what was going on.
“Flurry, let go,” I heard an unfamiliar stallion say. “He doesn’t want a hug. Flurry, you’re scaring him.”
Mercifully, the thing did let go and I was able to see what had attacked me. It was a baby, a light pink alicorn with a wingspan several hooves wide. She was carried over to a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane. “I’m so sorry about that,” he said. “That’s just our daughter’s way of greeting new ponies. She didn’t mean any harm.” I inquired who he was. “I’m Shining Armor, Cadance’s husband. Anyways, I’m sorry for letting our Flurry Heart latch onto you like that without warning.”
I was confused, “Why did you name her Flurry Heart? Wouldn’t ‘Face Hugger’ be a more accurate name?”
This got a laugh from the parents, “It’s another long story,” Cadance told me. She noticed the foal was trying to reach out to me. “Do you want to hold her? I promise that I won’t let her grab your face again.”
After telling her that I might as well, the father gently let the big-eyed baby into my hooves. She was feeling my overcoat at the many buttons. For a moment, I did smile but… at the same time, it did spark a memory from me. Of my youngest when I held him in my arms last. The little one seemed to notice my melancholy and her horn glowed in which, after looking around and noticing a pram for the first time, took out a little overstuff snail doll. I craned my head to the side, “What’s this?”
“It’s her Whammy doll,” Princess Twilight explained. “Normally she needs it whenever she gets fussy to help her calm down.”
“Why is it called a wham-” my question was quickly answered as the doll landed on my head. “Nevermind…” I sighed, taking it off my head and returning it to the tiny princess. “You like to chew on a lot of things, don’t you? Like a puppy trying to nibble and whibble at everything.” This made her smile as I added, “.gniht elttil elbaroda na hcus era uoy ,timda ot evah I” She giggled while the adults looked at me confused.
“What language was that?” Sunburst asked.
“,esrever ni s’tI” I said, “Say it backwards.”
Twilight was the first to process it out, “s’tI… It’s… ni, in – It’s in… esrever...?” she tapped her hoof to her chin but deduced. “Oh! It’s in reverse! You can talk backwards?” I nodded, to which she jotted it down in a notebook.
“So you must be Moztrot himself, huh?” Shining asked as the rest of us sat back down at the table.
“Indeed,” I nodded. “And with your kind permission, I want to explore this kingdom. Tell me,” I leaned over, “Are there any pubs in this city by any chance?”
“I’ll give you the tour!” Twilight volunteered gladly, “I mean, I have been here enough times to know my way around. So how about I show you around tomorrow?” To this, I agreed.
From there, the other ponies talked among themselves as I went quiet, watching neither them nor the cook, but lost in thought. The edge of my hoof circled around the rim of the glass as I pondered. Among the chit-chat of the royals besides me and the sounds of Mr. Sauté from the chopping of vegetables to the sizzling of oil, my ears picked up on something. With curiosity, I licked the end of my hoof before applying to the glass once more. This time, I heard it more clearly; a single, simple note reverberated from it.
“Is this made out of crystal too?” I inquired, getting Cadance’s attention. When told that it was, my imagination went running as I also asked if they could bring up every piece of crystal dinnerware they had. At first, everypony at the table didn’t exactly understand my request, they even asked why I wanted to. I told them that I wanted to try out something of interest. Curious, they ordered in plates, bowls, trays, and glasses of the finest crystal to be set at the table. The servants even brought out pictures of water, and they stuck around to see what exactly I was up to.
From there, one by one, I picked up each piece; wet the end of my hoof to let it run along the edges to see what pitch each would make. To my delight, each had its own note; I reorganized them on the table by the tone in the manner of a keyboard. Something that was familiar to me.
This made the grown-up ponies rather intrigued to see what exactly I was doing. Fortunately, they didn’t forbid it as I dunked both hooves in the jugs of icy water. Unbeknownst to them, I had arranged the objects into a C major scale. From my dripping hooves, I began an adagio on the glass, creating a sound that rang out a cold but celestial chord like a winter’s night sky. While it was odd at first to my ears, there was a sort of hypnotic tone to it all. Yet, I was amazed at the quality of sound, from the champagne glasses to the plates, that rang out like steady bells.
I looked up to see their expressions and noticed something rather interesting: the ones that weren’t made out of living crystal listened with fascination, including the face-grabbing baby. The ones that were, however, stood there motionless. As if the melody that I had created was processing them. The black pupils went wide; I thought I saw some of them drool, letting it drip from the corners of their mouths. Never in my life had I ever seen such a sight like this, not at any of my performances.
Of course, I wasn’t alone in this observation; the other royals (plus Sunburst) took notice of this effect upon their subjects. Even when they called out to them, trying to snap them out of the trance, the crystal ponies were still dumbstruck by the sounds the dinnerware was producing. As soon as I stopped the Adagio, however, they were instantly returned to normal.
I confessed, after that improvisation, I had thought to myself ‘Hm… Note to self: If you want to take over the Crystal Empire, have plenty of pure crystal glassware and water on hoof.’
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Ok first thing, FIRST!
And watch out he could be the next sombra.
Waiting for his encounter with Pinkie and the CMCs, especially Sweetie Belle.
Mozart talking backwards....what is it that he couldn't do?!
8407859
Money.
Why not edit the story first?
8407909
I have said this before, and I'll say it again:
Lately there has been someone that has come forward to editing this. Yet, from experience, if I did just that there might not be a complete story at all. For it is better to the reader to have an imperfect, yet complete story, then to have a perfect but unfinished one.
Don't misunderstand me, that dosen’t mean I don't need an editor. I do. I appreciate anyone that would volunteer to proofread. But between waiting for months (perhaps years) to get a story to be edited without anyone seeing it, or to publish it to have people complain about grammar over story errors? I take the latter.
"possessing", I think you mean.
Drool?
I had to reread that paragraph several times to get it. At the very least, I suggest you fix that.
I know the feeling, brothers. I space out and drool at the Musica Antiqua Koln recording of the Art of Fugue. Easily the greatest musical recording of all time, from Edison reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb to the present.
image.ibb.co/bVwKE5/Epic_Bach.gif
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqXZtGyFyDo
8408243
(Stupid spell check...) Anyway, thanks for that.
I think a good piece to introduce moztrot to the stile of beethoven would be the Sonata Apassionata, is a very strong piece, and as the name says, its full of passion, it has strong emotions like beethoven, and it screams at you to go wild, while having a soft touch in the middle, the sonata for me yells ¨I'm from Beethoven¨ the entire time :D.
8407951
why not a post-editor? Plenty of stories release unedited, then they get someone to edit for them, then the editor person starts editing from chapter 1 and catches up to the author over time.
This can allow for multiple volunteers to assist in the effort of editing, proof reading, or merely correcting typos, in a first come first serve basis, if you have clones of each past chapter up on google docs with whitelist access.
This way you keep the new chapters flowing, while still addressing the audience complaints.
8415855
In most cases, they are. And again, it’s all volunteer work. In which it may take weeks, months even years in some cases to get said volunteer. It’s not that I can pay anyone to do edit this. The one that is currently doing this (Circut Breaker) is doing out of his/her own time and is the only one that is willing to do so. And he/she is doing it because they want to and have asked me upfront about it. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to have this current editor for this, but I’ll take any volunteers I get. (P.S. Chapter 1 through the first quarter of Chapter 6 is edited so far.)
And again, why don’t I ask for one is that as long as I have been on this site, I’ve come to understand one important thing: Editors/proofreaders have lives of their own. They can’t dedicate their time to editing someone else’s story when they have to deal with life. If you’re going to have one, do so because it’s out love of the story itself.