The King of Swing

by The Sonic Mage

Chapter 3: The Unexpected

Shouting...

Hollering...

The pounding of many hooves on pavement...

And the blaring sound of instruments…

Everything you would expect to hear at a street party.

The entire block, and many others, was teeming with ponies. All of them were standing around in their own little social groups talking the day away. Others were enjoying the food and drinks being sold by the vendors present at the event. All the while, a band sat on a stage playing music for the crowd. Trumpets, trombones, drums, and many more instruments sounded through the streets. Overall everypony was just having a good time, spending time with their fellow citizens, and keeping spirits high.

A unicorn walked up onto the stage as the band finished the song it had been playing, and the crowd clapped.

“That was some swell music,” the unicorn said, “Now everypony, our next performer is a pony who’s been singing and dancing through the music world, and doesn’t show any signs of stopping. Give it up for Steady Beat!” The name piqued the crowd’s interest.

An earth pony with a light brown coat, which could have been mistaken for orange, then clambered up onto the stage. The crowd clapped as many of them recognized him. The brown-coated stallion cleared his throat and began to speak.

“Hello! Thank you! It’s great to see you all,” Steady Beat waved at the crowd, “Today, I wanna try something. The song that me and the band here are about to play is meant to celebrate the everyday. The little things that make everything so great.”

Beat had the crowd hanging on his every word in anticipation and interest.

“So we figured, what better way to do that, than use some everyday objects as instruments?”

Everypony’s eyebrows went up, as Steady Beat motioned for a group of ponies to bring up a whole assembly of items.

Aside from the regular instruments like a piano or trumpet, there was a set of metal trash cans arranged like a set of drums, a box of empty glass bottles, even a typewriter.

“Is everypony ready for this?” Beat asked. The cheers of the crowd were more than enough confirmation.

“Alright then,” Steady Beat turned and pointed to the drummer at the cans, “Rhythm, can you start us off?” The drummer nodded and began to hit the cans with his drumsticks.

---

“I’ve got rhythm

I’ve got the beat

I’ve got rhythm in my heart and soul!

I’ve got rhythm

Hot and sweet

Sometimes rhythm makes me lose control!

Ohhh!

I want everyone

To have all the fun

That I have!

I’ve got rhythm

Shoo-ba-de-do!

Come on turn up and show what you can do!”

The crowd erupted with energy as the band really began to swing. Everypony was dancing wildly. Some dance alone, some were competing against each other. Many more danced in duos or even trios. All the while, Steady Beat tapped away on his back two hooves.

There was no particular style that the crowd of ponies stuck to. Their movements came straight from their hearts and the sheer amount of fun they were having.

---

As the band continued playing trumpets and glass bottles, two alicorns and one unicorn stared at the sight before them in complete disbelief. They had come all this way expecting to find an Empire of slave labor, ponies bound in chains, marching miserably through the streets.

Instead, they are met with the sight of a festival of some kind, and an orange earth pony dancing with a white mare on a stage, all the while a piano and a typewriter pinged and clicked away.

Mind you, the trio didn’t know what a “typewriter” was at the time, but that will change with time.

But what was almost as bewildering as the jolly state of the Empire was the dancing of the ponies, and, more importantly, the music they were dancing to.

Celestia and Luna had thought the works of Hoofgang Amadeus Mozart were eccentric, but this was something else entirely. The dancing was fast and wild. There was no starting position, no agreed style as far as they could see.

And the music, by Faust, it was loud. Filled with a kind of energy and speed that not even the most well-regarded of composers possessed, as far as they remembered. And they remembered quite a bit. Every horn blared and the piano rang as its keys were pounded upon. It all seemed nonsensical, without rhyme or reason, borderline chaotic. And yet everypony was clearly having fun.

The surprise the Princesses felt, however, was nothing compared to that of Radiant Hope.

To say she had been worried sick would have been an incredible understatement. She could recall many a night where she had vivid nightmares about what had happened to the Crystal Empire in her absence. She was expecting to smell death and misery in the air and see starving ponies laying on the pavement.

And yet, here was everything and everypony in front of her. Perfectly fine.

“Sister,” Luna said, looking to Celestia, “Does thou have any idea as to what is going on?”

“Unfortunately, I do not,” Celestia admitted.

Luna looked back to the celebrating ponies. Her eyes narrowed. “This must be the work of Sombra and his dark magic,” she began to charge her horn, “We must dissolve this gathering!”

The mentioning of Sombra’s name and Luna’s shifting snapped Radiant back to the conscious realm. She saw Luna start to step forward with the intent to disrupt the party. She quickly scrambled to push the lunar Princess back into their side-street hiding spot.

“Please, Your Majesty, don’t!” Radiant said in a hushed voice.

“Why?” Luna asked, “ You know who we are here to face, and what he is capable of. Why obstruct me?” Luna stepped forward, pushing against Radiant Hope.

“Because we’ll draw too much attention!” Radiant said pushing against Luna’s chest, “Two Alicorns can’t just walk out into the street. The Empire’s entire army will be on us.”

“I agree with Radiant, Luna,” Celestia put her hoof on Luna’s shoulder, “We must find another approach.”

Luna took a moment to consider the facts presented to her. Eventually, she conceded and dispersed the magic building in her horn.

“Very well, Ms. Hope,” Luna said, “We shall not disrupt the merrymaking of these ponies.”

Radiant was able to breathe with relief. “Thank you, Princess.”

“With that being said,” Luna continued, “What is it that you propose we should do?”

Radiant bit her lip. She didn’t really have a clear idea of what they should do.

‘Well then,’ Radiant thought, ‘Start with what we shouldn’t do.’

“Well,” Radiant started, “The two of you can’t just wander about in the streets. Do either of you have a way to disguise yourselves?”

Celestia wordlessly smiled, while Luna kept a straight, formal face.

Both Alicorns lit up their horns and a wave of sparkles washed over their bodies. When the sparks faded, It was no longer Celestia and Luna that stood before Radiant Hope.

Celestia was now a pegasus with a white coat and pink mane, while Luna now was a unicorn sporting a dark blue coat and dark grey mane.

Celestia smiled, “Will ‘Sunny Skies’ and ‘Starry Night’ be suitable substitutes?”

Radiant nodded, “Most Certainly.”

“So what are we to do with these disguises?” Luna asked.

“We need to figure out what’s happening here in the Empire,” Radiant said, “Maybe we should go about asking around when there’s less chaos happening.”

“If we are to do that, then you will have to wear a disguise of your own.” ‘Starry Night’ stated.

“I will?” Radiant asked.

“Indeed,” ‘Sunny Skies’ said, “If my sister and I were to be discovered, that would be one situation. But if you were to be recognized by somepony and they informed Sombra, I don’t believe I’d be able to guarantee your complete safety.”

Radiant looked down. She knew the Princesses were right. She did need a way to hide herself.

“Alright,” the crystal unicorn said, “I’ll see if I can come up with something effective.”

Radiant specialized primarily in medical magic, so she didn’t know much about illusion or transformation spells. However, she did at one point learn about a spell that flipped the colors of one’s mane and coat. She just had to remember how it went.

Shutting her eyes tight, she focused her memory and magic on recalling and casting the spell respectively. With a glowing aura, her baby-blue mane turned purple, and her purple coat turned baby-blue.

“Well,” Radiant asked, “What do you think?”

The disguised Princesses looked over the simple illusion. Radiant’s cutie mark and eye color hadn’t changed, but the visual distraction of her flipped colors drew attention away from those flaws. As long as nopony got too close or stared at it for too long, Radiant could probably get away with it.

“It will do the job,” Starry Night said, “Now let us be off. When nightfall is near, we shall begin to ask the locals regarding the current state of the Empire.”

“Agreed,” Sunny Skies nodded. She and her sister began to walk out of the side street and towards the celebrating crowd. She stopped at the corner, looking back at Radiant. “After you,” She motioned with a hoof.

“I’ll be right behind you,” Radiant said, “Go on ahead.”

“Don’t be long,” Starry Night said, as she walked out into the main street with purpose, “There is much that needs to be done.”

Radiant couldn’t shake a lot of feelings at the moment. The feeling that the situation was not only wildly different, but also out of their control. The feeling that so many things could, and would, go wrong. But most importantly, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something, or rather somepony, knew they were there…

Author's Note:

For future reference, whenever I say "Sunny Skies" and "Starry Night", I am referring to Celestia and Luna in their respective disguises.

Just wanted to put that out there to clear things up.

Comments

[DeathRay78]

Interesting.