> The magic of music > by Redbird691 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Introduction > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So, this is ponyville, huh?" A unicorn stallion spoke to himself. The stallions name was, Midnight Chord, a unicorn form Canterlot who had been travelling equestria looking fro a place that he could call his home. While he liked Canterlot the unicorns there had a tendency to be very posh and snooty, he didn't like them, so once he was old enough he said his good buys to the person who had been taking care of him, and took off to find a place that suited him nicely. This stallion had a standard colt build, deep navy blue coat, his mane was silver with ruby tips and crimson highlights, his mane was straight, yet messy, it looked like someone had used a dragons claw to brush it and not a comb. On his flank was a rock guitar surrounded by a red aura and silver musical notes. However his most distinguishing features are his eyes, the pupils were almost non visible, and his irises were silver, however the entire eye looked like it had a white lens put over it. (Think snow drop, from the fan-work snowdrop, except silver irises instead of baby blue, and nearly invisible pupils) He was blind, sort of, ever since his birth he couldn't see what any-pony looked like, instead he saw an aura around them. He used these auras to differentiate between ponies, the aura shade determined if the pony was a mare, or stallion, and color was different for everypony. If the color was very light then the pony was a mare, and if it was darker then they were a stallion. He also learned echo location so he wouldn't have to walk around with a cane and get everypony's sympathy right away. He had learned all this from the unicorn he used to live with Kaleido Scope, a unicorn who had the same eyes as him, he called it Aura Borealis. Kale, as Midnight affectionately called him, had described that it was a gift from princess Luna, you could see the world in such a beautiful way. When night came around, the moons light would grant you sight, sort of, you would see everything in this glittery blue hue. However, while Midnight was thankful for his gift, most ponies that knew where it came from shunned him, since it meant that he was partly connected to Nightmare Moon, and treated him like a freak, it was one of the main reasons why he wanted to leave. Before he left, Kale told him he should have a hobby, since he would have a hard time making friends. He tried many things, writing, reading, gaming, but while fun none of them felt quite right, until he first played a guitar. It turned out that he had a natural talent for music, he could play any instrument, but he had a preference towards guitars, and it turns out that when he plays music it causes spells he casts to become stronger. He asked Kale if that was from the Borealis, but he stated that he never had it happen to him so it was one of those unanswered mysteries. Now because of the Aura Borealis he was an insomniac, but not in a bad way, it wasn't that he had trouble falling asleep, he just flat out couldn't sleep, he received no consequences of not sleeping, it was just a quirk. Plus it let him bask in the beauty of the night he got to see every day, er night. Once Midnight entered the town, he decided to take a look around town, and learn where things were. His first destination was hopefully a music store so he could get a new guitar. You see after he left, to make money, he would put on performances in parks and on the streets of some cities. However to hide his gift he wore crimson sunglasses with crimson shades and he put a spell on his fur to change it to a mango orange color, he started out by just getting change, but then he started getting regular viewers, who learned the spots that he frequented and started paying more and more bits every time he played. After a while he started to get his own fan base, and was dubbed The Rose Peach Guitarist, most likely because of his glasses and fur color. Word about him had gotten out and ponies all over Equestria started to know about him, and word spread to many cities, ponies started reserving parks for him to preform at. It was nice, but it got a little crazy once ponies started to rush the stage to get locks of his mane, and even steal his guitar in the middle of one of his performances, which is why he needed a new one. He eventually found a store with a big cutout letters saying, DJ-P0n-3's musical equipment and instruments. He heard about DJ P0n-3, she was a well known party rocker and music maker, since the mare had a good reputation, he entered her store. The mare behind the counter had a magenta aura, and thanks to the music playing he got her general outline, the mare spoke up, "Hi, name's Vinyl Scratch, how can I help you?" "Yeah I'm looking for a new electric guitar, can you show them to me?" Midnight asked "They're right over there." Vinyl motions with her hoof to the right side of the store. "Mind being a little more specific?" Midnight asked for clarification. Vinyl sighed, and said, "What are you blind." Then instantly regretted it when she looked up, seeing the sunglasses on. "Those aren't to look cool are they?" "If you mean my glasses then, no, they protect my eyes, since I'm blind." Midnight tried not to sound offended, which he wasn't, it was an honest mistake since she didn't look at him. Vinyl put her hooves together and said, "Sweet Celestia, I am so sorry. If I had known, I wouldn't have said anything." Midnight just waved his hoof, "You didn't know, no hard feelings. Just be more careful before you say things Ms. Scratch." "First, don't call me Miss, it makes me feel old, Vinyl's fine. Second since let me show you to the guitars." "OK, Vinyl, mind telling me about your wares?" "Right this way, er.... I never got you name." "My name is Midnight Chord, pleased to meet you." He bowed his head slightly. Vinyl brought him over to the guitars and after strumming a few he finally settled on a guitar that looked like it had been carved out of stone, it was black with red flames on the base with everything else being standard. "Thank you very much Vinyl, this means a lot, do you have a studio where I can try it out, and maybe record a song?" "To make up for what I did when you first got in here, I'll help you write a song, sound good?" Vinyl offered. Midnight smiled, "I'd appreciate that. Lead the way." Vinyl nodded, and soon realized that there was no point to, instead she told Midnight to follow her to her studio in the store. She set him up in the recording room, while she set herself up behind the mix board( the table that has all the sliders). Once she was set up she asked, "OK Mid, what kind of song do you want to make?" Vinyl looked up and saw more instruments in the room then there were when she put Midnight in there. Her eyes went wide, "Whoa, where did those come from?" "I know a spell that lets me put things into a pocket dimension, it was a pain to get right, but I figured it out. It's so convenient, now I don't have to lug all my instruments every where I got, and if I forget one I can just poof it to me." Midnight explained. "That it so cool! Can you play all these instruments?" "Every one, and once again thanks to magic, I can play multiple at once." Vinyl was in awe of the pony in front of her this colt she was talking to had so many talents, and he didn't let his blindness get in the way of those talents, he instead created way around his disability, it was awe inspiring. Vinyl got out of her stooper and smiled, "Lets write us a song!" She was pumped now. After 5 hours of playing, adjusting, and re-recording Vinyl and Midnight finished the song. It was an instrumental piece, meaning it had no vocals, it started out nice and melodic with a beautiful piano playing the melody, there were also drums giving a soft back beat, eventually violins started accompanying the melody forming a beautiful song, a few second later the drums kicked it up a notch and the beautiful song turned into a head banging rock piece for about half a minute, it then went back to its orchestral origin but the guitar was now playing in the background, the drums hit it again and trumpets started playing, the two style of orchestra and rock melded together beautifully into a nice rendition of how the song started. Vinyls influence started to show as it got techno-ish in the middle, but after a few seconds of that it went back to how it was before the techno kicked in, it was then a soothing rock rendition of the original, violins accompanied again and the song continued. Soon all the instruments paused for 3 seconds, the violins started playing with the piano playing in the background, the drums then signaled the start of the end of the song, the song ended with the piano playing a solo, a beautiful song. "Awesome, what do you want to call it?" Midnight thought for a second, he then put his hoof in the palm(of the hoof equivalent) of his other hoof, "How about, I'll face myself?" That name resonated with Vinyl who nodded, but realized he mistake and said, "I like it, mind if i bring this home and share it with my roommate Octavia?" Vinyl asked. "Sure, I could always use constructive criticism." Midnight said, "I think I've over stayed my welcome, so I'll be n my way. See ya'round Vinyl." Midnight said as he took his leave. "You can count of that Mid." Vinyl muttered to herself. She enjoyed the colts company, he was easy to get along with, he and her made a few jokes while working, and also laughed when Vinyl forgot about Midnight's blindness. She would swear if it weren't for him not needing clarification on directions she gave him, anypony would think he was a normal pony. After burning the song to a disk, she made her way home. She was surprised to see that it was now late a night Once she got to her and Octavia's house, she opened the door and yelled, "Octyyyyyy, I'm hooooooooome." She could be loud and not have to worry about the neighbors, since there weren't any, after her and Octavia moved in, the ponies who lived in the houses beside them moved away, probably due to Vinyl installing her wub dish washer. She soon hears the sound of hoof steps coming down the stares. Coming down the stares was a pony with grey fur, a black mane and tail, and light purple eyes, she was wearing pink bow tie and white collar. Her cutey mark was a treble clef the same color as her eyes. "Welcome back Vinyl, how was work, and why did you take so long getting back?" She asked her roommate. "This was probably the best day of work ever, it started out like any boring old day, nopony buying anything, but then a pony enters the store, I was too focused on my magazine and music to notice him, he was.... trying to find an electric guitar-." Vinyl started but Octavia cut her off. "What was with that pause?" "I was getting to that, I pointed to where the electric guitars were, when he asked for clarification. When I look up I see the colt was wearing sunglasses, after putting 2 and 2 together I learned that he was blind. I Apologized." -She said when Octavia gave her a glare- "Any way, after apologizing, he got a guitar and asked if we had a recording studio. I figured that I owed him for the earlier comment and showed him to the studio and let him record a song, the disk being suspended by my magic. We got along swimmingly, he was easy to get along with, he's funny, and doesn't get offended when you forget that he's blind. Seriously, if he didn't ask for clarification when I gave him some instructions on mic distance, I would have thought that he was a normal pony. Any way getting off topic, he and I put this song together and I want you to hear it." Vinyl walked over to her stereo, and plugged the disk in. Octavia was expecting to hear a wub filled techno song but was pleasantly surprised when a piano started playing. While Octavia usually thought that rock and roll was unrefined, she found herself enjoying the song Vinyl made her listen to. "So? Whacha think?" Vinyl asked. "It certainly has your mark on it, but I quite enjoyed it, the orchestra was beautifully composed, how did on pony get that any other ponies to play for him and so well?" Octavia commented. Vinyl laughed at that, "Here's the cool thing, he played all the parts himself." "Ridiculous! No pony can play that many instruments that well. I assume that you recorded each part separately." "Nope, I forget to mention that the dude was a unicorn, and used his horn to play the instruments that didn't require his mouth. You should meet him sometime!" Vinyl told Octavia. "Well, this pony certainly has my attention, what was his name?" "Midnight Chord, he's dark blue with silver and red hair. A guitar cutey mark, and sunglasses." Vinyl described. "I'll keep that in mind when we go to the summer sun celebration. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to run into him." Octavia said. A few minutes ago, with Midnight. After he left Vinyl's he realized how late it was and took off his glasses, his eyes seemed to shift from being silver with small pupils, to being midnight blue with normal size pupils. This indicates the night sight part of his Aura Borealis, an it was his favorite part, now he could actually see, albeit he saw everything in different shades of blue,but still sight was sight. He and Vinyl had talked about a lot of things, and he learned that the annual summer sun celebration was happening tonight, here in ponyville. He had always watched the summer sun celebration, but usually from the roof of his house, due to his condition. This year however he thought, since he wanted to meet new ponies he figured that the best place to get to know them would be at a gathering of all ponies in Ponyville. After asking a pony with a light green aura where the celebration was being held and for directions, and getting lost a few times, he finally made his way to the town hall. Once he arrived he scanned the crowd, and by Celestia there were a lot of ponies in Ponyville, it would take him a while to memorize auras, he then spotted on he knew, it was Vinyl's. He out his sunglasses back on as to not be questioned. He pushed his way through the crowd and, "accidentally" bumped into Vinyl. "Oof, sorry about that, I don't do well in crowds." Vinyl looked at the pony who bumped into her and was surprised when she saw Midnight. "Midnight!?" "Vinyl? Huh small world. Good to see you again." He gave a toothy smile to the mare. "Yeah it is, hey Octy!" Vinyl yelled to a pony with a grey aura, thanks to the night vision he now had a face for both Vinyl and this new mare he hadn't met yet. "This is the friend who I made that song with, Midnight this is Octavia, my roommate." Midnight just stared at Vinyl, who cursed under her breath, "She's to the my left, so your right." Midnight smiled, somepony considered him a friend, he turned in the direction Vinyl mentioned, he face Octavia but not directly. "It's a pleasure to meet the friend Vinyl mentioned after she got home today. Allow me to formally introduce myself, I am Octavia Melody, pleased to meet you." Octavia extended her hoof, only to remember that Midnight couldn't see her. Midnight spoke, "It's nice meet you Ms. Melody, I'm Midnight Chord. Vinyl told me so many things about you." He bowed his head slightly. "Finally somepony who has manners." She paused for a second, "What exactly did Vinyl tell you?" "She told me you were a cellist, you enjoy classical music, and still sleep with a teddy bear called Mr.Snuggums." Midnight smirked as Octavia's face dropped and she became slightly paler. "VINYL!" Octavia yelled at her friend with a pink blush, thankful for the face that Midnight was blind. Before Vinyl could come up with a excuse, The bird choir started singing and Mayor Mare started to address the crowd. "Fillies and Gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville it is my pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration." The rest of the ponies cheered in excitement. "In just a few moments our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year. An now it is my great honor to introduce to you, the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day. The good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of equestria, Princess Celestia!" The curtain was pulled back and the birds sang loud for the arrival of the princess. There was one problem, Princess Celestia wasn't there. "Well that's not a good sign." Midnight thought to himself. While the mayor was trying to keep all the ponies calm, Midnight noticed the aura starting to gather on top of the balcony where the princess was supposed to be. This aura was black as night with a midnight blue edge, this aura felt strange to Midnight, like something was corrupting it. Suddenly a tall pony appeared on the balcony, he knew it wasn't the princess, for he had see the princess' aura before and this wasn't it, and the image of the is mare he got looked totally different. The mare then spoke, "Ah, my beloved subjects. It's been a while since I've seen your precious, sun loving, faces." "What did you do with our princess?" Midnight heard one pony say, he turned to the voice and saw a sky blue aura trying to take off towards his mysterious mare, but something was holding her back, he assumed it was the pony with the orange aura behind her. The mysterious mare chuckled, "Why? Am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?" "Oo, oo, more guessing games! Um Pokey Smokes, how 'bout queen meany, no no Black Snooty, Black Snooty." Midnight saw a pony with a pink aura guessing, and he had to admit it was kind of funny. She stopped talking, he guessed do to somepony shoving food in her mouth if the muffled noises were any indication. The mare ignored the pink pony, she leaned towards a flying pony with a yellow aura, "Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? " She then leans towards a pony with a white aura, "Did you not recall he legend? Did you not see the signs?" "I did!" Now pony with a purple aura now spoke, "And I know who you are. You're the mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon!" The rest of the ponies share a collective gasp. "Well, well, well, somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here." Nightmare spoke. "You're here to, to..." The purple pony was struggling to say what was on her mind. Nightmare Moon then laughed, "Remember this day my little ponies, for it will be you last. From this moment on, the night, will last, FOR EVER!" The mare then users her magic to summon a storm of darkness, but Midnight wasn't affected, what with night vision an all. The ponies all ran out of the town center and probably to their houses, Midnight on the other hand followed the purple pony to talk to her. "She seems like she's gonna try something, I want to help her, maybe make new friends." He thought to himself, as he followed the purple pony into the town.