Classical and Modern: A Battle of Musics

The Spirit and Little Girl Shines

Twilight was at the registration table where a slew of people were waiting in line to join in the Battle of the Bands. She knew that this event would bring in people from all around the city block but she didn’t expect this many to sign up! She was at least lucky to have a helping hand in the form of her Shadowbolt friends. They sneaked away from Cinch’s radar and went towards Canterlot High School to enjoy and watch the festivities. It made the former recluse happy to see them again, “Thanks for coming by you five, but are you sure this is such a good idea?”

Indigo let out a ppssshh sound as she listed the talents of the next musician that came forward, “No worries egghead, we wouldn’t miss a chance to watch the Battle of the Bands with you! I wouldn’t give two damns about Principal Cinch preventing us from coming here! Right girls?”

They all simultaneously said Yeah! as they continued to assist. Twilight had to smile again. Despite the rocky head start with the Shadowbolts, she had truly thought of them as friends now besides the other six that took her in. A tapping sound form the table bought her back into reality as she looked in front of the table to find… no one there, “Hello? Who tapped on the table?”

Lemon Zest looked at the front of the table and lowered her headsets immediately, a sign that the Shadowbolts knew was her either being serious or something surprised her, “Um, you might want to look again except over the table girls.”

Both pushed their chairs away and looked above in front of the table to find… a little girl draped in white smiling at them as she waved at us. Twilight being flabbergasted would hardly describe the level of her shock she was under. She looked ahead and while some did share her surprise, they shrugged and smiled seeing that a little girl wanted to participate. It took Sour Sweet’s words to snap them back into reality, “Oh my, we have a young girl who wishes to try out?”

“Apparently we do…” Indigo was rubbing her eyes trying to be certain that she wasn’t just imagining this in front of her. She looked towards Twilight who was cleaning her glasses with a tissue and then put them on again while still wearing a shocked expression. She can tell that her thoughts matched her own as she returned her attention to the little girl. She was still smiling as she tapped on the paper on the table, “You want to sign up? Not to be mean but do you have a guardian with you or something?” She nodded and turned around as she gestured towards someone to come out. All of them looked ahead wondering who her guardian was as they waited. Nothing at first appeared in front of them causing Indigo to raise an eyebrow, “Look kid if this is a...”

She got cut off by Lemon as she elbowed her hard. She was clutching her side and mouthed a what when she looked in front of her again. All of them including the citizens were somewhat caught off guard when a black spirit wearing a tuxedo appeared next to the girl. With no mouth but white spots that likely represented its eyes, it waved at the Shadowbolts. It was gentle enough to show up but the appearance threw them off a bit even after what they all saw and went through during the Friendship Games. It took them awhile to take this in, “Uh… right, welcome I guess? Um…” Twilight and Indigo were at a loss of words on how to proceed.

Luckily, their compatriot Sour Sweet managed to do it for the both of them, “Why hello there young girl? I presume that you wish to sign with… what is your name per chance?” The little girl grabbed the paper and wrote the name of the both of them. As she finished, Sour Sweet picked up the paper and read it, “Alice and this black spirit goes by the name of Deemo hmm? What a lovely name for the both of you. Oh you play the piano? I’ve never seen one of these musicians in a long while.”

She looked towards them with a smile. Alice smiled in return as she grabbed Deemo’s hand. Lemon came forward and kneeled to the little girl’s eye level, “Here let me show you two the way alright? I hope you two can rock out with the piano ‘kay?” Alice nodded and the both of them followed her to the gym.

Both Indigo and Twilight blinked twice just to be sure that they didn’t dream what they saw, “What just happened?” The athletic human looked towards their compatriot.

Sour Sweet could only shrug, “While you two were staring into space, I had to take over and help her out. You realize that we’ve seen a lot of crazy things right?” Indigo was rather silent but nodded in agreement with her Shadowbolt member.

Twilight first removed her glasses, rubbed her eyes and cleaned her glasses again before putting them back on, “Hey Sour, think you can take over for me for now? I need to tell the other six about this.” She simply nodded as Twilight left the chair and Sour sat in it as registration continued like normal. The lavender human looked at the two being escorted once before focusing on telling the news about this new musician.

Meanwhile back at the big stage, Pinkie’s body was shuddering like crazy. Everybody noticed it and almost freaked out that her Pinkie Sense was kicking in. The party human stopped shuddering and gave a big smile, “Woah, I’ve never had that happen before! That must mean that what happens during the contest is going to be a doozy!”

Despite them knowing that being skeptical of her would be silly, they couldn’t help but question what she just said, “Durin’ the contest? Ya sure ‘bout that Sugarcube, couldn’t the doozy happen durin’ the auditions?”

“I must agree with Applejack here, are you sure that this said doozy will happen specifically during the contest darling?” They saw their energetic friend shaking her head before seemingly dashing out of the stage leaving a dust form where she originally stood.

Everyone looked at each other wondering what the doozy would be in question. They looked to where Pinkie went to see her carrying Twilight on her back running really fast. Twilight was holding on tightly and panicking apparently if her screaming for Pinkie to stop meant anything. The party human suddenly stopped all movement without even skidding on the ground and was rocking back and forth. Twilight let go and was trying to get some feeling back as she was a little trippy, “Goodness Pinkie, remind me next time when you do that please.”

“Oki doki!” She said before she disappeared to assist with setting the gym up for auditions. Twilight stumbled a bit trying to regain her footing. Sunset helped her friend out as the others came by as they finished the last few touches of the big stage. The lavender human smiled and was about to them why she was here before she was cut off by Pinkie, “Girls, everyone is waiting on us for the auditions here!”

Twilight blinked twice just to be certain she heard that right, “You sure? We still have a line waiting outside Pinkie.” She pointed towards the registration table to prove that there was still a line of people getting ready to register for the Battle of the Bands.

“I know silly, but the people who already registered are getting a bit bored waiting! And besides! There’s someone here you all should see! They’re anxious to get started for us!” She still wore her big smile as she gestured them to come inside and zipped away. Though Twilight knew who she was referring to, the others looked at each other in confusion wondering who this duo was that wanted to show them their musical talent. They decided to not prolong this any longer anyway as they have finished prepping up the big stage and followed Pinkie.

Through the hallway leading to the gymnasium, there were a lot of people who registered as they waved towards them and said their hellos. The six were a bit surprised to see a lot of people that signed up yet they couldn’t help but smile back and waved in return seeing all the contestants in mind. Pinkie was at the double doors bouncing and gesturing them to enter. They followed her inside to meet their first musician playing on the stage. To the five’s surprise, which was performing first was on the table smiling at them. Applejack couldn’t help but bring the absurdity here, “What in tarnation? Our first musician that’s being auditioned is a little girl?”

Twilight coughed gathering the attention of the five sans Pinkie who was getting along with the little girl fine, “That’s what I wanted to tell you at first but there is someone or something with her…” They all were baffled as to what Twilight meant. They turned around and again were shocked when a black spirit was sitting on the table watching the little girl and Pinkie playing around with each other. It noticed them and waved towards them. Twilight stepped pass the still shocked five as she raised an arm to them, “Everyone, meet Alice and Deemo, the first musicians to perform and be judged by you.”

Rainbow rubbed her eyes trying to be certain that she was not seeing what she was seeing. Upon opening her eyes again, they were still there and she summed up what was in everyone’s mind, “Well, this just got interesting…”

“Eeyup…” was all Applejack could say. Everybody else just nodded in agreement as only the sounds of joy coming from both Pinkie and Alice broke the silence.

Fluttershy was the first to recover from the state of surprise. She stepped forward and greeted Alice and Deemo, “Hello you two… how goes your day?” The black spirit looked at her, showing no signs of any emotion in his eyes. It made the shy human shrink back a bit. Deemo extended an arm and waited for Fluttershy’s response. She noticed the gesture and grabbed the hand and shook it.

She ended up smiling in return as the black spirit let go. Someone was tugging on her skirt during the whole gesture of friendship. She looked down to see the little girl doing it. Alice noticed that she caught her attention and flashed a smile. Fluttershy kneeled to her eyes smiling in return, “Hello there Alice, did you wish to tell me something?” The little girl nodded and gestured her to come closer. Fluttershy responded and Alice whispered. Her eyes slowly widened a bit as she was continued to listen. After she heard what she whispered, she looked at her again before smiling and hugging her in return, “You’re a wonderful child Alice but I don’t think that could happen.” She still wore her smile but understood her enough.

It wasn’t long before the others were out of their trance and greeted both Deemo and Alice. Before they begun greeting however, Rainbow was curious about what the little girl whispered to Fluttershy, “Hey Flutters, what did Alice whispered to you?”

Her old friend looked towards her with a smile, “Oh she said something very nice to me…” Rainbow raised an eyebrow in confusion about it. Fluttershy could only chuckle as she gestured her friend to come nearby.

Rainbow came nearby and turned her ear. Fluttershy whispered the exact words the little girl said to her. Suddenly, the cyan human’s face was slowly beginning to get red from what she was hearing. Her eyes darted towards Alice who noticed her looking at her and only smiled and waved at her. She swears that the girl was laughing silently at her blushing face. As soon as she was done, Rainbow backed away a bit trying to process what the little girl said, “Wait… she really said that?”

Fluttershy could only nod while poking her two index fingers together, “Apparently she thinks so too for some odd reasons, you don’t mind that it’s from a young child right?” She looked at her friend whose face still had traces of red lingering on her face, “Rainbow, are you alright?”

Her words snapped Rainbow out of her stammering as she looked at Fluttershy, “Oh me? Nah I’m fine, I don’t mind that it’s coming from a little girl like her! Nope, not a single problem at all!” She chuckled weakly trying to stop talking about it. Her friend looked confused but decided to not press the subject any further. Rainbow let out a sigh of relief at managing to avoid prolonging the topic. She looked towards Alice who was playing with Pinkie, “That little girl, I swear she’s on to me…” She decided to ignore it for now and greet them anyway.

Many times there was some laughter during the greetings as a result of Pinkie being silly. Sans Deemo, everyone chuckled over her antics with Alice playing with her. It wasn’t long before Sunset stepped up as the last of the greetings, “Hey there Deemo. So… you’re signing up with Alice huh?” The black spirit nodded just as Alice returned to his side. Sunset smiled seeing these two together. She did wonder what instrument they chose to play, “Hey does anybody know what these two are playing? No offense to you two.” They shrugged and let them check the paper.

Rarity was holding the paper in hand finding their registration. As she finds it, she tried to find where they registered. She finds it and sees their chosen instrument for the audition, “Oh my… these two want to play the piano.”

“Piano ya say?” Applejack wasn’t so sure why but that set some red flags in her head especially after two weeks ago when Fluttershy bought up why they were doing this in the first place. She looked at the two seeing if there was any sign of trouble. The little girl she can understand not being able to find because she was innocent and wanted to have some fun. The black spirit on the other hand, having only eyes that seemed to show no emotion, was hard to tell if he was hiding something. Even looking at anything like fingers or so and he was not showing a sign of nervousness. The apple farmer sighed seeing that she was being too naïve, “Okay, s’ we got somebody here that plays an oldie here. Ah’m a bit interested.”

“As am I darling… shall we get this started then? We don’t want to keep the others waiting right?” They all nodded as they sat on the chairs. Pinkie had already bought a piano for them luckily so it was only a matter of them preparing. Twilight closed the blinds on the windows and the doors so that only they can see the performance, “Whenever you are ready you two! Show us and excel what you can do with the piano darlings!”

Both nodded as they pressed a few keys to see if the piano was working right. Sunset watched as the little girl got a book and gave it to the back spirit. She couldn’t help but have the feeling that something extravagant was going to happen what with there being a spirit. Deemo was flipping through the pages trying to find the first song to play while Alice sat waiting. The page flips stopped and he looked towards the little girl who smiled as she got off the piano and looked at them once before lowering her head.

All of them were waiting in anticipation as to what was going to happen. The black spirit began playing the song in mind as the first key was hit. The next set of keys played and as they did, the seven felt something only they recognized as the song continued causing them to look at each other in shock when they felt it, magic. Their eyes widened as the stage begun to drastically change to fit with the song being played.

Alice raised her head high as the song hit at its fastest. Crystals begun to form around her and the stage as she raised her two arms high. Deemo was playing fast as he can as the stage had fully developed a new look. Pillars rise surrounding the whole gymnasium darkening the place. The seven stood up from their chairs trying to find out where they are. As soon as light came, what was once the gymnasium was now another dimension as the stage was made with a single piano with stairs that lead towards it. All of them were shocked that these two were capable of doing feats like this despite the fact that they were expecting it to come when the contestants were a little girl and a spirit.

There were six pillar total as what were presumed to be angels were singing with the piano. Deemo was playing the piano at a speed that could almost seemingly rival Rainbow’s when she was running. Alice’s clothes now were just a single white dress that dragged behind her. She raised her two arms towards her heart as both hands glowed white in front of her heart and kneeled like she was praying. Deemo continued to play the piano fast as he ascended in the keys before descending down and stopping for a moment.

The little girl stood up as the crystals around her took shape into a heart behind her. She opened her eyes and looked at the seven who were still watching this in awe. She smiled as the piano sped up and she raised her arms up as crystals formed around her and the stage. The crystals detached themselves from the ground and surrounded her as she waved her arms around. Jumping on the crystals that followed her arms, she moved them towards the backstage where Deemo was playing the piano. She jumped off and slowly descended before landing on the piano as the purple gems circled around her.

Her right hand, still glowing white, pointed at the crystal heart. The crystals responded and carried the heart and placed it behind her and Deemo. The black spirit was playing fast again as the choir was singing again. The pillars were lowering themselves as the angels stayed afloat with their wings spread and cupping their hands over their hearts. As the climax of the song was nearing, Alice poured the last bit of effort into finishing the performance. The same applied to Deemo as he was finishing playing the song.

The young child raised her two hands to the air as the crystals followed. She moved her arm in a circular pattern towards the seven and they responded. They watched as the crystals flew over them and behind them as seven hearts were made. Each one of them was etched with their cutie marks of their pony selves. They turned around to see Alice smiling as the song was reaching its resolution. She kneeled as Deemo was hitting the final notes of the song. A bright light alongside loud and powerful voices emitted as the black spirit hit the final note.

The seven humans covered their eyes as the light illuminated the whole dimension. As the light dimmed down, they lowered their arms to see themselves back in the gymnasium. Their attention was back at the two on the stage. They both stood and were waiting for their judgment. Despite Alice and Deemo being patient, the seven of them were at a loss of words on how to respond to what they saw. It took Rainbow breaking their silence with some stuttering, “I… what… er… well… um… oh sweet Celestia, what did I just witness?”

Pinkie’s mouth was drooping as she was caught off by it. Rarity closed her mouth for her while she got the chance to say next, “Well if I must sum up what I saw, it was…” She let the silence come before her eyes went starry at what she witnessed, “Absolutely gorgeous!” She put a hand on her head and let herself faint while a couch bought in by Fluttershy, comforted her fall.

Fluttershy smiled having expected that in time and bought the couch just in case, “Good thing I had in mind… and I have to agree, that was wonderful. The music, the performance, it was extravagant. Who knew you had it in you?” She saw Alice smiled as she hugged Deemo. The black spirit rubs her head gently. They looked towards the other three who were still silent. Fluttershy poked their back before asking them, “Um, should you be judging them now?”

That bought them out of their reverie as they shook their heads wildly trying to get what they saw out of their minds for now. Applejack was the first to speak but not before she whistled, “Ah got t’ admit, fer an instrument Ah haven’t seen played in a long while, Ah love the song in mind. Say what the name o’ the song ya two played is called?” Alice gestured the apple farmer to come. She responded and as she drew near, the little girl whispered the name of the song. Applejack looked at her in confusion, “Anima? What kind o’ name does that mean?”

That bought Twilight out as she told what anima means, “Anima, it’s a Latin word meaning soul Applejack.” She stopped herself and pondered until something his about the song, “That’s an interesting name for the song in mind considering the heart motif the song shares.”

“Ya don’t say? Well Ah like it! Maybe ya two should try playin’ that piano with some good old country music, how’s that?” The little girl smiled and nodded to her question. That bought a smile upon the apple farmer, “Well ain’t that swell! This day just got a whole lot better fer me!”

She returned back, satisfied about the performance and song. Pinkie came afterwards wearing the biggest smile she could make, “That was awesome! While that wasn’t the doozy, it was amazing!”

Sunset literally looked at her party human friend in shock about that revelation, “How was that not the doozy?! I mean I know you said that it would happen during the contest but how was that…” She pointed at the two who were looking at her in confusion, “Not a doozy?! They used magic there! And here I thought we were the only ones capable to using it, well until Twilight came.”

Twilight looked at her about to discuss about it but Pinkie cut her off as she chuckled hearing her friend’s response, “Because silly, I know the doozy is going to happen during the contest. What it is though, I don’t know!”

That made the lavender human switch topics quickly as she looked towards Pinkie, “How can you not know what the doozy is or when it even occurs in the first place? I know not to question but still!”

“Duh, because my Pinkie Sense never lies! Silly!” Pinkie answered in the silliest and most seemingly impossible way ever conceived by even Pinkie standards.

Twilight looked towards the apple farmer who just shrugged while answering her question, “It’s true, her Pinkie Sense never lies... at all. Ah’ve never seen one thing that it can’t seem t’ not foresee ahead o’ time Twi.”

Sunset could only chuckle as Twilight facepalmed deciding it was best to not even ask any further. She returned her attention back to the two who were waiting for her words. She let a smile form, “Well, I think everyone else can agree that you two played a wonderful song. I think I’ll focus on how you did it later. I hope you can impress us again!”

Alice smiled as she bowed towards them. She grabbed Deemo’s hand and both left the gymnasium allowing others to participate now. Sunset still couldn’t shake something odd about them but then again, they all have seen crazier so she decided to focus on it later. The others nodded as a surge of musicians came forward. Today for all them may take awhile before the actual contest can begin.