The Festival of the Dead

Chapter 10: Old Ties, Old Ways

The trip back to town was relatively uneventful. Dash tried to tackle Shabriri for making fun of her when he stood up, as she did, a blinding flash appeared from behind Shabriri, blinding her and making her fall to the ground, clutching her eyes. "She'll be able to see in ten minutes." Stated Shabriri before walking toward the town with Avnas draping an arm over his shoulder.

Avnas looked at his friend with a disappointed face. "Now you know that wasn't necessary, she would have been stopped by someone before she reached you and you know it. Go apologize."

With a sigh, Shabriri removed Avnas' arm from his shoulder and walked over to Rainbow Dash, placing his right hand, which had a thick wrapping over it, onto her eyes before almost instantly drawing it back. "Does everything look normal? Nothing brighter than it should be or the wrong color?"

"No it's... it's just fine." Rainbow couldn't believe it, she always had pretty good vision, even among pegasi that have to rely on their improved eyesight while flying through the clouds but now, everything was so clear. She could swear she could see the individual marks on each piece of grass in front of her if she focused hard enough.

"Ok then." He stood up and walked back to Avnas, returning to being guided back towards town.

Rainbow Dash continued to lay on the ground, taking in the many new features around her. She closed her eyes to take a deep breath but opened them with surprise when she saw a bright silver. Slowly, she closed her eyes again and found letters, silver like the portal, dancing across the surface of her eyelids. We are even, don't tell anyone about this or I'll have to take it back. Before fading away.

Once back in Ponyville, the girls all decided to head home quickly, absolutely exhausted from the events of the day. Luna decided to stay up a little longer, hoping to learn a little bit more about their new acquaintance and perhaps Avnas as well.

The two friends seemed to get along very well. After entering the streets of Ponyville, Avnas once more removed his arm from his friend's shoulder, confident that he could handle himself on the streets. They talked about this and that, what the other had been up to since coming to the other world, who they had run into so far, and anyone they had met that they found interesting.

"So what have you been doing around here? I can hardly imagine you of all people sitting around all day, waiting for something to do."

"Since I came down, I built an entertainment parlor, old-style. The locals seemed to enjoy it."

"I assume you've been performing for your customers?"

He chuckled softly, apparently it was something of an inside-joke between them. "Only on request."

"Excuse our interruption, what is so funny about your performing?" Luna had been following their conversation closely and had seen Shabriri smile at most of the things Avnas shared but hadn't laughed at even some of the stories she found to be hilarious.

"It is nothing princess, given my... seemingly contradictory gifts, most people assume I only know how to find the talented. Nobody expects a surprise from the blind-man sitting in the corner. It is... something of a joke between us as fellow musicians."

"I see." Luna had been trying her hardest to keep her speech informal, hoping that it would make conversing with the leisurely beings more simple. "Would there be a chance of us... me seeing it?"

"We'll see when we get there. It depends on the atmosphere."

They came upon a medium-sized, single-story building. It was made of what appeared to be reeds and had a sheet of cloth covering the entrance, exuding a soft glow out onto the dark street outside. As they walked in, Luna faintly detected the smell of flowers and alcohol, she already liked the place.

The interior consisted of many cushions spread among the room with small tables between every few cushions. They were very small, evidently meant to only hold the occupant's drink while they conversed with those around them. A decent number of the cushions were occupied with a combination of ponies, humans, and lesser numbers of griffins and zebras. The atmosphere seemed to be one of relaxed joviality. Luna could understand why the parlor had been popular, after the constant excitement of the festival, it was nice to know that there was somewhere to go that you knew you could just relax. Even the griffins seemed to be getting along with the other occupants, despite their race usually showing little respect towards the zebras and ponies.

"You even got the griffins to relax, I'm impressed."

"Some of their friends tried to start some trouble. Their friends were taken off the premises while they decided that they wanted to stay for a while with the other guests." He looked around the room, or something similar, considering, and decided that things were satisfactory. "Avnas, could you please lead me to the stage? I would hate to spoil the mood by spilling everyone's drinks."

Avnas laughed, knowing that his friend was giving himself much less credit than he deserved, and led his friend to a small wooden platform against one of the walls. "Will you be needing any more help, sir?"

"I would certainly appreciate it." He added with a soft smile to his sarcastic friend.

Luna had taken a seat near the back of the room, not wanting to draw attention to herself. She saw some attendants in some sort of silken dresses, bring instruments to the two on stage. Avnas set up a large pair of drums while Shabriri took a seat on a cushion he was provided. He held what seemed to be a elongated, thin banjo. She seriously doubted that was what it was but had nothing else to compare it to. To her surprise, the attendants returned, all holding instruments of their own, ready to assist the two already on stage.

The tune started and drew silence from the room.

Avnas beat on the drums with quick, controlled rhythm. The deep noise reverberated across the room, ensuring the silence of the crowd while Shabriri started playing his instrument with a chisel-shaped tool in his other hand. The sound was soft and calming, making the entire room feel more comfortable. Luna found herself with her head laying against the wall behind her, simply listening to the music as it danced around the room. The audience was enraptured, those that had seen the blind man play before were able to compose themselves more easily but still found themselves swaying to the rhythm. Luna looked back to the stage and saw both Avnas and Shabriri with their eyes closed, focused on the music they were creating for those around them.

Luna saw more attendants, filling in for those on stage, undoubtedly, gliding quickly and quietly through the room, replacing drinks and clearing the used tables. They were so silent you had to actively search in order to hope to catch more than a glimpse of them before they disappeared back into the kitchen. They don't want to bother the customers, wish we could get workers that good in Canterlot that weren't complete snobs. She decided that investigating the venue further would cause her to miss-out on the performance before her and decided to sit on her cushion with her back resting against the wall, enjoying the atmosphere, music, and, when the attendants found her glass empty, the soft alcohol, clearly meant to only cause a buzz without clouding the mind, it was cool to drink and allowed her to shed her last layer of self-consciousness at being in a public space with her subjects. No longer caring, the princess started to hum-along to the music, her sister could handle the moon tonight.