Shattered Souls

Chapter 36: Pure Music

Organizing a charity event was just the thing Duskfall had needed to get back into the swing of things. At least, that’s what she told everyone. And why wouldn’t they believe it? Duskfall was, after all, half Twilight and Twilight had loved to organize things. Really, with the Winter Solstice a mere week and a half away, Duskfall had already written up her farewell note. Not that she expected anyone to read it in the joy of being reunited with Twilight and Tom.

So Duskfall, together with Applejack, helped the Ponies and Changelings preparing for the charity event. The idea was it being a concert with a bunch of musical talent from anywhere they could find it. The proceeds from the tickets would go to something not dissimilar to Toys-For-Tots back on Earth. The Rainboom had desperately wanted to be a part of it, but with Christmas and end of term exams to deal with they hadn’t been able to participate.

“Everybody, guess what?!” Pinkie suddenly burst onto the scene, shouting loud enough to wake the dead. As per usual of Pinkie Pie, she was vibrating with poorly contained energy.

“What’s going on, Pinkie?” Duskfall asked as she kept one eye on the ongoing construction of the stage, “Starlight! Watch where you’re carrying that plank! You don’t have magic, remember?! Sorry, you were saying?”

“I managed to book the biggest, the bestest, the hottest Pony Pop Idol in Equestria!” Pinkie squealed.

“How’d you manage to book Sapphire Shores?” Duskfall asked curiously.

“Sapphire Shores?” Pinkie asked before blowing a raspberry, “I said the biggest. Sapphire Shores is only the second hottest Pony Pop Idol. How do you not know this?!”

“Do you want a list in alphabetical or numerical order?” Duskfall deadpanned, an eyebrow arched and a slight smirk pulling at her lips.

“If it makes you feel better, m’lady, I don’t even know who Sapphire Shores is,” Lightning commented as she flew overhead, holding a bucket of nails in her hooves.

“It doesn’t but I appreciate the sentiment,” Duskfall remarked as she looked at Pinkie, “One reclusive bookworm plus a second reclusive bookworm does not result in a fad chaser. Further, as Lightning has no doubt reminded you, I’ve kinda been away for awhile.”

“Ah, right, sorry about that,” Pinkie apologized sheepishly. This apology was slightly undermined by the fact she was still clearly very excited to share her news, “Anyway, I booked COUNTESS COLORATURA!”

Everyone except Duskfall, Lightning, and Applejack seemed suitably impressed.

“Who the hay is Coloratura?” Applejack asked, her question echoing Lightning and Duskfall’s thoughts. Applejack might as well have asked about how well a plot to murder Celestia was going by everyone’s reactions.

“Didn’t I just go over this? She’s the biggest, bestest, hottest Pony Pop Idol in Equestria!” Pinkie exclaimed before marching over to Applejack, literally running her down “I can understand Duskfall and Lightning not having any idea, but how, how, how do you not know?!”

“Don’t know,” Applejack replied as she pushed Pinkie off of her, “Although I did know a gal named Coloratura way back when Ah was a filly. Wouldn’t it just be the funniest thing if this Coloratura and that Coloratura was the same pony?” AJ asked with a snorting giggle.

“Well, there goes Chekov’s Gun,” Chrysalis quipped drily, a bemused look on the Changeling Queen’s face.

“Do you mean to tell me you know Countess Coloratura?” Pinkie asked in an uncharacteristically serious tone and her face looked equally stony.

“I don’t think they’re the same pony. My friend wasn’t any sort o’ high faluting countess,” AJ tried to wave it off. Those more genre savvy shared a look.

“Do you happen to remember her Cutie Mark?” Pinkie inquired with the tone and demeanor of a cop interrogating a perp.

“Sure do, a golden star surrounded by 5 colored notes,” AJ replied readily, a slight smile as she recalled her friend.

“You mean like this Cutie Mark?!” Pinkie whipped out a picture of Coloratura’s Cutie Mark, tapped over her own Cutie Mark.

“Well, fancy that, that looks exactly… My friend is a famous star? Well if that don’t beat all…” AJ murmured as she processed the fact that she had been friends with a famous person… completely excluding the fact that she herself was famous and friends with Princesses and Element Bearers and the like. Pinkie was less than pleased at this revelation.

“Do you know how many hoops I had to jump through to get her to perform at this event?!” Pinkie screeched as she bore down on AJ again. AJ just mutely shook her head, “A WHOLE LOT OF HOOPS! That pony is very demanding!”

AJ then told the others that this didn’t match up with the pony she had known as a filly.

“Well, I for one think it’s completely understandable. We artistes require certain necessities in order to do our best work,” Rarity noted and she wasn’t wrong either. A lot of creators and entertainers needed to be in the right headspace to do their thing and some of them had rituals they went through to get them in that headspace consistently. Tom had known a man who insisted on being upside down for 15 minutes before every performance in order to ‘let the creative juices get to his head’.

“Aw, not Rara, she was as down to earth as anyone,” AJ waved her off; unaware of the outcry she had just sparked.

“RARA?!” Almost everyone shouted in shock.

“God works in mysterious ways indeed,” Duskfall muttered under her breath. Although, given she had just recently met the personification of Fate itself, maybe she should be more mindful of what she said concerning the Man Upstairs.

“She didn’t much care for her full name neither. S’why I always called ‘er Rara,” AJ explained. Applejack then reminisced about the time they spent as camp as fillies and Rara singing the Equestrian National Anthem.

“Are Ponies in this dimension all so casually racist?” Lightning whispered in Duskfall’s ear, Duskfall gave a rueful chuckle.

“Not all of them, but a fair few,” Duskfall assured with a whisper of her own, leaning in close to Lightning, “Don’t worry, Twilight wasn’t one of those and neither am I, my lovely part Changeling.”

Before Lightning could respond to her Lady’s flirting with anything other than a blush, Pinkie gasped loudly, “THERE SHE IS!”

Sure enough, Countess Coloratura was now among them. Duskfall was almost certain her Insanity was acting up again when she saw the four stallions walking up with a crystal looking thing that opened up into…well, Duskfall wasn’t sure how to describe it. It had all kinds of sharp angels and lights and a stereo system. In the blooming middle sat Coloratura in a seat that had her Cutie Mark on the back.

“Are you guys seeing this?” Duskfall asked after a quick check suggested it wasn’t her Insanity, so she settled for rubbing her eyes in disbelief.

“What? The overly complicated mechanical platform thing Countess Coloratura just showed up in? Unfortunately, yes,” Chrysalis sighed, although, there was something strange in the taste of Coloratura’s emotions, the Changeling Queen noted. It wasn’t quite depression. Apathy didn’t fit either. Was that dissatisfaction? Coloratura had just arrived! What was there to be dissatisfied about! Wait…that wasn’t outward dissatisfaction…that was inward dissatisfaction. That was very interesting indeed.

The Pony herself, an Earth Pony mare with a light aquamarine coat, was dressed up in faux-leather, spiked bracelets, and had a vale over her face. Her mane and tail were mostly lavender with streaks of darker purple and they were also extremely long. Her tail dragged along the ground with plenty to spare.

“COUNTESS COLORATURA IS HERE!” Pinkie screamed and fell to the ground in a dramatic ‘faint’, which also led to her getting walked on by Coloratura’s crew. While that might seem bad at first, well, Pinkie was clearly still awake and capable of moving. She simply chose to be walked all over for her own Pinkie Pie reasons.

Applejack, naturally confused at this transformation of her old friend, went to find out if Coloratura even remembered her.

“Uh, Hi…remember me? We met at Camp Friendship? I gave you the nickname Rara?” AJ offered as she walked up to the pop star.

“AJ, it’s been awhile,” Coloratura turned to smile at Applejack. The farmer’s whole body lost its tension. Her friend did recognize her! “So, you’ve been busy since I last saw you. You’ve been in the news at least four times in the past year and a half.”

“Aw, shucks, ain’t nothing to really brag about,” AJ kicked a hoof in embarrassment, modest as usual. Even so, she couldn’t stop a small smile knowing that, even if they hadn’t been in contact directly, Rara had kept up with a small part of her life.

“AJ, you’re a hero! All I am is a silly Pop Idol, you’re-” Coloratura was cut off by a stallion with a bushy salmon pink mane whispering in her ear. Coloratura visibly wilted before slapping on a smile so forced you had to be blind to not know it was fake and AJ wasn’t blind.

“Rara-” AJ was cut off by Coloratura suddenly planting a stamp on her cheek, leaving behind a small red hoof.

“Hoovsies!” She exclaimed, affecting a vapid airhead tone before walking away to give out more ‘Hoovsies’.

“Well that wasn’t weird or anything,” Rainbow snarked as she touched down beside Applejack, “What the hell was that about?”

“I concur, you were reconnecting and then suddenly she completely shut down,” Rarity, ever one to pick up on social cues, noted as she walked up with her ears flattened, “I can only imagine it was something that stallion said, but what on Equuis could cause a pony to behave like that?”

“Ten bits says he’s holding her family hostage,” Duskfall quipped, gazing over at the line that had formed for the Countess. She really must have been fairly popular.

“Oh please, Lady Duskfall, hostage taking is almost always more trouble than it’s worth. I say he has photos of her in a compromising situation and is threatening to release them to the media unless she plays the part of the bimbo songbird only good for her voice,” Lightning opined, a glare directed at the stallion, her mouth halfway curled into a sneer. The avarice pouring off of him was utterly distasteful for most Changelings and Lightning was no exception.

“Would you please not use such crude language?” Rarity requested, shooting a stink eye at the Pegasus, but Lightning was utterly unrepentant.

“Funny thing is that word was originally Italian for ‘baby boy’ and a derivative of ‘bambino’ which means ‘child’. Then it immigrated and changed meaning in slang to a brutish bully before somehow ending up slang for a brainless female sex toy,” Duskfall noted as everyone turned to stare at her, “What? Language history is still history, even if Tom’s first love was mythological history.”

“Thanks for the lesson, professor, but that doesn’t exactly help us know what we’re supposed to do,” Rainbow pointed out, fluffing her wings in agitation.

“Do? What do ya mean, ‘do’?” AJ asked arching an eyebrow and looking at the Wonderbolt.

“Well, obviously, your friend is in some kind of trouble or something and since she’s your friend that means you’re worried about her and that means we need to help since we’re your friends,” Rainbow explained as if it were the simplest thing in the world waving her wings about the whole time.

“And even besides that, we have an obligation to investigate potential blackmail,” Duskfall noted mildly, a small smirk playing across her face as she looked forward to playing detective.

“Duskfall is correct; we must root out villainy wherever we find it!” Luna declared in an over-the-top manner, wings spread and hoof raised into the air.

“Was it really that boring without me around?” Duskfall asked teasingly, nudging up against the larger Alicorn. Luna favored her with a flat look.

“I will neither confirm nor deny any accusations of that nature,” Despite Luna’s ‘denial’, Chrysalis was cracking up right next to her, a hoof in her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

“So, how are we gonna go about finding out if Rara is bein’ blackmailed?” AJ asked, her face showing she was already wary of introducing her long lost friend to Ponyville’s brand of hijinx and shenanigans.

“We could always do the reasonable thing of getting Coloratura away from that stallion and asking her in private,” Pinkie suggested. Everyone turned to her with varying levels of horror in their expressions. Pinkie responded with a wicked grin, “Am I not allowed to be reasonable every now and again?”

“NO!”

“Anyway, I’ve gotta deliver this stuff to Coloratura before she does her practice performance,” Pinkie, utterly unfazed by everyone’s shout, walked off with a wagon of various things. It was quite interesting to watch the stallion inspect the cherries and gems and whatnot in his snobbish way, but what really caught everyone’s attention was what happened after that.

“Somehow, your demands have all been met,” He said with a condescending grin directed in equal parts at Pinkie and Coloratura. For those who had to rely strictly on visuals, it was hard to tell what Coloratura’s expression was under the veil. For those who could sense emotions, Coloratura’s disgust with him couldn’t have been clearer.

Whatever Coloratura’s thoughts on the stallion she was working for, she got up on stage and sang. Duskfall and Lightning could appreciate how she had gotten to be the Top Idol. Her singing voice was strong, clear, and beautiful, but the thing that would really sell her to the masses was the spectacle of it. Duskfall likened it to the pop stars of Tom’s home and they even had magical auto-tuning. Once she was done with her warm up, the crowd burst into cheers.

“Ah, she’s alright, I guess,” Starlight the contrarian muttered next to Lightning. For some reason, Starlight was pouting and had her front legs folded. Lightning and Duskfall shared a look. Was Starlight tsundere for Coloratura?

“Oh, my shining star, thanks to the sparkling costumes, dazzling choreography, and brilliant vocal effects that I designed, your performance was spectacular!” As the stallion completely glossed over her own talents, even the non-Changelings could feel a spike of killing intent coming from Coloratura.

“Why, thank you, Svengallop!” Coloratura said after some false giggling, following him off the stage.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but that whole spiel sounded more like he was complimentin’ himself rather than Rara,” AJ noted, a very displeased frown on her face. It may not have been her preferred style of music, but she could at least appreciate the hard work that had gone into all the performances, Rara’s included. She had learned that lesson with Trixie.

“No, you’re absolutely right, and I’ll only be mildly surprised if we find his corpse before the end of the charity event,” Duskfall said as she stretched out a bit, a few joints popping, “From the sound of it that Svengallop guy has been taking advantage of and talking down to Coloratura for quite some time. People can only take so much of that before they either break down in defeat or they snap in some way. Given the anger we felt, she’s probably closer to the latter.”

Duskfall’s words were only confirmed a moment later when Pinkie announced to Coloratura that she had a meet and greet scheduled with the school children. Svengallop tried to suggest Coloratura ditch the event, but Coloratura was all for it and openly stated that meeting the kids was one of her favorite parts of any event. As Coloratura walked away to see the kids, more than one person noted the dark look on Svengallop’s face. They all knew Coloratura would pay for her act of defiance.

Part of this payment came in the form of Svengallop outright bullying Pinkie. He was demanding things like 500 peeled and cored apples in 24 hours and premium oats from Appleoosa. If they weren’t provided then he’d pull Coloratura out of the event, regardless of the fact Coloratura had just promised the kids a chance to sing with her if they won a little contest.

“So, Lady Duskfall, should I break his legs or do you want to do the honors?” Lightning asked casually after AJ and Pinkie informed the rest of this little stunt by Svengallop. That Duskfall actually gave the question serious thought made the rest somewhat concerned.

“Leave his legs unbroken for now, we might need leverage over him later,” Duskfall decided with a hoof still to her chin.

“I was defeated by a pair of sociopaths,” Starlight groused, sinking to the ground while trying to glare at Duskfall and her inhibitor ring simultaneously.

“Better a sociopath than a psychopath,” Duskfall shot back, not even bothering to look at Starlight, “Even if neither is technically recognized by mental health professionals.”

“And reasonably of the two of them only Lightning might qualify for antisocial personality disorder,” Chrysalis added before everyone gave her funny looks, so she explained, “I’m taking a correspondence course in psychology. I doubt I’ll ever go into being a therapist, but I figured it couldn’t hurt.”

“Huh, Changeling therapists…wait, we’re getting off topic. We need to find out exactly what kind of hold Svengallop has over Coloratura,” Lightning decided, a wing pointed in the direction of Svengallop’s trailer.

“Duskfall and I will ask for a private word with her. I highly doubt someone as sleazy as Svengallop will deny the direct request of two Princesses,” Luna observed and upon everyone’s agreement, she and Duskfall walked towards the trailers.

“Even if we get her alone, there’s no guarantee she’ll spill the beans,” Duskfall pointed out as she fell into step with her fellow Princess, but Luna just smiled reassuringly.

“You and I both know Coloratura is probably chomping at the bit to vent her woes. I doubt it will take much pressure for her to confess everything, even if Svengallop is holding some kind of scandal against her. Even if she isn’t, I’m sure that between the two of us we can find some way to make a convincing argument,” Luna chuckled mirthlessly. The pair walked up to Svengallop’s trailer and Luna knocked. A moment later and Svengallop appeared.

“Oh! Princesses! What can I do for you?” He was the perfect picture of a humble servant of his country. A pity his acting skills were only put to use to deceive those directly before him, never mind anyone off to the side who could easily see the cracks in his visage.

“Young Duskfall wishes to meet Countess Coloratura in a more private setting,” Luna stated, pushing the younger Alicorn forward slightly with a wing. Duskfall took this as her que to put her own acting skills to use.

“I, um, it’s just I’m a huge fan of her and I’ve always wanted to meet her…but, well, between my schedule as a Princess and associated societal expectations, I can’t very well, er, ‘fan girl’ in public,” Duskfall fluffed her wings, looked awkwardly away, moving her ears to both sides as she blushed slightly. All to paint the image of a young woman with a celebrity crush. Svengallop took the bait hook, line, and sinker.

Svengallop’s face took on a look of sympathetic understanding, but Luna saw a pit of greed behind his eyes, “Oh, of course Princess, I understand completely. The spotlight can be so demanding. I’ll let the Countess know you wish to speak to her outside of the limelight.”

“Your help is appreciated,” Luna lied with the all the grace her millennia of life had granted her. Her distain for him carefully hidden beneath a mask none but those most familiar with her could see through. Even a Changeling would have been exceptionally hard pressed to detect her feelings of malice for the stallion before her.

“Anything for the Princesses,” Svengallop replied with a proper bow before walking off to inform Coloratura of the meeting.

“A little warning might have been nice,” Duskfall said, but her teasing grin and lidded eyes spoke of no hard feelings.

“I trusted you to be able to think on your hooves. The blushing fangirl was a nice approach, definitely gave you a much weaker feeling position,” Luna complimented.

“I did spend over three centuries acting as a ‘dream girl’ for almost everyone I ever met,” Duskfall pointed out, her ears and face forward as she waited for Svengallop to return.

“Wait…do you mean-?”

“I wasn’t able to shapeshift into Celestia for obvious reasons, but other than that, yes. Someone in power lusting over something he has power over? That’s his thing, although there was remarkably little physical lust attached to it, he’s just in love with the intoxicating feeling of having power over others,” Duskfall replied as if she were talking about the weather. Luna turned to her.

“Are you sure you’re not the Alicorn of Lust as well?” Luna was only mildly joking as she poked Duskfall’s cheek with a wing.

“Love does make people crazy,” Duskfall answered, causing Luna to freeze.

“Surely you can’t-”

“Use my connection to Insanity to see what would literally drive someone mad with lust and then tone my appearance and adopted personality down to a less mind-breaking level? Took me a long time to realize that’s what I was doing, but I’ve been doing it for about 100 years,” Duskfall said in a voice that was just slightly too calm. A visible tremor ran through Luna’s body. Whether it was of fear, horror, shock, disgust, or something else, even Luna couldn’t say. Her next words came unbidden.

“And if I asked…?” Luna was afraid to finish the sentence, but Duskfall craned her neck to whisper in Luna’s ear. Luna, having dealt with nightmares for as long as she could remember, was reminded of the fact that there was more than one kind of terror. It was easy to break through other’s problems. Being confronted with your own was a completely different sort of beast. The idea that Duskfall could exert that kind of power over her was downright chilling.

Fortunately Luna didn’t have to dwell on that for too long as Svengallop returned and directed them to a small clearing a little bit away from the trailers. As if that nightmare inducing conversation had never happened, Duskfall was back to her fangirl mode until they were sure they were out of earshot of Svengallop. Thankfully Duskfall didn’t return to the conversation once she dropped the act and Luna wasn’t about to start it back up herself.

A minute or two of awkward silence later and Coloratura joined them.

“Svengallop said you wanted to speak with me?” Coloratura asked, halfway between wanting to appear like her happy stage self for a ‘fan’ and simply not having the energy to care. It was heartbreaking to see someone who had a passion for their craft having that love squeezed out of them mercilessly. Luna had seen it before and would no doubt see it again.

“Yes, we were hoping to have a word with you concerning Svengallop. What sort of hold does he have over you exactly?” Duskfall inquired. Coloratura blinked in surprise before letting out a long, weary sigh.

“I could very easily plead ignorance, but you’d no doubt find out anyway. It’s not like it’s a matter of any secrecy and even if it was a Princess asking would get answers regardless. The long and short of it is when I was first starting out and didn’t know any better, I simply signed the first contract offered to me and didn’t understand the fine print. I signed away everything. My copyright, my likeness, my voice, and so on is held by my recording company which is in turn owned by Svengallop. When I started to make it big, he assigned himself as my ‘personal manager’. When I tried to walk away after I found out how much of a jack- er, bad guy he is, he brought out my contract and explained to me the exact terms of it,” Coloratura explained, looking at the ground with shoulders drooped and ears flattened.

“Would you happen to have a copy of your contract available? I’d like to go over it,” Luna requested with Duskfall nodding in agreement, “I’m guessing Svengallop has kept you from any sort of legal aid?”

“He might as well have, given the schedule he has me on I just don’t have the time to seek out a lawyer. Although, truthfully, I doubt you’ll find anything illegal in the contract,” Coloratura sounded exhausted and angry as she weakly pounded the ground with a hoof. Even under the veil, it wasn’t hard to see she was gritting her teeth in frustration.

“Just because the letter of the contract is legal doesn’t mean the contract itself is legal,” Luna moved to sit beside Coloratura and draped a wing over her. This was one of Luna’s strengths, comforting people. Sure, she usually did that in the Dream Realm, but a waking nightmare was still a nightmare in her mind.

“I hope you’re right, Princess,” Coloratura replied, looking up at the Alicorn, “I’m tired of living like this. I’ll go grab my copy of the contract.”

As Coloratura walked off to grab the paper Luna and Duskfall sat there, looking at each other. Luna felt somewhat awkward, but if Duskfall felt the same she didn’t show it.

“I confess, as much as Tom loved crime drama, the subject of contracts didn’t come up all that much. What are you going to be looking for, Luna?” Duskfall asked conversationally.

“I think the most likely solution would be a Clean Hooves defense,” Luna answered, “Which means that Svengallop is acting unethically while still in the technical confines of the contract.”

“You mean the rest of what Coloratura told us could still be legal?” Duskfall asked in surprise. Having someone take legal ownership of something like a voice sounded very dodgy to Duskfall.

“Depending on the wording of the contract, given that Coloratura probably wasn’t under undue stress to sign the contract in the first place, it could be perfectly legal,” Luna replied, “Another possible avenue of attack would be an Efficiency Breach. Suggesting Coloratura can make more money if she broke contract and paid damages and then continued working as a pop star as opposed to continuing under the contract. Although, given the boom and bust nature of a pop star, that would be quite tricky to prove in court. The final most likely case to be made would be a Breach of Condition, meaning that Coloratura is denied the main benefits of signing the contract in the first place.”

“Isn’t there some kind of mental health exception? Coloratura is clearly miserable working under the contract,” Duskfall pointed out as her ears flicked about.

“Not unless the courts find some kind of mental deficiency in Coloratura. Simply being miserable isn’t quite enough, unfortunately,” Luna answered as she turned to see Coloratura returning with the contract.

“Is it wrong that I feel very odd asking a Princess for legal counsel?” Coloratura asked as she gave the contract to Luna.

“As a Princess, we technically are the highest law in the land,” Luna noted, “I’ll read this over with all due haste. By the end of the day you should know if there’s any hope of getting out of your current situation.”

“Thank you very much, I don’t know how I can repay you,” Coloratura bowed deeply.

“Think nothing of it. You are a friend of Dame Applejack, it is my pleasure to help where I am able,” Luna waved her off with a wing.

“Nepotism at its finest,” Duskfall snarked as she waved a hoof in the air. Luna shot her a dirty look.

“You don’t need to say it out loud,” Luna huffed, but her eyes betrayed a bit of good natured ribbing.

“Well, I’d best be getting back before Svengallop gets suspicious anything is amiss,” Coloratura sighed before visibly putting her mask back on, “Laters!”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re plotting something?” Duskfall asked Luna as they watched Coloratura walk away.

“Because you’re old enough to know that with age comes a certain amount of stubbornness. I’ve agreed to help Coloratura and help her I shall, even if that means buying out her contract. You should also ask Pinkie if Svengallop signed anything agreeing to let Coloratura into this event if certain conditions were met. Asking for 500 cored and peeled apples is almost certainly a violation of impossibility, Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie notwithstanding,” Luna shrugged before rolling her shoulders, “I’ll be at my place, reading this contract if anyone needs me.”

The rest of the setup for the charity event went smoothly. The other acts arriving and the stage were finished all on time. The event would start tomorrow night. True to her word, Luna finished her inspection of the contract just as the sun was beginning to set.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Chrysalis asked as she lounged on a couch.

“Svengallop is almost certainly in violation of the terms of contract. Even ignoring the fact he’s using intimidation in Coloratura’s name, he’s in clear violation of any Unconscionable Dealings law I can care to name. He preyed upon a young no-name talent with terms that so heavily favor his recording label that any reasonable judge would award Coloratura the case on the spot. I will notify the appropriate parties and have this contract dissolved by the time of the concert. If Svengallop wishes to pursue the matter further, he is of course welcome to bring the matter to court,” Luna announced, sitting down next to Chrysalis, “Although, if I might speak plainly, it took me far too long to parse what exactly was being said. I thought lawyers a thousand years ago were bad about making their contracts understandable.”

“I wouldn’t know, I was locked up too, remember? Although I don’t doubt it, a snake that has had a thousand years to improve its venom will no doubt have a more potent venom at the end of it all,” Chrysalis mused as she levitated a cup of water to herself and took a drink.

“True enough,” Luna sighed as she teleported a copy of the contract and a note to a law attorney she knew and was reasonably trusted in such matters, “It hurts that those I have sworn to protect can suffer just as much from those within the law as those outside of it. The laws I have sworn to help uphold.”

“Lulu, no system is perfect. There will always be those looking to take advantage of others and sometimes the laws are written in such a way as to be exploitable. Sometimes those exploits are even necessary to keep the law from being unjust in and of itself. Even so, it’s better to have a system with flaws like these than to have absolute anarchy or absolute tyranny,” Chrysalis opined as she wrapped a leg around Luna.

“You are correct, of course. That does not preclude me from wishing I could make the system better,” Luna rubbed at her eyes, tired from translating the legal jargon.

“And it shouldn’t, it’s a tightrope we must walk. How much effort can we reasonably put into something before we realize that nothing more can be done by us personally? I’m sure if you went over every law on the books with a fine tooth comb, you’ll find a host of ways to improve them, but how much energy can you dedicate to such an endeavor? Even if you aren’t living in Canterlot, you still have your duties as a Princess to take care of and there are only so many hours in a day. To take care of others, one must first take care of themselves,” Chrysalis said, leaning into Luna. Luna looked at the Changeling Queen.

“When did you go and get so wise?” Luna asked, a warm smile and a nostalgic feeling washing over her.

“I am a Changeling of hidden depths, as befits my species,” Chrysalis snarked with a wide grin and a teasing look. The two ancient mares laughed together before a comfortable silence enveloped them. Soon thereafter, both Changeling Queen and Alicorn Princess were asleep.

Things wrapped up remarkably quickly after that. Late in the afternoon a lawyer posted notice of the contract’s dissolving with Svengallop. He was, naturally, furious. However, he also had the good sense not to cause a scene where two Alicorns were watching. So after a declaration of vengeance and later court dates, the stallion marched off with his things in tow.

“As good as it is to see the back end of him, what am I going to do now? I still need to perform, but Svengallop took care of the effects and things. Now that he’s gone, I don’t have access to any of that,” Coloratura worried.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head. I anticipated something like this and made some alternative arrangements, if you would like them,” Duskfall offered.

“Alternative arrangements? Don’t you mean ‘alternate’ arrangements?” Coloratura asked, arching an eyebrow.

“I would if I had only prepared one alternative. Being friends with both Octavia and Vinyl is incredibly helpful when you have a music based problem,” Duskfall said happily, looking very pleased with herself.

“Rara, you may have been a star with all that fancy magic and lights, but Ah know that you, as a pony and as a singer, even without all the bells an’ whistles, are the brightest star Ah’ve ever seen shine. So get out there and sing how you want to sing!” Applejack encouraged.

“That’s sweet, AJ. If I have people like you in my corner, I think I’ll be alright,” Coloratura hugged AJ, “I think I know what I want to do for tonight’s performance.”

Vinyl and Octavia, despite their usually conflicting tastes in music, adored every time they got the chance to compliment each other’s style. Such was the case now, as Coloratura sang a heartfelt soul song about discovering who she was under the glitz and glamour. It was backed up with a symphonic rock track provided primarily by Octavia’s local orchestra friends and synthesized with Vinyl’s equipment.

The crowd had been deeply surprised when Coloratura had walked on stage without her usual clothes and makeup, but they quickly fell in love with her singing. Applejack couldn’t help but smile as a whole mass of ponies discovered something she had known all along. Rara had an incredible singing voice, no add-ons required.

Author's Note

Well this one certainly got a bit out of hand. Almost 6k words on something that was supposed to be mostly filler.

As you can guess, the original plotline of 'The Mane Attraction' didn't sit well with me. Rara had to be dumber than a sack of bricks to not notice Svengallop was a horrible person. So naturally something must have been up and I thought a skewed contract was a fairly reasonable way to go about it.

Other than that, I've had a fairly decent week, if I completely blank what time of year it is from my mind.

Speaking of time of year... IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Both in the real world and in the fic!