Music of the Night Part 2: Hear as the Outcast Hears

It had been several months since Princess Luna had met Cleff by the pond. Though he’d never learned her identity, it did not keep them from meeting over and over to share the music of the night. By day, Luna pined for his beautiful voice with her records, and by night they shared real music together. She’d even taken to borrowing her sister’s record player on a somewhat permanent basis. Celestia allowed this, happy that her sister had found a passion to bring her happiness. Though, she did not know of her night time friend.

Cleff heard some weeks later that Princess Luna herself had heard of his singing voice, and had stopped at his sister’s music shop to buy his record. After the public heard about this, his popularity exploded and many other ponies wanted to hear him sing as well. So few had ever even heard of opera, much less given it a chance if they had. But, when a princess of the realm sought a specific musician by name, the public definitely noticed, and wanted to hear it for themselves. Now Cleff had an entire rack in his sister’s music store devoted just to him. He’d laughed when some ponies asked for his autograph and pushed a record into his hooves. He didn’t exactly know how to write, being blind and all. So, he’d gotten an ink pad and used his hoof to substitute as a signature. It was certainly an exciting time to be Cleff, being such a sudden success.

It took all his stealthy skills to sneak away in the night and not be spotted by anypony, much less to make it all the way out to the pond to meet with his shadowy friend the weather pegasus. He had a feeling it was through her that Princess Luna had learned of his voice, but didn’t ask about it. One did not look a gift pony in the mouth.

What’s more, she wanted to learn how to sing as he did. She’d blind-sided him with the request perhaps two months ago, but with her Canterlot accent and apparently powerful lungs, she had a serious talent for opera. The only thing was to do it in small doses, so they didn’t rouse everypony in a three mile radius in the dead of night.

Finally arriving at his destination, hearing the lapping of the still pond, Cleff perked his ears. Even the slightest sound or scent would tell him where she was. The warm summer night caressed him nicely, and he called out, “Hullo? Are you there?”

“We are here.” The voice was hers and he smiled, coming towards it and moving carefully along the path until he judged her near to him. “It pleases us to see you again, Cleff.” The voice was affectionate.

“Glad to be here.” He smiled, moving his face around into a winking motion. She giggled lightly. “It’s been a little crazy lately.” He smiled embarrassedly, cocking his head to one side. “Vinyl Scratch says that she’s going to expand the music shop soon to include more instruments and stuff, since my records have been selling so well.”

“Dost thy sibling not allow you the money thy voice earns?” she sounded surprised.

“Oh yes, but most of it goes to running the business and making sure bills get paid and such. Running a shop’s not cheap!” he said, chuckling and seating himself when he thought he was on flat ground. The ruffling of feathers said that she was seating herself near to him. Something had always puzzled Cleff, though. The sounds she made were always much higher up than they should have been. Either she was always hovering, or she was much, much taller than almost anypony. He considered, not for the first time, trying to put his arm around her. But knowing his luck and her height, he might end up grabbing her butt and that was no good.

“We wonder, Cleff, if further practice would be suitable for tonight?” she asked him, hopeful.

“Sure thing! Have you been doing your scales like I told you?” Cleff said, turning and smiling past her shoulder.
She nodded, but then stopped herself and said, “Er— yes. We have been doing our best.” She sounded embarrassed. Princess Luna had tried many times to do musical scales with her voice, and had blown out half the windows in the palace in the process. The Royal Canterlot Voice was simply too powerful. So, instead, she’d been trying to learn to keep her voice down while still working on her voice. Celestia had gently forbade her to use all of her might within the palace, for the sake of Canterlot’s peace of mind. No one wanted to be awoken in the middle of the night to see the windows of the palace explode like they were under attack.

“What are we in the mood for?” Cleff said, playfully emulating her plural-proper and accent.

Princess Luna chuckled a little. She liked Cleff. It was his blindness that saved her from yet another fearful pony shrinking away from her in terror at the memory of Nightmare Moon. Or maybe that he was not quick to judge her when she refused to even give her name, nor did he pursue it after they’d become close friends. In the night, names and identities never seemed to matter to either of them. One was a voice in the dark, and the other was an unconditional friend. Both brought comfort to the other. “Perhaps something— slower, tonight?” she said, not wanting to shake the mountaintops that particular night. He nodded, gesturing lightly. She sat upright and regal as he’d taught her, closing her eyes in concentration. Her throat had grown much, much stronger since she’d started taking his lessons, and considering the power of her voice beforehand that was saying something. She did breathing exercises while he listened, nonsense do-re-mi’s that meant little other than to work one’s voice a little before a proper song could be sung. One of Cleff’s first lessons was to ‘respect the material.’ A serious singer never simply burst into song in opera. It took warm-up time. After a few minutes, he bade her to stop.

“Go ahead.” Cleff whispered, ears up and perked forward. Luna whisped out a breath, before inhaling to begin. Sitting there on the pond’s edge, she serenaded him with a silky tenderness:

No one would listen
No one but him
Heard as the outcast hears

Cleff shifted a little, quietly. There was a certain sadness in her voice. This reached beyond a normal song. Certain things could only be sung with the proper mood. His nameless friend was reaching into some personal issue to pull such tones from her heart.

Shamed into to solitude
Shunned by the multitude
I learned to listen
In my dark, my ears heard music

He felt heat rising in his face as he quickly connected the dots. It was for him. To him, she sung. Not just any song. Why would a weather Pegasus always be out in the dead of night, fixing clouds? He’d not wondered it up until now, but it suddenly struck him as odd. Weather hardly needed controlling at night, beyond the violent storms. Was she somehow punished to roam the night alone? Was that how they’d met? It took an opera singer to peer so deeply into the heart of somepony else’s lyrics.

I longed to lead the world
Rise up and reach the world
No one would listen
I alone could see the nighttime.

So she was someone important. Surely not a simple weather pegasus with such thoughts. He did not know what to make of his friend. Though her pitch, vibrato, and voice were perfect, he sensed a certain torment there. Someone reaching out to meet the public, obviously, because of her high station, but… rejected? He knew of no such scenario. What sort of high-ranking pony would be rejected by all the world around her?

Then at last; a voice in the gloom
Seemed to cry “I hear you;
I hear your fears,
Your torment and your tears.”

She sang of their first meeting, which touched him deeply. Cleff had no idea he was so important. Luna was scaling slightly higher than she’d revealed to Cleff before. It was a more feminine tone, rather than a more powerful one. She was reaching higher in the notes, rather than higher in volume (which had taken her weeks and weeks to master). Sitting so close to her, he could almost discern the quiver of her body from the blades of grass around them on the embankment.

He saw my loneliness
Shared in my emptiness
No one would listen
No one but him
Heard as the outcast… hears.

The last word was a lump in Princess Luna’s throat and she almost lost the note entirely. The quiver in her belly had worked its way up to her throat, ruining her song. She bowed her neck down, tilting her head until her bangs shadowed her face. She’d gone too far. It had been too personal, and now she’d embarrassed herself. “F-forgive us, Cleff. Music should not make us weep, especially that which we make ourselves.”

Cleff sat deep in thought for a long time. Then, he cocked his head and turned his face towards her. “No. Just the opposite.” He heard a small sniffle from her. Sidling over until they were mildly pressed together, he at last got a good judgment on her height and size. She was roughly twice as big as he! Speaking softly, he tried his best to make it look like he was looking into her eyes. Not quite, but close enough to get the meaning across. “When you can weep over a song, it means you’ve embraced music entirely.” He whispered to her.

“Wh-what does this mean to us, then, Cleff?” Luna said, arching her neck like a swan’s to look at him.

Cleff’s black glasses slid down a bit on his face and he gave her his most dazzling smile. “It means you’re a singer, friend. That’s all.” He then braced hard, and sure enough:

“MOST WONDERFUL OF NIGHTS!” Blasted across the pond, made a handful of trees groan and bend, and scared away every woodland creature for miles around. Leagues away Fluttershy woke with a startled yip, having no idea what had disturbed her. Luna sprung up upon her legs, trotting back and forth like a filly that had just graduated from school. Cleff chuckled, a little pink in the face.

“Oh by the way, I wanted to share some news with you.” He said a little shyly, turning to work his nose into his saddlebag. “I’m going to be singing at the Royal Opera House in a few weeks.” He showed her what he was sure was a flyer. Luna studied it with a great smile. “I’ve gotten so popular, I get to perform before royalty!” Princess Luna suddenly gave a start. Upon the flyer, in the left and right corners respectively, were pictures of herself and Celestia. “The princesses always go out of their way in their busy schedules to do something cultural every week, and that week it’ll be me on stage!” Cleff said jubilantly.

Luna’s stomach turned knots. It was true, she and Celestia often went to plays, dinners, and all manner of other events each week. To remind ponies they were not just god-like beings who persuaded the sun and moon to move about the sky, but a part of the society they ruled together. Celestia was trying to get Luna at least somewhat back into the public eye as a normal member of the royal family. And since the family had only two members, it was very important. “Oh my.” She said at last, unable to form a clear sentence.

“I told them I would only do it on one condition.” Cleff smiled at her conspiratorially, then shoved his face into his bag again. Turning about with a snap of his neck, he presented Luna with a glowing golden ticket! “I got you a box seat!” he said. “High, and near to the stage! Box five!” he said, presenting it to her. Luna took it with shaking hooves. Ohhh, this had all gone so suddenly and horribly wrong. Princess Luna could not be in two places at once, much less hide her identity from Cleff. She would need to be in the royal opera box and in box five? She gulped.

End of Part 2