Author's Note- I highly suggest you listen to these songs before you read this fic, or perhaps even while reading it; it doesn't make much sense without hearing them, and it doesn't show how much of a hardflank a certain somepony is for ripping into them like they were Europop.

DISCLAIMER:
All of the music here was composed by Jason Becker. By the way, Casso's opinions do not in the slightest represent my action feelings for the music. I love it, but he's a classical purist.

Now, this all happened quite a few years ago, mind you, but it's still as good a story as it ever was. Listen here, fillies and gentlecolts, to the story of how Ericious Symphonia got back on his hooves.

Panic.

Panic was the only word that could describe what Ericious felt. It had been one thing when he was told that the Griffon High Priest would be in attendance, but Princess Luna as well? The Canterlot Crier told no lies. This was music for Griffons; fast paced, heavy, wrought with emotion, and technically demanding. Not fit for Princess Luna's refined taste. What was worse was that if Luna attended, so did half of the Canterlot elite. If they heard this music, which was meant to appeal to the tastes of griffons, not ponies, they wouldn't like it at all; his image could suffer. Further. He had to change the music somehow...

"You can't do that, Ericious. You've changed it enough as is," Casso said matter-of-factly, as if reading his friend's mind.

"You have already cut down on the amount of distortion, and melding it any further with Equestrian music would only debase the sound you are aiming for."

"I know, I know. But Princess Luna... And High Priest Denior..." Ericious moaned, covering his face with his hooves and resting on the kitchen table. "They'll think it's... that it's... Kitsch!" he spat.

"You wrote the suite for the Butcher Birds in the first place; not to accommodate them would undermine your entire purpose... Which was kitsch," the dark green pegasus stated flatly, closing his eyes and leaning against the kitchen doorframe.

"Oh, just what I need, a lecture from the ever-pious-holier-than-thou-Casso. Let me talk to the Neighples-Choral-School-salutatorian-Casso," Ericious sighed, trying somehow to bury his head deeper into his forelegs. "Please?"

"You want the honest truth? It will sting." Casso's voice was calm, and he did not open his eyes, keeping his head angled towards the ground. He was serious.

"Yes, yes, please. I've been a bad pony, and I need to be punished," Ericious said sardonically.

"Very well," Casso began, unfazed. He had seen the score before, and was familiar with the music. It played as clearly in his head as if it was from a recording.

"I think is the worst work you've put together since we left Stalliongrad. The first movement has no idea what it wants to do with itself and it is utterly ostentatious in every sense of the word. It bases itself solely on the principle that the audience is there to see you, not listen to the music. It is technically demanding for no reason that I can think of, and it needs to be slower. You rely too heavily on the guitar. The second movement is too heavy. There is too much distortion, and where is the sonus continuo? It is the best, it has emotion, but it is trying too hard. You are trying too hard. The arpeggios should be done away with, and the drums are completely inappropriate. The third movement is emotionally out of place, and your use of choir is elementary. Again, your percussion makes it sound atrocious. Cut out about half of it. The basso continuo becomes annoying three or four measures in, and won't please the griffons at all. The final movement; what is it, a caprice? It is simple variations on a single theme. Oh, sure, a minor shift in the middle, but it what are you trying to do, make the Butcher Birds feel good?"

"Why shouldn't I make them feel good?" Ericious asked defensively. "They're war heroes."

"No, they've lost allies, brothers-in-arms. They don't want kitschy feel-good guitar music," Casso said, finally turning to face the cream-colored unicorn stallion directly. He straightened up. "Your use of the symphony in the fourth movement is like that of a child. And the music box gimmick is something they would do in a movie," he spat. "They're griffons, not idiots."

"Hey, hey, hey," Ericious replied, annoyed. "I met 'em. Captain Becker said the Birds listen to Griddondeth and Van Talon. I tried to get as close to that sound as I could while still maintaining musical integrity."

"Well, you failed. Van Talon was a one-trick pony- er, griffon, so to speak. All he did was tap triads, and even that was a tribute to you. "

Ericious shot his obsidian-colored pegasus friend a feigned look of wounded modesty. "You give me too much credit, Casso."

" You are the third unicorn in history to play a whole orchestra by himself. You can do better than this. I know you better than this. Relying on the griffon's favorite instrument is a bit transparent, isn't it?"

"Everypony else gives me too much credit, as well," he whined. "I composed most of this from a wheelchair, you know."

Casso stiffened slightly. Ericious had lost almost all of his mobility, dexterity, and coherence in a drug-overdose induced coma 9 months ago. He had shot up too much at a party and had been unconscious for a fortnight. It was astounding that he was back on his hooves with so little physical therapy. He was also, by all appearances, drug and alcohol free for the better part of the year. Ericious's tenacity startled had Casso at first, but by this stage in their relationship he had learned to treat the unicorn as a force of nature.

"Maybe you should not have returned to composition so early," Casso offered. "You should have listened to your old work a bit more."

"You think I haven't?!" Ericious cried. "I don't want to do the same old stuff! It was good, and maybe I'll write something like it in the future... But it got boring, even before... That."

This shocked Casso, as Ericious Symphonia's work was hailed all over Equestria and the surrounding nations as the apex of music, modern or otherwise. Its complexity was unrivalled, but it did not strain the ear, and it was enjoyed by commoners and nobility alike. For him to discard that, and to be so defeatist even then...

"Why?" Casso asked apprehensively, unfolding his wings slightly as a show of confusion.

"Because... It sounds... off, you know? I want to progress. I don't want to bore anypony... Least of all Luna..." he sighed.

Casso knew where this was going, and he was quick to avert the conversation to another topic.

"Shall we go into town?" he suggested.

Ericious perked up slightly at this. "Sure. I could use a drink about now..."

Casso narrowed his eyes at his friend.

"Nonalcoholic, I assure you," Ericious chuckled.

After a short trolley ride down the mountain from Ericious's alpine retreat was all it took to get to the center of Canterlot. Ericious really did have an eye for real estate, Casso noted.

After purchasing beverages, the two trotted down main street to the Central Garden. Ponies began to note their dress and cutie marks, and murmurs followed them like the wake of a ship. The Canterlot folk knew who they were, and it didn't help that Ericious filled the tabloids near-constantly these days. They had long since learned to ignore the attention, savory or otherwise.

"So, my friend, tell me about Becker and the Birds!" Casso implored. Independent of comforting Ericious, he was genuinely curious.

"Well," Ericious began after a long draught of cola, "they're soldiers through and through. I met them at a social, and whenever the ponies in charge aren't looking, they are rowdy and vulgar. But I'm no saint in that department either," he chortled. Ericious was a notorious fillychaser, and could swear with the best of them. He never completely discarded his roots; the little colt from the streets of Neighples was still there. The spirit that drove him to play the violin for scraps was what drove him to become the success he had become. Well, had been, up until recently.

"And their aforementioned musical tastes?" the dark pegasus prompted.

"Oh, yeah. They like guitar music, rock and roll; typical griffon stuff," Ericious said dismissively.

"And that's why you were heavy-hoofed with the guitar in the concerto," Casso sighed. The park was in sight, though a small band of ponies had formed behind them. "Ignore the remoras..." he huffed to himself.

"I actually wrote it with a violin and a cello in mind, but it was at Becker's request that I transposed to the guitar and added in the effects," Ericious sighed.

        Oh. A request piece. That changed things entirely... Ericious was not to blame for its nature... He was simply honoring the request of its subject. Princess Celestia had commissioned the work for the griffon heroes as a gift to celebrate their recent victory in the war against their Garuda cousins to the far south. It was diplomatic move, but it was Ericious who had to obsess over the minor details. If the tone of the music was wrong... If it sounded too simple or too complex, diplomatic relations with the Griffon Kingdom could suffer a blow, especially considering that the High Priest Denoir was there. The Griffon Kingdom's head of Church (and veritable third-in-command) was said to have an impeccable ear for music, and to have been a great admirer of Ericious's prior symphonies. The clergygriffon had once even listened in one of Ericious's chamber concerts via telephone; his shrill cry of "I can't hear him! Move me closer!" from the receiver had become legend in its own right.

        The fact that Becker had asked Ericious to alter the music which had been so meticulously crafted to please all parties was only accentuated by the fact that Ericious could not refuse him, or doom the whole purpose of the piece. Considering the circumstances, Casso though he had done a good job. Terrible work by Ericious's usual standards, but a fine compromise, especially when even this was better than most other modern music in Equestria.

"I see; that changes things a bit. Perhaps you have an original score to offer Denoir?" Giving an original score to Denoir would salvage the situation; he would, if he was as musical as he was rumored to be, appreciate it more than the compromised version.

"Yes, I  could do that, couldn't I?" Ericious said, brightening up. "Maybe one for Princess Luna, as well... You would have to give it to her, though..." Ericious cracked a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Yes, yes, of course," Casso said hurriedly, eager to stop from speaking about Princess Luna. It was a touchy subject at best, emotional devastation at the worst.

"I really appreciate it," Ericious said, hoofing at the ground awkwardly.

Shortly before his coma, Ericious had maintained a very close relationship with the Moon Goddess. Closer than anypony had been before or since. When he was with her, it was the happiest time of his life, and he spoke to Casso blissfully of the arias she sang for him punctuated by the rhythmic clacking of her abacus as she worked. But as Ericious strayed towards edgy music and even edgier company, they had grown apart. She had tolerated the first few times she saw him high, though not without rebuttal. Shortly after his overdose, she retreated to the palace and refused to see anypony for a month, least of all Ericious.

Casso was so deep in thought that he scarcely noticed the shift from cobblestone of the Canterlot street to the cool grass of the Central Garden Park.

"For someone with such a beautiful voice, Casso, you seem unusually quiet today," Ericious noted.

"My voice is only beautiful when I sing," he pointed out.

"You should sing with the Princess sometime; she's quite the songbird."

Casso froze. Ericious kept bringing Luna up. There had to be something motivating him. Maybe... He wanted to talk about her?

"Why have I never heard her before?" Casso ventured, trying to remain safe, in case he had misread his friend.

"She's terribly shy, and the guards are sworn to secrecy," Ericious chortled. "If you two sang a duet, the world would come undone."

"That beautiful, hmm?"

"Oh, she's magnificent."

Casso had heard enough. He abruptly stopped walking, and turned to face Ericious.

"Have you tried talking to her of late? I'm certain she'll be pleased that you've been..." Casso paused for a moment, searching for words. "Well, that you haven't been partying like you used to?"

"That's not what I'm worried about. The suite for Becker is so different from anything I've ever done before, and it is so contrary to Luna's musical palette... She very well might just walk out. I only get one chance to impress her enough to take me back, and I have to play... Well, you said it best. Kitschy feel-good guitar music," he sighed.

"But if you gave her the original score as well...?" Casso ventured pleadingly.

"No," Ericious barked gratingly. There was a far-off collective gasp from the gaggle of mares that had been following them.  Casso said nothing, though his wings instinctively flared a little in surprise.

"It might work with Denoir," Ericious said, his voice gravelly, juxtaposed to his normal lighthearted tone. "But not with Luna. She'd consider it an insult."

The dark pegasus thought for a moment.

"Perhaps she could stand to be insulted by a fellow songbird," he said delicately, extending his wings. He took flight, leaving a very lost and unsure Ericious behind him. The earthbound unicorn looked up at his friend, who gave him a stolid yet soft look of reassurance as he flew back to Ericious's villa. The gravity of the moment was shattered when Ericious was veritably crushed under the sudden surge of mares that converged upon him as soon as Casso left.

        Author's Note- When you're listening to the aria, do read slowly, or you'll outpace it and you'll lose the effect. Keep that in mind!

        Now, this took place the next day, just before the concert. This one's less about the concert itself, and more about what made the concert interesting. Calm down, fillies and colts, I'll get to that in good time, but for now, just relax and enjoy.

        A jaunty oboe concerto graced the air surrounding Canterlot Castle. If Casso was not directly mistaken, it was an Antponio Vivaldhay piece, "Il Sole Dea." The Sun Goddess. It surprised him to hear it during the night, but as he flew over the green, he soon learned why.

        There was a garden party of truly massive proportions occurring in the castle's courtyard. Hundreds of ponies mingled in finery that rarely graced even the most grandiose of Casso's performances. Mares and stallions stood around eating hors d'oeurves  and sipping wine, laughing haughtily, whilst the small group of colts and fillies that were present, displeased to be stuffed into the uncomfortable formal wear that their parents had donned them in, stood about with utter looks of dejection adorning their little faces. An old stallion guided guests arriving by carriage to tables, and another directed the carriages themselves.

        As he flew over the party, he could make out a single filly watching the small ensemble of players with wide eyes. "Maybe there is some hope yet for the next generation..." Casso thought with a shimmer of hope. Music had been getting increasingly more complacent in its form for years, save a few artists, such as his friend Ericious Symphonia and the virtuoso cellist Octavia Philharmonica. But they were a dying breed, it seemed.

        The music stirred faint memories in the back of Casso's mind. History of Equestrian Symphony class in the Neighples choral academy. In the year 727 After Nightmare Moon (ANM), Princess Celestia had outlawed all music dedicated to her, any music with her as the subject, or that that referenced her. Publically, it was stated that this was to prevent ponies from passively worshipping their Queen by deifying her in song, but the obsidian pegasus had heard, two mouths removed from the Sun Goddess herself (the two mouths belonging to Princess Luna and Ericious), that in reality, it was because Princess Celestia was terribly bored of hearing about herself. The Edict of Modesty, as it was known, ushered in the Classical Era, and booted out the Baroque. Recently, though nopony seemed to want to dedicate anything to Celestia, so the law was relaxed, and then quietly repealed. Luna joked about enacting her own Edict of Modesty before she refused to see Ericious; he dedicated nearly all of his later works to her.

        Casso alighted on an upper balcony of the castle after talking his way through security and showing them the oak tube in which he held reams upon reams of sheet music. He had opened it up to convince the guards that a it was indeed not full of weapons, and that they could search all they wanted, and never find anything. They let him pass, and thus he flew to Princess Luna's balcony. He could see from outside her room that her trappings were dark blue velvet and satin; opulence of the old school. He tapped his hoof lightly on the door, which flung open towards him, nearly knocking him off the balcony. A very annoyed alicorn trotted out onto the balcony. She caught sight of him and stared at the pegasus with narrowed eyes and a pouting lip. She knew why he was there.

"Casso Dolcespetto," she said softly without a change in expression.

"Your majesty, I just have a delivery, then I'll be out of your mane—" Casso began.

"It will be simply more than that, We expect," the Moon Goddess quipped. "Or else he wouldn't have sent a songbird." She turned and trotted back into her luxurious chamber. "Come in," she beckoned flatly.

        Casso followed her, unsure of how to react. He expected that she might recognize him from various operas or concerts he had performed in, hoping it might give him even the slightest amount of favor, for Ericious's sake. He hadn't anticipated this. She walked to the desk at the end of her bed, a candle illuminating leaves of paper and a quill, along with some sort of lantern.

"Come here," she commanded sternly.

        Nervous, Casso obeyed. As he got closer to her, he could make out notes and a staff on the stack of parchment. He unconsciously began to study the notes, but they were whisked away from his eyes before he could make out any detail. Princess Luna levitated the sheaves directly in front of his face, startling him immensely. His wings shot out to their full length; he was on edge to begin with, but the sudden motion put him over the edge.

        He struggled to fold them as quickly as possible; it was improper for a pegasus to show his wings in front of a lady, least of all a princess, unless he was flying. Luna's expression remained stony.

"Sing," she said bluntly, a little more loudly than the average pony.

"Pardon, your majesty?" Casso said, frightened and flustered all at once. Her expression softened slightly.

"We've been working on something, and the palace guards can't hold a tune to save their lives," she said gently. "We need somepony to provide the baritone."

Casso squinted at the sheet music she held in front of him. "I, um—"

"We will give you a lead-in," she said, her facade completely melting, revealing a warmer, gentler mare. "Just follow along with the music."

        She leaned her mouth over the glass vessel, which Casso had previously assumed was a lantern, and her horn began to glow a dim blue. The vessel began to glow as well, and the princess began to sing.

        Casso could immediately tell the vessel was a device for splitting the acoustics of her voice, for it split into an alto, tenor, and soprano all at once. The tenor seemed to resonate for far longer, creating the illusion that there were multiple voices singing the same tune. It was like nothing Casso had ever heard. It was more than just that; the acoustics of the glass seemed to work like a ventriloquist throwing her voice; Luna's voice seemed to come from all directions, piercing, but not louder than any normal singer. The sound of her aria resonated deep within his chest cavity, in a deeper space than he knew existed. When Luna began to graze the highest notes of her range, Casso felt as if he was fit to burst like a crystal glass shattered by a vocalist as a party trick. Everything Ericious had told him about her suddenly made sense. The feathers on his wings began to vibrate back and forth like his tympanum, and he felt a feeling of supreme bliss. He was so blissful, in fact, that he nearly lost his place on the sheet music. It was only when Luna slowly lifted her head away from the resonance glass that he snapped back to reality, and began to sing his own part.

        His part of the aria was simple; ostinato arpeggios written to accent the sweetness of a stallion's voice, rather than to be consciously-grabbing. The resonance glass was filled with what amounted to a mist of the former aria, providing what sounded like an ethereal choir from the background. Luna's natural voice, though was more stunning than her magically-altered one. He felt a strong feeling of pleasure along his spine ; an intense frisson he had never felt before. His wings felt as if they weren't paralyzed from sheer overstimulatory pleasure, they would have shot out to their full length. Even his hooves felt warm and full of blood. He had sung in hundreds of choirs, orchestras, and ensembles, but musically, he had never felt so whole as to be an instrument of Luna. Even  when he came to the low notes, which he typically had to force out with some difficulty, Luna's voice seemed to act as a siphon, pulling out the notes with ease.

        When Luna changed notes, the residual sound seemed to combine into a beautiful chord; she always changed to the note's fifth when she let her voice resonate. But what struck Casso was that her voice had no rough spots. She could sing fluidly with no slurring of the notes to provide the illusion of a continuous breath of music. She took breaths, but when she exhaled, her lungs made no quarter against the air around them, as if she was dealing with a lighter gas than air. It was as if she was singing in vacuum. As the song ended, and Casso was brought towards the upper end of his range, a soft falsetto, he was left breathless, and thoughtless. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.

        He looked up from the sheet music, and stared at the alicorn in awe. He fought to stop himself form laying prostrate. She was a Goddess. He couldn't find tears to cry, nor could he speak to express his joy. He just stood, too awed even to tremble, and looked at Luna.

"It could use a little more dynamic, dost thou think?" she asked, off-hoofedly.

Casso tried to make a sound, but he couldn't.

"We think We might start over; this isn't sounding quite how We wanted it to," she remarked.

It was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard, and she tore it down like it was nothing.

"It was... Rapture," Casso forced himself to say. His own voice sounded so ugly.

"That?"

"How did you sound so—"

"Smooth? We get that quite frequently. It's the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice! Speaking in VOLUME strengthens the lungs!" she bellowed cheerfully. Casso was coming out of shock, now, and finally was able to form coherent thoughts.

"That was... Beautiful. What do you call it?" he asked, still overawed, though not physically incapacitated.

"Oh, it doesn't have a name," she said, either oblivious to his reaction, or accustomed to the sort. "It wasn't anything special; We were bored this morning, and We thought We'd put something together for Dear Sister's equinox celebration. Thou sounded wonderful thineself; We wish We had another two just like you," she remarked coyly. "Ericious's praise was well-deserved."

"...Likewise," was all Casso could manage.

"Now, you came to see Us about something?"

"Yes, yes," Casso snapped back to the task at hoof. He had nearly forgotten the oak tube. "In here,
he said delicately. "Is the original score for Ericious's concerto suite tomorrow."

"Why did he will for Us to have it?" Luna enquired, suspicious.

"Because, your majesty, he's afraid you will not like it," Casso said softly.

"And what does Our opinion matter? He never paid it any heed before." Her gentle tone turned to passive poison.

"Because," Casso said. "He loves you, still."

"Because because because! Having a reason for something does not make it valid through ontological proof!" Luna snapped.

"He feels that the music is beneath you, and he doesn't want you to think less of him," Casso said, growing slightly bolder. "He values your opinion very much."

"Then why did he write it?"

"It was not meant for you. Captain Becker, I'm certain you know of him, asked Ericious for specifics within the piece that he couldn't deny!"

"And what of these specifics?"

"He knows you'll be in attendance tomorrow night, and he does want you to hear the concerto... But he offers the unaltered score without the requests added, and he feels it to be a much more appropriate piece for your ears."

Luna turned away for a moment, looking angrily at a spot on the wall as if trying to give to give the death glare to an Ericious who was not there.

"He would send a songbird!" Luna growled to herself. "Your friend is a wily drake. We will keep the score in mind after the concerto on the morrow."

"Thank you, Princess," Casso said softly. He turned to fly out of the room and back to the Ericious's villa.

"Princess?" he asked, pausing for a moment. She looked at him impassively with a neutral expression.

"Would you..." he veritably choked on his words. "Would you... Like to sing another duet sometime?"

Luna's expression remained stoic for a moment, but broke into a warm smile.

"Certainly. We would like that very much. It was good to have thee lend the sweetness of thy voice to the harsh gratings of my own," she giggled coyly.

Casso nearly went walleyed with anticipation. He would get to sing with Luna again! He flew out of the room, shouting back a clumsy 'Adieu, Princess!', and soared off towards the mountains, hardly noticing the garden party nor orchestra playing beneath him. He felt pleased with himself; he had helped his friend, and found a voice he loved more than life itself all in one night. Ericious could fool about with Luna, for all Casso cared; he just wanted to sing with her.