“So what does one wear exactly to the Equestrian Symphony Orchestra?” Paige asked as she sat still, letting Lyla Firecracker brush her mane.

“Really depends on where you live.” Harmonious Flash replied as she dried off her mane before returning it to her spiked look and tying putting on a silver bracelet and tying a forest green bandana around her neck that had a silver musical scale with the notes for la, ti, and do on it. “Those that live here in Canterlot will typically put on a fancy suit or dress. But for everypony else, either a simple dress or nothing is fine, it just matters what they feel up to.

“Are they good as everypony says they are?” Blue Jay asked with her eyes shining. “I’ve always wanted to see them but couldn’t afford to.” She didn’t add that there were often many other things she wanted to do with her hard earn bits. Walking over, she picked up another mane brush and started brushing Harmonious Flash’s mane.

Lyla Firecracker gave the brush to Paige before turning around so Paige could return the favor. “You’ll just have to see and hear that for yourself.” She said, knowing the best way for that question to be answered was for one to experience it themselves.

After returning the favor to Blue Jay, Harmonious Flash got up and walked over to the closet. “When you girls are ready, I have a surprise for you.” She waited until she had the other three undivided attention before opening the closet and pulling out four blank, white bags. “Go ahead and open them.” She said after passing them to a specific pony and opening hers.

Blue Jay’s dress was a simple sky blue color with a small V-shape opening in front and had wing holes on the side. “Simple but charming.” She said after putting it on with her tail and wings fitting through the material perfectly as it stopped just short of the ground. Intentionally or not, the light blue material made her black tipped white wings stand out more.

Lyla Firecracker’s dress was a graphite grey in color with a single strap over her shoulder that left her fore-hooves free. As she slipped on the matching socks, the shifted and the light caught the small pieces of glitter embedded into the dress causing her to sparkle a little.

Paige’s dress surprised everypony. Hers was a dark navy blue with some black parts along with various shades of red, from pink to crimson mixed in at different places. Everywhere on the dress were dots of silvery-white, some small and others large or clustered together and there was even a swirl. “You turned me into a galaxy.” Paige said with a smile, not caring since it fit with her family heritage.

Harmonious Flash’s dress was a dark, strapless maroon in color, easily the shortest of the four in terms of length as it stopped a quarter of the way down her legs. “I take it you like your dresses?” She grinned as she looked over her friends before adding a small saddle bag to her side. “Makes me really glad I guess right.”

“I was wondering why you didn’t want us to go with you that day.” Lyla Firecracker replied as it made sense to her. “And yes, I do.”

“Of course I do.” Blue Jay smiled as she checked herself in the mirror.

“It’s different, but I wonder where this galaxy is.” Paige said as she tried connecting the stars. “If it even exist.”

“It’s probably somewhere in the Ford Galaxy.” Lyla Firecracker giggled before pointing to Paige’s flank. “Though that star looks similar to Uranus.”

Paige blushed deeply before she smacked Lyla Firecracker upside the head. “You’re simply the worst.”

“Totally worth it.” Lyla Firecracker laughed as she walked over to Harmonious Flash to get away from hand more hoof smacks. “Thanks, Harmony. I love this.” She kissed Harmonious Flash’s cheek as she hugged her.

“Believe it or not, you were the most difficult to get a dress for, so I’m glad you love this one.” Harmonious Flash said before leaning close to her friend’s ear. “I had the same idea.” She whispered and the two shared a giggled.

“Are you two finished?” Paige asked with a raised eyebrow, not fully sure she wanted to know what the whisper was about.

“Do you think I should wear this?” Blue Jay asked and when her friends turned to look at her, they saw her by her saddlebags wearing a silver necklace with her cutie mark on it. The blue was a rich sapphire and it glittered when it caught the light. It took much of Paige’s willpower not to stare, even though Blue Jay had only added a simple necklace.

“O… of course you should. It… it looks good on you.” Paige complimented and received a warm smile in return, something that made her heart flutter.

“When did you get that?” Harmonious Flash asked as Blue Jay walked back over to them.

“My parents got it made for me the day after I got my cutie mark. I just don’t wear it often in case I forget where I put it.” Blue Jay replied. “So really I only pull it out for special occasions, and this night seems like it’d fall into that category.

“Hey, four mares gong to a concert, I say that’s a special occasion alright.” Lyla Firecracker said and held her hoof up, which was quickly hoof bumped by three others hooves. “Shall we head out?”

As the four walked down the cobblestone streets of Canterlot, they could see the sun setting along with the magically powered lamps coming to life and casting the area in a warm glow. A soft, slightly cool breeze kept things pleasant and while some ponies were heading home, several others were still enjoying the evening as they chatted aimlessly about everything and nothing. The four of them turned down the road that would take them to Symphony Hall and paused at the sight before them.

Seven tables sat on an orange terrace while six more tables sat on the cobblestone just off the terrace with all thirteen tables having 2 chairs. Above the terrace there was an awning painted a yellowish-orange and roughly in the middle, there was a large, singular lamp giving light to the terrace. On the side furthest from them, a wall with a window showing drawn curtains with shadows of ponies having a good time. Along the wall to their left where the awning was attached, there was another window and still closer was an open doorway with two long hangers –one on either side of it– and were empty for the night. Both walls matched the color of the awning and from inside, came the sounds of ponies clapping, music to dance to, and much laughter. Across the street to their right stood a large tree with long branches with another street separating the tree from a small corner store that stood closed for the night. High above the city, the first stars were beginning to emerge.

“Wow.” Blue Jay muttered as she stood in place for a moment. “It looks beautiful.”

“I’d bring my partner here anytime on a night like this.” Lyla Firecracker agreed and they spent a few more seconds looking at the place, until a unicorn mare walked out and the four of them blinked as the ‘spell’ was broken.

“Le Café La Nuit.” Paige read the name on the side of the café between the door and window as they passed by, making sure to file that information away for later and to brush up on her French.

They reached Symphony Hall, a large grey building with several revolving doors and many large semi-circular windows surrounded by stone archways. As they entered, their breaths were taken away by the plush red carpeting with a gold pattern in it, the shale white walls with portraits of famous composers outlined in gold. To the left, the hallway led to the bathrooms, the lower level seats, and the gift shop. To their right –which the girls walked down– led to a large open area and the floor became polished white marble while the walls supported large black boards with white lettering thanking those who had donated bits and the amount fell under a certain range.

There were a couple of elevators down another short hallway and by seeing that hallway, it was easy to spot a wet bar serving customers various drinks and simple snacks right next to it. Along the wall to their right was a large staircase heading straight up to the balcony level seats with a rainbow falls in front of it, but far enough that no pony could touch it from the stairs.

“We need to go up two levels.” Harmonious Flash said as she pulled out the tickets from the saddle bag and started up the stairs with her friends following her. They soon came to a landing where they could turn right or continued on up so they just kept walking straight. When they reached the next landing, they turned right and headed for the door number that was printed on their tickets. Inside, they presented their tickets to one of the staff ponies and he led them to their seats, which were in the middle section, front row of the balcony.

On either side of the stage there were three box seats that could easily sit sixteen ponies each. Each of them were covered by a gold arch and various works of musical art on the walls. The stage stood in the center with a polish, dark wood with a conductor podium in the middle of a semi-circle of chairs and music stands for a full orchestra. Soft lights help illuminate the place along with an ordinate glass chandelier near the ceiling.

There was a few soft chimes before a spoke pony spoke “The Equestrian Symphony Orchestra kindly request everypony to make their way to their seats. The performance will be starting in fifteen minutes. Thank you.” It went quiet, but heard as more ponies were starting to fill the seats.

“Makes me glad we got here before the announcement.” Paige said and Harmonious Flash nodded.

“Which is why I didn’t plan to linger too much down there.” Harmonious Flash sat on the end, then Lyla Firecracker, followed by Paige, and Blue Jay sat in the last seat they had tickets for. Fifteen minutes later, the doors were closed and all the lights dimmed, except for the ones that were attached to the music stands.

“Here we go!” Blue Jay said excitedly as her eyes and ears became glued to the stage.

A pegasus colt wearing a black tuxedo walked on stage and bowed to the audience once he reached the podium. “Good evening everypony. My name is Sonata May, I shall be your conductor for this performance. On behalf of the staff, the musicians, and myself, we welcome you to the Equestrian Symphony Orchestra and thank you for attending.” As he finished, the audience clapped or stomped their hooves so he had to wait until it died down before continuing. “As you might know, tonight is our last performance before we take a break for a few months. For those that don’t know, our tradition has been that we choose a musician among us and ask that they pick the music you’ll be listening to shortly.” When he finished, Octavia walked out on stage and bowed.

“Tonight, the other musicians have elected Ms. Octavia Melody to pick the music.” Sonata May then went into a little background information about her before letting her take over.

“Good evening everypony.” Octavia greeted as she scanned the crowd for Vinyl Scratch, her mood dropping slightly but the smile remained on her face. She did see Blue Jay and her friends so that helped a little. “About tonight’s program. The first performance will be a solo that I composed with a colt named Evening Star. The second performance will be Marezart’s fifth symphony. Then we’ll have a short break. When we come back, five others and I will be preforming Robert Frobisher’s Cloud Atlas Sextet. The last song shall remain a surprise for now.” She bowed once more.

“We hope you enjoy the show.” Sonata May said as he and Octavia walked off stage with ponies clapping.

There was maybe three minutes before the musicians walked onto the stage which set off another round of applause and it continued until after they had all taken their seats and Sonata May had walked back out and was standing on the podium facing the musicians. A brief tuning period was preformed and once the musicians were ready, they looked up at Sonata May, who looked at Octavia and nodded.

"In my life" Octavia began, “I know of a mare. She is a loud, annoying ruffian. She loves... and composes dubsteps. Hardly a lady. But she is also my friend... Whom I'm sure that I can count on in my darkest days. Our friendship has its highs and lows, but I cherish each and every moment like a great adventure. She's not here to watch, but nevertheless... I dedicate this piece to my best friend, Vinyl Scratch.” When she finished sparking, she drew her bow across the strings softly as she and the others began playing.

As the first few notes reached the back, Vinyl Scratch chuckled. Geez, Tavi, I was late only for a few seconds and started talking as if I was dead. She thought to herself. It was only due to her reputation that she had been able to get in once they had closed the doors and for that, she was thankful. As she watched her marefriend play, she noticed there were pale pink flowers floating down to the stage from somewhere while the lights changed color to represent a setting sun but she didn’t care about that, for all she saw –and heard– was Octavia, her most beautiful mare in the world, playing a majestic piece… one that had been dedicated to her. By midway, she realized she had tears running down her cheeks so he levitated her glasses up before using a fore-hoof to wipe the tears away and decided to leave the glasses off, lest she needed to wipe more tears away.

The ‘sun’ fully set as Octavia and the orchestra played the final notes leaving the stage dark for a couple of seconds, the music stand lights taking the place of the stars. As the lights came back up on low, the audience applauded and Octavia noticed there were a few magic sparks in the back and noticed an unicorn –her Vinyl– standing on her rear hooves waving both her fore-hooves in the air and though Vinyl Scratch’s eyes glistened, there was a huge smile on her face. Octavia held a fore-hoof to her lips and blew Vinyl Scratch a kiss… and was promptly sent several back.

When the song ended, Paige was clapping along with everypony else when she heard a sniffle besides her. “Blue Jay? Are you alright?” She asked seeing the pegasus with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Blue Jay nodded and weakly muttered. “Yeah... it was so beautiful.”

Paige realized Blue Jay was going to say more, but saw her lip quiver before a new wave of tears tell. “Aww, come here.” Blue Jay leaned towards her and Paige wrapped a hoof around Blue Jay’s shoulders and held her close as Blue Jay cried quietly.

“She okay?” Lyla Firecracker asked Paige in a whisper as the applauses were beginning to die down.

“Yeah, she was just moved a bit too much.” Paige replied quietly and Lyla Firecracker then repeated it to Harmonious Flash as the orchestra began playing Marezart’s fifth symphony. When the song finished, all the lights were turned up as the intermission began.

“Do any of you girls want anything?” Lyla Firecracker asked as she stood up and stretched.

“No thanks.” Blue Jay replied from where she still leaned against Paige’s shoulder, even though she had stopped shedding tears, she found herself too comfortable to feel like moving.

“I’d like some mint water please.” Paige requested politely, also not feeling much desire to move with Blue Jay still snuggled into her.

“I’m good.” Harmonious Flash replied. “Would you like me to come with you?”

“You’re fine, Harmony. Hopefully I can get them” Lyla Firecracker said as she headed for the lobby once she grabbed Harmonious Flash’s saddlebag.

Reaching the lobby, Lyla Firecracker groaned as she saw the line of ponies waiting to get something to drink. Knowing full well she probably wouldn’t get anything, she got into line on the slim chance that she could. The line moved slowly and she hadn’t gone all that far when she felt a hoof tap her shoulder. “Hi Vinyl, how are you?”

Vinyl Scratch –now wearing her sunglasses– gave Lyla Firecracker a big smile to show she was doing good before she pointed to her.

“I’m doing well, thanks for asking.” Lyla Firecracker moved with the line. “You’re very lucky to have Octavia. The song she dedicated to you had Blue jay tearing up with how beautiful it was. Did you enjoy it?”

Vinyl nodded before pointing to her herself, then raising her hoof to her glasses and running it down her cheek.

“You teared up as well?”

Vinyl nodded once, then she looked alarmed and quickly held up a hoof before reaching into her saddlebag to pull out a letter.

Lyla Firecracker took the letter and noticed it had Harmonious Flash’s name on it so she put it into the saddlebag. There was an announcement that the performance would be continuing shortly and so she looked at the long line before sighing in defeat. “Take care Vinyl.”

Vinyl nodded and held up a hoof, which Lyla Firecracker returned the hoof bump before they headed back to their respective seats.

Vinyl made her way down to the front row in front of the stage and sat down before looking up to see Octavia tuning her cello. When they locked eyes, Vinyl Scratch assaulted her with many air kisses.

Octavia plucked her strings and adjusted the tension on the knobs until an electric blue mane caught her eye. Glancing up, she saw Vinyl grinning so she waved and received a ton of air kisses, causing her to giggle and blowing Vinyl Scratch a kiss before returning to tuning her cello.

This time only six members were on stage; a flute player, oboe, violin, piano, clarinet, and Octavia with her cello. As they were tuning, one of the violin player’s stings snapped with a dull thump causing him to groan before rushing off stage.

Harmonious Flash jumped when a letter was dropped into her lap and looked up to see Lyla Firecracker.

“Message for you.” Lyla Firecracker said as she sat back down. “Sorry, Paige, there was no way I could get close to the wet bar.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Paige replied before glancing over to Harmonious Flash. “What does the letter say?”

“It’s from Octavia. She wants me to meet her in the lobby after the performance.” Harmonious Flash turned the letter over. “She doesn’t say why though.” There wasn’t any more time to speak at Sonata May came on stage, bowed once, and then stood on the podium with the baton in hoof.

First the piano player began to play softly and as it rose in volume, the other instruments played softly until both violin and cello interrupted causing the piano to fade into the background.

As the song was played, Blue Jay found herself waving her hoof to a 4/4 time signature while she really watched Sonata May use his wings to help conduct the music. She was impressed how he had complete control of everything with simple wing motions and wondered if she could do something like that one day.

Quietly, a pale earth mare walked on stage and faced the audience. She waited until there was an interruption before speaking slowly. “Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others. Past and present, and by each crime, and each kindness, we build our future.” She finished just before the instruments changed.

Blue Jay stopped moving altogether as she reflected on the words the mare had spoken. She recited it a few times in her head before returning to the orchestra and listening to the rest of the song, not fully realizing the impact those words had on her.

The last note was played and the audience clapped at Sonata May lowered is wings and the baton while the rest of the orchestra members came on stage at the same time that lone mare walked off stage.

There was another brief tuning session but the moment the final song began playing, Harmonious Flash gasped and she covered her mouth with her hooves as she recognized the piece she composed: Springtime Friendship. She leaned forward far enough that Lyla Firecracker put a hoof onto her shoulder so she didn’t fall over, not that it would matter with Harmonious Flash being a pegasus and all, but it wouldn’t have been good.

As Blue Jay, Lyla Firecracker, and Paige only heard it a few times, it took them longer to realize that the orchestra members was playing Harmonious Flash’s song and they looked over at her to see their friend watching the orchestra members intently. As they looked back to the stage, they realized that there had only been a week to learn to learn this.

Harmonious Flash blocked everything out except for the orchestra members playing and listening to the music, comparing her version with this one. She had to admit that most of the adjustments were better but there were a few spots she didn’t fully agree with. Still, she wasn’t going to complain as she was finally getting to hear her song played how it was meant to be minus a couple instruments.

While they played Springtime Friendship, Octavia was tempted to look up towards Harmonious Flash and see her reaction when the latter realized the song. Though she knew she could rival Yu Yu Mei in terms of playing without looking at the sheet music, she didn’t want to risk messing up so she concentrated solely on playing.

Six minutes later, there was silence for a couple minutes when the orchestra played the final not and let it gradually fade, then there was a thunderous applause which was accomplished by the pounding of everypony’s hooves. Sonata May knew, as he turned, that he’d be facing a standing ovation and the crowd didn’t disappoint. He bowed twice before turning and motioning the orchestra members to stand with his wings. Looking back to the audience, he extended his right wing for a moment, then he retracted that wing and extended the left one. With the whistles coming from various ponies, he extended both wings and bowed deeply before standing up straight and directing the orchestra members off the stage once his wings were at his sides again.

Octavia took a moment to find Harmonious Flash and gave her a subtle nod and smile before looking down at Vinyl Scratch. She beamed when she looked at her marefriend, no doubt Vinyl Scratch would be cheering the loudest if she could and with those images in her mind, she walked off stage.

Harmonious Flash had been one of the first ponies standing and stomping her hooves before Sonata May turned. After he held his wing to Octavia’s side, she caught the cellist’s eye and mouthed a silent “thank you.” She knew the message was received when Octavia nodded once. As Sonata May and the orchestra members began leaving the stage, the applause was still going strong until the last pony left and only then it died down as the audience began packing up and heading out themselves.

“That was so bucking cool!” Lyla Firecracker exclaimed as the applause died down.

“And a nice surprise at the end.” Blue Jay chimed in, doing her best to ignore the side of her that was now cold without Paige’s body heat there to keep her warm. “You realized it right away didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Totally didn’t expect that’s what Octavia met.” Harmonious Flash choked out as she tried to hold back her joyful tears.

“Do you need a moment?” Paige asked, missing Blue Jay’s warmth as well.

Harmonious Flash shook her head. “No, I’m good.” She said as they started walking.

“It was funny, all three of us realized it at the same time and turned our heads to look at you.” Lyla Firecracker laughed.

“Really? I completely missed that.” Harmonious Flash tried picturing it.

“Yeah, and we were like, huh?” Blue Jay acted out what they did for Harmonious Flash’s benefit. The action ended up with Blue Jay and Paige walking closer, but neither said anything.

Vinyl Scratch watched the departing crowd and when she saw Harmonious Flash, she waved them over before leading them to a spot where they could be close to Octavia to hear her, but still out of everypony’s way.

Octavia glanced over the shoulder of the pony she was talking to and saw Vinyl Scratch had gotten their friends over. Seeing the long line, she knew she had to make this brief. “Excuse me for a moment.” She walked over to the group. “Did you enjoy the concert?”

“We did.” Blue Jay said happily.

“Yeah, first song here ever and it had you in tears.” Lyla Firecracker teased and nudged Blue Jay playfully, earning a blush from the pegasus before Blue Jay retaliated by sticking her tongue out at Lyla Firecracker.

“You and the others did really well.” Harmonious Flash said. “I wasn’t expecting to hear Springtime Friendship tonight.”

“I figured you wouldn’t, but I also felt you should hear it at least once as you intended it.” Octavia smiled before looking at Vinyl Scratch. “And you owe me twenty bits.”

Vinyl Scratch rolled her eyes before kissing Octavia’s forehead.

“I promise we can talk later, but I do need to get back to that line.” Octavia then leaned in close to Harmonious Flash’s ear. “Stick around, you deserve to hear these comments as much as I do.” With that, she walked back over to the pony she was conversing with and resume talking.

“Wait a second.” Blue Jay thought out loud. “If you two are together and you owe her bits, wouldn’t that be the same as putting bits on the table, then running around to the other side and taking them off the table?” She asked and Vinyl nodded.

“Let’s go check out the gift shop for a while.” Paige suggested. “If you don’t mind, Harmony?” She asked and Harmonious Flash shook her head so she and Vinyl stayed behind while the others went to the gift shop.

Harmonious Flash listened to the compliments, glad to hear the good things were outweighing the bad but it was when she heard a pony asked Octavia to reveal the composer and song title that she froze. Thankfully she didn’t have to worry as Octavia told the pony she couldn’t reveal that answer.

When Octavia heard the question, she glanced over to Harmonious Flash and saw her freeze before looking back at the pony in front of her. “I’m afraid I can’t answer either of those questions. The composer wishes to remain anonymous for now, she has had a… history with that song, hence why we didn’t reveal it before hoof.” The pony thanked her for her time before leaving. After a while, Blue Jay, Paige, and Lyla Firecracker rejoined Vinyl Scratch and Harmonious Flash and by this time, most of the ponies had gone home for the night. Octavia rejoined her friends and was about to say something when she heard a familiar voice.

“Ms. Melody.” Sonata May greeted.

Octavia turned around. “Mr. Sonata.”

“I have to hoof it to you. Had it been anypony else, I would have enforced my rule about not having any new music a month before the concert, but I’m glad you convinced me to let you play your mysterious song.” Sonata May praised her

“Thank you, sir. Again, I apologize for the last minute addition. However, it really made the composer’s night.”

“All of you did me proud, so I can overlook the last minute addition. Providing it doesn’t become a common occurrence.” Despite Sonata May’s tone sounding annoyed, his body language proved he wasn’t too serious. “I only wish I could meet the composer. I wouldn’t mind telling him or her they composed a great song.” A flicker of regret appeared on his face, but it was gong just as quickly. “You’ll pass my message along right?”

“Actually sir, she already heard it.” Octavia turned a little and touched Harmonious Flash’s shoulder. “This is the composer, Harmonious Flash.”
“Please to meet you.” Sonata May said as they shook hooves. “Ms. Melody told me a little of the backstory and I’m impressed that you wrote this without anypony helping or instructing you.” He paused for a moment. “However, Ms. Melody would never reveal the name of the song.”
Harmonious Flash was silent for a moment, then she remembered where she was. “It’s called Springtime Friendship, Mr. May.”

“I might have known, it would certainly explain why it sounded familiar. Well, good night Ms. Flash, Ms. Melody.” Sonata May said as he started walking away heading for the doors. Reaching the doors, he paused for a moment and looked over his shoulder. “To be honest, I think I think a slight touch up of the original version is needed but I’m still keeping my record of it.” He finished and left the building before anypony could respond.

“He… He…” Harmonious Flash tried to speak but her brain was too busy trying to process what Sonata May had said.

“I’m speechless. It’s hard enough for us to get praise from him, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard him praising anypony who was outside the ESO.” Octavia said as she stared at the door for a couple minutes. Blinking a few times, she turned and face Harmonious Flash. “I have a proposition for you.”

“Okay?” Harmonious Flash asked as her mind finally began working properly again.

“I want you to compose more music that I, the other Orchestra members, and Vinyl will perform at our shows. In turn, I will help you to become a better composer. I had planned on asking you tonight, I just didn’t expect Mr. May to come over before I could ask.

Harmonious Flash looked at Octavia, to her friends, and back to Octavia. “I’ll take you up on your offer. But, I’ll probably need help with Vinyl’s work.”

“Of course, we can talk about that later. But for now, let’s have fun.” Octavia said and there was a round of cheers as they headed out to have fun, Octavia’s cello case being levitated by Vinyl Scratch.

Author's Notes:

Disclaimer: I don't own My Little Pony, Hasbro does.

Special thanks to:
Evening Star, for composing the song titled Octavia
Trollface, for allowing me to use his comment. Though originally he had it that Vinyl spoke, I changed it to Vinyl thinking.

I'm pleased to say I do own Blue Jay, Paige, Harmonious Flash, Kitsune/Feral Lupus, Lyla Firecracker, Minako, and Shadow.

Fainthoof is used with permission from Damien, a good friend of mine.

As always, constructive criticism is welcome. It'll help me to improve my writing and seeing what people liked.