Album 1: The Greatest Gala Ever

Chapter 14: The Concert

After waking up in the infirmary from our fall and meeting Marty, the day had gone smoothly in setting up the concert. I sat with Luna and Celestia next to their thrones.

"So, since this is our last stop, I figure we could sing something a little more....... sophisticated," Griffin said to the crowd of ponies. Gilda whispered something in his ear, the response being in another whisper. Griffin then scanned the crowd, looking for-- “THERE! Knightmare, Princess Celestia, come on down!"

I blinked in confusion. "Whowhahuh?"

Aoi blew out a whistle in a tease. "This is your chance, Knightmare!"

"Yeah! You heard me! Get on down here!" The crowd murmured at what he’s suggesting, and Celestia facehoofed.

I looked to Celestia. "Should we?"

Celestia walked on stage, giving her subjects a beaming smile before casting Griffin a nervous glance. "What exactly is your plan?"

"Oh..... you'll see."

I started buzzing about, happy to be onstage. But still, just WHAT has this egomaniac of a griffin planned?

Griffin walked up to me and whispered in my ear, and I nodded as he tells me his plan. "Think you can get her to do it?" He asked.

I felt my lips slowly lift into a happy smile.

Celestia rolled her eyes, having overheard the conversation. "I'll do it, but you'll owe me for this."

"Oh come on, it'll be fun, Celly.” Celestia gave Griffin a look at the nickname.

"Wait a sec, did you just....... why is EVERYONE a mind reader?" Griffin demanded.

Celestia smirked. “Try not to think too hard about puberty."

I giggled. "Wait, who's gonna owe you? Me or Griffin?"

“You, Griffin, and that wolf currently laughing his ass off where he thinks I can't see him."

I blushed. "Anything for you, milady." Yep, as dorky as ever. At least when Celestia gives the order.

"I'll just call it paying you back for this morning,” Griffin said. "Ready? Gilda, Nadene, you ready?" The crew nodded their assent. Wait, where’s Trixie? "Here we go. Just pour your magic in that gem, and we'll handle the spells. Knight, your guitar? We won't be using the music spell, since Nadene knows how to play drums. Apparently, it's a tribal thing. And...... I'm on keyboard...." he finished dejectedly.

I spun my guitar happily, belting out a quick riff. Griffin sat down at the keyboard and Nadene started tapping her drumsticks together.

Griffin cleared his throat. "A one, two, one two three four!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6QBaZHltJw

I rolled my eyes at Griffin and the Princess' attempts to silently bicker. "OK, so everyone's underestimating each other, what do we do now?"

Griffin scratched his chin. "Thank you Canterlot! That was your very own Princess Celestia singing 'Call Me'. So, for the NEXT song..... I'm thinking...... Prince Blueblood."

The crowd looked around till the pompous white unicorn was found, and a spotlight came to rest on him.

Blueblood became a tad nervous. “Who.... ME?”

“No, the white unicorn behind you!” I said teasingly, until I saw that there actually IS another white unicorn behind him. “Better yet, Fancypants! Why don't you join up, too?”

"Come on down you two, you're the next contestants on Equestrian Idol!" Griffin called. How he kept a straight face is a mystery, because I was about to crack up over there!

I snickered, fighting to keep a straight face. "Psst, Griff, Princess....this is gonna friggin' rock!"

Griffin joined the laughter. "Of course it is, it WAS my idea after all."

"Most nobles receive voice training at a young age, many of them sing at a professional level,” Celestia told us.

"That's kinda the point? Nobody wants to listen to bad singing," Griffin explained.

I snorted a bit before nodding. "Yep, if they sucked at singing I'd probably blast 'em off stage with my own music."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5fBcc7oxEw

I..I don't think Griffin noticed me joining the dance...solely to humiliate Blueblood without him noticing. If he did, he never mentioned it.

"Well, there we have it. If Celestia, Blueblood, and Fancypants can stop being stuffy and unwind, then there's hope yet for the rest of you,” Griffin announced, barely containing his laughter. "Alright, alright....... whew........" He wiped a tear from his eye. "Pretty good guys, not bad at all. Let's seeeeeeee...... Knight, you wanna pick the next one?"

I grinned evilly and motioned for Griffin to come closer so that I could whisper in his ear."Uh huh. Uh huh. Ohh, that's good... do it."

I hopped up. "LUNA! Come on down! It's yoooouuuuurrrrrr tuuuuurrrrnnnnn!!!!" The opening riff of 'Fantasmic' began playing, caused by the buzzing of my wings.

“Ooooh no,” Luna retorted. “I am NOT going down there.....”

Griffin got a maniacal look in his eye. "Do I need to come up and get you?"

I laughed a little bit. "The Mistress of the Lunar Forge is afraid of a lil' music? Oh, this is RICH!"

Celestia whispered to Griffin, "Leave this one to me." She turns back to her sister in the crowd. "Oh, Woooooooooooooooonaaaaaa~... If you don't come down I'm going to have to-" Celestia got cut off when Luna tackled her at near Mach speeds.

Luna zoomed off her balcony from the efforts of her older sister, nearly faceplanting on the stage before being caught and stabilized by Gilda.

"Glad you could make it, Woona," Griffin said intentionally into the microphone, causing a peal of laughter to come from the crowd as the midnight blue pony turned red with blush.

I gave Luna a nice huggle. "Dun' worry, Woona, ish an ad'awwable name!"

"Remove thine appendages from mine neck! I will not be made a part of this foolishness!" Luna demanded.

I quickly zipped behind Celestia. "I've seen what she can do, first hand...."

"Oh yes you will, or do I need to tell everyone about your abacus?" Griffin taunted. Luna’s eyes turn to pinpricks.

"You wouldn't dare......"

"All of Canterlot knowing about little Abbey,” Griffin continued.

I joined in on the taunting as well. "Oh! I heard you singing lil' Abbey to sleep last night! Why else would I want you to join! You're a BEAUTIFUL singer!" A DAMN good singer.

Luna grumbled, "FINE."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WVP3JUCwGQ

As Luna sung, Griffin headed backstage to sit for a while.

For the hell of it, I played an unexpected riff as the song came to an end, patting Luna on the back. "That wasn't so bad, now was it, Princess?"

Griffin walked back out on stage. "See Luna? It's not so bad. As if ponies are honestly going to boo their princess."

"The trolling griffin is correct, dear sister,” Celestia complimented. “Your singing is quite good."

“Well, I admit that it was...... fun," Luna replied.

Griffin fired a wink at me, since we're both thinking the same thing.

I chuckled and winked back, my face asking silently, 'Wanna make a literal shout out?'

Griffin tilted his head. ‘To who?’

I nodded to Luna. So far the conversation has taken barely a tenth of a second.

Griffin nodded back before me and him both shouted, "THE FUN HAS BEEN DOUBLED!"

The timing was almost PERFECT, the infamous line being heard perfectly by everypony. Most of the ponies looked around in confusion, while Luna face-hoofed.

I laughed a bit. "Anyone from Ponyville ought to remember THAT line!"

I watched, however, as the Mane Six, Lyra, Bonbon, and several other Ponyville natives began giggling happily.

"Alright, well, you've all had your fun, so.... get off my stage,” Griffin barked at me and the Princesses. “Go on, you heard me. Back to the audience with you."

I gave a hug to both Celestia and Luna. "Shall we, ladies?"

"Not you, Knight, you're staying up here for the rest of the show."

I stopped in my tracks, "Whojibebewhadda?"

"You heard me."

I gave a low bow to the Princesses and walked back onto the stage, prepared for ANYTHING this crazy cat-bird flipper baby might try to pull.....

"So, Knight, you know Lonely Boy by the Black Keys?" Griffin asked me.

I blinked and frowned at the question. "Heard of it, never actually listened to it."

Griffin looked at me in disdain. "Seriously?”

I frowned even more. "I'm willing to bet you've never heard of Sabaton, either."

"Different tastes I suppose........"

I nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. Then again, there's some classics no one can top."

"Hmm, I wonder if.....would that work? Hold still for a second, I'm gonna try something... Don't give me that look, it isn't dangerous.... at least I think it isn't..........Memoria a Musica."

I gave a short smile as the song comes on in my head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV5OGh8D-ok

I began playing the guitar of the song flawlessly.

"Gilda, you mind taking keyboard?” Griffin asked his mate. “I'm going on the mic."

"Sure," Gilda responded as she got behind the keyboard.

"Knight, you're gonna sing the chorus with me, got it?"

I nodded. "Rock on, dude."

I raised both arms, making 'The Horns' with both hands, basking in the roar of the crowd.

"Griffin...THIS....is what I LIVE for!" I could literally feel their love flow into me, freely given, no impediments whatsoever. I whistled loudly to stop the cheering. "EVERYPONY! MAY I PLEASE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION!?"

"Um..... MY show?” Griffin took control of the board. "YO! PONIES! SHUT UP AND LISTEN!"

I waited patiently for the roar of the crowd to die down before I grabbing the mic. "Now, it has come to my attention that some of our esteemed nobility disliked our little...incident at the Gala... Griffin, would you like to do the honors?"

"I'm not apologizing......”

I rolled my eyes at the griffin’s unenthusiasm. "Fine then, allow ME to apologize for the trouble we've caused..." I grinned and began buzzing a familiar tune...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng_t5D8tVvM

"SORRY FOR PARTY ROCKIN’!"

Celestia mimicked Griffin's voice perfectly without moving her lips. "I'd like to sincerely apologize for any and all transgressions on my fault for I am a dodo and did not know better."

"HEY! I did NOT say that."

Celestia continued mimicking Griffin. "Yes I did."

I went full 'Show Stealer' mode and hip-bumped Griffin offstage, watching him bodysurf across the crowd as they rock out to the song. Griffin just laid back, content to crowd surf.

I finished the song, leaning against Celestia, who's leaning against me, having joined the song halfway through. We began laughing, with my gigglefit powerful enough to send me toppling over.

"Meh, I guess it's alright."

“Ah, screw it. Here I come!" Gilda dived off the stage, followed by a giggling Nadene

I shot a grin at Celestia. "Shall we join, milady?'

"And now we make our escape. Celestia, you will forever remember this as the day you ALMOST caught Captain Griffin North!" The creature in question hollered.

I gave chase, hopping into the crowd without a worry alongside Lyra and Bonbon, who had also remained onstage after joining. At some point. I keep missing all these ponies just appearing. I hopped off of the crowd, chasing down the fleeing Griffin and his crew.

"Quick, let's get out of here!" They began flying and making a beeline towards the Possibility, still moored at the tower by the under-repair gala building.

I buzzed my wings and gained a lot of lift in my jumps as I hopped high and fast to keep up with Griff's crew.

"Going somewhere?" Celestia called as she teleported upon Griffin’s ship. Griffin's crew that stayed was spread around deck, wrapped and gagged tightly in her magic.

I landed and slid unexpectedly, tripping over Griffin and landing right in front of Celestia, "I...almost had 'em, Princess..."

Griffin let out a sigh. “Right, you can teleport...... Well, let's get this whole 'you murdering me' thing done and over with."

I sat up straight and said "That...was kinda fun."

Celestia horn flashed and turned Griffin bright pink. "Easy enough."

I blinked a few times........"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Only the manliest of men are not afraid to wear pink in public," Griffin said nonchalantly. "You’ll have to do better than that if you want to break me."

Celestia stood up and walked around the pink griffin, running an appraising eye over his new color. "There's a certain ceremony you will be attending tomorrow morning, no excuses."

I chuckled, turning into Pinkie Pie....Cupcakes version, "Oh, we have WAYS of making you TALK....er, cooperate!”

"Knight, you didn't say it with v's for w's, and now it's totally been ruined," Griffin admonished.

“Okay, then, ve have VAYS of making you TOCK!"

"Too late, the moment has passed, but fine, whatever, I'll be there. I assume there's something else you wanted to talk to me about?" The griffin asked Celestia.

Celestia's expression turned serious, but her eyes were filled with pity. "There is. I'm sorry."

Griffin turned to us and said "Hey guys, I'll be fine. Mind bailing for a bit?"

I blinked, going silent before finally speaking again. "Uh...Gilda...cute cat lady....I think it's best we give 'em time alone..."

"Yeah, go on, get some sleep, I'll be fine....." Griffin trailed off.

I shifted from Cupcakes-Pinkie mode back to my original changeling form and walked out the door, followed by Griffin's crew. “Later, dude, Goodnight, my Princess.” They learned, later, that we heard everything they said. Hate as a power and an all-consuming darkness. I then and there vowed to do my damnedest to keep Griffin from killing himself. And to make sure that, if she were ever in that situation again, I'd be her Knight in shining armor....