lincolnshirepony

@Sterling Crimson Listening intently, Blue Note tried to pick out any instrument sounds. "I think I hear some trombone sounds," she said. "They must not be too far from where they were." She took off after the regular trombone sounds, aware of the background instruments around them. There was no harp to distract her this time. "Should I allow the spell to have us a make a sound as well? They would be able to hear us coming that way, though the assassin could too..."

Blue Note grinned at Sterling as he sang along with the carol. He really knew how to get into this holiday. She sung along a little more softly, which was more singing that she had done at the pageant in years. This year, she felt like she could do it sincerely. She almost did not want the pageant to end, but she was looking forward to the rest of the holiday.

@Sterling Crimson "I think so," Blue Note said. "It doesn't feel like dark magic." She hoped that her hunch was correct. "I think the harp wanted to lead me here. I wonder if there's a connection between the blueness of the orb and me..." She wanted to examine it, maybe try a few spells, but she didn't even know where to start. "Either way, I'm positive that this was meant for me." Blue Note realized that she had taken them on quite a detour. "Sorry about that. I just didn't feel like this was something to ignore. I'll get us back on track to finding the others." She regained her hold on the spell. Now that the harp had disappeared, the other instrument sounds could be heard again.

"I'll just look it up after the production," Blue Note said. It always bothered her when she recognized a pony, but couldn't quite place them. The acting was wonderful either way, and she loved the story as much as ever. She had always wished something parallel to it could play out in her own life. All the ponies in her life would make peace, unite, and be healed by the magic of friendship. Sometimes it seemed like it was just a story though, distorted through the eons.

@Sterling Crimson Blue Note thought she heard Sterling say something, but the harp had her in a trance. She came up to a clearing, and the music swelled into a grand crescendo, before going silent. The sun cast one of its rays onto a brilliant blue object, halfway stuck in the ground. This must have been what the harp was leading her too. "I think this is meant for me," she said. "I don't know why though." The silence had given way to more mental clarity. She dug it out of the ground with her hooves, cringing a little at the dirt. She levitated the orb up with her magic, to get a better look at it. "The harp played a composition I wrote, but have never shown anypony. I feel like it came from a powerful source of magic."

"Wasn't he in Phantom of Opera?" Blue Note whispered to Sterling as the Chancellor Puddinghead came onto the stage. The actor looked familiar to her. She wanted to look down and check the program, but it was too dark to see. Either way, she was enjoying the production. She knew the history of Equestria by heart by now, having always gone to see the pageants, but it was nice to see a fresh take on it. The story was the same, but the setting and the actors were so different.

@Sterling Crimson The trombones were just a pale noise in the distance now. "I can't explain it, but I feel like the song is meant for me." As soon as the words left her mouth, the song morphed into something familiar. It was a piece for harp she had written once while still in school. It was tucked away in a drawer back in Manehatten, unseen by anypony except herself. Something wanted her attention. It transitioned back to the first piece, and Blue Note was certain she had to follow it. Soon, the harp was the only thing she could hear as she felt herself getting close to where ever she needed to be.

Blue Note was in awe of Lincoln Center. This was where ponies like her thrived. All the performance venues around were incredible; these were places where great musical ponies came to be appreciated and celebrated. The theater where the pageant was taking place was beautiful. "The cast for the History of Equestria looks incredible," Blue Note said. "Whoever organizes this must have some connections."

@Sterling Crimson "It sounds like a deliberate piece of music, though," Blue Note said. The song was starting to overpower all the other instrument sounds, even the trombones were fading to the back of her consciousness. "Am I going crazy?" Blue Note didn't feel like her grip on reality was slipping. The harp had a mystical quality, like it came from a powerful magic beyond her capabilities. Some instinct inside of her told her that she needed to follow this sound, so she diverted course and began trotting towards it.

@Sterling Crimson "Did you?" she asked. It could have been Sterling's doing; that might explain everything. "Have you used this spell much before? I've never been able to get an instrument to sound that authentic with this spell before." The trombone sounds continued to get louder as the two ponies follow them, but the harp grew with it. Listening to it more closely, Blue Note realized that unlike the rest of the instruments, the harp was playing a distinct song. It was alluring, like the song had been written just for her.

Blue Note followed Sterling into Lincoln Center. The plaza bustled with ponies from all over Manehatten, all here to enjoy a lovely holiday. She wondered how many of them were really having a good day. With so many ponies, the odds were stacked against at least a few of them. A filly stuffed into an red and green dress had been pulled off to the side of the plaza by her mother. She screamed and cried, but the mother was having none of it. A green stallion in front of them had slumped posture and eyes trained to the ground. He was alone. To the right, in the crowd, was a small, lavender pony. She was barely older than a filly, and she too was by herself. Sometimes Blue Note wondered why. And here she was, having a great Hearth Warming's for the first time in a long time. "So, are we headed to the Vivian Beaumare Theater to start?" she asked. And sometimes, she knew that the best path was to enjoy the ride.

@Sterling Crimson "i hear something!" Blue Note said. She turned her head towards the east, listening to faint trombone sounds. "There are definitely ponies moving that way," she said. She started rushing towards them, noticing some background sounds, but not getting distracted by them. She could hear violins, flutes, the occasional snare drum, a harp... "A harp? I didn't cast a spell for a harp." It had to have been her imagination. But as the trombones grew louder, the harp, while still faint, grew with them. "Do you hear a harp?" she asked Sterling. "Normally, I can tell that these instruments are fake, but I don't know if I've ever heard a harp sound that pure."

@Sterling Crimson "Okay, I think I'll maintain silence around us for now, so we can actually hear them as we're walking." Blue Note's horn glowed a brighter blue. "Now, all we have to do is listen. Hopefully, we'll hear a group of eight. And if we hear we hear a lone pony walking around, we'll know to avoid them at all costs. I'm not sure how long I can hold this spell for, so we'll have to move quickly." She was already feeling strained, but kept pushing herself through. This spell was her last idea.

Blue Note picked up a program at the entrance. She looked inside, curious to see who was performing. "Look at all of these Broadhay stars!" she exclaimed. "Do they normally have such a lineup?" The Canterlot Pageants usually brought celebrities in. One year, they had been graced by Ponyville's heroes. "Ooh, and it looks like the Manehatten Chorus is singing, and The Manehatten Orchestra is providing the music. This is so exciting!" Blue Note gave a wide smile. This day was only getting better.

"Guess we should get in," Blue Note said. They had some time get there, and Blue Note was just glad to be enjoying the ride. Manehatten had been graced with a wintery elegance, and she didn't want to miss out on any of it. Everything was different today. While she was not entirely sure, she suspected that this was what Hearth's Warming was supposed to feel like. It was fun and magical, free of strife and arguments and crippling loneliness. It was her and Sterling, having a great day.

"All right," Blue Note said. "See you around, Snowy Flute. May we meet again." She felt a little silly talking to their snowpony, but Sterling was a pony she could be a little silly around. She levitated the flute up to the snowpony. "I can't wait to see the pageant. I'm excited to see how they perform it in Manehatten. The Canterlot pageant always had great production values; I'm sure it's equally wonderful here."

@Sterling Crimson @Zhooves @Steel Accord @Pripyat Pony @Wayzer Blue Note nodded at Sterling. She was not sure how this was going to work out either. The spell would definitely take a toll on her; it was taking an immense amount of her energy to complete. But she sensed her spell surround the island. All she had to do now was keep a hold on it, and hope for the best. "Okay," she said, letting out a breath. "If this works, no pony will be able to make a move on the island without everypony hearing." For a second, there was silence. She took a tentative step forward, and was assaulted by a blast of clarinet sound. "Well, it's working for us," she said. She adjusted the spell to give them a buffer of silence, for now at least. They needed to hear their party to find them. "I hope it's this loud around the rest of the island."

"Hm..." Blue Note said. "Snow flute?" That had been her approach back in the olden days. She dropped the pile of snow she had been levitating to the ground. She tried to create the mouthpiece with her hooves. "Either this was easier when I was a filly, or my memory is very selective." As she stared at the flute-like mass of snow, she had to wonder how she could have possibly been such a patient pony.

@Sterling Crimson Blue Note took one last deep breath. Sterling was ready, and she had to be too. She closed her eyes and visualized the island, trying to imagine how far the jungle extended. She opened her eyes and nodded at Sterling to signal their start. Her horn began to glow, and she imagined an orchestra. Normally, she used the spell on her piano to see how her compositions would sound when played with the correct instrumentation. Now, she was extending this spell on a further, wider range than she was used to. It required her to imagine the instrument sounds she wanted. She divided her mental image of the island up into segments, thinking of the sounds it would make when the ponies took a step. She turned to Sterling, slowly, so as not to break her magic. "I think I'm getting a hold on the island. It should start to work soon. How are you doing?"

@Sterling Crimson "Well, I've never done this spell on anything bigger than a piano, so you're the not the only one worried," Blue Note said. "We'll need to try to extend the spell across the jungle, making it so that a pony walking will project a musical instrument sound across the island. We listen for the group of eight, and avoid any lone pony sounds. Holding the spell while getting to them will be the hardest, but if we can get it to work for at least a little while, we'll have an idea of where to go." She took a deep breath. "I hope this works," she said. "Any problems to address before we try?"

@Sterling Crimson Sterling sounded so dejected; Blue Note guessed that his thought about using Evening's voice was only a tiny fraction of what was going on inside his mind. It had to have been hard leaving her behind to get treated for a terrible illness. Blue Note decided to try being gentle with him, despite gentleness clashing with her usual attitude. A little kindness could go a long way, she had learned. "It's okay," she said. "What's your take on turning the island into segments of instrument sounds? Like I said, it would take our combined magic to have a chance of working. You're a musical pony, so I don't see why you couldn't use the spell." Blue Note paused, as something occurred to her. "If the assassin is away from them, we could theoretically hear him too. Though for all we know, this might not work. It could be a cacophony of jungle creatures walking around, or sound so terrible we can't find anything. Not even mentioning the possibility of the spell not reaching far enough. However, if it works, we'll hear every step anypony takes out there."

@Sterling Crimson Blue Note had apprehensions about this idea. "How would we prevent the assassin from hearing it?" she asked. "I suppose I could use the spell at a barely perceptible level, though we have no idea how sharp this pony's senses are... Also," Blue Note hesitated. She did not want to remind Sterling of Evening's absence, knowing how heavily it must be weighing on his mind. "How are we going to get Evening's voice?"

Blue Note used her magic to fashion the snow together into a remotely flute-like cylinder, and began to levitate it around. "Well, at least we've got a magic flute," she grinned. "Though I would love it if Snowy Flute here could say something. I'm sure he could give us some great tips, being the principal in Equestria's greatest winter orchestra." Talking about snowponies took her back to being a younger pony, when Frosty might have been real and Snowy Flute should have been.

Blue Note considered this. Callaloo had seemed unconcerned about the assassin getting to them, only their friends. But their friends would need to respond somehow, and Blue Note was not sure if the risk was worth it. "Well, we could either try to send them a signal that only they would recognize, or... we could try something a bit more unorthodox, with no guarantee of working." Blue Note had apprehensions that her idea was a stupid one doomed to fail, but she was running out of options. "We could try to turn the jungle into an orchestra of sorts, calibrated to pony footsteps and segmented off into different instrument sections. We could probably find them by following their sound." She wrinkled her nose. "That would take all of our combined magic though, and I've never applied that spell on such a scale, so I think the former option would be easier. But I have no idea what sound would be recognizable to them and only them." Sterling knew them far better than she did, so she hoped he would have something.

"Well, I started with the flutes," Blue Note admitted. "But Equestria had never seen such a flute section." She used her magic to create a snowy sphere. "I also had magic to help me. What can I say? I was a bored filly on a Sunday afternoon." She lacked many things in her fillyhood, but free time was not one of them. She probably could have become a bank robber in her spare time, and no pony would have cared. "So he's a stallion, eh?" She gave him a mischievous grin. "We could name after the principal flute in The Snowpony Orchestra, Snowy Flute. I was a beacon of originality as a young pony."