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edit: now with dialogue!
(double edit: fixed some mistakes, reposting for visibility)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Now, Moony, I don't wanna over-hype it, but this show is gonna. Blow. Your. Mind."

"Do you remember your first time watching Celestia raise the sun?" Cupcake had said seriously, "Because this show is going to be that times one billion. I’m honestly jealous you get to experience it with fresh ears.”

"You're gonna love it!" Pandora agreed, "Bewitching Bell is the perfect blend of heavy metal and anarcho-thrash sludge metal, with just the faintest flavors of deathcore, and then smashed headfirst into punk rock."

"But at their core, their sound is pure metal." Cupcake nodded. "And metal is the ultimate vehicle of self-expression."

"Perfect for a repressed nerd!"

Perfect for a repressed nerd, huh.

Moondancer wondered what was so perfect about this. The stadium was packed full with an endless ocean of screaming fans. Ponies, sheep, griffons, full-grown dragons- as well as a number of creatures Moony had never seen before, not in any textbook. His nose was veritably being assaulted with the smell of stale sweat, choking body sprays, perfume, and the faint, but always-present stink of dubious substances being happily smoked. Oh, and somepony had spilled a beer on him.

He'd wanted to go to the ballet.

He'd already purchased the tickets. But when Swan Lake had been pitted against seeing Bewitching Bell: Live in Concert, he'd sadly been outvoted. He'd tried to be a good sport about that. Really.

The drumming of the band was a merciless blast of concussion, reverberating through his chest cavity and rattling his spine. Strobe lights knifed through the night sky, and nearly every scream from the lead singer was punctuated with a blinding eruption of sparks.

Pandora and Cupcake were having a blast.

The she-draconequus was screeching her head off and flailing her enormous body alongside the music, uncoordinated as always, yet oddly tireless- Moondancer wondered if she was leeching energy from the raw chaos within the crowd. She threw up both paws in the sign of devil horns, then opened her jaws and fired a beam of sparkling dragonfire straight into the sky. It left the air hazy with smoke and sent Moony coughing.

Cupcake, comparatively, slumped against him a little, sniffling, seemingly overcome with emotion. Moony didn't get it. The lyrics weren't particularly touching. It was all rather ghoulish stuff, all invocations of Grogar, the legendary Father of Monsters, and calls for anarchy that made Moony nervous.

Wicked Father, no warning or sign
Judgement Day and the slaughter arrives
Soak the altar in the blood of pigs
Strike them down and burn the rich

Ick. How barbaric. How could anypony in their good mind possibly enjoy this?

....Perhaps the problem wasn't the band at all. Perhaps he was simply in the wrong company.

Pandora and Cupcake.....his two oldest, closest friends. They'd been friends since childhood. He remembered encountering shy Cupcake at his mother's wedding to Maudie- and then their conversation had been interrupted by one very territorial draconequus cub, snarkily remarking that the position of Cupcake's best friend had already been filled, but maybe Moondancer could find some luck in the dorky lackey department. Cupcake had immediately perked up at the brat's presence....Moondancer hadn't understood why.

Despite uncertain beginnings, they'd grown up friends, in shallow, easy way that children could be friends. Moony recalled lots of birthday parties, sleepovers, after-school graham crackers and juice at Sugarcube Corner.....

But what now? They certainly weren't kids anymore. What glue was still binding the three together?

....Were they really even friends? Or did they just stick around each other because it was familiar, easy? Beyond a few scant shared interests, what did they all even have in common? Pandora was annoying and childish. Cupcake was bland, and not to mention, she chose to hang around Pandora, likely because other ponies found her dull as dishwater, and Pandora was desperate for any company she could get. Ugh.

Perhaps it was time to move on. He didn't need friends. Maybe he could even make new ones. Friends that could appreciate ballet. Friends that wouldn't drag him to a tortuous rock concert simply to rub his nose in how "awesome" their favorite band was.

Pandora elbowed him, grinning toothily. "Here comes the best part!"

The volume skyrocketed.

Between the wailing guitar riffs and the intensity of the pyrotechnics, it felt as though Moondancer was witnessing the birth of a star. The sound was more than he could bear. His ears pinned back in distress, but the booming drums and screeching lyrics still crashed through his head, and the crowd was rollicking in endless motion, shoving and battering him to and fro, and despite all the bodies he felt so lonely- Cupcake and Pan were still cheering idiotically, oblivious to his stress. His horn sparked helplessly with the urge to teleport, and there were too many ponies, he couldn't breathe, why did they bring him? Why-

Suddenly, he was in the air.

Something was holding him several feet above the frothing crowd. The roar of the music was muffled, as though he was listening through wool.

Fumbling his hooves against his head, he discovered he was. A pair of thick, fluffy earmuffs had manifested over his ears. He became aware of paws securing his hind legs, shifting him to a more comfortable position- and he realized Pandora had scooped him up, so he was sitting on her shoulders.

He glanced down to find her smiling sheepishly at him. "....It's a little overwhelming for newbies, huh?" She said- and he could hear her voice softly, over the muffled background of noise- the earmuffs must've been enchanted. "....You kinda looked like you could use a break."

And now someone was pushing a frosty canteen into his slack hoof. "It's awfully easy to get dehydrated." Cupcake spoke, her voice perfectly audible as well. "....Do you want a snack?" She rustled around in her saddlebag, sorting through what looked like an entire pantry's worth of snack foods. Had she snuck in an entire loaf of bread? "How about a sandwich?" Cupcake asked anxiously, tugging out a tub of ricotta, "I can make you a sandwich, if you're hungry."

Moony hadn't even realized he was trembling, not til he saw the water in the canteen rippling in his shaky hold. Both Pandora and Cupcake were watching him, eyes full of concern, totally uncaring of the band still raging behind them.

"We can leave, if you want to." Pandora said softly.

What ridiculous, addle-brained females. Hadn't they been the ones to drag him to their beloved concert? Why were they so keen to abandon it now?

He'd managed to calm his hammering heart, but the ache in his chest only intensified.

It was this. This was the reason.

He remembered now why they were still friends. No matter how they annoyed and perplexed him.....they always did this.

They were always there. Even when he was weak, or crabby, or even now, with hot tears glittering in his eyes like a Luna-damned baby...They were here. Always. Smiling and offering sandwiches that'd somehow been artfully assembled, in a churning mosh pit.

Pandora and Cupcake. Troublesome she-beast and monotone side-kick. Panny and Cuppy. Two-thirds of a trio. Sweeter than they had any right to be.

....They hadn't been trying to force him into doing something he hated. They'd been trying to include him and share what made them happy, in the hope of making him happy. They weren't subjecting him to weirdness, they were sharing their weirdness with him. He drank from the canteen, then scrubbed at his wet face.

"....N-no, I'm fine." He smiled, just a little shakily. "....I'd like to stay."

And carefully, gingerly- he tugged off the earmuffs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, the crowd filed out of the stadium in a steady river. Mosh pits had flung both seats and ponies all about, and they lay were they'd fallen, exhausted and content. As the friends made their way out, Pan and Cupcake chatted eagerly amongst themselves, their faces still a little singed from the final fiery ballad.

"Ahhhhh, remember the part with the sky lasers?! And the twin spires of dragon flame?!" Pan bounced on her hooves, hardly able to contain herself. "Amazing!"

"Don't forget about the capricorn's guitar solo." Cupcake smiled. "How he can shred like that with hooves is a magic all its own."

"Oh, don't sell it short, I don't think all the magic in Equestria could turn out a performance so face-meltingly awesome!" For emphasis, Pandora made the flesh of her face slough off in a cartoonish show of magic. "Nah, that was pure skill, baby. That sorta ingenuity comes naturally to you little hoofed critters." Pan raised her paw to Cupcake, who smugly bumped it with her hoof.

"Do you think there's any merch left? Should we..." Cupcake trailed off, glancing backward. Pan followed her gaze, then winced.

Moondancer had caught up to them. His hair had turned into a frizzy rat's nest, and his coat was dirty and matted with sweat. His head hung down, curtained by his ruined mane.

"...Right. Sorry, Moony. I shoulda realized this wasn't your kinda thing, I let myself get too excited..." She exchanged worried looks with Cupcake, before reaching out a paw. "....You alright, Marshmallow?"

Moondancer frowned. "What on earth are you talking about, she-demon?"

"You disappeared right after the final act." Cupcake said carefully. "....We figured you'd gone home."

"Home? Why would I go home?" Moony peered through his mane, brows knitting in confusion. "I stepped out to get us these."

With a flash of his horn, he conjured three stuffed plushies. Each one was a perfect, cutesy replica of Grogar's grinning goat skull, the signature symbol of Bewitching Bell. He floated one into Cupcake's hooves, and the other into Pan's trembling paws.

"....Moony." Pan whispered, her pupils huge. "....These are limited edition."

"How did you get these?" Cupcake uttered, her tone equally hushed, reverent. Her hooves examined the plush as if it were made of glass. "I tried selling my soul for one, but the vendor said it didn't count as a legal currency."

"I traded my ballet tickets for them." Moondancer shrugged, snickering at their silly, awed faces. "....Apparently the merch guy is a Swan Lake fan."

Pan clutched her plushie to her chest. "Does this mean you liked the show?"

Moondancer chuckled, glancing down at his band shirt. Surprising even himself, he beamed, genuine and rosy-cheeked, and spoke with total honesty.

"I loved it."

And then he braced himself, because Pandora was squealing, and Cupcake was- wait, was she crying?- and then he was being hugged by both, oh crackers with cheese, a set of strong hooves and an anaconda-like body were both crushing the air out of his lungs- and god, Panny and Cupcake were both so weird and vexing and utterly embarrassing-

They were ridiculous creatures, the both of them. Moondancer didn't know why his cheeks were pink, even after the hug ended. Ridiculous.

Idly, he found himself wondering when the next concert would be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

surprise. Moony is a metalhead. (Have a sloppy concept doodle i made before i drew this piece)
Also, double surprise, he does actually like pandora and cupcake and reciprocate their friendship, who woulda thunk it

this is all canon, by the way, happens when they're teenagers, back during the good old days.

have some notes!

-The band's name is Bewitching Bell, they are a heavy metal group with strong punk rock overtones. Grogar, Father of Monsters, features heavily in their musical themes and general iconography.
-The lead singer is a capricorn (rare sapient magical goat-headed sea-monster, distantly related to sirens and seaponies).
-Grogar exists only as a legend in modern Equestria. Dude is long dead.....presumably. He's been adopted by counterculture groups as a symbol of the misunderstood, the misfits that don't fit neatly within Equestrian society. Grogar is a Father and an Avenger, just to his children and merciless to oppressors. All of it lends itself well to edgy imagery and vulgar lyrics that make pony parents (and Moondancer) very nervous. Grogar as an icon of rebellion and liberation is especially popular with sheep (who are fully sapient), satyrs, minotaurs, and capricorns.
-Pan and Cupcake are both diehard metalheads, and have MANY opinions about rock genres. They have secret, half-serious plans of forming a garage band of their own someday (Pan's been practicing her electric guitar, Cupcake's killer on drums, and Pan's pet chicken will of course handle the additional sound, stage effects, pyrotechnics, and promoting)
-You're totally free to imagine Pan someday serenading a romantic partner with "Fuck Her Gently" by Tenacious D.

flat version:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Description

edit: now with dialogue!
(double edit: fixed some mistakes, reposting for visibility)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Now, Moony, I don't wanna over-hype it, but this show is gonna. Blow. Your. Mind."

"Do you remember your first time watching Celestia raise the sun?" Cupcake had said seriously, "Because this show is going to be that times one billion. I’m honestly jealous you get to experience it with fresh ears.”

"You're gonna love it!" Pandora agreed, "Bewitching Bell is the perfect blend of heavy metal and anarcho-thrash sludge metal, with just the faintest flavors of deathcore, and then smashed headfirst into punk rock."

"But at their core, their sound is pure metal." Cupcake nodded. "And metal is the ultimate vehicle of self-expression."

"Perfect for a repressed nerd!"

Perfect for a repressed nerd, huh.

Moondancer wondered what was so perfect about this. The stadium was packed full with an endless ocean of screaming fans. Ponies, sheep, griffons, full-grown dragons- as well as a number of creatures Moony had never seen before, not in any textbook. His nose was veritably being assaulted with the smell of stale sweat, choking body sprays, perfume, and the faint, but always-present stink of dubious substances being happily smoked. Oh, and somepony had spilled a beer on him.

He'd wanted to go to the ballet.

He'd already purchased the tickets. But when Swan Lake had been pitted against seeing Bewitching Bell: Live in Concert, he'd sadly been outvoted. He'd tried to be a good sport about that. Really.

The drumming of the band was a merciless blast of concussion, reverberating through his chest cavity and rattling his spine. Strobe lights knifed through the night sky, and nearly every scream from the lead singer was punctuated with a blinding eruption of sparks.

Pandora and Cupcake were having a blast.

The she-draconequus was screeching her head off and flailing her enormous body alongside the music, uncoordinated as always, yet oddly tireless- Moondancer wondered if she was leeching energy from the raw chaos within the crowd. She threw up both paws in the sign of devil horns, then opened her jaws and fired a beam of sparkling dragonfire straight into the sky. It left the air hazy with smoke and sent Moony coughing.

Cupcake, comparatively, slumped against him a little, sniffling, seemingly overcome with emotion. Moony didn't get it. The lyrics weren't particularly touching. It was all rather ghoulish stuff, all invocations of Grogar, the legendary Father of Monsters, and calls for anarchy that made Moony nervous.

Wicked Father, no warning or sign
Judgement Day and the slaughter arrives
Soak the altar in the blood of pigs
Strike them down and burn the rich

Ick. How barbaric. How could anypony in their good mind possibly enjoy this?

....Perhaps the problem wasn't the band at all. Perhaps he was simply in the wrong company.

Pandora and Cupcake.....his two oldest, closest friends. They'd been friends since childhood. He remembered encountering shy Cupcake at his mother's wedding to Maudie- and then their conversation had been interrupted by one very territorial draconequus cub, snarkily remarking that the position of Cupcake's best friend had already been filled, but maybe Moondancer could find some luck in the dorky lackey department. Cupcake had immediately perked up at the brat's presence....Moondancer hadn't understood why.

Despite uncertain beginnings, they'd grown up friends, in shallow, easy way that children could be friends. Moony recalled lots of birthday parties, sleepovers, after-school graham crackers and juice at Sugarcube Corner.....

But what now? They certainly weren't kids anymore. What glue was still binding the three together?

....Were they really even friends? Or did they just stick around each other because it was familiar, easy? Beyond a few scant shared interests, what did they all even have in common? Pandora was annoying and childish. Cupcake was bland, and not to mention, she chose to hang around Pandora, likely because other ponies found her dull as dishwater, and Pandora was desperate for any company she could get. Ugh.

Perhaps it was time to move on. He didn't need friends. Maybe he could even make new ones. Friends that could appreciate ballet. Friends that wouldn't drag him to a tortuous rock concert simply to rub his nose in how "awesome" their favorite band was.

Pandora elbowed him, grinning toothily. "Here comes the best part!"

The volume skyrocketed.

Between the wailing guitar riffs and the intensity of the pyrotechnics, it felt as though Moondancer was witnessing the birth of a star. The sound was more than he could bear. His ears pinned back in distress, but the booming drums and screeching lyrics still crashed through his head, and the crowd was rollicking in endless motion, shoving and battering him to and fro, and despite all the bodies he felt so lonely- Cupcake and Pan were still cheering idiotically, oblivious to his stress. His horn sparked helplessly with the urge to teleport, and there were too many ponies, he couldn't breathe, why did they bring him? Why-

Suddenly, he was in the air.

Something was holding him several feet above the frothing crowd. The roar of the music was muffled, as though he was listening through wool.

Fumbling his hooves against his head, he discovered he was. A pair of thick, fluffy earmuffs had manifested over his ears. He became aware of paws securing his hind legs, shifting him to a more comfortable position- and he realized Pandora had scooped him up, so he was sitting on her shoulders.

He glanced down to find her smiling sheepishly at him. "....It's a little overwhelming for newbies, huh?" She said- and he could hear her voice softly, over the muffled background of noise- the earmuffs must've been enchanted. "....You kinda looked like you could use a break."

And now someone was pushing a frosty canteen into his slack hoof. "It's awfully easy to get dehydrated." Cupcake spoke, her voice perfectly audible as well. "....Do you want a snack?" She rustled around in her saddlebag, sorting through what looked like an entire pantry's worth of snack foods. Had she snuck in an entire loaf of bread? "How about a sandwich?" Cupcake asked anxiously, tugging out a tub of ricotta, "I can make you a sandwich, if you're hungry."

Moony hadn't even realized he was trembling, not til he saw the water in the canteen rippling in his shaky hold. Both Pandora and Cupcake were watching him, eyes full of concern, totally uncaring of the band still raging behind them.

"We can leave, if you want to." Pandora said softly.

What ridiculous, addle-brained females. Hadn't they been the ones to drag him to their beloved concert? Why were they so keen to abandon it now?

He'd managed to calm his hammering heart, but the ache in his chest only intensified.

It was this. This was the reason.

He remembered now why they were still friends. No matter how they annoyed and perplexed him.....they always did this.

They were always there. Even when he was weak, or crabby, or even now, with hot tears glittering in his eyes like a Luna-damned baby...They were here. Always. Smiling and offering sandwiches that'd somehow been artfully assembled, in a churning mosh pit.

Pandora and Cupcake. Troublesome she-beast and monotone side-kick. Panny and Cuppy. Two-thirds of a trio. Sweeter than they had any right to be.

....They hadn't been trying to force him into doing something he hated. They'd been trying to include him and share what made them happy, in the hope of making him happy. They weren't subjecting him to weirdness, they were sharing their weirdness with him. He drank from the canteen, then scrubbed at his wet face.

"....N-no, I'm fine." He smiled, just a little shakily. "....I'd like to stay."

And carefully, gingerly- he tugged off the earmuffs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, the crowd filed out of the stadium in a steady river. Mosh pits had flung both seats and ponies all about, and they lay were they'd fallen, exhausted and content. As the friends made their way out, Pan and Cupcake chatted eagerly amongst themselves, their faces still a little singed from the final fiery ballad.

"Ahhhhh, remember the part with the sky lasers?! And the twin spires of dragon flame?!" Pan bounced on her hooves, hardly able to contain herself. "Amazing!"

"Don't forget about the capricorn's guitar solo." Cupcake smiled. "How he can shred like that with hooves is a magic all its own."

"Oh, don't sell it short, I don't think all the magic in Equestria could turn out a performance so face-meltingly awesome!" For emphasis, Pandora made the flesh of her face slough off in a cartoonish show of magic. "Nah, that was pure skill, baby. That sorta ingenuity comes naturally to you little hoofed critters." Pan raised her paw to Cupcake, who smugly bumped it with her hoof.

"Do you think there's any merch left? Should we..." Cupcake trailed off, glancing backward. Pan followed her gaze, then winced.

Moondancer had caught up to them. His hair had turned into a frizzy rat's nest, and his coat was dirty and matted with sweat. His head hung down, curtained by his ruined mane.

"...Right. Sorry, Moony. I shoulda realized this wasn't your kinda thing, I let myself get too excited..." She exchanged worried looks with Cupcake, before reaching out a paw. "....You alright, Marshmallow?"

Moondancer frowned. "What on earth are you talking about, she-demon?"

"You disappeared right after the final act." Cupcake said carefully. "....We figured you'd gone home."

"Home? Why would I go home?" Moony peered through his mane, brows knitting in confusion. "I stepped out to get us these."

With a flash of his horn, he conjured three stuffed plushies. Each one was a perfect, cutesy replica of Grogar's grinning goat skull, the signature symbol of Bewitching Bell. He floated one into Cupcake's hooves, and the other into Pan's trembling paws.

"....Moony." Pan whispered, her pupils huge. "....These are limited edition."

"How did you get these?" Cupcake uttered, her tone equally hushed, reverent. Her hooves examined the plush as if it were made of glass. "I tried selling my soul for one, but the vendor said it didn't count as a legal currency."

"I traded my ballet tickets for them." Moondancer shrugged, snickering at their silly, awed faces. "....Apparently the merch guy is a Swan Lake fan."

Pan clutched her plushie to her chest. "Does this mean you liked the show?"

Moondancer chuckled, glancing down at his band shirt. Surprising even himself, he beamed, genuine and rosy-cheeked, and spoke with total honesty.

"I loved it."

And then he braced himself, because Pandora was squealing, and Cupcake was- wait, was she crying?- and then he was being hugged by both, oh crackers with cheese, a set of strong hooves and an anaconda-like body were both crushing the air out of his lungs- and god, Panny and Cupcake were both so weird and vexing and utterly embarrassing-

They were ridiculous creatures, the both of them. Moondancer didn't know why his cheeks were pink, even after the hug ended. Ridiculous.

Idly, he found himself wondering when the next concert would be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

surprise. Moony is a metalhead. (Have a sloppy concept doodle i made before i drew this piece)
Also, double surprise, he does actually like pandora and cupcake and reciprocate their friendship, who woulda thunk it

this is all canon, by the way, happens when they're teenagers, back during the good old days.

have some notes!

-The band's name is Bewitching Bell, they are a heavy metal group with strong punk rock overtones. Grogar, Father of Monsters, features heavily in their musical themes and general iconography.
-The lead singer is a capricorn (rare sapient magical goat-headed sea-monster, distantly related to sirens and seaponies).
-Grogar exists only as a legend in modern Equestria. Dude is long dead.....presumably. He's been adopted by counterculture groups as a symbol of the misunderstood, the misfits that don't fit neatly within Equestrian society. Grogar is a Father and an Avenger, just to his children and merciless to oppressors. All of it lends itself well to edgy imagery and vulgar lyrics that make pony parents (and Moondancer) very nervous. Grogar as an icon of rebellion and liberation is especially popular with sheep (who are fully sapient), satyrs, minotaurs, and capricorns.
-Pan and Cupcake are both diehard metalheads, and have MANY opinions about rock genres. They have secret, half-serious plans of forming a garage band of their own someday (Pan's been practicing her electric guitar, Cupcake's killer on drums, and Pan's pet chicken will of course handle the additional sound, stage effects, pyrotechnics, and promoting)
-You're totally free to imagine Pan someday serenading a romantic partner with "Fuck Her Gently" by Tenacious D.

flat version:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enjoy my content? Consider supporting me on Patreon! It has rewards, sneak peeks, and early viewing of finished art for patrons! Also, for each funding goal met, I produce a new promised art and story reward!

Support on PATREON!