Style Quest: Achievement Unlocked

Flyers for the middle school talent show had been up for weeks. Varick wasn’t much of a showman and had been ignoring them. That was until he remembered his dad’s birthday was coming up. All the young Clydesdale wanted to make for his father was a tie, but the fabric he wanted to make it out of was only sold by the bolt. His allowance wasn’t much, and Varick didn’t want to ask his mom for a loan, so he was left with one option. Win the talent contest so he could use the hundred gold prize to buy the fabric.

 

    Varick had been practicing the violin for a few years but wasn’t sure any of the songs he studied would impress the judges. The brown horse put his mind to it and started composing his music. With a few books about song composition from the library, young Varick sat for hours writing, erasing, and rewriting notes. This piece not only had to be a good song, it had to be perfect in every sense of the word. Varick could not waste one second of the song on anything but the perfect sound. Finally, after eight long sleepless nights, the composition was excellent.

 

    Performing a killer song was one thing, but turning it into a whole show would take the set to the next level. After carefully checking the talent show rules, Varick decided to add some illusionary pyrotechnics to his clothes. Magic use was still new to the blonde Clydesdale, but he had enough control over his fire powers to do some minor spells reliably. A few burnt outfits later, Varick enhanced his show outfit with a couple of spell threads to take his performance up a few notches.

 

    On the night of the show, the young equine was extremely nervous. Myrna McCleary, a brown and white rabbit classmate, had already performed a harp song that wowed the crowd. Varick had only a few moments to get his nerves together before it was his turn on stage. All eyes were on the blonde Clydesdale as he tucked his violin under his chin. With the first few notes, small illusionary flames of blue and purple burst into life. As the song picked up, the fire burst into a full soundscape and flared to life on stage. Several water users nervously stood by in case the illusions suddenly became real. Their worry became more real as Varick’s mane and tail burst into dancing blue and purple flames. Dancing and playing with all his might, the brown horse performed like his life depended on it.

 

    “Who would ever want to be king,” Varick whispered with a smile as he bowed to a standing ovation. In the end, the contest wasn’t close at all. The young performer won in a landslide victory and purchased the fabric to make his father’s birthday present. That song still gets played all the time on special occasions. Varick reminded of his birth as a showman with every note.