It was a very busy week at Hexside, especially for the Bard track. It was nearing the end of the semester, and it was coming to that time of year once again as all students of the track were preparing and deciding what should be the school's big production. It was a big decision as it was meant to show off all that they had learned in that semester.
What was more, since Principal Bump now allowed cross track practicing of magic, other students outside the Bard track were given the chance to participate and even pitch ideas for the play.
Now gathered in the school auditorium, many students waited their turn to pitch their ideas for the play. Some were a bit on the nose, such as Boscha proposing a play where she and her friends played a group of girls who were at the top of a school's social hierarchy, Mattholomule proposing a play about a house haunted by a "Ghost With The Most", and all sorts of other nonsensical ideas.
While the pitches were going on, Luz, Amity, Gus, and Willow were backstage, preparing for their turn. Luz, wanting the others to get involved in her idea for the play, managed to convince them into joining her scheme (While also kinda promising to owe them favors if this didn't go well).
"Next!" the Bard track teacher called out, signalling them that it was their turn.
"Don't worry, guys, we got this!" Luz said, giving them a supportive smile and a thumbs up before they all headed out onto the stage, beginning to set up their pitch.
Luz stepped up to the front of the stage, clearing her throat as she began.
"My idea for the play is actually based on an old story from the Human Realm. It was a story that my mother actually used to tell me when I was younger," Luz explained.
"Get on with it!" Boscha's voice yelled from the back of the auditorium.
With a frown and a determined look, Luz turned back to the Bard track teacher, "May I set the stage?" she asked.
"Proceed," the teacher stated as Luz nodded to her friends, who began their parts in the pitch as Luz began.
"I shall impersonate a woman. Her name: Alonsa Quijana, a country noble no longer young," she started as Gus used his magic to adjust the lighting on stage so that it focused on Luz before using his other hand to slowly alter Luz' appearance to match her description of the character, like they had been practicing.
"Being retired, she has much time for books. She studies them from morn till night and often through the night till morn again, and all she reads oppresses her; fills her with indignation at man's murderous ways toward man. She ponders the problem of how to make better a world where evil brings profit and virtue none at all; where fraud, deceit, and malice are mingled with truth and sincerity. She broods and broods and broods and broods and broods until finally her brains dry up. She lays down the melancholy burden of sanity and conceives the strangest project ever imagined… to become a knight-errant, and sally forth to roam the world in search of adventures; to right all wrongs; to mount a crusade; to raise up the weak and those in need. She persuades her neighbor, one Sancha Panza, a country laborer and an honest woman, if the poor may be called 'honest' (and she was poor indeed), to become her squire," she continues to describe as Willow steps forth in her own illusory costume, provided by Amity.
"She selects an ancient cart horse called Rosinante to become her steed and the safeguard of his mistress's will!" she builds up as Gus uses his magic once more to create a pair of solid illusory steeds behind the two girls. As she spoke, the audience began to hear music build and fill the air, "These preparations made, she seizes her lance! No longer will she be plain Alonsa Quijana, but a dauntless knight known as Don Quixote de La Mancha!"
With those words and now clad in simple stage armor, the music had hit a peak and Luz began to sing.
"Hear me now,
Oh thou bleak and unbearable world,
Thou art base and debauched as can be;
And a knight with his banners all bravely unfurled
Now hurls down his gauntlet to thee!
I am I, Don Quixote,
The Lord of La Mancha,
My destiny calls and I go,
And the wild winds of fortune
Will carry me onward,
Oh whithersoever they blow.
Whithersoever they blow,
Onward to glory I go!"
With the first first verse sung, Luz backed up as Willow took her place and began to sing her part in the spectacular.
"I'm Sancha! Yes, I'm Sancha!
I'll follow my master till the end.
I'll tell all the world proudly
I'm her squire! I'm her friend!
With her part in the play conveyed, Willow backed off and allowed Luz to take center stage once more.
"Hear me, heathens and wizards
And serpents of sin!
All your dastardly doings are past,
For a holy endeavor is now to begin
And virtue shall triumph at last!"
With a pair of mighty leaps, Luz and Willow hopped atop their fake mounts and began to ride them around the stage with the help of Amity and Gus, the fake horses clopping their hooves in time with the music before Luz and Willow once again sang.
"I am I, Don Quixote (I'm Sancha! Yes, I'm Sancha!),
The Lord of la Mancha (I'll follow my master till the end),
My destiny calls and I go,
And the wild winds of fortune (I'll tell all the world proudly),
Will carry me onward (I'm his squire! I'm her friend!),
Oh whithersoever they blow!"
And with a final crescendo, the duo sang in duet as they rode toward the front of the stage.
"Whithersoever they blow!
Onward to glory we go!"
With their performance finished, the group gathered at centerstage, Luz and Willow breathing a bit heavily from the exertion of the number. The tension rose as they waited for the audience's reaction, until finally, to their amazement, the whole theater went up in applause as not only the teacher, but the other students who were attending the try-outs gave all manner of adulation to the four young witches in training.
It was decided there and then what the play would be, and thanks to Luz and the others, it was set to be a smash hit.
Hope you enjoyed reading this. This is another one shot that I hope to do more with in the future, but nothing is set as of yet.
I've thought for a while that Luz might resonate with the story of Don Quixote, so I wrote this story in an effort to show that. (Plus, Man of La Mancha is a classic musical that I highly recommend. If you ever find it, watch it).
P.S. I also made references to a couple other popular musicals in this story. See if you can guess which ones!
With all that said and done, this is Lord Zeppelin signing off!