Stairways and Serenades

In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees

And the voices of those who stand looking

The grass was blown by a strong gust of wind as Rainbow Dash soared just barely above the ground. Twilight Sparkle watched, accompanied by Pinkie Pie as they stood on a hill, amazed, but not surprised by their friend's aerobatic display. The pegasus beat her wings faster as she shot into the sky, appearing smaller and smaller to the two ponies observing below.

Twilight turned her head to Pinkie, who fixed her stare on Rainbow in her ascent. Looking back, she saw Dash performing an odd looping, rolling manoeuvre she'd always call the Spectral Eight; a gaudy title, but appropriate in it's flashy nature. She watched as Dash nearly completed it, but wavered in a downward spiral towards the other two.

“Good job, Dashie!” Pinkie cried, looking straight up at the pegasus plummeting towards her.

“Pinkie,” Twilight glared. “She's losing control!” Twilight nervously looked around, and then back at Rainbow, crashing towards the ground. A lavender aura surrounded Dash, slowing her descent and gently pulling her closer. The unicorn felt something though, pulling; resistance.

“Twilight, what are you doing?” Rainbow Dash looked back, still confined in Twilight's magical grasp.  “Stop that!”

“A-Are you okay?” Twilight tilted her head and did as she was told.

The pegasus dropped to the ground and brushed herself off. “Yeah, what was that?” she asked.

“Twilight thought you were gonna hit the ground and go all 'splat'!” Pinkie grinned. “Remember last time? You had to stay in the hospital for all that time and you were really, really bored.”

Rainbow gave herself a bit of time to think, and then sighed. “Twilight, this is just me riding the lightning, you know?” Dash rolled her eyes. “I wasn't crashing down, that's how it's supposed to be done.” Looking at her sheepish friend, she puffed her chest out just to bring a laugh. “Come on, you know that if there's one pony who can handle Rainbow Dash, it's Rainbow Dash!”

The unicorn directed her gaze to the ground. “I'm sorry, I just uh...”

“Yeah, it's all good. I fully understand that sometimes my wicked stunts leave ponies thunderstruck.”

Pinkie quickly joined in to nod. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, thunderstruck!”

Well, good going Twilight. You've made yourself look like a fool. She looked away, taking great measure to appear like she was actually paying attention to the empty hills running on the outskirts of Ponyville.

Pinkie Pie excitedly rushed to Twilight's side moving her head back up to the sky. “Silly Twilight, Rainbow Dash isn't over there, she's up there!”

With that, the two continued to watch, as Twilight spoke quietly to herself, “Makes me wonder...”

Twilight sat alone in her room, the mahogany body of her Whitetail acoustic guitar resting against her. The light of a new day shone through her single window, shining down upon the Red Everfree Explorer that sat in the corner of her room. She used her magic to swap her acoustic in place of the Explorer, nearly falling from her thigh due to inaccuracy.

“Ugh, I can never get this right,” she groaned. Magically switching guitars once again, the Whitetail appeared in her grasp once more. There were a lot of ways to impress a pony with music, and even more when combined with the forces of magic. It was unfortunate that even with both, she couldn't do it.

Twilight began pick the strings of her guitar, moving her left hoof across the neck in accordance with it.   However much time she spent practising, it didn't feel like she was going anywhere, and that needed to change. As her playing became increasingly difficult, her horn began to glow. The strings attained a lavender glimmer, pushing themselves down against the fretboard to compensate for her clumsy hoof.

The Everfree Explorer picked itself up under Twilight's magical grasp, and started playing simple notes with much distortion. It was hard playing one guitar with the assistance of magic, playing two while distorting one of them was painful. If only she had something to support her, because at that rate, there was no way she'd be able to make her sound presentable for anypony.

It wasn't as if any of her friends knew how to do this stuff, or were even interested in the first place. She was on her own in doing this, a shut-in who who fiddled with those crazy sound-making machines. Maybe Pinkie Pie would like it, but then again, she was interested in everything.

Outside her window, she could see a streak of rainbow line the sky. Patterns formed around the clouds as she went by, spiralling faster as-

...As the Explorer fell to the ground, creating a horrible bang as its magical distortion faded. She'd lost concentration, once again. Sighing, she picked up both guitars and set them aside for the day. Less than a minute of practice was more than enough.

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west

And my spirit is crying for leaving

Walking to the balcony, Twilight had a great view of Ponyville, and a better view of Rainbow Dash, now attempting stunts that didn't even look possible. It was soon apparent that she was coming towards her, rolling rapidly in her direction. Twilight stepped aside as Dash flew by her, crashing into a bookshelf.

She picked herself up off the floor, now covered with all sorts of literature. “Hey Twilight, didn't plan on catching me that time?”

“I thought it was part of the act!” Twilight stammered. “M-Maybe you should just be more careful then.”

Rainbow Dash sighed, shaking her head. She began to chuckle soon after. “That's a good one Twilight.” She brought her attention back to the books on the floor. “So, need help cleaning any of this up?”

“Yes, that would be gre-”

“Hey, what's this?” Dash interrupted. “So you've got... 'Harsh Vocals for Eggheads'?” She tossed one book aside – much to Twilight's displeasure – and picked up another. “'Heavy Gauge's Glorious Guide to Glam Metal'? This stuff is awesome!”

Twilight's ears perked up in excitement as she brought herself closer to Rainbow Dash. “You really think so?”

“Yeah sure, didn't know you liked this stuff.” Dash smiled. “Hey, how's my LICK impression?” Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out as far as she could, raising her 'Devil Hooves'. It looked nothing at all like any of the band members.

“It's...” Twilight sheepishly blushed as Rainbow Dash grinned in anticipation. “Great?”

The pegasus pumped her hoof in triumph. “Yes, I knew it was! Thanks Twi', now all I need is some face-paint!”

She nervously looked around. “Heh, no problem.”

“So, where's your gear?” Dash grinned.

“My gear?” Twilight asked. “You mean my guitars? They're in my room, why?”

“Come on, I have an idea.”

These are the burning times,

The years of pain!

Twilight had to admit, Rainbow Dash's harsher vocals seemed pretty nice, but that didn't keep her from remembering her highs. The amount her voice cracked just made Twilight want to shudder. She didn't feel like judging though; after all, she'd butchered the solo earlier on. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash paced around the room pretending that the quill in her hoof was a mic. It was silly, and definitely cute, despite the lyrics.

It doesn't matter, what you've done

In my words you are a sinner

For every word you say to me, in every way

You are a sinner

The chorus repeated, as Twilight continued playing that same riff again. The song was almost over, and she knew what was coming, but she'd be ready for it.

“You are a sinner!” Dash screamed into the quill. Twilight wasn't ready at all. Rainbow Dash head banged with her short mane getting in her face. Meanwhile, Twilight finished up the song, blowing out a large breath as she gave her Explorer one last strum.

“Twilight, that was awesome!” Dash grabbed her friend and shook her around a bit.

Twilight smiled in return, receiving the compliment well. She took the guitar by her strap and put it on it's stand. “Thanks, you did pretty good too.” Her eyes twitched as she said it.

“Oh sweet! What are we playing next?”

“To be honest, I think that was more than enough.” Twilight giggled. Really, she was just fortunate that she didn't have Dash singing some Iron Mare Den. “We already had to shoo away Spike once, remember?”

The pegasus shook her head, smiling. “Right. Poor little guy probably isn't as hardcore as we are.”

“Nope, not at all.”

The moment felt kind of odd. Odd how there was so much noise, how it was so metal just a while ago, and now it was nearly silent. The two took a moment to breathe, looking around at the books which they'd forgotten to sort earlier.

Dash took notice of it, now realizing that Twilight was glaring at her. “Yeah...” She scratched the back of her head. “Sorry about that, got a bit carried away.”

“You think?”

“Yep, don't think I'd get the opportunity to do that very often.” Dash gave a sheepish smile. “It was fun though, wasn't it?” Twilight brought a hoof to her chin, nodding. “Exactly! Well, I should be going now. See ya Twilight.”

“You sure you don't want to stay a while longer?” Twilight asked.

“Nah, I'm good. Spent enough time away from training.” Rainbow shrugged. “But hey, that was awesome! Keep it metal, alright?”

“Of course, bye Rainbow Dash.” The unicorn looked down, slightly disappointed. As sloppy as the jam was, it was nice to spend more time around Dash. Yeah, maybe I should have played one more song with her... Too late now. She took notice to the tune that Rainbow hummed, something she could already play, albeit with some mistakes. She continued to hum it as she spread her wings, taking off at the balcony.

“That's...” Twilight continued to watch her fly for a while until she was but a small dot in the sky. She started to hum the tune herself, walking back into her room to examine her Whitetail acoustic guitar. With that, Twilight knew exactly what she had in plan.

Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven