Stairways and Serenades

Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know

The piper's calling you to join him

“There she is!” Applejack called out.

Rainbow Dash turned to look, crossing her forelegs. “Took long enough, now where are the other two?”

“Yeah, sorry I'm late.” Twilight stumbled towards them, “I kinda lost track of the time.” She approached the red and white checkered picnic blanket, the three mares giving her awkward looks. “Is something wrong?”

“Darling...” Rarity set her copy of 'The Four Ponies of the Apocalypse' back down to address her friend. “Are you okay?”

The unicorn set her picnic basket down, seating herself with the others. “Of course, why wouldn't I be?” Her eyes felt heavy, wanting to close on their own accord. “Oh, right... I didn't get that much sleep last night.” She paused for a bit, quietly muttering to herself, “or any.”

“I can tell!” Applejack commented. “Twi', we all know you have a readin' problem. There's no shame in that, you hear me?”

Rainbow Dash opened up her picnic basket, pulling out a rather chunky sandwich. “It's alright, Twilight. I only got like, what, seven hours of sleep last night? I know that feel.”

“No, no, no, it's not a reading problem. Just uh... nothing.” Twilight's reading would often get her to lose sleep, but it happened much less often as she found other priorities. No, her lack of sleep was from the hours of magical exertion, the hoof cramps, the sounds of endless strumming and picking. “Oh well, enough about me,” Twilight giggled. “Commence the eating!”

“Way ahead of you,” Dash said as she pulled out yet another sandwich from her basket. “Too bad Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie aren't here,” she said, chewing in between words. Rarity gave her a pestered look.

Twilight opened her picnic basket, pulling out a five-bit foot-long sub. She held it with a gentle magical pull, before throwing it in her mouth to be voraciously devoured in a way that would rival the likes of Pinkie Pie. The three mares turned to the blatant, smacking sound that Twilight was giving off.

“You too Twilight?” Rarity looked slightly disappointed. “Doesn't anypony have some manners around here?”

Twilight looked at her sub, half of it was gone already. “Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't eat much either.” The unicorn shied away. “Or, maybe I did. It's hard to keep track of these strings. I mean things.”

Applejack peeked her head in closer to Twilight. “What exactly were you doin' all this time? Now that I think 'bout it, you haven't been goin' outside lately.”

“Probably busy being totally metal,” Dash commented.

“Indeed. Rainbow Dash told us all about your guitars.” Rarity shook her head. “A bit too much about them.”

Twilight giggled, her face reddening. “Well, it's really nothing. Just a hobby.”

Applejack tilted her head, almost wanting to laugh. “Don't sound much like 'just a hobby' when you got one 'a them eight-strings and triple-neck guitars!”

“Yeah, I may have gone a bit overboard talking about that.” Twilight saw Dash blush. It kickstarted her heart. She hoped it'd never stop.

Rarity finished the forkful of salad in her mouth. “Oh Rainbow Dash, you know that Twilight would never handle one of those... gargantuan beasts.”

“Exactly. Not everypony can be as hardcore as Fluttershy.”

Rainbow Dash started a light chuckle, bursting into laughter. “Oh man, could you imagine? Fluttershy with a Flying V?”

Applejack was quick to join in. “She might run away from it, like she's gonna pass the cemetery gates or somethin'.”

“Girls!” Rarity groaned. “Enough of that, Fluttershy has far too much class associating herself with an instrument like that.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head, still struggling to hold in her laughter. “Always ruining my fun Rarity, good job.”

“Well, it is nothing but the truth.”

The pegasus rolled her eyes, much to Rarity's displeasure. “Yeah, well... Twilight told me she saw her smash a bear up that one day. That's pretty metal.”

Twilight frowned slightly, she didn't like to remember how badly she freaked out when failing to deliver a friendship report. “Turns out she was only giving it a massage. Sorry to 'ruin your fun', Dash.”

“Doubt she'd hurt anything with those little hooves of hers,” Applejack commented. “Twilight, on the other hand, killin' all them ponies with her guitar skills.”

“Yeah, totally me, Applejack.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Killing is my business... and business is good!”

Tuning the machine heads on her Everfree Explorer, she sighed once more to herself. “Alright Twilight, got to get back to work. Three hours of sleep is more than enough!”

She seated herself on the old wooden chair, magically switching her guitars, and as always, failing to do so smoothly. Despite this, she began to pick out the first notes of what she had in mind for Rainbow Dash. It felt pretty empty however, only with one guitarist and vocalist. Who would play the recorder? The electric piano? The bass? Drums?

Her door quickly opened to reveal a baby dragon behind it.

“Ugh, Spike. Knock next time!”

He flinched at the sound of her voice. All these years, and he still couldn't get used to it, let alone remember everything Twilight would tell him to do. “Yeah whatever, Rainbow Dash is here. She said she wanted to see you.”

“Oh...” Twilight smiled to herself, setting down her Whitetail on it's stand. “I'll be down in a minute.”

She closed the door on Spike, hearing a few small steps afterwards. Twilight wanted to make herself look more presentable, trotting closer to her mirror. Her door soon opened once more.

“Spi- Oh, hey Rainbow Dash.”

“Twilight, you're here!” she grinned.

“Y-Yes. Yes I am?” As much as she liked Rainbow's enthusiasm to see her, she couldn't help but find her behavior odd, perhaps unnerving.

“What we did two days ago was awesome! We've got to play something else, like, now.” She stared at Twilight, eager to start screaming her head off. Twilight just stared back, entranced. “Well, Twilight?”

The unicorn shook her head. “Huh? Y-Yeah, why not?” Her eyes started to close once more.

“Hang on, you don't look so good,” Dash said. “Probably wouldn't be too good of an idea.”

“Hey, I'm fine! Does it look like I've been losing sleep?” She smiled at Dash, before realizing the question she asked. “Alright, nevermind.”

“Yeah, go get some rest. I don't want you to start windmilling when you're half-dead.” Rainbow chuckled. “Hey, what are you even doing that's keeping you up? It's gotta be something important, right?”

“Oh, it's just a little something I'll show you soon.” Twilight quickly put a hoof to her mouth. Oh no... This is not good. Stupid, stupid me.

“Really? Awesome, let's hear it!”

“I-I uh...” Twilight stuttered. She jammed a hoof against her head a few times. Much to her surprise, it didn't do anything. “I'm tired, how about I do this here to- next week. Yes, next week.” This really can't get any worse.

“Next week?” Rainbow Dash tilted her eyebrow, before shrugging. “Yeah, sounds good, I'll tell the girls abou-”

“No!” Twilight shouted. “I mean... Why don't you just come alone? That way it's... better?” She bit her lip over how creepy she made it sound.

Rainbow gave a friendly smile. “Look, you don't have to show it to anypony you don't want to. I'll keep it a secret.”

“Y-Yeah, thanks.”

“Alright then, see ya Twilight. Don't want to keep you awake any longer.” Dash turned towards the door.

“Yeah, see you Rainbow Dash.”

She waited until the she heard the door close. A few hoofsteps afterwards, and the sound of another door closing. As soon as she knew it was safe, she shouted to herself. “Oh Celestia! One week? What the hay was I thinking?”

The unicorn paced around nervously, examining her two guitars as if it would help her. “How am I going to do this?” she asked herself, turning to see a flock of birds flying from her window. “Birds... I'll be sure to see her later.”

“Fluttershy?” Twilight knocked on the door. “Are you home?”

A few seconds later, a pegasus appeared behind the unlocked wooden door. She was wearing her white and purple spa-robe. “Twilight, what are you doing here so late?”

The unicorn gave a puzzled look for a while, but quickly understood after shifting her gaze to the moon. “Oh, sorry... Am I keeping you up?”

“It's okay, come in,” she said, watching Twilight as she entered.

Twilight looked down, pacing in front of Fluttershy. “Alright, I know you're wondering why I'm here, but I've got a big problem, and I need your help.”

“What is it, Twilight?”

“You can keep a secret, right?” Twilight nervously attempted to look into Fluttershy's eyes, averting her gaze in a matter of seconds.

The pegasus nodded slowly. “O-Of course. I won't tell anypony.”

“Good,” she said. “I'm planning to play a piece on two of my guitars for somepony, a serenade, if you will.” Fluttershy's eyes widened as she leaned in to hear more. “It's Rainbow Dash.” She paused, waiting for a response. “You're okay with that, right? Please, please, please tell me you are.”

“I'm... I'm fine with that.” Fluttershy found it hard to look at Twilight, but tried to keep a steady voice. “I know it must be important to you, how can I help?”

Twilight grinned, taking in a deep breath. “It's a rock piece, I know she likes those,” she quickly spoke. “If you could get some of your songbirds from your choir to help me out a bit, that'd be wonderful.”

Fluttershy offered a smile to her the unicorn across from her. “Consider it done, Twilight. Anything for a friend.”

“Thank you so much!” Twilight pulled the mare in for a hug. Fluttershy squirmed out of the embrace, blushing. “If there's anything I can do, just ask. Thank you again.”

“Could you...” Fluttershy looked away, running her hoof against the ground. “Could you sing me a lullaby?”

“Uh...” Twilight tilted her head. “Of course. Anything for a friend, right?”

“Thank you, just go to my bedroom, I'll be with you in a while.” Fluttershy quickly ran down the stairs into her basement.

Twilight slowly trotted up the stairs. Of all the favours she could be asked, she didn't expect that at all. Taking a deep breath, she entered Fluttershy's room, neat and modest as it was. She made herself comfortable, tapping a hoof against the ground as she waited. Sooner than anticipated, she heard hoofsteps from the staircase. Twilight's jaw dropped when she saw her.

Fluttershy held a Musk Mustang signature 'Spire Black' Baritone Flying V in her hoof. It had an extended neck, and extravagant artwork on the body. “Alright, you said you play the guitar, right?”

“Yes Fluttershy, but this is...”

“Excellent!” She stuffed the guitar in Twilight's hooves. “Here, I want you to play this. It's something my mother used to always sing to me in Cloudsdale.” She fluttered towards her desk and directed Twilight to a bunch of papers. Tabs. Tabs and lyrics.

Twilight wasn't sure about how she was supposed to be feeling. Not only was she playing on a very expensive signature guitar, but she was singing one of her best friends a 'lullaby'. Fluttershy looked towards her with one of the most blissful expressions she'd ever seen, as if she'd been taken back to the best of her childhood.

Thrown through the front window, a thousand sudden lacerations

Injured and disfigured, life becomes damnation

Cornered like an animal, I struggle to break free

Cannot face the horror of my own mortality

“We are falling into,” Twilight screamed, bending a pinch harmonic to transition. “early, graves!”

Help me I am dying and I cannot see the light

Icy hooves of death reach out and pull me into the night

She screamed once more, still thinking of Fluttershy windmilling. “Nothing ever lasts, you won't last!” She continued to play, her hooves starting to ache from the lack of rest. “The long silence begins...” Twilight watched as Fluttershy started to fall asleep. “You've been shattered!”

When she was finished, Fluttershy's eyes were fully closed, sleeping like an angel. She carefully set the Flying V down on the floor, hopefully clear in sight so it wouldn't get damaged. Twilight crept down the stairs, hoping never to encounter a situation as awkward as that again.