Author's Note

Another chapter.
(Small shout-out to TheBaconMaster for giving me inspiration for this chapter name, thanks dude if you are reading this)
Constructive criticism is always appreciated. Let me know what you like or don't like about the story. Heck, you can even suggest ideas and it'll probably make it into the story.
I don't own any of the music I use in this story.
I hope you enjoy it. Have a great day.

Chapter 11: It hertz to remember. (song edited)

***POV Jordan***

Cadance brought us up to one of the towers that was nearly not used except by Celestia herself. The room with the piano was on the third floor of the tower.

But good were these stairs annoying to climb. Have you ever tried to walk up an escalator while it was broken down? It’s like the steps are just that tiny bit larger than a normal staircase so that you have to use three times the force to climb it. These stairs were exactly like that and it was torturing me.

“Are we there yet?” I asked clearly exhausted.

“Only one more floor to go. You are not getting tired are you?” Cadence mocked me.

“I don’t know if you noticed but these stairs are not made for a guy of my stature. So yes, I am having trouble,” I admitted.

“Well, don’t stop now. We are nearly there,” Twilight said trying to comfort me.

“Thank goodness.”

It took me a few more minutes to get to the room.

“Here we are,” Said Cadence as she opened the door.

It was quite a large room with a large queen sized bed (for ponies), probably its own bathroom, quite a lot of furniture. But the best thing about the room was the jet black piano that stood in the middle of the room. It was just beautiful. A black base that transited into a deep blue closer to the legs. The blue even had a night sky pattern to it. On top of the piano a large symbol was painted on it.

Exactly like this (but without the purple and the stars). It was just magnificent.

Without noticing I started touching the piano, feeling it’s curves and smooth surface.

I heard giggling behind me.

“What?” I asked.

“You look like a kid who got his first birthday present,” Cadence said in between giggles.

“Maybe I do, but you can’t deny that this thing looks absolutely beautiful,” I said.

“Yes, we can’t deny that. So what are you waiting for?” Twilight asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked confused.

“Go and try it out. Try and play something,” she said as she pushed me with her head towards the seat.

“Okay okay. No need to be impatient. I just wanted to admire this piece of art,” I said.

“And you looked completely silly while doing that,” Cadence quipped in.

“Oh haha. Like you two don’t have something you absolutely love. In fact Twilight, I know for a fact that you start bouncing up and down when you find a completely new book to read,” I responded.

“I do not,” She said while her cheeks tinted a bit pink.

“You do to.”

We were both to busy to notice that Cadence just lost it. She was dying of laughter.

“What are you laughing about?!” Both me and Twilight nearly screamed at the same time.

“You both argue like a married couple. Haha,” She continued laughing. I face-palmed and started laughing as well.

“Anyway, I promised you two that I would play a piece. And I’m not backing up from a promise that I made,” I said as I took a seat in front of the piano.

The piano was slightly larger than a human piano but the difference was very small. I wonder how earth ponies or pegasi played a piano? I had to ask that at some point.

I slightly touched the keys and played some idle notes to feel how the piano played. I played a small test piece. It wasn’t very good but it’s a piece designed to test and feel out the instrument. I took a small pause after the test piece because I had no actual idea what song I would play.

“Was that it?” Cadence said mockingly from behind me.

“That was just a test piece to get a feeling of the piano. I actually have no idea what to play for you two,” I explained while turning around.

“Oh, but that ‘test piece’ wasn’t even good. How can you think that you can play a song for us if your test is bad?” She concluded with a smug smile.

“A test piece is not meant to sound good,” I tried to explain.

“Or maybe you are not as good as you hoped you were,” She continued.

That was it. No I was getting angry. She wanted to hear something great? She’ll get something great.

I turned around while remembering quite a nice tune. It was from an anime I used to watch. With my mind made up I carefully pressed the first few notes and started the song.

It started softly with a melody that would be repeated quite a few times throughout the song.

I enforced the melody so that it would sound more complete. (0:22)

I made sure that there was a soft transition between the melody and the main body of the song. (0:30)

With the transition over the song took more of a sad tune which kind of felt like it was carrying a message. It also made the song fell a lot slower than it actually was. (0:39)

It wasn’t long before another transition came around. (0:55)

The sad tune of the song continued but a bit more pronounced than before. (1:00)

But after that the melody was back again and lifted the mood of the song a bit. And it repeated itself but with a bit of a higher pitch to it. (1:16)

The sad tune returned but it became more and more accented and louder that it was building up to something. (1:33)

The melody was back again after a while but only very silently and subtle as it slowly started to build up again. (2:06)

Until the melody was back to normal and built up a tiny bit more until it finished rather abruptly. (2:16)

The song was complete. That was exhausting, I was panting and sweating just from playing.

I looked behind me and saw two faces with the funniest look on their face. It was a mix of surprise, shock and awe. This was so worth it.

“So I guess I can’t play well. Can I?” I asked mockingly, “Guessing from the look on your faces, I played great.”

It took them a little while to to realize that I had stopped playing and the song was over.

Twilight was the first to react. She shook her head and started mumbling.

“How do you even know a song like that from the top of your head?!” She asked clearly confused.

“Did you like it?” I asked.

“Yes it was good. But how do you do it? Do you have your sampler nearby or something? How do you remember something like that?” She rambled on.

“I’m glad you liked it. But Twilight? A performer never reveals his or her secrets,” I told her. That shut her up and gave her something to think about.

“Now,” I said, “I believe that you owe me an apology Cadence.”

“I’m sorry. I thought that you were making yourself seem better than you really were. I thought wrong,” She apologised, “But this song, it carries so much meaning it it’s tone alone,” she said implying an explanation.

“I tend to get quite emotional at times. But not in outward appearance, in my actions. And when you called me a liar when I was being honest about something like this, that is very close to my heart, it triggered me. I love playing music and if that gets insulted, you might as well have insulted my mother,” I explained.

“I’m sorry,” She repeated.

“Don’t be. All is forgiven. Did you like the song tho?” I asked.

“Yes I did. Do you follow music lessons or something?” Cadence asked.

“No I do not. I would love to do so, but my current learning schedule is already pretty full,” I responded.

“What about after your lessons with my auntie. I heard that there will be given some music lessons for ponies after the usual school hours. Maybe you can check it out?” She suggested.

“I don’t know. I would have to drop the astronomy lessons that Celestia gives.” I said.

“Don’t worry about it Jordan,” Twilight said trying to reassure me, “Both Celesta and me noticed how you don’t really pay attention to those lessons anyway. I don’t think that astronomy interests you in any way what so ever. So it would probably be best for you if you found something like this

to be passionate about.”

“You two know that I don’t like astronomy? How come Celestia never said anything? She is the teacher after all,” I asked for clarification.

“Well for starters, you never told the princess you liked music like this so much, so she didn’t know how to replace your lessons with something you would like. She can’t just smell what you like, you know?” Twilight explained.

“Indeed. It would also be good that you have something you can do that really interests you. Maybe sometime in the future you could audition to play music at some of the big events in Canterlot like the grand galloping gala,” Cadence added.

“That could be nice. But I would be alone in these lessons without anyone I know. And me trying to make new friends will become really awkward really quickly,” I said with some concern.

“Well, you are already really awkward to begin with,” Cadence responded with a giggle.

“Hey!”

“But that wouldn’t matter. You would be sharing these lessons with ponies that would have the same interests as you. It would be relatively easy to make friends with them if you already share something in common with them.” She explained.

“Alright. I guess there is no real harm in checking it out. Where are these lessons anyway?” I asked.

“They are organised by Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns. They hired a small community hall in order to give these lessons after the official school hours so that everypony could attend to them if they wanted,” Cadence responded.

“How about this. We will go down there in the afternoon and when you have seen it, then you can make your decision. Is that okay?” She added.

“Sure, that sounds great,” I said filled with excitement.

“If I may ask,” Cadence started. I really didn’t like the way this question would start.

“How did you learn to play the piano like this?” She asked genuinely interested.

And there it is.

It may have been a harmless question. But that harmless question sparked some memories I rather kept buried.

***Flashback***

“Mom? I want to follow some sort of music course. Can I?” Little me asked.

“Jordan. You know that those courses are expensive to follow. What if you get bored of them when you start? It’ll be money down the drain,” my mother said.

“But there are free tryouts at the music school in the village this evening. Can we at least go? Please?” I pestered her a bit.

“Alright, alright. But don’t get your hopes up about joining,” she said giving in.

**Time skip**

In the community hall that was used by the music school were all kinds of instruments in different places. And every few instruments had an instructor.

I was guided through all the instruments and introduced to them together with all the other kids while our parents trailed behind. We each had a few tries on every kind of instruments until the point came that I could have a turn on one of the two pianos.

I started playing a small simple piece, not more than two or three notes at a time, like it was natural to me. While behind me I heard my mother and one of the instructors have a small conversation about me.

“Your son is a natural,” The guy said.

“Yes, he is,” My mother answered.

“This may seem a bit forward but are you planning on enlisting him for the course?” The guy asked.

“I fear that we don’t have that kind of money to pay for the lessons,” She said.

“It is not very expensive at all to join the school. It’s only between five or ten euros a month” the guy said trying to persuade my mother.

“Then there is no harm to it I guess,” my mother said.

The memory was fading and warping into another one.

*Jump*

Now I was much older and playing the same piece that I had played at the tryouts many years ago.

I was playing in front of a large crowd. We were all inside a large building that looked old for some reason. Statues were everywhere in the building as were some old paintings.

When I was done a guy in some white dress came closer with a microphone.

“Thank you my son. I there anything else you would like to say before we finish the ceremony?” He asked me.

“Yes please,” I answered as he handed me the microphone to address all the people in the large room.

“I know that it was not the nicest piece I played just now,” I said to everyone in the crowd. I could recognize a few, like my aunts and uncles, in the crowd.

“It was in fact the first song I ever played on a piano. Joy filled me when I first played it, but now it only brings sorrow. It was her favorite song you know. So every time I hear it, it’ll remember me of her. This time it was in her honor that I played it. Mother, may your soul rest peacefully in the heavens,” I said as I gave back the microphone to the guy in the white dress.

The memory faded again as I remembered.

***End Flashback***

I saw Twilight shaking me a little. Apparently I had zoned out while having the flashback.

“Are you alright Jordan? Cadence only asked you a question,” She said noticing my tears.

I noticed that I was crying a little again.

I tried to form some words after trying and failing to process the memory I just relived.

I swallowed and said: “Today was the day my mother died.”