Chapters Chapter 1: Oooooooooo I Like!
Pinkie Pie loves music. She sang whenever she could, as she knows that somehow a crowd of people are watching her and are enjoying her songs, even though her friends sometimes wonders why she breaks out into song at a flip of a dime and find her songs inappropriate and/or odd. But hey, her one-pony band saved Ponyville once from the parasprites. But no matter, our tale begins with the little pink pony cleaning up her dwelling in the Sugarcube Corner.
Despite the mess that she often makes with her confetti and party cannons, she is at least courteous enough to clean up after herself and this is perhaps why most of the ponies in Ponyville are willing to tolerate her party attics (That and her parties are freaking awesome!). But of course this is a side that no one tends to appreciate, and that one time when the Cakes returned to their home after leaving Pinkie to babysit their foals shocked them enough to initially though that they are at the wrong house. She was sweeping the floor happily, humming a simple tune until she was faced with an obstacle; Gummy.
“Hey Gummy, could you take an intsy tiny step to the left so that I could sweep that spot?” Pinkie asked the little alligator politely.
Gummy as usual just stared at her with not a single care in the world. Pinkie rolled her eyes but with a smile on her face, and decided to carry the little gator and put him on the bed. Still, not a single care was given by the little gator as Pinkie places him on the soft and fluffy bed. However, Pinkie’s tail accidentally knocks over one of her party hats off the bedside table, and it fell on the floor and rolled gently under her bed. Pinkie heard the soft thud and notices the party hat rolling under her bed. As she kneels down to find her party hat, she began to wonder about the last time she cleaned up the spot under her bed.
“When was the last time I cleaned up the bottom of my bed. I wonder if I will see some dust bunnies and their babies under my bed? OOoooooooOOoooooooo I hope that dust bunnies are as adorable as normal bunnies?”
What greeted her instead is a rather plain floor, albeit one covered with dust. Pinkie saw the bright pink party hat and was about to use her hoof to take it out when she saw a rather dark and odd thing next to her party hat. She then puts one of her hooves to her mouth and started blowing in it and several things started to inflate on her other hooves. She does not know what those bendy stick-like things from her hooves are, but it appears to be very similar to those things that Minotaurs called ‘fingers’. It has always helped her out when it comes to things such as grabbing, and she use her gift to retrieve both the party hat and the dark and odd thing from under her bed.
Once she had placed the party hat on Gummy’s head and deflated her ‘fingers’, she looked at the thing she just found under her bed. It is flat, thin, square, and definitely dusty. She decided to just wipe the dust away and to her surprise, it appears to be a music record of some sort.
“Hm……..’Sing Sang Sung’ by Penny Goodpony.” She noticed that other than the bright red words that emblazoned the cover of the music record, there is nothing too amazing about the cover other than that of a bright yellow stripe running down the center of the record, flanked by two black stripes. The cover of the record appears to be really old as the colors appears to have faded with the passing of time. She wonders why is it even under bed to begin with, but decided to not dwell on the thought.
She takes the record disk out from its cover and places it on her gramophone player. As she gently takes the disc out from its cover, she could smell the dusty and musky smell of the record and could not help by to wonder again why it is under her bed to begin with. She hops towards the gramophone and places it gently, fearing that it could break under the pressure. Once she is confident that the record did not disintegrate, she placed the needle on the disc and let the music play. The rough sound of the disc and the needle scratching was soon replaced with a tune that was both loud and clear, bristled with energy and reckless abandon which made Pinkie jumped a little out of surprise.
“EEEEPpppppppp!!!!!” Pinkie was definitely not expecting the music to be this……unique. The tune however, is honestly way better that that ‘Oppa Pongnam Style’ song that has been the rage these days. So she just sat on her haunches and listen to it.
As she listens on, she noticed that the tune appears to not keep to a single theme unlike the music that she is more accustomed to. Rather it burst with sudden accents in a midst of several melodies as they develop, intertwine and fade back during the song. At times some of the songs are slow, and some of the songs are really fast. She recognized some of the instruments being played in some of the songs, the blaring metallic sound of the trumpet and the primal beat of the tom-toms being the most apparent to her, but then there are other instruments that she have no idea about. Amazingly it appears that the instruments are talking to each other. At times there will be a solo by one of the instruments, and it will get a reply from another instrument, and then as if they are happy with their conversation they will fade back into the background and the main melody will go about its own business again.
Amidst the sounds of music, she noticed a little movement from the corner of her eyes, and she turned around to see that Gummy was actually hopping up and down on her bed. Pinkie was quite amazed that Gummy actually reacting to something for once and her time with the alligator only tells her that Gummy is actually enjoying this music. She smiles and decides to dance with the music, taking it all in.
After a while, the gramophone falls silent and Pinkie is now sweating like one of Applejack’s pigs on a hot sunny day.
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Today is quite an uneventful day for Twilight Sparkle but that is the way that she likes it. Spike is out on errands, and she likes the peace and quiet in the library that she calls her home. Often times, she is rarely alone as a result of trying to save Equestria from some evildoer of the day, or problems pertaining to her friends. For once however, she can take it easy and read a book. She had always wanted to take some time to read a particular book, a book called “A Brief History of Time” by this disabled unicorn that have revolutionized quantum magic. As she stares at the cover of the book that she had wanted to read, she is happy that she will be able to read about this revolutionary book.
“TWILIGHT!!!!!!!” The purple unicorn jumped up in the air and fall flat on the floor. As she regains her composure, she looks at the pony that shouted her name. The pink fluffy mane only confirms the identity of the pony that interrupted her from reading her book.
“Pinkie, don’t scare me like that! And……huh……I do not see you often in the library by yourself. What brings you here to the library? Wanting to get some more recipes? “Twilight hides her slight irritation flawlessly as she noticed that Pinkie rarely comes to the library unless she wants to get some recipes for some pastry. The pink pony laughed.
“Oh Twilight, you know me so well! That’s why you are one of my bestest friends! But this time I am here for something else entirely.”
“That’s new. What can I help you with anyway?” Twilight is now quite interested in what Pinkie is looking for. Unfortunately for Twilight, asking that exact question sealed her fate. The pink earth pony just went on without even taking a pause (and for that matter taking a breath. But hey, she’s Pinkie Pie).
“WelltheotherdaywhenIwascleaningupmyroomIaskedGummytomoveasidebuthedidn’tsoIcarriedhimandputhimonmybedandthenmytailknockedoneofmypartyhatsdownundermybedandwhenIkneeleddowntogetthehatIfoundthisthingandItookitandmypartyhatoutofthereandthenitturnsoutthatthingisactuallyaoldrecordandwhenIplayeditthemusicwassooamazingitmademesmilefromeartoearIhavenotsmiledthatbigsinceIgotmycutiemarkItislouditisniceitishappyitiscoolitisamazingItevenmadeGummydancedwithjoyThenIaskmyselfwhatisthismusicandIthoughtthattheonlyponythatwillknowaboutsomethinglikethatwouldbeyoutwilightsoIdecidedtocomeoverandaskyouaboutit!” Pinkie’s wall of words slapped Twilight in the face so hard that the unicorn was utterly silent. The silence persists for a while before Twilight regains some sense of consciousness.
“Whaaaaa?” Twilight could only mutter those words to Pinkie. As if on cue, Pinkie then takes out a gramophone out from the thin air, and as Twilight could only wonder how on earth the pink pony pulled out a gramophone out of thin air, Pinkie slips the record on the gramophone and let it play. Twilight’s ears were literally assaulted again, but this time to the tunes that are coming out from the record. After a while, Pinkie decided that perhaps Twilight had enough of the music and pulls the needle away from the record.
“SO Twilight…..do you know what this music is?” Pinkie looks at Twilight with her big light blue cerulean eyes, and a grin. Twilight regains her composure, and she beckons for Pinkie to take a seat. Twilight needs to sit down from all that noise, but she admits that she have not heard that type of song since her time in Canterlot.
“Actually Pinkie I do. What you are listening to here is a genre of music called Jazz, to be exact from this song it appears to be Jazz from the Swing era. It used to be popular back in the day, where instead of wubz,” Twilight shuddered at the word, “ponies danced to Jazz-orientated bands. Instead of pop songs, jazz orchestras dominated the charts.”
“See everyone? I knew that Twilight would know the answer!” She looks at the reader and gives a wink to the reader. Twilight of course have no idea who Pinkie was talking to, and her time with the pink pony have taught her that it is best to just leave it at that.
“Anyway Pinkie, Jazz is still around but it has changed quite a bit from Jazz during the Swing Era. Ever heard of Pony G?” Twilight asked Pinkie as she used her magic to make some tea for both of them.
“Nope, never heard of Pony G before nor do I care.” Pinkie just gives Twilight a very happy smile. But then Pinkie’s mind registered a word that made her think.
“Wait Twilight, what do you mean ‘changed’?”
“Well, Pinkie as with every type of genre of music it soon fades out from the limelight. Jazz is still around, but it is not as popular as it used to be and there are many different kinds of jazz, just like there are many different kinds of music in classical music.” Twilight is careful to choose her words so that Pinkie will not be overwhelmed by the music terminology, such as syncopation and improvisation that characterizes Jazz.
“Awww…….” Pinkie was quite disappointed from Twilight’s answer. Just when she found out what kind of music it is, she was told that the music is no longer popular. Her pink hair deflated a little from this relevation.
“But it is a good thing that you are interested in Swing Jazz, Pinkie. I personally believe that it is much more palatable than…..wubs.”Twilight can only groan when she remembers the times when her neighbor, Vinyl Scratch play those blasted tunes like almost all the time until Twilight decided to cast a silencing spell over the house so that she could be spared. By doing so, she had received so many gifts from the other ponies that she have to store them in the basement. Another shudder from Twilight caused Pinkie to wonder what it is with Twilight and wubs.
“Yeah I am also glad that I am interested in Swing Jazz….Jaaaaazzz…..J-aazzzz…..Oooo it is so fun to even say the word ‘Jazz’!” Pinkie giggles. With a simple spell, Twilight levitate the whole tea set and pours some tea for both of them.
“If you like, I have some books about Swing Jazz….would you…” Twilight was greeted by a very wide grin, which unnerves Twilight a little.
Chapter 2: Jazz on Mah Mind
After reading some of the books about Jazz, she got some idea about what Jazz is all about. And being the Element of Laughter helps in this, as she knows that it is all about having fun and expressing oneself. But the problem is....where on Equestria will she find some of her instruments? The weird curvy thingie called the saxophone, the weird flute-like thing called the clarinet, and she can't really use an electric guitar or a turntable as it will give the whole thing a very different feel. But what she has for the moment is apparently adequate enough to play a form of jazz.
"Okie Dokie Lokie! Now to see if I can do some jazz!!!!!!!" She takes a deep breath and with the power invested in her by the Elements of Harmony, she plays all of her instruments at the same time. What she gets instead is a really, really,REALLY messy cacophony of pain for all her neighbors and especially the Cakes.
"CELESTIA DARN IT PINKIE! CAN'T YOU PLAY THOSE THINGS SOMEWHERE ELSE DURING THE NIGHT?!?! WE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!!!!!!!" All her neighbors shouted at once.
"Sorry everypony....." Pinkie blushed with embarrassment as she replied, her voice fading with a slight tint of shame. Not only did she failed, but she got what she deserved for playing her instruments during the night.
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"Say what know? She's playin' Fancy?" Applejack's response is typical once she misheard Twilight's words that Pinkie is now very much immersed in Jazz. The market today is busy as usual, but for a friend Applejack could always make some time for some talk. Besides, she is definitely interested in this new venture of Pinkie, as she can get a tad bit obsessive about it.
"Not Fancy, Jazz. she caused quite a ruckus last night with her blazing instruments. All I can say is that she's needs a whole lot of work with her Jazz." Twilight laughs as she checks out some of the apples for sale today.
"Oh Jazz. Why have ah heard that name before? It's at the tip of mah tongue...."Applejack rubs her hoof on her chin, deep in thought. And then as if on cue, the blazing cacophony of instruments strikes. Everypony's attention is now on Pinkie Pie marching into town with her whole set of instruments. Twilight could see that Pinkie is trying her best to make some semblance of Jazz with her instruments, but still like she told Applejack, Pinkie's got a long way to go. Applejack could only give a sigh, but then something snaps in her.
"Wait a minute. That sounds like what ah heard from time to time whenever Granny says that she needs to 'relive her youth'! Hey Big Mac, don't you agree that Pinkie's song right now sounds like a really bad version of that style of song that Granny likes to play from time to time?" Applejack looks over her shoulder towards Big Macintosh who was hauling some of the apples to the store.
"Eeyup." A simple, crisp answer slips from Big Macintosh's lips.
"Really? Oh wait....now that I think about it, Jazz is played around the time when Granny Smith was our age." Twilight smiled when she realized the connection.
"Well, maybe mah Granny could do something about that whole blasted consarn from Pinkie." Applejack might as well help Pinkie, or they will sooner or later crack under the sound of agony that Pinkie is subjecting them to.
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-Two days later-
"Really?" Pinkie replies solemnly when Applejack told her that she could help her improve her Jazz.
"Yeah, Granny might know somethin' about that music of yours." Applejack found Pinkie at her room, with a dark, brooding aura around her and seeing that Pinkie is in what Rainbow Dash called "Loony moment". The townsfolk are honestly angry with Pinkie to the extent that Pinkie's morale is on the deep end. Applejack looks at her friend to see the telltale signs of "Loony moment".Straight hair? Check. Dark, faded colors? Check. Crazy, evil loony eye stare? Thankfully, it is not there. As far as Applejack could see, Pinkie's expression is just that of a sad pony rather than a crazed one that Applejack and the others saw during Pinkie's last birthday. Luckily for the cowpony, she could see that Pinkie's hair is puffing up and her colors are returning as Applejack offered her friend some help.
"Can I meet Granny Smith now?" Pinkie asked. Her smile is coming back, Applejack could even see it. Her happiness is always infectious to everypony around her.
"Sure, she'll be happy to meet ya." Applejack gave the pink pony a smile.
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The loud snoring is all that Pinkie and Applejack need to find out where Granny Smith is in Sweet Apple Acres. Well, Granny is quite old and making breakfast for all three of her grandchildren even before the sun was up sure takes a lot out from an old mare like her. Not to mention that her grandchildren are very voracious eaters, thus forcing her to cook even more to sate their hunger. Soon enough, both of the earth ponies are now face to face with the old mare, sleeping on her rocking chair.
"You know Applejack, now that I see her sleeping like this, I felt kinda bad to wake her up....." PInkie sounds a little unsure.
"Relax, Ah know her sleep schedule like how Ah know day and night. In 3......2......1....." The countdown is down to the mark and Granny Smith opened her eyes, only to be greeted by her granddaughter and a fuzzy pink thing.
"Is it time for me to cook for you three again?" Granny sounds dazed, but soon gained enough of her senses to notice that there is a guest in the house.
"Hello Granny Smith." Pinkie was certain to control her enthusiasm around the old mare, as she remembers that older ponies are more sensitive to sudden loud noises. Her Nana Pie taught her that, bless her soul.
"Hello Pinkie, What can Ah do for ya? Want some of them special apples for yer cakes?" Granny asked Pinkie.
"Thanks, but I am here today because I heard from Applejack that you are into Jazz?" Granny Smith's eyes brighten up with the sound of that word.
"Do Ah?!?! Well, Ah guess Ah know enough to turn you inside out! Now, whatcha listen to? Ah personally like those music by the Duke Trottingham, he's sure got that swing in his tune! Of course there is that clean, crisp sound of that pony Evans Birdy with his piano! And then..." As the old pony springs to verbal action, Applejack was taken aback by that enthusiasm. She never seen her Granny talked like that before, as she always remembers her kind and sweet demeanor. But nonetheless, she is happy to see her granny like this.
"Ur......I do not know much about what you are talking about Granny, but the only pony I have listened to so far is Penny Goodpony." Pinkie was also taken aback by this. Since when did Granny became Twilight?
"Penny Goodpony...... Oh how ah remember those days, that pony sure knows how to make some nice party tunes. Remember how everypony will blast one of his tunes...."Granny Smith is now deep in the nostalgia route, but she snaps back to reality knowing that she is straying away.
"So Granny Smith, do you know how to do some jazz?" Pinkie asked the green mare.
As the old mare takes a breath, she could feel the tune that she wants to play. It is an old tune about the good o' South, the tough times of the land and the harvests, and how there was a time where everything is much simpler for everypony. She closes her eyes, and then blows into her harmonica. Her thoughts came out flawlessly on the harmonica, telling her life's story for the world to hear.
Immediately, Pinkie's jaw dropped. Applejack looks at Pinkie and smiles, using her hoof to close Pinkie's jaw back again. Applejack have gotten used to Granny Smith's virtuosity with her harmonica, but most ponies could not comprehend her skill with the harmonica as they expected her to be that old grandmother who was too old for anything.
Pinkie on the other hand, suffers from having her mind blown up badly. How? What? When? Who? Which? She was utterly speechless. How did Granny Smith get that tune down so good with only an old harmonica, while she failed with so many instruments? As old Granny Smith went on, Pinkie could only give the old mare a whole level of respect. And then it was then that Pinkie realized that the old mare is now, for wanting of better words, 'stylin' . Pinkie's mind exploded for the second time that day.
Once Granny Smith stops playing her tune,she opened her eyes and realized that Pinkie is now on her haunches, and her expression so blank that it is blanker than Applebloom's flank without a cutie mark. Granny Smith looks at Applejack, but all the orange pony could giver her grandmother is a shrug and a smile.
"Oh.......my......Celestia." Pinkie finally mustered the words from her mouth. Utter amazement is the tone of the day from Pinkie's words.
"Yer darn tootin' right you said Her name. Ah told ya that ah know enough to turn you inside out."
"But...how Granny Smith? How did you...."Pinkie could only try to figure out the next word that is coming out from her mouth. Granny Smith gave her a wink.
"Jazz is as Jazz does, just funny that way. That and it's a language of the heart." Granny's cryptic message only serves to make the pink pony stood there in silence.
"Granny, can you teach me Jazz?" Pinkie finally asked the old mare. Granny Smith gave Pinkie a heartly laugh and pats Pinkie on the shoulder.
"Ah have to tell ya, Ah am a hard taskmaster. Yer sure?" She looked at Pinkie's cerulean blue eyes with her own orange ones. Her kind voice sounds caring and yet stern at the same time.
"I am sure of it."
"Alrighty then! See ya in the morning! Wait....before that....you wanna have some apple pie?" Granny Smith then beckons Applejack to go to the kitchen to give their guest a slice of their famous apple pie.
Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, I will get the gist of Jazz ! , Pinkie solemnly swears in her heart.
Chapter 3: Consarn It!
When Granny Smith told Pinkie that she is a tough taskmaster, Pinkie was assuming that it is all practice and stuff. Instead , the first thing when she arrived at Sweet Apple Acres is Granny Smith just letting her listen to a whole lot of records, She knows none of the artists that created the music in all those records, and honestly listening to jazz is cool, but she wants to learn something. Listening will not help her accomplish anything, or so Pinkie thought.
"Sorry if I am missing something Granny Smith, but......listening will not help me accomplish anything. I want to play some jazz, not listen to them." Granny Smith looks at the pink pony and only sighs.
"Well.......as mah Pa always say, " First learn how to stand, then you learn how to gallop. Nature's rule mah dear, not mine." I will pass that down to you now." Pinkie can only groan at the old mare's cryptic messages. What is she, some kind of Neighponese karate sensei? The old mare knows well what's going on in her pupil's mind, and instead opted for a more direct route. She puts a musical score right in front of Pinkie, and Pinkie eyes are now focused on the music sheet.
"'Someday my Princess will come'? Isn't this like an old boring tune?" Pinkie said, and looks at Granny Smith with one eyebrow raised.
"Ah got this from one of Applebloom's trumpet music lessons when she tries to get her cutie mark in being a trumpeter. Thank Celestia she gave up, as it ain't pretty. Well then, mah dear try playin' this. Ah heard from Applejack that you can play several instruments at once." Granny Smith gave her a nice, warm smile.
"Sure thing!" Pinkie Pie is ecstatic that now Granny Smith is going somewhere with this. She looks at the music sheet and immediately knows that she could play this tune easy peasy. She took out her trumpet from her hammerspace and started blowing the tune. So far so good as she is following all the tunes exactly as it would appear on the paper.
"Good, good. Make it all jazzy and give me the jive. And do not make it horrible at the same time." The old mare beckons her now, not even a single care about how her student can materialize a trumpet out of midair. Pinkie then looks at the simple sheet of music and now she could see that the song is now perhaps the most scariest thing in the world for her. How on earth does she make a song like this interesting at all? Not to mention that she will have to think so much when she is playing. How does one make it not horrible? If she jumps to the wrong music scale, she will make it utterly horrible. And not to mention that the song is slow, so making it all jazzy is even more difficult. How does she make it both fast and slow at the same time? Most importantly how does she make it sound like jazz?
Before long, Pinkie is now just staring at the sheet, the cogs in her brain are now stuck. The sweat on her brow is the cue that Granny Smith needs to take the sheet away from her. Once she did so the pink pony just looks at her, very much confused.
"See mah dear? You had never heard Jazz before in yer life, and now making this song all jazzy is just plain impossible. Jazz is as Jazz does. No short cuts around it. To know what's goin' on, yer need to get it first. It's like math ah guess." Pinkie wanted to say something about it, but then she takes a deep breath. Granny Smith is right, and a smile creeps up on her face.
"I am sorry, I went a little over my head just now. Could you forgive me?" Pinkie's apology is as sincere as they come. If it were Twilight's she would have tried to get a proper debate out of it. But Pinkie is the happiest and most friendliest pony in Ponyville as all the readers would have known. But deep down, Pinkie feels a little salty.
"Well, time to listen to more songs then. Once yer listen to enough of them, we could let you try to get some jazzy tunes, aye?" Granny Smith smiled back at Pinkie. Pinkie perked up at the idea.
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"So how was the training going about at Sweet Apple Acres? I heard that Pinkie's having a tough time with this........'Jazz' thing." Rainbow Dash is finally off from her work of controlling the weather at Ponyville and managed to join Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Twilight for a mare's dinner out at the Veggie Grill. It was during this meeting that she ask the others about Pinkie's foray into some new music thing.
"Well from what ah saw, they are still listening to all the old songs from back in the day. Granny said that Pinkie needs to get it in her noodles in order to move to the next step." Applejack took a bite out of the celery from her plate as she say so.
"Is that why the poor dear is unable to make it for dinner today?" Rarity asked Applejack, and was replied with a nod.
"Oh.......I hope that she will be alright." Fluttershy's voice is loud enough for everypony else, but is still but a whisper.
"Relax girls, she will be fine if she spends the time on it. Remember the last time she tried to spend time with everypony else?" Everyone could never forget that time where the sea of Pinkies flooded Ponyville and they need to get rid of all the fakes by forcing them to watch paint dry. Yeah, all that is because she wanted to spend time with every one of her friends.
"Yeah.....she can be tad obsessive about things." Rainbow Dash could only thank Celestia that Pinkie have decided to use it to learn some new music genre instead, and under somepony's tutelage at that.
"I wonder what is Pinkie Pie doing right now? I think we all should check up on her later."
"That's a good idea Rarity, at least we could support Pinkie. I am sure that us being there would be good for her." Twilight then takes a sip of water. Sounds good, what could possibly go wrong?
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-Later that night-
"What happened here?" Twilight is now looking at what looks like a picket of farm animals in front of the house, with one banner saying "Stop the Noise! Stop the Oppression!" whole other banners are just showing a sign of Pinkie's silhouette crossed with an 'X'. All the farm animals are all wearing a pink band around their arms, and some of the on their heads and Twilight assumed that it is a sort of symbol of their resistance. All of the farm animals that could hold a torch did so, and Twilight could see that they are all really angry. Sadly enough Twilight knows the source of their grievance.
One of the sheep, a black sheep is holding a megaphone and is now speaking to all the farm animals. Applejack can only facehoof while the other ponies just continue to watch their first ever farm animal strike.
"Oh no, not Martin...." Applejack's familiarity with that black sheep only serves to make the next series of events even worse for the cowpony. The black sheep gave a rousing speech, about equality in the farm and how all farm animals should not suffer the oppression of the 'noise of evil' and how each one of the should hold hands and live in harmony. Finally the black sheep went on to stir the crowd even more.
"What do we want?" The black sheep speaks in its sheepish voice, but amazingly it has quite some charisma into it.
As the farm animal crowd chanted the words "Pinkie, stop!" over and over again, Fluttershy gasped and puts her hoof over her mouth, with Rainbow is rather impressed with the black sheep's speech. Rarity looks at Twilight uncomfortably as she was the one who put them in this awkward situation.
"Consarn it, not again......." Applejack groaned so loud that Twilight could hear it over the chanting. Twilight could fathom that this incident has happened before. Twilight does not need to wait long for Applejack to follow up with that answer.
"The last time this happened, Applebloom was tryin' to learn how to play the trumpet so that she could get her cutie mark. Suffice to say there was a riot due to the trumpet play around Sweet Apple Acres and both Big Mac and I gotta calm them down. In the end, the farm animals made their own union and we both made an agreement ; we will not let the 'sound of evil' assault their ears and asked Applebloom to stop, while in return we will get twice the stuff we need from the farm animals. It worked for us to an extent as Applebloom's play was plain bad and we do not have to see another barn getting torched again. Of course Applebloom was not pleased, but that is a whole other story to tell......" Applejack could only bury her face in her hoofs as she retold her story to her friends. Twilight rarely seen the earth pony being so overwhelmed save that time with the applebucking season.
"Well, it could not get any worse right?" Twilight looks at everypony, expecting a positive answer. But then as if to make her statement a true case of irony in action, Twilight could see Applebloom running up towards them. The young filly then take a few deep breath and also some time to recompose herself before she talks to the ponies.
"Ah am so glad you are all here! Pinkie Pie just locked herself in the closet not wanting to come out! She said that she is a big failure in making Jazz! Granny Smith can't get her outta the closet and Big Mac is now tryin to talk to farm animal union leaders, but is at a loss for words!" Twilight just facehoofed, wondering why everything she says today has to just bite her in the flank.
Chapter 4: Fluttershy’s Serenade
Soon enough everypony save Applejack and Big Macintosh are in front of the closet where Pinkie had locked herself in for several hours now. Twilight could only wonder what Applejack and Big Macintosh are talking with the farm animal union representatives, but she could hear some rather colorful language from both sides downstairs. Right now, Twilight’s attention is focused upon her dear friend.
“Pinkie…..are you okay in there?” Twilight asked the pink pony, whom she can hear sobbing in the closet. whatever it is that made her cry, it must be really bad if it made Pinkie locks herself in the closet of another pony's house
“I say go away.” More sobbing. Rarity looks at everypony, and she could see that everypony are at a lost on how they should approach the manner. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy could only watch the commotion from the side, as the former has nothing better else to say, while the latter is thinking about what she wants to say without hurting her friend’s feelings. For Twilight it is more of how she could make sense of it all, while in Rarity’s case it is more of knowing that her friend truly needs her at this moment but is unable to do anything. Everyone else looked at Granny Smith, and the old mare gives a deep sigh.
“Well, it’s alright. Give her some time to herself. Let’s go to my room.” Granny Smith motion to the rest of the ponies to move along. As everyone followed the old mare to her bedroom, another flurry of aggressive negotiations is going on between Applejack and the farm animal union representatives.
“WHAT THE HAY?!?!!? THAT IS JUST TOO MUCH! IMPORTED SPA MUD FOR THE PIGS?!?!?!?!”
Damn..... , Twilight reasoned as the negotiations, or to be exact the shouting contest went on and on. Once they entered the room, Twilight takes the next step in unraveling this messy situation.
“Well Granny Smith, it seems that you know what happened here. Could you tell us about it?” Twilight beckons the old mare to tell her tale.
“Alright, Twilight….but this will not be pretty, y’hear?”
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-Earlier that day-
“Well Pinkie, let’s hear what you have learned from all them old records.” The old mare is happy that her student has been very attentive to the music after that time. She once again showed Pinkie the music sheet and continue to observe how will Pinkie try to interpret this song in her own way.
Pinkie is smiling as she has now finally moved on to the next stage in Granny’s tutorial. She took out her trumpet and tries to play the song. But instead, her tune is entirely off, and sounds more like a bunch of ducks screaming to each other than a jazz-ified version of “Someday My Princess Will Come”. Granny Smith cringed a little at the sound, but at least she got some things right.
“So how did I do?” Pinkie gave the old mare a smile.
“Well…….you could work on some of the phrasing as it sounds like you are just pressing some of yer keys randomly. Some of the tunes did not flow.” Granny Smith tries to give Pinkie some constructive criticism.
“Yeah, I guess you are right. I was just pressing them when I am not sure what I should do….” Pinkie blushed a little.
“Sure thi…..” Before she could even complete the phrase, her body shudders and then followed by her knees getting all pinchy. That odd…. ,Pinkie thought. Something unexpected is about to happen and it is going to be scary. Suddenly, she feels her tail twitching.
“Granny watch out!” Pinkie immediately pulls Granny Smith down with her, only seconds before a pile of mud pass over their heads. As they both get up, they could see that all the farm animals are now staring daggers at them.
“Ur……Hi everyone. I am Pinkie Pie.” Still no reaction from the crowd.
“What the hay is that fer?” Granny Smith asked the farm animals. Before long, an entire riot of sounds cracked through the air, each with their own reasons as to why they did what they did.
“It’s the sound of evil! I thought that you told us that will never happen again!” One of the cows shouted out loud.
Before long, Granny Smith and Pinkie were trying to calm down the crowd of farm animals, but then every farm animal hurled many insults at Pinkie. With each insult, Pinkie’s eyes teared up a little. However, one of the farm animals took it too far.
“Seriously, you do not have any talent in this nor do you sound good at all! I rather give my children away than to listen to your blasted sound! Leave the farm and never play that thing again! My fart sounds better than that sound from your darn trumpet! Actually Applebloom sounds mighty better than you! You seriously just like to annoy everyone don’t you, you failure in life!?!” A black sheep finally shouted.
Pinkie bit her lips, and looked around the sea of farm animals utterly overwhelmed. Her watery eyes are now at the brink of holding back the tears, and her lips trembled. And then it happens. She bawled really hard, and a fountain of tears ran from her eyes, screaming out her sadness. Damn……………I have not seen her cry that hard since that time where she cracked under pressure from foalsitting the Cake’s children.
“WHY AUTHOR, WHY DID YOU MAKE ALL THESE ANIMALS SO MEAN TO MEEEEEE?!!?!?!?!YOU BIG MEANIE WHO’S WEARING BOXERS IN HIS ROOM TYPING OUT THESE MEAN THINGS TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!NOW I AM GOING TO LOCK MYSELF IN THE CLOSET AS THE PLOT DICTATES!!!!!!!” Everyone, including Granny Smith was caught by surprised from both the outburst of sadness and also her very odd choice of words. Hey, even I was caught by surprise from her choice of words my dear readers, and yes I am slightly hurt by her comments about me and my boxers. They are comfy alright? And they make me write better.
She then ran into the house crying. Everyone looked at each other, before one of the farm animals, a white sheep in a sharp-looking suit and glasses decides to take a step forward and talk to Granny Smith.
“Anyway…….as agreed upon the union will organize a strike if there is a breach of conduct by our employer, in this case the Apple family, and we will not stop with our pickets until our demands are met or a credible compromise between the farm animals. If you seek to meet with the union representatives, you may find us behind barn and we could make the possible arrangements for negotiations. Have a good day, Mrs. Smith.”
As the sheep walks away, Granny Smith's anger at the bloodsucking sheep is surging within her.
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“WHAT! I WILL DESTROY THEM!” Rarity roared after hearing the story. Such inponity can never be forgiven in Rarity’s eyes.
It was then that Fluttershy walks out of the room.
“Fluttershy, where are you going?” Twilight asked, but there is no reply. Everypony looked at each other and they all walked out of the room wondering what is on the yellow pegasus’ mind. It is rare to see Fluttershy taking the first step for any action. They then saw the yellow Pegasus sitting in front of the closet.
“Hey Pinkie.” The only reply Fluttershy gets are a few more sobs. Fluttershy’s friendship with Pinkie is perhaps one of the longest that she ever had, second only to those that she shared with Rainbow Dash.
“I know that you feel sad for all the mean things that those animals have said to you. But you can’t take their words to heart you know…..” Fluttershy’s warm and caring voice caresses Pinkie’s ears, like that of a mare calming her frightened foal.
“But….they’re really mean. The author is the bigger meanie for planning this, but I do not know why.” Fluttershy choose to not bother with the second part, as she knows Pinkie's tendencies to talk to what Pinkie calls 'the audience', despite the absence of such an audience. Of course, Fluttershy does not have Pinkie's fourth wall-breaking powers but we will leave it at that.
“It’s okay Pinkie, it’s okay. We are all here for you.” Fluttershy is treading a fine line here, as she knows that not every pony is here with them, as Applejack is downstairs negotiating with the farm animals. At least the negotiations are now really quiet, which help Fluttershy in convincing her friend that they are all there for her.
“What do you do when you are sad Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked. Fortunately it is an answer that Fluttershy could answer.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Pinkie asked the yellow Pegasus. It was then that Pinkie hears a nice little hum, a nice tune that sounded really happy. Then she could hear the gentle voice of her friend singing to her, warming her up inside. It is not often that ponies could listen to Fluttershy's singing, and when she sings it always comes at an important time. Even if the song have no lyrics, it has a very calming effect on Pinkie and it is surprisingly honest in its emotions.
Fluttershy is now singing gently to the mare in the closet, and as the other ponies watched Fluttershy looks at them and points downstairs, signing with her hoofs a lasso and pointing to where they are all while not breaking the song. Twilight realizes what Fluttershy is asking them to do and she walked downstairs to get Applejack.
Oblivious to the situation outside, Pinkie could hear her friend’s voice from inside the closet and listens deeply to the song. Slowly but surely, the warmth and comfort from her friend’s voice lightens up her heart.
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Applejack’s patience has already dried up with these union representatives, and she wished that she had her brother’s patience. If it were not for her brother's calming mannerism and professional ethics in conducting the negotiations, she would have bucked them out of the room so hard that they will find themselves in Applelosa. But the negotiations must be carried out, and her frustrations grow with every moment. But then suddenly Twilight came into the room, and Applejack immediately knew that she have to be someplace else. Her brother give her an approving nod, at the same time the nod also assures Applejack that he could take care of these bloodsuckers for her. Applejack then gets up from her chair and went on ahead to where she is needed most.
As Applejack slowly take her steps up the stairs, she was greeted by the rest of the ponies and Fluttershy’s calm, soothing singing resonates in the air like a fine, gentle mist. Looks like something is about to happen here , Applejack said to herself, and took her place among her friends and her granny.
The other ponies have noticed that Pinkie was no longer sobbing in the closet, and it was then that Fluttershy started to add words to her song.
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. Brown paper packages tied up with strings, These are a few of my favorite things.
Cream colored bunnies and crisp apple streudels, Doorbells and sleigh bells and salads with noodles. Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings, These are a few of my favorite things.
Mares in white dresses with blue satin sashes, Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes. Silver white winters that melt into springs, These are a few of my favorite things.
When the dog bites, When the bee stings, When I'm feeling sad. I simply remember my favorite things, And then I don't feel…….so bad.
Fluttershy ends her song, and the silence after that is almost serene. Everypony could feel that Fluttershy's song has delivered the message that whenever something bad happens to somepony, they would need to think about the good things and step forward and face those bad things to make things all better. Now all of them are waiting for something to happen, hopefully something good. It is Fluttershy that broke the silence.
“Now Pinkie….will you come out from the closet and let us all be here for you?” Fluttershy hoped that this thing she pulled out from her feathers works. A soft creak of the closet door answered Fluttershy, and the yellow pegasus could now see that Pinkie’s eyes are swollen from all the crying, but now the pink pony is smiling towards her friend. Before she knew it, Pinkie gave Fluttershy a big hug. Before long, one by one, each one of ponies join in the hug and Pinkie feels so much better.
Thank you everypony , Pinkie thought and she smiled at that thought of hers.
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After prolonged negotiations which lasted for a week with Twilight having to intervene to smooth out the intricacies, the farm animals allowed Pinkie Pie to play jazz at the farm, help Applejack and Big Macintosh with the chores around the farm, making apology for Pinkie and also the suspension of several of their own for unwarranted insults. In return the farm animals get R&R once every month, earmuffs for every farm animal and a free coupon for muffins at Sugarcube Corner. With that the farm is once again peaceful, and Granny Smith and Pinkie could now focus on their lessons again.
“Now here Pinkie, try to play it slow. Add in a note at a time that make sense. And always remember keep up with the timing.” The old green pony started to tap her hooves in a consistent beat, and Pinkie wait for the right moment to play the tune.
Okay……play it slow……….add a note at a time that make sense……..keep up with the timing…..and most important of them all, let it flow…… , Pinkie then blows and hopes that she did not do anything bad. She went on ahead and tries to not cause the apple trees to riot this time. As she progress through the song, there are parts where she was sloppy but then there are parts where it all falls in place. But she tries her best to make it as natural as possible. After the song is over she looked at Granny Smith, waiting for a reply.
“Well…….still needs a lot of work…….” Pinkie’s hair started to deflate a little before she heard the old mare coughed.
“But……at least it now sounds like jazz, rather than a swearin' of the ducks.” Granny Smith gave her an approving nod. Pinkie jumps up in the air, ecstatic about her success.
"YEAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!" Pinkie is now high in success.
Chapter 5: Too Good, Too Bad
Pinkie has continued to improve on her jazz lesson during her time in Sweet Apple Acres, impressing Granny Smith with the speed in which she is picking up some of these things. However, due to the difficult nature of jazz she could only play three of her instruments at the same time as compared to her normal 10 instruments (honestly nopony alive could have played more than one instrument at once, so she is still defying the laws of logic). Pinkie have decided to take on the harmonica, trombone and trumpet as her instruments of choice from her entire list of ten instruments that she have grown quite adept in playing. During those times, the two ponies have bonded to a level more than those of teacher and student, and instead they are more like family now.
“Well Pinkie, you did well this time. Your swing is purdy nice now. Need to work on them free-stylin’. “ Granny’s seal of approval set a bright glow within Pinkie. Some of the farm animals are now clapping from Pinkie's performance, approving of her music play.
“Thanks Granny, that mean so much to me!”
“Well, first thin’ first, we need to get somepony that can keep a nice melody behind. And also somepony that could keep that beat. Anypony you know that can play’em piano or drums?” Pinkie’s hoof is now rubbing her chin in deep thought, as for some reason she had the answer for the former, but it does not click in her mind. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by a familiar voice.
“Hey Pinkie, I heard you from the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres and you sound good.” Pinkie turns around to see a very specific purple unicorn friend with a basket hovering in the air.
“Heya Twilight! What brings you here?” Pinkie is always happy whenever a friend pays her a visit. Twilight’s horn glowed and several sandwiches and plates are now floating in front of them, her magic ensures that they are gently placed and properly arranged to make it look aesthetically pleasing as it is edible. It appears to be a potato salad sandwich with some lettuce in it.
“Can’t a friend visit a friend?” Twilight chuckles and smiles at Pinkie.
“That’s very nice of you! Oh by the way Twilight do you play the piano or the drums?” For some reason, Pinkie feels that the answer to her question has something to do with Twilight.
“Ur……Pinkie, I do not play any musical instrument at all.”
As they idly chat on for a considerable amount of time, it soon dawned upon Twilight that the sun is setting and she had to return to the library. Pinkie also remembered that she had to bake some of the goods for tomorrow for the Cakes in Sugarcube corner. With that they two ponies bid Granny Smith farewell, and as they both walked back to town, Pinkie’s mind is filled with only one question:
Why do I have a feeling that I know somepony or some one who can play the piano? And if I do, who could it be?
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-Meanwhile, at the Ponyville Library-
Spike is bored out of his mind. Twilight had gone to visit Pinkie and the Apples at Sweet Apple Acres. Ever since Twilight told Spike about the farm animals she has been hanging out at Sweet Apple Acres more and more to check up on Pinkie. Whenever Twilight is out, he will always be the de facto librarian of Ponyville. But for him, he honestly needs something to do or else he would go mad from seeing all these books on the shelves. He decides to take out the ‘Out for Lunch’ sign and hangs it over the Ponyville library door and then takes a step out and locks the door.
“Just in case…” Spike then takes a step and started whistling a happy tune. Even though there is not much window shopping to do around Ponyville but is sure beats getting stuck in the library. It was then that he stumbles upon a music store where most of Ponyville’s musicians get their instruments and other stuff to maintain those instruments. A light bell rings as he pushes the door, and he is greeted by hoarse and raspy voice of Mr. Harpstrings, the old and venerable owner of the store. Spike could never really figure out what Mr’ Harpstrings’ cutie mark is as it looks like a cross between a screwdriver and a musical note.
“Hello there, Spike. Anything I can help you with?”
As Spike browsed around the store, he could remember the time where he was asked by Pinkie to play that piano in Applelosa. That was hilarious in hindsight, as Pinkie’s song only made the buffalos and the ponies even more antagonistic to each other. It was then that he saw a beautiful piano in the store. It is finely crafted instrument albeit simple in its design, with the majesty and poise of a sovereign. The dark mahogany from which the instrument is made of and the red, velvet seat only enhanced its beauty. He decided to himself that he would like to try this piano out and he positions himself on the seat. The keys are all there before him, and he hits some of the keys and finds them perfectly in pitch.
Mr.Harpstrings sure know how to make these things sound right , Spike said to himself. Spike wonder what kind of tune he would like to play on this piano and pondered for a while before he knows what he wants to play. He always liked the way he played the piano back in Applelosa with that western salt lick bar “feel”, but at the same time he also likes the good o' classical piano plays that he heard so often in Canterlot while he was staying there.He's going to try and mix the two together to something that will way more cooler and fun.
As his claws hammers the piano keys, he begins with a very melancholic and melodious tune just like those classy tunes he heard from those Canterlot cafes before picking the song up to a much more jumpy and joyful tune. Trying to balance the two different speeds to something that have both but neither gives the little dragon much joy. He felt like this could be a hit with the ladies, and he could imagine a certain white unicorn lying on top of his piano swooning over his virtuosity.
A loud and constant thudding bass snaps Spike's attention back to reality and he looked out from the corner of his eye to see who interrupted his daydreaming. He could see that Mr.Harpstrings is hitting the bass drum on one of his drum sets to accompany Spike’s song all while cleaning the drum set. The melodies surprisingly went well together with the bass,
Spike smiled to himself and kept on playing, while the old pony smiled back at him and keeping the beat. And soon enough Spike is now back to his imagination with Rarity.
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“Hm…….” Pinkie is still deep in thought about who else she knew that could play an instrument, and she definitely knew somepony that could play the piano. But who?
“What’s wrong Pinkie?” Twilight asked the pink pony.The thought of Pinkie thinking about something is always a surprise for the unicorn.
“I don’t know Twilight. It feels like I know somepony that could play the piano but I have no idea who could that pony be.” Pinkie said with a rather cheerful tone, as if finding this mysterious person is a game.Whenever she thinks about thinks it, she always had her thoughts flashing back to a desert, dancing and buffalo tribes. She then wonders how the buffalos are doing in Applelosa.
“Well, it will all come in due time Pinkie. It will all….” Before long, both Twilight and Pinkie could hear a tune up in the air. The intricate and melancholic melody sounds very similar to a Classical Canterlot-styled piano playing, but at the same time it also felt Applelosan with its jumpiness and slightly frenzied tempo. Both of them looked at each other, and then they both looked around for the source of the sound. It appears to be coming out from Mr. Harpstrings’ store.
“That’s odd….that sounds like a Canterlot classical pianist is trying to play like an Appleosan pianist or an Applosan trying to play like a Canterlot classical pianist. Canterlot pianist are often very proud of their music and will not mix their music with anypony else's . An Applelosan style of piano is quite localized and it only popular with ponies from the western frontiers, and no Applelosan will travel this far to Ponyville unless they are part of the Apple family.” Twilight rubs her head with her hoof.
"Who could this mysterious pony be? That pony must have played both styles before at some point........." A flashbulb moment appears in Pinkie’s mind, lighting up as she puts two and two and two hoofs together. Twilight was taken aback by the improbable number of hooves that Pinkie managed to muster, wondering how on earth does Pinkie break all laws of logic and Twilight scared herself in the process. Immediately Pinkie gasped at the revelation that her hooves had given her.
“I KNOW WHO THAT SOMEPONY IS!!! HURRY WE MUST MAKE HASTE!!!!!” Pinkie immediately rushed towards the store, followed shortly by Twilight.
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As he is playing, Spike could hear a light bell chiming and he knows that that is always the cue for the old pony to attend to some customers that entered his humble store. True to the sound that he heard, he can see Mr.Harpstrings getting up and left the drum set to conduct his business, accidentally hitting some of the cymbals while he got up.
Before long, the little dragon ends the song. Once he had stopped a sense of pride and satisfaction wells up within him. Unfortunately he now has to get back to the library before Twilight is back at the library and he has to cook dinner. As he turns around he saw two ponies staring bewilderingly at them, one of them the reason why he had to get back to the library as soon as possible.
“Spike? That was you?” Twilight raised an eyebrow, and immediately he knew that he is in trouble.
“I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT THAT IT WAS SPIKE!!!!!!!!!!!” Pinkie screamed with joy. Twilight looked at Pinkie with a smile, and she then focuses her attention on Spike. Spike is now utterly clueless about what is going on, but he knows that his choice of playing the piano today is perhaps going to put him into a very difficult situation. And definitely he wonders if he is in any deep trouble. Twilight looks at her little assistant and as she slowly brings her hoof around him, Spike’s heart pounded and he wanted to run. And then Twilight whispers to him, answering his thoughts.
“You have no idea. And I will suggest that you get a head start now.” The dragon is now looking at her, wondering what does she mean, until Twilight points towards Pinkie, and then he understands, He understands it all now. He had heard of Pinkie's infamous tracking abilities and now, Spike could now see the crazed eyes of Pinkie looking at him with glee. Immediately the dragon ran out from the store screaming.
"Wait up Spike! Where are you going? I really want you to join my band!" Pinkie then gave chase, hopping merrily to find the little purple dragon.
"Spikeeeeee!" Spike could hear her voice coming in from a distance, even as he pants, Spike did not believe his luck today, as he did not expect to run away from something in fear and definitely not Pinkie Pie as his object of fear. After a while, he turns back and notice that the pink pony is nowhere in sight. As he turns around, the corner of his eyes caught something in front of him.
"I need a favor Spike, I totally promise it will be totally fun!" But before Pinkie could tell Spike about her proposition, Spike has already disappeared. The pink pony shrugs, and looks around before hopping towards the direction of the lake.
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Spike is now hoping really hard that this is a nightmare and that he could wake up from it. He pinches his cheeks and then he realized that dragons do not feel any pain for pinching. For all he cares you could stab his cheek in the face with a needle and he will not feel a thing. Hiding among the bushes in the Everfree Forest, he wonders how long before Pinkie decides to go back for her muffins and cakes. He now wished that there was someone to talk to him as he needs the support now.
"Hi!" A happy cheeerful voice greeted him, a voice that Spike appreciates and a voice that he needs now. However, muscle memory of his lips, vocal chords and tongue then identifies the owner of that voice.now . He ran screaming, as Pinkie happily hops after him.
Spike had never ran so much in his life before. He is usually the couch potato at the Ponyville Library, and this running is taking its toll on him. He had already ran to the top of mountains, hid among the crates in Ponyville, crouched under many stone bridges, and every darn time he found Pinkie already at the locations greeting him. All that running had made him really scared, tired, and hungry. As he looks around to see where he is, he could see that he is in Sweet Apple Acres and he sure could take a bite from one of these delicious apples now.
"Here's an apple if you would like" Pinkie Pie hands Spike an apple. As the dragon nonchalantly picks up the apple and was about to take a nice bite, he realized the pony that handed him an apple. Spike drops the apple and ran as hard as his little scaly feet could get him.
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The dragon has never known what sweating really is, as he is technically cold-blooded. But if he does sweat, he would be flooding poor Fluttershy’s house right now. Pinkie is a monster. But then that saying, among the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony Pinkie is the most mysterious pony of them all. Spike could only run around waving his arms in the air as he wails in fear. Somehow she always knew where he is hiding, popping out from the most impossible places. But thankfully he is now in Fluttershy’s house and not having to fear the unknowns of the wild anymore If there is one place that Pinkie would not be able to enter, it would be Fluttershy’s house. The animals will be able to somehow detect her and even then Pinkie would have to ask her friend politely to enter into the house, Spike reasoned. So far he thought right, as there is no pink pony greeting him in front of Fluttershy's house.
Fluttershy is now returning from the kitchen with a plate of cookies. The pink pegasus lets him into her home after some frantic door banging, and she wondered what is it that made the poor little dragon so alicorn-fearing. Nonetheless, she will try to make him feel all warm and cozy now.
“Thank you for letting me in here.” Spike said as he takes a bite from one of the cookies.
“What are friends for? Would you like anything to drink? You look like you just ran around Ponyville.” Actually, Spike ran around Ponyville thrice.
“Yeah, a glass of water would be nice.” Now all he needs is to just take it easy and just drink that glass of water.
“Alright, Spike. Pinkie, could you get Spike a glass of water? He looks so tired.” It was then that Spike froze in fear, and his little heart pounded like a jackhammer, each pound louder than the one before and in the end the crescendo eclipsing every other sound in the house. How could this be? The last time he saw her, it was at the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres.
Unless......... Spike drops the cookie on the floor, and as the cookie cracks and shatters on the floor, as the thought sinks into his mind, Pinkie's already in the Fluttershy’s house while I was running to her house . A dark, ominous atmosphere soon descends over the little dragon. To make it worse, he could now hear Pinkie's voice.
“Sure thing Fluttershy.” From within Fluttershy’s kitchen, the unmistakable pink pony hops towards Spike with a glass of water in one hoof, and a wide grin on her face. With nowhere to escape , Spike could only do what his little mind is telling him to do;
Scream, Spike. Scream like a little scared filly.
Author's Note
Spike's piano song - George Shearing-Lullaby of Birdland (piano cover)
A Blast of a First Session
Chapter 6: A Blast of a First Session
“So yer’s saying that now Spike is joinin’ Pinkie in playing jazz?” Applejack asked Twilight as she casually bucks some apples off some of the apple trees. The hind hooves of the earth pony impacted the tree and several dozen apples fell down on the ground
“Yeah, Spike relented after Pinkie kept on chasing him for the entire night. You know how good Pinkie is at chasing someone.” Twilight used her magic to sort out the good apples from the bad apples.
“Yeah, Ah heard about that from Rainbow and Cranky Doodle Donkey.” Applejack could only remember the time when they retold their tale of Pinkie’s tracking to her, and their eyes look like they are utterly devoid of life.
“Now they are practicing at Mr. Harpstrings’ store. He is kind enough to offer a studio for them to play in. I sure hope that nothing will happen in Mr. Harpstring’s store. He is a good pony.” Twilight said before she scoops some of the water from the pail and takes a sip of cool water from the ladle while Applejack hauled some of the apples into the cart. .
“Relax Twi, the studio is soundproof and there are no riotin' farm animals to go around. It is like the safest place for them to play some tunes." Twilight chuckles as she heard Applejack’s reasoning. She's right, it is like the safest place to play any form of noise.
"Yeah, What could possibly go wrong?” Twilight puts the ladle back into the pail, and went on back to sorting the good apples from the bad apples.
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-Meanwhile at Mr. Harpstrings' music store-
Granny Smith, Pinkie and Spike are waiting for Mr. Harpstrings to open the door to the music studio within his store.
“This might sting a little.” A click could be heard, and room lights up. The others will have to admit that the studio is quite impressive. It is rather large, as it appears to be designed to fit at least a small orchestra of twenty ponies. There are several chairs placed around the room and several music stands placed in front of said seats, all arranged in an aesthetically pleasing manner. A white grand piano is also present in the room, and Spike could only marvel at the pristine cleanliness of the piano and the room, thinking to himself that despite the lack of ponies using this room Mr. Harpstrings still diligently takes care of everything in this room. Spike went on to take a seat in front of the piano while Pinkie hops around exploring the room.
“The studio room is soundproof-enchanted, so you can play as loud as you possibly can. Don’t feel shy to go all out.” Mr. Harpstrings hits his hoof as hard as he could at the wall, and indeed they could not hear the sound despite the violent action of his hoof hitting the wall.
"There are some of the acoustic equipment over there at the left corner if you need more amplification, and well, you can take a seat anywhere you like.” Spike looks around and managed to see several speakers and microphones at the corner with their wiring.
“Thank you so much for letting us play here today Mr. Harpstrings!”
“Alright you two, just get yerself ready while Ah talk to Mr. Harpstrings a little. If you wanna play, just do so and have some fun playing with each other and make music.” Granny Smith said. Soon enough, the old mare exits the studio with Mr. Harpstrings and as the door closes behind the two older ponies, the dragon and the pink pony are now alone in the studio.
“I like this place already!” Pinkie Pie says in her very cheerful voice. Spike on the other hand is less enthusiastic about the whole thing. His head falls on the keys, causing the piano to create several discordant sounds. Pinkie hops towards the acoustic systems, and this time Spike is quite interested, if it is only to see what Pinkie will do with those systems. However, the baby dragon decides instead to take a nap while she went on to do her thing. Unfortunately, Pinkie started to talk to herself as she goes about her business which interrupted his nap. He groans as he is forced to stay awake and watch Pinkie fiddle with the acoustic equipment.
“I should put a plug here and a wire there…” Initially Spike was doubtful that Pinkie even knows what she is doing, but it appears that there is more than meets the eye and Pinkie is handling things just fine. However, his suspicion returned when Pinkie beckons Spike to come over. Spike wonders what is it that Pinkie wants him to see.
“Check this out. The volume of this thing goes up to ‘11’. I have never seen that level before.” Pinkie points with her hoof to the knob. True to Pinkie’s observation, Spike could see that the volume goes from one to eleven and the music knob is currently pointing at ‘six’. The little dragon frowns at Pinkie and expects an answer from the joyful pony.
“I want to see how loud this could be.” Pinkie is now grinning from ear to ear, and Spike does not like the direction of this. She then turns all the knobs of all the speakers to the highest volume possible and turns them all on. Despite his playfulness, Spike does know when something should not be tampered with.
“Are you sure we should do that? I mean we could damage the speakers you know….” Spike asked the pink pony.
“Okay, if you say so…” Spike decides to take this at face value. As Pinkie she takes her trumpet, trombone and harmonica out, she also hands over one of the microphone stands to Spike to use for his piano. The dragon takes the microphone and adjusts the microphone so that the microphone is facing the string section of the piano. Before long, they have 10 microphones and 10 speakers each facing them. Spike looks at Pinkie, and Pinkie gives the dragon a smile.
“On the count of three. One, two, three….” She mouths out her instructions at Spike, and they started playing. And then there was a bright light.
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Twilight and Applejack could hear two loud explosions at the same time, and immediately the two ponies stopped what they were doing and ran towards the town. As Twilight looks up in the sky, she could see that Rainbow Dash and several other pegasi are now flying towards Ponyville with some rainclouds in tow. She wonders if there is a fire from the explosion. As the unicorn and the earth pony arrive into Ponyville. Twilight could only mutter three words.
“What…..happened here?” Twilight’s expression is that of utter bewilderment as she saw several ponies are now trying to clean the rubble. At the side, it seems that some of the ponies are able to retrieve some of Mr. Harpstring’s instruments intact. Sitting at the corner, sat Mr. Harpstrings with a towel draping his body and his hooves holding a mug of hot chocolate. It appears there . The pegasi are also helping in clearing the rubble once it is apparent that there are no fire from the resulting explosion, thus having no need to use the rain clods.
“Well, why don’t we ask him?” Applejack’s voice is tinted with a feeling of discomfort and fear. Applejack walks towards Mr. Harpstrings, with Twilight following shortly after. Soon enough, there are joined by the rainbow-maned pegasus, and they meet the old earth pony. The old earth pony noticed the three mares and waves at them.
“Oh Mr. Harpstrings, are you alright? What happened to your store?” Twilight asked the old stallion. She knows the answer to her question, but she does not want to admit it.
“Oh, I am fine my dear. As for my store, I have no idea. One second I was talking to Granny Smith in my store, and the next thing I know is that I found myself crashing into some mattresses. It was convenient that are some mattresses that are being hauled in by the moving company. What are the odds of that?” It appears that the old stallion is not at all affected by his store being in rubbles, and instead is actually laughing about it.
Rainbow Dash however could sense that the old stallion is not being very truthful about something. In particular, she believes that the old stallion knew what happened in the store that caused the explosion. As a pegasus, she knows the damage caused by a sonic boom and his building is showing the telltale signs of it.
“Mr. Harpstrings, do you think it have to do with Pinkie and Spike?” Twilight glanced Rainbow, but Rainbow knows that Applejack would appreciate some honesty as well. The old stallion coughed before answering the pegasus.
“Well Mrs. Dash, I honestly have no idea but I would not blame it on the two dears. I highly doubt that they would have enacted several series of unfortunate events that results in the destruction of my store. I highly doubt that somepony plugged the wrong wires into the audio systems, turned the volume of the speakers up to the maximum, and then they decided to play something loud and flashy. The combination of these factors could have caused the store to explode…..twice. Of course the likelihood of that all happening is highly unlikely, and I rather put it on a faulty heating spell problem. They do tend to go all crazy from time to time, and make things explode twice.” The old earth pony’s answer is filled with a warm, tone that is both forgiving and caring. Rainbow raises an eyebrow at the old stallion, realizing that his reply is unnaturally specific, but she decides to not press on the issue. Mr. Harpstrings laughed again, and points towards all his intact musical instruments.
“Amazingly enough, the explosion is such that all the tools and instruments of my trade came out from the explosion intact. I guess that is good enough for me.” Mr. Harpstrings reasoned. Rainbow could only leave the matter at that, as he is one optimistic pony..
“What happened to mah Granny? Is she …..?” Immediately a familiar voice answers Applejack’s question for her, a familiar voice that she has grown up listening to
“Jackie, don’t you dare say that word! Ah ain’t gone to the other side yet, not until you give me great-grandkids!” Applejack hugs her grandmother, finally knowing that her grandmother is alright. Granny Smith let her granddaughter hug her for as long as she wants.
“Ur…..Leeroy,” Granny’s attention is now on Mr.Harpstrings “Whenever you buy your apples from us, it is on us.” Mr. Harpstrings gives Granny Smith a polite bow. Applejack lets go of her grandmother and takes a few steps back.
“Well…..ur……we were doing somethin’……in the basement.” At first, the younger mares wondered what on Equestria are they doing in the basement, but then they immediately picked up on what is going on. Applejack is now looking at her grandmother with her jaws open and Rainbow Dash is now hitting her hoof on her head, trying to hit something out of her head. As for Twilight she decided to lock the image somewhere and not think about it.
“Granny!” Applejack said disapprovingly. Rainbow Dash could only try to not look at the two old ponies with her imagination taking over and decides to not even say anything about the issue. It was then that finally Twilight asked everyone a question.
“Did anyone saw Pinkie and Spike?”
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“Angel Bunny, it is time for lunch!” But before she could even put the plate of veggies down on the floor, a loud crash startled the yellow pegasus and she immediately jumps behind her couch and hide. She then takes a peek and she saw a big gaping hole like that of a maw on the ceiling of her cottage, showing her the bright skies above. She then turns her attention away from the ceiling above to the sight in front of her. She immediately recognize who her unwelcomed guest were. Spike is groaning and rubbing his head as he lay down on the floor, while Pinkie is standing up on both her hindlegs, and her forelegs up in the air. Pinkie's expression is that of a natural high of happiness.
“BEST SESSION EVER!!!!!!”
Chapter 7 Knocking on Vinyl’s Door
Twilight is definitely not pleased with the Pinkie and Spike’s actions when they told her and the rest of the girls about what they did. After giving the both of them a piece of her mind and I assure you that it is not pretty in any way possible, Twilight immediately went to the old stallion’s place and pleaded with him for forgiveness for her assistant’s actions. Despite the old stallion’s insistence that it was nothing to worry about, Twilight in the end managed to ask the both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to help rebuild the old stallion’s store with the latest in soundproofing spells and protection spells so that an incident like that would never happen again. Twilight even bought a piano from the Mr. Harpstrings out of remorse.
Now that the construction of the music store is underway, the library had become the makeshift studio for the band. The basement or to be exact the laboratory is ideal for many reasons. Firstly, Sweet Apple Acres does not have room to actually house the piano. Secondly, the Apple Family’s deal with the farm animal union did not include bands and it is best to not cause any more strikes as it is. Lastly, Twilight is the only pony within the town to have sufficient knowledge with sound-dampening spells and sonic protection spells.
“There that should be the last of the wards needed to hold all the other back-up wards in place just in case if those back-up wards failed to hold the integrity of the other spells.” Twilight wipes some of the sweat off her brow. The last magical ward glowed with a bright purple glow before it disintegrates to be absorbed by the other wards.
“Thank you Twilight.” Granny Smith said as she handed Twilight a towel.
“After all the things that had happened, I better make sure that nothing goes wrong. That’s why I have my check lists here.” Twilight rolls the checklist back and floats it away using her magic. Spike knows more than any other living creature about how Twilight loves her checklists and her obsession with perfection.
Now that most of the laboratory equipment is all gone, Spike could see for once how large this basement really is. Even with the piano in the center of the room, there is a whole lot of room to spare to put many other things and Spike wondered of what did the original tenants planned to use the basement for.
“Y’all don’t mind if we just sit around and listen?” Applejack asked. With winter coming up and most of the apples harvested, the earth pony literally had nothing to do but to just sit around. The other ponies are all busy with their own duties to be present for the cleaning of the laboratory. Rainbow Dash’s job during this time of the year is quite hectic as she needs to coordinate with the rest of the weather teams to ensure that the temperatures are properly calibrated to ensure that the transition from fall to winter is gradual. Rarity have been busy since the beginning of fall as she needs to prepare the winter season fashion clothing for all her customers both Ponyville and Canterlot. For Fluttershy’s case, her duties with the animals in addition to the house repairs had taken up all her time.
“We do not mind! I always like an audience!” Pinkie as always is cheerful.
“Well so far we have gotten like Pinkie covering all the brass instruments and I am pianist of this particular ‘band’…..what other roles that a jazz band even have?” Spike asked the old mare.
“Well there are a few, but the bassist and then the drummer are the most important in mah opinion. Who’d you reckon could play them drums and bassist?” Everyone in the room looked at each other, and it appears that they all had the same answer about one of the instruments.
“I mean we all know somepony who plays the cello, but we are not sure if she plays like the double bass. And she is more classical than anything else, so we are not sure.” Twilight reasoned.
“Yeah, Octavia is nice and all, but she was goin’ to be first chair cellist for the Royal Canterlot Symphony from what ah heard.” Applejack adjusts her Stetson hat while telling Granny her opinion.
“Well, if we do not ask we will never know right? And I am sure that she would be willing to join us!” Pinkie’s rationale is sound in a way. Everypony (and Spike) agrees with the pink pony. You will never know until you ask.
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As they walked towards the home of the two musicians of Ponyville, they could hear the unmistakeable sound of rave music blasting into the air. As they face the door, they could see that the house is literally trembling from the sounds within, and all the plant leaves around the house are also shaking. Everyone looked at each other for a while before Applejack broke the silence.
“Ur….Twi. Why don’t you knock on the the door?” Applejack said as she takes a few steps back from the door and veering clean from the door. Before long everyone except Pinkie had parted from the door, leaving Twilight and Pinkie being directly in front of the door. Twilight sighs and then knocks on the door. She waits for a while, but there is no answer. It was then that she noticed Pinkie bringing out a set of speakers out of nowhere on a trolley. On top of the set of speakers there was a shiny red button.
“Alright everypony, take a seat. I got this.” Pinkie puts on some sunglasses, and putting her arms around her hips. For some reason, almost everyone knew what that device could do and literally jumped for cover, but poor Twilight did not realized the significance of the odd device and just stands flabbergasted at the device, directly in its path.
“Pinkie, what pray tell is that?” Twilight points out at the weird contraption.
“Oh it’s nothing special Twilight; it is just VINYL’S BASSCANNON!” Pinkie shouts and then hits the button with a wide smile on her face. The speakers then open up and smoke started to seep out from the panels, before enveloping the entire speaker in a cloud of smoke. As the smoke clears away, Twilight could see that the four speakers are actually panels, and at the heart of the device a bright luminescent center cackling with eldritch electric blue energy. As Twilight paid a closer attention to the device, she could see five speakers within the core of the machine, with the center speaker being the largest one of them all. The largest speaker appears to have several rings of moving energy, all being focused onto its center and before long there was a bright blue and the pounding sounds of wubs. Suffice to say it was glorious.
Twilight could only scream and cover her eyes as she was enveloped by a bright blue beam. The door was blasted with the full force of the Basscannon, and like a wounded beast, the house’s supporting structures moaned with agony. Before long, the sounds from within the house stopped. Pinkie pressed the button again, and the Basscannon transformed back to its original form, and a great amount of smoke seeps out from the Basscannon.
“Coming downstairs everypony! Wait up!” Everypony outside could hear the voice from within the house. Granny Smith looks at Pinkie with a look of surprise, awe and confusion, while Applejack rushed forward to drag the unconscious Twilight away from the door. Applejack slapped the purple unicorn a few times, before opening her eyelids to see that they are now pure white. Luckily for Applejack, she could see the unicorn's chest moving up and down a sign that she is alive.
“Pinkie, what in the hay was that?!?!?!” Applejack asked the pink pony, shocked by the sonic savagery of the device.
“Oh Applejack, Vinyl once told me that if she was playing wubs and nopony inside heard the knocks, I have free rein to use the Basscannon to blast the door to tell the ponies inside that they got company. It’s like a doorbell really.” Pinkie’s reply sounds like it was the natural thing to do.
“So…….awesome.” Spike mutters in awe of the Basscannon.
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“Oh, you ponies wanted to find Octy? Well, she’s not home right now. She went out with her cello.” The laid-back DJ Pony answered. Twilight is still lying on the couch, with a pack of ice on her head. The other ponies are at the kitchen table, comfortably seated around the round table. Vinyl then hovers a few glasses of water for her guest with her magic and places it in front of the ponies and the dragon.
“Do you know where she went?” Spike asks the white unicorn.
“Naw, naw, whenever she takes her cello like that, I tend to not ask her about where she is going.” Vinyl shakes her head. Spike noticed that Vinyl has the same magenta eyes as Rainbow Dash, and the way they sparkle reminds him of Mr. Harpstrings’ comment about her eyes. Now that he sees them, he agrees with the old stallion.
“Hm….this gonna be mighty tough. Do you know when she will be back?” Applejack asked before she takes a sip of water. The blue-maned unicorn shakes her head again.
“When she is with her cello, she’s gone for a long time. I would reckon that she will be back very late at night, about the time where I would go out to play at the clubs. You are welcomed to snack on these.” She then hover a plate of carrot sticks in the middle of the table. Pinkie’s expression is that of disappointment, while the others just looked at each other uncertain about how they would calm their pink friend. But then, Vinyl gives a sigh, and everyone was a little surprised by the sigh.
“Well…there is a surefire way of finding Octy. Just hear the cello. She loves practicing for her recitals for her auditions.” Pinkie’s face lightens up at her friend’s reply, and she hugged the DJ pony. Vinyl was taken aback by the open display of thanks, but then she quickly recomposed herself and smile.
“Hey, what are friends for? You are the only pony crazy enough to be trapped in a room alone with me and listen to the full majesty of my music and help me improve my music. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” Vinyl notices that the others are now looking at Pinkie with disbelief. Well, club music is cool, but nopony is crazy enough to listen to it with the full force of several speakers played at once at their loudest and even Vinyl does not listen to her own music cranked up to ten for thirty minutes straight. She tends to listen to them cranked at eight tops and even then take breaks from time to time.
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-At the side of the lake-
Octavia had finally arrived to the only place where she could play in silence. She always prefers to play her cello in her room, but she does not usually have the luxury of doing so. Between her roommate’s wubs during the day, and the nights that the town sorely needs during the night, she is unable to play her cello without any interruptions or distraction. Not to mention that being a struggling musician, she is unable to afford to play in Mr.Harpstrings’ music studio. Of course, Mr.Harpstrings had always offered her free of charge, but her conscience and pride will not allow her to freeload on another pony, especially not one as nice as Mr. Harpstrings.
This is perhaps why she chose this spot by the lake to play her concert pieces and solo recitals. The bright rays of Celestia’s sun gently touching and warming her fur, the smell of the clear body of water gently splashing at the shore, the fresh smell of the leaves……she could never choose any other place to play her room as this place is just beautiful in both sight and soul. As she prepares her cello, she tries to not think too much about all those failed interviews, including the one she had coveted the most: first chair cellist at the Royal Canterlot Symphony. She never told her roommate or anypony else, but she had failed in the audition. Everyone assumed that since she was so good, they would immediately offered her the seat. But alas, that is not the case. Her pride once again will not let her admit her failures.
Focus Octavia, focus , she beckons herself. Before long she closed her eyes and starts to play her song. She starts it off with a rather dramatic and intense chord before she picks some of the strings with her hooves. She paused for a while before she plays a more melancholic tune, sprinkled with a little frustration and anger. She proceeds to play her heart out, and as she channels her emotions through her instruments, she could feel the soft, moisture of flowing liquids from her closed eyes flowing down her cheeks. Whenever she plays by herself she tends to exhibit her full range of emotions physically while putting all her soul into her music. Whenever she is happy, she could feel her muscles relaxing and a smile creeping up her face. This time however, she knows that she is definitely frustrated and angry, as she could feel the frown on her face and her muscle tensing. The tears only enforce her current state of mind.
She tries to think about some of the happier thoughts, but she will always come back to this depressing state. And indeed, she could hear that her cello play is also switching between the two emotions, but the frustration and anger is winning on all fronts. She sobs as she plays alone by the lake, wanting someone to accompany her and understand her plight.
Author's Note
Octavia's cello music - Sibelius Theme and Variations for Solo Cello (1887)
Conversation of Music
Chapter 8: Conversation of Music
“Pinkie, I don’t think that we should bother Octavia at all. She might just want some peace and quiet you know.” Applejack said as they walked away from Vinyl’s home towards the library.
“But I reeeaaalllly need to know if she wants to join us or not.” Pinkie gives Applejack a slight frown. Applejack could only sigh as both her grandmother and herself carries the unconscious purple unicorn back to the library. Spike have already went on ahead to prepare Twilight’s bed and also some of his remedies to help Twilight. No matter what she says, Pinkie will still find Octavia and ask. Best to just let her do her thing , Applejack reasoned.
“Well alright Pinkie. Go ahead, but know that she might say no if you managed to find her.” Applejack gave her a kind but stern warning. Pinkie salutes back and is on her way to find Octavia. Once she is out of sight, she helped her grandmother to help Twilight back to the library.
“Hm…..what should I bring along with me?” Pinkie ask Gummy once she returned to Sugarcube Corner and scrounging for things that could help her in her search for Octavia. However as usual, the response that the baby alligator gave her is his infamous ‘not a single care in the world’ stare. Pinkie however did not notice the stare, and went on digging stuff out from her closet. Pinkie looked at a weird gun-like item attached to a backpack, and as it glowed with a bright green light she wondered what it was until she remembered. It was that thingie called a ‘proton pack' from her time helping out her three professors in Manehattan when she was a student in college in Manehattan. They called themselves ‘parapsychologists’ but Pinkie thinks of them as ponies that decided to put giggling at the ghosties on a whole new level. Her thoughts then remembered a large marshmallow pony-ghostie during her internship, and how it rained marshmallows that day. It was a delicious internship. She wonders what happened to those three ponies, she should throw them a party someday. But of course, this was not the item that she is looking for as Octavia is not a ghostie. It was then that the pink pony stares at the readers, one of them in particular.
“Hey could you turn that song down?” Pinkie asked the author. The author wondered what she means until he realized that a particular theme for Pinkie's professors was playing during her flashback. The author obliges and turned down the song. Satisfied that the song is no longer playing, she continued on searching for the things that would help her find Octavia.
Soon enough she found what she is looking for. She smiles and looks around before she clad herself with an inverness cape and a deerstalker cap, and as she ponders where she should start her search she proceeds to blow through a bubble pipe. It was then that she remembered what Vinyl said to her and Pinkie plans to take advantage of it. Pinkie looks around, her ears trying to pick up any pony-made sound amongst the nature that surrounds her. Too bad there is no assistant for her this time in solving this ‘case’. She then hops out from her room, down the stairs, and out from Sugarcube Corner in an unspecified path, in search of Octavia.
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-At Vinyl and Octavia’s home-
Octavia returns to her home late at night, and it appears that her roommate is now out of the house doing her own gigs. She was always happy for her friend, but also at the same time deep down she could only view the white unicorn with envy that she is living out her dream and enjoying herself. As for herself, she struggling and she could barely feed herself and put a roof on her head. She walks up the flight of stairs towards her room and as she opens the door and turns on the light, she wonders what she should do for the next day to get the bits for her daily life. She puts her cello to the side of the wall and drops on her bed and just decides to lay there. Soon enough she is deep in sleep, taking a break from the thing that is real life.
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After a few days searching for the cellist, Pinkie realized that Octavia is perhaps the first pony that she failed to track somehow. During her tracking, she had apparently helped so many strangers and Ponyville townsfolk alike to the point that it is almost ridiculous. Today, she was searching for Octavia near the vicinity of the schoolhouse, but instead she managed to save one of the foals from being foal-napped by his crime boss father, who managed to discover that the foal and his mother were hiding away from him all these years and had taken over the school to find his son and kidnap him. With help from a very muscular pegasus cop who was undercover in the school as a teacher to protect the foal, they managed to stop the bad pony’s plan.
“YEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!” The muscular pegasus pony shouted triumphantly in her flashback as the Ponyville police came to put the felon behind bars. Yeah, her flashback vividly recalls the strange accent that the pegasus have. She did not stay however, and was already searching for Octavia instead.
During her many visit Vinyl’s and Octavia’s home, Vinyl had told her that her roommate is nowhere to be seen, and also that Octavia have not replied to her despite the several memos telling Octavia that Pinkie would like to meet with her. Vinyl could only apologize to Pinkie about the inconvenience, and mentioned that Octavia is rarely this anti-social and was wondering what is going on with her roommate. This only make Pinkie even more determined to find this elusive musician to find out what is going on. But the more she searched, the more she realized that it is almost impossible to know where the pony is. Her tracking power is severely diminished if they are not trying to avoid her consciously. It appears that the gray pony is not even bothered with the pink pony trying to seek her out and that indifference caused Pinkie a little bit of a problem.
Pinkie was about to end her search for Octavia until she finally heard the sound she was looking for. Immediately Pinkie could feel that the song was really sad, and perhaps even heart-shattering. But no matter, Pinkie now has confidence about finding the elusive musician. She hops towards the direction of the lake, and she finally saw the light gray pony with her cello at the banks of the lake. However, this time she decides to hide among the bushes surrounding the lake once she noticed that she heard the sobbing from Octavia.
Why is she crying like that? Is she always like this when she plays her music? , Pinkie wonders. The cellist’s music sounds like she is struggling with something, but yet her play was flawless. She kept on sobbing while she played, which made the cellist look pathetic and miserable, and Pinkie does not like to see other ponies being all sad. The other day she managed to make everyone worried when she locked herself in Applejack’s closet, and she does not want to make anypony worried and sad. So mustering the courage within, Pinkie Pie decides to steps out from the bushes quietly to not startle Octavia. Apparently her entrance was not as stealthy as she would have liked, as Octavia stops her music abruptly and now the musician’s attention is now on Pinkie.
“Pinkie? What are you doing out here?” Octavia asked, with her sophisticated accent. The gray pony rubbed her eyes, trying to disguise the lines of tears that now mark her fur. Pinkie then walks towards the gray pony and once she is in front of Octavia, she sat down on her hauches.
“Well, I was just walking around and I heard you, that’s all. You are really good you know that? I wish I could play the cello as you do, but I don’t. But of course, I would like to ask you a question as well, Octy. Why are you doing out here? ” Pinkie gave Octavia a smile. Of course, Pinkie was telling a half-truth, as she wanted to find the gray mare. Pinkie of course is trying to cheer her friend up as well, and thus try not to say anything about that. But apparently as much as she tried, apparently something struck a chord with Octavia as Octavia’s body language was offended by Pinkie's words.
“I am not the best pony there is when it comes to the cello, Pinkie. There are others better than me. I mean if I am the best, I do not have to play out here in the middle of nowhere right?” Pinkie could only give herself a mental facehoof as she heard Octavia’s answer. Good going Pinkie……
“Besides, you will never understand what is going on right now with me.” There was a hint of bitterness in Octavia’s voice, and Pinkie picks up on that. And when a pony is sad, she knows that whenever a pony is sand, she should administered perhaps the best medicine for such a sad mood.
“Well, why don’t you tell me? That is what friends are for right? If you do not want to tell me in words, why don’t you tell me in song?” Pinkie then materializes a trumpet out of air, and started to tune it up. Having heard of Pinkie’s stubbornness, she decided to entertain the pink pony and went along with it. Pinkie smiled back at the gray pony, and went on playing.
But of course, you have been playing jazz. It has been the talk of town for the past few weeks , Octavia reminds herself. She immediately changed her style of playing. She puts down the bow and started to pick her cello instead to better complement the pink pony’s sound and gave the pink pony a little bit of surprise. Pinkie gives Octavia a look, approving of what she is doing. Octavia smiled back and then played, using her hooves to pluck the strings. The tune sounds rather deep, and frantic but at the same time sounds like someone talking in hums.
I do play Jazz from time and time you know, I need to put food on the table you know and I will take any gigs. Octavia thought, and the tune she plays sounds like a person playfully mocking a friend. Pinkie of course managed to pick up on the vibe and plays her trumpet back to Octavia. The tune is similar to the tune that of her first play to Octavia, but this time it sounded a little less cheerful.
I wonder why Octy is out here playing all by herself, and that sound…..it is so sad , Pinkie wondered as she plays her trumpet. Pinkie soon heard Octavia’s cello replying to her trumpet, and it sounds rather muffed, as if trying not to reveal something. So Pinkie decided to press on, and see if she could get something out from that muffled voice.
Why does she persist? , Octavia asked herself as she heard Pinkie’s trumpet. It sounds like she really wants to know, but at the same time the tune is more reserved than before. Octavia feels like Pinkie’s trumpet is trying to be courteous to her. So Octavia lets a little bit of her emotions flow through her cello, hoping that her reply would keep her off the topic.Pinkie immediately recognized that little bit of sadness in the cellist’s tune again, but it is still rather muted. So Pinkie went on ahead, making her trumpet sound a little pleading, but at the same time making sound like it was laughing. At least Octavia is opening up, so Pinkie thought.
Octavia’s plan backfired and now the trumpet playing is longer than it was before. Damn it Pinkie, , Octavia thought to herself and now she will have to play a little bit longer to keep the sense of tempo consistent and that means she would have to keep the pace going. She then plays a more aggressive tune on her cello. She will not reveal everything to Pinkie.
However, the trumpet kept on going somewhat sympathetic with the cello’s sound and the trumpet gave off a rather metallic but warm sound as if to comfort the cello’s angry sound. It was then that Octavia understands that Pinkie was trying to comfort her through her music, and before long Octavia’s cello sounds a little more apologetic towards the trumpet. Soon, she played on her cello with a much less aggressive tune, but this time she can’t deny her frustrations, fears and anger seeping through her music, and it was then that Octavia could feel more tears coming down her eyes and running down her cheeks. It was then that the trumpet stopped, and Octavia opened up her eyes to see Pinkie now looking at her with caring eyes. Finally, Octavia puts her cello down and biting her lips, she hugs the pink pony as hard as she could, and finally lets it all go and cry as loud as she could.
After a while, the gray mare is now feeling much better and this is when Pinkie decided to ask her the question that she had always wanted to ask the mare; would she be willing to join her and Spike in playing jazz? Once Octavia heard that question, she sniffed a little before answering the pony with the pink puffy mane.
“I would be happy to join you ponies, and I do have a double bass back home. Besides I need to stay away from the wubs. But I would like to know if this could actually help me earn some bit.” Pinkie is now caught off guard by the grey mare’s inquiry. Pinkie was expecting to just play jazz for fun, but faced with a rather stoic Octavia she wonders if it would be wise to tell her an answer that might disappoint. It was then that Octavia puts a foreleg on Pinkie’s shoulder.
“Forget that I asked that question. In return for not asking for bits, you will not ask me more about what troubles me. This is a problem that I will have to solve myself. Is that a reasonable promise?” Octavia suggested her proposition to Pinkie, managing a slight but warm smile on her face.
“"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Pinkie replies with a smile on her face, and accidentally jabs her hoof into her eye, and Pinkie shouted in pain. Octavia snorted and was trying to hold back, but she could only laugh out loud at the pink pony. Nothing like a class act from Pinkie , Octavia said to herself as she packs her cello into its case , preparing to leave the lake. Pinkie had already put her trumpet away to some place that Celestia would not even know. As Octavia looks at Pinkie with appreciative eyes, the pink pony looks back with a smile on her face, glad that somehow she could be there for somepony.
“You know, Octy, this is a beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Pinkie said as both ponies walks side by side back into Ponyville, the night sky began to sparkle brightly with stars lighting their path back home, and perhaps their future as band members.
Author's Note
What the author was playing when Pinkie was remembering her professors in Manehattan - This Particular Theme
Chapter 9: Too Much Saxual Content
Now that they have their bassist they essentially have somewhat of a framework of a jazz band. Granny Smith’s pleasure at Octavia’s experience of performing shows itself in the old mare’s expression. At least the old mare does not have to worry about teaching them every darn tooting thing, as they had a pony among them that they could turn to. This helps Granny to focus more on teaching both Spike and Pinkie to play properly in a band.
“Now hear, since Octavia here has already the experience in this kinds of things, she would be helpin’ me supervise you two squirts in this. Pinkie you still need to learn how to feel more about jazz and make sense of yer randomness, and Spike your problem is the exact opposite of Pinkie; you need to keep track of yer properness and timin’. Do ah make mahself clear?’” Both the dragon and the pink pony groaned at Granny Smith, but deep down they know it.
“Yes Granny.” Both of them answered.
“Good, now Octavia who would you like to take under yer hoof?” Granny Smith asked Octavia. Octavia is now looking at both of them with her forearms crossed, and one of her forearms rubbing her chin.
“I think I could help Spike.” Spike could not believe his luck as he will get a mare that is pleasing to the eye as his mentor. Octavia could see that the dragon is now ogling her through and though in an unhealthy way, and she will make sure that he would have numb fingers by the time she is done with him.
“Fair enuff, Ah don’t really know about them fancy things, so ah will be with Pinkie instead. So Octavia, how long do you think you’ll need to straighten Spike out?” Granny asked the gray mare.
“Give me about three weeks Granny Smith. Twilight, will you help me with this?” Octavia gives Twilight a wink, and soon enough Twilight winks back at Octavia knowing that whatever it is that they are about to do to Spike, she will be enjoying every moment of it. Spike now looks at both mares with a sense of apprehension and regret.
“That’s good. Pinkie?” Granny Smith’s attention is now on Pinkie who is now looking at her, wondering what Granny Smith would put her into.
“Yes Granny? What do you have in mind anyway? Pinkie asked the old mare. The old mare could only smile and look at Spike as well. Spike is now looking at everypony with a metaphorical wall behind his back.
“Ah think we need to call in an old zebra friend of mine.”
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-Manehattan-
The sound of the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple shakes echoes throughout the apartment that the old stallion has called his home for over twenty years, and he had gotten used to this. The house may be old, but it is luxurious to a great extent, with many classy paintings, fine furniture and state of the art equipment to ease the lives of a city-dwelling folk like himself and his wife. But surprisingly for a stallion of his wealth, he still prefers to do things by himself and this also includes breakfast. Suddenly as he was frying some eggs, a magical letter appears from thin air surprising the old stallion.
“My, My, what is this?” The mysterious stranger then proceeds to open up the letter and started reading the letter. To his surprise it is from an old friend of his back in the day, a mare from the good old days of adventure and intrigue.
Dear Miles,
Howdy, it’s been a good thirty years since we last met in Saddle Arabia tryin’ to escape from tooting them Arabian corsairs and also savin Equestria from them Neighponese ninjas at the same time. Ah couldn’t write and talk to ya for quite a while due to many unforeseen events happenin’ in the past forty years, which includes havin kids and grandkids and building a business empire on Zap Apple Jam and founding an entire town called Ponyville. You might have heard of this town from the news anyway mah dear. And Ah am sure that you also couldn’t send anythin’ as you are busy with yer performances around the world, and I am glad that you had found yerself a fine lady and a classy home to retire to in Manehattan. Oh, Ah am straying a lil’ off-course with mah letter now…..
This time ah need yer help in somethin’. One of mah grandkid’s friends Pinkie is interested in jazz and she needs some help in makin’ herself mighty presentable for it. She also got herself a band which consists of a purple baby dragon on the piano and a mare named Octavia on the double bass. If you could, please reply back to me and it will be mighty kind of you to visit us. Ah will show you ‘round Ponyville and also let you meet mah grandkids
From, Edith.
The old stallion is quite happy that his friend is still alive after all this while, and this time she needs him to help in something that he always has a passion about; jazz.
“Who is it from dear?” An old mare’s voice asked the old stallion.
“Well mah dear, Ah am gonna pay a good friend a visit. Y’dig this?” The old zebra stallion replies back to his wife.
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-A few days later at the Ponyville Train Station-
“So who is this old zebra friend that you speak of Granny? Is this pony like Zecora? Does this pony speak in rhymes? How do you know this Zebra? Is he once your lover? Did you guys go on an excellent adventure?” Pinkie threw a whole blob of questions at the old mare, but the old mare had gotten so used to the questions that she is able to take in all the questions and answer them all.
“This friend of mine’s name is Mr. Coltrane, and no he ain’t exactly like Zecora as he had lived in Equestria for most of his life so he speaks just like us regular ponies. He was not a lover, but definitely an old friend and would reckon that we had our fair share of adventures.” Granny Smith is now looking around as the newly arrived train docks with the train station and soon her eyes are scouting all the passengers are they are all coming out from the train. Soon enough the old mare is already waving at somepony. Pinkie’s attention turns to the general direction where Granny Smith is waving to.
The pony greeting Granny Smith is a rather old zebra with faded colors, wearing a rather sharp black suit that blends and yet contrasts with his black stripes and white fur. Unlike Zecora, the zebra does not have a lot of jewelry on him, but instead the pony is wearing some sunglasses which fully obscured his eyes. Interestingly his mane is rather cropped like that of the Royal Guard, and his cutie mark looks like a stylized hook with some waves coming out from the end of the hook. Pinkie always wonders why zebras have such weird and exotic cutie marks.
“Edith! There you is! Was wondering where you at. How’d you been?” The zebra’s sing-sing accent is quite similar to Granny’s own accent, but at the same time sounded like Zecora’s accent. Before long the two old friends are in each other’s embrace and went on having some small talk with each other.
Darn it, why do all zebras have such cool accents? Why can’t I be born as a zebra? I would be able to do some gypsy magic if I were a zebra. Say Author, will you every write a story where I turn into a Zebra? It would be cool for me to become a zebra! , Pinkie wonders to herself. Before long she realized that Granny Smith is looking at her with disapproving eyes, and that killed her thoughts.
“Now don’t be staring and be rude to our guest. Pinkie, Ah would like you to meet Mr. Coltrane. Miles, Ah would like to meet Pinkie Pie. She’s the pony that Ah told you in the letter.” Pinkie then offers a hoof out for a formal hoofshake. But instead what she got is his hoof gently bumping her hoof.
“It’s mighty kind of you to dig me here, Pinkie girl. “ The old zebra gave Pinkie a nice and polite smile. It was then that Pinkie realized that the old zebra have his saddlebag on one side, while on the other side he is carrying a large square case of some kind. Pinkie could only nod in agreement when Mr. Coltrane talks to her. She wanted a more eloquent answer to come out from her mouth, but instead her mouth moved before she could compose her answer.
“Yes I do Mr. Coltrane! I like jazz! In fact I am also going to throw you a party to welcome you to Ponyville and also to thank you for helping me in my jazz play! But wait, I heard of your name before somehow when I was listening to Granny’s record! OH MY CELESTIA, YOU ARE MILES THELONIOUS COLTRANE, THAT JAZZ SAXOPHONIST! GRANNY I DIDN’T KNOW YOU KNEW SOMEPONY FAMOUS! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME GRANNY! OH MY CELESTIA I MUST NOW PREPARE FOR THE BEST PARTY EVER!!!!!!” Before the old Zebra could even say anything, Pinkie disappears in a pink streak of light from the train station. Mr. Coltrane then looks at Granny Smith, expecting her to give him an answer to many things, but the old mare could only pat her old friend’s shoulder.
“Welcome to Ponyville, and Ah suggest that you best just leave things as it is Miles. And yes, that’s Pinkie in a nutshell.” Granny Smith proceeds to lead the zebra out from the train station.
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Soon enough by the time evening arrives, there was a full-blown party in the Ponyville Library welcoming Mr. Coltrane in town. All of the folks of Ponyville were present at the party including Zecora who was idly chatting with the old Zebra in some kind of vernacular tongue of the zebras. The old zebra is currently staying at the library, as it was the most convenient place for the zebra to coach both Pinkie and the rest of the band in, as the old zebra explains, ‘The Jive of Jazz’. Before long somepony request that the old zebra plays a tune for everyone.
“Well, if you insist mah lil’ ponies.” The old zebra then walks towards the large square case that he had brought with him, and he opens it. As everyone watches, he assembles his musical instrument of choice. Once the instrument is assembled it is definitely a sight for most of the ponies as they had never seen such an instrument before in their lives. It is an odd-looking instrument as it is an approximately curved conical tube of thin brass with the wider end of the tube is flared slightly to form a bell. The narrow end looks like a next of a goose, and it appears that there was a mouthpiece at the end of this narrow end. The thing that caught most of the ponies’ eyes is the myriad of keys on the instrument which gives it a rather complicated nature as compared to that of the usual trumpet or trombone. The zebra then points to Octavia and calls her over. The gray mare walks towards the old zebra, wondering what he wants from her.
“Your name’s Octavia right? Granny told me about you, you fine dinner cat. Y’dig mah tunes, cat?” The zebra asked in his sing-song accent. Octavia could only try to guess what the old zebra said to her.
“Yes, Mr. Coltrane, I have played some of your pieces before.” Octavia answered.
“Cool, need some boggie-woogy from you cool cat as Ah am gonna lay my racket. Y’dig?” Octavia could only nod in agreement. She then walks away from Mr. Coltrane to go and fetch her double bass. The old zebra approves of this mare’s attitude. Most mares her age would have protested at the improvised nature of his performances, but Octavia is able to understand what is going on and is willing to go along with it, seeing the professionalism of the mare in performances. Soon enough she is back with her double bass and poise for action. He nods at her and then his attention is now at everyone in the room.
“Alright y’all, Ah am gonna start mah gig with mah saxophone. Now Ah would warn you, this might have some sax-ual content. Enjoy.” There is some polite laughter among the crowd about the sexual innuendo and some claps from the crowd before the zebra began playing on his saxophone. Immediately the entire library is filled with a sensually complex sound emanating from Mr. Coltrane’s instrument and the accompaniment of the bass by Octavia only serves to give the whole performance a certain measure of class at the same time. Some of the mares actually looking rather enraptured by the sound that he is making and before long, like dominoes falling and tilting the other dominoes, the sound of mares screaming and fainting from the music that the old zebra was making can be heard, and some of the other mares are actually just looking at him with rather predatory eyes. Mr. Coltrane is familiar with the hungry eyes of lust whenever he plays with his saxophone and he is proud that he still got what it takes to make mares feel all hot from within.
Pinkie is amazed by the whole sight of this performance. She never knew that playing an instrument could actually make ponies do things against their will and she had found a newfound respect for this old zebra. As Pinkie looks at all her friends, she could only wonder how Mr. Coltrane does all those things to her friends. Twilight and Rainbow Dash are now dragging an unconscious Rarity away while Applejack is trying to restrain a certain shy yellow pegasus from jumping on the old zebra and do Celestia knows what on Mr. Coltrane especially without protection. Spike and the other stallions are now just looking down at the floor, ashamed of themselves for some reason. Only the older ponies, those ponies that are too bothered to listen to the song as they have to attend to their friends’ sudden change of behavior, Octavia and Pinkie herself seem unaffected by the music.
My Celestia, Nana Pie was right when she said that music was way more potent during her time , Pinkie reminded herself. Once Mr. Coltrane stops playing his song, there was a deafening silence. Then slowly but surely, hooves clopping each other could be heard and there was a thunderous applause from the audience. Soon enough there are some rather lewd and embarrassing yells from the audience, most of which are to ask the old zebra to be the father of their foals or make sweet love to them like how he played his saxophone.
“YEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Pinkie looks behind her and it seems that somehow the muscular pegasus cop that she helped the other day is shouting in enthusiasm over the performance. Pinkie then looks at Mr.Coltrane and all she gets back is a wink from the wily old zebra.
Author's Note
The Sax-ual sounds of Mr. Coltrane - Dirk Raulf & Hartmut Kracht - "The Killer Duet"
Chapter 10 – Beats for a Lil’ Filly
“You know, we still have not found our drummer yet.” Spike says as the rest of the band along with Granny Smith and Mr. Coltrane are having a break from all that practice that they have been doing. Pinkie has to go back to baking at the Sugarcube Corner and it is best that they talked about this without Pinkie. Pinkie’s fascination with marching bands bass drums will not help in this case.
“It is very apparent to us all, Spike.” Octavia points out the obvious as she sips on her cup of tea. The utter absence of a constant beat tends to cause both Pinkie and Spike to stray away from the playing, and Octavia could only do so much to keep the tempo. But a double bass is a very low-pitched instrument and its sound can be eclipsed by louder and brighter instruments, which is the case with Pinkie’s loud horns, and the intense melodies of Spike’s piano. Thus despite the flair of everything else, what is perhaps the most important element of any band is out of reach for them.
“So all you cool cats know no cat that could play the skins huh? That’s beat up. Besides, the skins decide the jive of whatever jazz that you cats want to beat it out.” Mr. Coltrane’s lingo is confusing, but somehow everyone in the room knew what he’s saying to all of them.
“Well, Mr. Coltrane what kind of jazz are we anyway?” Spike asks the old zebra. The old Zebra is now scratching his head, trying to think about his answer to Spike’s question.
“Ah would say that you cats play almost everything except them ‘smooth jazz’, which Ah think is nonsense. It’s the bible. So y’all need to find a cat that could play yer tunes barrelhouse.” Mr. Coltrane takes a sip out of his tea as he lets his words seep into the minds of both Octavia and Spike. Both the dragon and the mare know that this particular pony will be the hardest member to find in their band. They need someone dependable and reliable to not be led astray by the rest of the band. That pony would also need a great amount of stamina to keep the beat going on. And above all that pony needs to also be able to keep the beat consistently.
Finding this pony is almost impossible……..Or is it?
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Applejack is bored out of her mind, as she had nothing to buck as fall becomes winter. All the necessary steps to allow the entire apple trees to survive the cold winter have been made, and also Zap Apple season is already over. “Bucky McGillycuddy" and "Kicks McGee" are itchy for something to buck, but she knows well that other than picking a fight with somepony she will not be using them until much, much later. Clearing snow has always been Big Macintosh’s expertise, and he clearly prefers to do it alone.
“Oh well, lemme see what those sugarcubes are up to.” Applejack could only think of one thing to do right now; check up on Pinkie and the others in that jazz endeavor of theirs. She might as well, as she is just too darn bored out of her mind. As she wraps a scarf around her neck, she wonders if they have any success in finding their elusive last member.
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“I honestly wish that the next pony that walks through that door will be our drummer. It would be sooo cool if she comes in with a big blast of drumming and epicness!” Pinkie has just returned from the Cakes’ shop, and in tow she has both Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake. The Cakes are too busy baking goods for the forthcoming celebrations during the winter, the foremost of the winter celebrations being Hearth Warming’s Eve. The foals are obviously happy to see the others in the library’s basement, and soon enough their attention is now focused on the old zebra. Pinkie Pie then pulls some baby seats out of nowhere and places the two Cakes into their respective chairs. Pinkie then pulls her instruments out and places then on the table.
“How’d you do that cool cat?” Mr. Coltrane is definitely amazed by Pinkie’s ability to pull out whatever she wants from anywhere, and he could only imagine how useful and convenient that ability is. But then Granny Smith nudges the old zebra and then he remembered the old mare’s advice. Pinkie appears to have missed Mr. Coltrane’s question and she proceed to just take a seat.
As the silence returns, Octavia then proceeds to walk to her double bass and started to tune it while Spike decides to get some shut-eye on the table. Pinkie’s attention is now focused on the cakes, as she tries to make them laugh and be happy. Granny Smith knows that without a drummer they could not make more progress and she could only hope that for everypony’s sake this will not devolve into something less.
“Give it time, Edith. It always happens when there is a cat less.” The old zebra answered her thoughts. But unbeknownst to everypony, something is definitely about to happen, but no in the way that they would expect it. Well, maybe Pinkie, but right now she appears to be quite oblivious.
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As Applejack walks into the town she could see that everypony is preparing for the festivities ahead. She then reminded herself that she needs to talk to Grannny about the plans for the holidays and she wondered what presents she should give her family. But before she could even say ‘lickety-split’ she bumps into something small. She also felt a rather cold and soft thing on her chest, and as it made contact with her body, she could feel the thing melting and running down her fur. She looks down, and she realized that her chest is now smeared with vanilla ice-cream, and a bright blue filly with a white mane is now looking at Applejack with teary eyes.
Consarn it…… , Applejack cursed to herself. This is what you get when you are thinking too much when you are walking around town. She then look at the filly who was about to burst into tears, and indeed ended up bursting in tears.
“Ah’m sorry lil’ filly. Ur…..” Applejack realized that she could not buy her a new ice-cream as she had not brought any bits out with her today. Nervously looking around, she needs to do something fast to make the filly feel much better and not break her image as that of the most dependable pony. She looked around and then as she processes her surroundings, she noticed a few items that she could use to distract the filly from the ice-cream. A few barrels, dustbin lids and a light pole would help her in this endeavor.
Applejack arranges the multiple empty barrels and dustbin lids, and once she is happy with the arrangement, she used her hoofs to hit the barrels and the dustbin lids. The resulting sound caught the attention of the filly, which stopped crying. Applejack somehow needs to keep this up and tries to give it a rather positive beat. She’s got no idea what she is going to do other than keeping it fun. As the chiming from the dustbin lids and also the fat hollow beat of the empty barrels fill the air, Applejack hopes that her improvised ‘Make a filly happy’ plan would at least distract the filly, if it failed to work.
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“Y’all heard that?”
It appeared that Granny Smith’s ears caught something interesting. She then prods the old zebra who was taking a nap. As soon as he comes to his senses he could also hear what Granny Smith is listening to, and perks up. Whoever it is that is playing that noise right now, that pony is keeping up a good tempo and also has the strength enough to keep it going. However, it appears that the others are deep in whatever it is that are occupying them and are unable to hear the beat.
Soon enough, the two old friends decide to walk out from the basement and as they ascend the staircase, they could hear the drumming getting louder and louder. Once they are at the lobby of the library they could hear that the sound is coming right outside their doorstep. As they walked towards the door, they wonder who that mysterious pony is. But then soon enough, they could hear some cheers and once they opened the door, their eyes were greeted by a crowd forming around the said mysterious performer. Unfortunately for the two old equines, the crowd is so dense that they could not just see through the crowd.They looked at each other and knew that they could only do one thing and one thing only: brave through the crowd of ponies.
Of course, thinking about something and doing something are entirely different matters, and indeed for the ageing equines, this is indeed a monumental task. One does not simply walk into a crowd. While trying to get across through the wave of ponies, Granny Smith smith could only feel a sudden sharp pain in her back.
“Ooooooo mah back!” Granny Smith had already twisted her back. The old zebra stallion decided to push his hoof into Granny Smith’s back and soon enough a loud audible crack could be heard, and Granny Smith could feel a sense of relief running down her body. Just when she was about to say thank you to her old friend, she noticed a weird grimace on the old zebra’s face.
“Miles….not you too.” Granny dearly hoped that it is not what it is, but her friend looked at her assuringly and pats her on the shoulder. To be exact it is more like he is holding her for support.
“Eeyup. Excuse me…….." Mr. Coltrane then takes a polite and deep breath before exclaiming in pain about his back, all while the drumming continues in the background.
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Applejack thinks of playing her improvised drums as bucking her apple trees. Some of them are tough as hay and needs to be kicked hard to let the apples fall, while others seem to be far more fragile and thus require a more delicate touch. She would also need to keep her strength so that she could keep on bucking lots of apple trees or else she would already run out of energy from bucking the first few trees. But above all, she could always feel the flow of the trees and the magic of nature. It is the essence of who she is and how she came to be. The way she makes the sound of the drums swing, the strength that she used in hitting the barrels and dustbin lids, the pace and the intensity in which she goes about it, Applejack just let her hooves drum on just like how she bucks any apple tree in Sweet Apple Acres. Her eyes are closed so that she could feel the magic of the whole thing flowing in her.
Applejack could hear the filly cheering, but then the pale orange pony could hear something else. A cheer? No, it is a crowd cheering and giving applause. She opens her eyes and realized that a crowd of ponies are all around her clapping and whistling to her performance. Applejack could only blush and she stopped drumming, and it was then that a few ponies actually walked up to her and hands her some bits.
“No…NO…Ah can’t accept this.” Applejack protested and tries to hand them back their bits. But then it was the little filly who cheered on Applejack.
“Wow I didn’t know you could use barrels like that! Thank you for making me the show!” The little filly smiled widely, and Applejack couldn’t help but to smile back. However one of the mares who was handing her bits decided to talk to the filly.
“Uh huh. I bumped into her when I was eating my ice-cream and since my ice-cream got stuck in her chest, I was sad. It was then that she make me the show!” The filly is now jumping with excitement. Lyra then gives Applejack a smirk, and Applejack knew that somehow she could not refuse this one.
“Take this bits and buy the filly a new ice-cream. It would really make her day if the pony that made her special by playing some music to also buy her some ice-cream” Lyra then puts the bits into Applejack’s hoof. As the filly look at Applejack with unbridled excitement, and the rest of the crowd looking at her, Applejack could only think about how this is a little unfair. But yet, Lyra does have a point.
“Alright, Ah guess Ah could live with that. C’mon now, let’s get you that ice-cream.” Applejack now sighs, and the filly is now jumping with joy.
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The two old equine immediately noticed that the drumming had stopped, and there appears to be something going on in front of them. They tried their best to get through the crowd, but unfortunately for them, the exchange of hip twisting and hip fixing went on for a while before the crowd finally dissipates. To the two old equine’s disappointment, they failed to discover who this mysterious pony is. The only things left from the presence of this pony are the empty barrels and dustbin lids arranged in an impromptu drum set. To make it even worse, the tracks of multiple ponies are everywhere making it impossible to know which direction the pony took.
“Consarn it.” Granny Smith could only sigh as she looks at the drum set with defeat. Mr. Coltrane then puts his hoof on Granny Smith’s shoulder.
“There now Edith, no need to be all salty like that.” Of course, Mr. Coltrane does feel some sense of disappointment, but he tends to take things in stride and when the fates wants them to not find this pony he will just let them do things as the fates always has a bigger plan.
DRUMMING LIKE A HURRICANE!
Chapter 12 – DRUMMING LIKE A HURRICANE!
It took them the entire night and all the way until the next morning before they heard Spike’s voice, shouting in excitement. By then Applebloom was jolted awake by the shouting and immediately noticed Spike is now running towards the center of the library with a book on his hand. He was already wrapped up in several layers of clothing, as during the night the temperature had dropped significantly that his cold-bloodedness is affecting him more than anyone in the library. Everyone else is now clad in at least a scarf or a vest to try and keep warm.
“I FOUND IT! A SOLUTION THAT REQUIRES NO WEATHER PEGASI!” It took the dragon a little bit of searching and pressing some unknown secret compartment of the library to find the book that could be their salvation. Soon enough everyone is in the center of the room. Pinkie who was unconscious the entire time, finally wakes up to see everyone gathering at the center of the room. Seeing that something is going on, she hops towards the crowd, with some acknowledgements that the pink pony is present to hear this out.
“Well what are you waiting for? Read it out!” Rainbow Dash beckons the little dragon to read out the solution. Meanwhile, Twilight is just telling Pinkie about what they did while she is unconscious. Applejack’s expression is that of relief, but there is still an air of nervousness around her. The other Apples are too busy paying attention to Spike to notice Applejack.
“It says here that this particular spell, called 'Livin on a Spell' is done a long time ago by an unicorn named Jon Bon Poni at the North Pole to get rid of a snowstorm. Let’s see here….yadda yadda yadda…..a whole lot of history of the expedition…..a love affair....lots of hard partying....magic accident………Aha! It seems that this spell has a reasonable amount of success if the specific requirements in casting this spell are made.”
“What do you mean ‘ specific focus’ ?” Applejack asked. From her experience with saving Equestria four times over, she knew that somehow there is always a catch. Spike cleared his throat before continuing on.
“How in the hay do we find such a specific focus anyway? Discordant but yet rhythmically consistent? Those two words do not even go together in the same sentence!” Rainbow Dash said out loud, not believing the ridiculousness of this spell. Everyone just stood there uncertain about how they go about this solution until Pinkie broke the silence.
“You know, from the sound of it, we could just play some jazz.” It was then that Pinkie realized that everyone in the room is now looking at her, flabbergasted. It had not occurred to everyone in the room that they have the tools to create this focus all this time. Of course Pinkie is a good metagamer so she thinks in a bigger picture I guess. A pony in particular had an expression of both shock and disbelief. Twilight is caught off-guard that someone else before her had come up with the solution to the problem, and the one that cracked the puzzle is the least logical of ponies added more salt to the wound that is her pride. Before long Spike clears his throat, and started talking.
“Well tell you what. I am going to make breakfast, and anyone who wants to help me make dinner could do so, while the others could do their own thing. Once we had all eaten our meal, we could then see Twilight prepare the spell if anyone is interested.” Everyone nods in agreement.
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Evening at Golden Oaks Library -
The purple unicorn is now spreading out the energy from her horn in multiple beams, but keeping each beam in the same thickness and as it reflects on the other floating magical wards. The symbols on the floor glows with a bright blue light, and before long the symbols are now glowing in a consistent pale blue light. Twilight wipes a few sweats off her brown before the beams of magic from her horn dissipate. Everyone is now looking at her, wondering if she is successful.
“Well, thank Celestia that I had taken a class once in “Advanced Chromatic Algorithmic Spells” or else there might be a dark wormhole that would make the storm the least of our problems. I could see now why this spell needs a weird focus, as this spell has a weird prismatic energy distribution, and this requires Clover’s Incatations of Relativity and Starswirl’s Hexagrammatical Warding system to keep the prismatic arcanium magical output in a steady and ever-changing formation to compensate for the erratic nature of the beam, which could only mean that the noises are there to regulate the output of the energy once the spell reaches maturity and….” Twilight stopped as soon as everyone is not getting what she is saying at all. Twilight then coughs politely before she continues on.
“Anyway….. I have done all the necessary steps needed to prepare the spell, but it would take us a while, so we will not be able to do anything until tomorrow morning at the earliest. So all, we can do now is wait until the spell is ready.” Twilight is a little disappointed that she is the only pony that understands the words that is coming out from her mouth. Soon silence descends upon the room, and Twilight is taken aback by this. She knows that everyone is a little anxious, but she did not expect this most quiet of silence from everyone, including Pinkie. It was then a small voice gently broke the silence and everyone is now looking at the point of origin of the voice.
“So…what do we do now?” Applebloom asked everyone in the room. It was then that another pony speaks.
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-The next day -
As morning rises in Ponyville, the weather had gone so bad that everyone is now wearing many layers of clothing just to keep themselves warm,. Many had likened it to the turbulent winters that marked the land before the founding of Equestia.
As the musicians prepare themselves to help in the channeling of the spell, Twilight could only wonder if everything would turn out alright. The purple unicorn is now channeling her magic into the runic formation and tries to release its energy with the help of this rather unconventional of foci.
“Alright everyone! Let’s do this!” Everyone in the band is now giving her the hooves up, and they begin their performance. As the sound cracks through the air, the runes on the ground began to change from a greenish hue to a more yellow-ish glow and as they played everypony else could only look in awe as this plan is slowly working. As the band plays on, the runes are slowly turning into a golden bright yellow. But then suddenly the runes are fading away, turning into a darker color with every moment. It was Twilight who noticed something is wrong with the spell.
“Guys, you guys are not keeping up a consistent sound!” She shouted over the sound of the playing instruments. As everyone looked on, they noticed what Granny is saying, as now instead of jazz it appears to be a rather convoluted mess of noises again. It is just like Pinkie’s first foray into jazz where it sounds like a riot of noises rather than music. Octavia is now struggling to keep the tempo, but her bass is barely audible over the sound of the horns and the piano. Octavia’s role as the tempo keeper is now compromised.
“Great, how do we fix this?!?!” Rainbow Dash is shouting to Granny Smith and Twilight, and soon enough Granny Smith replied.
However a particular orange mare is now having an epiphany. The fate of Ponyville now hangs in the balance. She thought that this is utterly ridiculous that a drummer in a band could be so important, and this level of importance is just off the charts. A drummer, saving the likes of Ponyville? This sounds like that cartoon that Applebloom and Big Macintosh watched called “Black Heaven: Hard Rock Saves Outer Space” where a bunch of old middle-aged ex-rocker ponies are forced to save an alien race using rock music from their enemies. She had once called that cartoon ‘utterly dumb’ and nopony could save anypony from imminent disaster using music. Well, Celestia just decided to let Applejack’s own comment at the time to bite her in the flank. She looked at everyone in the room who are now trying their best to help in this most dire of situations, or are now looking with a look of acceptance about their fate. Her stubbornness in keeping her secret is too much to bear, but even then there are more important things that are more important than her pride. This is one of them, and if she wants to tell everyone about her secret she might as well go out with a bang even if she failed to save the situation.
“BUCK IT TO APPLELOSA!!!!! RAINBOW, APPLEBLOOM, BIG MAC! GET SOME EMPTY BARRELS, DUSTBIN LIDS AND STICKS YOU COULD FIND! AH AM GONNA FIX THIS RIGHT!” The three ponies immediately scrambled once Applejack snapped. Before long the others have brought Applejack anything that could actually make sounds, from spoons to barrels and other such paraphernalia that . The cowpony is now arranging everything into some semblance of a drum set to everyone’s surprise and before long Applejack begins hitting her improvised drum set.
“FOLLOW MAH BEAT!” The beat that Applejack chose as a focus is utterly primal and intense. Octavia, Pinkie and Spike are utterly clueless about what they are supposed to do but only the old wily zebra is aware of what they are playing exactly. He gives himself a smile as he plays his instrument, knowing that Applejack is unconsciously playing what is perhaps one of his most favorite forms of drumming; Rumba. And when there is Rumba, there is a party.Soon enough, Applejack accompanied her primal beats with a more refined sound from the other tools that she have under her disposal.
It was then that Spike tries to get the tune right with Applejack’s intense drumming, followed by Octavia’s bass play. The old zebra is now smiling, knowing that at least they are now feeling some sense from the beat. To the zebra’s surprise, Applejack is actually using all four of her legs in playing all the percussion that they need, her hind alternating between the two large and long barrels, while her forelimbs are hitting the dustbin lids and the smaller barrels with her forelegs all while keeping at least some of her legs on the ground. Amazing how these Ponyville ponies could multitask, Mr.Coltrane asked himself.
Before long, he went on and play his part to the whole mix of music and Pinkie finally follows suit with both her trumpet and trombone. With Mr. Coltrane as a baseline for her own part, she tries to keep up with everyone else. Pinkie is amazed how everyone managed to even pick up on something random that Applejack is playing and before long, she also surprised herself with her ability to keep up with them. In fact it is because of the beat that she was able to keep up with everyone.
Applebloom could only watch in awe as her sister is hitting all those random objects into a sound that is utterly amazing. Rainbow could only help Applebloom close her jaw back, and Big Macintosh could only cover Rainbow’s jaw in return.
Soon enough to Twilight’s surprise, the rings are now returning to their bright golden yellow glow. Before long the bright golden yellow turned into a bright white light, and Twilight immediately knew that it is time to release the spell. As she pressed on with the final burst of energy that her horn could provide, the room is engulfed in a bright light.
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-Somewhere above Ponyville-
The fat Pegasus named Easy Watch is now dipping his doughnut into his mug of coffee, watching from a cloud high above the raging ice tempest. Thanks to that accident, the dark grey Pegasus is forced to watch the storm to prevent anything from going into the storm, in particular family members of ponies that are crazy enough to brave through the blizzard to get into that town, and also keep a close eye for anything exiting Ponyville. Suddenly something caught the pegasus’ eye.
“What on Celestia’s bottom?” The Pegasus jaw is wide open as he saw a bright light coming from within the blizzard that is enveloping Ponyville and blasted out, shattering the storm in an instance. He was blown away from his cloud perch, and the blast of energy caused him to let go of his coffee mug and his doughnut. As he watched his coffee mug and doughnut falls towards the earth and seeing how the storm is suddenly gone a single though flashes through his mind; His superiors need to know this.
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Amidst the chaos in the basement of the library, several groans could be heard and as the smoke dissipates, a silhouette of a pony standing on their hind legs could be seen. It was Pinkie Pie, and she is looking down on the floor with a single foreleg triumphantly raised up in the air brandishing a trumpet in the air like a sword. Figuring that it is best to not mess with Pinkie’s victory pose, the others take the time to recompose themselves.
"Outta the danger zone....."Spike's voice is hoarse and dry, but everyone could hear his voice. Twilight could only muster enough strength to facehoof at Spike's comment before she passes out from the exhaustion.Great…. , Applejack thought. She knew this is going to come up sooner or later, and this time she is willing to take whatever responsibility for not telling her grandmother the truth.
“Mah own Jackie’s the mysterious drummer pony?” Granny Smith’s surprise is no surprise at all for Applejack. Well, she had kept it hidden for a good two days now, which is the longest time Applejack could have kept any secret. Keeping secrets is almost anathema for Applejack so much as to cause her a very nervous tick, and whenever she does not want anyone to know anything she tends to run away and disappear until the truth was beaten out of her. She then remembered her time when she did not want to tell her friends and family that she did not win the rodeo competition and how they chased her across the desert on wagons.
“Well….Nopony asked.” Applejack said, albeit rather unconvincingly. It was then that Applejack winced and tries to feebly hide behind her hat, her body felt that it was the best possible action for her own protection. Instead, a single hoof is all that Applejack got for not telling her grandmother the truth.
“Using them trash as drums, where’d you learn that trick from?” Granny Smith’s approving tone made Applejack smiled and the burden of her heart is now all gone. The truth is now all laid bare before everyone. This will take some time to explain, but at least the cowpony’s conscience is clear.
“Well….let’s get a seat and Ah will tell you all about it Granny.”
Author's Note
A clue as to how the Applejack-led jazz session sounds like - The Afro Cuban Jazz Cartel-Song for Chano
Chapter 13 – Day One
With Applejack spilling the beans about her drumming abilities, the others in the band are quick to ask Applejack to join them. Of course, Applejack said yes as she could not refuse them now but she does have some qualms about some things which she voiced out for all of them. For one, Applejack would prefer to not have the drumming thing to take a hold to what is more important to her (Apple sales, taking care of the Apple family, etc) Not to mention that Applejack would prefer to have a better understanding of what she's supposed to do and allow the others to get even more lessons or something before they do anything together. Everyone agreed to those terms and agreed that despite their apparent success during the snowstorm incident, they would need a whole lot of practice. Without much ado, they went on with assigning the mentor-student pairings; Spike will be with Octavia, Granny Smith will be tutoring her own granddaughter and Pinkie will be with the venerable zebra.
“So we will meet up in two weeks?” Spike asked everyone. Twilight is now seeing everypony off and after staying in her place, she is somewhat glad that now she would have the place to herself more or less again. Her expression of both relief and happiness is not lost on Octavia, and the cellist could only smile.
“Eeyup, good luck Spike.”Applejack tilts her hat, and then walked back home with her family to their farm. Of course, Granny will now have to make sure that Applejack drums with the proper equipment, and thus this will be arranged soon enough.
“Pinkie, you and Ah will start now. We will go to your crib and practice.” Pinkie started talking with her mouth full and started hopping back with the Baby Cakes in tow. Mr. Coltrane then lunges his saxophone case and followed the pink pony towards Sugarcube Corner. Octavia is now looking at the purple dragon, a devilish smile is now on her face. Spike immediately recognizes that he is not going to escape this, especially with Twilight right next to him.
“Well Spike….I will make sure that I will make a stallion out of you.” Octavia’s words slowly seeps into the dragon’s head, and as he looks at Twilight with a pleading eye he hoped that the purple unicorn will help him out. But instead, all he got is a rather disinterested look followed by a yawn. Twilight then trots back into the library, heading off to bed. Feeling a sense of betrayal, the dragon now looks at his mentor with an uncertain smile. Octavia reciprocated his smile with an evil smirk of her own. Poor Spike, he might suffer a little during his training session.
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Pinkie is now in her own room, wondering what Mr Coltrane will be teaching her. She is a little nervous about this as she does not know what to expect from the old zebra, as her lessons with Granny involves a lot of fundamentals things that she managed to get somehow. What will the old jazz legend do? Instead to her surprise, he is just sitting on one of the beanie bags, with not a single care about anything.
“So….what are we doing Mr. Coltrane?” Pinkie finally musters the courage to ask.
Mr. Coltrane frowns a little after he has heard all three of Pinkie’s instrument of choice. Pinkie looks at Mr. Coltrane with a look that tells the old zebra that she does not comprehend. He then asked Pinkie to hand her instruments over to him and the pink pony complied. As he checked on her instruments, Pinkie wonders why is he paying so much attention on her instruments. Pinkie gives Mr. Coltrane an uncertain smile. Mr. Coltrane then adjusts Pinkie’s instruments save that of the harmonica, and hands her back the instruments.
“Alright Pinkie, now try playin’ them tunes.” Pinkie picks up her trumpet and wondered what Mr. Coltrane did with her instrument. Once she started playing however, she could see the big difference from her previous sound. The way that it sounds to Pinkie is that now it has some more soul into it, and she immediately stopped playing her instrument. Before the shocked Pinkie could even mutter a single sentence, the old zebra is now smiling at her. He then takes off his shades and he walks to his saxophone case and opens it. Pinkie could see that there is a certain edge on that old zebra, and could see that he is now much more serious and determined than before. His mannerism also changed a little which surprises Pinkie.
“Well Pinkie girl, now it’s time to lay down the racket.” Mr. Coltrane turns around and smiles enthusiastically.
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“Well Applejack take a look at this.” Big Macintosh said to his sister, pointing to the back of the cart. Big Macintosh was in town a few hours ago, and when he came back he is towing what looks like a drumset. Applejack was to help her brother to carry something into the house, but not a drum set. Applejack slowly walks towards the cart, marveling at the sight of her drum set. The shiny metallic chrome bracing complemented the bright but solid red of the drumsm while the cymbals is that of a faded bronze. Applejack then touches one of the cymbals, and as she does so she could hear a slight chime. But then something in her snaps her out of her fascination.
“Wait…this must have cost a fortune Big Mac. How…?” Applejack intentionally stops and waits for her brother's reply. Big Mac then smiled at her and points to Granny Smith who is now trying to ask some of the farm animals to carry the first of the drums into the house.
“Thanks to her stallion-friend, we could borrow this for as long as we want. Mr. Harpstrings must have fancied Granny a lot.” Applejack shudders at the memory of knowing that her grandmother and another old pony are in ‘that’ kind of relationship. Big Mac could only give a hearty laugh as he walks up to his sister and whispered to her ears.
“Took me by surprise when Ah first found out about it a while back too AJ.” Applejack now looks at her brother with both curiosity and surprise. The red stallion then beckons his sister to help out with carrying the drums into the house. Applejack will have to ask her sibling later how he knew of Granny's social life once they are done putting the drums in the house.
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“No Spike.” Octavia’s stern response to his piano playing is quite disheartening to the little dragon, as he is unsure as to what Octavia is looking for in his music. He tried playing it fast, he tried playing it slow, but all he gets from the mare is a resounding ‘no’. He have to admit that she is beautiful and he is lucky to get somepony that is pleasing to the eye instead of two old crones, but maybe in hindsight the other two would be a much more lenient mentor than Octavia. But then another emotion wells up within Spike, and that is frustration. Finally he voiced out his frustration.
“Octavia, if you do not tell me what I am supposed to do, how am I going to do what you ask for?” He tries to keep it civil, but he will not stand by this. As the ticking of the metronome echoes around the room, he wondered if he had gone too far. It was then that Octavia finally walks up to him and sits next to him.
“Well, you tend to go into a rather funny tune whenever you try to improvise. Like this.” Octavia then plays the tune, and Spike is surprised that Octavia managed to replicate his piano style exactly. But then, Spike hears an even better form of his sound immediately, and he could see that it does sound much better.
“What I want you to do is to keep your timing up as you improvise. If you lose your timing as you improvise, you can catch everyone off and they never like it when someone messes up. Music is funny that way. Now try again, and try to keep to the beat of the metronome.” Octavia gives the dragon a smile that instantly melts his heart. Spike could only think of one thing and one thing only; that smile’s hotter than any dragon flame. However what he says is something else entirely. It even caught the gray pony by surprise, wiping away the smile on her face immediately.
“You know Octavia, I noticed that you are here teaching me every day….wouldn’t the Royal Canterlot Symphony be mad at you leaving them for a few days?” Spike asked. Of course Spike’s question is an innocent one, but as we all know in chapter six, it is a very touchy subject for Octavia. Being the bright and perceptive little dragon that he is, he immediately noticed a change in the cellist.
“Well…um….I…” Octavia is now struggling to answer Spike as she does not really want anypony else to know about this. Spike could see that his mentor does not really want to talk about this, and he decides to play different card. From Octavia’s reaction, it seems that she had not told Vinyl about this particular situation and the little dragon managed to deduce the problem that Octavia is having.
“It’s okay, you can tell me about it when you feel like it. And I promise I will keep your secret for now.” Octavia looks at the little dragon with surprise, but followed quickly with a small smile.
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“Ur Granny, why am Ah listening to these music records?” Applejack is now sitting right next to her grandmother listening to some jazz tunes on their gramophone. The old pony could only give her a warm smile and a pat on her granddaughter’s shoulder.
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“Pinkie, stop. Sharin’ is carin’ y’dig?”
The training of Pinkie is a little bit challenging for both Pinkie and Mr. Coltrane due to one simple fact; Pinkie loves to play instruments, but she tends to play them alone. This makes things harder as now the old zebra would have to teach puffy-maned pony to learn some constrain. Of course Pinkie is also struggling as restricting her happiness in playing music is very taxing on the pony, as she loves to go all out and being leashed like that is not doing any good to her.
“Okay…” Pinkie said sadly at the old Zebra.
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As music started to resonate in the air throughout Ponyville, the first day of training for each one of the band members began in earnest.
Chapter 14 – The Test of the Mentors
Octavia, Granny Smith and Mr. Coltrane are now sitting in a café called the Prancing Ponies in the heart of Ponyville, having some lunch together. Of course, they are not together solely for the sake of having lunch as they are here for another reason. The main reason why they are here is that it is now close to the end of their two-week intensive course on training and teaching Pinkie, Spike and Applejack about everything they know about Jazz, and they need to know if they are up to the challenge. As the waiter serves their meal, Octavia speaks out her thoughts.
“So, you all wanted to see if they are ready for playing?”
“Well, Ah guess y’all got yer own way to do this?” The old mare and the gray cellist nodded, and soon enough they are all silent again. They continued dining on their lunch in the warm comfort of the café. Oh boy, I wonder what and how will the test affect both mentor and also student…...
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Applejack and Granny Smith are giggling as they prepare for their drumming session. They know that today’s Big Mac’s day off, and he loves to sleep in whenever he could. After all he is the only stallion in the house and he always gets the toughest of chores. But this time, the devils within the two mares cause them to try this particular prank. To make it even worse for the poor unsuspecting stallion, his room is directly above the living room which had become the impromptu home of the drums. Unfortunately for the mares, they could not prank Applebloom as well as the young filly is staying over at Rarity’s place with her fellow friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
“Y’ready Jackie?” Granny Smith gives her granddaughter a wink.
“THE TIMBERWOLVES ARE IN THE HOUSE! THE TIMBERWOLVES ARE IN THE HOUSE! THE TIMBERWOLVES ARE IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!!” Granny screamed to the top of her lungs. Before long, they could hear a loud whinnying and a loud thud before the sound of chaos goes about above. Soon enough, the loud and clumsy hoofsteps descend down the stairs, and to Applejack’s and Granny Smith’s delight Big Macintosh’s mane is a real mess, and his eyes are wide open in fear and panic. In his hoof it appears that he is carrying what looks like a doll in one arm and his pillow in the other.
“WHERE IN TARNATION ARE THEY??!?!? WHERE ARE THEM TIMBERWOLVES?!?!?!” Immediately, the two mares started laughing like there is no tomorrow, with Granny rolling down on the floor laughing while Applejack could only bang her hooves on the drums trying very hard to breathe through her laughter. It was then that Big Macintosh realized that he’s been had by his flesh and blood and he looks at them disapprovingly.
“Ooooh mah back!” Granny Smith exclaimed, and Big Macintosh could only see that despite her back the old mare is still laughing. In the end, he also started laughing, and soon enough the three Apples are laughing in the living room. After Big Macintosh fixed Granny’s Smith’s back and the laughter died down, the grandmother and granddaughter went on their business with the red stallion watching them with his bright green eyes.
“Alright Jackie, try playin’ this tune.” Granny Smith then plays her gramophone and soon enough Applejack is now being tested to see if what she had learned these past few days have gone into her head. Applejack tries to get into her zone, and as soon as she is in her zone, she started hitting the drums. The flow is natural, the swing is good. She can’t help but to always think of her drumming as an extension of her applebucking, and how each drum and top hat is like their own individual tree, each needing their own special touch so that they would politely give her some sound and also keeping track of herself so that she does not tire.
As she goes about drumming, she could feel that something in her is brightening up like a warm candlelight and she could feel that her drumming is like a flame that rekindles her heart’s hopes and weariness. She could feel the muscles in her face making a smile, and she immediately know why; she’s having simple and honest fun doing so. She has always been a little tad too responsible at times and taking care of her family, but the drumming is letting her loose for a while and she’s liking it. After a while, she decides that she had enough fun and ends her drumming. As she opens her eyes she realized that both Granny Smith and Big Macintosh are now looking at her with eyes that made her proud.
“Yer ready Jackie.” Granny Smith said proudly. By Celestia, it was amazing that her dear Jackie had only been listening to Jazz for the past few days, and here she is playing like some of the drummers she used to know in the good days. Oddly enough she felt that there is something a little homier in the drums than most other drummers, but she believed that it is something that will make Applejack’s drumming real special. The old mare could only wonder how everypony will fare out in their first jamming session together since the training.
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“Are you ready Spike? On an one…..one….two…three” He wonders what he should play and think about how his music should complement the bass. He decided to play a sound that is little more reserved, classy, but at the same time filled with excitement. He reasoned that Octavia would like to play with something that is more similar to her music of choice but at the same time something that the cellist would also enjoy playing in a slightly unconventional manner.
This caught Octavia by surprise, as she noticed how Spike always has a knack for combining classical styles of play with a jazzy twist to it. She is still amazed that this little dragon is perhaps one of the best pianists that she ever worked with. It was then that a thought came by her head; if only he was an older stallion rather than a little dragon she might be actually be attracted to him. These past few days, he proved to be a caring soul that is willing to listen to some of her troubles, and he offers great and profound advice that is at odds with his age. But right now she thinks of him more as a little brother than anything else, and she could see why Twilight treasures the little dragon dearly.
Spike is now just playing his music, accompanied by Octavia’s bass. Thanks to Octavia’s lesson he knows that there if more to just playing some tunes than meets the eyes and now everything in his head flows much better and he does not hesitate now whenever he tries to match his piano playing to a constant rhythm while also try to do something amazing about it. As they both play in each other’s company, they both knew that everything will turn out fine in the end. Once they ended their song, Octavia gives Spike a rather playful smile.
“Let’s just switch things up a bit and have some fun.” Octavia soon increases the tempo of her bass playing and soon enough Spike’s piano playing just naturally flows into Octavia’s groove without even a single pause and hesitation. Spike could only feel happy that somehow he is enjoying this experience more than he initially thought and he could not wait for everyone to play together in two days’ time.
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“Mr. Coltrane…I want to challenge you in a Jazz showdown!” Pinkie’s challenge came at a surprise for the old zebra, and as he looks at her he noticed that she is dead serious about it. Throughout his entire time, he never really seen this side of Pinkie before and being able to bear witness to this is a testament to something that he could not quite put his hooves on it. He then walks up to his saxophone and once he is the right posture, he looks at Pinkie with eyes eager to take on the challenge.
“Ready whenever Ya ready, cool cat.” Before long, the war of the blowing instruments had begun. Initially, Mr. Coltrane started off with a rather dark and frantic tune, jumpy even but Pinkie replies with her tune that is rather short and crisp, happy and grandiose in its nature. Before long both are playing their tunes melodically, matching each other in their speed and tune. As he starts his solo, suddenly it occurred to the zebra that there is a bass and drum beats that are playing out of nowhere and cheers from crowds even though there is no one else in Pinkie’s room.
That scared the zebra, but he kept on playing as it is perhaps the only thing keeping his courage up and running and he tries to not think about it. Poor zebra has got no idea that Pinkie has unlocked a certain door with the key of imagination, and beyond this door is another dimension; a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. This dimension is both a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas, a dimension beyond that which is known to ponies. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of pony's fears and the summit of their knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Fourth Wall.
Pinkie could only respect the old zebra as he played on, as nopony she knows except herself could play on despite knowing that there is an audience from the Fourth Wall watching them, especially when they complements them with music so that they could go about their duel. It was then that Pinkie decides to go about her solo, and went about playing her trumpet in a virtuous way, improvising as she goes and keeping the tempo of her trumpet to the sound of the mysterious bass and drums. She smiles as she hears the cheer of the crowd. Pinkie could immediately hear a rather reserved but nonetheless proud saxophone voice complimenting her play in the end. Once they had stopped their duel, there is a thunderous applause from the ‘audience’.
Soon enough, the opening to the dimension that is the Fourth Wall closes and both equines are now sitting in the room in silence. Pinkie was worried that perhaps this was a little too much for the old zebra to handle, as nopony could really comprehend the Fourth Wall like she does. She then puts her hoof on his shoulder to comfort the old musician.
“Pinkie girl, Ah have to say….that capped mah willies . Ah just felled out when Ah heard those voices. Those mitt pounding, those racket….How did you do that?” Mr. Coltrane finally mustered enough strength to ask the pink pony, as his mind was literally blown out of the water from his visit in the Fourth Wall. Pinkie could only shrug.
“Pinkie, Ah think you are ready.” Pinkie could only smile and hug the old zebra tightly in thanks, while the old zebra could not help but to enjoy the warmth of another in order to calm his frantically pounding heart. He needs everything that he could get his hooves on to keep his sanity going, but at least he now knows that his student is prepared in so many ways and he was foolish to think otherwise.
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-At the Prancing Ponies.
Octavia, Granny Smith and Mr. Coltrane are now sitting having some lunch together. Of course, they are not together solely for the sake of having lunch as they are here for another reason. The main reason why they are here is that they are here to voice out the verdict on Pinkie’s, Spike’s and Applejack’s lessons. As the waiter serves their meal, Octavia speaks out her thoughts.
“So, I assume that all of you came to the same conclusion?”
“Well, they are ready.” The old mare and the gray cellist nodded, and soon enough they are all silent again. They continued dining on their lunch in the warm comfort of the café.
Author's Note
Applejack’s drum solo: Drum Solo - Swing
The duet between Spike and Octavia - Blue Moon - Jazz Pianist and Bass Duo
Pinkie and Mr.Coltrane’s duel - A Night in Tunisia - Charlie Parker and Dizzy Live at Carnegie Hall
Chapter 15: Invitations
“So we are doing a session this Saturday?” Octavia asked Pinkie. Octavia is in the Sugarcube Corner with Vinyl today to get some bread and some muffins, and Pinkie is working in the cash register today while Mr. and Mrs.Cake are baking their goods. Pinkie could only smile as Octavia asked the question, and immediately Octavia could understand that the pony is definitely planning something right now. Octavia decides to wait for a little while to hear about what this particular plan is.
“D’uh! We are going to play, but then I asked everypony that we should let our friends watch us have our first jam and stuff. Speaking about that have you ever wonder why they call a session of people playing instruments ‘jamming’? I do not see any jam around the place, nor are we eating some jam. Are we supposed to eat some jam while we play, or are we supposed to be dipped in jam and then play our instrument?” Octavia puts a hoof on Pinkie’s lips, silencing her at once.
“So I guess you are asking me to bring a friend over correct? Have you told the others about this? They might not agree to all of this you know…” Octavia voices out her concern. Pinkie then gives a hearty laugh and hands Octavia her baked goods.
“That’s what I said! And I told the others about it and they all agreed to it. So just bring your friend over and have some fun. I will be bringing the punch of course! And that would be two bits please.” Vinyl hands Pinkie the bits and finally it occurred to the two earth ponies that the DJ pony is amidst their company, and they had accidentally left her out. Pinkie’s hair was a little deflated, while Octavia now looks a little embarrassed about it.
“Nah it’s okay, band members do have that thing going on. And Octy, I am happy to come.” Vinyl gives a cheeky smile to her housemate and Octavia could only give a warm smile to what is perhaps her closest friend ever.
“Yeah, you are invited provided that you do not bring that Basscannon of yours. Deal?” Octavia cheekily said as she hands out her hoof. Vinyl then hoofshakes Octavia, agreeing to this particular term and both of them laughed. Pinkie could only look at these two closest of friends and smile so much.
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Today Twilight is visiting Fluttershy as Owlicious needs his monthly check-up. Once she poured Twilight some tea, Fluttershy went on ahead and the owl cooed as she preens his feathers. As she goes about grooming the owl, Fluttershy could only see that there is a particular thing on the unicorn’s mind, and Fluttershy decides to be a little bit more assertive today and start the topic instead. Besides, Fluttershy had known Twilight for so long already, and she always does better when it is a one-on-one conversation.
“So, everyone’s training with their instrument?” Angel Bunny is now pouring some tea for their guest, and several other bunnies are also coming out with some scones and some fruit tarts so that their guest will be treated in a hospitable manner. Twilight was taken a little by surprise to Fluttershy’s willingness to start a conversation, but then she realized that Owlicious and herself are in Fluttershy's home. Of course she would be comfortable in her home, ,Twilight reasoned.
“That’s right, apparently there’s a lot going on these past few days and Spike sleeps like a log every time he is done. Whenever his fingers move in his sleep it was so adorable.” Twilight chuckled as she sips on her tea. Fluttershy also giggled after hearing about Spike’s moving fingers. Fluttershy could only remember how Pinkie’s and Spike’s session went and she had to pay quite a lot of bits to repair the roof of her cottage, with Twilight contributing a lot to help her. For that she is offering Owlicious’ check-up free of charge.
“Well, I am glad that they are no longer crashing into pony’s homes now.” Twilight said in a deap-pan manner.
“Yes they did. And you know how that turned out.” Twilight answered.
“Yes….I do.” Fluttershy’s voice is soft, but if one were to catch it, it has a slightly displeased tone. She does not like it when somepony does things to her animal friends, but at the same time she cannot deny that dispelling the storm is a good thing.
“They are going to play in my basement in another two more days. Would you like to come and watch?” Fluttershy of course does not want to offend her friend by saying no so she agreed to her friend’s invitation. She’d have to make sure that Angel Bunny knows about it . Despite his rather uncouth behavior, but Angel Bunny is a very competent and caring caregiver to those that needs it. She’d have to tell him about the twenty-three mice children that will be staying as Mr. and Mrs. Mouse would be leaving for their vacation at Trottingham. She will make sure that he will get the best salad once she returns.
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The afternoon sun is blazing in the sky, but Rainbow Dash cares not for the sun. All that matters is now her getting ready on the flight strip. She waits for the pegasi to give her a signal for her to commence her flight run. As she feels the warmth of the asphalt on her feet, she hopes that her weather patrol day will be uneventful. This is because today she will be taking charge of some of the ‘nuggets’: an affectionate term that the weather ponies tend to call the new green flyers in the weather patrol. She looks at all the other ‘nuggets’ and she could see their nervousness seeping out from their pores. She could understand the feeling as she was once like them. As they always say; the first time always is a heap of confusion, it begins and ends up too fast for any pony to register in their mind. A grey pony with a red mane looks at Rainbow Dash with a rather crooked smile and Rainbow Dash could only return the smile. This one she remembers as the one they called Cougar, though she never knew why he had the nickname. Her other fellow flyers are now flying with their own new charges. She wonders when she will be flying as she can’t wait to fly.
“Alright Weather Team 5, you are free to clear the runway. Dash, you are free for takeoff, over.” A booming voice from the megaphone signals the rest of the ponies on the strip right now to begin their trotting towards the flight runway. Rainbow Dash trots up first and slowly but surely she begins to gallop and let her wings do the rest. Before long a loud subsonic boom could be heard across the tarmac and Rainbow Dash is off. Soon enough each and every one of the ‘nuggets’ are taking off one after the other. Rainbow Dash decides to slow down on her flight, and the rest of her crew joined her in a flying arrowhead formation, with the rainbow-maned cyan Pegasus in the lead.
“You nuggets all ready for today’s cloudbusting?” She ask in an assuring tone. Nuggets always perform well when they are not pushed around.
“Alright, everypony. Try not to overdo it. Goose, Maverick you are coming with me. Cougar, Merlin….you guys fly straight ahead. ” She could only remember her time in the Wonderbolt Academy where her overeagerness had almost caused her to lose her friends if it were not for her amazing speed and quick thinking with the compression of a cloud. Before long she swerves to the side and a purple pegasus with a blue mane and a blue pegasus with a purple mane followed their flight leader.
Rainbow Dash soon she noticed that there is a small puff of pink on the cloud. But as soon as she wanted to take a better look at it, the puff of pink disappeared. One of the nuggets, a purple Pegasus with a blue mane decided to bust this cloud apart, but instead was greeted by a puff of confetti. Rainbow Dash could only facepalm and groans before she flies over to her nugget and hovers in mid-air.
“Alright Goose, I will take care of this one. You and Maverick go and bust the other clouds will you?” Soon enough, a familiar pink pony appears before their eyes before dropping down to the ground, or to be exact trampoline. As Pinkie ascends to their height once more, Rainbow Dash catches her in the air. Not wanting to disobey their flight leader, the two pegasi went on kicking some clouds nearby.
“Pinkie, what do you want this time? I am out here babysitting nuggets for crying out loud.” Rainbow Dash is not angry at her pink friend for interrupting her cloudbusting session, but she is definitely wondering why the earth pony is bouncing here. It is perhaps one of the most surefire ways for Pinkie to talk to Rainbow Dash.
“Would you like to see us play our first session like….in another two more days at the Library?”
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“Oh? A performance? How nice.” Rarity said once she heard of Applejack’s invitation. Today’s the day that Applebloom is going to stay over with her dear little sister Sweetie Belle and also Scootaloo for one of their ‘Crusader Sleepovers’. Applejack lets her sister run into the Rarity’s home to meet with her friend before she continues on.
“Eeyup. It’ll be mighty fine if you could come. Besides Ah do not wanna let Pinkie run off to invite you. You know how she is about invitations.” Rarity could only remember the stories that everypony had told her about Pinkie’s tenacity in getting the pony that she wants.
“I agree, very dreadful whenever the good dear does that. When will you all be playing anyway? Rarity asked.
“Nonsense dear, I can always make time for my friends. Besides, I would love to see all of you play. I do love jazz myself second only to classical music. Pop music and that entire techno thing is never really my cup of tea mind you.” Rarity winks at Applejack, and Applejack could only think about the Basscannon incident.
"Yeah, that ain't pretty."
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A day before the jamming session, everyone is having some nice cup of tea with some baked goods at the Library. It is always good to have some nice chatter with each other once in a while. Pinkie however was unable to make it as she has something to do, of which no one know what exactly.
“Ah managed to ask Rarity to come if y’all don’t mind.” Applejack poured her grandmother some tea as she talks to Twilight.
“Vinyl is also coming, which is rather nice. Usually she is booked to Tartarus comes.” Octavia chuckled. The atmosphere was all rather nice and cozy till Spike actually slipped something that became a pressing concern.
“Well, since Pinkie is the one who asked us to bring some friends over, I wonder who she will invite.” Immediately Twilight dropped her éclair and Applejack almost dropped Twilight’s tea pot before barely catching it with her hooves. When Pinkie talks about inviting her friends that means that she will invite every friend of hers. That thought soon clicked on Twilight, Applejack and Spike. Soon enough the ponies and the little dragon rushed out from the library followed shortly by a very confused Granny Smith and also Octavia. As they all make haste to the SugarCube Corner, Twilight, Applejack and Spike hoped that they could try and stop her from bringing too many ponies to their jamming session. They entered in with a bang, and that caught the Cakes by surprise and also the customers in the store.
“Mr and Mrs. Cakes, did you see Pinkie anywhere?!?!?” Twilight was a little hysterical but nonetheless trying to keep her composure. The two bakers just pointed them upstairs to where Pinkie’s room is and soon enough everyone is running up the stairs. As they ran through the hallway, they noticed that Pinkie’s room is opened and as they entered into the cotton-candy smelling room, they could see Pinkie sitting down exhausted wearing her singing telegram outfit. This does not bode well for almost everyone for some reason. As they take a step closer to their pink friend, they can see that she has a rather wide grin which is rather disturbing.
“Pinkie…you didn’t….”Applejack said apprehensively. Soon enough Twilight is now face to face with Pinkie and she asked the pink earth pony the question that is on everyone’s mind.
“I invited everypony and their friends.” Suddenly a loud thud could be heard, and the other ponies noticed that Spike is now unconscious on the floor. As Octavia tries to help the little dragon regain consciousness, every other pony is now looking at Pinkie tensely.
Chapter 16: Too Loud For Pinkie
The town is now bustling with energy once everypony in town as the event draws closer. It also seems that the guest list is slowly growing with every hour. To Twilight’s horror her home had become ground zero for the performance. Spike is slowly hurling more and more magical scrolls and letters out from his dragon flame, causing much anguish for the little dragon. Twilight is now reading all the letters and scrolls while ponies are walking into the library to tell Twilight that they had brought even more friends to watch the show.
“Twilight….I can’t take this anymore. My tummy hurts…..” Spike could only say his displeasure with a hoarse voice. Pinkie sure knows how to make things even more troublesome than it truly is. All that Twilight needs now is to make it casual but yet classy enough for everyone to be happy about it. Meanwhile the rest are now discussing how they should go about this unexpected event.
“So shall we just play a few classic tune, or should we just play some of our own tunes?” Octavia is now asking everyone else. Spike and Applejack are deep in thought as they try to brainstorm about their impromptu performance. On the table in front of them are several list of songs and some song sheets to help them in this endeavor.
“I think we should have a mix between the two, that way it will not be truly boring I guess. ” Spike reasoned.
“Fair enuff. Anyhow Ah guess we could just pick some easy ones, so that we could wing it if things do come down to that and stall for time. Pinkie sure know how to make us rush like them cow stampedes.” Applejack then points to some of the song lists, which are relatively simple for everyone to play on their first try. Octavia nods as she understood the concept of making things simpler would help in improvising a song. It was then that Granny Smith came back with some apple fritters and some apple tea for the trio. As they were clearing some of the music sheets and list for Granny Smith to put their stuff, it is now time for Granny Smith to ask them something.
“Speaking about making party arrangements….where is Pinkie?” Immediately, everypony begins looking around the room to find the cause of this whole series of event. Octavia could only wonder what she had let out from the can, and wonder if Pinkie knew anything about this as well.
Twilight was also wondering about the pink pony when she heard a loud burp. When will he ever learn some manners, Twilight shakes her head as she laments in her mind. As she trots towards the kitchen, she noticed that Spike is just sitting on the dining chair with a rather perplexed look on his face. It was then that she noticed that Spike is holding a a particular scroll in his claws. Twilight immediately used her magic to levitate the note towards her and she noticed that the scroll has the royal seal on it. Wondering what is going on, she opens the scroll and read it.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I have heard about Pinkie’s jazz band, and I would like to come to Ponyville with the dignitaries for the upcoming Grand Summit of Nations. By the way, Cadence and Shining Armor will be coming with the summit member s. Yours Truly, Princess Celestia.
When Twilight finished reading the letter, her mind was literally blown out of the water letter resulted in Twilight mumbling and stuttering. Spike could only see Twilight’s eyes are swirling in disbelief before Spike throws a pillow down on the floor. Immediately, Twilight faints and drops her head on the floor unconscious, with Spike’s pillow landing right where Twilight’s head would fall. Once Twilight is knocked out, Spike decides to gather those that are in this jazz thing together and break the news of their royal surprise. And oh my, what a surprise it is.
“Say what?” Octavia said goofily when she heard that Princess Celestia had asked them to perform as the entertainment for the Grand Summit of Nations party. Octavia had always wanted a big break for her musical career, but when her break came in such a sudden manner she could not help but to feel…..stunned. Mr. Coltrane whistles a sound of respect, while Granny is now looking at Applejack to see her response. Applejack’s flabbergasted expression is all that everyone need in the room to realize that their show had went from a little gig to a real performance, and a really classy one at that.
“How…HOW IN THE HAY DID CELESTIA HEARD ABOUT US ANYWAY?” Applejack’s exclamation is indeed a very logical train of thought, but then Princess Celestia is as mysterious she is frightening.
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Pinkie is now in her room, looking at her pet alligator. It has been a while since she had spent time with her pet, and she felt bad about it. Even though the alligator did not show it, but it does feel a little lonely without the cheerful pony paying a lot of attention to it let alone spending enough time in their dwelling.
“So what shall we do Gummy?” The only response that the alligator could give her is his usual vacant expression. Of course Pinkie has been with the alligator all his life, and could understand when he feels excited. He is literally very excited right now, but how she knows this is anyone’s guess. Heck, even the author would pay a fortune to know which expression is which. It was then that something odd happened.
The stealthy appearance of a butterfly was not noticed by the pink pony and her pet, and it fluttered in silence into the room. As it landed upon a red button on a square object, a large bout of smoke came out from the box. Pinkie wondered why there is so much smoke inside the room, and then she realized something. She had forgotten to return the Basscannon to Vinyl and it has been sitting around in her room for a while now. She turned around and she could see a bright blue glow.
“Oh.” That was Pinkie’s last response before the light envelops her.
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“Hey y’all hear that?” Applejack asked. Soon enough everyone in the room could hear that unmistakable sound. Mr. Coltrane is now looking at everyone, confused over their rather pale expressions. Octavia, the pony that knows that unnatural sound the most voiced out her fears.
“Basscannon.” Octavia muttered. Immediately all the ponies are rushing out from the library, trying to trace the sonic disturbance of Ponyville. Unfortunately for Spike, he is rendered immobile from the letters that are still coming through his dragonflame. As soon as they stepped out from the library, they could see that the topmost floor of the Sugarcube Corner is no more. A whistling sound is soon heard, and for some reason everypony is now diving for cover. A loud impact confirmed their need for cover and a cloud of dust soon covered everypony.
As the cloud clears, they could see a very frazzled and confused Pinkie now lying down in the crater. In her arms, a rather unfazed and very much alert Gummy is now staring at them. Applejack is the first pony to slide down into the crater and soon enough Twilight also came down to aid the cowpony. Soon enough, Applejack is now climbing her way out from the crater, with the pink pony in tow. Everypony is now looking at Applejack, expecting something from her, and she did not disappoint.
“Let’s bring her inside.” Applejack answered.
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“WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN’T PLAY TONIGHT?!?!?!” Pinkie protested when the others are telling her that she should not play tonight, and indirectly telling her that they should cancel the show tonight. Of course, due to the effects of the basscannon, she is now shouting at them as her hearing is now impaired. It amazes all of them that she is even conscious at all. Nonetheless as a result of the sonic assault, she can only register the most extreme of audio sensations which is a handicap while playing in a band.
“Well, if you can’t even listen to us playing how could you even keep up?” Octavia asked the pink pony. Of course to Pinkie, it sounded like a very muffled mumble.
“SAY WHAT? SPEAK UP OCTY I CAN’T HEAR YA!!!!!!!!”
“WELL, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO MAKE THIS A JAMMING SESSION NOT A TRUE PERFORMANCE PINKIE! SERIOUSLY PINKIE WE COULD JUST LET IT GO FOR TODAY AND DO IT SOME OTHER TIME! BESIDES WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BRING OUR CLOSE FRIENDS, NOT EVERYPONY IN TOWN!”
“There, there now you two….settle down for a second there. We can’t cry over spilled milk now. Now all we had to do is just make things a little more comfortable. Pinkie will not play tonight, but the show goes on y’dig?” The zebra’ss sudden lack of lingo caught everyone a little off-guard. Soon enough, Twilight intervenes and started to talk.
“So….now what Mr. Coltrane?”
“You play, it is that simple. Besides, it would hurt Spike a lot if we send all the letters back to everypony. And who wants to be sent to the moon or even worse the sun?” Mr.Coltrane’s reply is cool and relaxed, and his voice is aged with that of experience in this sort of matters. Soon enough, the old zebra clops his hooves together and started to bring the two mare under his arm.
“So you cool cats dig this?” But then Pinkie shouted at him, surprising the old zebra.
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With a deaf and rather loud pink pony beside them, they decided to go to the hospital to see what they could do about the situation. As they wall waited outside the doctor’s examination area, they could only wonder if she had turned permanently deaf. That would be the worst possible scenario as not only will they have to content with a party pony, but one that will not listen to reason both metaphorically and literally. It was then that the doctor came out from the examination room with a notepad on one hoof.
“So doctor how is she?” Granny Smith asked.
“Well, she is alright but I will have to give her some hearing aid. It is amazing what kind of sonic exposure would require a pony to actually wear a hearing aid while recuperating. We will give it some enforcing spells so that she will be able to hear. I must ask, what is it that put Pinkie in this state?” The doctor is genuinely curious.
“Basscannon.” Octavia deadpanned answer made the doctor nod in understanding. Immediately Pinkie is now walking out from the doctor’s examination room with a smile on her face. She will be able to play after all. But then she noticed everyone except the doctor is now looking at her funny, and soon enough Spike was the first one that started to burst hysterically in laughter before everypony else laughed to their heart’s content. Pinkie is definitely confused until the doctor handed her a mirror. She looked at herself in the mirror and she noticed the atrocious things that are on her ears.
The hearing aids are rather large and round, with the dark grey disk surrounding her hear made her look like a mouse. Pinkie would want to laugh at herself, but then she realized that she would have to wear this for the time being until her hearing is back. She could only facehoof as she realized all of these things in a split second.
Chapter 17: The Dignitaries of Jazz
As everyone makes their way to Golden Oaks Library, Twilight could only hope that she could house everyone. Twilight understands how Pinkie treasures her friendships, but sometimes Twilight believes that the pink pony does not understand what a close friendship is to be exact. Of course to all of us readers, Pinkie is close with everypony, remembering their birthdays and making them smile and so on and so forth. She never really thinks of treating each one of her friends differently. Twilight is now looking at perhaps several hundred ponies coming to Ponyville, along with a few dignitaries from foreign countries coming soon to their little show at the behest of Princess Celestia and Luna.
Thankfully for Twilight, she is able to plan and create a magical force field around the library that will be warm enough for everyone to watch the show outdoors, as her library could not possibly fit every guest that both Princess Celestia and Pinkie had invited to come over. Just in case, she decided to make a stage large enough for any dignitary that may want to speak, and enforced it with some magic.....just in case.
“What the hay?” Applejack is definitely surprised to see the sea of ponies, chatting and drinking their way to a good time, along with some other species such as the Gryphons and to her amazement, Elephants. The cowpony could only sigh and take things as it is. No point trying to say anything to Pinkie especially when it comes to parties and friends. Applejack decides to make her way down to the basement where all the other members of her band are now preparing themselves for their performance. She could see Octavia is now tuning her double bass, and Applejack decides to walk up to her.
“Heya Tavi.”
Oh well, Ah guess this’ll do. Nothin’ like a full house huh? , Applejack asked herself. Before long, the drums are set up the way she likes them, and everyone had finally tuned their own instruments to their own preferred setting. Granny Smith trots to them and as the whole crowd watches, the old pony speaks to the band members.
“Alright, time to see everyone’s progress.” Granny Smith said as the refreshments are being served to everypony. Spike and Applejack prepare themselves for their first session together as a band, and also in many ways their first performance to other ponies but Octavia seem rather composed and unaffected by the nervousness of her bandmates. But there is that issue of what else they could do to make the show more interesting for everypony in the library right now.
“Oh no,” Pinkie said and for some reason everypony is now looking at her.
“I will take it from here. Follow my lead. Somepony just get that mouthpiece from where they are. Pinkie, you better lead them to where you last saw them.“ Rarity says to all of them. Applejack and Octavia are now looking at the white unicorn with curious looks. Before long the crowd could see the unicorn walking in a rather seductive manner towards the side of the stage. Everyone wonders what is going on before Rarity’s matured voice, brimming with confident femininity and sensuality breaks the silence. Knowing that Rarity is now buying them time, Twilight and Pinkie rushes onward to get those mouthpieces.
You had plenty money, nineteen twenty-two, You let other ponies make a fool of you… Why don't you do right, like some other colts do? Get out of here get me some money too…
Octavia immediately recognized the song, and she played the bass line for the song once Rarity finishes the first verse of the song, so that the rest of the band could understand the tempo that is needed to play this song. Noticing the tempo of this song, Spike follows suit with his own piano, playing a rather melodious and more ‘depressed’ tune. Applejack also remembered hearing this old song on one of Granny Smith’s record and immediately plays the drumming beats for this song.
She sure know how to choose a first song….. Octavia said as she see Rarity walking towards the crowd with confidence. Once she is at the edge of the stage, she slides down on the wall sensually, all while looking at the crowd with lustful eyes. At once, Spike’s wildest dreams are being fulfilled before his eyes as he plays the tune. Before long Rarity is now walking towards the crowd, and there are a whole lot of whistles and hoots cheering the fashionista on.
As one of the stallions stood up erect, Rarity used one of her forelegs to push the stallion down on his seat, and like jelly the stallion just melts back into his seat. It was then that Rarity decided to use one of the tables as a stepping stone down towards the crowd. A stallion helped her step down nicely to the floor from the table. Once she is down on the floor, she pushes the stallion back into his chair gently. In a rather sensual and steamy manner, Rarity sits on his lap, and pulling his tie slowly but surely before letting it go and moving away from his lap. The stallion soon crumples in his seat, with a smile on his face. Some of the older mares proceed to cover the eyes of their fillies to not expose them to this action.
One by one, Rarity played with the hearts of a few more males and breaking their heart as she sang her song. Applejack could only be amazed by the brazen nature of her unicorn friend in doing such an act. If it were here, she would had blushed as red as her barn. But Rarity’s next target really caught Applejack’s attention.
As Rarity sings and rolls on the table in a sensual way in front of Big Macintosh, Applejack could only feel that Rarity is really enjoy toying with her big brother. Suddenly Rarity pulls his yoke close to her face, her lips almost meeting Big Macintosh’s own. Immediately Octavia, Spike and Applejack stopped playing their music. Soon enough, some of the stallions and the mares are whistling and hooting at Rarity and Big Macintosh. Both of the ponies are now staring at each other in the eyes, and there were indeed some stallions and mares who fainted at this very steamy moment. It was then that Rarity continued on singing, her voice a commanding whisper.
Like some other colts…….. do….. , Rarity gives Big Macintosh a very mischievously sensual smile.
“Eeyup!” Big Macintosh’s answer is alert but shaky, as if trying to follow an order that his grandmother gave him when she is forcing him to do chores that he does not know the true answer to. It was then that Applejack decided to snap both of them out of the situation with her beats, and Octavia and Spike finally continued on with playing their instrument. Rarity then let go of the red stallion’s yoke and climbs in to table, waving her hips at big Macintosh. Big Macintosh had not been redder in his life before.
Before long, Rarity is now on the stage and as she walks towards the band she gives a very mischievous wink at Applejack. Applejack is definitely not really pleased at this, but she continued on playing the beats flawlessly. Soon enough, everypony could feel that the song is about to end and gave a round of applause as the curtains fall behind Rarity. Immediately, Applejack walked up to Rarity and now they are facing each other. The fashionista is now looking at her friend’s green eyes, and she could only give a warm smile.
“Relax my dear, I need to help my friends to buy some time. And you could keep your brother if you want to. “ Applejack was caught off-guard by Rarity’s last comment and could only stammer as she tried to say something witty but failed utterly in doing so. Rarity then looks around and could see Spike’s jaw literally falling down on the floor. She walks up to Spike and gives him a little kiss on his forehead.
“You did so well, Spikey-Wikey! You played that song flawlessly!” If there is any word to describe Spike’s heart at that moment, it would be that it had exploded twice over. Applejack has to literally slap him with her hoof just to snap him out of it as Rarity went on walking to the little mare’s room. The timing of the end of the performance was impeccable as Pinkie and Twilight returned, both of them panting but smiling. It seems that the show stalled enough time for the two ponies to find Pinkie’s mouthpieces.
“Alright Pinkie, start puttin’ them mouthpieces and let’s go!” Applejack said hurriedly. It was then that the old zebra decides to come into the picture, and with his saxophone in hoof they know that it is time to have a whole lot of fun. As soon as Pinkie puts on the mouthpieces and blowed a few tunes out of it, the curtain draws. Pinkie noticed something in the night sky with the corner of her eyes.
“Alright everyone, the main guests are here” Pinkie points her hoof upwards, and Applejack, Octavia, Spike and Mr. Coltrane soon realized what Pinkie meant. To everypony else’s surprise,the two Princesses and several chariots are coming down upon them landing just shortly outside the magical force field. As each one of the passengers came out form their respective chariots, the rest of the ponies are now bowing down to their sovereign. Of course, the band could not just cut their music off, and they played as if they are welcoming the Princesses.
Pinkie starts the welcoming of the Princesses and the dignitaries with a rather boisterous solo with her trumpet and the rest of the band falls in place and go about playing their tunes. Spike tries to not overwhelm the rest of the band with his piano play, but at the same time gives an accent to the entire band’s sound. Octavia and Applejack maintain a constant beat of bass and drums respectively and the whole band is working like clockwork as they played on. Soon enough, Pinkie stops playing her trumpet and she gives Spike a look and Spike immediately understood what she is asking him to do. Suddenly Pinkie is also now playing the trombones and also the trumpet at the same time, a physically impossible task unless you are a certain pink pony, and it is indeed the case.
Immediately, the little dragon is doing his own piano solo, and make a lyrical improvisation and once he is done with his own solo, he passes it back to Pinkie and Pinkie continues on playing with her trumpet. Before long, Applejack is now hitting the drums and top hats and the piece ends with her hitting energetically while Pinkie holds a long note. Soon enough there is a sudden silence and Pinkie wondered if they botched the performance. It was Princess Celestia who clops and soon enough the single clopping had become a thunderous clapping from everyone. Pinkie wipes a sweat off her brow and looked at her band mates. Each one of then gave Pinkie a smile and before long she could only do one thing; smile.
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As the show went on for the night, it seems that everyone is having a good time. All but one particular dignitary. Maharaja Jahangir Ganesha of the Hathi Tribe is perhaps the largest of the dignitaries, and in fact he is definitely the largest guest as he towers over Celestia thrice over, and his width is twenty-fours times as large. His day in Equestria started with the Royal Canterlot casters having to use some magic upon the Maharaja to allow him to actually be able to fit on the chariot. Of course this is a very unpleasant thing for the Maharaja, as the ponies are treating him as something of a grand oddity. As he spies upon the crowd, he could see that even the gryphons are having a much easier time interacting with the rest of Equestria’s citizens. The Maharaja could not help it but to feel alienated from everyone and his belief that his size and intimidating tusks are perhaps the thing that prevented anypony from coming close to him. Adding more salt to his uneasiness, this is actually his first summit as the Grand Elephant Maharaja of Hathi since his father had passed away. As the band ends their current song, the Maharaja could only wonder why did he come here in the first place.
It was then that he noticed two grey large ears and he immediately reacted in fear. His trumpeting caused everypony to stop for a while and everypony wonder what is going on. As he regained his sense, he realized that those two large grey ears are not ears at all and instead are disks of some sort on a pink earth pony. She is already smiling at him, and the Maharaja could only wonder what is it that this pony wants.
“Wow, I didn’t know that you could do that! How do you do that trumpet sound anyway? Are you a musician? But that saying I did not see any instruments around you…..hey you are dressed pretty nicely! I like all those jewels and stuff on your dress, Rarity must love those gems that are on you!” Janangir was taken aback by this pony and he wonders what is going on. He looks around and everyone is now back chattering to each other.
“Um….I am an Elephant so I can do those sounds using my trunk. And no, I am not a musician, I am Maharaja Janangir Ganesha, The Grand Elephant Maharaha of Hathi. And thanks?” The elephant tried to answer each one of the questions politely, but he is definitely confused.
“Well, you looked pretty sad so I say that you need a song! Applejack, Spike, Octy, Mr. Coltrane let’s do it!” She says out loud and then the band started playing a rather nice and uplifting tune. It was then that Pinkie started talking out loud. Everyone else is now listening to Pinkie, to the Maharaja’s amazement.
“It is a very ancient saying, but a true and honest thought that if you become a friend, by your friends you’ll be taught. As a friend I have been learning, and you’ll forgive me if I boast. And now I’ve become an expert on the subject I like most.” It was then that Spike hits a particularly chiming note and Pinkie started singing with a microphone in tow. How did the microphone came out of nowhere surprises the Maharaja.
Getting to know you, Getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, Getting to hope you like me.
Getting to know you, Putting it my way, But nicely, You are precisely, My cup of tea.
Getting to know you, Getting to feel free and easy. When I am with you, Getting to know what to say.
The Maharaja noticed that now the ponies are now singing the chorus together, and the Maharaja is definitely impressed by this show of choreography. They either must have worked hard to make this work, or they are unnaturally talented as backup singers. Suddenly he felt a small but warm touch on his large tree-like legs and as he looked at his legs, he could see that the little pink pony is now holding his legs. She then lightly pulls the elephant’s legs and Janangir could only follow what the pink pony is doing. The pink pony continues on singing accompanied by the musical instruments from the band and also the singing of the other ponies as both of them walks up to the stage..
Haven't you noticed Suddenly I'm bright and breezy? Because of all the beautiful and new Things I'm learning about you Day by day.
Getting to know you, Getting to feel free and easy When I am with you, Getting to know what to say
Haven't you noticed, Suddenly I'm bright and breezy? Because of all the beautiful and new Things I'm learning about you Day .. by ... day.
Soon enough there is a thunderous applause from the entire audience, and everyone’s attention is now on the Maharaja and also Pinkie. The elephant royal looks at the little pony and with a smile he shakes her hooves again with his large foreleg. As soon as the Maharaja steps down from the stage, a number of ponies are now walking towards him and started talking to him. This warm reception is not like what he expected a moment ago, and maybe, just maybe he should have taken the first step of trying to converse with these ponies. It was then that Pinkie tries to whisper to his ear and the Maharaja had to almost lie down for him to hear what the pink pony have to say.
“You see I never saw you before, and if I never saw you before that means you're new, 'cause I know every pony, and I mean every pony in Ponyville, and if you're new, then it meant you haven't met anyone yet, and if you haven't met anyone yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, and I had an idea, and that's why I went [gasp], 'I'll just throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular singing thingie. See? And now you have lots and lots of friends!" PInkie's lack of need to breath amazes the Maharaja.
“My friends call me Janangir, Pinkie. I am glad to be of your acquaintance.”
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As the festivities goes for the rest of the night, Pinkie, Applejack, Octavia, and Spike could only enjoy the time that they are having while playing for everyone. Each one of them has their own reasons for enjoying their time, but nonetheless the moment united them all for this performance. The moonlight shines upon them, radiating their sparkle for everyone to see. Oh how beautiful this night it, with everyone having a simple good time with the warmth of company and the music that soothes their heart in this cold winter.
It seems that the music had brought about much harmony among the citizens of Ponyville and also between nations. Truly such a simple event like this has such unfathomable effects upon the hearts of both citizens and leaders, and there is nothing else to say but to consider this little performance a great success. Its message is simple and clear; music truly is the language of the heart and jazz is as jazz does, it is strange that way.
Author's Note
The Band's welcoming music to the entourage of the dignitaries and the Princesses - Horace Silver - Blowin' The Blues Away
The background music to PInkie's song to the Maharaja - Wayne Shorter- Getting to Know You
Chapter 18: What A Wonderful World
Soon enough the band is the talk of town, and everyone could only feel a sense of pride to these ‘Dignitaries’ as the media dubbed them. With the two Bearers of the Elements of Harmony in the band, there’s bound to be a big media buzz and the likes. Thankfully by the power of Princesses, the paparazzis are unable to do anything resembling an act of sensational ‘journalism’ without the Princesses knowing it. Thus is it so that Pinkie, Applejack, Octavia and Spike are able to go about their daily lives without much of a worry.
But of course as with the idea of balance in the universe, when there is something good there is always something bittersweet soon after, if not something horrible. During their practice session, Mr. Coltrane finally breaks the news to everyone. With his duty done, Mr. Coltrane will be returning to Manehattan to be with his wife and back to his retirement of sorts in another two more days. Of course, that made Pinkie really sad as he is essentially a mentor and a friend to her throughout this particular misadventure.
“Do you have to leave?” Pinkie’s deflated hair only serves to show how sad she is about the news. Pinkie does not like to say goodbye to her friends especially when the prospect of not seeing them again in the foreseeable future is pretty high. Mr. Coltrane nods, and he takes off his glasses to look at the pink pony with his warm, amber eyes.
“Eeyup, cool cat. I gotta leave or Elsa would throw a hissy fit. ‘Sides Ah sure had a blast.” The old zebra stallion gives Pinkie a warm smile. Applejack, Octavia and Spike are a lot more mature than Pinkie, but they too feel the same way about Mr. Coltrane leaving. Before long everypony is now giving him a warm hug. It was then that Pinkie asked the old zebra for a last favor.
“Could you just play with us for the very last time? And let’s make this session count as we will never know when we will be able to play with you ever again. Pretty please?” Pinkie is now showing Mr. Coltrane her best puppy dog eyes, and Mr. Coltrane could only sigh with a smile on his face.
“Sure let’s do it.” The pink pony brightens up and soon enough she is ready. As Mr. Coltrane looks upon this small band, he wonder for a while about the future, but he wipes that thought away and smile to everyone. They might as well live up to the moment and be happy about it. For that he decided to play something more upbeat and hopeful, as he truly believes that there will always be a brighter side to life, and there is always something for everyone at the other side of the road or pasture.
As they played on, everyone could feel the same thing for no matter what the future brings and as time goes by, this moment will forever be in their hearts and minds and they can never forget about it. The ups and downs, the funny and sad, the trials and errors, they are all part of the cycle of life. The only thing that they could do is to take things in strides for life is like jazz, for it could be odd and complicated at times, but at the same time it has an encompassing melody that makes up for the oddities that it could bring. Jazz is as jazz does, it is strange that way.
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-At the Ponyville Train Station-
Mr. Coltrane is now finally going home. He had been in this rustic town for over two months now, and he had enjoyed his time here despite some minor hiccups. Nonetheless the hospitality of this town have grown on him, and this shows itself when literally everypony is seeing him off at the train station. He felt a bittersweet feeling from within, and he will remind himself that if he ever needs some time off from the city, Ponyville would be the next best thing to a runaway place from the hustle and bustle of the city.
As the train attendants are loading Mr. Coltrane’s farewell gifts, which I must say is a little over the top in terms of the quantity that they gave him, the old zebra finally noticed that there is one pony that is not within the crowd. Pinkie Pie is not in the crowd, which surprises him. Oh well, perhaps she is a pony that does not like to see people leave her. As he enters into his coach and takes his seat, he looks outside the window to see a lot of ponies waving goodbye to him. Again, he felt that bittersweet feeling in his heart and the howling steam from the train only serve to make him feel that good things could never last forever.
The train starts to move little by little, and Mr. Coltrane could hear the laborious sounds of the train dragging itself on the track. Soon enough the train has moved on, and everything outside the window started to move like a slideshow. Mr. Coltrane waves goodbye to everypony, and before long the sight of Ponyville is but a distant moment ago. But then his ears caught on to a sound that is not from the train, and indeed it is coming from outside the train. As he listens on the faint sound, he could definitely identify it as polka and he wonder why on Equestria would there be polka music in the middle of nowhere.
“What the hay? Where’s that racket from?”
He takes off his sunglasses and look around to see where is that sound coming from. Before long he could see a small railroad hand-powered cart rushing towards the train from a railroad track running parallel to the train, and he sees a very familiar sight with several instruments strapped on her back. Pinkie is now waving at Mr. Coltrane with her free forehoof and there is a very big smile on her face. Mr. Coltrane however noticed the teary cerulean blue eyes, and all he could do is to smile and look back at her with his own teary eyes. As he slowly counts on the number of instruments on her back, he smiled to himself.
Soon enough, the train overtakes the small cart and speeds forth towards the wilderness and Mr. Coltrane could only laugh at Pinkie’s last act. Pinkie is definitely a pony that he could never forget in a lifetime, and perhaps one of the most talented ponies that he ever met.
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Octavia is now in front of her home. Saying farewell to somepny that has been a part of their live no matter the duration of the time is always a bittersweet moment. However, something far more subtle caught the gray mare’s attention; The sound of wubs and rave music is absent. Octavia wonders if something had happened to her housemate and as she opens the door she could hear Vinyl’s voice.
“Ah, there she is gentlecolts. The lady you are looking for.” Soon enough Octavia is now facing two rather impeccably dressed unicorn stalions in business suits, a short pudgy one and a tall lean one, with the pudgy one having a monocle while the tall lean one has a thin sharp moustache.
“Goodness gracious, she is far more beautiful that I thought she would have been.” Octavia is flattered that the tall lean stallion is complementing her. But of course, this does not answer her question that she now have in her mind; who are these stallions?
“Oh sorry my dear, allow us to introduce ourselves. This gentlecolt right here is Mr. Eubank while I am Mr. Lovingstone. It is a pleasure to meet you Miss.” The pudgy one bows down as he introduces both of them. Octavia, being suddenly confronted with Canterlot etiquette, instinctively gave a curtsey in response. It was then that Octavia’s mind registers their names. Their names are very familiar to her but she could not put her mind to know who they were.
“Alright Octy, I will leave you with them. They are your guest after all…” Before Octavia could even ask Vinyl what is going on, the white unicorn had already walked out from the door to do Celestia’s know what. Octavia soon guides them to the dining table and politely ask them to take a seat.
“Thank you dear.” Mr. Lovingstone replies. The other stallion did not say much, but he does give some glances at Octavia, eying her out. Of course, it is not the ogling that Spike gave when he is looking at Rarity, as Octavia could see that his glances are those of someone scouting a person’s potential. She wonders what is going on as she prepares some tea for her unexpected guest. As she awaits for the water to boil for the tea, Octavia finally asked them two colts the question that is on her mind.
“Well good sirs, I am happy that you are here to pay me a visit, but may I ask what is the purpose of your visit?” There was a short silence between the two colts, and as they glanced at each other, Octavia could only wonder what is going through their mind. A cough from the tall stallion breaks the silence.
“Well Miss Octavia, I would assume that a musician of your caliber would have heard of the Royal Canterlot Orchestra?” It was then that the pin dropped in Octavia’s mind, but she tries to disguise her reactions.
“Yes, I have done an audition before for the Orchestra….”She pauses for a moment, letting the colts to continue on explaining. She sort of understand their purpose here, but trust me, she had no idea. It was then that Mr. Lovingstone reveals the purpose of their visit.
“Well, we are the managers Cirque du Symphony, the conglomerate that owns all the orchestras throughout Equestria, and it seems that our underling is either deaf or stupid to not notice your talents in the first place. Not to mention that with the recommendations from the Princesses and your stellar performance a few days ago, you are perhaps the ‘hottest’ new star in the music scene. This is why we are here in your humble home; we want you to join us as a honorary member of our performing troupes. Of course everything can be arranged to fit with your particular schedule and/or pecularities. And if you must know, we fired the person who had prevented you from entering into the Orchestra in the first place.” It was then that Mr. Eubank hovers a contract scroll on the dining table, placing gently for Octavia to see.
It was then that the teapot started whistling, and Octavia’s mind is blown…..twice.
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Applejack could not help but to be bothered by the knocking sound on her door, and as she puts her broom away, she wonder who will be visiting her in the middle of the day. As soon as she opens her door, she was surprised that a rather large elephant is now in front of her door along with his retinue of elephants and some of the Royal Guards.
“Yes, Appujak, I am him.” His accent is thick and has an odd lyrical timbre to it.
“So…ur….what brings ya to mah humble home, yer majesty?” Applejack could not help but to try and be more ‘fancy’ to the Maharaja. However, instead the Maharaja beckons for his retinue of both elephant guards and also Royal Guards of Equestria to leave them be.
“Let’s walk shall we?” Applejack did so without any hesitation and soon enough she is now walking beside the large elephant. As they walked out from the farm to the orchards, Applejack could not help but to feel like a small filly. An elephant’s bulk is immense, and their lumbering and heavy gait only serves to prove to Applejack about how powerful he could be. It was then that his trunk plucks one of the apples from one of her apple trees and he then shows the apple to the farm pony.
“I noticed this fruit at the party the other day. Everyone calls this an ‘apple’ and it seems that there are a lot of dishes and beverages that could be made out of this humble fruit. I would like you to tell me more about it as I need all the help I can get in understanding how these fruit could be cultivated and the likes.” Applejack could suddenly smell the prospect of profit and soon enough she gives the Maharaja a wide smile.
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“Spike, what are you doing up so late?” Twilight was woken up by the sounds of books falling down to the floor. She noticed that Spike is buried inside a large pile of books and this is definitely something that she did not expect. Spike is usually asleep by now, and seeing him being awake at this time of the night surprises her.
“Well I just need to find out about something. Don’t worry too much about it. I will put them all back as soon as possible.” Twilight, too tired to even care about anything else, just yawns and nods before she goes back to her bed.
For some reason that the dragon is still trying to understand, he is now interested in understanding music theory out of sudden and this though had robbed the dragon of his sleep. He now needs to find out about it and horde the knowledge in his mind. As he continue on searching for the books related to that subject one can only wonder that it is perhaps a sign of greater things for the young dragon, perhaps the dragon has finally found a vocation that he might succeed in. With a dragon’s almost infinite lifespan, his knowledge would certainly be as vast as that of the ocean. Only time will tell if he will be hoarding knowledge like how any other dragon would hoard treasures.
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With the old zebra gone and, life in Ponyville continued on as normal….well at least for most ponies. As the cold winter fades away to the lively spring, there are some noticeable changes for the ponies that are forevermore influenced by this strange turn of events that Pinkie Pie had brought upon a select few. As a whole, the band benefitted a lot from this foray, and they still indeed do jam whenever they could, and enjoy the little things in life. You think I would break them up? Heck no! This is not some sad and tragic tale of backstabbing and the likes. Go read something else if you want those kinds of sadly emotional stories. Wait…..what did you say? What did Pinkie get out from this? Fair enough, as she is the pony that started this whole chain of events.
For Pinkie, this experience is nothing so much as a stepping stone for fame, fortune, pride or knowledge. For Pinkie it is something else entirely.
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As the six Bearers of the Elements of Harmony meet for their first picnic of summer, they could not help it but to chatter with each other to find out what is going on with their lives and know about the news and gossips that are going about in Ponyville. It was then that the fate of everyone is laid bare for everpony to know.
Twilight told the other mares that Spike is now heavily invested in knowing more about musical theory and has literally read up on every book relating to the subject in the library. Right now he is considering about trying to get into a school of some sort to know more about this subject and Twilight could only feel proud for her little assistant in his pursuit of knowledge. Twilight is considering the option to enroll him into a school in Canterlot to allow for him to go even further in his endeavor once he is old enough to do so.
As for Applejack, her life as a farmer is still very much the same, but thanks to the Hathi Empire’s desire for the import of her apples and all related products had literally caused the Apple Family to become a large business empire overnight. The large appetites of the elephants along with the wealth of the empire literally rained upon Applejack. In addition, Applejack had somehow taken some of Rarity’s advice to use her looks and her reputation with her apple to market her products to the rest of Equestria worked wonders to her business. Her rustic charm and reputation alongside the top-notch quality of her family’s product allowed for the profits of Sweet Apple Acres to increase tenfold. Applejack also told the other ponies that she could finally get Granny Smith that hip replacement surgery that she desperately need. On a more personal side, Applejack told everypony that she is abl to enjoy the little things in life and not getting too tangled into her work and literally work to a less fruitful existence. Nopony could deny that with both sides of her life being fulfilling and bountiful as her harvest, she is perhaps the most content mare in the whole of Equestia. It seems that everyone is forging a path of their own, but our dear little pink pony is not really listening to all of that chatter.
As Pinkie looked on their location, a hill overlooking Ponyville, she wonder about how this weird stumbling upon that little old record had changed her life. In fact, her foray into this weird genre of music had also changed so many lives while she is at it, from the funny to the entirely profound way in which she views the world. Never had she thought that music can be such a vessel of discovery and learning, and she could only marvel at its profound effect. She can’t help it for it has such a mind-blowing impact on her mind.
She sees trees of green and red roses too, seeing them bloom for everypony. She sees skies of blue and clouds of white and bright blessed days and dark sacred nights. The colors of a rainbow are so pretty in the sky, and the same could be said on the faces of ponies going by. She could see friends shaking hands, and saying ‘how do you do’ while all they were saying is that they love each other too. She hears babies cry, and watch them grow. Those babies will learn much more than she will never know. And as all those thoughts and sensation enters into her mind, she could only think of one thing to herself. But before she could even mutter those words in her mind, she is interrupted by Rainbow Dash.
“Hey Pinkie, are you gonna stare all day at Ponyville or come and join us for this picnic?” Rainbow Dash’s words snaps Pinkie back to reality, and as Pinkie look at her friends with a sense of belonging and happiness, she could only feel that somehow this odd experience of discovery in Jazz had made her appreciate something that she never really did before. As she hops towards her friends, she finally mutters what she was thinking.
What a wonderful world.
The End.
Author's Note
Mr. Coltrane's last song with Pinkie, Applejack, Octavia and Spike - Manhattan Jazz Orchestra - ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET
Well, thank you all for reading this particular fanfiction and I hoped that you enjoyed reading this story. It is my first Pony fanfiction, and this is the first story that I had written in a long time ever since my writer's block of a few years ago, and I will be honest here, is perhaps my first story that I ever completed ever. I had a lot of fun writing this particular story and perhaps one day I will write even more pony stories if I have the drive for it and/or inspiration for it.
The Turbulence of Honesty
Chapter 11 – The Turbulence of Honesty
“Alright now, you be careful now.” Applejack is now waving goodbye to the young filly who was now waving back at her as the filly walks back home. She was mighty proud of what she had done but then it soon dawned on her mind that she still needs to get to the library. With that she gallops out from the ice-cream store. When she arrived outside the library, she could see that her grandmother and Mr.Coltrane are outside talking to each other.
“Heya Granny, what’cha doing outside here in the cold? You know it is bad for yer back.”
“Ah have to say that cat is a hummer of a skin-beater if that cat is usin’ trash to make some skins and take off with those tunes.” Mr. Coltrane reasons. Applejack could only smile nervously, and even though she has not a single clue as to what the zebra is saying, but the way he says it tells Applejack that he is definitely interested in her drumming skills. She wipes off her nervous sweat by pretending to adjust her hat.
“Well…that’s nice y’all. But Ah believe that we should get in somewhere warm and nice alright?” Applejack tries to change the topic, and her nervousness shows in her voice. Of course, the weather was quite chilly that night, and the old equines attributed the trembling nature of Applejack’s voice as that of the cold getting to her.
“Yer right Jackie. Let’s get into the library and be warm.” The old mare suggested, and the three equines proceed to walk towards the library. Applejack could only curse her luck, as she is bad when she’s under pressure when she knows that she is lying. She will crack like an egg when they started talking about the ‘mystery pony’. She will have to tell them the truth soon enough. Once they entered the library it seems that Spike is now preparing dinner for everyone in the room, and Pinkie are already at the dining table. It was then that Applejack remembered that she had not cooked dinner for both her brother and her sister, it is perhaps the best excuse to leave the library at once.
“Oh Granny Ah forgot that Ah have not done dinner for Big Mac and Applebloom! Ah should be going now. Twi, you help mah Granny alright and send her back to the farm, alright?” It was then that the most unfortunate thing happens to Applejack, as her only excuse to leave the place entered into the library.
“Granny!” Applebloom rushes into the library and hugs her grandmother. As Granny Smith looks around, she found that her grandson is at the door smiling at her. The red stallion started to speak before Granny Smith could say anything.
“Oh goodie! AJ here had forgotten to cook y’all dinner, and Twilight could mah family join y’all for dinner?” Granny Smith asked the purple unicorn. Twilight smiles and then she turns towards the kitchen.
“Hey Spike do you think we could have a few more guest for dinner?”
“Consarn it.” Applejack cursed, facehoofed and then walked to the dining table to join everyone else. Of course no one else noticed the laments of the cowpony.
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Soon enough, the dishes came out one by one and to the delight of almost everyone, the meal today is quite a meal. Twilight and Spike is slowly serving all the dishes that will be their dinner today; a big roasted Pumpkin with vegetarian stuffing, hot baked potatoes with sour cream with some sautéed broccoli, lettuce and spinach tossed with some balsamic vinegar, deep-fried veggie patties and cream of mushroom soup. And just to top it off, Spike decides to open a bottle of sparkling grape wine for everyone to enjoy. Of course for the babies, they are given some veggie paste as they are too young to feast upon such a meal.
“Wow….Spike, I did not know that you could cook.” Octavia could not help her mouth from watering, failing in her attempt to be civil on the table. The other ponies laughed at Octavia.
“Well, why do you think that Spike is so round?” Twilight jested, and everypony laughed. The dragon feigns displeasure, but then he gives everyone a smile before he went on to get the silverware for everypony. The only person in the room whose laughter is a little more reserved is that of Applejack’s. No one had noticed the nervousness of the orange pony, as their attention is on the food.
“Now this would be a great meal to celebrate, if only we could find out that mysterious drummer pony.” Granny Smith’s comment strikes Applejack cold. Pinkie was the first one to ask Granny about this mysterious pony, and as Granny Smith and Mr. Coltrane told their tale to everypony, Applejack could not help but feel that she is now in the spotlight that she does not want to be a part of.
“Well Granny, I am sure you can ask everypony else tomorrow. I mean you did see a crowd of ponies around that drummer. They might remember who that is.” Twilight reasoned as she passes over the baked potatoes over to Octavia.
“Yeah Edith, y’know by morning.” Mr. Coltrane is also rather eager to know the identity of the mysterious pony, but at the same time he’s starving and immediately dined on his meal. Before long however, the topic shifted with Octavia asking Spike how he prepares the pumpkin to be so divine to the mouth. Applejack is relieved and she could not help but to enjoy the good meal that she is having right now. However, the fact remains that almost everypony (or so she thought) have saw her play that trash drums to please that little filly and she would have to spill the beans tomorrow.
“Hey everyone, look outside the window!” Applebloom shouted out and points to the window. Before long everyone could see the thing that excites the young filly. The first drops of snow started descending upon Ponyville like crystals falling in the night sky, marking the first days of winter for everypony in the town. But little did anyone in the town knew, there is something fierce coming their way.......
The first thing that greeted them in the morning is a blizzard and it soon dawned on everyone’s mind that somehow they are in deep trouble. Soon enough, they found out what caused the freak weather, with the courtesy of a loud banging on the door by an almost frozen rainbow-maned pegasus. After she was covered in a lot of blankets and downed three cups of hot chocolate without even waiting for it to cool down, Rainbow Dash told them that a certain cross-eyed pegasus accidentally set the snow to come down as a blizzard for the new few days rather than the gentle snowfall that was supposed to fall on Ponyville, essentially trapped everyone in their homes. Of course the pegasi are mustered to try and fix the problem as soon as possible, as Ponyville would not survive the raw fury of the ice tempest for long.
Even as Rainbow Dash explained to everyone in the library about this unfortunate turn of events, a magical scroll appears in a puff of flame. Mr.Coltrane opens up the letter and confirmed Rainbow Dash’s story. The blizzard soon becomes even bigger which caused Rainbow Dash to become the newest guest in the library. Luckily for everyone in the house, Twilight’s obsession with backing up her plans with more backups and those backups with more backups, everyone is now facing a stockpile that would allow the entire Ponyvile survive through three very bad winters. Somehow despite the unfortunate event, Applejack was quite relieved that no one in the library would discover her identity as the mysterious pony drummer. But instead now she had to deal with the issue of her secret and also the pressing matter of trying to survive with everyone else. Twilight managed to send a letter to the Cakes that their foals are alright using Spike’s dragonfire. Spike however was curious as to why Twilight did not just teleported the Cakes back to their parents.
“Spike, you know more than anyone else that my teleportation has its own limitations, and I prefer to not push them whenever I could, especially when other ponies could suffer from the consequences.” Spike knows about her limits alright, as she tends to have a lot of physical strain whenever she teleports anyone alongside herself, and anyone else that teleports with her could have some odd side effects. It was then that Twilight noticed that everyone is now looking at all the books of the library with a sense of apprehension, and could not possible know that everyone is thinking that the books in the library could be the only thing that will keep them warm when the time comes where there is no longer any firewood to burn.
“Guys, why are you looking at the books like that?” Twilight looked rather uneasy as she noticed the atmosphere and the looks on their faces, especially that of Pinkie Pie. The foals however did not notice the odd expression on their caregiver’s face. Soon enough, the ponies spread out to try and do something, or to be exact are motivated to do something else other than sitting there and letting the boredom and paranoia get to them. All of them tried to pass the time in whatever way that they could think of. Mr. Coltrane with a tune on his saxophone, Granny Smith taking care of the Cakes, Octavia and Big Macintosh are talking to each other, and Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Spike and Applebloom are now playing ‘Snakes and Ladders’. Of course, Applejack and Twilight are now searching through the books in the library to try and see if they could do anything about the raging snowstorm.
“Twilight…..find anythin’ yet?” Applejack is now beside the purple unicorn, and the unicorn is levitating several books and reading from all of them at once. She looks at her friend and shakes her head.
“Nothing so far.” Twilight sounds rather dejected as she answers the cowpony. And so, the only two that are willing to search for a solution to their problems are now going through the books, even if there are just on a wild goose chase.
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Night Time at Golden Oaks Library –
As night descends upon Ponyville, Applejack could not help but to be plague by both the worsening weather and also her secret. She does not want it to be such that she would be going to the other side with regret in her heart, but yet at the same time she will not know the reaction of her grandmother when faced with the issue of her being the mysterious drummer. And then there is Pinkie. If she told her friend that she does truly want to join her band, she might have both a sad and crazy Pinkie Pie on her tail. She does not even want to know the bad and volatile combination of these two factors could affect her wellbeing. What she does know however, is that with every passing moment, a she could feel that there are a pile of bricks being dumped on her heart making her even more depressed than before.
As Applejack searched through the books, flipping every page and taking a short glance in them before moving on to the next book she could only wonder how long will it be before she snaps from the pressure. She might be hardy from all the work in the farm, but her heart is as soft as that of Fluttershy’s when it comes to honesty. She frowns as she is looking through the books, trying her best to focus on the task at hand instead of worrying about her secret. Instead what she got is a combination of the two, and now she felt like she is now being drowned in a tub of water from her anxiety.
“I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Pinkie’s scream just caught everyone off-guard. Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash rushed beside their pink friend, trying to calm her down from her ‘friendship’ worries. Pinkie looked like somepony who had not taken a sniff from some quality sea salt, and her hair is a little less puffy than it is. The price of having everypony as your friend does take a toll on you, as you are just plain worried about them all.
“Calm down Pinkie, it is only like a few hours since we got stuck here.” Rainbow Dash said dejectedly. Of course, being a pony of the air she is also feeling the pressure of her being; the desire to be out in the skies again and feel the clouds under her hooves again. Now that she think about it, it was by chance that she had taken Tank to Fluttershy for a checkup just right before the storm hits. She could not imagine how Tank would survive for a week without anypony to feed him and take care of him. She thanked Celestia for this foresight of hers.
“But what if the snow had gotten too thick that the snow collapsed on their house?!? What happened if they are not as fully stocked as we do? What happen when they just needs help? Beyond that, what happens if they forget me? Will they be like ‘Pinkie Pie? Who’s Pinkie Pie? They will not even remember my face! What if….” Twilight hates to do this to a friend, but the situation calls for it. She raised her hoof but just before she could slap Pinkie to sense, Applejack literally bucks her pink friend so hard that she was now bouncing all around the room like a rubber ball before falling down on the exact place where Pinkie was before she got bucked. To everyone’s surprise, everyone was surprised that it was Applejack that went on talking.
“Will you just get a grip Pinkie? Twilight’s already checked up on them just a minute ago, teleported to each one of their houses and send them some of the food that she stocked up for such a situation! Twilight even said that they said ‘hi’ to you! And….” It was then that Rainbow Dash prods Applejack’ss shoulder, and the light orange earth pony glanced back at her, with some daggers in her sight and looking somewhat agitated.
“Ur…not to bother you on your roll, A.J but I don’t think anypony’s eyes supposed to do that.” Applejack wondered for a split second before she looks back at Pinkie. Apparently, her eyes had little birds flying around in circles in them, and Pinkie is down on the floor. Twilight is now very much confused over what she is seeing here, but the purple unicorn went on lightly prodding their pink friend before putting her hoof on Pinkie’s neck. Twilight gave a sigh of relief and then voices out her assessment.
“Yep, she’s out cold. Gosh Applejack, that is a little excessive.” Twilight looks at the pink pony with a newfound respect and a sense of fear. Twilight remembered how Applejack literally kicked several dozen changelings up at once in the air during the changeling invasion and they are all knocked unconscious by it. If a single pony is at the other end, she highly doubts that the pony would have pieces all around Equestria, if there are any pieces remaining. Seeing from how Pinkie was only knocked out from Applejack’s bucking, she could only marvel at the toughness of Pinkie Pie.
“Oh…”Applejack blushed as the comments from both of her friends seeps into her head. Nonetheless that also means that Applejack is feeling the strain of keeping her secrets and the bad weather that threatens their very survival , not to mention being afraid that her friends might get hurt in more ways that one. As of this moment, all she did was to buck her friend in the head, and that had already made her regret her sudden outburst. She would not know what will happen when she bucks somepony else that is not Pinkie. She shudders at the thoughts, and all she could try to cover the image with are apples...lots of apples getting squished. Applejack walks to a corner of the room and just sit on her haunches in self-punishment. It was then that Big Macintosh asked Twilight a question. When the most silent of ponies started talking, everyone listens.
“Twilight, Ah hate to ask you this, but can’t we just ask the Princesses for help? Ah mean….they do have their magic and all.” Twilight shakes her head, and everyone’s attention is now on Twilight.
“Princess Luna is in Saddle Arabia on official business, while Princess Celestia is visiting my brother and Cadence in the Crystal Empire, so they can’t help us in stopping this magical storm. If they knew about the storm they would have acted immediately.” The red stallion nods, understanding the logic of Twilight’s rationale.
“Isn’t there a spell that could have stopped this storm?” Octavia asks Twilight.
“Well we better collar some of them books if we wanna help our hep cat here. Y’dig everyone?” As usual the sing-song accent with the weird slangs is hard to understand, but somehow everyone in the room knew what the old zebra is saying. It was Applebloom that took the first step.
“Ah think Ah am gonna search in this section right here.” The young filly points at the stack of books right next to her. Before long everyone is now searching through the books to find a way to get rid of the storm. Everyone could now feel that the library is much colder than it is earlier in the day, and the frost has started to form on the windows of the library.
