Guitar Lessons for Applejack
(I don´t know how to write music so do not pay much attention to the musical notes, there are there just for sound effects: p)
♪ Clank ♫ Clank ♪ Clank
Horrible sounds were coming out from the back of the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. Cows covered their ears with pieces of hay and pigs buried thier head in the mud, anything to escape that awful sound.
"Heck!" Applejack grumbled again. She scratched her head, trying to understand what she was doing wrong. "Let´s see again ..."
♫ Clank ♪ Clank ♪ Clank
It was useless. Every time she put her hooves on the strings she only managed to scare the farm animals. She didn´t want to imagine what other ponies may think, especially her friends.
Truth is, she could just ask for their help, Twilight would surely have a manual and Pinkie could give her some lessons, but this was something she had to do by herself. She was stubborn, true, but this had nothing to do with stubbornness. It was a personal matter.
"I have to do this myself ..." she repeated.
♫ ♫ ♪ CLANK
"Woah, that sounded even worse than when Pinkie tried the flugelhorn back there in the Crystal Empire, remember?"
“AH! Ra-rai-rainbow Dash!What the hay are you doing there? "Applejack shouted to the cloud over her head.
"Well, I was trying to take a nap but it sounded like a concert of cats clawing at a blackboard down there ..." Rainbow mocked.
"Leave me alone, Rainbow."
"Oh come on, don´t be like that. I was just teasing you, "Rainbow said, as she descended from her cloud. "So what were you trying to do, in addition to breaking the record for most broken glasses in Ponyville?"
"I was trying to learn guitar." Applejack replied through clenched teeth.
"At that rate, I´ll say that it took Discord less time to escape his pris-"
"If you came here just to annoy me then you better leave!" Applejack shouted, having lost all patience.
"Easy Applejack. I was just kidding. Hey, why don´t you let me give it a try? "
"You play guitar?"
"I'm a pegasus, AJ. We have a natural talent for music, "
"And the modesty that goes with it ..."
"Let me see that," Rainbow took the guitar and floated a few inches on the ground, a position in which she felt more comfortable.
♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫
Applejack was speechless. That was good. It wasn´t the country she was practicing but, just for a few notes of a ballad, they were very good.
"Heh, you´re blushing."
"Shut up. I just didn´t think you were so good. "
"Well? Want some lessons? "
“No Rainbow.This is something I have to learn on my own, " Applejack said, taking the guitar.
"Since when do you care so much about music anyways?" Rainbow said.
"It´s not that. It's just something that I left unfinished. Felt like I had to finish it. "
Rainbow scratched her head, confused. “"I don´t get you, AJ."
"No, I suposse you don´t," Applejack said, putting the guitar down. "I need to take a walk. Don´t follow me. "
"I wasn´t planning to!" Rainbow said, slightly blushing.
Applejack smiled and walked down the hill.
It was the middle of the summer, the harvest season was over but still the smell of the apple trees was strong. Applejack knew every inch of this land, every smell, every feeling. Here, she was at peace.
“Sweetie! That's not the tune! "
Well, that lasted long, Applejack thought. From the tree house that now served as the headquarters of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, came out the sound of screams and instruments tossed around. Applejack couldn´t help but feel a bit nostalgic every time she saw the wooden hut. When she was just a filly, this used to be her refuge. A place to hide between tasks, where no older brothers were allowed.
"Apple Bloom, don´t tell me how to play the broomsticks!"
“They are called drumsticks, silly!"
"Hey, what the hay is going on up here?" Applejack screamed.
More noise of instruments and chairs being thrown before three little heads peaked out the window "Hey sis, what are you doing here?"
"I was trying to take a walk but I couldn´t ignore all the fuss you were making.What exactly are you girls doing?"
"We have a band!"
"Ehh haven´t you tried that already?"
"Yes, but this time we won´t suck!" Scootaloo said.
"Want to come up and watch us rehearse?" Apple Bloom said.
To be honest, Applejack didn´t wanted too but she figured this was one of those times when a little white lie won´t hurt anyone. "Sure."
Once upstiars, Applejack found that her sister and her friends were more resourceful that she thought. She didn´t know how (or with what money) they got a hold of all these instruments but everything looked very professional. They even had covered one wall with egg cups. When they got enthusiastic about something, they did it all the way. Hard to believe they were still blank flanks.
"So who plays what?" Applejack asked.
"We learned from last time, so now everyone plays the instrument that suits her best. I have the guitar, Sweetie the drums .. " Sweetie showed her prowess for hitting things with a stick. "And Scootaloo, the triangle."
DING! ♪
"I still think Scootaloo should play the guitar," Sweetie Belle said. ”It suits her better."
"How you could you know if you haven´t heard her playing?" Apple Bloom said.
"Because peg-" Scootaloo started but Applejack interrupted her.
“ Pegasus have a natural talent for music?"
"How did you know?" Scootaloo said.
"I heard it before."
"Well, if you think you're so good. Why don´t you show us? "Apple Bloom said, handing the guitar to her partner.
“All right! This is called the uh, the ... the ballad of the ... uh? "
“The chicken?"
“Yes! HEY! "Sweetie hid behind the drums to avoid the wrath of the Pegasus.
Letting the joke go, Scootaloo took the guitar. Since she couldn´t float like Rainbow, she climbed a stool to play better.
♫ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ ♫
"Woo-hoo!" Sweetie said, clapping.
“That was ... amazing!Scootaloo, that was great! You really have a talent for music! You are our new official guitarist! "Apple Bloom said, jumping around Scoots, whose chest was puffed with pride. "Wait, if you're our guitarist, then what instrument should I play?" Scootaloo offered her the triangle but she rejected it. “It has to be something big and heavy, something earth pony like. Applejack, have any ideas? Applejack? Where did she go? " Apple Bloom asked but Sweetie just shrugged.
Applejack galloped away from the farm. That look on her sister, as if she remembered nothing. How could she not remember? Applejack had to remember that it was not her fault, she was just a baby then. But still, she should still be able to remember. Just as she did, every time she heard a guitar.
♪ ♪ ♪ ♫
More music. This time there were two distinct tones, complementing, almost like a dance. The heavy stomping of a double bass accompanying the somersaults of a violin.
Applejack blushed again. Since when she imagined such things when listening to fancy music?
At the side of the grove, two earth ponies rehearsed. Applejack knew the violinist, Fiddlesticks. They were basically childhood friends, both raised on farms. The other pony was obviously not from town, she had that vibe of city pony. Not the false vibe that Rarity used, the real one that Twilight had; no matter who much she tried to hide it, she was a Canterlot pony no doubts. The bass player was almost a copy of Fiddlesticks, except for the coat and eyes color.
Applejack wondered how these two met but felt like it would be wrong to interrupt them. She stayed behind some bushes, listening them play. The music was very different but conveyed the same memories. The burning fireplace, a rocking chair ....
The music stopped abruptly, breaking her memories.
"Very well. Now, the second movement, in arabesque please. " the city pony said.
"... what are you talking about?" Fiddlesticks said.
“Arabesque. You don´t know what arabesque is? "
Fiddlesticks shrugged.
The city pony sighed. "Just keep my pace."
Applejack turned back, leaving them with their music. Part of her wanted to run to the farm, drag Rainbow by the tail and show her that not only pegasi had musical talent, but that would be petty of her.
The sun was descending, painting the farm with the same shade of orange as her coat. Applejack was halfway to the farm, in a point where there was no sound. Applejack left herself wrap in silence, in the quiet. All those feelings were fading. Shame, anger, frustration, all gone.
Applejack smiled. It was her old self again.
Applejack came to her house. It was still early for dinner, Granny Smith was probably still asleep.
♫ ♫ ♪
The sound was coming from the cellar. Applejack came down the steps, trying to see something in the dark. Sitting on a box, barely visible under a light bulb, a huge bulk tried to recover those missing notes.
"Your old bass, eh?"
. Big Mac winced. Or as close to that for such a quiet pony.
"So here were all those old instruments. Remember your little band, brother? I remember how Granny Smith used to chase you around the house, screaming that devilish rock music was for the likes of Nightmare Moon, Heh. "
Big Mac kept quiet as his sister checked the old boxes.
"I'm sorry you stop playing, brother. You looked just like dad... "
Big Mac said nothing, jut kept fiddling the strings.
“Hey, why is this here? A harmonica in perfect condition, getting dusty in that box! You should take better care of your stuff, Big Mac! " she said and sit in another box, next to her brother
♪
“Yep, it´s tuned."
♪ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫
The melody was old. An old country tune that was played at the end of the task. A harmonica solo that could use any kind of music accompaniment. It had no lyrics nor needed them. Big Mac remembered the tone, he was the oldest sibling after all.
♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♫
Harmonic and bass. Brother and sister. Playing without ambition, without audience. Just for them.
Applejack had always wanted to learn to play guitar, just to keep those memories alive. It wasn´tt until she let the strings go that she could keep them.
The roaring fire, Granny Smith in the rocker, Apple Bloom sleeping on the lap of her mother, she and her brother on the floor, listening to their father play guitar.
The Apple family.
Her happiest memory.
(Dedicated to my great friend Claire Anne Carr, not know what I like more, your music or your random games, LOL Happy Birthday!)
