//------------------------------// // Oooooooooo I Like! // Story: Pinkie Discovers Jazz // by Crisis_Vyper //------------------------------// 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. “Ooooooooooooooooooo I LIKE THIS MUSIC!” She decides then and there that she will have to find out what this music is, and she would have to pay a visit to the only pony that she knows that would know about this kinds of things. *************************************** 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.