I fell to the floor, exhausted and gasping for air. Above me, Rarity looked down at my display unamused.
“Honestly Rainbow,” she said, “The theatrics are unnecessary. Dressmaking is quite an enjoyable affair if you would just allow yourself to be immersed in it.
“Unnecessary theatrics?” I deadpanned, taking a nice, long look at her.
She gave a quite unladylike glare before turning, putting away her supplies. “Thank you for your time Rainbow. I’m going to tidy up the room, get everything back in order. You can wait downstairs if you would like. Perhaps warm up?” she hinted.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t in any condition for a guessing game. “Warm up?” I asked.
“Yes, warm up. On the piano.” Oh. “Even the best musicians have to warm up.”
She was serious about this. “Yeah… about that,” I started, “I kinda… don’t want to teach piano. Or play piano. Or be near a piano.”
She looked at me surprised, “Why ever not? You were so good at it.”
“Just because I’m good doesn’t mean I enjoy it.”
“We can’t just let your talent be wasted, though.”
“I’ve been wasting it for years. I think I’ll be fine,” I said, smiling, “Besides, I’m a flier. I’m going to be a Wonderbolt. Not some pianist.”
She thought for a moment, then smiled. “I don’t think you see the bigger picture.”
“And how’s that?” I challenged.
“Just imagine this. You, a Wonderbolt-”
“Easy,” I interjected, “Do it all the time.”
She cleared her throat. “You a Wonderbolt… and a pianist!”
She looked at me expectantly. I looked at her unimpressed.
“That all?”
“Here, allow me to elaborate. You perform all your fancy acrobatics-”
“Aerobatics,” I corrected.
“Aerobatics, she stressed, “And on the side you perform grand concerts to crowded halls filled with lovely, admiring fans, all of them having come just to hear your wondrous escapades in music!” I wondered if she was talking to herself. She got like this whenever describing her own dreams.
But really, she was losing me. Not that she ever had me. I didn’t see the appeal. She must have picked up on this, as she quickly went on.
“Picture what it would be like,” she tried, “An athletic Wonderbolt who’s also an amazing musician. You would bridge two different audiences; you would be popular beyond belief.”
“Popular beyond belief?” I repeated aloud.
She smiled triumphantly. “That’s right!” she capitalized, “Why, you could do it effortlessly with the skill you already possess. Dozens upon dozens of fans right at your hooftips. Which only require you to put those hooftips to the keyboard.”
I thought for a moment. Then I came to a profound conclusion: I actually did see the appeal of that.
Okay, I might have a bit of an ego. Just a little bit! But who wouldn’t want to be admired by thousands? Well, other than Fluttershy. She can actually speak from experience.
“You know what Rarity?” I said, drawing her attention, “I’ll give this a shot. Where do we start?”
She smiled. “Downstairs.”
“Great! Let’s get started!” I agreed confidently.
“Wonderful! Glad you could see it my way. I bet you’ll be an excellent teacher.”
Wait, what?
Oh, right. She wants lessons.
…oh.
I sat on the bench while Rarity sat next to me on a chair she’d pulled up.
I fiddled aimlessly with the keys, never really pressing one down. When I did, it was too soft too hear.
I looked back up at her. She was staring at me with a blank face.
Matching with my own look, I went back to the keys and repeated my process for a few moments. I occasionally did hit a chord loud enough to be heard, favoring the higher, lighter notes.
Rarity shifted in her seat, drawing my attention. Glancing at her, I saw she still had that same, unreadable expression.
I went back to the piano again.
“Rainbow?” she started softly.
“Yeah?”
“Are we going to get started?”
“Uh… we already have. This is just… showing you how to push down they keys in the right way?”
She raised an eyebrow. “I already know how to do that. I’m not entirely new to playing, remember? Beside, how many ways are there to push down a key?”
Perfect! I thought. “Well,” I started, doing my best Twilight impression, “You can simply push down the keys but there’s a whole spectrum of ways to push down the keys. Look at this.” I pushed down a key then quickly popped my hoof off of it while pushing forwards as well. “Hear that? It was softer than it normally would have been because of how I came off.”
“Oh,” she said, her eyes widening, “I didn’t even notice. Would you mind doing that again?” I did so, a smirk coming on my face. “Yes, I think I see what you mean,” she said, smiling confidently.
I held back a laugh. I completely got her.
And the best part was that I wasn’t even lying about the soft part.
“Alright,” I said, “That’s some pretty advanced stuff though. I know I make it look easy but it takes months to get perfect. Maybe a year. I think we should start with something simpler.”
She nodded, “You’re the expert.”
“That I am! Now then…” I racked my brain around trying to find something. What did I first learn? Ugh, I can’t remember. “You said you’ve already played so you already know the basics right? Like the seven white keys from A to G are an octave, then repeats at A again? And the black keys are sharps and flats?”
“Yes, I’m aware.”
“Well that’s not the whole story. Those rules are only true when you’re in the key of C, which only has the white keys unless a song otherwise says so. Got that?” She agreed. “There’s a bunch of different keys like that.”
She looked at the piano. “I can see that.”
“Not like that,” I exaggerated, “I mean keys in a key signature, not the ones on the piano. Look, you know those sharp and flat symbols that are sometimes at the front of a line of sheet music? That’s a key. It tells you which keys to use.”
She looked at me confused. “Which keys to use?”
“Yeah, the keys.”
“So the symbols at the beginning are the keys?”
“Yeah,” I agreed, then added, “Wait, no, that’s the key it’s in.”
“So what are they keys then?”
“Uh… which key?”
“That’s what I’m asking you.”
I looked her as she gave a blank, uncomprehending expression. I turned to the piano and just looked at it, trying to figure out what just happened. In a moment I subconsciously pressed down a chord too softy to be heard.
“I’m sorry darling, but I’m afraid you lost me. I just used the symbols at the beginning to tell me what to and to not use. I didn’t pay attention to anything special about them.”
“It’s fine,” I dismissed. Jeez, teaching’s a lot of work! “Let’s start with this,” I said, “See this key?” I indicated Middle C, the C in the middle of the keyboard (duh). “When you start here, every white key is part of its key.”
“Key?”
Not again. “I’m just going to call it scale. The keys are the piano keys and scales are this.” I ran up the keyboard, hitting every white key for a short distance before bringing it back down. “A set of keys.”
She thought for a moment. “I get it now.”
“Great. So… scales…” I paused, trying to figure out where I was going. “So if I go to another key to for a scale, it changes which keys are in the scale. Like, if I go down one to B, the scale now has some black keys.” I went up and down that one for example.
“Alright. What’s the purpose for them?”
“Huh?”
“Why are there different scales?”
“Um… because they sound different?”
“…Right,” she said simply.
“Okay, so there’s also some scales that break that rule. They have extra keys or some are missing. Like the chromatic scale for instance.”
“Chromatic scale?” she asked innocently.
“Yeah, it has every key, white and black in it… Why are you smiling like that?”
She suppressed her smile. “Oh, nothing dear.”
“Really? Because people always gave me that look whenever I said chromatic scale,” I deadpanned.
“How odd,” she dismissed.
“Right… Well, I think that wraps up this lesson.”
“What? But we just started.”
“And I gave you plenty to think about. Besides, I think I hear the sky calling.”
“Rainbow-”
“Shh, listen,” I changed my voice, “Rainbow… come fly…”
She gave me a flat stare.
“Fine. Just… practice what I went over or something.”
She kept her stare a moment longer before relenting. “Very well, Rainbow. I suppose you need a break after helping me earlier anyways-”
And just like that I was three hundred light years away! Or something like that. I didn’t hear much of what she said after I jetted out the window, something about not using the window, I think. Eh, too late now.
As I settled on a nice, fluffy cloud I thought about what I had just gotten myself into. I liked what Rarity had said but I knew enough about real life to know that wasn’t actually a song away. Though it was nice to think that.
Maybe I could be a musician as a side thing. But as much as I hated to admit it, there were plenty that were better than me at it. I would need to get started somewhere. Hmm… I wonder if Twilight could help with that. She has a book on everything. I’ll ask her later.
Right now, though, I just wanted to relax and pretend I didn’t have to awkwardly teach my friend for Celestia-knows how long.