//------------------------------// // 15: Vifilli’s Spring in C Major. // Story: Inverno in F Minor // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// “Stop! Stop!” Inverno cried out. At the foal’s outburst, the Professor ceased playing. “What’s wrong?” Key took his hooves off the keys, turning to the disoriented unicorn. “I’m really dizzy,” the colt said, shaking his head. “How is anypony able to understand all of that? There are too many kings talking at the same time, and I can’t figure out what they’re saying or know what's going on.” Professor Signature raised an eyebrow, “Kings?” “Well, of course, they were kings,” Inverno stated, “I could tell because they sounded like Papa arguing with each himself. Only, I could hardly get what they’re arguing about.” The aged stallion laughed, “I admit, I didn’t fully understand Buch’s music when I heard it for the first time. His fugues can be a bit too complex for beginners to understand.” “You can say that again,” Inverno got out of his seat, stumbling on his four hooves. “Is it really that bad?” “Bad?” Inverno trailed off, “Those kings were going around and around, rambling about something. It might have been better if I at least understood what was going on. But all it did was making me dizzy.” The colt stumbled over to the leg of the piano, grabbing hold of the wood to steady himself. Key got off the organ bench and trotted over to the pale unicorn. “But I still don’t quite understand what you mean by ‘seeing kings’.” “Oh great, don’t tell me you don’t see them either,” Inverno grumbled, trying to hold down his lunch. “To tell the truth, I don’t,” the Professor told him, “This is the first time I’ve ever heard of such a thing. Tell me, out of curiosity, what did you see when I was playing that piece?” Inverno closed his eyes, “I’ve already explained this,” he said, “There were four kings. They were arguing with each other... I think. I guess something over who has the better crown while one repeated what the other had said. All of them were going around and around to the point that I couldn’t tell if they that were moving or it’s the room that’s spinning.” He opened his eyes to look at the elder stallion, “What’s the point of it? Is it supposed to make me dizzy?” Key Signature chuckled, “The Fugue, like most music at the time, was all experimental. In fact, when Buch wrote it, Equestria was undergoing what I like to call, the Age of Curiosity. After Star Swirl had opened up ponies’ eyes to what magic could achieve, many wondered, ‘What else could I do with this?’ Thus began a movement where ponies wanted to explore, well, everything.” “Like what?” Inverno asked, letting go of the piano leg as he got his sense of balance back. “Well… With Buch about nearly four-hundred years ago, before, nopony ever questioned if, for example, a canon could be more than a theme being repeated over and over. Or what if a band had five or ten of them playing violins at once, along with the other instruments? It wasn’t just music, though. Ponies began to experiment with almost everything around them. Asking questions like, ‘Where does the sun go at night?’ or ‘How can creatures with wings fly?’ and so on.” “So like me trying to find out where my food comes from?” Inverno asks. “Exactly,” Signature nodded, “And so much more. At the time before Buch, in this case, your time, the Empire did leave behind something that has changed Equestria’s culture.” “What’s that?” “You see,” Key explained, “Before the Princesses came to power, and even before the three tribes became unified, the Pegasi were once known for two things: Having a strong army, and creating a sophisticated culture. In early records, the Pegasi had struggled for perfection in everything they did. From their fearless armies, to try to capture realism in their artwork, and even their monuments they tried to convince the world that they were great at everything they did. But then, at their decline, that idea for perfection was lost. That was until the Crystal Empire was found. This city’s culture has not only have integrated the ideas of the Pegasi, but they reintroduced it to the world in what the Prench called it, the Renaissance or Rebirth. Yes, that movement started here, even when the Empire fell, the ideas of it, however, spread through the newly united Equestria.” “What does this got to do with music?” Inverno questioned. “You see, this idea of perfection, including perfection in music, started here. But when music reached the Age of Curiosity, ponies experimented with what more music could do. I mean, sure, a march could be just something to keep time with everypony else, but composers went one step further.” Inverno saw the Professor walking up to the piano’s keys, “Tell me when you hear this, what comes to mind?” As the stallion sat down at the Piano’s bench, he added, “This time, I want to tell me what you see as I’m playing. Can you do that?” “Um… maybe. I guess I can try.” Key Signature rolled his eyes and began playing away. He looked over to the colt, seeing his eyes widening at each bar he played. “So can you tell me what you’re seeing?” the elder stallion asked. “I see the sun,” Inverno stated in a dreamlike state, “It’s rising up from behind the mountains. Everywhere there are flowers, but there are no grave markers anywhere. It’s like these flowers aren’t sad about somepony having died in the dungeon, but they’re happy that the sun has arrived… I see a line of water with stones, with this green stuff nearby it. “There are ponies, too, as young as I am. They don’t show any fear; they’re happy as the flowers. I think they’re playing a game with a ball that goes everywhere. They’re kicking at it; I think they want to know how far it’ll go.” “Do you see yourself in this?” the Professor asked. “I don’t know,” Inverno answered, looking down. “I can’t see myself in the water, but maybe that’s because it’s moving too much. Let me see if I can talk to them,” Inverno walked stiffly away from the piano, put a hoof to his mouth and called out, “Hey… Hey, over here!” he paused, “I don’t think they can hear me. It’s like I’m not even here. But look at them, why are they so happy? I don’t understand.” Signature watched the colt as the young unicorn started to look upward, “Even the Pegasi look happy. But what for? What do they have to be happy about? They’re just playing around… Wait… They’re saying something…” Inverno paused for a long time, trying to concentrate as the music continued to play on. “I don’t know for sure,” Inverno finally answered, “But I think they’re saying that it’s the Earth’s birthday or something like that.” “The Earth’s birthday?” Signature inquired. “I’m not exactly sure what that means either, but they’re saying something about how they’re happy because the Earth is happy too.” The Professor abruptly ended the piece, snapping the colt from his hypnotic state. “Now that is truly fascinating,” Key commented, “Because what I’ve just played was the opening of the Four Seasons called ‘Spring’, by Vifilli. And what I found fascinating was that what you just said fitted almost perfectly to what the composer had in mind.” “Really?” Inverno tilted his head. “For you see, in this time period of Buch, Vifilli was also experimenting with what music can do.” Key lectured, “What he did in this piece, was that he tried to paint an image in ponies’ minds of all four seasons in his violin concertos. The fact that you’ve mentioned flowers, a sunrise, and everything celebrating of a rebirth of nature goes to show that the Red Angle had done his job in painting this picture in your mind.” “What’s a concerto?” Inverno asked innocently. The elder stallion smiled. This was going to be a very interesting student to teach.