• Published 9th Jul 2016
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Beethoven's Tenth - CrackedInkWell



One stormy evening in 1825, Ludwig van Beethoven was followed by a mysterious shadow and transported into Equestria.

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Chapter 2: The Pegasus in the Woods in A Major

The storm was gone by the time Ludwig had woken up. Looking out the window, the trees from last night were still there. Leaning up, he took a better look at the view to see an untamed wilderness of bushes, wild grass, and endless trees. Although it wasn’t quite the Austrian countryside, it was just as pastoral in the June breeze.

‘At least there’s one good thing,’ he thought to himself as slumped out of bed. ‘I don’t have to pay for rent for a while.’

Beethoven scavenged up the clothing he had on the night before, picked up his sketchbook, a few pencils, and his walking cane before unlocking the door to the blinding sunrise. Stepping out into the open where there’s a loose canopy overhead, Ludwig now got a better look of the outer walls of his room. He could now see the edges of the walls, floor, and even the roof was cleanly cut, as if someone picked up a knife, carefully made incisions around his room and picked it right up out from the apartment complex.

He looked around in the early morning, noticing there was a dirt trail that, as his eyes traced it, leads to a town in the distance that he assumed to be a couple hours walk. Closing and locking the door behind him, Beethoven began his trek through the woods. When his back was turned, something black rushed over and dove into his shadow.

‘What did that creature mean by a new world?’ he wondered to himself. ‘I see a blue sky, a single sun, green trees, plentiful grass…’ he paused for a moment to pick a berry from a bush. ‘And tart raspberries too, how can this be a new world when it looks, smells, taste and feels like the old one?’ Ludwig the proceeded to pick a reasonable size breakfast from the bush before continuing on, ‘In fact, why would that creature bring me out here for?

Several minutes went by, apart from birds that take off, bugs flying around him, and the ever-present ring in his ears, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

‘Perhaps I’m in the Americas,’ he thought. ‘Is that what he meant by a new world? If so, where exactly am I?’

Eventually, Ludwig finished his tarty breakfast and took out his sketchbook. Letting his mind fill in the silence – only, where does he start?

“Hey you!”

After all, what the shadowy creature had demanded is a very daunting task. Here he was, far away from home, kidnapped by a creature that can manipulate darkness, being forced to write a brand new symphony. But where does he start?

“Hey!”

There are countless melodies that are lying scattered on the floor, and even on the walls of his room. What kind of theme would he choose? How does he open the symphony?

“Yoo-hoo! Up here!”

Could he just use some of the disregarded sketches of forgotten notes to quickly write up all four movements? No, he couldn’t do that if none of them are any good.

“Uh, hello?”

Even if he can’t hear a thing, that doesn’t mean that he should diminish the quality of his music, even when he’s being held hostage in who-knows-where.

“Can you hear me?”

No! Of course, he would never do such a thing! He would rather go straight to his grave then write a symphony he knows was hastily put together without tho-

Suddenly, he felt a tap on the back of his head. Ludwig swung around to find nothing behind him. Another tap, but still, he could find anybody around in the woods until he felt one on the very crown of his head.

His eyes looked skywards, in which he stumbled backward onto the ground, swinging his walking cane while dropping his sketchbook and pencils.

“Woah! Hey! Take it easy!” although Ludwig could see that the… much to his disbelief, a real Pegasus was moving its mouth, he could not hear a word it was saying.

“Ach!” the old man crawled back as the creature, as blue as the sky above settled on the ground. "Geh weg!”

The Pegasus with the rainbow mane stepped backward, its wings still spread out. “Hey, calm down! I’m not gonna hurt ya.”

Of course, Beethoven didn’t hear that, with his stick held out like a rapier, he pointed at the… well, from his perspective, the creature was quite small. Not as big as a horse by any means, so… pony perhaps? What he was seeing was all too surreal for him.

The pony moved its mouth again, Ludwig wasn’t sure, but it was as if its muzzle was forming words. It paused as it repeated the motion while waving a hoof at him. Then, the Pegasus looked down at his sketchbook and pencils that lay about, taking one of them in its mouth and flipping open the book to a blank page. To Beethoven’s astonishment, it was using its mouth to write out something before pushing the message before him.

What are you?

He blinked, looking up at the pony, Ludwig asked, “English? You understand English?”

Shrugging, it took the book back and wrote:

So you can understand me?

“Just as long as you write it down,” he said. “I’m deaf.”

Blinking, the pegasus jot down.

Oh… that explains it. I tried to call you from up above, but you didn’t respond. Sorry.

“Purely incredible!” Ludwig got up, now filled with curiosity, “Are there more of you?”

Tilting its head, perplex by the question, it wrote:

Uh, yes? But you still haven’t answered my question. What are you?

“I’m a person, human,” he said. “You haven’t seen any of the likes of me before?”

Minotaurs, yes. Homons? No. Is that a type of ape?

“I’m not an ape!” Ludwig shouted, making the pegasus jump. Quickly realizing that he’d been too loud, he added, “Wait, I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware I was shouting.”

The pony looked on at him for a moment before jotting:

Okay… Name’s Rainbow Dash, by the way.

“Ludwig,” he said. “Ludwig van Beethoven,” then he started to laugh. “This is insane! I’m speaking to a mythical animal that understands speech!”

Rainbow frowned.

I’m not an animal! But back on subject,

she flipped over to the next page.

Where did you come from?

“By the looks of it,” he told her. “Far away. Very far away.”

Lost?

The old man paused for a moment, “You might say that. As you can tell, I’m a stranger in a very strange land.” He then pointed at the town in the distance, “What is the name of that place over there?”

Looking over to where the human was pointing at, the mare answered:

Ponyville. I live there. So I’m guessing you need some help?

“Very,” he said. “Could you take me there? I want to get a good idea where I’m at.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

You sure? You’re going to get a lot of weird looks going in. You’re practically a giant here!

“At the moment, I’ll accept whatever help I’m offered.” He picked up his pencils and the sketchbook. “Will you take me over there or not?” The mare said something but Beethoven interrupted, “Too many words Pegasus, it was a simple yes or no question. Will you or won’t you?”

Frowning, the pony nodded, using her wing to gesture over down the path.

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