17: Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song - Part Two.
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song - Part Two.
(And I'll try not to sing out of key)
Chapter published 16th Aug 2013
************
Making his way into the middle of the stage, Lero let the clopping die off before he made to speak, partly so that he wouldn’t have to raise his voice to be heard but also partly because he was scared to death.
Screw that... he was absolutely terrified.
Resisting the urge to start imagining the crowd in their underwear, Lero gave his audience a quick bow before holding his hands out in front of him in a request for quiet. Surprisingly, for a race without hands, every pony present seemed to understand what the motion meant and the room soon fell deadly silent.
Lero wasn’t sure which state had been more nerve-wracking.
“Thank you all for coming.” He began. Might as well start with the classics. “I know it’s cold out and I really appreciate you all being here with me tonight.”
Half turning in place he used a hand to indicate the three ponies behind him.
“Back home it was traditional to introduce the band and even though you all know them I still think it’s important I acknowledge everything they’ve done for me so far.
“Firstly I’d like to thank Applejack, who as we all know doesn’t get huge amounts of time away from the farm and I’m immensely grateful that she was willing to spend whatever time she could over the last few months on my crazy ideas.”
As the audience cheered for the farmpony she used a single forehoof to lift her hat from her head and wave it at the crowd.
“That’s okay, Handy.” She said setting the stetson back in place. “Ah reckon ya’ll ar’ pretty much Apple family by now anyhow, what with everthin’ ya gone done fer me an’ ma kinfolk so far.”
Giving Applejack a small bow, Lero then turned to Time Turner.
“If there’s one thing every band needs, that’s someone they can trust in charge of keeping it all in time. And who better to keep us in time than Ponyville’s very own official time keeper?”
From behind Lero came another bout of cheering though none were as loud as Dinky who had come to see her mother’s ‘friend’ play his drums. She may have been the smallest pony in the room but she could certainly make a lot of noise. As Lero moved away from the brown stallion, Turner gave a little wave towards where Derpy was sitting towards the back of the room, her daughter hopping up and down upon the mailmare’s back. The gray pegasus gave a shy wave back while Dinky unabashedly waved her own forehooves in the air like a pony possessed.
Motioning to Lyra who was still sitting ramrod straight upon her stool, Lero turned to the crowd.
“And my herdmate, who encouraged and supported me all this time and without whom none of this would have been possible...” Lero turned back to the mint coloured unicorn before he continued.
“...How on earth did I let you talk me into this?” He said with a large grin.
As Lyra’s facade cracked for just a second, she quickly stuck out her tongue at him before almost instantly recovering her steely mask of seriousness.
As a wave of laughter spread over both those in the audience and those on the stage alike, Lero turned again, holding out a hand to direct everyone’s attention to the rear of the room.
“And I can’t move on before mentioning Pinkie Pie for everything she’s done to make both this and my upcoming event happen, Rarity for first suggesting and then arranging this little trial-run gathering in such a short space of time, and also my two other herdmates who have put up with Lyra and myself disappearing off into the night on a regular basis and actually falling for the story that we’re just going to band practice.”
As another wave of laughter worked its way around the crowd, Rainbow called out with mock indignation “Just you wait...” which just caused the laughter to increase.
Settling himself onto the last free stool, Lero reached over to the pair of guitars that were each sitting on instrument stands next it it, one a six string, the other a four string. Grabbing the six string he pulled it onto his lap while his bandmates readied their own instruments,
“The world I come from...” he said as he made one last adjustment to his guitar’s tuning pegs “doesn't have any magic. Not anything beyond simple illusions or conjuring tricks anyway. We didn’t have the magic of harmony to guide us, or alicorn princesses to show us the way forward, all we had was each other.”
Lifting a hand he tapped a single forefinger against his head.
“What we did have though was a natural inquisitiveness and a built-in desire to solve problems.”
He held out the same hand in front of himself, spreading his fingers so the audience could see them more easily.
“We also had hands to make those solutions a reality.“
Pulling his hand back he lay it over his heart.
“And we also had love. At first just for our friends and immediate family, then for our tribes and then onto the tribes beyond. But the greatest thing we ever did was that we learned to talk, to exchange ideas, to teach our young and to work through our differences.”
As he moved his thumb to strum against its strings, his guitar let each note resonate clean and clear.
“And with all that came the power of song. Again, with no magic of harmony to guide us we made up our own songs; tribal chants, ballads, sonnets, grand sweeping epics requiring hundred piece orchestras, thrash metal bands formed in a teenager’s garage... all of it...“ Again he tapped a lone forefinger against his own skull. “...came from up here.”
Bringing his hand back to the strings, he began to play a slow melody as he talked, the same few notes repeating after a few seconds, small variations creeping in after a few repetitions.
“But however different each of these compositions may be, they usually have the same similar purpose, be it to tell a story, or to try and import a single idea or maybe to put across a point of view.”
The slow, bassy notes of Lyra’s bodhrán soon joined Lero’s guitar, the sounds of the two instruments mingling and working their way together out into the audience.
“This particular song is written by a guy, who has the same last name as my mom by the way, from a place named Manchester in a country called England, which I gather is roughly analogous to this world’s Albion all the way over in the Bittish Isles. I was a little disappointed to find there’s no town called something like ‘Manechester’ or “Marechaser’ here though.”
At this point Lyra’s clàrsach was also added to the fray, swiftly followed a few seconds later by Applejack’s violin. For a while it sounded as if the two instruments were having a bit of back and forth between themselves before they seemed to settle into a weaving pattern around each other.
“You see, the music of harmony lets you all tell each other how you feel about what’s happening to you, or share the joy in what’s going on around you. Each of you get to share in that in a way I never will. But that doesn’t mean to say that I can’t have a go at doing something similar. I may not be able to share with you the songs of my people in the same way or at the same deep level that you can, but that doesn't mean that I’m not going to try.”
As he closed his eyes, Lero began to sing.
Take the time to make some sense
Of what you want to say
And cast your words away upon the waves
For just a few moments everything faded away except for the AJ’s violin and Lero’s guitar, just to come back in a few moments later
And sail them home with acquiesce
On a ship of hope today
And as they land upon the shore
Tell them not to fear no more
Say it loud, and sing it proud today
Applejack’s violin playing swelled and Lyra’s harp gained in strength and urgency until, as they reached a crescendo, the previously immobile Time Turner raised his forehooves high above his head before bringing them, and his drumsticks, crashing down, his drums joining the performance with a gusto. While the audience were still recovering Pinkie’s horn called back from the rear of the room, her playing sharp and true, every note perfect.
And then dance if you wanna dance
Please brother take a chance
You know they're gonna go
Which way they wanna go
All we know is that we don't
Know how it's gonna be
From behind his drums, Time Turner began to sing, his distinctly masculine tones carrying his backing vocals just underneath Lero’s slightly deeper voice.
Please brother let it be
Life on the other hand
Won't make us understand
We're all part of the masterplan
From where she was sitting in the front of the crowd, Twilight’s horn started to glow as Applejack launched into a solo, the rest of the instruments backing off and Pinkie putting down her horn entirely, to let the lone violin shine though. As Twi’s magical aura enveloped the farm pony’s instrument in its violet glow, the violin’s notes came out distorted but still recognisable. It sounded, well it made it sound kinda magical, or a little spooky maybe, or even like they were hearing the notes in reverse like some somepony playing one of those fancy phonographs backwards.
As both Twilight’s magic and AJ’s violin faded away, Lero once again started to sing as the Lyra and Time Turner’s instruments returned in full force.
Say it loud and sing it proud today
At this point Applejack rejoined them, her violin now lacking any magical amplification or modulation as Lero’s fingers flew across his guitar’s strings.
I'm not saying right is wrong
It's up to us to make
The best of all the things
That come our way
'cause everything that's been has passed
The answer's in the looking glass
There's four and twenty million doors
On life's endless corridor
Say it loud and sing it proud today
As all five band members reached a crescendo, Pinkie’s horn and Time Turner’s backing vocals joined their instruments in the performance once again.
We'll dance if they wanna dance
Please brother take a chance
You know they're gonna go
Which way they wanna go
All we know is that we don't
Know how it's gonna be
Please brother let it be
Life on the other hand
Won't make you understand
We're all part of the masterplan
By now Pinkie was well and truly on top of her game and had slowly made her way to the front of the room where she joined all the other performers on stage as they built up to their final big huzzah.
And their final huzzah did not disappoint. The music swelled, each instrument coming together to form a symphony that the magic of harmony would have a hard time time beating. The five performers worked with each other like the parts of a finely tuned machine, the many hours they’d spent practicing together creating a level of trust and synchronicity that Equestria rarely saw without either magical assistance or months of training.
Once the song’s musical peak had a passed, both Pinkie and Time Turner let their instruments fall silent as Lyra allowed her harp to fade out as it floated slowly to the floor, leaving just her slow melodic drum beats against Lero’s guitar and AJ’s violin. Pretty soon it was just Lero and Applejack but then even the violin faded away to leave just the human playing alone. After a few moments of solo playing, Lero gently placed the palm of his hand over the strings, silencing his guitar,
Opening his eyes for the first time since the song started, Lero was dismayed to find nothing but a room full of silent ponies, almost every face he saw displaying the same expression of shock and incomprehension. In the middle of the front row Rainbow and Twilight were turning about in their seats to try and get a better look at the swath of gob-smacked ponies all around them.
“Yeah, I thought this might be a crappy idea.” The disheartened human muttered to himself. “I never should have tried.”
Suddenly from over to one side of the room Big Mac’s voice could be heard booming out.
“Now that’s whut Ah’m takin’ about!” the large stallion cried as he stood up from his cushion so he could stamp his forehooves on the floor. Still sat on the floor next to him a startled Fluttershy put her forehooves to her mouth and called out with a loud (for her anyway) ‘wahoo’.
From her seat next to Twilight in the front row Rarity started to clop her forehooves together in a most animated, though still ladylike, fashion.
“Oh yes, bravo, bravo. That was absolutely wonderful. I've never heard anything like it.”
Soon cheers and applause were coming from every member of their small audience with many present getting to their hooves so they could stomp their appreciation. Even the foals were jumping up and down, waving their hooves like Dinky’s earlier possession had been contagious.
Leaning over so only Lero could hear her (though with the amount of noise bouncing around the room she needn’t have bothered) Lyra said with a sly smile “See, I told you they’d like it.”
As the noise finally started to die down, Mayor Mare was the first to address Lero directly.
“That was indeed splendid work, most enchanting” The gray maned official said, looking to her herdmate who nodded his agreement. “I believe it may have taken a short while for what you were trying to say to us to sink in. As a whole we’re not accustomed to needing to think too deeply about whatever lyrics we might hear. Maybe it would help if you left a little gap between each song for a moment of reflection. It would give you a chance to converse with your audience, maybe also to answer questions or expand upon any lyrics for which they may not have grasped the underlying meaning upon their first exposure.“
As she looked about the crowd for support, the mayor was greeted by nodding heads and blank faces, in roughly equal number. After a few seconds Rainbow piped up.
“You mean, give them some time to digest?” The polychromatic pegasus asked.
The mayor, and a few others in the crowd, gave a few laughs. Trust Rainbow Dash to cut right through the mayor’s long winded suggestion in eight words or less.
“Yes, I think that’s a good way of putting it. Thank you.”
Rubbing at his chin, Lero considered his first piece of public feedback.
“That’s a good point.” he agreed. “Part of what makes human music what it is is that it’s often vague and open to interpretation, which would make it quite hard for ponies such as yourselves, who’ve been used to the music of harmony your whole life, to get a handle on all the ins and outs. I guess I could have a quick question and answer session between each song. It’d also give ponies a chance to ask a bit more about humanity as there’s a whole load of cultural references tied up in our lyrics, often to the point that one group of humans can’t understand exactly what another group’s harping on about.”
Thinking back to some of the songs that were popular in his last few years on Earth made him smile, especially the big N.W.A reunion tour of ‘21 that his mom had dragged him to. Man, that gig had been a blast... literally.
“To be honest, I didn’t always understand everything that various rappers were singing about half the time, didn’t mean I couldn't enjoy the music though. Part of the magic is in taking what you hear and figuring it out for yourselves, as often people with completely different viewpoints or life experiences will find completely different meanings to the same words. What you as the listener put into the song makes a huge difference to what you get out of it, so I’d have to be careful to let anypony who asks about meanings make up their own minds as to what it’s really about.”
Many of the audience nodded and Lero was glad to see a number of hooves go up into the air. Flicking his eyes over to Miss Cheerilee, he could see the schoolteacher grinning as she looked over the ponies in front of her, putting their hooves up to try and ask a question of someone other than her for once. From all the eager faces and raised hooves laid out before him, Lero chose one almost at random.
“Miss Doo, you have a question for me?”
“Errr, yes.” Derpy was a little thrown. usually when there was ‘choosing’ of any kind going on she’d never be picked first... not for anything good anyway. “Errrm. So what did that song mean?”
“That’s a good question, and there’s a number of answers.” Believing his questioner to be a lot smarter than she was ever given credit for, Lero decided to turn the question around. “What did you think it might have been about or, why I chose to share it with you all?”
Derpy froze, she hated being put on the spot. Usually it wouldn’t end well for her.
“Well, errr. I think the first bit about ‘making sense of what you want to say’ was you trying to tell us about how humans have to write their own songs.... maybe?”
Worried that she might be making herself look a fool, Derpy looked about the crowd and was surprised to see a number of fellow guests nodding in agreement. Feeling emboldened she pressed on with a bit more confidence.
“And then a bit later on you were trying to say that we don't know what will happen to us in the future, or why things have already turned out the way they have, but that we shouldn’t let ourselves get too upset about it.”
Looking up at the stage, the mailmare found the human grinning back at her.
“Miss Doo, I couldn’t have said it better myself.” the human said, causing the pegasus to smile widely. She didn't often receive praise and by Luna she was going to enjoy it when it came her way.
“You see, I spent a long time discussing this same question with my herd and with the performers you see up here tonight and what we came up with was this...’ Lero continued, every pair of eyes, and ears, in the room focused on him.. which was a touch un-nerving. “I’ve no idea why I ended up here in Equestria, and to be honest I doubt I’ll ever know for sure. But I spent a long time thinking about it and in the end I figured I just gotta let it go. I’m here now, I have a life, I have a herd and I have a place in this community with all my friends. I think it’s pretty safe to say that if someone offered to wave a magic wand and send me back right now I wouldn't even let them try.”
Looking around the room at the friendly faces gathered there, each of them looking back at him with levels of interest, trust and love across their features, the human was struck by how much his life in Ponyville had changed since his arrival just over a year and a half ago. Of course, spending almost four months as viceroy to the royal sisters hadn’t hurt.
But now, every pony in this room considered Lero to be a friend, from the mares of his herd, to the mayor and the mailmare, to the kids in his Swim Club... all of them. That they would be here with him tonight, so he could try in his own way to tell them how he felt through the medium of song, it meant a lot to him.
“Now, I’m not a religious man, or a big believer in predestination, but I spent a long time asking, ‘Why am I here? What was I brought here for?’... But now I like to think that I’m here for the exact same reason that all of us are here; to do the very best that we can to be the very best that we can.”
A veritable sea of nodding heads regaled him with their heartfelt agreement.
“Though Rainbow tells me that she’s cracked being the best already and that we need to come up with a whole new goal for her.”
As the nodding turned to laughter, Twilight pushed herself up against Rainbow’s side, the blushing pegasus jovially pushing back while putting on her best (and most adorable, though she was no way doing it on purpose, nah-uh) pout.
“So for me, personally, that’s what the song is about, what it might mean to you is a different matter. And perhaps it’ll mean something else to you in a few years, who knows. But that’s part of what all these human songs are for... about thinking it out for yourself, opening up new avenues of discussion, getting people talking. And if you leave here tonight with a few new songs in your hearts and questions in your heads, then I guess I’ve done my job. ”
*************
After a few more questions, Lero swapped his six string guitar for its four stringed brethren, giving his audience a few seconds to settle back down before he addressed them once more.
“Okay, so for this second song I’m going to try something different, a bit of what humans call ‘audience participation’. There’s two verses that I’ll sing, then the chorus comes up twice with a bit of a gap between them, each chorus being just the same line three times and then the fourth line is the same five words as those previous lines, just in a different order. Then there’s the third verse and then that same chorus twice again and then the last line just repeats until the end. Once any of you think you’ve got the swing of it then please, feel free to join in.”
Lero strummed his thumb over the guitar’s four strings, making a much bassier sound than he had before as he sang two simple words.
It's easy.
The reaction from the crowd was... mixed. Some - like Rainbow and the foals - seemed well up for the idea while others - especially Fluttershy and Miss Doo - looked concerned that without the music of harmony this could all go very, very wrong.
“Don’t worry.” Lero reassured his audience, surprised by how relaxed he felt about the idea now that his initial stage fright had receded. “We’ll wing it We only added this song to the set list yesterday morning so it’s going to be a bit wobbly anyway. Lyra says we should just have fun with it so here goes.”
Twisting in his stool he made eye contact with both Lyra and AJ in turn, each mare giving him nod in return to confirm that they were ready.
“Ladies, if you and Pinkie could start us off please.”
From where she had wandered back to the rear of the room, Pinkie’s horn began to play, the notes sounding stately and official as they swam their way across the shop floor. From up on the stage Lyra and AJ began to sing just a single word, the same word over and over again, their voices, though unassisted by any magic, flowing in perfect harmony.
Love, Love, Love.
Love, Love, Love.
Love, Love, Love.
As the song began, so too did the soothing sounds of Applejack’s violin, soon followed by Time Turner and Lyra’s drums. Lero’s fingers swept over his guitar’s strings, adding a catchy bass line as he began to sing.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
It's easy.
Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's easy.
As they moved into the chorus, Rainbow and Twilight soon joined in, followed swiftly by Rarity, Big Mac and an incredibly nervous sounding Fluttershy. Lero had taught all of them the chorus that morning in the hopes that once one or two of the audience joined in, the rest would follow suit. Never before had he pinned so much on the power of pony herding instincts.
All you need is love.
All you need is love.
After each line, Pinkie added a few notes with her horn, the instrument sounding impossibly jolly as she danced her way around the edges of the room.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.
By the time the end of the first chorus had come to an end, most of the audience looked quite confident that they could pull it off themselves and - after a some impressive violin and horn work from AJ and Pinkie - once the second chorus rolled around almost every pony in the room, adult or otherwise, joined in.
All you need is love.
All you need is love.
After each line Pinkie once again added her little musical flourish, suddenly appearing seemingly at random somewhere with the audience each time. From his spot up on stage Lero could see a bemused Due Diligence shrug in that strange way only ponies could and join in himself, his deep - and rather appealing - baritone voice surprising a number of the ponies around him.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.
From behind him, Lero could hear Lyra’s harp join the performance exactly on cue, exactly as he’d come to expect from the most musically inclined of his herdmates. As he rolled into the third verse, the entire audience swaying from side to side in perfect time, Lero had only gotten a few words into his next line when he realised that he wasn’t singling solo. At the back of the room, standing tall upon her father’s back, Sweetie Belle was singing along.
There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
With her eyes closed and horn gently glowing in the same manner that Twilight’s occasionally did in her sleep, the unicorn filly swayed from side to side in time with the music, her light young voice in perfect harmony with Lero’s deeper vocals. The human was so surprised that he forgot the sing the rest of the verse leaving Sweetie Belle to continue singing without him.
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's easy.
Oblivious to the world around her, Sweetie span across her father’s back on her hooftips as the song moved into the third iteration of the chorus, the youngster still happily singing along, reciting each lyric with perfection and completely in tune.
As Sweetie had been away in canterlot with her friends for the last few days, and as Lero had only suggested the song to his bandmates the previous morning, how in Equestria could she know the lyrics? Lero turned to Lyra and AJ who both made indications that the whole thing was as much a surprise to them as it was to the bewildered human. Turning back to the audience and catching Rarity’s eye, all he got from the fashionista was confirmation that she also had no idea what was going on.
All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.
By now the rest of the audience once again picked up the song, Sweetie leading them through to the final chorus, the notes from Pinkie’s horn and Applejack’s violin chasing each other around the room like they were playing some rough and tumble game the whole time.
All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.
As the instruments faded away so did the glow from around Sweetie’s horn and, as she finally opened her eyes and hopped to the floor, she found every pair of eyes in the room waiting for her. Amidst all the shock and open mouths, Rarity was the one to finally break the silence.
“Sweetie, that was absolutely lovely. But how did you know the words?”
Withering somewhat under the attention, the filly dug the toe of a single forehoof into the floor.
“They were just in my head.” She said looking up at her sister, tears forming in her eyes. She didn’t know why but she got the distinct impression that she was in trouble, she just wasn't sure for what as yet. ”I could hear them in my head when Mister Lero was singing. He was singing and they were just there and he did say we should join in when we got the hang of it so I thought that was my cue to sing. Was that not okay?”
Turning to Lero, the filly had tears streaming down her cheeks as she started to apologise to the human.
“I’m sorry Mister Lero. I didn’t mean to spoil your party, really I didn’t.”
Shocked out of his stunned silence by the child’s tearful cry, Lero put down his guitar and made his way over to where the youngster was sitting, her head now buried in her father’s chest.
“Hey. Sweetie.” Lero sat on the floor next to the child, curling his legs up under himself as he did so. “No, that was okay... it was more than okay, really.
A small head poked out from under the shaggy fur on Magnum’s chest.
“Really?”
“Yes, really.” Reaching out the human gently stroked the filly’s mane. “Trust me, it was perfect. Absolutely perfect.”
“And I didn’t spoil your party?”
“No, you didn’t spoil anything.”
“That’s good. I didn’t want to spoil anything.” Sweetie looked over to where Rarity was now sitting just a few flank-widths away. ‘Sometime I make ponies mad when I spoil things. I never mean to though, honest.”
“You didn’t, trust me.” Lero turned to Rarity for confirmation.
“You were perfectly lovely, my dear.” The older sibling offered. “Like a little angel. I’d have to say that I’ve never heard you sing so well.”
Many of the others in the room, especially the rest of the CMC, enthusiastically signalled their agreement,
”So, you could hear the words?” Lero asked. “In your head?”
Sweetie nodded so quickly that it looked like her head was going to fall off.
“The first song too?”
The nodding continued. “Yes, I could hear that too, just not as loudly as the second one, that one was all quiet and I wasn’t sure it was really there. The second song was much louder though, and all the words were there.”
By this time Twilight had made her way to Lero’s side, levitating a notebook and quill that she’d acquired from only Luna knew where in front of her.
“Was it at all like the music of harmony?” The purple pony asked. “In that, did the words arrive in your head as you sang each of them or did they all arrive at once?”
“Errm...” Sweetie looked a touch confused. “Both?”
Twilight tried a different avenue. “So did you feel the normal urge to sing or was it more like remembering the words of a book you’d once read and then choosing to sing along?”
“Yes, like that.” Of this the filly seemed much more sure. “The words were there but it wasn't like I had to sing, just that I knew all the words and how they should sound and what everypony else was supposed to sing and when I should start and stop and everything like that!”
“Fascinating.” Twilight furiously scribbled notes onto her pad. “Spontaneous musical comprehension between a human and a pony. Potential telepathic transference. This is wonderful stuff. We should see if this is a repeatable phenomenon and not just Sweetie Belle repeating something that she’s heard before without consciously realising it. Aristable always said that one should carefully work through every situation using pure logic to-umph”
“What Little Miss Brainiac probably means...” Rainbow Dash said as she extricated her hoof from her herdmate’s mouth “Is that maybe you should try it again, ya’know, make sure it’s not a fluke or anything.”
“You might be onto something.” Lero admitted as he turned back to young Sweetie Belle. “So, would you like to try another song? One that’s definitely never been heard in Equestria before?”
As the filly nodded her agreement, once again looking like she might shake herself apart at any moment, Lero searched the deepest crevices of his brain for a song he would one hundred percent never have sung whilst anywhere on this planet. One came to him quite easily and, should Sweetie get this one right, it would prove once and for all that she wasn’t pulling it from anywhere but his head.
“Okay, I’ve got one. My sister made me practise it with her for weeks back when her high-school drama club was putting on the abridged ‘Pirates of Penzance’ so I should be able to remember it pretty well. It’s so old, and so totally human, that you couldn’t possibly have picked it up from anywhere else. You ready for this?”
Sweetie nodded again and sat herself down directly in front of the human’s crossed legs. As she closed her eyes her horn started to dimly glow once more.
After taking a deep breath and concentrating on the lyrics forming in his head, Lero quickly rattled off the first two lines of a rather fast paced little ditty.
I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
Pausing for a second he waited to see if the youngster would pick up on the next line. He didn't have long to wait as almost instantly Sweetie took up the lead.
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
Her eyes still closed, a rather puzzled look spread across the filly’s face while the glow around her horn steadily grew brighter and brighter as she drew a very deep breath before continuing alone.
I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
Looking up from her notes, Twilight opened her mouth to make comment but was cut off before she could speak as Sweetie, after taking a quick breath, rolled her way into another verse, every few seconds the young unicorn’s horn emitting a stray pale green spark or two which would bounce harmlessly off of her brilliant white coat. Everypony in the room was eagerly listening to every word that left the filly’s lips. A pony singing a song from another world without either the music of harmony or prior teaching!? This was an unprecedented event.
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news,
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.
As it seemed that Sweetie might be done, Twilight again opened her mouth to speak just to be cut off by the filly taking another breath and launching back into song, her horn glowing even more brightly than before. As Sweetie sang the librarian hurried to take notes. What the hay was binomial theorem? Was it a human name for something Equestria already had or maybe a whole new branch of science. This needed looking into and she was just the mare to do it.
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus;
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous:
Screwing her face up in concentration, Sweetie opened her eyes, her pupils starting to cross both with the effort she was putting into channeling the words in her head but also so she could see the array of sparks being thrown out from her horn. With a small ‘pop’, her magical appendage ceased its sputtering and instead formed a small but substantially powerful ball of magic spinning around its tip.
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
As she took another deep breath in preparation for the next verse, Lero reached out and gently put his hands on the filly’s shoulders.
“Whoa there kid.” He said, holding the exhausted youngster steady as she wobbled in his grasp, the magic fading from her horn. “I think you can stop there.”
“How did I do?” The filly asked as her head started to sag, the effort required for a channeling of that extent had really taken it out of her small body.
“You were fantastic.” Lero assured the child. “Completely spot on.”
“Sweetie, darling, look here.” Rarity leant towards her sibling and used a forehoof to draw her younger sister’s attention to her flank. “Your cutie mark, it’s appeared.”
And she was right, proudly displayed on Sweetie Belle’s flank was a cutie mark, so fresh that the glow of its arrival was still fading from the pristine white fur of the filly’s coat. A golden bell caught ready to chime, held aloft on a pink ribbon with an eight pointed star behind it. No, those were two overlapping four-pointed stars, each in one of the colours of Sweetie’s mane.
“Oh, Sweetie.” Rarity gushed. “It’s absolutely stunning.”
Gathering her sister up in her arms, the unicorn mare hugged her little sister with all her heart.
And from all those around them, there was much rejoicing.
******************
Watching the ecstatic sisters so wrapped up in their embrace, Lero sighed happily. While he’d never heard the music of harmony - and by now he’d accepted that he probably never would - it seemed that this world still had some curve balls to throw him. He might not be able to hear what the rest of Equestria could hear, but it looked like one pony, one young, small pony with her whole life still ahead of her... she could hear what he had heard... she could hear the music of humanity.
While the magic of harmony may not have been able to change him so he could better fit into the world, it seemed that it was trying to change some of its own to fit in a little better with him. And that was surely as big a gift as he could ever hope for.
“From a single piece of grit, the oyster brings the pearl.”
“What was that?” Lyra asked as she settled herself down beside her stallion as the rest of the room erupted into a spontaneous (though heavily assisted by Pinkie Pie) celebration around them.
“Oh, nothing.” Lero reached out and wrapped his fingers around his herdmate’s ankle, his thumb idly stroking against the edge of her forehoof. “Just something I think someone once tried to tell me in a dream.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
1,054 users online
1,425,000 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Lero's going to have to learn to police his thoughts. It wouldn't do to think of a stray line from, say, Lords of Acid, and then have a furious Rarity inquiring why Sweetie Belle is singing about Opal being 'always hungry for a big chunk of meat.'
3055869
If a sequel happens, Sweetie spontaneously breaking into an 80s hair metal ballad would be maybe the greatest thing ever.
Lero should totally experiment. Does sweetie get the original song or Lero's memory of it? What happens with a Wierd Al parody?
That was beautiful.
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12875849/reactions/cryclap.gif
You know, I love these stories.
But as a matter of (no) interest I must confess that I do on a deep and personal level loathe Oasis.
3055927
She changes her name to Gem, and learns some illusion magic.
3055951 though now that I think of it, Lero's starting Wierd Al's song Hardware Store near Sweetie Belle may count as cruel and unusual punishment.
3055869
Yeah, I can imagine Rime of the Ancient Mariner raising more than a few questions. Or some of the Beatles' more odd works.
Magnificent. My only complaint is that the second two songs have a bit too much writing between lyrics for those of us trying to listen along. I do hope we get to hear about the misadventures of Lero's Swim Club.
Also:
As in 2021? I thought Lero was from around now. When actually did he get snatched?
3056049
If she can handle Gilbert and Sullivan patter, she can handle allen wrenches et. al. What I want to know is what happens with the polka medleys. Does Sweetie have to resist the urge to continue the current song when they change?
3056088
Hope she can control that talent. Don't want it going crazy if a stray thought enter his head.
Lero putting on musical performances is a very popular subject matter it seems.
The surprise appearance of Gilbert and Sullivan was much appreciated. The image of little Sweetie Belle trying to sing it hilarious.
Now I want to see Sweetie singing "I like big butts and I cannot lie!"
3055869
Or Betty Lou's Gettin' Out Tonight. I loved that song as a kid, even though I had no idea what the lyrics meant. I just liked the rhythm and the beat, and wound up mortifying my parents to no end every time I asked them to play it (which was quite frequently). Nowadays, though, they get a good laugh out of those memories.
Come to think of it, just about anything by Evanescence would be a bad idea, too. Rarity might think Lero's teaching Sweetie to become a suicidally emo goth filly.
3055951
Well, if she visualizes the lyrics of the original song instead of the parody, Lero better hope to pony hell he's forgotten the lyrics to Yoda.
3057297
Okay, this? This was adorable. Poor Lero must've felt left out in the cold with the whole "magic of friendship/harmony" thing, and this probably made him feel just a little bit warmer.
(Also, I reserve the right to steal that cutie mark idea.)
3055927 I'm calling it now:
At Lero's concert, she has to sing "What a Wonderful World" It only seems right.
You know, if you imagine Sweetie's voice sounding like the lead singer in this song, it gets creepier, a little more sad, and weirdly interesting all at the same time.
[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVlVyi9rKDo]
I fixed that for you.
3061074 My fine sir, I do indubitably believe you gave me night mares involving rats, a canvas sac and a possessed little filly.
You ever read a new chapter of a story that you've already favorited and “thumbed-up”, but then you feel like you need to do it again?… That happened to me just now.
Unable to fave hard enough!
Woah, that may be a new record for the most adorable thing ever. And what a fantastic cutie mark story.
Lero pls don't know this song
Yes I know its pretty much the best achievement Humanity has created
Don't know it pls
I know this kind of thing doesn't work retroactively, but I'm still gonna try
So! THAT'S how Sweetie got her Cutie Mark! A lovely tale and a unique take on her special ability.
3081370 I've down voted a story just so I could up vote again, and it made the like/dislike bar glitch so it only showed the zero from the "10" dislikes the story had after I swapped back.
Sweetie had BETTER sing "Wonderful World" at some point! And then "Blue Moon," by Sinatra.
My favorite version
Didn't know that Joe Cocker sang that same song in the title reference. I definitely knew the Beatles version though.
... The amount of musical references!
Also makes me curious as to how much of Heart and Fleetwood Mac Lero has listened to.
I'll be honest, you start quoting lyrics, and I start scrolling. So there's probably mistakes and funny things that I skipped over.
And they were forced to eat Robin's minstrels.