Fingers On The Keys
T.S.O.S.B. (The Sound of Sweetie Belle)
A fanfic based on My Little Pony: Equestria Girls movie series by the MJP and edited by Nightly
We all took a gaze at Rainbow Dash's transformation, growing pointy ears, feathery wings, hair extensions and some blue peachfuzz fur (wait wha?). Sure we’ve seen Rainbow and her friends "pony up" before. Unfortunately we were under a spell at the time and didn't truly appreciate it until the whole ordeal was over. This is the first time we got to truly appreciate how cool it was (weird peachfuzz fur aside).
"Awesome!"
"Cool!"
"So, um how does that work for you, exactly?"
Rainbow shrugged as her wings disappeared and everything else just shrank back into their normal place "Dunno, never thought about it much, really. Probably just my emotion into the music interacting with my leftover equestrian magic is my first guess"
"Emotion into your music resulting in a transformation, better than any of our music by default hehe." I bit my lip, bracing for Scootaloo to accuse me of being 'just like all those mean commenters who wish to prey on innocent middle schoolers' instead her reply was just a bit more apathetic.
"Our music is not really intended to be 'good' per say, it’s just some random comedy for the internet's pleasure. If it entertains our veiwers, we're happy, right girls?" Scoots swung her arm and gave the cheesiest smile in the universe, followed by a "Yeah" from Apple Bloom but just a nod from me.
I’ve been posting crazy videos of me and my friends since we were old enough to know how the Internet worked, so why was our approach bothering me just now?
"Now come on, Vice Prinicipal Luna and Mr. Chord wanna meet us into the art room to design a banner for the friendship games." Apple Bloom smiled and happily followed Scoots' lead, I just rubbed my head
"You know I kinda wanna go...home...right...now." Scoots didn't look shocked but Apple Bloom actually looked a bit dejected.
"Well, go ahead. I hate to force anything on anyone. We should know that it never ends well for anyone." Apple Bloom forced a laugh remembering the amount of trouble that they caused around Valentine's Day, before shuddering at how disgusting it really was in hindsight.
Once those images were out of my heat I grabbed my backpack from the entrance and joined my sister in her convertible.
"I must say it is surprising for someone like you to reject an activity like that."
"I...kinda wanna do something else today."
I headed home and dropped my backpack by the coat hooks , and walked around my living room, stopping as our grand piano caught my eye. It was a nice and big, like any grand piano should be, with some shiny purpleish-blue paint that was a little bruised at the feet from taking it from our house to Canterlot High and back.
Several times.
I looked at it for a few moments, and then decided to sit down in front of it, put my fingers on a few of the keys, and played a few bars. So far so good.
...
'I aM JUSt an ORDINARY LIttLE Girl, JUST Wanting toooooo.....FiguRE it...'
"STEPHANIE TIANA BELLE, CUT OUT THE INCOHERENT NOISE."
I pulled myself away from Rarity's piano, followed by me groaning and slamming my face into the keys "OH COME ON, I did everything right, I put emotion into the song, I followed the scale, why is my music so bad."
"I do not suggest improvising songs right away, Sweetie. Maybe you should start somewhere else." She handed me thirty bucks and some change "Go, buy a songbook or something from that music store down the street."
Part of me thought, my sis was trying to get rid of me, but I decided not to question it. She was at least, like, half right. So I figured I would happily take the thirty bucks, and head out to the music store across the street.
The little music store is nothing to write home about, just guitars hanging on racks, some suspended from the ground, as well as electric keyboards, and an inside door to a storage area for bigger instruments like my sister's piano. In the middle of the store were some songbooks for various instruments, mostly guitar and piano trumpets, ukeleles and some other instruments I can never remember the name of. I looked at the book at the very top of the shelf; Mr. Horsey's Piano Book for Little Colts and Fillies: 24 Easy Little Melodies for Newbie Players. I can watch my sister and her friends spend the rest of their life with pony ears, and this stuff would still make me sick to my stomach. I sighed and picked it up anyway.
"Aren't those books for little kids?"
"GAAAH."
"Oh my gosh, did I startle you?"
"Little bit, yeah." Something about this girl seemed familiar. She had pale blue skin, and wore a black blouse with some blue pants. There was a silver etching on her shoulder, but I couldn't really make it out at the moment, "So yeah, about the book, I need some instruction. I love music with all my heart, but, every time i sit in front of the piano all that comes out is random noise about middle schooler angst."
"I can teach you some pointers if you..."
"No, it's fine, music isn't that big of a passion for me." I said, lying through my teeth. "I'll just go" I dropped the 25-ish bucks on the counter and ran home.
"Hopefully thirty-seven renditions of 'Twinkle twinkle Little Star' will settle my stomach."
"HOW. I. WON. DER. WHAT. YOU. ARE." Thumping the last key hard, hoping to remember every note now. "Now, let's speed it up, no more mistakes this time." I readied my fingers on the keys and put the notes together, trying to keep my movements up with my voice. "Up above the world so HIGh, like a DIamond in the sky, Twinkle TwINkle little star how I WOn....SUGAR BABIES!!" Once again, I had gotten way off track, proving once again that I stink.
"What's wrong with me! I have had no problem performing in front of people, I think I have some real emotion in my song, and I had a concept of the notes and stuff! I'm no Fluttershy, but what am I missing? Ugh!" I slammed my little book, put on my nightgown, and went to bed.
"So, what do you think your sister is designing for us? Some crazy outfit based off those weird french robots she likes?"
Bloom and Scoots both snickered.
"HEY!! Are you saying my sister has bad taste?"
"Dude, can't you take a joke once in a while? What's up with you being serious and dejected all of a sudden? Aren't YOU 'the funny one'"
"Not intentionally." Suddenly my sister popped her head out of her room and walked over to us, holding something behind her back.
"SweetieBellecalleddibsonthehelmet."
'SCOOTS!" I jabbed her in the ribs. Sis glared at us, then switched back to her cheerful demeanor.
"Well, first of all, I am very Impressed with all of you deciding to help Diamond Tiara understand herself, and setting her on a much better path, much like we did with Sunset.I designed a little something to represent your unity and strength together to help other find themselves!" Rarity brought what was in her hands forward, three striped shield patches, with a shiny pink-and-purple design inside each of them. Rarity handed us the patches. I froze a bit when I saw mine. Like my friends' it was a badge with a purple outline, and three pinkish stripes with a purple design in the center. Mine, however, had a purple star with a pink musical note in the middle.
Was this supposed to be who I am now? It was scary when I thought about it. I started thinking about the first time I had tried to sing, and my sister yelling at me for making 'all that racket'. I thought about all those videos we made, with cheesy costumes and lyrics, the battle of the bands, and the Dazzlings turningme and my friends against our sisters. Then there were all those failed music lessons, and even that weird dream of the microphone turning into the broom. Me and my friends have done several scary things, but with everything in my life up till now coming full circle with just a little patch, I got scared, worried I wouldmspend the rest of my life messing up 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' or something. I was nervous, I wasn't thinking. I probably should have asked my sister why she put a musical note on my patch, but instead, I just bit my lip and bolted.
For a sec, I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I soon found myself at the music store once again, surrounded by all the guitars, electric keyboards, and other odds and ends. I soon found myself standing before an electric keyboard against a wall. I reached out and hit a couple of keys, It sounded nice, probably for the first time in history, I continued playing around with the notes, wondering why the heck I was even here.
"Can I help you?" I looked up, it was that lady from the last time I was here.
"Nope." Lying once again. The lady put her hand on my shoulder. Was she trying to kidnap me? "NO, I WILL NOT HAVE YOUR CANDY, YOU’RENOT GONNA KIDNAP ME WITHOUT A FIGHT!!!" I balled up my fists, prepared for action, when I noticed that she looked a bit familiar, like this girl that showed up at school assemblies a few times. I looked over at the silver design on the corner of her dress, a design even more familiar; a simple star surrounded by eighth-notes. Wait, isn't that the logo of...
"COUNTESS COLOURATOURA!!!" I gasped and started to hyperventilate.
"Took you long enough to recognize me!"
"SIGN MY JACKET!!!!!!! No wait that won't end well, my sister spent all summer making this! Uh... here!" Without thinking, I handed her the patch Rarity made for me.
"Um, what is this?"
I looked up and realize what I handed her. I just shrugged. "Nothin' Important."
The Countess just laughed. "You mean to tell me this nice little patch is NOT important to you?"
"Gosh, I hope not!!" I blurted out.
"Should it be?"
"It's just something my sister made for helping out with PMS' student council elections." At least that was partially true.
"I'm not sure what a music note inside a star would have to do with student council elections."
"I DON'T KNOW, GO ASK MY SISTER!!!!!"
"Stephanie... uh, that is your name, right"
"Most people call me Sweetie Belle."
"Well, Sweetie Belle, I think you may be in denial." She was clearly trying her best not to sound condescending.But my first thoughts were instead
"I AM NOT IN DENIAL! 'DENIAL' WOULD BE FLUTTERSHY HAVING PERFORMANCE ANXIETY BECAUSE SHE THINKS PEOPLE WON'T LIKE HER SINGING AND THEN REALIZING THE PEOPLE LOVE HER MUSIC. I AM NO FLUTTERSHY! I PLAYED MY MUSIC, IT STINKS!” I slammed my hand on the keyboard. “PEOPLE SAY YOUR MUSIC IS JUST NOISE, BUT THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT! COME OVER TO MY HOUSE AND WATCH ME PLAY 'TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR', MY MUSIC IS LITERALLY RANDOM NOISE!!!"
"Calm down." she soon started shaking me, she looked down "oops, sorry!"
I was able to calm down, and realized she wanted to have a meaningful conversation with me, I started with the most obvious question. "How do you know my name like that?"
She chuckled. "I can't believe you don't remember. You and your friends sang with me during the charity event last month."
"Oh yeah. It was the first time I sang after what I did to my sister during the Battle of the Bands."
"Wait, what?"
"Uh, long story. I wasn't much of myself, I'm over it now, and we're on good terms." I tried not to get into too much detail, it really was a bit of a long story.
"Anyway you were amazing in our little quartet. I was impressed, it was a far cry from the awful stuff you make as CMC Music Factory. you do have potential, I'll tell you that"
"Really, I mention you to my teachers and they keep telling me all you want to sing about is lasers and diamonds and stuff."
"Yes that is sadly true, for a while I left it all up to my manager, I never really knew much about how to put myself out there when I hired him, I didn't know he was basically controlling every aspect of my life, I became unsatisfied with my work, working with children like you was the only bright spot in my life."
"So, what changed that? I heard from the gossip sites that you fired your manager in a diva tantrum or something."
“Unfortunatley I get that alot. But no, I did not fire my manager in a 'diva tantrum', but I had to fire him after I saw the way he was treating people, and I realized how much he was distorting people's perception of me. After that, a friend of mine encouraged me to do something a bit different, no special effects or backup dancers, all I had was me and the piano your school provided, so, I just stripped down to a simple black blouse, washed out that hair dye, and simply sang what I was feeling..."
"...and it was amazing!" I continued "But I try to do that, and all that comes out is just a clunk of notes and a rant about how hard my life is, not much else."
"Do you want some pointers?"
"A little."
Coloratura smiled and prompted me to sit down in the seat she had pulled out. Soon, I found myself sitting in front of the keyboard.
"So, now what?"
"Now I want you to, try to have an idea of what you are going to sing about. Make the melody work with your words, weave the story with your feelings."
"Sounds a bit hippie-ish but ok." I put my fingers on the keys, more scared than ever, but there was no turning back now. I just pressed a key, a single note, I moved my fingers around, finding a good melody, key by key. I soon speed it up. I took a breath, not sure where the rhythm was coming from, but knowing it was something pretty good. It was a beautiful sound, somehow able to capture all my fear, yet a sliver of optimism, hoping not to mess up after I opened my mouth.
Here I am again
with all my interests that wax and wane
I was not sure where such poeticism was coming from, but I could not stop now
I again find myself here,
Once again on a stage, with a show to stop,
I've been here a million times before
But now, I think I'm here for now
Cause, I am just a little girl,
Who's just figured it out.
I've spent most of my life chasing dream after dream after dream after dream after dream.
And I've finally caught one that just keeps getting away
And it's finally here to staaaaaaay...
I finished the piece and sat back from the keyboard. "Where did that come from? 'Twinkle Twinkle' isn't that good when I play it"
"I had the same problems when I was having piano lessons. I was so focused on getting every note right to the letter. Eventually my Friend AJ helped me focus more on the rhythm of the music and not the notes. I was worried about blending it together fast, rather than focus on the sound. With practice I stopped looking down to where the keys were, I learned to simply let the notes work together with each other. Basically, I just followed the music, do-do you understand?"
“Not all of it, I kinda got lost."
"Well, I can show you, as long as you're willing to keep coming back here for lessons every week, if you want."
"That sounds good to me!" I smiled for the first time that day, the looked at the old clock above me. "Oh, dang it, it's getting late, Rarity's gonna be worried sick about me!"
"Oh, sorry, here's your patch and that autograph I owe you."
“Oh, thanks." I put the paper Coloratura signed in my pocket and held Rarity's patch in my hand as I walked outside and headed home. I looked at it, placing it on my coat and smiled.
"I think this looks pretty good on me."