Commision Sheet
Commissioner: Octavia Melody
Address: 4 Trotter St., Ponyville, Equestria
Preferred Delivery System: Mail; Ponyville Delivery Express
Contact: -
Item Description: Bow
Notes: -
The commission sheet was held in Twilight's telekinetic grasp, weakly, as the eye of the holder twitched every once in a while.
Einstein barged into the newly opened workshop with a smile on his face and no posters in his hand. He relished in his empty hand, for it meant that his task to promote their newly-opened workshop was a success. A quick glance at his wrist confirms that he did, indeed, forgot to wear his watch. A quick glance at his pocket watch confirms that he did, indeed, finished his task just on time. "I'm done, Twilight!" he said. "We're going to be famous in no time!"
Twilight turned around, giving Einstein view of the commission sheet. "Why, yes," she slowly said, "We've already had a commission, in fact."
"Wonderful!" Walking over, he took the sheet from the floaty purple magic. "What's our first commission?"
"A bow."
"What kind of bow? The one with arrows?"
Twilight smiled. "Oh, who knows? It's not like the commissioner describes it in the commission sheet!"
Einstein rolled his eyes and read the paper. He stopped. "Wait a minute. They really didn't." He rechecked the paper just to be sure that the commissioner did write nothing but 'Bow'.
Twilight grunted in annoyance. "No, she didn't! How are we supposed to know?"
Reading the name of the commissioner, Einstein answered, "Well, it's from Octavia. The cellist, right? She must've ordered a bow for her cello."
"She lives in Ponyville! For all I know, she's secretly a Guardian of the Everfree Forest ordering a Longbow! Or a sky pirate ordering a bow for her armored ship! Or a bowtie!"
Einstein's brow shot up. "That's it!" He grabbed Twilight in his arms. "We'll make her a bow!"
Twilight glared at Einstein. "No shit, Einstein."
"No, Twilight," he said jovially. "No shit, indeed. Remember why we opened this workshop?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. At the look of Einstein's serious face, however, she began to think. ". . . To have fun and prove that nothing is impossible?"
"Exactly! Now, take a look at this sheet."
"Why yes, it is, indeed, shit."
"Abracadabra, it is now a challenge!"
"That's not how magic—" She stopped, actually processed his words, then a smile began forming on her face. "I'm listening . . ."
Einstein grinned in return. "We'll make her a bow, Twilight. A bow like never before seen, for we do the impossible, and beyond!"
Octavia pulled out a bow from the box, eyeing it curiously and thoroughly. Turning around, she found Vinyl Scratch, eating breakfast, and said, "Vinyl, dear, did you order a bow?"
Vinyl shook her head and pointed a hoof at Octavia.
"No, I didn't order a bow. Well, not this kind of bow, at least. I ordered a cello bow." She pulled a dozen arrows that came with it and showed it to Vinyl. "Why would I need a bow?"
Vinyl swallowed her last piece of oatmeal before walking toward the box and fished out a piece of paper from the bottom. She gave it to Octavia, which took and read it after putting the arrows back inside the box.
Octavia facehooved. "Oh, right. I should've told them what kind of bow I was asking for, shouldn't I? Well, I guess I just have to go to Canterlot and buy one. Again. Too bad Ponyville doesn't have a proper music store."
Octavia stood and walked to her room to pack her trip. Meanwhile, Vinyl took the bow and took a closer look at it. It was a generic hunting bow, one the griffons usually use for wild boar hunting. There weren't many decorations, only the word Everycraftery burned on the tip and Octavia's cutie mark etched into the wooden handle. She gripped the string and pulled it backward, testing the strength, and found that it was probably a fine-crafted one if the satisfying whip was of any indication.
She thought for a while if this bow can be used to play the cello.
The bow agreed to the thought.
Vinyl's jaw dropped.
Octavia came out of the room to see Vinyl holding a bow. A cello bow. "Vinyl, where did you get that?"
Vinyl pointed at the box.
"That was the bow? But how?" Octavia walked closer and took the bow in her hoof, inspecting it and testing its flexibility a few times. "It's quite the bow, I must say. Very high quality, I dare even say it nearly matched my original Stradivarius."
Octavia took a closer look at the bow, finding that the frame was made of polished ebony, the word Everycraftery burned to the tip and her cutie mark etched on the handle.
Vinyl took it, eyeing it curiously and ignoring Octavia's protests. She thought of how the bow would look good on her hair.
The bow doesn't agree to the thought but doesn't care.
Both jaws dropped as they stared dumbfoundedly at the neatly tied pink bow on Vinyl's hair, tying it to a ponytail.
"Wh—How?" Octavia stuttered, taking the bow from Vinyl's hair.
Vinyl tussled her mane back into its usual messiness.
Octavia eyed the pink ribbon with a critical eye. The writing Everycraftery sewn into the inside and her cutie mark creating a pattern on the outside.
Vinyl grinned and pointed at the ribbon.
Octavia raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" At her affirmation, she continued, "Alright, then. Let's see where this goes."
Octavia thought of a curtsy, of how much elegance a simple gesture of politeness can give somepony.
The bow agreed.
Octavia broke into the most beautiful, most elegant, and most mesmerizing bow of all. At the end of the gesture, the bow returned to her grip, eager to meet some strings it could be played with.
Octavia grabbed Vinyl and invaded her personal space (not that she minded). She put their muzzles so close together and whispered, "Vinyl, do you know what this means?"
Vinyl shook her head.
"Mafia Busting."
Octavia relished in her extensive circle of friends. She was glad that she lived in Ponyville because otherwise, she wouldn't have friends with such a different interest such as Cherry Berry, which enabled her to be almost three hundred meters up the air.
"Thank you, Cherry. I believe I owe you a favour."
Cherry flashed a smile. "No, Tavi. You only owe me fifty bits for this ride."
Octavia smiled and saluted to Cherry before jumping off the basket, her bow in tow and a quiver holding a dozen arrows on her back.
Ponies who saw her might scream, for she wasn't wearing any parachutes at all. Luckily there isn't, so she was only disturbed by the wind whipping on her face and mane.
At one hundred meters off the ground, Octavia brandished the bow and thought of the sea, waves, and piracy. The bow agreed and was now a bow of a ship.
Vinyl came out from the trapdoor and smiled, pulling Octavia inside. Once in, she thought of beauty, pretty, and Apple Bloom. The bow agreed and fluttered by the wind, dancing in its descent until it touched the ground, right on the roof of Octavia's intended target.
Octavia and Vinyl wiped their thoughts from the sea and intercontinental adventure, allowing them to get out of the pink bow.
Taking the bow in her hoof, Octavia jumped down to a flower patch in a garden of some sort, followed closely by Vinyl. Finding a nearby hedge, they quickly hid behind it, covering them from potential gardeners and mafia members.
They crawled along the hedge, pressing themselves close to the natural wall of neatly-trimmed leaves. A quick look at the leaves proved to Octavia that it was recently cut, and she crossed out 'gardeners' from the list of potential threats.
Vinyl took the bow from Octavia and thought herself as a pony of the sea, holding an oar to row a boat. The bow was amused at the thought and made her a bowpony. As was standardized, a bowpony should carry a telescope at any times, and so Vinyl fished out a telescope from her mane.
Luckily, she was not a mare of ordinary, and so her telescope wasn't ordinary, rather one that could be folded into a periscope. So she did, and looked over the hedge, spotting a few ponies in two-piece suits, no doubt on watch duty. She took note of their movements and, after a few minutes, noticed a pattern.
She folded the periscope back into a telescope and put it back inside her mane. She gestured to Octavia and led her to the giant double doors across the field without being noticed, for a bowpony was standardized to have tactical infiltration certificates.
Once inside the building, they took a chance to relax in the large living room, relishing in the ignorance of the maids to not notice guests that shouldn't be there, and instead served them some tea.
Once they finished their teas, they continued to sneak across the hallway, peeking through the rooms in the hopes of finding any kind of office. After two uneventful hallways and one that almost made them spotted, Octavia found a large room with a fancy desk, on top of which lay neat stacks of papers. She gestured to Vinyl to come.
Vinyl joined Octavia to peek inside. With the help of her periscope, she peeked further in where the doors blocked the view. She found Laundered Bits, the head of the mafia gang himself, currently rummaging through the drawers, his back turned toward them.
Vinyl stored the periscope back to her mane and thought of hunting, griffons, and archery. The bow agreed.
Octavia took the bow from Vinyl and an arrow from her quiver. She pulled the string back and aimed the arrow—one with an enchanted blunt tip, not the pointy one—right at Laundered.
The arrow flew straight to his head, knocking him unconscious. The enchantments in its tip ensured that he will stay unconscious for at least a few hours.
Octavia and Vinyl wasted no time. They rummaged through the drawers, the stacks of papers, the wardrobe, and everywhere they thought would contain critical information that would prove the crimes they've done in court.
After a few minutes, they'd pulled out every bit of paper that has ink in it and stacked them in piles on the floor.
Octavia brandished the bow and gave it a stern look. The bow understood her gesture and promptly merged itself with the stern from her stern look, creating a complete ship that broke the room and caused quite the commotion.
Octavia and Vinyl dumped every single document they'd found into the ship and jumped aboard. As Vinyl began undoing the sails, half the members of the gang had arrived from outside of the hole in the wall and began shooting.
Vinyl cursed. As bullets sailed through her, she began using her magic to cut the ropes instead.
The mainsail unrolled and picked the arcane current, pulling the ship forward. Octavia kicked a lever, leveraging the ship out of the binds of gravity toward the sky.
The shooting didn't stop, but their pathetic leads were of no match to the armored bow of the ship.
Einstein, currently sitting on the balcony of Canterlot castle, grumbled and gave Twilight five bits.
Twilight smiled and returned her sight toward the ship sailing above Canterlot's lower district, the writing HMS Everycraftery emblazoned on its side.